The Thousand Sunny rocked under a full moon. Waves were calm. The sky, quiet. Everyone asleep.

Luffy had been too. Deep in some weird dream about meat growing on trees and Chopper with a duck body.

Then his body moved. Sleepwalking.

Barefoot steps. Blank face. Arms loose, swaying. No one noticed as he left the warmth of his hammock, wandered the deck, and—without hesitation—tumbled over the edge.

Splash.

The cold shocked him awake instantly. Eyes wide. Limbs jerking.

He thrashed, tried to swim, but it was pointless. His body turned to stone in the water. Heavy. Dragged down. He was sinking.

“Ah… crap.”

Air bubbles left his mouth as he kicked in vain. His heart pounded. The surface was too far now.

He was really going to drown.

Then— he saw something.

No—someone.

You.

Moving through the water like you didn’t even belong to the same world. Like gravity, cold, or logic didn’t apply to you. Eyes glowing. Hair floating like it was alive. Scales faintly shimmering in the moonlight slicing through the sea.

You weren’t smiling. You were just watching.

And you were beautiful. But not in the soft kind of way. In the kind of way that made your chest tighten. Like something inside you said, “Don’t trust it.”

Luffy’s brows furrowed.

“What… the hell is that?”

Your body moved around him slowly. No panic. No rush. Just eyes locked on his like you were reading his thoughts—like you already knew them.

He kept sinking. His hands twitched. No oxygen left. His mouth opened a little, instinctively—then shut again. He knew what that meant.

Still, he didn’t look away from you. Even now.

You spun, slowly, curling around him in the water like a ribbon. Closer. Closer.

You didn’t help. You didn’t hurt. You just waited.

His eyes started to blur, his lips turned pale.

But even then— even with water burning his lungs, fists clenched and floating limp— he looked straight at you, his jaw tight, expression sharp:

“You gonna do something… or what?”

He wasn’t scared. Not the way others would be. Just frustrated. Focused.

And still watching you like you were something he couldn’t figure out yet.

The world was fading around him. Heartbeat slowing. Silence.

And that’s when it was up to you.

Let him drown. Or drag him up.

Because you could feel it— not just his body failing, but the question hanging heavy in the water:

“Are you here to kill me?”

And underneath it… That other thing neither of you said. That pull.