The treehouse was unusually quiet.
Not the kind of quiet that meant peace—but the kind that meant gears were turning in two heads far too full for comfort.
Luffy sat with his back against the wall, knees up, fingers drumming on a half-empty smoothie jar. Gwen lay on her stomach across the floorboards, her sketchpad open, chewing absently on the back of her pen.
"So," she said, voice calm but thin, "we agree?"
"No hospitals. No adults. No government labs. No creepy billionaires," Luffy replied without looking up.
Gwen nodded. "It's just us."
They clinked juice boxes together like knights sealing a pact.
She took a deep breath, flipped to a clean page, and wrote at the top in bold, blocky letters:
CALIBRATION WEEK – DAY ONE
"Sounds scientific," Luffy said.
"It sounds like we're not freaking out."
He smirked. "Even though we definitely are."
Gwen: Trial One
"Okay," Gwen said, hopping to her feet. "Spider-Person Field Test 1.0."
Luffy raised an eyebrow. "That's a name."
"It's a working name."
She backed up to the edge of the treehouse platform. Took a breath.
Then jumped—grabbing a rafter with both hands and swinging up effortlessly, clinging upside down.
Luffy gave a low whistle. "Ten out of ten on dramatic flair."
"Focus," she muttered, crawling across the beam with her hands and feet splayed like a ceiling lizard.
Halfway across, she wobbled.
"Coordination's not perfect," she called. "Feels like my fingers want to stick harder than my legs."
"You're doing better than day one," Luffy said. "If you fall, aim for the mat."
"There's no mat, Luffy."
"That's what makes it a challenge."
She grunted. "You're enjoying this."
"Absolutely."
Gwen leapt from the beam and landed in a crouch on the far end of the platform. A few loose papers fluttered under her boots. She stood and looked at her hands.
"Still weird," she said. "Still… not me."
"But it is," Luffy said quietly.
She looked up at him.
He nodded. "You just haven't figured out how it fits yet."
Reflex Test
Next: reflexes.
Luffy tossed three empty soda cans at her, spaced by half-seconds.
Gwen moved fast. Too fast.
She swatted the first out of the air with the back of her hand, spun mid-step, and kicked the second. The third she caught in her teeth.
"Okay," she mumbled through the can. "That's new."
"You're a monster," Luffy said, wide-eyed.
"I'm a ballerina with a black belt."
"Same thing."
They laughed. She dropped the can and jotted a note in her Power Journal:
Reflexes: borderline superhuman. Like playing life in bullet time.
"Spider-sense?" Luffy asked.
Gwen paused.
She closed her eyes. Waited. Breathed.
"Sometimes it buzzes. Like a tension in my skull."
"Now?"
She opened one eye. "Nope. You're safe."
"Dang. I was hoping it'd warn you about bad jokes."
"It's not that powerful."
Luffy: Trial Two
"My turn," he said, standing and cracking his knuckles.
Gwen stepped back and flipped to a fresh page. "Stretch Test 1.0."
"Again with the branding."
"Shut up and stretch, Mr. Gumdrop."
Luffy took a stance. Focused.
He reached one arm toward a tree branch about ten feet out. His fingers trembled, then extended—smooth, controlled, almost beautiful.
Snap! They latched on. He pulled himself forward like a human slingshot.
Then overshot, bounced off a hanging rope, and spun mid-air like a deflating balloon.
He landed flat on his back with a thump.
"Ow," he muttered.
Gwen peeked over the edge. "You good?"
"Define 'good.'"
"Not dead."
"Then I'm good."
Elasticity and Error
Back on the platform, he tried again—smaller scale.
He stretched his fingers individually. Watched them warp and return.
His body had limits, but they weren't where they used to be.
Gwen noticed how still he was. Focused. His powers weren't loud. They didn't sparkle or scream.
They breathed.
"Any other weirdness?" she asked.
"My skin's harder to bruise. And I bounce if I don't brace. Like—literally bounce."
He demonstrated, hopping gently on the balls of his feet. His legs compressed like springs and lifted him a little too high.
"Also," he added, stretching his arm out and snapping it back, "I accidentally slapped myself earlier."
She snorted. "That's going in the journal."
The First Fall
They moved into sparring—light, playful. Gwen tried sneaking up invisible. Luffy sensed her at the last moment, dodged… and tripped on his own leg.
She burst out laughing as he tumbled sideways, knocking over the crate of crackers.
"You have zero spatial awareness," she choked out.
"You have zero chill."
"Fair."
She offered him a hand. He took it, stretched his body upright, and smirked. "This is going to take work."
"Everything worth doing does," Gwen said.
Power Hangover
By midday, they were both dragging.
Gwen slumped on a crate, sipping from a water bottle and blinking like she hadn't slept in days.
Luffy winced as he rolled his shoulder. "Muscles hurt in places I didn't know I had."
"Wall-crawling burns like seven million calories," Gwen muttered. "I want to die and eat a sandwich."
They decided to start a second page in the Power Journal:
Side Effects & Cooldowns
Gwen: lightheadedness, hearing overload, sticky fingers at wrong moments
Luffy: sore joints, delayed recoil lag, face-stretch regret
Smoothie of Destiny
To recover, Luffy unveiled his secret weapon: the "Power Formula Smoothie."
"You put what in this?" Gwen asked, staring at the murky drink.
"Peanut butter, banana, kale, cocoa, almond milk, and a pinch of sea salt."
"That sounds disgusting."
He shrugged. "It works."
She sniffed it. "If I puke on your shoes, it's your fault."
"You'll thank me later."
She took a sip. Grimaced. Then blinked. "...Okay, that's annoyingly good."
"Told you."
They clinked jars in celebration.
The Big Realization
As the sun dipped behind the trees, they sat quietly. Gwen scribbled diagrams in the Journal. Luffy fixed a loose wire on the sensor grid.
"We're not just messing around anymore," Luffy said finally.
Gwen paused, looked over.
"We're becoming something else. Stronger. Not normal."
She nodded. "It's weird. But it doesn't feel wrong."
"It feels like… the start of something we can't walk away from."
Gwen flipped to a clean page.
She wrote in bold:
Day One: Calibration Begins.
Then underlined it twice.