The cliffs above Bellpoint were quiet, save for the wind and the sea and a distant, annoying slurp.
Kael Veyne stopped mid-step.
Someone was sitting at the ledge.
Alone.
Barefoot.
Slurping from a coconut with both hands like it was his last meal.
Kael's pulse kicked. That straw hat—tilted back just enough to show the scar under his eye—left no room for doubt.
Monkey D. Luffy.
Sitting maybe ten feet away.
Alone.
Kael stayed perfectly still. No sudden movements. He scanned the area—no swordsman in sight, no sniper in the hills, no cook lurking in a nearby window. Just Luffy and the sound of waves crashing below.
Luffy turned his head, mid-slurp. "Hey."
Kael's hand twitched toward his coat. Not yet. Not here. Not like this.
Luffy squinted at him. "You were watching me in town earlier."
Kael kept his voice even. "I think you're mistaken."
Luffy grinned, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Nah, I remember. You looked all serious, like Zoro when he's lost and pretending he's not."
Kael didn't respond.
Luffy patted the ledge next to him. "You wanna sit?"
"…What?"
"It's a nice view," Luffy said, like that explained everything. "You've got that whole gloomy cloak thing going on. Gotta be exhausting, standing all the time."
Kael hesitated.
He should leave.
He should disappear into the shadows.
Instead, he sat.
Luffy slurped the last of the coconut, crushed the shell with his bare hands, and casually tossed it into the sea.
"You hungry?" he asked. "I got a half-eaten fish sandwich in my pocket. I think Sanji made it. Or maybe I found it."
"…No."
"Suit yourself."
Silence stretched between them. Kael watched the sea. Luffy leaned back, legs swinging off the ledge.
"Y'know," Luffy said after a bit, "you don't look like a bad guy. But you've got that look."
"What look?"
"That 'I'm planning something and maybe regretting my whole life' look."
Kael stiffened. "Do you always say things like that to strangers?"
"Only the interesting ones." Luffy scratched his head. "You got a name?"
Kael didn't answer.
Luffy shrugged. "Okay. Mystery Cloak Guy it is."
Kael glanced sideways. Luffy had closed his eyes, face tilted toward the breeze, like the world wasn't something that could kill him. Like none of this mattered.
"You're alone," Kael said.
"Nope." Luffy grinned without opening his eyes. "My crew's just somewhere else. But we'll meet back up later. We always do."
"You're not even worried?"
Luffy cracked one eye open. "Why would I be? They're strong. I'm strong. If something happens, we punch it."
Kael blinked. "That's your strategy?"
Luffy nodded seriously. "Yep. Punch it first, think later. Usually works out."
Kael opened his mouth, closed it, then muttered, "Unbelievable."
"You're not the first person to say that." Luffy stretched, arms overhead. "I like the ocean at night. It's big and loud and it doesn't care who you are. That's kinda cool, right?"
"…You talk a lot."
Luffy smiled. "Only when people don't."
Kael looked back at the sea.
For once, he didn't have anything to write down. No calculations. No weak point. No strategy.
Just noise. Wind. A captain who acted like a child and still carried the weight of the sea on his back.
Kael stood. He couldn't sit here any longer. Something about Luffy's presence made the inside of his skull itch—like plans unraveling before they were even made.
"I should go."
Luffy didn't stop him. Didn't even open his eyes.
"See ya around, Mystery Cloak Guy," he said, yawning. "Try the mangoes in town. They're great."
Kael hesitated.
Then walked into the dark without another word.
Later, in his loft, Kael opened his notebook. Flipped to Luffy's page.
Stared.
Then wrote:
Not perceptive in the traditional sense, but dangerously intuitive.
Talks nonsense—sometimes hits the truth by accident.
Approaches strangers with zero fear.
Possibly the most unpredictable human alive.
Cannot be anticipated by logic.
Kael put the pen down.
And for the first time since taking the job, he wondered—what the hell am I chasing?