Two arms slowly wrapped around my chest from behind.
Kalifa rested her chin against my shoulder.
"hmmm....."
Her voice was quiet.
Still carrying the softness of sleep.
"What's the matter, George?"
I didn't turn.
For a few seconds, I simply watched the sea.
Then I spoke.
"Kalifa...."
"Hm?"
"Have you ever wondered what it would feel like..."
I paused.
"...to spread your hand toward the horizon and have everything in sight... and beyond...
I raised mine slightly.
"Resting in your palm?"
Her arms around me loosened slightly.
"Wha..?"
I smiled faintly.
"They say it's the boundary of the world."
I shook my head.
"It isn't."
"It's just the place we haven't reached yet."
I continued staring ahead.
"To stand anywhere like this..."
"The sea in front of you. The sky above you."
"And know that everything beyond that horizon belongs to you."
She was silent for a while.
I could feel the confusion growing behind me.
"Not just this island."
"Not just this sea."
"Everything."
My fingers slowly tightened around the railing.
"Have you ever thought about what it would feel like to..."
I looked toward the distant line where the sea met the sky.
"The horizon is strange."
"No matter how far you travel..."
"It always stays ahead of you."
A small smile touched my lips.
"Illusive."
"Always there."
"Always beyond your reach."
Kalifa became quiet.
Then,
"George..."
Her voice sounded different.
A little nervous.
"You're scaring me."
I blinked.
I could hear the uncertainty in her voice.
"I don't understand what you're talking about."
I didn't answer immediately.
Instead, I reached into my robe.
And pulled out a letter.
I held it behind me.
Kalifa hesitated before taking it.
Her fingers brushed mine.
She looked down.
The moment she saw the seal...
She froze.
The Celestial Dragon sigil.
Her expression changed instantly.
"This...?"
"Read it."
I turned back toward the sea.
She hesitated.
Then opened it.
The sound of paper unfolding seemed strangely loud in the quiet morning.
Behind me, there was silence.
Then another page turned.
Silence and another.
I could hear her breathing becoming uneven.
And then...Nothing.
For several seconds.
I finally heard a faint, shaky breath.
"George..."
I didn't respond.
Her fingers trembled.
The paper rustled softly.
Then I heard her whisper.
"...Is this true?"
Her voice was pale.
"I received it last night."
My voice was quieter now.
"It was sent from Mary Geoise."
A pause.
"It was written by my mother."
The sea breeze passed between us.
"They left a will."
"And that letter was part of it."
Kalifa said nothing.
"My parents..."
I swallowed.
"...died yesterday."
Her breathing stopped.
"The storm caught their vessel somewhere in the Grand Line."
"They couldn't find the ship."
"Not even the bodies."
For the first time since she came outside...
I lowered my eyes.
My hand tightened against the railing.
"When I woke up yesterday..."
"I was still Saint George."
A bitter little smile appeared.
"At least..."
"That's what everyone called me."
I finally turned.
"But the Letter has other plans..."
Kalifa was standing there with the letter in her hands.
Her face had gone pale.
Her eyes were wide.
And there were tears gathering in them.
I looked at her.
"My name..."
I took a slow breath.
"...is Lucas."
She stared at me.
"Lucas..."
Her lips moved silently around the name.
I nodded.
"That's what the letter says."
There was a strange heaviness in my chest.
Not because I had never known the name.
But because... It was my previous name.
A memory.
A name from another life.
And yet somehow...
This one felt different.
Because this was the name my mother had left behind.
"Luke..."
Her voice trembled.
It was the first time she had ever called me that.
Not George.
Not Saint George.
Just Luke.
She simply ran toward me and hugged me.
I froze for a moment.
Then wrapped my arms around her.
Tightly.
"It's okay."
"I'm here."
Her voice was muffled.
"You don't have to be strong right now."
I closed my eyes.
"...Thanks."
We stayed like that.
Then, quietly...I spoke.
"I want the horizon."
Kalifa stiffened.
She slowly lifted her head.
"What?"
I looked into her eyes.
"The horizon."
My voice was steady now.
"That distant edge."
"The line that separates what we can see from everything we can't."
I gently wiped the tears from her cheek.
"I want it."
"The world"
Her eyes widened.
I looked toward the sea again.
"I want to be able to stand anywhere in this world and call it mine"
Her eyes remained fixed on me.
"I'm going to build an empire."
I continued.
Her expression changed.
I could see the uncertainty in her eyes.
"Not some tiny kingdom trapped behind walls."
"Not something built on fear."
"Something that reaches beyond the horizon."
I smiled faintly.
"I want people to look at the sea and wonder what's beyond it."
"Not fear it."
Kalifa stared at me.
There was no hesitation in my voice.
"And I want you in it."
"Not as my assistant."
Kalifa stared at me for several seconds.
Then her expression softened.
"But..."
She hesitated.
"What does that have to do with me?"
I smiled.
"Everything."
A faint smile crossed my face.
"I want you because I trust you."
"More than anyone."
She became quiet.
"So I'm sending you away."
She froze.
"Luke...?!."
Her lips parted slightly.
She looked down.
"I know what I'm asking."
I gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
I looked toward the sea.
"Your own island."
"I've prepared everything."
"You'll go there and build the foundation."
"Money. Accounts. Resources."
"Everything we'll need later."
I looked at her.
"I need someone I can trust with my back."
A pause.
"And I want that person to be you."
"Because I trust you."
I smiled.
Her eyes trembled.
"But..."
I grinned,
"You're going to be my First Queen."
---
Later...
The docks were crowded,
Ships came and went beneath the bright afternoon sun.
Merchants shouted.
Workers carried cargo.
Passengers moved toward the waiting vessels.
I had left the ridiculous Celestial Dragon robes and the bubble helmet behind for this.
Standing here in a plain coat and dark trousers, nobody looked twice at me.
I was just another guy saying goodbye at Sabaody Archipelago.
Kalifa was dressed for the journey.
Her ticket in one hand and the Eternal Pose I'd given her tucked safely inside her jacket pocket.
That little compass was her ticket out, pointing straight to a secluded island far away in Paradise
where Cipher Pol and the World Government would never think to look.
She stood beside me.
Quiet.
For several moments, neither of us spoke.
The ship's crew began preparing for departure.
"You should get on," I said quietly. "They're pulling the ramp soon."
She didn't answer right away.
She walked a few steps toward the gangway, then froze.
I could see the tension in her back and the way her knuckles went white around the handle of her bag.
Then she spun around.
She rushed back to me before I could react, grabbed the front of my jacket, and pulled me down into a kiss.
It was quick, desperate, and totally unguarded, completely unlike the composed agent she always pretended to be.
Almost as fast as she started it, she pulled away.
She looked panicked, like she couldn't believe she'd just done that,
and tried to bolt past me toward the ship.
I caught her wrist.
"Oiii...!" I said, pulling her back before she could run.
She collided softly against my chest, and I wrapped my arms around her waist,
pulling her flush against me.
I leaned in and kissed her properly this time.
No rushed panic, no masks.
Her initial shock melted away almost instantly, her arms coming up around my neck,
holding onto me like she was afraid she'd drown if she let go.
For a solid minute, neither of us cared who was watching on the dock.
We just let everything out the fear, the relief, the feelings we'd both been dancing around for way too long.
When I finally broke the kiss, we were both breathing hard.
Her glasses were slightly crooked, and her eyes were shining with tears s
He was desperately trying to blink them away.
I rested my forehead against hers, my thumb brushing her cheek.
"Take care, darling," I whispered.
"Love you."
She didn't trust her voice to speak.
She just nodded, letting a tear slip down her cheek,
and gave my hand one last, tight squeeze. Then she turned and walked up the gangway onto the ship.
I stood there on the wooden pier as the crew untied the thick mooring lines.
The luxury liner slowly drifted away from Sabaody's massive mangrove roots,
catching the ocean current and heading out toward the open sea.
I kept my eyes on it until the white hull shrank into nothing more than a dot on the horizon.
My chest felt hollow, but my head was clearer than it had ever been.
"Soon," I muttered to myself, my jaw setting tight.
"Very soon."
I pulled my collar up against the wind, buried my hands in my pockets,
and turned around, disappearing into the crowded streets.