I opened my eyes—
And all I saw was sky. Bright. Blue. Cloudless. It looked like peace carved into color.
I blinked. Where… am I?
"N#@/!$, what are you staring at?"
That voice—teasing, casual, too familiar.
Then another joined in.
"Yeah, what's up? You got someone~?"
And someone elbowed me playfully.
I turned to look.
Smiles. Blurry faces. But the feeling was clear.
I knew them.
I didn't need to see clearly.
These two… they were mine.
Friends.
I almost forgot what warmth felt like.
But then—
The entire world twisted.
Like a page torn out of a beautiful painting.
Suddenly the sky bled into black.
The ground vanished.
I was floating. Alone.
Cold. Quiet.
My heart sank.
What… is this?
Then—
Voices.
"N#@/!$… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"
Layered. Echoing. Trembling.
I turned—
And froze.
A twisted thing. Not right. Not real.
A creature with two heads—
Their heads.
Their faces. Their voices.
But stitched into something monstrous.
Apologizing.
"...N#@/!$… help us… I'm sorry..."
I stepped back. Once. Twice.
Then—
I ran.
"FUCKKKKK—WHAT THE FUCK EVEN IS THAT?!"
I didn't look back.
Heart hammering.
Breath breaking.
I didn't care who or what it used to be.
I was out.
And then—
"BAAAARRRRRRR—"
A goat? A sheep?? What was that sound!?
Then—
My foot slipped.
I fell.
My back hit nothing.
But something grabbed my leg.
TIGHT.
My eyes snapped open—
Back to reality.
Chest rising too fast.
Sweat clinging to my skin.
My heart still screaming.
....
Nexús slowly stirred awake.
The first thing he saw was Luffy's wide, beaming face just inches from his own.
"FUC—"
"Nexús!!" Luffy cut him off, voice full of relief and joy.
Blinking slowly, Nexús realized he was in a bed, tucked under a blanket. His body felt fine, surprisingly light, but there was a phantom ache crawling at the edges of his nerves—like a mosquito buzzing in his skull.
He sat up without much effort, though the lingering pain reminded him of everything he'd gone through. He tried to make sense of it, but his mind was still foggy.
Before he could get a full breath in, Luffy tackled him in a tight hug, like he was afraid to let go. Nexús, half-conscious, half-lost in thought, didn't fight it. His brain was still catching up.
"You made everyone worry," came Zoro's voice from the corner of the room. He scratched the back of his neck and spoke casually, but the sigh he let out betrayed how tense he'd been.
"Thank god you're still alive!" Luffy said, clutching tighter.
"Are you okay?" Nami asked, her expression tight, like she was trying not to cry.
"Ah, thanks."
"THAT'S ALL YOU WANT TO SAY?!" all three of them shouted at once, causing Nexús to nearly jump out of bed from the sheer volume.
"…Huh? What?"
Nexús blinked. Did he… snore or something?
"How long did I sleep?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
Zoro scoffed. "You were out the whole day."
A full day?
No wonder the nightmare felt like a whole damn arc.
"…Oh."
Zoro glared at him like he was gonna pop a blood vessel. "He says 'Oh.' This guy's gonna drive me insane."
Nami, arms crossed, looked away—but not before Nexús noticed the lingering furrow of her brows. She looked... scared. Still.
Luffy had gone quiet, his arms still around Nexús like a lifeline. His grip hadn't loosened since the moment Nexús woke up.
All three of them were thinking the same thing: What if Nexús' heartbeat stopped again?
The room felt heavy with something unspoken.
They thought I wasn't gonna make it... Nexús realized. They were scared...
He offered the only comfort he could, casual as ever: "I'm alive, so you don't have to worry anymore."
His tired, neutral voice didn't help much, especially with his expressionless face that always looked half-done with the world. But he meant it.
The others didn't respond right away.
"I get it," Zoro finally said with a tired shrug.
"Alrighty…" Nami mumbled, giving in.
"Yosh! Nexús said he's fine, so he's fine!" Luffy added with his usual grin, finally letting go. The weight in the room lifted ever so slightly.
Nami placed a bowl of warm porridge in Nexús's hands, her expression softening. He accepted it with zero hesitation and started eating.
Just as he took the first bite—
GULP
A sharp, wet sound made Nexús pause mid-chew.
He slowly turned to his side.
There was Luffy. Sitting next to him. Eyes sparkling. Mouth slightly open.
And drool.
Visible. Dripping.
"…Are you drooling?" Nexús asked, deadpan.
Luffy didn't blink. "I'm hungry…"
"…Didn't you already eat?" Nexús asked suspiciously.
"Shishishi—" Luffy laughed it off, turning his head like a kid who just got caught.
Zoro and Nami exchanged a quick glance but said nothing.
They knew the truth.
They'd been there while Luffy sat by Nexús's side all night, refusing food, ignoring everyone who tried to force him to eat. He hadn't touched a single thing—not until now.
But none of them mentioned it.
It wasn't something that needed to be said aloud.
Nexús sighed and scooped up a spoonful of porridge, holding it out toward Luffy. Like an eager baby bird, Luffy leaned in and chomped it with a contented smile.
Nexús kept feeding him silently, one spoon at a time.
Zoro let out a rare, rough laugh, arms crossed and amused.
Nami stared, both eyebrows raised—but in the end, she only sighed, a small smile tugging at her lips.
None of them brought up the hunger. None of them asked questions. But in their shared silence, something unspoken passed between them.
They'd been scared.
But he was here now.
....
I'm not that kind of person, you know—the kind who doesn't know how to say thank you.
Even if I'm not the best with feelings or words, when people show me kindness, I remember it.
So I opened my mouth, lowered my eyes a bit, and said it sincerely—quiet, but enough to be heard.
"…Thank you, guys."
Silence.
A full five seconds of it.
The room literally froze.
They didn't react because I said it—but because I meant it. And maybe because my expression had softened without me realizing it. People always say I look cold or uninterested, but now?
Now, I saw it in their eyes.
Maybe I looked different to them.
More… human.
Luffy broke the silence first, laughing like he'd just heard the funniest thing all day.
"Ah, it's fine!" Nami waved her hand dismissively, but her eyes sparkled a little. She was touched. I could tell.
Zoro, of course, couldn't just let it slide. "I never expected someone like you knew how to thank people," he teased, smirking like he won something.
I raised an eyebrow at him, deadpan. "Oh, thanks for letting me know. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known either."
His smirk twitched into something more annoyed.
Score: Nexús 1, Zoro 0.
Now I think understand Sanji.
It's fun.
While all this was happening, I noticed something strange: Luffy's eyes had been glued to the bowl in my hand this entire time. The porridge. The same bowl he already had a few bites from earlier when I fed him.
His pupils sparkled like a puppy who just saw a steak on the table.
Then—
"Ne, Nexús… do you still need that porridge?"
I turned slowly toward him.
He was already salivating. His eyes glimmered with desperation. The kind of stare that should be illegal in most countries.
Drip.
Drop.
I sighed.
This is what it feels like to have a younger brother, huh…?
I handed him the bowl.
Luffy took it eagerly and scooped a spoonful into his mouth.
Then—he paused.
His smile faded.
His head tilted to the side like a confused puppy.
He took another spoonful, chewed slowly.
"…Weird."
I narrowed my eyes. "What?"
Luffy blinked. "Eh? It doesn't taste as good as before…"
"…What do you mean?"
"It's different! It doesn't taste right. Not bad, but not good like earlier."
He looked so genuinely disappointed, I almost felt bad.
Then the man shamelessly handed the bowl back to me.
"Feed me again, Nexús!"
I blinked. "What?"
Before I could process, my hand already moved on instinct.
Scoop.
I brought the spoon to his mouth and, like a bird, he opened up and devoured it in one go.
Luffy's eyes lit up like fireworks.
"OUHHH! It tastes like before again!"
I stared blankly at the wall behind him.
Did my brain just leave the atmosphere for a second?
"Feed me again, Nexús!"
Scoop.
"Aaah—"
What the hell is happening? I asked myself, but my hand kept scooping and feeding him automatically. Like I was possessed.
He looks like a hamster.
Zoro and Nami were just… watching.
Their eyes were wide, mouths slightly open. Like they were witnessing aliens trying to abduct a duck.
Zoro finally muttered, "Does his hand taste that good?"
Nami, deadpan. "I don't want to know the answer to that."
And yet—I still fed Luffy.
Again and again until there's none for me.damn the porridge was for me but—sigh