Ever since the Red-Haired Pirates docked, a year had passed. No one knew why they had stayed for so long, but no one dared to ask, fearing it might offend them but maybe except Luffy and Lucas who found it to hassles so stayed silent. Even then, they would sometimes go into voyage for few weeks before coming back to settle here.
Lucas found it strange that his grandfather had not returned even once throughout that entire year. He can chalk it up to Garp being too busy or too lazy, but his sense telling him something it's not right and it was only natural for his suspicion to arise toward Shanks and his crew.
However, he quickly pushed those thoughts aside when he saw that they caused no trouble in the village. For that alone, he felt at ease. He did not want to be disappointed for placing his trust in the wrong people.
"What are you looking at?"
A voice from behind shattered the boy's thoughts. The black-haired child shifted his gaze away from the silver butterfly perched on the crown of the flower.
Lucas blinked and looked up, tilting his head slightly. "A butterfly. Why are you here?" he asked, glancing toward the room where Shanks and Luffy were talking.
"Seeing you crouching in front of a flower without moving made you look lonely, so I came to keep you company." Benn Beckman, the first mate of the Red-Haired Pirates, replied as he exhaled smoke from his cigarette.
"I'm not lonely… Makino should've told you that I do this often when I'm thinking." Lucas answered in a calm tone, blinking as he returned his attention to the butterfly that still hadn't flown away.
"Heh? Now I'm curious. What could a kid like you possibly be thinking about so seriously?" Benn pushed himself off the bar wall and walked closer, crouching beside Lucas.
Lucas fell silent. He didn't know how to answer. It wasn't as though he was thinking about anything particularly important—he simply didn't know how to explain something so unreasonable, like the feeling of incompleteness that constantly lingered deep within his mind.
Benn watched the ruby-eyed boy as he took another drag of his cigarette. From the very beginning, he had been curious about Lucas's personality. The way he spoke when they first docked—polite, yet edged with sharpness and a blunt, unmistakable threat. Not all pirates would let such provocation slide, and then there the confidence still he held after hearing their answer.
Was that true confidence, childish recklessness, or false bravery?
Benn blinked, glancing up at the distant sky while keeping his expression neutral.
Then there was his quiet nature—it acted like a barrier between himself and others. It was as if the boy had a world of his own, one that only those who earned his trust could enter. It was clear in the way he only took initiative to speak with Luffy, Makino, and a few villagers. Because with strangers, Lucas would simply watch in silence and waiting for them to speak first.
Shifting his gaze back down, Benn found Lucas still looking downward—only to be met with a pair of crimson eyes, like polished rubies. The boy's gaze pierced through him, as if stripping away his secrets one by one to pass judgment.
What… is this feeling!?
A drop of sweat slid down Benn's temple. For a moment, it felt as though he had come face-to-face with a predator—his combat instincts nearly activating on their own. His hand clenched inside his pocket, restraining himself from instinctively reaching for his pistol.
"Benn-san…" Lucas's voice broke the silence that had unknowingly settled between them. He turned his gaze back to the flower.
"Have you ever felt like you've lost something… and you want to get it back, but when you look around, you can't find what it is that's making you feel that way?" he asked, his expression complicated and voice low.
"Have you ever felt a call from the deepest part of your mind and heart—screaming without sound, leaving behind a hollow echo as proof that it exists? Makino says it's my intuition." Lucas paused for a moment.
Benn's expression shifted at those words. His lips parted, wanting to respond, but his voice died in his throat.
"Benn-san, as a pirate… you and your crew should have sharp instincts, right? If your intuition strongly told you to follow something—would you go where it leads, or ignore it?"
Benn closed his mouth, took a drag from his cigarette, and exhaled before answering. "I'd follow it." Lucas lifted his head slightly, silently asking for more.
"Because sometimes… we end up regretting it if we don't follow what our heart tells us. Even if that intuition leads us into danger or nothing at all, at least we won't have to live with regret someday." His eyes remained on Lucas, trying to understand what lay behind that boy's thoughts.
"…"
Silence fell between them once more.
"I can feel it—something inside me," Lucas finally spoke, his voice like a whisper carried by the wind, bearing a hidden truth.
"I don't know what it is exactly… but it feels like it's trying to guide me somewhere." He paused, then slowly raised his hand, pointing toward the distant southwest horizon over the sea.
"They want to return… they're asking me to come and retrieve them, and… then I'll be complete."
Tak— the cigarette slipped from Benn's fingers. A chilling sensation pierced through his body, crawling down his spine as an unseen dread wrapped around him, tightening like a vice. Never would've he thought anyone other than Shanks can made him feels it.
Lucas blinked, startled by the crack in Benn's composure. He was about to ask if something was wrong—when suddenly, his vision went white, for a second, his mind blank, flash of image appear before it gone and blood slowly trickled from his nose.
"Lu—" he muttered under his breath before quickly standing up. He wiped the blood with his sleeve in an familiar motion after noticing it and hurried toward where Luffy was.
"Wait—kid!" Benn called out, snapping out of his daze. He had caught sight of the blood and felt a surge of concern. However seeing Lucas seems to be in hurry Benn decided to follow him feeling curious; wondering what made the kid lose his composure.
Lucas ignored him, his focus now fixed on his reckless twin brother who was no doubt about to do something dangerously foolish. He pushed through the crowd gathered in front of Red Force, his eyes immediately locking onto Luffy figure and without any hesitation, he shouted his twin's full name with sharp anger dripping from his voice—
"Monkey D. Luffy!"