"It's been almost two days. Why hasn't he woken up?"
Inside a simple wooden room, a young woman with green hair sat beside the bed, watching the unconscious boy beneath the sheets. Dark circles had begun forming beneath her eyes, and the chair pulled close to the bedside suggested she had been there for quite some time.
The boy looked no older than ten. He had dark hair, a round face, a small button nose, and dry, cracked lips. A bandage covered his forehead, while several red spots were scattered across his tanned skin. Beneath the sheets, more bandages wrapped around his body, though bruises of different sizes could still be seen between them.
"Makino?"
A familiar hoarse voice came from outside the room.
Makino turned as the door opened, revealing a short old man wearing glasses.
"Mayor..." she greeted quietly.
Woop Slap stepped inside and approached the bed. His gaze moved from the unconscious boy to Makino before he gently patted her shoulder.
"Don't worry too much, Makino. You'll make yourself sick if you keep this up."
Makino didn't answer. She simply looked back at the boy.
Woop Slap followed her gaze and sighed. Almost two days had passed since Gyoru carried the child into the village, yet they still knew almost nothing about him. They didn't know his name, where he had come from, how he had ended up near Foosha Village, or what had happened to leave him covered in injuries.
Just then, the boy's eyelids twitched.
His brows tightened, and his face twisted in his sleep.
Makino immediately leaned forward.
"Mayor, did you see that? He's waking up!"
She rose from her chair as Woop Slap stepped closer to the bed.
"Hmm."
A moment later, the boy's eyes snapped open.
"DAD!! MOM!! SISTER!!"
He shot upright so suddenly that Makino flinched. His chest heaved as he struggled to breathe, his eyes wide while tears streamed down his face.
"Hey—"
Makino quickly leaned forward and pulled him into her arms.
The boy froze at the sudden embrace. His entire body trembled as his rough breathing continued.
"It's okay..." Makino whispered, gently rubbing his back. "You're safe now. It's okay."
For several seconds, he didn't respond. Then his trembling hands slowly rose and clutched her clothes.
"Dad..."
His voice cracked.
"Mom... Sister..."
More tears ran down his face as Makino held him a little tighter.
Woop Slap remained beside the bed and placed a hand on the boy's head.
"Easy, boy. You're safe here. Take a deep breath. You're injured, so don't force yourself."
"Mayor's right," Makino added softly. "Just rest for now."
Little by little, the boy's breathing slowed and his trembling eased. After a while, he finally raised his head from Makino's embrace and looked at the two people beside him.
His gaze first settled on the old man before moving toward the woman holding him.
'They look familiar...'
He tried to remember where he had seen them before, but the harder he searched through his thoughts, the more difficult it became to grasp anything clearly.
Ling eventually gave up and looked around the room instead. Wooden walls surrounded him, warm sunlight entered through a nearby window, and none of the furniture looked familiar.
"Where..."
His voice came out weak and hoarse.
Makino looked down at him as Ling swallowed and tried again.
"Where am I?"
---
Not long ago, Ling had been sitting on a plane headed for Japan, resting comfortably against his seat while white clouds stretched beyond the window beside him.
It was a trip he had been looking forward to for a long time. Ling had always wanted to travel—to visit places he'd only seen through a screen, taste food he'd never tried before, experience different cultures, and simply see more of the world.
Japan was supposed to be the beginning.
With several hours still remaining before arrival, Ling lowered his gaze toward the manga in his hands. It was One Piece, his favorite manga.
He had read the story again and again, yet somehow he never got tired of it.
Ling flipped another page.
The plane suddenly shook.
His hand stopped over the manga.
"Hm?"
Another tremor followed, stronger than the first. Ling raised his head and looked around the cabin, noticing several other passengers doing the same as quiet murmurs spread between the rows.
"What's going on?"
He set the manga down and grabbed the armrest.
A few seconds later, the pilot's voice came through the speakers.
"We're currently experiencing turbulence. Everyone, please remain calm and stay seated."
Ling released a breath.
'Just turbulence...'
Planes experienced turbulence all the time. There shouldn't have been anything unusual about it.
At least, that was what he told himself.
The shaking continued and quickly grew stronger. Ling's fingers tightened around the armrest as another heavy tremor passed through the cabin.
'This doesn't feel normal...'
He turned toward the window.
His eyes widened.
One of the plane's wings was on fire.
"...Oh my God."
Ling stared at the flames. He knew almost nothing about airplanes, but even an idiot could understand that a burning wing was very bad.
Other passengers noticed moments later.
"What the hell?!"
"The wing is on fire!"
"Someone do something!"
The quiet murmurs immediately turned into frightened shouting. Passengers called for help, some grabbed the people sitting beside them, and others simply stared through the windows at the flames.
Ling leaned back against his seat as his hands began to tremble.
'I guess this is it...'
A bitter smile appeared on his face. He had finally gone traveling for the first time in his life, and he couldn't even reach his first destination.
'Seriously? What kind of luck is that?'
Ling opened his mouth.
"Better tha—"
BOOM!!
An explosion swallowed the rest of his sentence.
Screams filled the cabin as the plane shook violently. Metal groaned around him, luggage burst from the overhead compartments, and Ling's body was thrown sideways against his seat. Everything spun so quickly that he couldn't tell which direction was up or down.
Then the screams began to grow distant. Even the violent shaking became harder to feel as Ling's thoughts slowed.
'What a shitty life...'
Everything went dark.
---
There was no light, sound, or sense of direction.
Ling didn't know how long he had been there. A few seconds might have passed, or perhaps minutes, hours, days, or even years.
'I can't see anything...'
Ling tried to move, but nothing happened. He tried again with the same result before noticing something even stranger.
He couldn't feel anything. It felt almost like he was floating somewhere without actually falling.
'Where am I?'
After some time, another question came to mind.
'What happened?'
Ling tried to remember, but his memories were blurry and distant. He knew there should have been more, yet whenever he reached for something, it seemed to slip away.
Then something even more troubling occurred to him.
'Who am I?'
He couldn't answer.
Ling remained in the darkness until a fragment of memory finally surfaced.
The explosion surfaced first, followed by his memories of One Piece.
The story remained strangely clear in his mind.
'I was...'
Ling tried to remember what had happened before the explosion, but nothing else came.
He tried to move again, but nothing happened. More strangely, there was no pain.
'That's strange...'
He had been caught in an explosion. There should have been burns, broken bones, or something else wrong with him, yet he couldn't feel a single injury.
Actually, he couldn't properly feel his body at all.
'Is this what sudden death feels like?'
Ling had no idea, and there certainly wasn't anyone around to ask.
After a while, he stopped trying to understand where he was and simply allowed himself to drift through the darkness. It felt somewhat like floating in water, except there was no cold, no current, and no need to breathe.
'This feeling...'
Ling stopped trying to move.
'It's actually kind of soothing.'
As time passed, Ling simply relaxed and allowed the stillness to surround him.
Eventually, he searched through his memories again.
Only the explosion remained, along with his unusually clear memories of One Piece. Everything beyond that was vague and difficult to grasp.
'I feel empty...'
Ling tried reaching for something else, but the memories slipped away before he could grasp them.
'Why can't I remember?'
He tried several more times before giving up. Whatever had happened to his memories, he couldn't figure it out.
Strangely enough, he wasn't sure he wanted to anymore.
This place was quiet and comfortable. Compared to simply drifting here, struggling to remember everything felt like too much trouble.
'Maybe staying here wouldn't be so bad...'