Coby, a young Marine recruit, carries a secret he can't tell anyone: he's been in love with Luffy ever since the day Luffy saved him on Buggy's ship. Every day at the Marine base, Coby trains hard and tries not to think about it — but the feeling won't go away.
Things get complicated when a cool, popular senior officer named Arashi transfers to his base. Arashi sees right through Coby and says, 'You're in love with that pirate, aren't you?' Then he adds, 'I'm interested in you.' Suddenly Coby h
Ripples in the Wake — Coby's Secret - The Confession of the Storm-Bringing Senior
That resolve from last night still lived in his chest.
*Starting tomorrow, I'll give it everything* — that's what he'd thought before falling asleep. Yet when he woke, his body felt heavy. Still, Koby climbed down from the upper bunk, put on his glasses, and set out into the still-dim corridor.
Tuesday mornings always had fewer people around.
When he arrived at the training grounds — Grand Zero, the 200-meter square drill field that the base's apprentices called "Rosso Plaza" — the sky was still a mixture of orange and navy blue. The smell of salt was thick. The morning wind blowing from the eastern sea was cold, and Koby rubbed his arms lightly.
*(Let's do this.)*
Yesterday's combat training had ended with Koby being thrown three times in a row. The petty officer had told him to "start over from the basics." A test paper marked 63 points was shoved deep into his bag. And yet he'd come here anyway. For that alone, he felt he could give himself a little credit.
First, he spread his feet and took the basic stance. Right foot back half a step, lowering his center of gravity. He repeated the weight transfer slowly, thinking about why he'd been knocked down yesterday. But — something felt off immediately. When he shifted right, his left heel kept lifting. Why? He couldn't plant himself firmly.
"There — your heel's floating."
A voice came out of nowhere, and Koby's stance collapsed.
He turned around.
A man stood at the entrance to the training grounds.
— *Tall.*
That was his first impression. At least 190 centimeters, with black hair tied back in a single knot. His body, wrapped in the Navy's white uniform, was lean and muscular without an ounce of waste, a sword at his hip. His face was refined, and silver eyes that revealed no emotion looked straight at Koby. It wasn't that his expression was blank — it was more like all his emotions were stored away inside, leaving only stillness.
The man offered no greeting. He simply walked across the stone pavement toward the center of Grand Zero.
Somewhere along the way, the other apprentices who'd been doing morning practice nearby had stopped moving too. Someone whispered. "Isn't that the transferred senior?" "I heard he uses a sword." "They said he came from headquarters." — Hushed voices spread.
The man — Arashi — didn't look at anyone. He simply unsheathed his sword from his hip, holding it in one hand. And then, quietly, he began his forms.
— *Fast.*
Koby's eyes narrowed involuntarily.
Each time the blade moved, wind sang. From that tall frame exceeding 180 centimeters, each strike followed the textbook form — and yet was something entirely different. It wasn't about strength. The precision and speed were on another level. There was no hesitation in any movement, no disorder in any footwork. The blade tip traveled the shortest distance to the next stance. The continuous flow of it was beautiful, like a single painting.
Before he knew it, Koby and all the other apprentices had stopped moving entirely.
Arashi's blade came to rest.
*Click* — the sound of the sword sliding into its sheath echoed across the morning plaza.
For a moment, no one could move. Then someone whispered, "Amazing..." and a murmur rippled through the apprentices. "That speed was real?" "I can't do that form properly." "The training volume is just different." — Multiple voices rose.
Arashi didn't look at the apprentices at all. He returned his sword to his hip and began walking. The apprentices naturally parted to let him through. Koby tried to step aside too — when.
Arashi stopped directly in front of Koby.
All the other apprentices had passed by. Only Koby.
Silver eyes looked down at him.
"You know Luffy, don't you?"
Koby's mind went blank for a moment.
*(What?)*
The voices of the apprentices around him stopped abruptly. Everyone was looking at Koby and Arashi.
"N-no, that's not it, um, you must have me confused with someone else..."
His voice cracked. This was the worst. He was definitely caught. But he had no choice but to deny it. Military Regulation Article 17 — Navy personnel were forbidden from having private contact with pirates. If discovered, demotion or discharge. Luffy was a pirate with a bounty from the World Government, captain of the Straw Hat crew.
Arashi's expression didn't change.
"I come from a military family in the East Blue. I know the rumors from the lower seas well. When you escaped from the Alvida Pirates, the fact that you traveled with that straw hat boy became something of a story in certain circles."
Koby felt the blood drain from his face.
He'd been found out. And in detail.
"One more thing — I'm also interested in that straw hat."
With just that, Arashi walked away.
Koby stood frozen. He could feel the gazes of the apprentices around him gathering. "Looks like the senior's got his eye on him." "Straw hat? Like the pirate?" — he heard the voices. Even hearing them, he didn't know how to respond.
*(Interested, what does that mean? About the straw hat — about Luffy. Why would the senior be interested in Luffy?)*
His head spun. Without finding an answer, the morning training bugle sounded.
＊
When Koby came out of the dining hall Camarelia in the evening after afternoon classes, Arashi was standing in the corridor.
He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, waiting. Whether he was waiting for Koby or just happened to be there, Koby couldn't tell. But the moment those eyes turned straight toward him, he knew there was no escape.
"Can you spare time this evening? I'll give you some training."
Koby searched for a reason to refuse but found none.
"...Yes."
As the sun began to tilt toward evening over Rosso Plaza, training began — just the two of them.
Arashi didn't waste words from the start. "Take your stance." "Move." "Stop." — he advanced the training with only short instructions. Each time Koby moved, Arashi watched, paused briefly, then pointed out the problem in a single phrase.
"Your center of gravity's too far right. You can't plant yourself, so you get thrown."
"Ah, um, how should I...?"
"Drop your back heel. Don't let it float."
Koby tried it as instructed. And then — his body suddenly stabilized. His center of gravity dropped, and he felt connected to the ground. Same stance, completely different.
*(This is it.)*
Koby's eyes widened. Something he hadn't noticed even after repeating it all yesterday was solved in a single sentence.
"Again. This time, focus on your weight transfer."
He repeated. And repeated again.
Arashi quietly demanded the same thing until Koby's feet began to remember it. He didn't get angry. He didn't rush. He simply watched accurately and pointed out accurately. When Koby failed, Arashi just said "Again." And in that "Again," there was no irritation, no exasperation.
Gradually, his body's movements changed.
During a training break while drinking water, Arashi spoke quietly.
"My family has been military for generations. I was raised in an environment where showing emotion on your face was considered weakness."
Koby looked up in surprise. Why was he saying this, with no connection to anything?
"When you show emotion, people think you're weak. So I got into the habit of putting everything inside. I'm still like that."
As he spoke, Arashi's eyes looked somewhere distant.
After thinking for a moment, Koby said quietly.
"...I can't put my feelings into words very well either. They always get stuck, come out wrong."
"I see."
It was a short reply, but not a denial. For some reason, something inside Koby loosened a little at just that.
They resumed training. When Arashi corrected Koby's body position, he placed a hand on his shoulder to adjust the angle. The distance became closer. Each time, Koby felt his heart rate rise slightly.
*(This is just training fatigue. It has to be. My pulse is fast because I've been running.)*
Telling himself this, Koby became increasingly awkward. Every time Arashi glanced at him, he looked away. When their shoulders touched, he went stiff.
Whether Arashi noticed or was ignoring it — his expression remained unchanged.
＊
As the sun approached the horizon, Rosso Plaza began to glow orange.
"That's enough for today."
"Thank you so much!"
Koby bowed deeply. He truly meant it. Over the course of one day, he could feel his body's use of force in combat had changed. Things he hadn't understood at all yesterday had taken shape, even if only slightly.
Arashi passed by Koby.
Koby thought he was leaving. He was about to watch his back go — when Arashi stopped.
Still facing away, he spoke quietly.
"You like Luffy, don't you?"
Koby froze.
"Romantically."
Heat rushed from his neck to the top of his head. His ears were definitely red.
"N-no, that's not, I mean, that person's a pirate and I'm Navy and that's, um, well—"
Words tumbled out in fragments. They wouldn't come together. They couldn't. Military Regulation Article 17. Pirate. Forbidden. But before all that, he just wanted to do something about his burning face.
Arashi turned around.
For the first time, Koby felt he was really seeing him — those eyes, that face that wasn't smiling, those eyes that weren't smiling, but held something else.
"I'm also... interested. In you."
Koby's mind went white.
*(What?)*
*(What did he just say?)*
Arashi turned his face away as if nothing had happened and began walking. His back receded into the distance. The 190-centimeter shadow of black hair disappeared into the orange light.
Koby couldn't move.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
Then, before he knew it, he was running full-speed toward the Treno building.
He kicked off the stone pavement, raced through the corridors, threw open the door to room B-12, and threw himself face-first onto his bed. He buried his face in the pillow and kicked his legs frantically. No one was in the room. Good. Good that no one saw.
"What is wrong with that person...!!"
He shouted into the pillow. His voice came out muffled.
But.
With his face still buried in the pillow, Koby closed his eyes. His kicking gradually subsided.
Luffy's face floated into his mind.
Straw hat. That carefree smile. "You can definitely become a Navy officer, I know it" — that voice echoed again.
I like Luffy. I know that. But I don't understand what "like" means. Is it admiration? Is it love? Is it gratitude for being saved? Whenever he tried to name it, it always slipped away.
And Arashi's "interested" was supposed to be something completely different. Yet somehow, the same place ached.
Koby pressed his face harder into the pillow and took a deep breath.
He couldn't sort it out. Neither feeling, nor what either of them meant — nothing made sense.
Outside the window, he heard the sound of waves. The East Blue's night waves were gentle, washing against the stone wall in a steady rhythm: *splash, splash*. Beyond that sea, Luffy was out there. Thinking about it made his chest tighten.
He wouldn't sleep tonight either, Koby thought.
There was one more feeling he had to face.
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