Daughter of the Sea (One Piece Live Action)

EPISODE 6 THE MAN WITH THE SWORD

A/N: Another long chapter 'cause you guys deserve it after leaving all those reviews. Truly, they inspire me to continue writing. There's a lot to unpack on this one! Enjoy.

He was tall and pale with contrasting hair, also dragged upon his cheeks and upper lip in a perfectly detailed beard. On his head, a large black hat was adorned with a white feather. Under his long coat he went bare-chested except for a small golden cross hanging from around his neck and, on his back, a large sword glistened under the moonlight.

Most striking were his golden eyes, sharp and hypnotizing as they stared curiously at her. Inside her chest, her heart raced and it took her a moment to find her own voice. A disoriented smile appeared on her face.

"H-How do you know that?" she asked, her voice quivered a little. She frowned with nervousness. "Have- have we met before?" If she wasn't utterly impressed by his sudden appearance, she would've remembered that in fact although they had not, she had once seen his face in the archives of Greymoore.

The man with the mysterious aura smiled faintly. His gaze sharp and piercing, almost glowing in the dark, scanned her, while a shiver traveled through her arms with the cold wind.

"My eyes can see everything," he replied cryptically, "and I would recognize the Daughter of the Sea a mile away."

"What... does that mean, exactly?" She tilted her head, before taking a step his way, almost in a trance.

He regarded her thoughtfully, before meeting her halfway in the action. He took one step and then another, and then another, until he stood right in front, looking down at her. Coral contained her breath. Her feet seemed stuck to the ground, and for a moment she wondered if she was being hypnotized again.

"There are two races" He began, "that dwell beneath the sea and the sky: that of men and the race of fishmen... Yet I see in you, Daughter of the Sea, an otherwise ordinary human yet holding a connection that transcends their boundaries." Coral felt lost both in the meaning of his words, "That's intriguing," he muttered.

Too suddenly, the man retreated and dropped his head low. She took a step back to make sure she was seeing correctly in the dark. Was he... bowing at her?

Coral pinched her nose bridge, wondering whether Doctor Ron had mistaken the second dose, or if she had imagined ever taking any of it and this was another hallucination. No, it couldn't be it, because this man was no memory. She was certain of it. This man-

She looked back up but before she could ask him another question, the striking figure seemed to have dissolved into the moonlight, gone as fast as he had appeared. Coral was left stunned standing by the pier, her previous calm demeanor, disturbed by the goosebumps in her arms. She hugged herself, looking around. Not a soul in sight.

Gorgeous... She thought as she absentmindedly walked the pier thinking about the apparition that might have simply been a mirage of the sea, like those that brought sailors to meet their demise as they were pulled into the depths of the sea by unnamed creatures. 

Walking directionless thinking about how the man had suddenly left, how as she reached for her chest her heart was still racing, she didn't realize when she arrived at the open bar zone of Baratie. Coral blinked at the area filled with night customers and with a vacillating step on her feet immersed herself into the crowd, careful not to push people around while looking over her shoulder all the time.

"Coral!" She flinched before spotting Usopp dancing to the lively music with all his usual enthusiasm, in the middle of the dance floor. He waved at her, but she simply smiled and rushed at a table, where by the corner of her eye she saw Nami and Zoro were seated. She didn't feel like dancing.