***

I was at this place again. The same place where I met my other half. I had the same sensation as before here. I could feel the others moving and speaking around me but I couldn't do anything to tell them that I was here. I was trapped in my own body.

The place was the same. Darkness everywhere. I was just standing here in the middle of nothingness or more like my head.

"Where are you?" I asked out loud, looking around in search of the other me.

"There, Luffy," I heard someone replied behind me and I turned around to face this person. And here he was there. Standing, his hands behind his back and a smirk on his face. "Good to see you again," he told me and I walked to him, an angry look on my face.

"What the hell did you do to my friend?" I spat at his face, gripping his front shirt. He didn't try to push me away, no, he continued to smirk at me.

"Calum already explained it to you, didn't he?" He asked me and I glared at him.

"Undo it," I ordered him, "Wake Ken up."

"I can't do that. Sorry," he told me but he didn't look sorry to me. "Ken is a really intelligent boy and being an oracle, he saw things that nobody did and he met people who nobody ever knew about. He was a real danger for my future plan and he was also your only hope to find out who I am so I needed to get rid of him. But you know, as I don't have enough power to kill him, I just put him to sleep."

"Why are you doing that?" I asked him. "You said that you are not afraid of me and that you didn't think that I could stop you but then, why are you trying to prevent me from knowing the truth about you?"

"I'm not preventing you from doing anything," he informed me, "Trust me, you will know everything about me in due time but..." he paused. He put his hands on my wrists and pressed hard on them. I yelped in pain and immediately let go of his shirt but his grip around my wrists tightened making it more painful for me. "...Ken was making everything too easy. You want to find the truth about me find it yourself. But believe me even if you do find the truth, you won't be able to do anything."

He finally let go of my wrists and I fell down on my knees. God, it hurt. We were supposed to be in my head but I still felt pain here. How was it even possible? I looked up at the other me, my mind already made up.

"I'm going to stop you," I promised him, "I will find who you are and prevent you from doing whatever you are planning to do. You won't take control of my body."

"You are so full of illusions," he told me with a sigh, "A vision is a vision, Luffy. You can do whatever you want but you won't prevent it from happening. Every vision always comes true and this one won't be an exception."

"I will still try to prevent it and I'm not gonna stop until the end," I said and he looked at me with something in his eyes.

"You truly are like me. You have the same determination in your eyes," he said, "But too bad for you, the end is more close than you think."

"Who are you?" I asked him and he laughed.

"It's a funny story, isn't it?" He asked me, "One week ago, you wanted to know who Cloud was and now that you do, it's me who you want to know about."

"Yeah, I realized that Cloud wasn't the one who I needed to know more about. It's you," I told him and he smirked.

"You are in the wrong. Cloud forms part of everything," he said. "Why do you think that you feel this sort of attraction to him?"

"I don't feel any attraction to him," I protested. "Yeah, I wanted to know him but the few things that I learnt was enough for me to not want to speak to him again."

"You are lying to yourself," he said, "You will speak to him again. You will feel the need to know more about him even if it's the horrible things that he did, you will want to know all of his secrets. You will embrace him in a way that is not humanly possible. You will fall for him, love him more than anything in the world. And when this day comes, the day where he will be your everything, this will be the day of your end. Just like me."

"I'm not like you," I told him angrily.

"You are," he protested, "More than you think. You will do the same mistakes that I did. The only difference is that it will be with someone else."

"Who?" I asked.

"Cloud of course," he replied, "Open your eyes, Luffy. It's Cloud the key to the truth about me. Know more about him, learn about me. But I'm sure that before you realise it, it will be too late."

"You are confusing me," I said.

"I am more like helping you but like I said, you won't listen to me," he said, looking down at me.

"I don't trust you," I informed him and he chuckled.

"Do whatever you want. Read every book you want, talk to the people you want, search everywhere for the truth but you won't find it because you can't see what is just right in front of you," he explained and I finally got off the ground.

"I will find out who you are," I promised him.

"I'm sure that you will," he smirked, "But for now, return to your body. Your prince charming is waiting for you."

And I felt it again. A force pulling me away but this time I didn't resist it. I just let it pull me away from here.

***

My eyes peered open slowly and the first thing that I saw was the red ceiling. I groaned and realised that I was laying on something comfortable. Really comfortable. A bit too comfortable to be the floor if you asked me.

"Luffy," a familiar said beside me and I looked to the side.

"Cloud," I exclaimed, sitting up. I looked at him in confusion as to why he was here when I realised that my environment had suddenly changed. I was in a bedroom and I was laying on a bed. "Where am I?" I asked him.

"At my place," he replied, "My bedroom if you want specific."

"Your place," I repeated. "No, I was at Ken's. Why am I at your place?"

"It's Nicolas," he replied. "He ran away when no one was paying attention to him and he called the cops to come at Ken's place. Cale went looking for him to get him here and Frederick is with Ken at the hospital while Rain is with the cops surely lying to them about what truly happened. They will all be here soon."

"That still doesn't explain why I am here," I told him.

"I brought you here when you blacked out. Rain and I didn't know where you were until Frederick called us. So I brought you here. It was more safe anyway," he explained before adding, "Do you want to drink something or are you hungry? It has been about one hour since you got unconscious."

So long.

In my head, it didn't seem to be so long. It was short. Maybe time passed by differently or maybe it took time for me to wake up.

"No, I don't want anything" I simply replied, looking around again. "So it's your bedroom."

"Yes," he said and I hummed.

"It's really gothic," I told him, not knowing what else to say. The walls of his bedroom were painted red while they was a black carpet on the ground. It was a simple room but also a big one. A bed, a desk with a flat screen computer, a wardrobe and a shelf full of books.

"I like dark colors," Cloud told me, glancing around before his eyes came back to me. "How are you feeling?" He asked me, touching my cheek and I flipped slightly at the sensation of his hand against my skin.

"Good," I replied, removing his hand from my cheek. I didn't want to speak to him right now and I also didn't want to be near him. I think that he knew it but he acted like he didn't.

"You are angry with me," he stated.

"I'm not," I lied, "I just realized that you are a heartless bastard who killed people, tortured them and that you also killed your own first love with your bare hands."

"How do you know about Eden?" He asked me, surprised and I looked him, incredulous. He looked unfazed by what I just told him but he wanted to know how I learnt about Eden. I searched for a bit of regret on his face but I found none. I searched for a feeling but still nothing. He was just in his normal state.

"You are unbelievable," I told him as I tried to get off his bed but he stopped me by taking my arm.

"Luffy, wait, let me explain," he said but I shook my head.

"There is nothing to explain. Everything is already clear on your face," I told him. "Do you regret anything that you did in the past?"

"Why is it so important to you that I regret everything that I did? Why do you want me to feel guilty?" He asked me in response. "I don't regret anything. I don't regret killing people, I don't regret every little child that I killed, I don't regret making people's life a living hell, and I don't regret killing Eden. If I needed to regret everything bad that I did, then I wouldn't be able to live with myself. So why is it so important to you that I do?"

"Because I don't want to think that you are a monster," I snapped at him, "I never thought that you would have been like that. I never thought that the rumors were true but they are. You are evil, you killed people, you did horrible things and I didn't want to believe that you were like that but you are and it..it.."

I didn't finish my sentence as I realized that I was crying. The tears were falling but I didn't wipe them away. I just let them fall. I simply had enough. Everything was too much for me. I felt like I had an enormous weight on my shoulder and I couldn't get rid of it.

All of these mysteries that I needed to solve. All the things that I learnt about me and the people around me. Everything that was going to happen in the near future. All of that were too much for me. I needed a break but I knew that I couldn't get one.

"I wish that I never came here," I said at last, "I wish that I never met you."

I didn't know why I said that but I just said it. I just needed to let it out. I didn't care what it did to Cloud but still...I looked at him to see his reaction. I would have felt happy if he felt hurt by what I said but he didn't. He just stared at me, the same expression as before on his face.

He just didn't care.

"You are not how I imagine you to be," I told him and he cupped my face with his hands, pulling me towards him as he leaned forward. "What are you doing?" I asked him as I tried to pull away but damn, he was stronger than me.

"I'm Cloud, Luffy," he said at last, "I'm heartless, I don't care about anyone, I killed and I will surely do it again and maybe a part of me still hasn't changed but one thing that I am sure about is that I want you and I'm going to get you."

And then, he kissed me for the second time.