The beach is quiet except for the sound of waves crashing against the shore and Makino's soft footsteps beside me. The morning sun warms my back as we walk along the sand, my sandals kicking up little sprays with each step. Makino says this is her special place, where she comes before the bar gets busy to think and breathe in the ocean air.

I'm not thinking about any of that though. My eyes are scanning the beach for cool shells and interesting rocks, my hands already full with a collection of particularly nice ones I've found so far.

"Careful, Luffy," Makino calls as I run ahead, "The rocks are slippery today."

I don't slow down. The beach is my territory and I know every inch of it better than anyone. Or so I think, until I trip suddenly and go sliding across the sand, landing with a face full of grit.

"Luffy!" Makino sounds worried as she hurries over.

I spit sand out of my mouth and push myself up, grinning despite the stinging in my knee. "I'm okay!" I announce, brushing sand off my shirt.

Makino kneels beside me, pulling out a handkerchief. "Let me see that knee," she says gently, dabbing at the small cut there. "You must have landed on something sharp."

"It was a seashell!" I tell her, pointing triumphantly at the spot where I fell. "A big twisty one with spikes!"

She raises an eyebrow but follows me as I scramble back to where I fell, digging in the sand until my fingers close around something hard and irregular-shaped. I pull it out triumphantly - a large conch shell unlike any I've ever seen before, predominantly blue with green-turquoise tips on its spines.

"Wow," Makino says, her eyes widening as she takes it from my hands. She turns it over in her delicate fingers before lifting it to her ear.

"What are you doing?" I ask, tilting my head like a confused puppy.

"Listening to the ocean," she answers with a small smile.

"But the ocean is right there," I point out, thoroughly confused.

Makino just laughs and hands the shell back to me. "Try it," she suggests.

I press the cool shell to my ear, expecting to hear... nothing much. Instead, I hear a rushing sound unlike anything I've ever experienced before. It's not just the ocean - it sounds like voices, whispers, secrets carried on the wind.

"What is that?" I whisper, my eyes going wide as I hear something else in the shell's resonance - a faint, musical hum that seems to speak directly to something deep inside me.