The city pulsed under a blanket of mist. Rooftops shimmered with early condensation, and sirens bled faintly through the air like distant echoes.
Ghost-Spider crouched on the ledge of a twenty-story building, eyes narrowed beneath her visor. Beside her, Strawhat knelt low, one hand pressed against the cool rooftop tiles.
"Distress ping, third and Wyler," Gwen murmured. "Looks like a robbery in progress."
Luffy blinked slowly. "No police response yet. Let's move."
They took off together—Gwen swinging between streetlamps, Luffy bounding with elastic precision across ledges and vents. Their movements were coordinated, silent, and sharp.
By the time they reached the alley, the mist had grown denser. From above, they could hear the scuffle—footsteps, a grunt, a sharp cry.
Three figures surrounded a girl pressed against a graffiti-tagged wall. One man reached for her bag while the others kept lookout.
Ghost-Spider dropped in first.
A burst of web pinned the lead attacker's arm to the trash bin. He shouted, stumbling back. Before the other two could react, Strawhat slammed down with a rubberized fist, knocking both to the ground.
"Get away from her," Gwen said—voice low and layered through her mask.
The girl stepped back, shocked. "Wh-Who…?"
Then Gwen's breath caught.
The girl had shoulder-length red hair, a distinct mole near her jawline, and wide, frightened eyes.
It was MJ.
Her old friend. Her former bandmate.
"You're safe now," Gwen said quickly, firing a second web to tangle a crawling thug. She didn't dare linger. "Stay in the alley until the police get here."
MJ nodded, still stunned.
Ghost-Spider and Strawhat vanished upward, into the fog.
They landed five blocks away, breathless from the sprint.
Gwen ripped her mask off the moment her boots hit the ground. Her chest rose and fell with tight, uneven gasps.
Luffy pulled off his hat. "You okay?"
"That was MJ," Gwen said, barely above a whisper.
Luffy frowned. "MJ… your old bandmate?"
She nodded. "I haven't seen her since before we went full ghost. And now… she was almost…"
She trailed off.
He placed a hand on her shoulder. "She's okay. You made sure of that."
"But she didn't know it was me," Gwen said softly. "And I couldn't tell her. I just… vanished."
They stood there for a long moment.
The next day, Gwen sat outside a cozy music café nestled between two apartment blocks in the Lower East Side. Warm acoustic guitar spilled from the open windows, along with the scent of cinnamon and coffee.
She sipped tea from a ceramic mug, trying to slow the racing of her heart.
MJ appeared ten minutes later, tucking her hair behind one ear as she slid into the chair opposite Gwen.
"I can't believe you called," MJ said, smiling. "It's been what—five years?"
"Too long," Gwen replied, returning the smile. "I saw your name on a flyer near campus. Thought I'd check in."
MJ ordered a coffee and leaned back. "You look… good. Different, but good."
"You too," Gwen replied.
They talked casually for a while—music gigs, MJ's late-night shows, life after high school.
Then MJ grew quiet.
"Something weird happened last night," she said. "I was walking home from a late set when these guys jumped me. I thought… I thought I was done for. But then—someone saved me."
Gwen tilted her head. "Someone?"
"Yeah. A girl in white. And a guy with—" MJ laughed awkwardly, "—I swear it looked like a hat? It happened so fast. They didn't say who they were."
Gwen's fingers curled around her mug.
"I've seen news about them," MJ added. "Ghost-Spider and… I don't know what they call the other one. Red something?"
"Strawhat," Gwen said quietly.
MJ nodded. "Right. It was them. I just wish I could've said thank you."
Gwen looked down at her drink.
"I'm sure they knew."
Back at Horizon HQ, Luffy adjusted a prototype pulse beacon on the lab bench while Gwen stared at the wall monitor displaying incident map overlays.
"The city's too big," she said. "We can't be everywhere. But what if people had a way to signal us directly—something subtle, silent? A wearable, maybe?"
Luffy considered it. "Like a panic button?"
"More like a heartbeat ping," Gwen said. "Triggered by biometrics—sudden heart spikes, adrenaline surges. It flags us. No sound. No trace."
Luffy smiled. "I like it."
She turned to him. "I keep thinking about how close MJ was to… I mean, what if we'd been late? What if we didn't see the alert?"
"But we did," Luffy said gently. "You saved her. You were there. Even if she doesn't know it was you."
Gwen bit her lip. "But sometimes, I want to be more than a shadow."
"I know," Luffy said. "But shadows move freely. That's why we can still protect them."
That night, they returned to the alley where MJ had been attacked.
The graffiti shimmered in the streetlight. Gwen stared at the spot where MJ had stood—scared, alone, defenseless.
She felt Luffy step beside her.
"Sometimes I think," she whispered, "that being a ghost to the people I love is worse than any villain."
He didn't answer at first. Instead, he took her hand in his.
His voice was low. "We can't show them who we are. But we can show up. We can keep showing up."
She squeezed his hand.
"Every time they need us," he said, "we'll be there."
They stood in silence, fingers interlocked, the fog curling around their feet like the city itself was listening.