[Koby wants to ask more, about what it's like outside the parties and festivals, what the air smells like, whether it's close to the sea, to water. He can't imagine any place truly being home without the ocean nearby, but he can try. The hunger for knowledge he has sometimes is insatiable, burning in his chest like a flame.

But then Louis asks him, and the lump rising in Koby's chest is acute enough that his painting pauses, brush hovering above Louis's arm. He swallows hard a couple times, fighting back the wave of homesickness.]

It's beautiful. It's -- mostly ocean, like I've said. There are four seas, and the Grand Line, but I was born and raised in the East Blue, which is tropical, mostly. Lots of sun, lots of flowers and green on the islands. There aren't a lot of big cities, mostly villages or towns, scattered throughout the sea. [His voice is soft, longing, thinking of the sea, the vivid colors of the islands, the way the air smells.]