Chapter 7: Storm at Sea
Year 1516 - Paradise, Calm Belt Border Region
The Red Axe Pirates' ship was a monstrosity.
Where most pirate vessels tried to maintain some semblance of elegance or speed, the Bloodreaver looked like it had been designed purely for intimidation. Reinforced iron plating covered the hull, spikes jutted from every surface, and mounted on the deck were what appeared to be captured Marine cannons—at least a dozen of them.
"That's a big ship," Marcus observed from his position at the railing.
"Big crew too," Koji added from the crow's nest. "I'm counting at least eighty pirates on deck, probably more below. And their captain..." He paused, adjusting his scope. "Captain 'Iron Cleaver' Borak. Bounty of 156 million berries. Known for raiding Marine supply ships and executing the crews publicly."
Aiko studied the approaching vessel through his Observation Haki. The captain's presence stood out like a bonfire—strong, aggressive, and radiating bloodlust. This wasn't someone who'd surrender peacefully.
Good. After holding back against Onigumo and his Marines, Aiko needed a fight where he didn't have to pull his punches.
"Battle stations," he ordered calmly. "Full combat authorization. These are pirates who've killed innocents and Marines alike. No mercy, but accept surrenders if offered."
The crew moved with practiced efficiency. Isra positioned herself near the main deck, her Armament Haki already coating her arms. Yuki drew her katana, the blade singing softly. Maya created banks of fog around the ship—not enough to obscure vision completely, but enough to make targeting difficult. Doc stood ready with medical supplies, while Akira and Tomás manned the ship's defensive systems.
Aria dissolved into mist, spreading across the deck like a protective shroud.
"They're hailing us!" Tomás called from the communications station. "Captain Borak wants to... negotiate?"
"Put him through," Aiko said, curious despite himself.
The Den Den Mushi crackled to life, and a deep, gravelly voice filled the air. "Marine ship! This is Captain Borak of the Red Axe Pirates! You're in our territory now, and—" He paused. "Wait. Is that the Hakusetsu? The Wandering Marines?"
Aiko raised an eyebrow. "Our reputation precedes us."
Borak's laugh was like grinding stone. "Precedes you? Boy, you're famous! The Marines who told the World Government to shove it! The crew with a three hundred million berry captain! I've been hearing stories about you for weeks!"
"And yet you're still approaching us with cannons ready. Interesting choice."
"Well, see, that's the thing." Borak's tone turned calculating. "I've got a proposition for you. You're outlaws now, same as us. Why fight each other when we could work together? Pirates and rebel Marines, united against the World Government?"
"An alliance?" Aiko kept his voice neutral, though his crew was giving him incredulous looks.
"Exactly! Think about it—you've got Marine training and that Logia fruit. I've got manpower and resources. Together, we could own Paradise! Hell, maybe even make a run at the New World eventually!"
Isra made a slashing motion across her throat, clearly voting against the proposal.
"That's a generous offer, Captain Borak," Aiko said. "But I have a few questions first. How many civilian ships have you raided this year?"
Silence on the other end. Then: "What kind of question is that?"
"A simple one. How many?"
"I don't keep count of that stuff. Maybe twenty? Thirty? What's it matter?"
"And how many people have you killed?"
"Now you're just being weird. Look, do you want to team up or not?"
Aiko's expression hardened. "Here's my counter-offer, Captain Borak. Surrender yourself and your crew for trial. You'll be treated fairly, fed regularly, and given proper legal representation. Refuse, and we'll take you by force."
The Den Den Mushi went silent for a long moment. Then Borak's laugh echoed across the water—cold and cruel.
"You really are an idiot, aren't you? Still playing Marine even after they betrayed you! Fine! If you want to die defending a system that threw you away, that's your choice!" The transmission cut off with a click.
"All cannons fire!" Borak's voice roared across the water.
The Bloodreaver's dozen cannons erupted simultaneously, sending a devastating barrage toward the Hakusetsu.
"Brace!" Aiko commanded.
But he didn't need to—Maya's fog thickened instantly, obscuring their exact position. Most of the cannonballs splashed harmlessly into the sea, and the few that came close were deflected by Marcus's Armament Haki-enhanced barriers.
"Return fire!" Isra ordered. "Aim for their sails and rigging—disable, don't destroy!"
The Hakusetsu's cannons responded, more precise and better aimed. Three shots tore through the Bloodreaver's sails, one struck their main mast, and another hit the deck, scattering pirates.
"They're closing for boarding!" Koji shouted. "Preparing grappling hooks!"
"Let them come," Aiko said quietly. Snow began to swirl around him, the temperature dropping rapidly. "They want a fight? We'll give them one they'll never forget."
The two ships crashed together, grappling hooks flying, pirates swarming across like angry ants. At least sixty of them poured onto the Hakusetsu's deck, weapons drawn, shouting battle cries.
They never stood a chance.
Aiko's Conqueror's Haki exploded outward in a focused wave. Thirty pirates collapsed instantly, unconscious before they hit the deck. Another twenty staggered, their weapons falling from nerveless fingers.
That left ten—Borak's officers, presumably, strong enough to resist Conqueror's Haki.
"Kill them!" Borak roared from his ship. "Kill the Snow Traitor!"
The officers attacked as one, a coordinated assault that showed genuine combat training. Three came at Aiko from different angles, their weapons coated in Armament Haki. Another four went for his crew, trying to divide their attention.
The remaining three—including Borak himself—held back, watching, analyzing.
"Commander Vex, Stone, Nanami—handle the officers!" Aiko ordered. "Everyone else, secure the unconscious pirates! I'll deal with Borak!"
His crew moved like a well-oiled machine. Isra engaged two officers simultaneously, her Armament Haki allowing her to match their strength despite the numbers disadvantage. Marcus became an immovable wall, his defensive techniques protecting Maya and Tomás while they secured prisoners. Yuki moved like water, her blade finding gaps in armor and defense with surgical precision.
Aiko walked calmly across the deck toward Borak, pirates parting before him like water. Those who tried to attack found themselves frozen solid, their weapons shattering on contact with the ice.
"You're making a mistake, Marine!" Borak bellowed, drawing two massive battle axes—each one larger than Aiko's entire torso, coated in thick Armament Haki. "I've killed dozens of your kind! What makes you think you're special?"
"I don't think I'm special," Aiko replied, drawing Yukikaze. "I just think you're not as strong as you believe you are."
Borak's face contorted with rage. "We'll see about that! Splitting Mountain Strike!"
Both axes came down in a devastating overhead chop that could cleave a ship in half. The air itself seemed to scream from the force of the attack.
Aiko didn't dodge. He raised Yukikaze with one hand, the blade coated in both Armament and Conqueror's Haki, wrapped in swirling snow.
The axes met the katana with a sound like thunder.
And stopped completely.
Borak's eyes widened in disbelief. His full strength, his Haki-enhanced weapons, his massive size advantage—all of it held at bay by a single blade held casually in one hand.
"Impossible," he breathed. "Your Haki... it's crushing mine!"
"You're strong, Captain Borak," Aiko said conversationally, not even straining. "Probably strong enough to be a threat in Paradise. But you've gotten lazy, relying on brute strength and overwhelming weaker opponents."
He pushed—not hard, just a casual flexing of his Haki—and Borak stumbled backward, his axes smoking from the cold where they'd contacted Yukikaze.
"Let me show you what real power looks like."
Aiko moved.
To Borak, it must have seemed like Aiko teleported. One moment he was ten feet away, the next his blade was pressed against Borak's throat, so cold that frost was already forming on the pirate captain's skin.
"Yuki no Mai: Seppun no Shi." Snow Dance: Kiss of Death.
"Wait—" Borak started to say.
Ice exploded from the point where Yukikaze touched his throat, spreading across his entire body in an instant. Not the gentle ice that Aiko had used on lesser pirates—this was absolute zero, the kind of cold that stopped molecular motion, that froze blood in veins and air in lungs.
Borak became a statue of ice, his expression locked in final terror, his axes falling from frozen fingers.
Aiko hadn't killed him—the ice stopped just short of touching vital organs, a testament to his precise control. But the pirate captain was completely immobilized, and would stay that way until someone thawed him very carefully.
The entire battle had lasted less than thirty seconds.
Aiko turned to survey the rest of the fight. His crew had handled the officers efficiently—Isra had knocked out her two opponents, Marcus had crushed another against his defensive barrier, and Yuki had disarmed the remaining three with cuts too precise to be called anything but masterful.
The Bloodreaver's remaining crew, seeing their captain frozen solid and their officers defeated, threw down their weapons.
"We surrender!" one of them shouted. "Don't freeze us! We surrender!"
"Secure them," Aiko ordered. "Separate the ones who have committed capital crimes from the pressed sailors. Check their logs—I want to know exactly what this crew has done."
As his crew worked, Koji called down from the crow's nest: "Sir, we've got a problem. The storm that's been brewing? It's moving faster than predicted. We've got maybe an hour before it hits, and it's a big one."
Aiko looked at the darkening sky. Koji was right—this wasn't a normal Grand Line storm. The clouds were black as pitch, lightning flickering within them like angry serpents. This was the kind of storm that sank ships, the kind that even Sea Kings avoided.
"We can't handle two ships in this," Isra observed, appearing at his side. "The Bloodreaver is damaged, and we don't have the crew to sail both vessels through a storm like that."
"Strip it of supplies, then scuttle it," Aiko decided. "Take the food, ammunition, anything useful. The prisoners come with us—we'll hand them over to the next Marine base we find, anonymously."
"Sir," Tomás interrupted nervously. "About that... I've been monitoring Marine communications. Onigumo has issued a bulletin to all Paradise bases. Any Marine who encounters the Wandering Marines is to engage on sight. We can't just... drop prisoners off anymore. They'll use it to track us."
Aiko frowned. That complicated things. They couldn't keep hauling dozens of prisoners around—the Hakusetsu wasn't built for it. But they also couldn't just let dangerous pirates go free.
"We'll figure something out," he said finally. "For now, get those prisoners secured in the brig, strip the Bloodreaver of supplies, and prepare for that storm. Move!"
Forty minutes later, the storm hit.
It came with a fury that seemed almost personal, waves crashing over the deck, wind howling like wounded beasts. The Hakusetsu pitched and rolled, her crew working frantically to keep her afloat.
"Thirty-degree list to starboard!" Akira shouted over the wind. "Compensate!"
"Mainmast is holding, but the forward sail just tore!" Marcus reported.
"Forget the sail!" Aiko commanded from the helm, his hands locked on the wheel. "Just keep us pointed into the waves! If we take one broadside, we'll capsize!"
Lightning struck the water so close that everyone felt their hair stand on end. Thunder followed immediately, deafening.
"This isn't natural!" Aria shouted, her mist form barely maintaining cohesion in the violent winds. "This storm—there's something wrong about it!"
She was right. Aiko's Observation Haki was screaming warnings, but not about the storm itself. About something IN the storm. A presence, massive and ancient, moving through the water beneath them.
"Sea King!" Koji's voice cracked with fear from the crow's nest. "Directly below us! It's enormous!"
A shadow passed beneath the ship—something so large that it blotted out the lightning-illuminated water. The Hakusetsu rose as if on an elevator, lifted by the creature's passage.
Then it surfaced.
The Sea King was beyond comprehension—at least three hundred feet long, serpentine, with scales that glowed with bioluminescent patterns. Its eyes, each one larger than the Hakusetsu's entire hull, regarded the ship with what might have been curiosity.
Or hunger.
"Everyone hold on!" Aiko ordered. "Don't attack unless it attacks first! Sometimes they're just curious—"
The Sea King's mouth opened, revealing rows of teeth the size of houses.
"—or sometimes not! BRACE FOR IMPACT!"
The creature lunged.
Aiko released the helm and leaped forward, Yukikaze already drawn, his Conqueror's Haki exploding outward with enough force to create a visible shockwave.
The Sea King's lunge faltered—Conqueror's Haki affected most creatures, making them perceive the user as a superior predator. For a moment, the massive beast hesitated.
But only for a moment.
Then it attacked again, and this time Aiko met it head-on.
"Yuki no Mai: Hyōryū Ōgi!" Snow Dance: Ice Dragon's Secret Art!
Yukikaze swept in a massive arc, and the temperature plummeted so drastically that the falling rain turned to snow mid-air. A dragon made entirely of ice materialized from Aiko's slash—not a small technique, but a construct as large as the Sea King itself, its crystalline form glittering with black lightning from Conqueror's Haki infusion.
The ice dragon collided with the Sea King's head, and the impact sent shockwaves across the ocean. The creature reeled back, its scales cracked and frozen, its momentum completely halted.
Aiko landed back on the deck, his coat billowing, snow swirling around him like a blizzard.
"Turn us around!" he ordered. "Full speed! While it's stunned!"
The crew didn't need to be told twice. The Hakusetsu came about, her engine roaring to life despite the storm, and began racing away from the recovering Sea King.
Behind them, the creature shook its massive head, ice falling from its scales in house-sized chunks. It regarded the fleeing ship with what might have been respect—or perhaps just confusion that something so small had hurt it.
Then it dove, disappearing into the depths.
"Is it following?" Aiko called.
Koji checked, his enhanced vision piercing the storm. "No, sir! It's swimming away! I think... I think you scared it off!"
A moment of stunned silence. Then the crew erupted in cheers.
"The Commodore just punched a Sea King!" Maya laughed, slightly hysterical.
"He didn't punch it, he froze it solid!" Marcus corrected, grinning.
"Same difference!"
Even Isra was smiling. "That was insane. You know that was insane, right?"
"Completely," Aiko agreed, allowing himself a small smile. "But it worked."
The storm continued to rage, but the worst had passed. The crew worked through the night, making repairs, securing cargo, and keeping the ship afloat. The prisoners in the brig were terrified but unharmed—Doc had checked on them twice, ensuring no one died from the storm's violence.
As dawn broke, the storm finally cleared, revealing calm seas and a clear sky.
Aiko stood at the bow, watching the sunrise paint the water in shades of gold and pink. Isra joined him, two cups of coffee in hand.
"For you," she said, offering one.
"Thanks." Aiko took it gratefully, the warmth seeping into his storm-chilled hands. "Status report?"
"Minor damage to the forward mast, three sails need replacing, and we lost about twenty percent of our supplies when waves crashed over the deck. But everyone's alive and mostly uninjured. Doc's treating some bruises and one sprained wrist, but nothing serious."
"And the prisoners?"
"Scared but cooperative. Borak's still frozen solid—Doc says we should probably thaw him soon or risk permanent damage."
Aiko considered. "Thaw him halfway. Enough that he can breathe and talk, but not enough to break free. I want to question him about his operations, see if there's useful intelligence."
"About that..." Isra hesitated. "We can't keep doing this, Aiko. Capturing pirates but having nowhere to turn them in. Our brig can hold maybe twenty prisoners comfortably. We've got seventy-three down there now. If we keep this up—"
"I know." Aiko stared at the horizon. "I've been thinking about it. We need a solution that doesn't involve releasing dangerous criminals or walking into Marine ambushes."
"What kind of solution?"
Before Aiko could answer, Akira appeared, looking excited. "Sir! I've been reviewing the charts from the Bloodreaver. They had some interesting locations marked—hidden coves, supply caches, even what looks like a small island they were using as a base."
"An island?" Aiko's mind raced. "Show me."
In the map room, Akira spread out the stolen charts. There—marked with a red X—was a small island labeled "Iron Haven."
"According to their logs," Akira explained, "Iron Haven is an uninhabited island in a remote part of Paradise. The Red Axe Pirates were using it to store plunder and repair their ship between raids. It's got natural harbors, fresh water, and apparently some old structures from whoever lived there before."
Aiko studied the map carefully. An island. A base of operations. Somewhere they could store prisoners temporarily, conduct repairs, resupply without worrying about Marine patrols...
"How far?" he asked.
"Three days at our current speed. Maybe two if we push the engine."
"Then set course." Aiko made a decision. "If we're going to do this—operate as Marines without official backing—we need a home base. Somewhere we can plan, repair, and yes, hold prisoners until we figure out what to do with them."
"Our own island," Isra said slowly. "That's... ambitious."
"So was defying a Vice Admiral, but we did that too." Aiko looked at his crew, at these people who'd followed him into uncertainty. "We're not just running anymore. We're building something. A different kind of Marine force. One that answers to conscience instead of corrupt officials."
"The Wandering Marines get a home," Aria observed with a slight smile. "There's irony in that."
"Then we'll be the Stationed Marines occasionally," Aiko replied. "We can wander when we need to, and return when we need rest. Best of both worlds."
As the Hakusetsu adjusted course toward Iron Haven, Aiko felt something shift in his chest. They'd started this journey as fugitives, running from consequences. But somewhere along the way—fighting pirates, saving innocents, surviving storms—they'd become something more.
They'd become a crew. A real crew, with purpose and direction.
And now they'd have a home.
Far away, in Mary Geoise, in a room known only to five people in the entire world, an ancient figure sat upon a throne that officially didn't exist.
Im-sama stared at a collection of wanted posters spread before them. Most showed the usual suspects—Dragon, the Revolutionary. Shanks, the Red-Haired Pirate. Several other threats to the World Government's order.
But Im's attention focused on one poster in particular.
A young man with white hair and cold eyes. Snow swirling around him. A Marine coat that he wore like a banner of defiance.
Danzo Aiko. The Snow Traitor. Three hundred million berries.
Im's finger—pale and ancient—pointed at the poster.
"This light," Im whispered, voice like wind through gravestones, "burns too brightly. It must be... investigated."
In the shadows of the throne room, one of the Five Elders bowed. "Shall we send CP0, Im-sama?"
"Not yet. But watch him. Closely. If this light continues to grow..." Im's finger pressed down on Aiko's poster, and frost formed where they touched it. "Then it must be extinguished. Before it illuminates truths better left in darkness."
The Elder bowed deeper. "It shall be done, Im-sama."
The throne room fell silent again, save for the whisper of eight hundred years of secrets kept, of a world order maintained through careful control of information, power, and fear.
And now, a young Marine with Conqueror's Haki and inconvenient principles was asking the wrong questions.
Im stared at Aiko's poster for a long moment more, then placed it in a drawer—the same drawer that held posters of Joy Boy, of ancient D. clan members, of everyone throughout history who'd threatened to upset the carefully maintained balance.
"History," Im murmured, "is written by victors. And this boy... will not be among them."
But far away, on a ship called Hakusetsu, Danzo Aiko was just beginning to write his own story.
And some stories refuse to be erased.
END OF CHAPTER 7
Next Chapter: "Iron Haven - Building a Sanctuary"