The sea didn't celebrate.
It just carried bodies.
Three pirate ships drifted behind them like broken teeth on the water—sails slack, decks red, flags torn or burning. The wind pushed smoke away in thin trails, and the waves slapped the hulls with the same indifference they showed everything else.
Kenji stood at the rail watching the wreckage shrink into the grey distance.
"…You think the two coward crews are crying right now?" he asked.
Aira didn't look back from the helm. "If they're smart, they're sailing in the opposite direction."
Kenji grinned. "So yes."
Soren sat mid-deck, wiping his blade clean with a calm that bordered on unsettling. "They'll spread it."
Ryu leaned lightly against the bow rail, eyes still on the horizon. "Good."
Kenji stepped closer to him, voice a little brighter, the way it always got after a clean hunt. "So what now? Another lane? Another port? Another dramatic pirate alliance that thinks teamwork beats skill?"
Aira muttered, "Don't tempt the sea."
The sea, as always, listened.
A flutter of wings came from above.
News Coo.
Kenji blinked up at it like the bird had personally taken his joke seriously. "No way."
The bird circled once and landed with practiced arrogance.
Aira tossed it a coin without slowing the ship. The paper dropped.
Ryu caught it this time and opened it without urgency.
Kenji craned his neck. "If it's about us again, I'm framing it."
Aira snorted. "You can't even frame your own bed when you sleep."
Kenji looked offended. "That's because the sea frames it for me."
Soren's gaze lifted slightly as Ryu read.
Ryu's expression didn't change much.
But his eyes narrowed.
Aira noticed immediately. "What is it?"
Ryu turned the paper slightly so all of them could see.
The headline wasn't about them.
Not directly.
But it was the kind of headline that made a sea feel smaller.
**NORTH BLUE: "ICE SPIDER" PIRATES TAKE OVER KESTREL TOWN**
**CIVILIANS MISSING — MARINES CLAIM 'INSUFFICIENT RESOURCES'**
**UNDERWORLD TRADE DISRUPTED BY NEW PLAYER**
Kenji's grin faded into something colder. "Town takeover."
Aira's jaw tightened. "Civilians missing."
Soren read the smaller print with quiet intensity. "Marines won't intervene."
Ryu folded the paper once and looked toward Aira. "Kestrel Town."
Aira already had her chart notebook open. She flipped pages quickly, eyes scanning routes and distances.
"Kestrel Town is on an island chain northwest of here," she said. "A trading town. Not wealthy, but busy. If pirates took it… they'd be using it as a base."
Kenji tapped the newspaper with one finger. "Ice Spider pirates. Sounds disgusting."
Aira looked up. "And dangerous."
Kenji's grin returned—thin and sharp. "Perfect."
Soren's voice stayed calm. "If civilians are missing, they're either enslaved… or sold."
Aira's hand tightened around the notebook.
Ryu's voice didn't rise.
But it carried weight.
"Then we don't delay."
Kenji raised an eyebrow. "So this is our 'B' phase now."
Aira blinked. "B phase?"
Kenji waved vaguely. "You know, the part where we earn civilian trust. Save a town. People cry. Someone gives us stew."
Aira stared. "You're impossible."
Kenji grinned. "I'm accurate."
Ryu stepped forward and looked out at the sea as if he could already see the island.
"We go," he said simply.
Aira adjusted the helm. "We go."
Soren stood and checked his rifle. "We go."
Kenji drew one sword halfway, then slid it back in with a satisfied click. "We go."
The ship shifted course.
Wind caught the sails.
And the North Blue carried them toward a town that didn't know if it would survive another week.
---
They arrived two days later.
Not because the sea was kind.
Because Aira was.
Kestrel Island emerged through fog like a bruise on the horizon—low cliffs, dark pine trees, and a harbor town wrapped around a bay like it was trying to hide.
Smoke rose from chimneys, but the town didn't feel alive.
It felt… held down.
As they approached, the first sign appeared.
A pirate flag hung from the harbor watchtower.
Not a skull.
A stylized black spider with icy blue legs—painted like frost creeping across cloth.
Kenji's nose wrinkled. "Yeah. Disgusting."
Aira slowed the ship near the outer harbor line instead of docking openly. "Too quiet."
Soren's eyes tracked the shoreline. "Lookouts."
Ryu's gaze sharpened. "They're watching."
And they were.
Figures moved along rooftops and alley corners. Armed silhouettes. Not relaxed sailors. Pirates doing patrol work.
Kestrel Town was occupied.
A Den Den Mushi horn blared from the watchtower.
A loud, mocking voice boomed across the bay.
"Well, well… another ship approaches!"
Kenji leaned on the railing and called back, cheerful. "Hi!"
Aira snapped, "Kenji!"
Kenji shrugged. "What? I'm polite."
The voice continued, dripping with smug amusement.
"Dock and pay your 'harbor tax'! Or we'll sink you and feed you to the reef!"
Kenji looked at Ryu. "Harbor tax."
Ryu's eyes stayed on the tower. "They want control."
Aira whispered, "If we dock, we're surrounded."
Soren said quietly, "If we don't, they'll target the town to punish them for our presence."
Kenji's grin sharpened. "So we dock."
Aira blinked. "What?"
Kenji tilted his head. "We dock. Then we kill them all."
Aira stared at him for a long moment, then exhaled. "I hate that it makes sense when you say it."
Ryu's voice stayed calm. "We dock. Quietly. Fast."
Aira guided the ship in.
The harbor waters were calm, but the town's silence pressed heavy. No children running. No loud market calls. No laughter.
Just eyes behind windows.
Fear behind shutters.
Their ship bumped the dock.
Ryu stepped down first.
Kenji followed, smiling like he was walking into a festival.
Aira came down with her hood up, eyes sharp.
Soren stepped down last, rifle secured, gaze already mapping roofs and alleys.
A group of pirates approached immediately—six of them—wearing patched coats with spider symbols stitched onto sleeves. One carried a ledger like he thought this was business.
The ledger pirate sneered. "Harbor tax. Ten thousand berries."
Kenji blinked. "Ten thousand?"
He leaned toward Aira and whispered loudly, "They're poor."
Aira pinched the bridge of her nose. "Kenji…"
Ryu stepped forward, calm as ever.
"We're not paying," he said.
The ledger pirate scoffed. "Then you're dead."
Kenji smiled brightly. "Okay."
The pirates drew weapons.
Soren's hand moved first—he didn't draw his rifle. He simply flicked a small blade and it struck the ledger pirate in the throat so cleanly the man didn't even finish inhaling.
He collapsed quietly.
The other pirates froze.
Kenji sighed. "Aw. I wanted him."
Aira shot him a look. "Focus."
Ryu moved.
Two pirates fell before they fully understood they'd been attacked.
Kenji finished two more with clean cuts that ended their lives instantly.
Aira dropped the last with a precise stab to the heart.
Six pirates.
Gone.
The dock went silent again.
Then—one shutter creaked.
A face peeked out from a window across the street.
Not relief yet.
Just disbelief.
Kenji wiped his blade on a pirate's coat and smiled toward the window. "Don't worry! We're friendly!"
Aira groaned. "We are not friendly."
Ryu looked up the street toward the watchtower where more pirates were now shouting, scrambling, raising weapons.
The occupation had just been notified.
He exhaled slowly.
"Now," he said, voice calm and cold, "we take the town back."
And Kestrel Town—silent and terrified—held its breath as the hunters began walking inward.
___