Deck boards creaked under the salt wind.
The merchant ship pitched, canvas straining. Around Jin, panic clung like wet linen.
The captain, sweat darkening his collar, edged closer. "S-sir Jin… are you truly… a bounty hunter?"
Jin didn't bother turning. His eyes stayed locked on the gray horizon where a blot of sail grew larger by the breath.
"Yeah," he said simply.
The captain's face twisted — half sob, half laugh. Relief mixed with terror.
Behind them, sailors huddled, eyes wide, some whispering prayers that wouldn't be answered.
Jin watched them, disgust flickering across his face. Throwing away your own life before the fight even starts… that's the real death, you sorry bastards.
"How high can you verify?" he asked, voice flat as iron.
The captain jolted. "Ah! Up to ten million Beli," he stammered. "Beyond that, we'd need a marine base."
Jin clicked his tongue. Ten million? East Blue rarely coughs up pirates worth even half that. Should do.
He lifted his chin, voice cracking across the deck like a whip.
"Get off your fucking knees! All of you! Stop sniveling!"
They flinched as if struck. The deck fell silent except for canvas flapping.
Jin's gaze snapped to the captain.
"Helm to starboard. We meet them head-on."
Silence — then gasps. "H-head-on?!"
"Move," Jin barked. His hand dropped to the battered hilt at his waist.
The captain's lips trembled, breath catching in his chest. Then, with a strangled shout:
"You heard him! Hard to starboard! Brace to meet!"
Boards groaned as the helm turned. Sails snapped. The sea churned white around them.
Across the water: the predator
A battered sloop, patched sails stained with salt and old blood.
Rusty cannon mouths sneered from her prow. On deck, a swarm of pirates jeered, weapons glinting.
"Captain Shabby! That merchant scow turned into us!" shouted a skinny deckhand clutching a pitted spear.
Captain Shabby shifted on his crate-throne — huge gut spilling over a cracked leather belt, faded pirate coat tugged across greasy shoulders. His pockmarked face split in a sneer.
"Ha! Just like gutless traders to beg for mercy before steel tastes their blood!"
His hand drifted to the flintlock at his belt. "Boys! Make ready. Leave enough alive to carry the loot."
"YEAH!!" The deck roared back — rusted sabers raised, breath foul with rotgut and old meat.
One boy against them all
On the merchant's deck, Jin drew a long breath, tasting brine and fear on the wind.
"They're barely worth the iron in their blades," he murmured.
He stepped forward, boots thudding. "Stop the ship," he ordered, voice calm.
The captain hesitated, then nodded, throat working. "Drop canvas! Hold her steady!"
Jin turned, cloak swirling. "Stay here. I'll be right back."
One moment he stood on deck. The next —
Flash.
Jin's body blurred, muscles coiling like springs, then releasing in a violent, silent burst.
Moonwalk (Geppo).
Boots struck air as if it were stone. Again. Again.
Jin vaulted across thirty meters of salt spray — a black arrow against gray waves.
The crew gaped, frozen. One sailor dropped his coil of rope; it thudded unnoticed to the deck.
Pirate eyes go wide
"Cap'n! Something's comin' at us — he's walkin' the air!" a deckhand screamed, eyes round.
Shabby's face twisted. "You halfwit! Nobody can—"
Thump.
Jin landed light as a cat on the pirate sloop's foredeck — coat tails settling around his boots.
His violet gaze swept the deck.
Rust-pitted swords. Bent spears. Stink of sweat and fear hidden under bravado.
Nothing here worth a name, Jin thought, disappointment flickering.
"Pirates, huh?" His voice carried, low but razor-edged. "Just filth clinging to a hull."
The first pirate — a brute with a spiked club — surged forward, roaring, "I'll crack your fuckin' skull!"
Jin took a step. The club whistled past empty air, striking nothing.
"What—?!" the brute choked.
Blood in the water
"Fucking do something!" Shabby roared, gut wobbling. His hand clawed for his flintlock.
"All of you! Gut him!"
The deck erupted. Rusted blades flashed. Shouts tangled with curses.
Jin exhaled. His body moved — a deliberate, mocking stroll forward, steps soft as a cat.
Swords hacked empty space. Clubs crashed into planks. Pirates cursed, stumbling over each other.
To them, he blurred and reappeared, always one pace ahead.
Shabby's hand trembled. The pistol shook in fat fingers. "Stay back! I'll shoot!"
Jin raised violet eyes, voice flat as a blade's edge.
"Worthless scum. Let me end your coward's play."
"Die—!"
Shabby jerked the trigger.
Crack.
But Jin was gone.
Cold breath whispered by Shabby's ear.
"You really should have stayed in your hole."
The sea claims its own
The world twisted. Shabby's eyes went wide as his vision spun.
Then darkness, sudden and complete.
His head struck the deck and rolled, eyes glassy, mouth frozen mid-scream.
Blood sheeted across salt-worn boards. Steam rose where it pooled.
Around Jin, the deck fell silent.
One by one, sabers dropped from trembling hands.
The mercenary's stare
Jin stood over the corpse, breath calm, blade angled down. Salt breeze tugged at his coat.
"First pirate kill, huh," he muttered. "Didn't even need to draw sweat."
He turned, eyes sweeping the cowering crew.
"Take your worthless ship and fuck off," he said, voice empty of heat. "Or join him."
No one moved. Then, as if a cord snapped, they scrambled to rig lines, casting terrified glances back.
Back on deck
Jin vaulted back across open water — boots tapping air — and landed on the merchant's deck.
The sailors flinched, then gaped.
The captain swallowed. "S-sir Jin… what… what happened?"
Jin flicked blood from the blade, sheathing it. "Their captain's dead. They won't fight."
He turned his gaze east, to the gray horizon.
Still too weak, he told himself. A real fight… that wasn't.
Yet in his chest, heart drummed faster, hungry for the next clash.
"East Blue," he whispered, salt wind catching his words. "You'd better have stronger bastards waiting."
This story is inspired from various fanfics i have read from around the world so if you find any similarities please dont mind . Thank you
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T/N :
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