Story Quote: "The Grand Line doesn't need ghosts. The sea remembers enough of its own dead."
-The Ship Graveyard-
The fog pulsed like a living thing.From its depths rose the carcass of a creature that should not have moved—a Sea King's skeleton, fused with splintered hulls and rusted iron. Barnacles glowed along its ribs, and seaweed fluttered where flesh should've been.
The wreckage around it groaned as if mourning its resurrection.
Kairo and Reed stood balanced atop the deck of an ancient ship half-buried in the monster's spine, the air trembling from its awakening.
"You still want that bounty?" Kairo asked without turning his head."I don't hunt corpses," Reed replied, reloading his harpoon. "But I don't run from 'em either."
The creature's eye sockets ignited with a pale blue glow, and its jaw creaked open—silent at first, then erupting into a roar that didn't sound like breath but memory.
-Aboard the Fumigator-
Far across the mist, the Fumigator pitched violently as waves surged in all directions.Kino fought to keep the wheel steady, the ship threatening to roll as water rose like walls around them.
"It's moving under us!" he shouted."Under us?" Mira's voice trembled. "That's not a current—that's a pulse!"
Jett slammed a hand onto the railing to brace himself.
"If that thing flips us, we're dead!"
Rumi sprinted across the deck, fumbling with gauges and vents.
"Engines can't stabilize in this pressure! We need to lighten the ship!"
"Vent secondary gas chambers!" Kino barked.
Rumi hesitated.
"That'll kill our propulsion for hours—""Do it!"
She obeyed, yanking a release valve. The ship exhaled a massive hiss of steam, rising just enough to avoid being dragged into the churning vortex below.
Aria, strapped to the mast with her rifle ready, watched the glowing shape through the fog.
"Captain… you better be alive out there."
-Kairo's Side-
Kairo's Observation Haki pulsed, detecting every flicker of motion.The skeletal Sea King's spine shifted beneath his feet, and with a crack of displaced air, one of its ribs came swinging down like a whip.
He jumped clear, the impact shattering what remained of the deck.
Reed dodged in the opposite direction, planting his harpoon launcher into the bone and firing a cable that latched deep. He used it to swing higher, his eyes gleaming behind his metal mask.
"Aim for the joints!" Kairo shouted."I don't take orders from prey!" Reed growled, firing again.
The harpoon buried itself into the creature's neck, detonating on impact. A flash of light illuminated the fog, but when it faded, the wound was already sealing—bone knitting over itself like living coral.
"That didn't even slow it down," Reed hissed."Then stop shooting and listen to the sea," Kairo snapped. "It's still moving by instinct. Strike the rhythm, not the flesh."
Reed stared at him, then reluctantly nodded.
-The Fumigator-
Aboard the Fumigator, the crew wasn't idle.
"We can't outrun it!" Kino yelled."Then we shoot it!" Aria barked, loading explosive rounds.
She fired into the mist, the blasts lighting up the creature's massive shadow. Mira joined in, hurling jars of volatile oil that erupted into brief pillars of fire before sputtering out against the wet fog.
Jett tied himself to the mast, wielding one of the spare anchors like a weapon.
"Come on, you overgrown fossil!"
The next wave nearly threw him overboard, but Rumi caught him by the collar with her chemical whip, pulling him back onto the deck.
"Thanks," he panted."Don't make it a habit," she replied, smiling despite herself.
-Kairo's Side-
Back in the graveyard, Kairo exhaled slowly, his Haki spreading through every nerve. He could feel the vibration—the faint, rhythmic thrum in the monster's bones.
Like a heartbeat that's forgotten it's dead.
He charged forward, blade wreathed in Armament Haki, each strike landing where the pulse felt weakest. The air screamed with each swing, sparks leaping from metal to bone.
Reed watched, eyes narrowing behind the glare of his iron jaw. The pirate captain wasn't fighting with rage—he was fighting with discipline.
Kairo's final strike severed part of the creature's skull, revealing the glimmer of something buried inside: a conch-shaped organ, still glowing.
"Its core," Kairo said. "That's what's keeping it alive.""Then break it," Reed replied. "Together."
They nodded once—a truce between killers.
Kairo leapt first, spinning in midair. His body blurred into vapor, the blade reappearing from the mist like a flash of light.Reed fired at the same moment, his sea stone harpoon striking just as Kairo's sword pierced the glowing core.
The explosion was silent.
The light faded, and for a long moment, nothing moved.Then the Sea King's body began to crumble, its bones collapsing inward as if dissolving into the fog.
Kairo landed hard on a fragment of hull, panting. Reed landed nearby, his launcher smoking.
"Guess we're both still breathing," Reed said, voice metallic and even."Seems so."
They stared at one another through the mist.
"This isn't over," Reed said. "Next time, I'm taking that bounty.""Next time," Kairo replied, sheathing his blade, "you'd better bring an army."
Reed smirked faintly before vanishing into the fog, his small vessel already pulling away.
Hours later, the Fumigator found Kairo drifting on a shattered mast.
"Captain!" Aria shouted, pulling him aboard.He coughed once, then stood, dripping wet but alive.
"You win?" Jett asked."Let's just say the sea lost," Kairo replied.
Kino looked toward the fading mist.
"Who was the other man?""A hunter," Kairo said softly. "And a damn good one."
Mira exhaled shakily.
"If that's what the Grand Line throws at us this early, what's next?"
Kairo turned toward the horizon, eyes hard but calm.
"Something worse. But we'll be ready."
The fog began to clear, revealing the scattered remains of the ship graveyard—and a distant glint of sunlight that felt almost like a blessing.
The Gas Chamber Pirates had survived their first brush with both the dead and the living.And somewhere, deep in the mist, the bounty hunter Reed Lockjaw watched their ship vanish into the horizon.
"Veil," he murmured. "Let's see how long your luck lasts."