The morning air carried the sharp bite of salt and the faint metallic tang of an approaching storm.
Akira stood at the edge of the small wooden pier, watching the fishing boat bob gently against the ropes. It was older than most of the houses on Whale Island—paint chipped, hull patched in a dozen places—but sturdy.
The captain, an weathered man named Toru who had known Mito since they were children, was already loading the last crates of supplies: dried fish, rice sacks, spare clothes, and a small medical kit Mito had insisted on packing.
Gon bounced on his toes beside Akira, unable to stand still.
"This is it," Gon said, voice bright but edged with something quieter. "We're really leaving."
Akira nodded, eyes on the horizon. The mainland felt both impossibly close and impossibly far.
Behind them, the entire village had gathered. Not a large crowd—Whale Island never had been—but every face was familiar now.
The fishermen who had taught him knots, the women who had shared stories by the fire, the children who once ran from him as "the new kid" and now called him by name.
Mito stood at the front, arms crossed, expression unreadable.
She stepped forward first.
Gon threw himself into her arms before she could speak. She held him tightly, longer than usual, then pulled back and cupped his face.
"You listen to your instincts out there," she said. "And you write. Every week. No excuses."
"I will! Promise!"
Mito turned to Akira next. Her gaze was steady, searching.
"You kept your word," she said quietly. "You looked after him. You looked after all of us, in your own way."
Akira met her eyes. "I owed you that much. You gave me a home when I had none."
She reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder—firm, almost motherly.
"Don't let the world change you too much," she said. "And don't let him run off alone when things get hard. He's brave, but he's still a child."
Akira gave a small smile. "I'll drag him back if I have to."
Mito's lips twitched—the closest she ever came to a real smile in public.
Toru cleared his throat from the boat. "Tide's turning. If you boys want to make the first port by nightfall, we should shove off."
Gon gave one last fierce hug to Mito, then turned and sprinted down the pier, leaping onto the deck with the easy grace of someone born to the sea.
Akira followed more slowly, pausing at the gangplank.
He looked back once.
The village stood in a loose semicircle.
Hands raised in quiet waves. A few of the older fishermen touched their hats. Mito lifted her chin, eyes shining but dry.
Akira raised his hand in return.
Then he stepped aboard.
Toru cast off the lines. The boat drifted free, caught the current, and began to move. The pier shrank quickly. Faces blurred. Soon the island was just a green silhouette against the gray sky.
Gon leaned over the railing, waving until his arm must have ached.
Akira stood beside him, silent.
After a while Gon lowered his arm and looked at Akira.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," Akira said. "Just… taking it in."
Gon nodded. "Me too."
They stayed like that for a long time, watching Whale Island fade until it was only a smudge on the horizon.
The wind picked up. Gray clouds rolled in thick and low. Toru glanced at the sky and muttered something about the weather turning ugly.
"Better get below if you don't want to get soaked," he called.
Gon grinned. "I like the rain!"
But even he retreated when the first fat drops began to fall.
The small cabin smelled of oil, salt, and old wood. Two narrow bunks, a tiny table bolted to the floor, a single lantern swaying with the motion of the waves.
Akira sat on one bunk. Gon flopped onto the other.
For a while they just listened to the rain drumming on the deck above and the creak of the hull.
Then Gon spoke.
"What do you think the exam will be like?"
Akira leaned back against the wall. "Hard.
Dangerous. But fair, in a twisted way. They want people who can survive anything."
Gon's eyes sparkled. "I can't wait."
Akira almost laughed. Of course he couldn't.
He pulled up the system panel mentally, keeping it invisible to Gon.
Current Level: 5
Aura Control: 28 (Improving)
New Side Mission: Survive the Voyage – Reward: +3 All Stats, Unlock Function: Environmental Adaptation
Warning: Storm Intensity Rising. Potential Threat Detected.
Akira frowned. Threat?
He stood and climbed the short ladder to the deck.
Rain lashed sideways now. Toru was at the wheel, oilskins dripping, face grim.
"Bad squall coming," he shouted over the wind. "Nothing we can't handle, but hold on!"
Akira gripped the railing. Lightning forked across the sky. Thunder rolled like an avalanche.
Then he felt it—not with his ears, but with the new sensitivity in his aura.
Something large. Something alive. Moving fast beneath the surface.
System. Scan.
[Analysis: Large Marine Entity. Estimated Length: 18–22 meters. Aggressive Behavior. Approaching from Starboard.]
Akira's pulse quickened.
"Toru!" he called. "Something's in the water!"
Toru glanced over. "Whales sometimes bump the hull. Nothing to—"
A massive shape broke the surface fifty meters off the starboard side.
Not a whale.
A sea serpent—sleek, scaled, jaws lined with needle teeth. Its body coiled like a spring, then lashed forward.
Toru cursed and spun the wheel hard.
The boat heeled violently. Akira slid across the deck, caught himself on a rope.
Gon burst up from below, eyes wide.
"What is that?!"
Akira didn't answer. He focused.
Infinite Adaptation: Observe movement pattern.
The serpent lunged again. Akira watched the way its body undulated, the precise timing of each coil and strike.
[Adaptation Complete: Serpentine Evasion (Basic). Agility +2]
He moved.
When the next strike came he was already rolling—low, fluid, mimicking the serpent's own rhythm. The jaws snapped shut inches from the rail where he'd been standing.
Gon whooped. "That was awesome!"
Toru was shouting orders, trying to turn the boat into the wind.
Akira vaulted onto the cabin roof, rain stinging his face.
Ren.
He pushed. Blue aura flared around him—brighter now, steadier. The wind seemed to part slightly around his body.
The serpent reared again.
Akira extended both hands.
Ten.
Aura wrapped him like a second skin.
Then he pushed outward—raw, unrefined Ren directed forward.
A pulse of pressure slammed into the creature like an invisible wall.
The serpent recoiled, thrashing in confusion.
[Progress: Ren Mastery +15%]
It hesitated.
Akira didn't give it time to recover.
He sprinted along the tilting deck, adapted the serpent's own explosive lunge, and leaped.
Mid-air he twisted—Serpentine Evasion + Gon's acrobatics + basic Ren amp.
His foot connected with the side of the serpent's head in a clean, Nen-enhanced kick.
The crack echoed over the storm.
The creature's eyes rolled. It sank, stunned, vanishing beneath the waves.
The boat steadied.
Toru stared at Akira, mouth open.
Gon was bouncing on the deck, soaked and grinning like a maniac.
"That was incredible! You just… kicked a sea monster!"
Akira landed lightly, aura fading. His legs trembled—not from fear, but from the raw drain of using Ren so aggressively.
[Side Mission Complete: Survive the Voyage.]
[Rewards Granted: +3 All Stats. Function Unlocked: Environmental Adaptation (Basic) – Resist extreme weather, adapt to hostile environments.]
[Level Up: Level 6]
He exhaled slowly.
Toru finally found his voice. "Boy… what in the hells are you?"
Akira met his eyes.
"Someone who wants to be a Hunter."
Toru shook his head, half in awe, half in disbelief.
"Well," he muttered, "you're gonna need more than fancy kicks where you're going."
The storm began to ease. The clouds thinned. Stars appeared in ragged patches.
Gon clapped Akira on the back.
"We're gonna pass that exam," he said with absolute certainty. "Together."
Akira looked toward the dark horizon.
The mainland waited.
And with it—the Hunter Exam.
The real beginning.