The wind howled across the forgotten shores of Kairo Island, carrying whispers only one person could hear.
Kael D. Ryven stood alone on the jagged cliff, his black coat dancing wildly behind him. Below, the endless ocean roared like a living beast. Most people feared the sea. But Kael… he listened to it.
Ever since he was a child, the ocean spoke to him.
Not in words, but in feelings.
Danger. Freedom. Destiny.
At age seven, when pirates attacked his village, Kael didn't cry. He didn't run. Instead, his eyes glowed faintly silver, and every pirate froze in terror without knowing why. Even the captain, a man with a bounty of 50 million gold, collapsed unconscious.
The villagers called it a curse.
His grandfather called it Haki.
"Power born from will," his grandfather once said before disappearing into the sea forever.
Now Kael was seventeen.
And today, everything would change.
Behind him, footsteps approached.
"You're really leaving?" asked Lora, his childhood friend.
Kael didn't turn.
"Yes."
"The Grand Sea is death. Pirates. Monsters. The World Navy."
Kael smiled faintly.
"That's where freedom lives."
Lora clenched her fists. "You'll die."
Kael finally turned, his silver-gray eyes calm.
"No."
The wind suddenly stopped.
For a split second, the air itself trembled.
Lora's heart pounded in fear.
Not fear of Kael…
But fear of the king he would become.
"I'll conquer it."
Far beyond the horizon, something ancient stirred.
And for the first time in 800 years…
The ocean answered back.