"The day I can't handle something like this," Jin Akasa murmured with a faint smile, "is the day I'm unworthy of calling myself head of this crew."
He said it lightly, but his eyes stayed hard on the horizon.
Beside him, Kuina stood stiff and silent. She hated the helplessness gnawing at her chest. Every time danger rose from the sea, all she could do was train harder, swing her blade again and again below deck—yet here she was, still watching his back, unable to strike down monsters the way he did.
Jin noticed the storm in her expression. He stepped closer and flicked her forehead with a finger, his tone soft.
"Don't sulk. With your inner force, you could kill a Sea King in one cut… but you'd burn through your strength in minutes. Then what? You'd collapse, and I'd be dragging your stubborn ass out of the water. Don't think of weakness. Think of survival."
Kuina blinked, stunned by the simple warmth beneath his words.
Before she could answer, his face turned grim. His gaze swept the ocean, senses probing, and he said, "Go up to the lookout. Scan everything ahead. This silence… it's too deep. Too wrong."
She nodded quickly and left, white robe fluttering as she climbed the rigging.
Jin's lips curved faintly. Even the strongest women stumble when they doubt themselves. But she's still just a girl. My girl—or close enough.
Behind him, Kuma lumbered out, his massive shoulders blotting part of the lantern light.
"Boss. Tina says at this speed, seven hours to Serpent Island. If nothing breaks."
"Good," Jin replied.
The sea stayed unnervingly calm. No fish, no beasts, not even drifting gulls. Jin's Observation Haki stretched and stretched, but nothing answered. The quiet gnawed at him more than roars ever could.
Minutes bled into hours. Still nothing. His temples ached from overusing his senses.
"Rest," a voice whispered.
He turned. Tina stood at his shoulder, her face soft but eyes steady. "Close your eyes a while. I'll watch."
He studied her, then smiled. "Fine. But only because you asked." He leaned against the helm, arms folded, eyes sliding shut. His body stayed tense even in false sleep.
Half an hour later—
"Jin! One-point-five miles ahead—massive whirlpools!" Kuina's voice cut the night like a blade.
Jin's eyes snapped open. In one breath he was gone from the deck, reappearing in the lookout beside her. He snatched the spyglass, pressed it to his eye—
And cursed.
The horizon churned with spirals of death. Dozens of them, some small as coves, others wider than cities, each spinning in no pattern, colliding, twisting, tearing at each other. The smallest spanned two hundred meters. The largest stretched nearly a full kilometer across. They sprawled for miles, a labyrinth of spirals chewing the sea apart.
"Shit," Jin muttered. "Any ship that drifts near will be sucked, ground apart, shredded like driftwood."
Kuina swallowed. "Then… we turn back?"
"No." His jaw tightened. "If I'm right, these whirlpools ring Serpent Island. They're the island's walls. There's no way around."
"Then what do we—?" she began, but Tina was already climbing into the tower. Makino followed, eyes wide.
Jin handed Tina the glass. "You've sailed the Grand Line. What do you see?"
She lifted it, her face hardening with each second. When she finally lowered it, her voice was flat. "Even in the Grand Line, I've never seen this. It's not natural. It's slaughter. No wonder the sea here is empty—everything's been swallowed."
Makino peered through the lens next, gasping. "That's… that's impossible. How do we pass something like that?"
Jin turned to Tina again. "Could the Eternal Life survive it?"
She shook her head. "Not without a miracle. Unless we find a weak point, the currents will rip us apart. Steel or no steel."
"What about flight mode?" Jin pressed.
Tina frowned, running numbers in her head. "With secondary turbine boost and full wing-sails… we could glide five nautical miles. Maybe enough to cross the first bands. But after that?" She spread her hands. "Another whirlpool waits."
Jin's eyes narrowed. Then, slowly, he spoke: "Five miles… that's the edge. If you get us there, I'll dive. Break the current myself. You punch the ship through while I hold it."
"What?!" Magino's voice cracked, horrified. "Absolutely not!"
"That's suicide!" Kuina snapped, eyes blazing. "Even you can't fight the ocean itself!"
"Tell me the truth," Tina cut in, calm and cold. "How long can you hold the flow?"
Jin thought. Answered evenly. "Three minutes."
Silence.
Then Tina said, "The whirlpools below pull with tens of thousands of tons of force. If you fail, you'll be crushed, dragged to the bottom."
Jin smiled. A wolf's smile. "Then I won't fail."
The women argued. Magino's fear boiled into pleading. Kuina's anger sharpened into threats. Tina's logic clashed with his stubborn calm. Through it all, Jin stood like stone, eyes on the storm ahead.
Finally, Tina exhaled sharply, lowering her glass. "Fine. If we do this… then we do it perfectly. One mistake and we all die."
Kuina scowled, fists clenched white, but she said nothing more.
Magino's hands trembled. Jin caught them suddenly, pulling her closer. Her breath hitched, chest pressed to his armor, as his lips brushed her ear.
"Don't fear," he whispered. "When this is done, I'll still be here. And you'll still owe me a kiss for every worry line you've given me tonight."
Her face burned. "You—shameless…" But she didn't pull away. For one fleeting moment, she let herself lean into him, stealing warmth before danger tore it away.
Then he let her go, stepping back, blade gleaming in the moonlight.
"Seven hours to the island," he said, voice low but steady. "And the ocean itself wants us dead. Good. Let it try."
The sea rumbled ahead, a wall of spirals waiting to devour them.
And Jin Akasa smiled into the dark.
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T/N :
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