The beach reserve was quiet, almost boring.
Shanks lay face down on a massage bed, eyes closed, breathing slow. One arm hung off the side, fingers lazily twitching now and then. A glass sat near the bed, half full, melting ice dripping into the sand.
On the bed next to him, Mu Ji stared at the sky, jaw clenched.
"…Another massage," Mu Ji said. "That makes seven."
The woman working on his back didn't respond. She just kept going, like she had heard this complaint before.
Mu Ji turned his head slightly toward Shanks. "You said this was a short break."
No response.
"You said adventure."
Still nothing.
Mu Ji let out a breath through his nose. At first, the place had been nice. Clean rooms, warm water, decent food. Swimming during the day, drinks at night. For the first few days, it really felt like a vacation.
That feeling died somewhere during the second week.
Every day was the same. Wake up. Eat. Massage. Swim. Drink. Sleep.
No danger. No training. No explanation.
Mu Ji's patience thinned day by day.
When the massage ended, he stood up without a word and walked back to his room. He shut the door harder than necessary.
I'm done, he thought. If he won't move, I will.
An hour later, Mu Ji left the building and headed straight for the beach.
Shanks was sitting there, facing the sea, legs crossed, drink in hand. He looked exactly the same as always.
Mu Ji walked up behind him.
"Shanks."
Nothing.
"…Shanks?"
Mu Ji frowned. He stepped closer, moving into Shanks' view. His eyes were closed, but his breathing was steady. He wasn't unconscious. He didn't look drunk either.
"That's strange," Mu Ji muttered.
He raised his voice. "Shanks!"
This time, Shanks spoke.
"Mu Ji," he said calmly. "Give me a sealing scroll. Any one. Right now."
Mu Ji blinked. "What? Why?"
"Now."
Mu Ji hesitated, then reached into his pouch and pulled out a basic sealing scroll. "You better explain this later."
Shanks took it and stood up at the same time.
Before Mu Ji could say another word, Shanks drew his sword and jumped toward the trees beside the beach.
He slashed.
The blade hit something solid.
Black matter burst out of the ground and trees, spreading like thick liquid before pulling itself together. A shape formed. Eyes opened. A mouth twisted into something close to a smile.
"…That's not possible," the thing said. "No one sensed me."
Mu Ji froze. What the hell is that?
"I've been hiding everywhere," the black entity continued. "In the ground. In structures. In people's blind spots. Not once was I detected. Except that one time… and even then, it shouldn't have counted."
Its eyes focused on Shanks.
"How did a ten-year-old sense me?"
Shanks didn't answer. He just adjusted his grip on the sword.
"You can ask questions later," Shanks said. "First you answer mine."
He pointed the blade at the thing.
"You can do this the easy way," he said, "or the hard way."
Mu Ji stepped back instinctively. "Shanks… what is that thing?"
The black entity moved.
Not toward Shanks.
Toward Mu Ji.
Mu Ji barely reacted before Shanks stepped between them. The sword cut straight through the black mass, but it didn't bleed. It just pulled itself back together.
"Figures," Shanks muttered.
The black entity laughed. "Physical attacks don't work."
Three figures erupted from the ground around Mu Ji.
White. Humanoid. Smiling.
Mu Ji's heart jumped. More of them?!
"Mu Ji," Shanks said sharply. "Handle those."
Mu Ji swallowed, then formed hand signs.
"Dust Release."
The first White Zetsu vanished as its upper body disintegrated. The second rushed him and was crushed under condensed matter. The third tried to retreat, but Mu Ji caught it mid-step and erased it completely.
He was breathing hard when it was over.
Behind him, Shanks was still fighting. The black entity kept slipping into the ground, the trees, even Shanks' shadow. Every solid hit passed through, but then—
The black thing screamed.
It recoiled, its form breaking apart.
"…That hurt," it said, voice tense now. "What was that?"
Shanks didn't answer.
The entity tried to escape, sinking into the ground.
Shanks released something.
The pressure hit Mu Ji instantly. His knees almost buckled. The air felt heavy, like it was pushing down on his chest.
The black entity froze mid-motion.
Shanks opened the sealing scroll and pressed it forward. Symbols activated, dragging the black mass inside. The thing screamed until the scroll snapped shut.
Silence.
Shanks exhaled slowly.
He turned and saw Mu Ji standing among scattered dust, the remains of the White Zetsu gone.
"…You handled yourself well," Shanks said.
Mu Ji stared at the sealed scroll in Shanks' hand, the realization settling in slowly. Shanks had known. This place, this long and pointless rest, none of it had been accidental.
Two weeks ago, when they arrived at the beach reserve, Shanks had only intended to stay for a few days. But not long after settling in, he sensed something observing him. Something that didn't belong. Something that moved through the ground and surroundings without leaving any trace.
His first reaction had been to test it through his future sight.
Every time he followed a future where he confronted the entity immediately, the result was the same. The thing either slipped away underground or changed tactics entirely. In some futures, it stalled him endlessly. In others, it went after Mu Ji, using him as leverage. No matter how Shanks adjusted his actions, the outcome was never clean.
So he stopped acting.
Day after day, he deliberately lowered his guard. He drank more, trained less, laughed louder, and acted careless. To anyone watching, he looked like a bored child wasting time on vacation. Exactly what the entity needed to believe.
With each passing day, Shanks checked again, searching for a future where the outcome changed. Most still ended badly. The entity escaped. Mu Ji was endangered. The seal failed before it was even placed.
Until today.
Today was the first future where the timing lined up. Where he asked for a sealing scroll first. Where the entity revealed itself fully. Where it stayed solid long enough to be hit by something that could actually hurt it.
Even then, Shanks knew the seal wouldn't last forever.
This had never been a vacation. It had been patience. Waiting for the single moment where things didn't go wrong.
And now that moment had passed.