The sun was merciless that afternoon. It blazed down upon Cocoyasi Village, where the once peaceful air now reeked of gunpowder, blood, and fear.
Smoke rose from the orange groves. The sound of waves lapping against the dock mingled with distant screams.
The sea breeze carried with it the tang of salt and iron — the scent of battle.
Bell-mère crouched behind a half-broken wall, blood trickling from a gash on her shoulder. She could barely steady her rifle. The fish-men were everywhere — towering shadows that mocked the villagers' bravery with their cruel laughter.
And at the heart of the chaos stood Arlong, the saw-toothed shark man himself, his sharp grin spreading wide.
"Pathetic humans," he sneered, teeth gleaming like knives. "You dare raise weapons against us? You're lucky we even let you breathe the same air."
His words slithered through the air like poison.
Bell-mère gritted her teeth, but before she could answer, a single voice cut across the noise — calm, cold, and entirely unafraid.
Kuina stepped through the haze.
Her hair shimmered silver-blue in the sunlight, her blade held low at her side, her eyes sharp enough to slice the air. The villagers turned to look at her — the quiet girl who had been training in the hills.
Now she moved like a ghost of steel and wind.
Hachi — the six-armed octopus fish-man — staggered before her, clutching his chest where blood poured from the fresh wound she'd carved across him. His six swords fell from his hands, clattering to the dirt.
He stared at her, disbelief twisting his face. "You… how—?"
Kuina wiped the blood from her blade with a flick of her wrist. "You talk too much."
With one smooth step, she vanished. When she reappeared, she was behind him. The faint sound of steel whispering through air came half a heartbeat later.
Hachi froze. A thin red line blossomed across his torso.
He fell to his knees, trembling. "So… fast…"
Then the strength drained from his limbs, and he hit the ground with a dull thud.
For a moment, silence ruled the battlefield.
Then the villagers gasped — hope breaking through their fear.
Someone whispered, "She… she killed one of them."
Bell-mère's lips parted in stunned disbelief. She had seen skilled swordsmen in her years as a Marine, but this girl — this young woman — moved like water and lightning, her every strike clean and purposeful.
Kuina exhaled slowly, sheathing her blade. Her hands trembled slightly, not from fear but from the strain of suppressing her killing intent.
"Kuina!"
The call came from the edge of the square. A familiar, teasing voice.
Tina strode through the smoke like a storm in heels — pink hair whipping behind her, a pistol holstered at her thigh, her red leather jacket half-unzipped to reveal the gleam of her shoulder harness.
"Looks like I'm late," she said, voice lazy and confident. "You took the fun one, didn't you?"
Kuina glanced sideways at her. "If you'd moved faster, you might've had a chance."
Tina clicked her tongue. "You're impossible. Always acting like the world's already decided who's stronger."
"Because it has," Kuina replied.
The tension between them cracked like static. For the briefest second, it wasn't just a battlefield — it was a contest between two women who refused to back down.
Even Arlong noticed. His grin faltered for a moment as he looked between them — two humans standing fearless before him, one with a sword still dripping blood, the other with a gun glinting in the sunlight.
His lip curled. "You insects think you've done something impressive?"
"Impressive?" Tina tilted her head, the corner of her mouth curling. "No. Necessary."
Arlong's laughter roared, deep and cruel. "Necessary, you say? Then I'll show you what necessity looks like at the bottom of the sea!"
He lunged.
The ground cracked beneath his leap. His shadow engulfed them, jaws wide enough to crush a man in one bite.
Kuina moved first — blade flashing upward in a single arc of silver. Steel met teeth. Sparks exploded in the air. Arlong's monstrous jaw halted inches from her face, his serrated teeth grinding against her blade.
He pressed harder, his monstrous strength pushing her back. Kuina's boots dug trenches in the dirt.
Tina fired twice — bullets struck Arlong's shoulder, bouncing off his skin like pebbles.
"Damn it!" she hissed. "His hide's too thick!"
"Then aim for something softer," Kuina said through gritted teeth.
Arlong's laughter rattled the air. "Humans think too small."
He spun suddenly, tail whipping out like a steel cable. The blow caught Kuina across the ribs, sending her crashing into a half-destroyed wall.
"Kuina!"
Tina dashed forward, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her upright. Dust and blood streaked Kuina's face, but her eyes burned fiercer than ever.
"I'm fine," she said, though her breathing betrayed the pain.
"Liar."
"Move."
Kuina pushed herself up, adjusting her stance. Arlong loomed ahead, his muscles rippling beneath gray-blue scales, his grin wide and murderous.
"You two have spirit," he said. "I'll enjoy breaking it."
He lunged again, faster this time. Tina ducked low, rolling past him as Kuina's blade sliced upward once more. Arlong blocked with his forearm, the impact splitting the air with a sharp crack.
Kuina's wrists ached. She was strong — but he was a monster.
"Not enough," she muttered under her breath.
Tina reappeared at his flank, kicking off a fallen crate and flipping over him. As she twisted in midair, she fired downward. This time, her bullets struck Arlong's eyes.
He roared, stumbling back, blood streaking across his snout.
"Better," Kuina said.
"You're welcome," Tina snapped.
"Don't get cocky."
"I'm saving your life, sword girl!"
"Then do it quietly."
Even in the chaos, the villagers could hardly believe their eyes — two women, human, standing against the monster that had enslaved entire islands.
Arlong's roar shook the air. He tore the bullets free, fury blazing in his yellow eyes.
"I'll tear your hearts out!" he bellowed.
He charged again — and this time, Kuina didn't retreat.
Steel sang.
Her blade flickered like lightning, striking not for flesh but for rhythm — to disrupt, to control. Every step she took drew Arlong's attention away from Tina, forcing his movements into a predictable pattern.
Tina saw it — the faint opening at his side, the rhythm of his steps. She holstered her gun, slipped behind him, and pulled the steel cable from her belt.
As Arlong lunged, she looped the cable around his arm and twisted, anchoring it to a fallen beam.
The sudden resistance jerked him off balance. Kuina's blade flashed.
The strike cleaved through scales, muscle, and bone.
Arlong roared, spinning away, clutching his bleeding arm.
Kuina didn't let him recover. She pressed forward, blade flowing like water — slash after slash, forcing him back toward the burning docks.
For the first time, Arlong retreated.
Tina stood beside her, panting, sweat glistening on her temple. "Not bad, partner."
Kuina exhaled slowly, lowering her blade. "You talk too much."
But her lips twitched, just barely, into something that might have been a smile.
Far up the hill, the rhythmic clang of hammer on steel echoed faintly across the wind.
Jin wiped the sweat from his brow. His shirt clung to his back, his hands raw and blistered. Before him, the molten steel glowed like a small sun.
He'd felt it — that shift in the air, the distant clash of killing intent. Kuina's blade, Tina's gunfire, the pulse of danger rippling through the island.
He set his hammer down, staring out toward the sea.
"So it's begun," he murmured.
The orange light reflected in his eyes. "Hold out, Kuina."
He turned back to the forge, lifting the unfinished blade — the one he'd been tempering for days. The metal sang softly in his hands, like it too could sense the chaos below.
With one deep breath, he raised his hammer again.
Back in the village, the battle's tempo slowed.
Hachi lay motionless, his blood dark against the dirt. The fish-men crew hesitated, suddenly aware that the tide had shifted.
Kuina stood amidst the wreckage, breathing hard but steady. Tina crouched beside her, inspecting a scrape on her own leg.
"You're bleeding," Kuina said.
"So are you," Tina shot back.
They locked eyes — and for a long second, neither spoke. The adrenaline, the exhaustion, the strange electric tension between them — it all hung thick in the air.
Then Kuina exhaled and reached out, brushing a smear of blood from Tina's cheek with the back of her fingers.
Tina blinked, surprised.
"Don't flinch," Kuina said softly. "You did well."
It wasn't romantic — not quite — but it lingered. A fragile, human moment born from battle. Tina's lips curved into a faint smirk.
"Careful, sword girl. If you start being nice to me, I might get used to it."
Kuina sheathed her blade. "Then don't."
The wind shifted.
Arlong's roar rolled across the beach once more — not of pain this time, but of fury.
He slammed his palm against the ground, shattering the remains of a stone pillar. "You think this is over?! You think a few lucky strikes make you heroes?!"
He stood, blood dripping down his arm, eyes wild with hatred. "I'll tear this village apart — brick by brick, life by life! You'll wish you'd never been born, humans!"
Tina's smirk faded. "He's still standing…"
Kuina stepped forward again, her blade whispering free from its sheath. The sunlight glinted along the edge, painting her face in white fire.
"Then we'll cut him down until he stops getting up," she said quietly.
Behind her, Bell-mère steadied her rifle. The villagers gathered what courage they had left.
On the hill, Jin's hammer fell once more — each strike echoing like a heartbeat, a promise.
The tide had turned, but the storm wasn't over.
And somewhere in that balance — between blood, fire, and steel — the legend of the blade would continue to grow.
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T/N :
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