The Veil Sea was black as tar and twice as heavy. Waves rose like walls, slamming into the hull of the Sea Brittle ship, making its mast groan like it was about to snap. Rain hammered the deck, and every lightning strike lit the world in blue flashes.
"Pull him up! Nah, dunk him again!" a pirate barked, his laughter nearly drowned out by the storm.
On deck, the crew of the Widow's Fang howled and jeered as they dangled a boy upside down over the rail. He screamed every time the rope swung him close enough to the water for a dark fin to break the surface.
"Look at that one!" a pirate roared, pointing. "That's a big'un! Bet he could swallow him in one gulp!"
The boy kicked and sobbed, rain dripping down his face. "Please! Please don't drop me!"
"Don't cry, lad," another pirate teased, squatting to look him in the eye. "Sea creatures like their food salty."
The crew roared with laughter, thunder shaking the sky above them.
⸻
Down below deck, in the stink of damp wood and mold, Ponyo of Karamik opened his eyes.
That voice.
That cry.
He was slumped against a post, wrists rubbed raw from the iron cuffs chaining him to the wall. His body ached, his shirt was damp from a leak dripping steadily above his head, but he didn't notice. Not when that scream dug straight into his skull.
He tilted his head, listening again. That sob—he hadn't heard it since the raid.
"Koby," Ponyo muttered under his breath.
The last time he'd seen him was the night their home went up in flames, pirates dragging screaming villagers through the smoke. Koby had been ripped away while Ponyo fought until his ribs cracked. He'd assumed Koby was dead or sold somewhere far away.
But now? He was right above him, about to become fish food.
Ponyo leaned forward, twisting his wrists. The cuffs groaned, metal straining. He dug his heel into the wet planks, pulling harder until—SNAP. The chain split.
He stood slowly, shaking out his stiff hands, scanning the empty hold. He'd been counting everything these last few weeks. Every guard's rotation. Every loose board. Every rope tied wrong.
He'd been waiting for this moment.
⸻
The storm slammed into him as he climbed into the rigging, spray hitting his face like needles. Lightning painted the ship in stuttering flashes, pirates still cackling over their game.
"Should I let him go?" one pirate shouted over the storm. "See if he makes a good splash?"
"Nah," another snickered. "Widow likes 'em alive."
Ponyo crouched above them, perched like a bird of prey. His braids stuck to his rain-soaked face, seashells threaded through them clinking softly in the wind. Around his neck hung a broken shard of a compass, glinting faintly with every strike of lightning.
He grinned.
"You still cry loud as ever, huh?"
⸻
The laughter stopped instantly. Pirates froze, heads snapping up.
Koby's eyes went wide, his face pale even upside down. "P-Ponyo?! You're alive?! I thought—"
"Guess you were wrong."
Ponyo dropped from the mast in a blur, slicing through the rope midair. Koby screamed as he fell—then gasped when Ponyo caught him, landing hard on the slick deck.
"Who the hell's this?!" a pirate barked, brandishing his cutlass.
"Someone who hates boats," Ponyo said casually.
The pirate swung. Ponyo's chain whipped out, wrapping around his wrist, yanking the sword free. He spun, elbowed the man in the gut, and sent him sprawling into a crate.
Another charged him. Ponyo kicked his legs out, slammed him into the rail, and ducked under a third swing.
"Stop standing there like a fish!" Ponyo barked at Koby, who scrambled back in shock.
⸻
"GET 'EM!" a pirate roared.
The deck exploded into chaos. Ponyo swung from the rigging, chains snapping like whips, flipping barrels and crates into oncoming attackers. He moved like lightning, never in one place for more than a second.
Koby's back hit a mast. A pirate lunged, and Koby panicked, swinging the knife he'd grabbed off the floor. It smacked the man square in the jaw.
The pirate collapsed.
Koby stared at his shaking hands. "I—I hit him…"
"Not bad," Ponyo called over his shoulder, grinning as he kicked another pirate overboard.
"You're insane!" Koby shouted, heart racing.
"Probably!" Ponyo yelled back, spinning his chain and knocking two more off their feet.
⸻
Moments later, the deck was littered with groaning pirates, the storm battering the ship harder and harder. Koby panted, wide-eyed, clutching the knife like his life depended on it. Ponyo stood over him, breathing heavy but smiling like this was fun.
Then—click. Click-click.
Every pirate froze.
A shadow stretched across the deck, long and slow.
⸻
She emerged from the captain's perch, calm as a whisper.
Bredma.
Eight black, segmented limbs extended behind her, lifting her smoothly above the deck. Her black silks rippled in the storm wind, thin threads shimmering like glass in her hands. Her pale face was half-covered by wet, inky hair, but the sharp smile underneath was unmistakable.
"The Widow…" Koby whispered, his voice trembling.
Bredma tilted her head, her voice smooth, almost bored.
"So. My little mapmaker lives."
A single thread sliced through the air—THWIP!—and a mast rope fell clean in two. The mast groaned and leaned heavily, the ship shuddering beneath them.
Ponyo gripped his chains tighter, water running down his face. The storm roared, but the deck had gone silent.
This wasn't over.
This was just beginning.
⸻
To be continued…