On the vast sea, fierce winds howled and waves surged wildly. The massive ship, over a hundred meters long, was tossed and shaken violently, appearing minuscule amidst the ocean's wrath, utterly at its mercy.
Up ahead, dark clouds loomed like a collapsing sky. Thick black thunderclouds pressed low over the water, lightning flashed chaotically within them, and rain poured down as if a heavenly river had burst. A hurricane drove the storm clouds toward the Chris.
There had been no warning for this storm—no chance to evade it. Their only option was to sail straight into it.
The only way out... was through.
Kadun had rushed up from below deck, the clattering of dishes in the swaying kitchen alerting him something was wrong. Dropping a plate, he raced upstairs—only to be met with a terrifying sight.
"Damn it, just my luck! Even in the East Blue I run into a monster storm like this!"
Kadun was no novice. A seasoned navigator, he'd been sailing since the age of fifteen—ten years at sea—and had never seen a storm like this in the East Blue.
"Captain, what do we do now?" Kadun had lost his composure. Had he not been in the kitchen, he might have predicted the storm and rerouted them in time.
They might not have been able to completely avoid it, but they wouldn't have been slammed right into the heart of it either.
"What do we do? We charge straight through, of course!" Weiss replied with exhilaration on his face. "That's the wonder of the sea—one moment it's sunshine and calm, the next it wants to swallow you whole."
...
...
Weiss stood firmly on deck as if nailed into place, his feet unmoving. One hand gripped the helm, the other swirling a goblet of red wine. He downed it in one gulp and smashed the glass to the floor.
"Kadun, take the wheel! I'll handle the sails—we're going to break through this storm!"
Sailing full-sail in a hurricane was suicidal; the fierce wind could easily snap the mast. That's why Weiss needed to go himself—Kadun simply didn't have the strength, and this wind might blow him clear off the ship.
With a powerful leap, Weiss vaulted from the window to the mainmast, fighting the howling wind to furl the sails. Normally, it took only a fraction of his strength—now, it took five times as much.
He couldn't take down all the sails, or they'd lose all propulsion. After a struggle, he managed to secure the mainmast and a secondary mast, his hands clutching tight to the ropes of the remaining sails.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Thunder roared. Rain pelted him head-on. In mere seconds, Weiss was soaked to the bone.
The powerful force tugging at the sails nearly yanked him off. If not for the pole bracing him from behind, he would've been flung into the sea.
"Captain! Take the sails down! The wind's too strong—if we keep this up, the mast's going to break!" Kadun shouted from the helm, desperate.
"We have to ride the waves for now. Once the wind dies down a bit, then we can hoist sail again!" Kadun yelled over the chaos. Sailing now would be suicide.
Weiss could feel it too—the ropes were tightening, the force from the sails growing stronger.
He leapt again, climbed the mast, and tied down the sail securely before gazing into the distance. He dared not be careless. Even the infamous pirate Golden Lion—who once ruled the seas—nearly died in a storm like this.
A flash of lightning split the sky, illuminating the path ahead. The waves roared, crashing violently against the hull of the Chris.
Kadun strained to control the helm, the pressure nearly overwhelming him.
"How are we doing?" Weiss asked, jumping back in through the window and grabbing the helm from Kadun.
"Now all we can do is wait... see how long the storm lasts, and whether the ship can hold out. A storm like this is rare, even in the East Blue," Kadun said, slumping to the floor in exhaustion.
He'd done all he could. The currents were in chaos. As a navigator, he couldn't find a safe route—not with the knowledge he had now.
Not everyone could be born with the talent of someone like Nami.
"Oh? You've seen a lot of storms?" Weiss raised an eyebrow.
"Of course. I've been sailing for ten years. I've seen all kinds of storms," Kadun said proudly.
"No wonder you got caught by pirates with skills like that," Weiss scoffed.
"Hah! I've been to the Grand Line! At the entrance, I predicted a massive storm and changed course—saved the whole crew from a watery grave!"
"So tell me then, my dear navigator—how do we get out of this storm?" Weiss grinned, thinking maybe he'd been too hard on Kadun.
"Er... no idea," Kadun scratched his head, embarrassed. "The currents are too messed up. We'll have to wait for the wind to calm down."
A navigator with no sense of direction—it was awkward, to say the least.
Weiss instantly regretted his earlier thoughts. "If you survive this, get off my ship. The Chris doesn't carry dead weight."
Outside, things were worsening. The rain and wind drove wave after wave over the ship. A few swells even completely engulfed the deck.
If not for Weiss's expert handling, the ship would've already gone under. But even now, the Chris was barely holding together.
"Cap—Captain! Look ahead!" Kadun shouted in panic.
Weiss, lost in thought, looked up instinctively—and what he saw would remain burned in his memory forever.
A towering wave, dozens of meters high, loomed in the distance, bearing down on them with a force that could flatten mountains.
"Fuck! First day at sea and this is what I get? Is this world trying to drown me already?" Weiss cursed, half-suspecting the universe knew he was a stowaway from another world and wanted him dead.
"Kadun! Steer straight ahead! We're charging through it!"
"But Captain—!"
"No buts! Do it!"
With that, Weiss drew his sword and climbed the mast.
"In the manga, Luffy and Zoro could punch or slash open a path through waves. I'm already a damn swordmaster—no way I'm weaker than them."
He took a deep breath, raised his sword before his eyes, and focused all his aura into a single point. Armament Haki coated his arms, flowing onto the blade until the entire sword gleamed with a dark, cold shine.
He exhaled slowly. At this moment, he really wanted to give his move a badass name like Zoro did—but thought that was a bit too flashy.
"Basic Slash."
A cold arc of light erupted. A massive flying slash tore through the rain, leaving a momentary gap in the storm.
It even sliced through a bolt of lightning midair, hurling itself toward the towering wave.
Nature, feeling challenged by a mere ant, responded in kind. The rain intensified, and the sky lit up with lightning.
BOOM!
The slash struck the wave, a blinding explosion of white light burst across the surface, blasting open a hundred-meter gap in the wall of water.
With no time to waste, Weiss immediately dropped the sails, and the howling wind drove the ship straight toward the opening.
"Kadun! Hold the course!"
"Aye, Captain!" Kadun locked in, guiding the ship toward salvation. Now was the time to obey without question.
An hour later, the Chris emerged from the storm. Warm sunlight bathed the deck. Weiss collapsed onto a lounge chair, basking in the gift of survival.
"Finally... we made it. I thought we were dead for sure."
Just then, he heard movement near the rail. He turned to see someone crawling over the side, clutching another person in their arms, before tumbling to the deck.
"...Why is it him?" Weiss muttered in disbelief.
---
+25 Chapters on Ko-Fi
https:// ko-fi.com/sami27