[Panel: A gloomy, steel-hulled Marine warship sails through churning waters under a blackened sky. Lightning crackles.]
Marine Officer (gritting teeth):
"He's killed three Cipher Pol agents and disobeyed direct orders during the Red Fang incident... We can't control him anymore."
[Panel: Inside the brig — Kael sits shackled in a layered restraint of Seastone chains, silent and motionless. The cell glows faintly with ancient sigils etched into obsidian tiles.]
Second Officer:
"They're calling it Soulquake Protocol. They're done treating him like a weapon. Now he's just a liability."
First Officer (stern):
"Orders came straight from the Five Elders: Transport him to Impel Down... permanent confinement. If he goes berserk again, we drown him."
[Close-up panel: Kael's eyes slowly open, and we see a faint reflection of Kuro's monstrous grin in them.]
Kuro (internal voice):
"Did they think they could bury us?"
[Suddenly: BOOM. A shockwave of howling souls shatters the hull — the Soulquake. Corpses of marines collapse mid-scream. Kael's restraints fracture.]
Kael (screaming):
"GRAAAAAAHHH!!!"
[Page ends with a double-spread: Kael, semi-berserk, emerging from the wreckage as ghostly forms swirl around him in a storm, the shattered ship sinking behind.]