The Revenant cut through the mist like a blade.cold waves crashed against its hull as the winds howled, dragging the ship toward the northern seas.
The North Blue here was different.
It didn't hum — it groaned. The waters were heavy with iron dust and shipwreck debris, the air thick with soot and oil.
And on the horizon… stood Spider Miles.
A labyrinth of rusted cranes, broken docks, and ship skeletons. Towers of iron rose from the ocean like jagged teeth, their shadows stretching across the black waters.
Smoke plumes rose from distant factories, where molten sparks painted the clouds orange.
The stench of grease and decay stung the air.
Medusa squinted. "Smells like something died here… and then got rebuilt wrong."
Reina whistled low. "I've seen cleaner warzones."
Nami flipped through her notebook, containing the information about the island she got from koroven . Her expression tightened.
"Spider Miles used to be a shipbuilding hub… until the underworld took over. Weapons, slaves, stolen tech… even the Marines avoid this place now."
Ash leaned against the railing, his coat whipping in the wind, eyes fixed on the burning skyline.
"Perfect," he said softly. "A graveyard where legends are forged."
---
As the Revenant docked beside a ruined pier, the crew disembarked cautiously.
The wood beneath their boots was slick with oil, and the air hummed with faint mechanical sounds — gears, pistons, and echoes of hammering from somewhere deep inside the industrial sprawl.
They weren't alone.
Eyes watched from behind barrels and broken hulls. Men with scarred faces and metal arms whispered to each other. The faint glint of blades caught the light.
Reina grinned while walking "Lovely welcome party."
Zoro cracked his neck. "Think they'll bring snacks?"
A group of ten rough-looking pirates stepped out from the shadows, their leader — a bulky man with half a metal jaw and tattoos crawling up his face — grinned.
"Well, well. Look what washed in,"
he rasped.
"Outsiders. This is Iron Fang territory. Pay your dock fee — or bleed on it."
Ash tilted his head, unfazed.
"And what's the fee?"
The man smiled with blackened teeth.
"Your ship. Your weapons. And maybe your lives if you're lucky."
Reina rolled her eyes. "I vote for option three. The one where we beat them senseless."
Ash stepped forward, slow and deliberate.
"Tell me something before you die, metal-mouth — have you heard of a man named Trafalgar Law?"
At that name, the pirates froze.
A few exchanged nervous glances.
The leader spat to the side.
"That freak? He was here. At morning at least. Killed half my men. Cut 'em open like he was… studyin' 'em."
Reina grinned. "So we found him huh?"
Ash's voice lowered, quiet but sharp. "Where'd he go?"
The man's hand twitched toward his blade. "You'll join him soon enough—"
He didn't finish.
Ash moved faster than wind. His tachi— flashed in a crescent arc, and the pirate's blade clattered to the ground in two neat pieces. The man froze, eyes wide, before a single drop of blood slid down his cheek.
Ash's voice was a whisper of steel. "Wrong answer."
The other pirates panicked, shouting as Medusa's chains caught them one by one and tore them apart like ragdolls.The fight was short. Brutal. And loud enough to wake the dead.
When the smoke cleared, the dock was littered with groaning bodies and shattered crates.
Nami stepped over the wreckage, holding up a piece of cloth she'd found. "Captain… look at this."
It was a piece of a white coat, soaked in blood — the letters "TRA" barely visible on the torn edge.
Reina whistled. "Well, that confirms it. We're in his wake."
Ash took the fabric, fingers tracing the bloodstain. His eyes flicked toward the jagged skyline.
"He's close."
Zoro glanced at the burning factories ahead.
"What makes you so sure?"
Ash looked up, smiling faintly.
"Because the air tastes like someone just changed fate ?"
Zoro snorted but said nothing.
---
They followed the trail inland — past rusted pipes and half-finished ships hanging from cranes, their shadows looming like metal titans.
At the edge of the main factory yard, they found what was left of a battlefield.
Bodies lay scattered across the steel floor, sliced clean — not hacked, but precisely dissected. No wasted motion. No missed cuts.
Medusa knelt, examining a corpse.
"These aren't just sword wounds. This was surgical. Every strike was… deliberate."
Zoro frowned. "You mean he operates while fighting?"
Nami shivered. "Remind me never to catch a cold around him."
Ash stared at the carnage, his voice calm.
"He's no ordinary pirate."
He turned toward the horizon smiling faintly , where the orange light of the factories bled into the night.
"He's a man who understands both death… and purpose."
A faint echo drifted through the metal corridors — distant footsteps, steady and unhurried.
Ash's hand went to his sword. The crew froze, eyes narrowing toward the sound.
And from the smoke ahead… a figure in a spotted hat stepped briefly into view, silhouette outlined by firelight — silent, composed, and gone again in the blink of an eye.
Ash didn't move. He just smiled wider — slow and sharp.
"Found you."
---
The shipyard was still burning when Ash found him.
The twisted skeletons of half-built ships hung above like metal ghosts, their shadows stretching across the floor where oil fires crackled quietly.
The smell of iron, blood, and rain mixed into something heavy — like war waiting to breathe again.
And there, standing in the heart of the ruin, was TRAFALGAR LAW.
A white coat hung from his shoulders, torn and blood-spattered. The brim of his spotted hat shadowed his sharp gray eyes — cold, calculating, distant.
His nodachi rested casually against his shoulder, the blade gleaming faintly in the firelight.
Ash stopped a few steps away, boots crunching over broken glass. His crew lingered behind him, silent.
For a long moment, neither man spoke.
Only the sound of the waves crashing against steel.
Ash broke the silence first.
"You really don't leave much behind, do you?"
Law didn't look up. "Those who came before me had nothing worth keeping."
Ash smirked faintly. "That's one way to introduce yourself."
"Didn't realize I was introducing myself," Law said coolly, his voice low but steady.
Ash tilted his head, studying him. "Trafalgar Law. The Surgeon of Death. North Blue's newest whisper. I've heard stories about you."
Law finally raised his gaze — sharp and unblinking. "And I've heard stories about you."
That name — "Ashborn-The grim reaper"— hung unspoken, yet heavy between them.
---
They stood like mirror images — both calm, both dangerous, both men who carried storms quietly in their chests.
Ash's coat fluttered in the wind. "You've made quite a mess here. Marines'll be swarming this place before sunrise."
Law glanced at the burning dock. "Then I'll be gone before they arrive."
"Always alone?"
"Always alive."
Ash chuckled softly. "You sound like someone who's forgotten how to live."
Law's eyes flickered — the smallest crack in his calm. "And you sound like someone who hasn't seen enough death."
The air grew tense. Zoro shifted behind Ash, but Ash lifted a hand, silencing him without breaking eye contact.
---
Ash took a slow step forward, the firelight dancing in his golden eyes.
"You've got a surgeon's precision… and a pirate's stare. You know how rare that is?"
Law didn't respond.
Ash smiled faintly as he took a pause to see the man standing infront of him then said.
"I have an offer for you law - join me ."
The words hung in the air like some unknown death sentence.
Law tilted his head slightly taken aback.
"You....want me to join your crew ?"
He said voice low almost disbeliefed
"Why ?"
Ash smiled as he said-
"People like us… we don't just chase dreams. We reshape them. The world's a broken body, Law. You cut it open. I set it on fire."
Law's expression stayed unreadable. "That sounds like a good way to die."
"Maybe." Ash's grin widened. "Or a better way to live."
Ash continued-
"I know the about the bad blood between you and 'joker '-.....law."
Law's eyes narrowed his grip tightening on his nodachi.
"And what are you going to do about it ?" He asked almost threatening.
Ash just grinned wider ."c'mon now, don't kill the mood ! ...besides I am not your enemy law, I am...a friend if you say ?"
He paused for a breath then continued -
"You see I have a really grand dream of myself ,which I need to fulfill before I die.....and for that dream ,I need comrades ... Loyal ones."
Law's eyes narrowed but his expression remained unreadable.
"I am listening." Law said indifferently.
Ash smiled as he continued." I want to carve my name on history,on this world,on people's heart and children's bed night tales.....haha, crazy right ?"
He chuckled softly as he gazed at the sunrays reflecting from distant ocean.
"Anyways- the thing is , if I want to fulfill my dream..... I'll have to fight for it, and as it so happens your enemy also happens to be on the list of people who I need to step on to claim the top."
Ash looked in law's eyes and said while grinning.
"I don't fear anyone in this world law , one day I am going to get on top and while doing so , I'll beat the living shit out of joker."
Law's mouth parted to say that ash was
bluffing ,but the energy ash was radiating right now was that of a king passing a sentence which could never be changed .
Law smirked " so, you came to me because we can work together and you need a doctor on your ship huh ?"
Ash grinned."intelligent people are always easy to talk!"
Law walked closer to Ash and stood opposite him."Then , let me check if you have the qualifications to be my captain or not ."
---
A moment of silence again.
Two storms circling, testing each other's gravity.
Law turned slightly, letting the embers catch the edge of his sword's sheath.
Ash stepped closer, close enough that the heat from the flames brushed both their coats.
" I can feel it. That same thing I felt when I first stared down a sea king — that pressure. You've got it too. But yours hasn't chosen its form yet."
Law's eyes glinted under the shadow of his hat. "You talk too much."
Ash grinned.
"Maybe.."
---
Rain hissed against the burning steel of Spider Miles.
Ash's coat fluttered once, water beading down the black edge of his Tachi. The weapon looked alive—its curve breathing with the pulse of the sea.
Law stood opposite him, hat lowered, nodachi drawn, the faint blue shimmer of his Room expanding like a heartbeat across the wet ground.
For a heartbeat, the world held its breath.
Then the wind cracked.
CLANG—!
Their blades met, sparks flying into the rain. Law's cut was surgical, meant to separate; Ash's was fluid, meant to engulf.
The Tachi's arc left a trail of light that bent like running water before splintering into half a dozen flying slashes that screamed toward Law.
He twisted inside his Room, space folding with him, each arc slicing harmlessly through empty air.
Ash's voice carried through the storm, low and even.
> "Water Breathing…Fourth Form—Striking Tide."
A wave of condensed air burst from the ground, spinning droplets into a spiral that crashed toward Law. The surgeon crossed his sword, the blue halo of his Room flaring brighter.
> "Shambles."
The world blinked. Ash's strike hit nothing but steam.
Law appeared behind him, blade already descending—but Ash turned, a shimmer of crimson energy flaring along the edge of his sword. The cut met Law's mid-swing; the shockwave tore apart the dock beneath their feet.
Both slid backward across the wet metal, eyes locked.
> "That technique…" Law muttered, flexing his fingers where the hilt had stung. "It's strange"
Ash grinned. "Aren't I totally cool ?"
He raised the Tachi; the raindrops that touched its edge split into perfect halves. Golden light flickered along the blade—faint, like an echo of something divine.
> "A blade that remembers every arrow it could have been," Ash whispered. "Trace, Phantasm Flow."
He stepped once, and the world blurred. Seven luminous arcs—like spectral arrows—spiraled out from his swing, converging on Law.
The surgeon's Room flared again; he redirected two, dodged three, and batted the rest aside. The last arc grazed his sleeve, cutting cleanly without spilling blood.
Silence followed—only the rain.
Both men exhaled, steam rising from their shoulders.
Law straightened, hat dripping.
"You aim like an archer, but your sword moves like a current. What are you, exactly?"
Ash sheathed the Tachi in a single smooth motion. The sound of metal sliding into its scabbard cut through the rain like a closing door.
"Someone who is going to be your captain ?"Ash said while grinning.
Law smiled softly and shook his head helplessly."alright Grim reaper ' I'll be your doc and give you my loyalty, the only thing I need is joker's head."
Ash grinned wider." Now that's what I call a good deal for myself !"
The rest of the crew also introduced themselves one by one as they began to walk towards the ship. The wind shifted — scattering embers into the dark sky.
Law's voice followed quietly behind them.
"Ashborn, I look forward to seeing of what you can make out of me..."
Ash paused but didn't look back.
Law's tone carried something strange — not threat, not admiration, just quiet recognition.
"The world - I'll take you on it's top ."
Ash looked over his shoulder, his grin wide with confidence.
"Then the world better learn to make space."Law replied with a smirk.
And with that, they walked away —
---
That night, in the heart of the North Blue,
two storms crossed paths for the first time —
and the world shifted,
just a little.
---
.
.
.
______To be continued ______