The Marine ship cut through the water with purpose.
Its sails were clean. Its deck disciplined. No drunken laughter. No loose steps. Every man aboard moved with routine precision.
Commander Harlan stood at the bow, hands clasped behind his back, eyes fixed on the coastline ahead.
"Report."
A lieutenant stepped forward, clipboard in hand. "Operation Blackfin failed, sir."
Harlan's jaw tightened slightly. "Explain."
"We tracked Kale Marr for two weeks. Intelligence confirmed he'd begun using Gosa's outer routes to resupply." The lieutenant hesitated. "By the time we arrived, he was already captured."
"By whom?"
"That's the problem, sir."
Harlan turned slowly. "Explain."
"They weren't pirates. Not Marines either. Two young men. Locals, from what we can tell."
Harlan raised an eyebrow. "Civilians took down a pirate with a three-million bounty?"
"Yes, sir."
Silence fell over the deck.
"That doesn't happen," Harlan said calmly.
"That's what we thought," the lieutenant replied. "But witnesses confirmed it. No firearms. No crew. Just two men."
Harlan exhaled slowly through his nose.
"Details."
"One used twin knives. The other wielded a sword with a red hilt. Their coordination was… practiced."
"Casualties?"
"None. Kale was delivered alive."
Harlan turned toward the sea again.
"That means they interfered with an active Marine operation," he said.
"Yes, sir."
"And made us look slow."
The lieutenant didn't answer.
Harlan's eyes hardened. "I don't like variables I can't predict."
---
The docks were chaos.
Crates lay overturned. Ropes snapped and tangled. Smoke drifted lazily upward from a fire that had burned out only minutes before.
Marines moved in coordinated patterns, securing perimeters, checking bodies, hauling restrained pirates onto the pier.
The operation had been clean.
Too clean.
Lieutenant Farrow surveyed the area with a scowl.
"This should've been simple," he muttered.
His subordinate approached. "Sir, locals say the pirates were already engaged when we arrived."
"By who?"
"Two men. Locals."
Farrow cursed under his breath.
They moved toward the center of the docks where signs of the earlier fight remained: scuffed planks, a broken crate, faint streaks of blood already washed thin by the tide.
"Amateurs don't do this," Farrow said quietly. "This was controlled."
His eyes narrowed. "They interfered."
The subordinate hesitated. "They didn't attack Marines."
"They didn't have to," Farrow snapped. "They disrupted an active operation. That makes them a liability."
He knelt and examined a gouge in the wood.
"Whoever did this knew when to strike."
A pause.
"Or thought they did."
---
The pirates were rounded up quickly after that.
Word spread fast, as it always did.
Two locals.
Young.
Efficient.
Too efficient.
By nightfall, the story had reached every corner of the dockyard.
And by morning, it had reached Marine Command.
---
Commander Harlan read the report twice.
Then a third time.
"No affiliations. No flags. No ship registered. No criminal history."
He tapped the page with a finger.
"That's worse than pirates."
The officer across from him hesitated. "Sir?"
"Pirates are predictable. They chase money, power, territory." Harlan folded the report neatly. "Men who act without allegiance are harder to track."
"So… what do we do?"
Harlan stared out the window at the open sea.
"We observe."
The officer stiffened. "That's it?"
"For now," Harlan said. "But if they continue interfering—"
He let the sentence hang.
Then finished it quietly.
"—we classify them as wildcards."
---
Ryu felt the tension before he saw it.
The village was too quiet.
Not peaceful—*watchful*.
Fishermen spoke in hushed voices. Boats returned earlier than usual. Conversations stopped when Marines passed nearby.
Kenji leaned against a crate, arms folded. "They're poking around more than usual."
Ryu nodded. "They're looking for something."
"Or someone."
Ryu didn't reply.
He could feel it again. That low, pressing sensation in his chest.
The same one he'd felt before every mistake he'd ever made.
That afternoon, the docks erupted.
A Marine unit stormed in fast, weapons drawn, shouting orders. A small group of pirates attempted to flee—desperate, sloppy.
Ryu and Kenji were already moving before they realized it.
"Wait—" Kenji started.
Too late.
Ryu sprinted forward as one of the pirates shoved past a fisherman, blade raised.
He intercepted without thinking, knocking the man aside.
Kenji followed, sword flashing as he disarmed another.
The fight was brief.
Too brief.
By the time the Marines reached them, the pirates were already on the ground.
The air went still.
A Marine lieutenant stepped forward, eyes narrowing.
"What are you two doing?"
Ryu straightened. "Stopping them."
"That wasn't your order."
Kenji frowned. "They were attacking civilians."
"That's our job," the lieutenant snapped.
Ryu felt the weight of the moment press down on him.
"We were helping."
The lieutenant studied him coldly.
"You interfered with an active operation."
Silence followed.
Then the Marine turned sharply. "Stand down. Both of you."
Ryu hesitated.
Kenji touched his arm.
They stepped back.
The Marines finished the arrests without another word.
But the looks they received weren't grateful.
They were wary.
That night, a decision was made.
---
The room was dimly lit, maps spread across the table.
Commander Harlan stood at the center, arms crossed.
"They've interfered twice," he said. "Once unintentionally. Once deliberately."
The officers around him nodded.
"No known allegiance. No chain of command. No accountability."
A pause.
"They're not pirates," one officer said carefully.
"Not yet," Harlan replied.
He exhaled slowly.
"Prepare the paperwork."
The room went still.
"Sir… bounties?"
Harlan's eyes hardened.
"Not as criminals," he said. "As variables."
He turned away.
"Let the world decide what they are."
---
That night, Ryu stood at the edge of the dock, staring out at the water.
Something had shifted.
He could feel it.
The air was heavier.
Kenji joined him, quiet for once.
"We did the right thing," Kenji said.
Ryu nodded. "I know."
But certainty didn't ease the tension in his chest.
Somewhere, decisions were being made.
And soon, the sea would answer.
---