20 early chapters on Pátreon.com/Herd99.
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The Calm Belt lived up to its name—too well.
No waves. No wind. No birds. Just endless flat water that stretched in every direction, glassy and silent.
The Marine ship drifted, dragged forward by oars and tension. The sails hung useless, limp in the absence of breeze. Even the creaking of the wood felt louder than it should have. No one spoke unless they had to.
Everyone on board knew the stories.
Sea Kings. Leviathan-sized monsters lurking just beneath the mirror-like surface. Entire fleets swallowed whole. And unlike Grand Line storms or pirate attacks, there was no outrunning a Sea King.
They didn't chase. They just appeared.
Below deck, Kain didn't care.
He was finishing the second last of his daily morning routine, shirt soaked through, arms trembling from exertion. Sweat pooled on the wooden floor beneath him.
"998… 999… 1000."
A thousand Sit ups and Push ups done.
He exhaled and rolled onto his back, blinking up at the low ceiling, chest rising and falling. Three weeks of this. Every single day since Loguetown. No skips. No excuses. The Limit Break ability had rewritten how his body worked—growth wasn't optional anymore. It was constant, violent, and unforgiving.
He hated how effective it was.
His muscles ached in ways he couldn't explain. His once-slim frame had hardened into something sharper, stronger. It didn't suit him. He still intentionally moved slow, still yawned in the middle of reps. But he knew what was happening—he was changing, whether he liked it or not.
He grabbed a towel and dragged himself to the corridor for his 10km jog around the perimeter of the ship.
It wasn't even a proper circuit. Just laps. Dozens of them. Over and over.
The Marines gave him space now. At first, they'd whispered. Gossiped. But after a run in with a pirate crew in the East Blue where he had used his spit to take out the captain, and after he knocked over two cannons accidentally by stretching during a calisthenics session, they started clearing his path on their own.
Kain appreciated it. Not the respect/fear—just the peace that came with it.
Halfway through lap 22, the ship jolted.
Not a bump. Not a nudge. A lurch. Like something massive had slammed into the hull from below.
Kain stumbled, catching himself on a railing. The towel around his neck slipped to the deck.
He looked down at the floor, then up toward the ceiling. Screams echoed from above deck—shouted orders, panicked footsteps, the unmistakable crack of wood under stress.
"…Well, there goes the quiet," he muttered with a sigh.
Another jolt rocked the ship, this time harder. A stack of crates toppled over in the cargo hold nearby with a crash. Someone yelled for backup. Someone else screamed.
Kain grabbed the towel again and wiped his face.
Not rushed. Not panicked.
Just annoyed.
Then he headed up the stairs.
When Kain stepped onto the deck, it was full chaos.
Marines were scrambling across the ship—some hauling cannonballs, others trying to man guns that were already pointed at the sea. The air smelled like gunpowder, sweat, and panic. Overhead, the sky was cloudless, but that didn't make it feel safe.
The sea around the ship wasn't flat anymore.
It churned.
Waves broke against the hull from all directions despite the lack of wind. The water rippled with movement beneath the surface, as though something alive was circling them.
And then one of them surfaced.
A massive, serpentine neck erupted from the water to the port side, casting a shadow across half the deck. Gleaming black scales. Eyes the size of wagon wheels. A mouth filled with teeth better suited for snapping ships in half than eating fish. It let out a low growl that vibrated through the wood beneath Kain's feet.
Sea King.
And it wasn't alone.
To starboard, another one appeared—this one bulkier, like a bloated eel with horns curling back from its snout. Then two more farther out, their massive bodies coiling through the water, trailing waves behind them.
The crew was losing it.
"Get the cannons ready!"
"They're surrounding us!"
"They're not backing off!
"What happened to the Seastone?!"
Kain stood there, not moving, towel still draped around his neck, watching the creatures rise one after another like it was an inconvenient weather report.
He spotted Captain Brant near the helm, shouting orders through gritted teeth.
Kain made his way over.
"You know," he said, stepping around a panicked sailor, "I was in the middle of lap twenty-two."
Brant looked like he hadn't even heard him at first. Then he turned, jaw tight. "The Seastone on the hull—damaged. That pirate skirmish a week ago. They must've scraped it without reporting it. We've got no protection. These monsters can sense us."
Kain raised an eyebrow. "You didn't notice the damages underneath your own ship?"
Brant didn't answer.
Another roar cut through the air. One of the Sea Kings lashed its tail across the water, sending a towering wave toward the ship. It didn't hit—yet—but the splash rocked the vessel again.
Cannonballs fired, but the results were laughable. The steel spheres bounced off the scales of the beasts like pebbles. One even rolled down the Sea King's face and plunked back into the sea like an insult.
"This isn't going to work," Brant growled. "We're just making them mad."
Kain sighed. "Why does this stuff always happen right after leg day?"
Then, like clockwork, the Shonen System dinged in his head.
[System Notification: New Mission Available!]
He froze, eyes narrowing slightly. "…Of course."
[Mission: Scare Away the Sea Kings!]
-Objective: Use your strength to intimidate the Sea Kings and protect the ship.
-Reward: 1,000 BSP and a Free Nap Pass (10 uses).
-Failure Penalty: The Sea Kings will develop a taste for lazy Marines.
Kain didn't blink.
"Develop a taste? What, like we're seasoning ourselves? And why Lazy marines? Are they allergic to hardworking ones or something?"
The system, naturally, didn't answer.
Instead, it followed up with the usual encouraging garbage.
[System Notification: Believe in yourself, protagonist! And look cool while doing it!]
Kain pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't want to look cool. I want to finish my run, eat a banana, and go lie down."
He looked out at the creatures still circling them. The biggest one was now coiling around the back of the ship, big enough to block the view of the horizon.
Everyone was shouting. Loading. Firing.
It wasn't going to work.
Kain exhaled. "Guess I'm the backup plan. Again. Making the guest work...psh. What kind of ship are you running Brant?"
Despite their similar rank, Captain Brant lowered his head as if being admonished by a superior officer.
"Just this last time, Captain Kain. Please, save my men." Brant requested but Kain was already gone, walking forward while grumbling and wiping sweat off his face.