A ship was sailing.

  Away from a sinking cemetery of what was left of the European fleets.

  The European flag on the ship was replaced with a black pirate flag, waving through the salty wind.

  --

  Holding onto a wooden plank, an unconscious sailor.

  As he woke up, his eyes and mind began processing the environment. Around him, a dozen burning wreckage pieces floated above the water, and the sight of countless bodies laid above the surface struck his eyes. The rotten smell of roasted flesh, the rising smoke, and the icy cold of the water.

  He looked over his friends, his colleagues, the ones he had just talked to a couple of minutes before.

  Once a fleet of six battleships, a hundred sixteen men, over eighty rifles, and twenty-four cannons onboard, not to mention the absolute beast Admiral of Britain who was famed for the victory of the Civil March, were reduced to nothing but a rotten field.

  --

  The Civil March.

  March 1808.

  It was a massive conflict between the three nations, France, Spain, and Britain, prior to the formation of the European Federation. The bloodshed had lasted months before coming to an end at the climax of March.

  Death counts had accumulated to over six thousand and the destruction of over forty vessels. Those were what marked this war as one of the most gruesome battles between the prideful and great kingdoms. Though even as the Federation was established, their conflicts remained the same under the fa?ade of peace.

  The man, Admiral, who was only sixteen years of age, had become the attention of the war by beheading the enemy’s leader. He had travelled through countless waves of bullets and cannons, slaughtered over thirty soldiers, and penetrated the Spanish and French defense lines, eventually ending the conflict with the severed neck in his hand. This became the most glorious moment of his life, granting him one of the most honorable titles, “Sea Monarch."

  To ask what his allies thought of him, the most common answer would be

  “He sees the weakness.”

  In other words, they described him as an all-seeing genius.

  In reality, he didn’t just see with his bare eyes.

  Psychology was everything.

  From a young age, the Admiral had always had a habit of looking at a person’s figure instead of their face, even during a conversation. He believed emotions weren’t simply delivered through facial changes and speech. Everything, from affection to animosity, was displayed through one’s body movement.

  What did he see in that battle? When his life was on the line, when deaths crept near?

  Near death, he believed, a person’s emotions would transform into the rawest and truest form. A true conversation. A book to read.

  He witnessed it. The true nature of humans. The brave would charge forth, and the cowards would flee. Like a fish to water, the battlefield quickly became his playground.

  “That man would turn left. That man would go for the bayonet on the ground. That guy would stand to the left of me.”

  Such was the only thing running in his mind. Analyzing their patterns, eye movements, footwork, hesitation gap, and breathing. From his maddening self, the person in front of him had become a child’s drawing. Trampling through the hopeless souls, he found victory.

  Yet, his achievements didn’t stop there. He continued dominating naval warfare for the next sixty years. His name was whispered in endless conversation.

  In contrast to his ability, the only gaze he gave was a soulless one.

  If there existed nothing to explore,

  What was the purpose of continuing a purposeless voyage?

  Thus, he was chosen to be one of the two representatives from the European Federation. A chance to seek something he truly desired.

  --

  A familiar face, the sailor finally spotted. A face in the distance, obscured by a foggy wall. A small part of him sought a faint hint of hope.

  Yet, instantly, it became his nightmare as a wooden barrel moved past the fog and pulled the veil away. A face, as plain as it was, was the only thing left intact. He choked on his own breath until he found the courage to continue.

  “Anybody?! Anyone?! Captain! Anyone!!”

  He screamed from the top of his lungs, despite his shivering and soaked chest.

  How did this even happen?

  His confusion was beyond doubt. To think that an army of experienced soldiers, led by the Sea Monarch himself, was broken down to scraps. Besides, that person had been there with them too. The other ticket holder.

  He looked again. And again.

  A desperate attempt to cling to any shrapnel of hope he had left.

  “Anyone! If you can hear me, say something!! I beg you all! Say something!”

  Only silence answered him.

  If he were the only one left, he would be left to die by his own exhaustion. He would starve, or drown, or worse, be a target for monstrous fishes of the sea. He climbed atop the wooden plank under the guiding hand of his own fear. The ocean breeze blew past his shivering skin, forcing his lungs to forcibly vent back at their hometown. The icy mass surrounded his stomach and fingers.

  He looked up. What he saw was what completely rejected him from light.

  “Impossible…”

  To his drenched eyes of salty water, the body of the Admiral was nailed to a bloodied sail.

  “How… did this…

  … what am… I supposed…

  … the enemy was only one… person…”

  --

  Thirty minutes prior to the ultimate defeat of the European troops.

  “The enemy is… only a boat?”

  The stern voice of the Admiral hit the air. The man next to him confirmed his question with a nod.

  “I believe so, sir.”

  “A pirate boat.”

  “I believe so. Could be a red herring. I suggest we send a scout and have it checked. Admiral, what is your-”

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  Without hesitation, the Admiral held the man’s shoulder firmly and declared.

  “We shoot that thing down.”

  Such words betrayed the calm exterior of the soldiers around him. They wondered if he had seen something they hadn’t or if he had gone insane. Yet, their doubts crumbled in no time as they moved in unity to form a line of bayonets. They had followed him for years of glory and hardship. To them, he was everything but a fool.

  “Hold your fire! Aim! Do not hesitate!”

  The command shot through the crowd. The soldiers, all altogether, aimed the muzzle towards a single vessel twenty times smaller than theirs. Their hearts and intuition followed the Admiral’s order. Their fingers hovered just above the trigger, a word away from pulling.

  “Admiral, could it be…”

  “Yes. The Ghost Vessel.”

  “The ghost story? Where every ship will sink at the sight of a lone pirate boat? It might be an exaggeration.”

  “We can’t take any risk.”

  A story of rumors. A pirate vessel, of only one person, rampaging the sea and only leaving a trail of destruction behind it.

  Then, just an inch away from entering firing range, the boat, a high-pitched voice rang through the lineup.

  “Wait!!”

  It didn’t come from behind the Admiral. It arrived from the floating pirate craft.

  Coming into view, a beautiful Asian girl stood on the wooden piece. Her fancy qipao and long black hair baffled the combatants. She raised her arms high, a clear sign of surrendering.

  “Wait, everyone! Don’t shoot! 你好! Ahh! Err… hello!”

  Seagulls and schools of fish surrounded her, hanging under the water or above the air. There was nothing else. There was no one else.

  The Princess.

  Killing intent withheld. Confusion was plain on their faces. They had expected everything but a young girl, more plausible, maybe even a sea monster. Apprehended by the rifle pointing towards her, the young girl continued.

  “Everyone! I’m sorry! Just… turn around! Run!!!”

  As the girl frantically waved her hands, the soldiers only looked at her with more bewilderment. Some lowered their guns, while some were completely frozen at their position.

  The only exception was the Admiral.

  A strange appearance. A lone girl in the middle of nowhere. A frail body. Scared and nervous. Such would be impossible for such a girl to travel alone.

  Unless.

  With a sharp deduction, he spun to the furthest battleship behind his lead with much haste. As his eyes barely reached the glimpse of the ship, a white flash covered the field. As a massive shockwave reached his skin with heat and thunder, echoing in his ears, he finally witnessed the tragedy that had unfolded clearly. Most of the seamen fell to the ground, some lost balance and dropped to the sea. The entire fleet wobbled from the violent waves beneath them.

  The Princess yelped in surprise and fell to her knees, clutching the side of the trembling boat.

  “Kyahh!”

  The Admiral, however, was still on his feet, planting himself into the floor. The remaining soldiers held onto the nearest anchor and slowly forced past their concussion.

  A bait.

  The young girl was simply just bait to drive their attention away.

  A simple tactic yet effective. He had seen such petty ploys many times before, thus he only blamed himself for not having seen it through.

  The Admiral showed no expression on his surface, but he was in awe of such a trick. He inhaled deeply, his chest rising before letting out a deafening roar.

  “All men! To your position!!”

  Upon the blasting command, the soldiers instantly climbed back from the ground and fixed their guns at the burning vessel. Smoke and ash hit their eyes, yet they remained unwavering.

  Hard breathing. Dripping waterdrop. Crashing water. Flickering blaze.

  All eyes were staked on the sinking coffin. The two frontmost soldiers slowly advanced. Their hearts beat wildly.

  “Do you see anything?”

  “Bloody hell, what’s there to be seen?”

  “C’mon. We should-”

  The words were cut short. Riddled by the sudden silence, the gunman turned to his companion, only to be met by a fountain of blood flowing out of the missing neck.

  A moment after, the gunman’s vision rolled onto the ground.

  A silent yet heavy thud.

  Following that, a celebration.

  A thunderous laugh blared through the sky.

  “Hahahahahaha!!! HAHA!!”

  Loud. Louder. Loudest. As loud as it could ever get.

  The whistling sound of the wind and the rustling sound of fabric played like an opera soundtrack. In an instant, the presence was announced to the army below. The soldiers, stunned, whipped their gaze upwards to catch the fleeting shadow.

  Swinging with the rope, it danced through the mortals’ glares. None of the men below could follow its wings.

  The Admiral unsheathed his sword and took a step forward. A smirk rose from the still surface of his face.

  “I see. One of my kind.”

  Immediately, arrived a tsunami. It fell down straight at him and swung its sword. The two blades clashed with a beam of sparks. The ship rocked, tilting almost to the deep end.

  The wooden board beneath the Admiral’s stand sank. Before the smoke could clear out, it had disappeared from sight, leaving only sizzling fire on the Admiral’s sword.

  “Not bad, not bad. Hehe.”

  It finally descended. The ship swayed once more at the heavy weight.

  Facing the Admiral, a woman twice his size, her tanned skin and streams of dark hair covered him from the sun.

  Her muscular body left no space for a gap of air. A sleek eyepatch covering her gray eye. A scar next to her wide grin. An existence comparable to a walking elephant.

  The Pirate.

  In her hand, a golden cutlass with a mysterious aura.

  “Old boss, huh? What do we have here?”

  “A woman… pirate. Such… is rare. You must be quite an amazing fighter.”

  “We are the best, ya see.”

  “We?”

  “We!”

  The surface cracked at her fearful march. She basically lunged at him with full power, swinging her entire frame. A lion’s brutality. With each turn, the craft was forcibly quaked by her raw strength.

  “Let’s have at it!!!”

  With exceptional footwork, he navigated around her strike. He didn’t block her slash, instead, he guided the flow of her sword out of its direction. A violent storm met by calm water. The strength from each attack sent debris and gales away, destroying the terrain around them.

  "This woman was terrifying," the Admiral admitted. Yet, he could read her like a book.

  Her gaze and intention were obvious. Before each wave, he had predicted exactly where, when, and how she would advance.

  Ducking under a wild swing, he spun and kicked at her stomach. However, what met him was an unyielding wall, as if none of his force could be delivered to her. A ridiculous core strength.

  Unable to push her away, he utilized the chance to leap away from her, creating distance.

  The Pirate announced herself as we. She must have had allies. Including the young one, maybe. But there could be more planting explosives. It would be the same trick. A bait and a real attack. He thought to himself.

  Turning to his subordinates, the Admiral shouted.

  “Go, and defend the fleet! There might be more!”

  “But, sir, what about you-”

  “Just do it! I can handle her!”

  Despite his warning, a soldier still stepped forward. His gun, fixed on the giant woman.

  "Don't-"

  The Pirate pushed her chest outward. With her massive frame and widened mouth, she vacuumed the whole atmosphere. A blackhole that devoured everything. Towards the nearest sail, the General pulled with haste.

  Forthwith, the world beheld a trembling song.

  The shockwave shoved the space away. Ships and fishes trembled intensely. Behind the fortunate cover, the scream reached not the man's sanity.

  However, the unlucky soldier met his fate. With pierced eardrums, he fell to the pool of blood.

  "You bastard!"

  The Pirate tilted her head at his words and barked a laugh at his words.

  “Wow! You think you can handle us? Amazing! I just did that for ya! One on one!”

  Trampled over the shaken ground, she threw herself at him again with another fierce clash.

  "A tricky idiot" was the best description the old man could think of for her. She had the strength to level his entire army combined, yet her movements and patterns were too straightforward. The combined power of a hundred, compacted into a single vessel.

  “Who are you!?”

  Ever energetic, the woman answered.

  “We are pirates. Simply as that.”

  “I can see that. But you. Who are you?”

  “The greatest Pirate who seeks the greatest treasure and feast! I heard you have the ticket! So I had come! Kill! And ravage!”

  “With that girl?”

  The Pirate cocked her head back towards the young girl still sitting at the end of the water. The birds flocked, forming a wall to defend the Princess.

  “I picked her up along the way! She’s good, though.”

  “How outrageous.”

  The Admiral shook his head with contemplation, followed by another question.

  “Who did you hear it from? The ticket?”

  The girl smiled without an answer. Her muscle swelled in a blink of eye, shattering the planks with her weight.

  Such was predicted. The old man smirked, preparing to lift the next page. This would be simple. As long as she kept up her impractical orthodox fighting style, his blade would eventually reach her neck.

  A person’s true face would reveal itself when near death.

  Nonetheless, she gave him a dread feeling. Her inner page was too obvious and raw, even for him alone. It was as if she paid no mind to concealing herself. It was as if she were intentionally showing herself.

  It wasn’t just a single death but many. Who was she showing her page to? Was he the only audience?

  Loud and clear, she roared.

  “Yeah, I heard it from a British folk! A fancy one that talked like, ya know, a merchant? Teacher? But it wouldn’t matter, heh.”

  Crash.

  The same stomp. The same march. It was still the same sequence from her first charge. The ship rocked in the identical way as before. The girl pressed forward, throwing herself at the Admiral.

  The pages were flipped again.

  “Still the same…

  ...

  ...

  …huh?”

  Until he couldn’t read her anymore.

  Nothingness, there was.

  A blank page. Her weakness had been miraculously patched. Suddenly, there existed something he could not read. And such existence was her.

  How did she close it? How did she see through him? Did she really just do it?

  It was the first time ever a single person had done it to him. To conceal themselves from his gaze.

  As his mouth was left hanging,

  the indiscriminate blade reached him.

  “Sorry, old sod. They told me a lot about you. Psychology and stuff.

  We know everything, heh!”

  An abrupt ending to a lengthy book. An ambiguous feeling of the end. Snapping in half, his sword had failed its duty. Not a chance to redo, nor to retreat.

  Thus, the end of the Admiral.

  --

  The golden Cutlass bathed in the man’s blood.

  Necromancy.