Pirate: Crew of Desire and Bonds

The white color continued to spread until every strand of Jake’s hair had turned completely pure white, glowing faintly under the residual light in the dark water.

Then, without warning, his limp body moved.

Instead of floating helplessly, Jake’s posture straightened.

His feet planted firmly against the water pressure as if the crushing depths no longer held the same weight over him.

The two Drowned Stalkers flinched slightly at the sudden change.

Jake’s eyes opened.

Beautiful golden irises shone with a soft, steady radiance, no longer dimmed by exhaustion or the lack of oxygen.

The glow within them was calm, clear, and strangely refined... yet his expression remained completely emotionless.

He slowly raised one hand and looked at it in silence.

”...”

Then, without a word, he turned his head and fixed his glowing golden eyes on the two Drowned Stalkers.

His fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword of light, the pure white-gold radiance flaring brighter as he settled into a ready stance once more.

The two Drowned Stalkers sensed something was wrong.

Their smiles stiffened.

Without further hesitation, both creatures lunged forward at the same time, black limbs and tentacles exploding outward in a coordinated assault aimed to overwhelm him instantly.

But-

SLASH—!

A brilliant flash of pure light erupted, blinding the surrounding water for a split second.

When the radiance faded, both Drowned Stalkers had been... cleanly cut in half.

Their severed upper bodies floated in place, still wearing those stretched smiles... yet for the first time, a faint trace of confusion appeared in their gazes as they stared at Jake’s back.

He was already standing behind them.

Seemingly enraged by the impossible speed, the severed halves began regenerating at extreme speed once more.

Black flesh rapidly reconstructed, and within moments four complete Drowned Stalkers floated in the dark water, all facing him with stretched smiles.

SLASH—!

Another series of brilliant white-gold flashes erupted in rapid succession, completely blinding the area again.

When the light faded, all four regenerated Drowned Stalkers had been cut down once more, their bodies falling apart into multiple pieces that drifted limply through the water.

Yet even as the severed pieces began to twitch and regenerate again, Jake did not wait.

His pure white hair floated gently in the dark water as he stepped forward, expression still completely emotionless.

The sword of light in his hand pulsed once... and then he vanished.

In the next instant, a continuous storm of white-gold flashes erupted throughout the surrounding area.

SLASH!

SLASH!

SLASH!

SLASH!

SLASH!

Each time a piece of black flesh tried to reconstruct itself into a new body, a razor-sharp crescent of pure light would already be there, cutting it apart before it could fully form.

The regenerating mass was never given even a single second to stabilize.

Jake moved like a living flash of light itself.

He weaved between the regenerating fragments with impossible speed, every swing of his sword precise and merciless.

The dark water was continuously illuminated by cascading arcs of white-gold radiance, turning the once threatening swarm into nothing more than scattered pieces of black flesh that were repeatedly sliced apart the moment they tried to reform.

The smiles on the remaining bodies gradually froze.

For the first time, the Drowned Stalkers were being suppressed so thoroughly that their regeneration could no longer keep up.

”...”

Jake floated calmly in the center of the destruction, white hair drifting behind him, golden eyes glowing with quiet, absolute dominance.

He raised his sword of light once more.

Then he continued.

Every time a severed piece of black flesh attempted to reconstruct itself, Jake was already there.

A single precise swing of pure white-gold light would cleanly slice it apart again before the regeneration could complete.

The dark water was filled with constant flashes as he methodically dismantled the regenerating mass piece by piece.

Yet throughout the entire process, Jake intentionally... avoided the red cores.

Whenever one of the glowing red cores drifted into his path, he would shift the angle of his blade at the last moment, cutting only the surrounding black flesh while leaving the core completely untouched.

The cores floated freely among the scattered remains, still intact and pulsing faintly.

Jake’s emotionless golden eyes tracked them carefully as he continued his relentless assault, never once striking the true weak points.

It was almost like... he was deliberately prolonging the fight... prolonging the suffering.

_

_

_

Time continued to pass.

The constant flashes of white-gold light gradually lessened, then finally stopped altogether.

When the last arc of radiance faded, the dark water had completely changed.

And right now... over a hundred regenerated Drowned Stalkers now floated in a dense circle around a single figure.

Their black bodies filled the surrounding depths, each one fully formed once more, yet not a single one of them wore that stretched smile.

...Every last smile had vanished.

Instead, their faces were filled with pure, unmistakable fear as they stared at the lone figure standing calmly in the center of their formation.

”...”

Jake floated there with pure white hair drifting gently behind him, the sword of light held loosely at his side.

Surrounded by over a hundred Drowned Stalkers... yet none of them dared to move first.

Jake looked at them for a moment in complete silence.

His glowing golden eyes calmly swept across the dense circle of over a hundred fearful Drowned Stalkers surrounding him.

Then, as if he had finally decided it was time, he slowly raised his pure sword of light and gripped it firmly with both hands.

HUM....

A low, resonant hum filled the water.

White-gold light began to gather from the surrounding depths, flowing toward the blade like countless streams of liquid radiance.

Crack...

Crack...

The light converged and compressed into the sword, causing it to grow brighter and denser with every passing second.

The pure white glow intensified until the entire weapon shone like a miniature sun underwater, illuminating the dark ocean and casting long, sharp shadows across the terrified faces of the Drowned Stalkers.

The overwhelming sense of threat made every single one of them freeze for a split second.

Then, driven by pure survival instinct, the entire swarm charged.

BOOOMM!

Over a hundred Drowned Stalkers surged forward at once like a massive tide of pure darkness, their black bodies and countless tentacles flooding toward Jake from every direction in a desperate, all-out assault.

Jake’s emotionless golden eyes remained calm as the swarm closed in.

He murmured something under his breath.

Then he simply swung.

ZING!

A blinding pillar of pure white-gold light erupted from his sword, expanding outward in an instant and completely illuminating the dark sea.

The radiance was so intense that the entire underwater world was swallowed by pure light, erasing every shadow and silhouette within its reach.