Foosha Village was quiet again.
Victor Creed stood beneath the familiar sakura tree on the edge of the village, the scent of salt and petals lingering in the breeze. The leaves rustled gently, stirred by a wind that didn't come from the sea.
It came from him.
He breathed in slowly. The conversation with Garp had been brief—two warriors reading between the lines more than the words they exchanged. Garp hadn't stopped him from leaving, but there had been something else. A trace of worry. And more than that, curiosity.
Then came the boy.
Ace.
The spitting image of Roger, yet nothing like him. There was a storm behind those eyes, one Victor recognized all too well.
The kind of storm that destroyed you from the inside out.
Victor sat by the shoreline, his long coat fluttering behind him. The sound of tiny footsteps drew his attention. Ace had followed him.
"Hey," the boy said, crossing his arms with mock defiance. "Gramps said you were strong."
Victor raised an eyebrow. "Did he now?"
Ace nodded. "Said you could punch through a sea king. I bet I could too, one day."
Victor smirked faintly. "You'd need a solid right hook for that. Want to try?"
Ace blinked. "Really?"
Victor stood and held out his hand. "Show me."
The five-year-old balled his fist and punched Victor's palm. It wasn't much—but it was fast. And clean. No hesitation.
Victor narrowed his eyes.
"You've been in fights before."
Ace looked down, kicking a pebble. "The other kids think I'm weird. Or scary. They talk about my dad. I don't even know him, but... I hate him."
Victor didn't reply immediately. The wind died down to a whisper.
"You ever wonder," Victor said softly, "if being hated makes you become what they say you are?"
Ace tensed. "No. I'll prove them wrong. I'll be better than him. I'll be the strongest! Strong enough that nobody will talk about him ever again."
Victor knelt down to meet the boy's gaze. "Then be strong for your own sake. Not to erase someone else."
Ace frowned. "What do you mean?"
Victor tapped his chest. "You don't need to fight ghosts. They're already dead. But you're alive. You've got time. Use it."
A long silence passed before Ace whispered, "Are you gonna stay here?"
Victor stood. "No. I've got someone waiting. Someone who needs me."
Ace hesitated. "Then... will I see you again?"
Victor smiled. "When the wind changes."
He turned and walked away, the boy watching from behind.
By the time Victor returned to the Byakko, the sky was beginning to darken. The floating warship hovered above the clouds, cloaked in wind, hidden from the world's eyes.
Robin was at the observation deck, a book in hand, her long dark hair swaying in the breeze.
Victor landed silently behind her.
"You didn't tell me you were leaving the ship," she said, without turning around.
"I knew you'd worry," Victor replied, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek as he stepped beside her.
Robin closed her book and looked at him. "Did you find what you were looking for?"
Victor's expression softened. "Maybe. Maybe I just left something behind."
She studied him for a moment, then turned her eyes to the horizon. "You look lighter."
He didn't answer right away. Then, "I met a boy. Five years old. Already carrying the weight of a dead man's legacy."
Robin nodded. "The world is cruel to children with names."
He looked at her. "But some survive."
Robin gave a small smile, her voice almost a whisper. "Thanks to monsters who choose to protect instead of destroy."
Victor exhaled. "We should get moving."
Robin tilted her head. "Where to?"
He pulled a small paper from his coat—worn, stained with salt, and marked with an obscure symbol.
"A lead. Came from Garp's old war buddy. Said it was a relic found near an old fishman colony."
Robin's eyes widened. "Fishman Island?"
Victor nodded. "Could be. Or could be another dead end."
Robin tucked her book away and stood beside him. "Let's find out."
Three Days Later – Over Calm Belt
The Byakko flew beneath a curtain of stars, gliding silently over the Calm Belt. Below, the ocean churned with beasts of ancient origin, but above, only the wind moved.
Victor stood at the helm, adjusting the wind turbines through a panel embedded in the polished deck. Robin approached from behind, her bare feet silent against the steel.
She leaned against the console. "I found something in the records we recovered in West Blue."
He raised an eyebrow.
"It's a mention of a road marker. A stone said to point toward the ancient language. It was retrieved by a pirate ship called The Tide's Shadow twenty-three years ago. Its last known route passed near the Grand Line's entrance."
Victor's brow furrowed. "That's not far from where the Red Line curves around Sabaody."
She nodded. "If the stone wasn't lost at sea, it might've ended up with someone from that crew. Or on one of the nearby islands."
Victor adjusted the panel and changed the course. "We'll check it out after we finish this lead."
Robin stared at the night sky. "You think they're still chasing us?"
"The Government?" Victor asked. "Always."
Robin tightened her jaw. "I can feel it. Like a shadow always at the edge of the light."
Victor turned to her. "Let them follow. If they dare."
The Next Day – Deep Sea Entry Point
The Byakko descended through a massive whirlpool, the ocean parting around the hull as Victor used the wind to keep the ship balanced. The sky disappeared, replaced by an eerie bioluminescence from below.
Robin watched from the side, eyes wide with awe.
"It's beautiful," she whispered.
"It's dangerous," Victor added. "But so are we."
The descent took nearly an hour before the ship stabilized in an air pocket under the sea—another feat Victor engineered with his wind-based propulsion, pushing away the crushing weight of the ocean.
A glowing gate appeared beneath the ship. Carved from coral and etched in seaweed script, it hummed with ancient power.
Robin stepped closer. "This is it. The entrance to the Old Fishman Sanctuary."
Victor scanned the surroundings. "Looks abandoned."
They disembarked onto a stone platform beneath the ocean's ceiling, water pressing in from all sides but never touching them.
Robin walked ahead, her fingers brushing ancient walls.
"I feel something here," she said, her voice reverent. "Something old. And sad."
Victor followed, eyes scanning for threats. "Stay close."
Sanctuary Interior – Two Hours Later
They found nothing but ruins.
No people. No relics. Only the echoes of a lost culture, consumed by time and fear.
Robin sat on a shattered throne, disappointment in her eyes.
"It's gone," she murmured. "Whoever lived here... they took their secrets with them."
Victor knelt before her. "Maybe. Or maybe they left them for someone to find."
She looked up. "You really believe that?"
He nodded. "Hope is like wind. You don't always see it. But it moves things."
Robin chuckled. "That sounds like something an old man would say."
Victor grinned. "I've been called worse."
She leaned forward, their faces close. "Thank you. For bringing me here. Even if there's nothing left... it means something that we tried."
He touched her hand. "You're not alone anymore, Robin. Never again."
She held his gaze, the silence between them warm and steady.
Back Aboard the Byakko
As they returned to the ship, a strange vibration rippled through the air. Robin turned sharply.
"What was that?"
Victor's eyes narrowed.
Suddenly, a pulse of pressure erupted nearby. Not an explosion—but the silent ripple of Observation Haki.
"Someone's watching," he muttered.
He pushed Robin behind him just as five shadows appeared atop a nearby rock outcropping—masked figures in sleek black.
"Cipher Pol," Robin whispered.
Victor didn't move. "Five of them. Coordinated. No insignia. Off the books."
One stepped forward. "Return the girl, and we'll let you leave alive."
Victor sighed. "You've been hunting us for two years. This is the best you could send?"
"Last warning," the agent said. "Comply, or die."
Victor gently pressed Robin's shoulder. "Stay back."
In a blur, the wind howled.
The first agent never saw the punch. Victor's fist, coated in obsidian-black Armament Haki, shattered his mask—and his skull.
The second slashed with a blade—only for Victor to vanish, reappearing behind him and sending him crashing into the stone wall.
The third and fourth tried to circle—but Victor's Conqueror's Haki blasted outward, stunning them long enough for him to finish them off with precision blows to the neck.
The fifth ran.
Victor raised a hand.
A lance of compressed air struck the fleeing agent, sending him flying into the abyssal trench beyond.
Silence.
Robin stepped out from cover. "That was... efficient."
Victor exhaled. "I held back."
She looked at the remains of the ambush. "They weren't supposed to capture me. They were here to eliminate."
He nodded. "They're scared. That means we're getting close to something."
Robin's hand found his.
"What now?" she asked.
Victor looked up, toward the ocean above.
"Now," he said, "we go deeper."
And in the shadows of the world above, word began to spread again.
The Phantom Hunter was moving.
The winds were stirring once more.
And the storm was far from over.