The Forgotten Tide: Rebirth Before the Pirate Era

The morning mist clung to the shoreline like a veil, blurring the horizon where sea met sky. Kaizen stood at the edge of the dock, his gaze fixed on the distant line, as if answers to unspoken questions drifted just beyond his reach.

Days had passed since the encounter with the enigmatic Mara. The village had returned to its routine, but an invisible thread of tension wove through the air. The villagers whispered when they thought he wasn't listening, their eyes darting away when he met their gaze.

Kaizen felt it—the shift.

He wasn't just an outsider anymore. He was something else, something the villagers couldn't name but instinctively feared. Despite Lio's unwavering friendship, a chasm had opened, wide and silent.

"You're brooding again," Lio's voice cut through the morning quiet. He approached with a grin, balancing a crate of freshly caught fish on his shoulder.

Kaizen managed a faint smile. "Just thinking."

"About leaving?" Lio asked, setting the crate down with a thud. His tone was casual, but his eyes searched Kaizen's face for truths unspoken.

Kaizen didn't answer immediately. The idea had rooted itself in his mind, growing stronger with each passing day. The world beyond the village called to him—a world that might hold the key to his past, to the powers simmering beneath his skin.

"Maybe," he admitted quietly.

Lio nodded, not surprised. "If you go, you won't be alone out there. The world… it's bigger and stranger than you think. Even for someone like you."

Kaizen chuckled softly. "Stranger than me? That's a tall order."

Before Lio could respond, a distant horn echoed from the sea. Both boys turned toward the sound. A ship, sleek and dark, was approaching fast—too fast. Black sails bore an unfamiliar emblem: a serpent coiled around an anchor.

"Pirates," Lio muttered, his hand instinctively reaching for the small dagger at his belt.

But Kaizen knew better. These weren't ordinary pirates.

As the ship docked, figures disembarked swiftly. Clad in dark uniforms with insignias that gleamed faintly in the morning light, they moved with precision. Not pirates.

Hunters.

Their leader, a tall man with sharp features and eyes like cold steel, stepped forward. His gaze locked onto Kaizen almost immediately, a predator recognizing prey.

"We're looking for someone," the man announced to the gathering crowd. "A boy with unnatural abilities."

Whispers surged through the villagers like wildfire.

Kaizen felt Lio shift beside him, tense and ready. But Kaizen raised a hand, stopping him. Running wasn't an option. Not this time.

He stepped forward. "I'm Kaizen. What do you want with me?"

The leader's thin smile sent a chill down his spine. "We want to help you understand what you are."

Kaizen didn't believe him for a second.

"I understand enough," Kaizen replied, his voice steady despite the storm brewing inside.

"Then you know you can't run from what's inside you," the man countered.

Kaizen's fists clenched. "I'm not running."

The tension snapped like a drawn bowstring. The hunters lunged.

Kaizen moved faster.

The battle was a blur of motion and sound. Kaizen's instincts took over, his body a weapon honed by something older than memory. He dodged, struck, and defended with precision beyond training, beyond logic.

But it wasn't enough.

They were prepared for him.

A net woven with strange metallic threads was thrown, ensnaring him. Pain lanced through his body as the threads tightened, sapping his strength. He struggled, but his limbs grew heavier, his vision dimmer.

Lio's shout pierced the haze. "Kaizen!"

With the last shred of will, Kaizen reached deep within, beyond fear, beyond doubt. A surge of energy erupted from him, shattering the net with a blinding flash.

The hunters recoiled, momentarily stunned.

Kaizen didn't wait. He grabbed Lio, sprinting toward the forest beyond the village. Trees blurred past as they ran, Kaizen's strength returning with every step away from the oppressive presence of the hunters.

They didn't stop until exhaustion forced them to.

Collapsed beneath the canopy, Kaizen gasped for breath, his heart racing with more than exertion.

Lio sat up, eyes wide. "What was that?"

Kaizen didn't have an answer.

But he knew one thing: his time in the village was over.

The whispers on the wind carried his name now, and there was no turning back.