Day six brought a new complication.
And for once—
It was not caused by Nyxian drinking too much Pixie Mead.
Though that still remained an ongoing threat to the structural integrity of the ship.
The morning began with Jax standing beside the navigation table inside the captain's cabin while Emberlyn pointed aggressively at a region of the map labeled:
DEVIL'S PASSAGE
Which honestly sounded dangerous enough already.
"No."
Jax blinked.
"No?"
"No."
He leaned slightly over the table.
"What is the reason for the denial?"
Emberlyn stared at him like he had just asked why drowning was considered unpleasant.
"Maybe the hundred-yard Kraken."
"Ah."
"That was not an 'ah' situation."
"We can handle it."
"We can avoid it."
Jax crossed his arms.
"What's the fun in that?"
Emberlyn felt her eye twitch.
There it was again.
That absurd confidence.
That impossible certainty that everything would somehow work out because he decided it would.
And somehow—
Instead of irritating her completely—
It was attractive.
Dangerously attractive.
"Fine," she muttered.
"We'll do it your way."
She pointed directly at him.
"But when this goes catastrophically wrong, I want it officially documented that I disagreed."
Jax smiled.
"Noted."
Then he said the one thing she couldn't argue against.
"If we're going to open trade with the Dark Continent, we can't have a hundred-yard Kraken destroying every cargo ship."
Damn him.
That was annoyingly logical.
Hours later—
The waters changed.
The ocean grew darker.
Still.
The crew became quieter.
Even the pirates stopped joking.
Ruktooth muttered something about "deep water curses."
The squid captain tightened every sail line twice.
And Emberlyn herself stood at the helm with visible tension in her shoulders.
The Devil's Passage lived up to its name.
No birds flew overhead.
No fish breached the surface.
Even the wind sounded wrong.
The Vixens remained below deck for most of the morning.
Not because they were scared.
Because they still hated the ocean.
Bunny eventually climbed halfway up the stairs, looked at the rough water once, and immediately turned around.
"Nope."
Nyxian pointed weakly from a couch.
"If anyone needs me, I'll be dying dramatically."
Jax alone looked excited.
Actually excited.
He stood at the bow of The Stormtide with Peacemaker resting across his shoulders while sea spray crashed around him.
Waiting.
Watching.
Anticipating.
Then—
The ocean exploded.
The surface erupted upward like a mountain rising from beneath the sea.
Water crashed across the ships.
Crew members screamed.
The Kraken emerged.
It was enormous.
Not ship-sized.
Not building-sized.
Closer to a floating fortress.
Its body alone dwarfed the pirate ships.
Tentacles thicker than castle towers rose from the water.
Its eyes glowed pale blue beneath the waves.
The sheer pressure of its emergence shook the sea itself.
Several sailors immediately dropped to their knees.
"By the tides…"
"That thing's real…"
One younger pirate began openly crying.
Emberlyn snapped into command instantly.
"Drop the detonations!"
Crew members rushed toward explosive depth charges prepared specifically for this region.
"No."
Jax's voice cut through the panic.
"Let it surface."
Emberlyn spun toward him.
"You don't understand the ramifications of that order."
"I do."
The Kraken rose higher.
Massive tentacles spread outward across the sea.
Jax never looked away from it.
"Trust me."
Emberlyn hated how much those words affected her now.
Because somehow—
She did.
The Kraken roared.
The sound alone shook the ships.
And then—
Jax moved.
He launched himself off the bow.
The deck cracked beneath the force.
He spun through the air with Peacemaker extended outward like a massive rotating blade.
For one impossible moment—
He looked less like a man and more like a meteor descending from heaven.
The first impact split a tentacle completely apart.
Black blood erupted across the ocean.
The Kraken screamed.
Jax landed directly atop another tentacle and sprinted across it while dodging spikes, suction maws, and whipping attacks.
The battle became insanity.
Tentacles slammed toward him like collapsing towers.
Jax vaulted between them.
Ran across them.
Used them as pathways.
One slammed downward—
He leapt.
Another tried crushing him between coils—
He spun through the gap.
Peacemaker carved glowing arcs through the storm.
Each strike removed chunks of flesh the size of wagons.
The Kraken adapted quickly.
It wrapped tentacles around each other defensively.
Created walls.
Traps.
One tentacle finally clipped Jax midair.
The impact launched him violently across the ocean surface.
The crew gasped.
Then Jax skipped across the water three times like a stone—
Laughed—
And launched himself right back at it.
"…He's enjoying this," Emberlyn whispered in disbelief.
The Kraken finally decided to retreat.
It submerged violently.
Tentacles pulling downward into the abyss.
"Smart move," Emberlyn muttered.
Then Jax grabbed one of the retreating tentacles.
"Oh no."
Peacemaker stabbed deep into the flesh.
Jax held on.
And vanished beneath the ocean.
Several crew members ran toward the railing.
"What do we do?!"
"Can he breathe underwater?!"
"Should we help him?!"
Emberlyn stared at the boiling sea below.
"…I genuinely don't know anymore."
Deep beneath the water—
Darkness consumed everything.
Pressure crushed downward from all sides.
The Kraken finally had the advantage.
This was its domain.
Tentacles whipped toward Jax through the abyss.
Jax secured himself to the creature with Peacemaker lodged deep into its flesh.
Then—
He drew Requiem.
Twin flashes erupted underwater.
The pistols thundered with magical force.
Electric-blue rounds pierced directly into the Kraken's eyes.
The beast convulsed violently.
Another barrage ripped into its mouth as it lunged.
The electrical energy surged through the surrounding water.
The Kraken shrieked so loudly the sound reached the ships above.
Blinded.
Enraged.
Dying.
It attacked wildly.
Which only brought it closer.
Jax smiled underwater.
Then he activated:
"System. Activate Decimation."
The world blurred.
For ten seconds—
Jax became death itself.
Peacemaker moved faster than the human eye could comprehend.
Tentacles separated into chunks instantly.
The Kraken's massive head split apart in dozens of directions.
Black blood clouded the sea.
The creature died before its nervous system even realized it had been destroyed.
Far above—
The entire ocean trembled.
The crew heard the dying roar echo upward from the deep.
Then silence.
Moments later—
Jax surfaced.
Dragging pieces of Kraken behind him.
He took one deep breath.
"…Well."
Everyone stared.
Jax looked mildly annoyed.
"This was all for nothing!."
Silence.
"WHAT?"
"It failed."
"I tried to summon it."
"…That's what you're upset about?!"
"It was a really good Kraken."
He dove underwater again.
Came back up.
Still annoyed.
"Tried again. Still unavailable."
Emberlyn stared at him like her brain had stopped functioning.
"This is the worst pirate story ever."
Jax climbed back aboard soaked completely through.
"Good news though."
"What?"
"Calamari's on the menu tonight."
The crew exploded into cheering laughter.
Tension shattered instantly.
Meanwhile Jax continued muttering to himself.
"What do you mean unavailable at this time? What is this, customer service at a call center?"
Emberlyn approached carefully.
"Are you… alright?"
Jax exhaled once.
Then shrugged.
"I'll get over it."
And somehow—
He genuinely did.
Thirty seconds later he sat back down at the GO board like nothing had happened.
"Where were we?"
Around them, the crew resumed sail adjustments and course corrections.
The severed Kraken floated nearby while sailors harvested pieces excitedly.
Ruktooth loudly declared this the greatest fishing trip of his life.
Emberlyn slowly sat down across from Jax.
And really looked at him.
Not the hero.
Not the legend.
Not the king.
The man.
The impossible, reckless, absurd man who dove into the abyss to fight a sea monster because it sounded interesting.
A man her crew now respected completely.
A man who protected others naturally.
Who laughed in danger.
Who learned constantly.
Who somehow made impossible things feel inevitable.
Her chest tightened slightly.
This one…
This one was worth fighting beside.
And maybe—
If fate was kind—
Worth fighting for too.