The voyage of the Dancing Sea entered its sixth day in the Great Gulf of Ishgar with a gentle breeze, as if the ocean itself was dancing to the ship's rhythm. Small waves rolled slowly beneath the black-and-red wooden hull, no longer the ferocious whip of the first storm, but a gentle cadence that invited every crew member to breathe a little easier.
Ren Chicle stood on the front deck, his small seven-year-old body caressed by the sea breeze carrying the scent of salt and the Sin Pepper spices still clinging to Olda's apron. His mother's scarf was wrapped around his neck; the fairy bird drawn on it now felt warm beneath the midday sun filtering through the thin mist.
He was no longer counting the heartbeats of the guards or the footwork patterns of enemies. Now, he counted smiles. One smile from Liric in the morning, two laughs from Olda when he helped stir the stew in the kitchen, and three pats on the shoulder from Captain Ravel, who came by more and more often for no reason at all.
"This fire... is getting bigger,"
Ren murmured softly, his finger touching the thin purple Bungee Gum thread that appeared at the tip of his index finger. Not for fighting, but merely to wrap around the wind—like the invisible hug he had learned from little Lira back then.
"Ren! Come on, boy! Today is your turn to learn the simple Amore Dance!"
called Liric from behind, his voice as cheerful as the Minstrel magic gamelan he talked about every night. The youngest crewmate, sixteen years old with an Atonement tattoo on his arm that had now faded from laughing too often, skipped closer, carrying a piece of ship's rope that he turned into a body drum rhythm.
Ren turned, a faint smile—the silly little smile that once felt so alien—appearing on his lips.
"Amore Dance? Is that what you called... a dance to win someone's heart?"
he asked, his voice still flat but holding a new, warm vibration. Back in the Tower of Heaven, he only calculated variables. Now, every word from Liric felt like a sticky thread of Bungee Gum in his chest, pulling him out of his ice of logic.
"Exactly!"
Liric laughed, pulling Ren's hand to the middle of the empty deck. The other crewmen paused their work for a moment, Olda rested her wooden spoon on the railing, and Captain Ravel watched from the helm, his red beard swaying.
"This dance isn't just about movements, Ren. It's about emotion. You have to feel the beat in your chest—don't count it, feel it. Like when you helped me during the storm yesterday. That's affection, kid. Not a variable."
Ren nodded slowly. He placed his small hand on his chest, feeling the Ethernano inside pulsating to the rhythm of the waves.
"Where I used to be... I learned to hold everything in. But now... it feels like Bungee Gum. It can stretch, but if it's too tight, it can snap. I'm afraid... if I open up too much, Nana's fire will go out."
Olda approached, the aroma of spicy stew enveloping him like a hug.
"That fire actually burns brighter when you share it, Ren. Look at me—I used to leave my child in Sinael. The pain was like the crash of a giant wave. But on this ship, I cook for all of you. And look... my heart shape perfectly."
She ruffled Ren's black hair with her rough hand, and the boy didn't pull away. Instead, he leaned his head into it for a moment—a small gesture that made Liric clap his hands.
The days passed just like that. In the mornings, Ren helped load chests of dance costumes using Bungee Gum: Sticky Binding, his sticky purple threads adhering perfectly without damaging the fine silk fabric. In the afternoons, he learned to read the stars from Captain Ravel, calculating not for strategy, but to "see the same dreams as the crew."
At night, under the star-filled sky of Ishgar, they sat in a circle on the deck. Ren shared small fragments of his past—not everything, not yet—about Nana teaching him the letter 'H' for Hope, about a baby's cry in the ruins. But this time, he wasn't flat. His voice trembled as he said,
"Nana said, the true light comes from the fire in the middle of a storm. You guys... you are like the storm that made me feel what emotion is."
Liric patted his shoulder.
"And you, Ren, make us feel like this ship isn't just wood and sails. You're a friend. Not a slave. Not an ordinary little kid."
Ren felt something crack again in his chest—not shattering ice, but snow melting into warm water. He let out a small laugh, a silly sound that was still shy, but real.
"Thank you, Liric-san. Olda-san. Captain. I... am starting to understand why the fairy bird on this fabric flies free. Maybe it's because it has a family it chose, not one it was destined for."
Captain Ravel nodded from his seat, the small gold mask at his neck gleaming.
"You're already part of the crew, Ren. Tomorrow we reach Minstrel. Flerouge awaits with its dances. But remember—emotions are like sails. If you're scared, just pull them with your magic and tie us all together."
The voyage was smooth. Too smooth, perhaps. The normally calm waters of the Great Gulf of Ishgar during this season seemed to be giving them a gift after the first storm. Ren opened up more and more: he started making small jokes with Liric while cleaning the deck,
"If my magic sticks to your feet, you have to dance the Battaglia Dance while jumping!"
Olda taught him how to chop onions without crying—not because of the sting, but because "sometimes, tears are a good thing, kid. It means you're alive." Ren tried it, and for the first time, he felt the sting on his tongue not as a threat, but as a flavor that made him smile.
But on the tenth day, the sky changed. Black clouds gathered on the northern horizon, not a regular storm, but something much deeper. The air felt heavy with wild Ethernano, like the crystals of the Tower of Heaven reacting in anger. Captain Ravel shouted from the helm,
"Everyone to your positions! This isn't a normal wind—something is coming from below!"
Ren stood tall, his black eyes narrowing. The mole shaped like a teardrop under his left eye felt hot.
"I sense... something huge. Not a wave. A creature. Its Ethernano is like... the lacrima back at the tower. But alive."
Before Olda could answer, the sea erupted. Water blasted high like a giant fountain, and from within emerged a terrifying sea monster—an Ishgar Sea Leviathan, a legendary creature that rarely appeared unless the ocean's Ethernano was disturbed.
Its body was as long as three ships, its blue-black scales glistening like rotting Ethernano crystals, its glowing red eyes full of hunger. Its mouth was filled with curved fangs, and from its fins radiated dark water magic—a whirlpool current that could drag a ship to the bottom. Its roar shook the air, making the deck rock violently.
"Leviathan!" shrieked Liric, his face pale.
"Captain, this is the one that ate the Bosco fleet last year!"
Captain Ravel gripped the helm.
"Everyone hold onto something! Ren—guard the deck! Crew, raise the spare sails! We're running to the north!"
But the monster didn't give them time. Its tail lashed out, slamming into the ship's hull with a loud boom. Wood cracked, and seawater sprayed inside. Olda slipped, nearly falling into the sea, but Ren moved faster than his own thoughts.
"Bungee Gum: Elastic Propulsion!"
A purple thread shot from his palm, sticking to the mainmast. With a single pull, Ren's small body launched like a bullet, landing beside Olda. His tiny hands wrapped around the woman's waist, Bungee Gum: Sticky Binding wrapping them both in warm, sticky threads.
"Olda-san! Hold onto me!"
He pulled, stretching the gum until Olda was hoisted back up to the safety of the deck. The middle-aged woman panted, her eyes welling with tears.
"Ren... you... you didn't have to save me!"
Ren didn't answer with words. But in his chest, the fire burned brighter—not the cold fury of the past when Krov lifted him in the tower, but a warm fear. The fear of losing them.
"I won't let anyone be sacrificed again,"
he whispered. His voice trembled, but it was firm.
The monster attacked again. Its mouth opened wide, spewing a magical whirlpool that spun like the roar of dragon slayer magic—a powerful current that could obliterate the deck. The crew screamed in panic. Liric tried to hold the ropes with his body, but his feet slipped.
Ren leaped onto the railing.
"Bungee Gum: Air Step!"
Thin threads compacted the Ethernano in the air, creating invisible footholds. He jumped three times in the air, his body as agile as the dancer Liric had taught him to be, dodging the whirlpool. At the peak of his jump, he reached out his hands.
"Full Counter Slingshot!"
His gum formed an elastic shield in front of the whirlpool. The water attack sank into the purple threads, stretched to the absolute maximum. Ren spun in the air, drawing the gum back like a giant slingshot.
"Return this... to the sea!"
With a small, emotion-filled shout—not cold, but an anger born from attacking the people Ren cared about—he let go. The whirlpool shot back twice as fast, smashing the Leviathan right in its red eye.
The creature roared in pain, its body writhing. Its tail thrashed wildly, smashing two chests of dance costumes on the deck. Wooden splinters flew everywhere. Captain Ravel yelled,
"Ren! That's enough! We're making a run for it!"
Ren landed perfectly on the deck, his breath ragged. Sweat mixed with seawater on his forehead.
"I... won't let you guys get hurt," he said loudly, his voice cracking from the emotions he used to suppress. He ran to Liric, Bungee Gum: Sticky Binding sticking to the young crewmate's back, pulling him to safety just before the monster's tail struck down.
"Liric-san! You said we are friends! Now it's my turn to protect you!"
Liric smiled despite his fear. "You... have changed, Ren. Thank you!"
The monster didn't give up. It dove briefly, then surfaced on the ship's right side, its fins emitting a magical shockwave that made the Ethernano in the air vibrate. The wave struck like a mini tsunami, nearly capping the ship. Ren felt his balance falter—but he was no longer the boy who coldly calculated odds. He felt responsibility, just like Nana who had protected him.
"Bungee Gum: Human Yo-yo!" He leaped to the railing, attaching a long purple thread to the monster's rising tail. His magic stuck perfectly.
With a flick of his small finger, he yanked the monster sideways and it was thrown off, its giant body crashing into the water with a deafening boom. Ren stretched the gum to its limit, then released it like a crazy yo-yo. The Leviathan swung through the air, its roars filling the sky.
But the creature fought back. Its fangs snapped, almost swallowing Ren. The boy used Air Step again, leaping over the monster's head. There, he attached Bungee Gum: Snapback Combat to the monster's forehead, linking the thread to its back and its fin.
Ren stretched his magic to the absolute limit. He then directed the strike at the monster's forehead, unleashing the recoil. The blow multiplied in strength and speed, hitting like a giant hammer. Its scales cracked, blue-black blood spurting from the fissures.
"Snapback!"
Ren yelled, his voice full of a new, youthful energy. He kicked, the gum on his feet adding momentum. Every strike wasn't just physical—he felt it. The anger that the monster threatened his new family. The joy that his gum worked perfectly. The fear that made him stronger.
The Leviathan writhed wildly, its fins shooting out magical water needles like a rain of arrows. Ren formed a Bungee Shield over his arms—an elastic net catching everything, absorbing the impact.
"Absorption!"
He stretched the shield, then used Full Counter Slingshot again—the water needles shot back into the monster's eyes, blinding it on one side.
The creature roared deafeningly, its body staggering. Ren saw an opening. He jumped high, his Bungee Gum forming long threads like a giant spider web.
"Sticky Binding: Full Net!"
Purple threads shot from both hands, sticking all over the monster's body, binding its fins, tail, and mouth. His gum was elastic and sticky all at once—Ren controlled his Ethernano with newfound precision, no longer cold logic, but the instinct of a heart learning from the crew.
With one massive heave, he pulled the monster downwards. The Leviathan crashed into the sea with a colossal splash, water soaring high. Its body sank, its roars muffled by bubbles. A final wave washed over the deck, but the ship remained intact.
Ren landed on the deck, his knees weak. He was panting, but a wide, silly smile adorned his face. The Bungee Gum faded from his hands, leaving a faint purple trail. The crew rushed over. Olda hugged him tightly, her tears mixing with laughter.
"Kid... you saved us all! That... that was amazing, kid!"
Liric patted his back.
"Ren! You were dancing in the air back there! Just like the Dance! And you said 'friends'—not variables that can be thrown away anytime!"
Captain Ravel knelt before him, his large hand on Ren's shoulder.
"Boy... you are no longer a lone wanderer. You are a crew member of the Dancing Sea. Thank you."
Ren hugged back—a stiff but warm embrace, the Bungee Gum appearing faintly on his arms, wrapping them all in elastic gentleness. Warm tears fell down his cheeks, not the cries of a baby in a crystal, but tears of fulfillment.
"I... felt scared earlier. Scared of losing you guys. But that... made my magic stronger. Nana was right. This fire... comes from giving. From feeling. I... am so happy you're safe."
The days following the battle passed with much more openness. Ren laughed more often, telling longer stories about Nana and the fairy bird. He learned the little Fantasia Dance from Liric, his elastic movements blending with Bungee Gum to create a small illusion on the deck—a purple fairy bird flying through the air.
"This... is for mother," he said softly.
Olda cooked extra spicy stew, "Because you deserve to feel the warmth, kid."
On the morning of the fifteenth day, the thin mists of Minstrel appeared on the horizon. The towers of Flerouge loomed faintly, the Great Dance Lake gleaming in the distance like a dancing jewel. A grand harbor with an open-air stage by the sea welcomed them, red and gold flags fluttering, the faint sound of magic gamelan music carrying on the wind.
The Dancing Sea docked slowly at the stone pier carved with dancer motifs. The crew clapped their hands. Ren stood at the bow, his small hands clutching the scarf tightly. His black eyes stared at the endless city—no longer with calculation, but with a burning fire.
"We're here, Ren," Captain Ravel said, his voice proud. "Minstrel. The place where your fairy bird flies free."
Ren nodded, his silly smile wide.
"Yes. And I... am not alone anymore. Thank you, everyone."