Location: Grand Line – Stormrise Archipelago
The sea roared like a beast in pain.
Skies above twisted in spirals of lightning, and the waves slammed like drums of war. Stormrise Archipelago was a graveyard of titanic beasts, forgotten gods, and ancient curses.
But to monster hunters?
It was paradise.
The Oro Jackson sailed between massive skeletons of Sea Kings—ribs the size of towers, eyes fossilized in their sockets. Roger stood on the prow, laughing in the wind.
"Ahahahaha! This is what the Grand Line was made for!"
Shanks grinned at Toni, who stood steady despite the storm.
"You ever hunt a creature that eats islands?"
Toni's eyes didn't waver.
"If it breathes, I can cut it."
🧭 Objective: Find the Beast of Stormrise
According to Rayleigh's research, this archipelago was once the site of a forgotten civilization that worshipped a leviathan known as Draugnir, an immortal sea beast.
Rumor said it still slumbered beneath the black reef.
But deeper whispers claimed that one man still hunted it—alone—for over thirty years.
System Ping: New Quest Activated
Title: "Monster Hunter's Pact"
Objective: Find and Ally with the Beast Slayer
Warning: Class-S Threat – Draugnir is Void-Eater Class (Unkillable by Normal Means)
🏹 Enter: Kael the Beast Slayer
The crew docked on a black sand island. Half of it was overgrown coral. The other half? A wreckage of bones, traps, and scorched sea king hides.
And in the middle, sharpening a blade longer than a man—stood a weathered, scarred warrior with white hair braided with Leviathan teeth.
"Who in the bloody seas sails a ship painted gold?" he growled.
"You want the beast? Or did it eat your brain?"
Roger laughed.
"I'm just here for the thrill."
Kael didn't laugh.
But his eyes landed on Toni.
"You. You've got the smell of myth on you."
Toni nodded, not flinching.
"I need to learn how to slay something that shouldn't exist."
Kael's eye narrowed.
"Then follow me. And pray your blade remembers what pain feels like."
🌑 Training Beneath the Maw
Kael led Toni into the reef tunnels—deep caves filled with dead coral, collapsed altars, and traces of titanic claws.
Inside, the pressure was crushing. Observation Haki didn't work. Even Toni's Mythblade flickered, uneasy.
"This is Draugnir's breath," Kael muttered. "It eats memory. Eats identity."
System Alert: Proximity to Void-Eater Class Lifeform – Status: Haki Suppression Active
Kael hurled Toni into a chamber lit by bioluminescent worms.
"You'll survive here for 3 days. No sword. No system. Just you."
Toni coughed, the pressure pressing into his lungs.
"How do I fight what I can't sense?"
Kael answered from the shadows.
"By remembering what you are without your strength."
⏳ Three Days in Darkness
Toni survived on instinct alone. He fought cave serpents that had no eyes. He learned to listen to the shifts in pressure, the twitch of vibrations.
When a shadow tried to consume him from the walls, he used only a shard of coral to fight back.
And in the stillness, he meditated—calling upon the names of every memory the blade had given him.
"If I'm the one who remembers… then even in the dark, I see."
⚔️ Return – The Pact is Forged
On the fourth dawn, Kael entered the chamber.
Toni stood waiting—sleepless, wounded, but alive.
Kael smiled for the first time.
"You've got teeth."
He tossed a scroll bound in Leviathan scale.
"This is the pact. Passed only to one warrior every generation. You bind it with your blood. And if the beast rises... you must finish what I started."
Toni accepted it.
System Update:
Title Unlocked: Bound Hunter of the Depth
Pact Forged: Kael the Beast Slayer
Perk Gained: Immune to passive mind-altering effects of Void-Eater Beasts
Future Technique: Leviathan Sever Form – Locked (Requires Combat Trigger)
🌀 Final Scene – Draugnir Stirs
As Toni and Kael climbed the cliffs overlooking the storm-churned sea, something moved beneath the waves.
A pulse.
A low growl that shook the bones of the islands.
Kael squinted.
"She's waking up."
And Toni?
He drew his swords.
"Then I'm ready to remind her what fear feels like."