The sea was restless that night, dark waves thrashing against the worn wood of the Black Leviathan as it cut through the endless blue. A lone figure stood at the helm—Captain Chuuya Nakahara, the youngest to ever command the ship, his hands gripping the wheel as the salt-heavy wind whipped through his crimson hair.

He hadn’t been meant for this title. It should have been his father standing here, barking orders with that steady voice that had once ruled these waters. But the old captain was gone, his life stolen by a mermaid’s curse, his body withering away until all that was left was a name to pass down. A name, and a mission.

"Find her," his father had rasped with his final breath. "Find the sea witch who cursed me, and end her before she claims another soul."

And so Chuuya sailed. Not for glory, not for treasure, but for revenge.

He hated mermaids. Hated their tricks, their songs, their deceitful beauty that lured men to ruin. If the sea itself had a devil, it was them.

But deep beneath the surface, in the quiet blue where the sunlight barely reached, Dazai swam.

A merman unlike the others, his long brown hair floating weightlessly around him, dark eyes reflecting the shifting glow of the deep. He watched the ships above with an unreadable expression, the flick of his dark tail propelling him forward as he drifted through the currents.

There was something different about the Black Leviathan, about the man who commanded it now. Dazai had seen many sailors come and go, had heard their shouts and curses from above. But this one… this one carried rage like a storm, his voice edged with something more dangerous than fear.

Curious.

Perhaps it was time to see for himself.