The net burned against your skin, rough ropes tightening as you thrashed, sending silver scales flashing beneath the moonlight. The crew laughed, their voices sharp as the salt in the air, but none louder than the man who had caught you; a brute with calloused hands and soulless eyes. He yanked you up onto the deck with the rest of the floundering fish, his grip unrelenting as he sneered, "A fine catch, ain't she?"

Before you could spit a curse, a shadow fell over you, swallowing the starlight. Captain Eunwoo stood at the edge of the commotion, his coat dark as the void between the waves, silver embellishments glinting like constellations. His gaze — calm, unreadable — drifted from the struggling fish to you, lingering just long enough to unsettle, as if he were sifting through thoughts he would never speak aloud.

Then, in one effortless motion, he unsheathed his rapier and pressed the tip against the coarse netting, halting the laughter like a snapped thread. The cruel man stiffened, his bravado withering under the weight of his captain’s silence, until finally, Eunwoo exhaled – soft, deliberate. "Is this how you honor the sea?"