Seokjin cursed as the first cannonball cut through the water a few meters from the Shogun. He couldn't afford to move the ship to fire laterally on the other because then it would take too long to readjust his position and escape.

He had to maintain his course and go at high speed, hoping that the wind would start blowing again so that he could outrun them. He pulled on a rope to change the orientation of the mainsail again, hoping to catch a strand of wind more powerful than the others. This was normally the job of several men and he had difficulty operating the sails alone.

Then, running towards the rudder again, he hastened to change course slightly to keep away from the line of cannon range. If he was lucky, it was Namjoon piloting the ship and he wouldn't understand his maneuver.

His boat veered off course and the other cannonballs landed well behind him, which gave him hope. But seeing the Princess imitate him in its change of direction to readjust its cannon fire, he understood that luck was not on his side that time: it was probably Wakaï who was at the helm and chasing him, not Namjoon.

Don't think you can escape me! Wakaï had said.

"He could have changed his mind," moaned Seokjin who, however, did not admit defeat, wanting to escape the dire fate that these pirates had in store for him.

A strange chase began between the two ships which seemed to zigzag between the waves on a sea that was unfortunately too calm in Seokjin's eyes. With rougher seas, he could have easily distanced himself from the other, but on such calm seas, the other was irremediably behind him.

However, he had the impression that this calm heralded a coming storm, and his sailor's instincts rarely deceived him. But there was a problem: his instincts were far from accurate, and this storm could arrive in a few seconds or it could arrive the day after. But at that point, he would surely be dead and unable to benefit from it.

He understood that the game was over and that his hopes had been swallowed up when a first cannonball tore the rear hull of the Shogun and the one that followed shattered the rear mast.

"So, this is the end," he whispered, with the smile of someone accepting his fate. "I was destined to get swallowed up by the sea after all."

He let go of the now useless rudder, leaving the ship to steer itself one last time as it would soon sink, pierced through and through by the cannonballs raining down on it. The Shogun had lost, the Princess had won. He looked at the horizon and at this sea that he had continued to travel for fifteen years, when the Wakos had returned and taken his only friend, snatching away his carefree and peaceful life in the process.

I was behaving like a princess in distress who needed to be saved, he remembered wistfully. And Jungkook always came to save me.

"But I couldn't avenge you, Jungkook, I'm sorry," he said as a cannonball pierced the hull of the ship again with a deafening noise. "Mom, Dad, I'm sorry I wasn't an obedient son," he continued. "I wanted to become a respectable admiral like you at the beginning, Dad, but in the end, I didn't succeed. I was never good at listening to the advice people gave me and I always did what I wanted. What happened to me today is my fault, so both of you don't blame yourself."

Then, looking beyond the sea, towards his native land, he continued his prayers:

"Joseon, I am sorry that I have not been able to rid these seas of the wakos that have infested them for too long. And you, my fellow companions who were so like me and who made up my incredible crew, I am sorry for leading you away from the safety of Joseon and ultimately to your death. But don't worry too much, I'm sure our death will be avenged. Let us trust our country. Although small, it has the most loyal people in this world. Other proud Joseon soldiers will continue our wako hunt and win it, that's for sure."

A cannonball sank between two others that had shattered the deck, and the ship broke in two as easily as a piece of dry bread, slowly beginning to sink to the bottom...

"You may have worked a little too well," Jimin said to Namjoon and Hoseok in a mocking tone, handing Namjoon his telescope. "The ship is sinking and the admiral with it. Pfff, you're talking about a Shogun! It was just a cheap ship."

They stood on the lower deck watching the Shogun sink with the admiral on board. Namjoon looked through the telescope and saw with amazement that the admiral was smiling in the middle of his sinking boat.

"Did you see? He's smiling!" Jimin said with a smile as if he knew exactly how stunned Namjoon must be feeling right now. "I wonder how the captain will take this umpteenth provocation from our favorite Wako Slayer."

Hoseok snatched the telescope from Namjoon's hands and looked too. Unlike the other two, he didn't seem surprised and frowned.

"No, he's not smiling anymore," he said, "he's terrified. More so than I ever saw a sailor be while the sea was swallowing him."

In turn, Jimin snatched the telescope from his hands and saw the same thing.

"I don't understand, it looked like he was smiling at death a few seconds ago!"

"Maybe we just pointed out his weak spot," Namjoon guessed.

"The cannonballs?" Hoseok asked naively.

"No, vengeful pirates," Jimin retorted.

Namjoon rolled his eyes.

"Even two brains are not enough for you to be smart. I'll leave you to think and find things on your own, I'm going to see the captain."

While the other two argued over who was right, Namjoon joined Wakaï on the upper deck where the rudder was located. He was surrounded by Yoongi and Taehyung who didn't have the same expression at all. Yoongi seemed satisfied with this intense chase and its outcome while Taehyung suggested something completely different.

"Given the speed the ship is sinking, if that Joseon rat swims long enough, we can get him back before it drowns," he said, lowering the telescope he was holding.

"Saving him to better destroy him? Well, for once I find you interesting," Yoongi said, accompanying his remark with a bloodthirsty smirk. "Sow in him the hope of life before instilling despair in him and making him regret not being dead."

Taehyung gave him a look that indicated that wasn't why he wanted the admiral back at all but rather for his beloved katana.

Seeing the captain silent faced with the remarks of the other two, Namjoon decided to intervene:

"He won't last long enough so we can save him."

"Why do you say that?" Wakaï asked in a curious tone. "Wouldn't a man like him, a sailor so desperate for life, swim until exhaustion carried him to the bottom of the sea?"

"It's because we don't really know who he really is. Facing his imminent destiny, he has just revealed his weak point. Two minutes ago, you saw him smile in the face of death, didn't you?"

"What are you trying to say, Namjoon?"

"That our little admiral is terrified of the water that is about to engulf him, and that he will not be able to swim to survive, it's very obvious."

Stunned, the three pirates in front of him remained speechless and then Yoongi burst into evil laughter.

"An admiral feared by the wakos, a man who faces blades, bullets and cannons with a smile but who is actually afraid of water and doesn't know how to swim? I've never heard anything so hilarious!"

The captain frowned and Taehyung just watched him, waiting for him to give his opinion to align himself with his. Yet, Wakaï remained silent and thoughtful.

"If we delay, the sea will have already swallowed him up by the time we arrive," Namjoon concluded.

Seokjin wanted to smile at death until the end.

He would have liked not to concede any victory to these pirates. But seeing the water coming closer to him, he could not continue. It was his nemesis. A fear that he had never managed to overcome, even when he became a cabin boy at the age of 11 and had to undergo sailor training.

He remembered that his instructor had pushed him into the water when he saw that he refused to go in and had allowed himself to be dragged to the bottom of the water. He only owed his survival to his father who, present at the training camp, had intervened and pulled him out of the water. This should have ended his career as a sailor, he should have been fired from the naval base. Joeson's navy didn't need a boy who feared the water.

But he was the son of Admiral Kim, a boy who was exempt from chores usually intended for young cabin boys. He was a privileged person who had the support of a powerful man.

Even though his mother had tried to convince him to give up, ultimately judging him too fragile to become a navy soldier, Seokjin had begged his father to help him stay in the Joseon Navy. The latter, unable to refuse anything to his son, had spoken with his instructors and after that, there was no longer any question of sending him away. Besides, no one had put him in the water anymore.

From that, everyone had started to look at him as someone who was nothing without his status as the admiral's son, in short, an incompetent coward, which he had nevertheless sworn he would never be again. However, Seokjin didn't let it get him down.

He had compensated for his weakness by working harder than everyone else in other areas, becoming the best sword fighter, the best marksman, the best navigator, the best tracker, the best strategist and when he finally went hunting, the most ruthless wako killer. He had thus gained the respect of the other soldiers of the navy who had forgotten or put aside the fact that he did not know how to swim.

But the fears that we have not managed to overcome always end up catching up with us, Seokjin discovered this with horror that day which promised to be his last. The half of the ship he was on was leaning dangerously. He was clinging to the railing and saw the water getting closer, overwhelming him with anxiety.

He looked at his katana. Maybe he should pierce his stomach with it to die faster? The samurai performed seppuku to die with honor. But he saw no honor in taking his own life. He desperately wanted to live.

Raising his head, he saw the Red Princess, who continued to rush straight towards him, as if Wakaï wanted to take away any chance, however slight, of his survival.

"No need to tire yourself out, the sea will take care of me for you," he said in an attempt at humor to try to forget the sea which had begun to weigh heavily on his calves.

With his heavy shackles still clinging to his wrists like an anchor that would drag him to the bottom and make him sink like a stone, he was certain that even in death, his body would never rise to the surface. He was going to die like a common criminal even though he had lived as an admiral, it was annoying.

Holding on to the wreck no longer made any sense, it was sinking and taking him with it. Seokjin suspected that anyone else would have had a better chance of survival by letting go of it and walking away, but not him. He would have died before it even finished sinking. So, he took advantage until the end of the time when the piece of railing to which he clung for dear life remained emerged to greedily breathe the air. How good it was! How precious it was!

He felt with terror all the parts of his body being immersed one after the other in the cold water, at a frightening speed.

A few seconds later, salt water filled his mouth and he sank to the bottom of the sea, dragged by the Shogun to which he was still attached, joining the other wrecks of this immense cemetery which would now shelter his body.

For an admiral so attached to his own life, Wakaï found it strange to see him go down so easily, without even struggle. When it came to having wakos as enemies, he fought with rage. When it came to riding the sea, he did it with passion. And yet, when it came to embracing the sea like the sailor he was, he let himself be drawn into a deadly embrace without any resistance?

The excitement he had felt in this fierce chase with the Joseon admiral had faded and now he wondered what had motivated him like this. That man was pathetic.

He stood on the rail, observing the spot where the admiral had sunk two minutes earlier. It had already been a few seconds since we could no longer see any bubbles rising to the surface in the middle and barrels, wooden crates and various objects that had not sunk with the ship. To his left, Taehyung had his face closed, seeming to mourn his precious katana. To his right, Namjoon observed him accusingly.

"Did your compatriot's life mattered to you that much?" Wakaï asked, curious.

"Coming from the same land as him doesn't matter," Namjoon replied, "I just think he had the right to survive and he wasn't given a chance to do so. Perhaps he was right to consider us rascals."

"Watch your tongue, peddler," Taehyung threatened.

"I have no orders to receive from a pitiful samurai wounded in his pride."

Wakaï was starting to get tired of their childish arguments which prevented him from thinking properly. At least that's what he thought because strange thoughts were crossing his mind, and he couldn't shake them. It was annoying.

Taehyung took out his wakizashi angrily.

"A samurai does not attack an unarmed man. Where has your honor gone?" Namjoon provoked him.

"Sunk to the bottom of the sea with my katana," Taehyung growled.

He was about to pounce on Namjoon to teach him a lesson but stopped halfway when he heard a splashing sound and noticed that Wakaï had disappeared, leaving behind his coat, his gun and his sword.

Stunned, Namjoon and Taehyung rushed to the railing and peered over, seeing foam forming between the floating pieces of wreckage and pointing to where Wakaï had dived.

"Captain!" Taehyung shouted agitatedly, attracting the attention of other crew members.

He looked like he was about to dive after him, but Namjoon grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

"He's not going to drown, don't worry."

"Then what is he doing?!"

The dimple appeared on Namjoon's cheek.

"I think he's just trying to make sure he won't regret anything."