Above the din of the taverns and the shouts of the dockworkers, the rhythmic creak of a wooden ship's rigging sliced through the night air, guiding Kai to his destination. The salty scent of the ocean mingled with the pungent aroma of rotting fish, creating a distinct bouquet that was as much a part of the town's character as the gulls that squawked overhead.
With a deep breath, he steps out of the shadows with his hood up, his face undiscernible in the darkness, and onto the moonlit dock, the planks groaning beneath his weight. The harbor was a maze of ships, their masts reaching like skeletal fingers towards the heavens. His destination loomed before him, a wooden sailing carrack, its sails furled and resting like the wings of a sleeping beast. The two dock guards patrolled with the diligence of men paid well to be wary, their eyes scanning the shadows for any signs of trouble. Kai's heart quickened as he approached, the fear of being caught sharpening his senses.
The ship's deck was a mere fifty feet away, the gap bridged by a swaying gangplank that seemed to dare him to come closer. He took the first step, the wood beneath his feet protesting with a series of squeaks. Each step brought him closer to the prize: the merchant in charge of the ship, a man whose name was a byword for greed and treachery. The man he had come to kill.
Danzo
The guards patrolled with the rhythm of a well-oiled clock, their eyes scanning the perimeter with practiced ease. Kai stumbled towards the carrack. The dock guards gave him a wary look, but he moved with the confidence and swagger of a man who was supposed to here and he was just returning from the taverns after a night of drinking as sail are known to do. The dock guards, having seen this sort of thing more times than they care to count thought nothing more of him and continued their vigilance as normal.
Once on board, he flattened himself against the side of the ship, blending into the shadows that painted the bulwarks. The carrack was a floating fortress, bristling with cannons and barrels of trade goods, but Kai's eyes sought the cabin where the merchant slept. He knew the layout by heart, having his predecessor's memories to guide him. The cabin was two decks up, at the stern, its single window overlooking the wake of the ship. It was there that he would find the man who had wronged him… the previous inhabitant of this body.
The hatred and anger of his predecessor is worming its way into his mind again, clouding his judgment. I can't wait to be done with this Kai thinks to himself, not liking the feeling of his mind being influenced by another entity.
He began his ascent, each handhold and foothold chosen with care. The rigging groaned and swayed in the breeze, but he ignored it, his focus unwavering. As he reached the top, the sound of laughter and clinking glasses spilled from the open hatch leading to the cabin. He could smell the rich aroma of fine tobacco and the heady scent of spiced rum. The sailors were having a good time tonight, but he knew the Merchant wouldn't be there merrymaking with them. He will be in his cabin, most likely asleep, dreaming about how much money he made.
The same self-discipline that Danzo uses to save money and resist self-indulgence will be his downfall.
Quietly making his way to the merchant's cabin, the creaking sound of wood caused by his step are easily overwhelmed by the noise made from the drunk sailors. As he finally reaches the door, he gently pushes it open. Its dark inside the room which doesn't matter much to Kai as he knows the layout of it like the back of his.
Directly across from the door, is an undecorated wall with only two picture frames. Unsurprisingly, neither of them are paintings of his family or friends. One of the frames holds a portrait of the Graegorian Empress in exquisite and vivid detail. The other frame doesn't contain portrait at all, instead it displays a dominion coin. The first dominion coin Danzo ever made.
Go figures. Kai snorts to himself at the incredulity of the mans love for money. He knows from the memories that the man has a wife and two older daughters.
To the left of the door entrance is a long steel chest safe with a large key lock that contains a large majority of the man's wealth, and to the right is the man himself, blissfully asleep, unaware that his eternal sleep is nigh.
His grandfather taught him that when there is a job to do, don't waste time and to get it done quickly. And so, with that, he quickly and as quietly as he can, makes his way over to the bed. Once there, he doesn't stand on ceremony because that would be stupid and only inviting more trouble, instead, without much fanfare he pulls a pillow over the mans face and just as the man begins to struggle, he pushes Jezebel into pillow, giving the pillow a slow and steady trigger squeeze.
Suu
[Congratul…]
[Congrat…]
Even with how quiet Jezebel natural is, even the smallest noise is loud when one is trying not to be heard. He ignores the system message and even ignores the new add-ons to his ever present HUD, and pauses briefly to listen for any sign of trouble. Hearing none, he pulls off the large gold ring with a crystal inlaid in its center and quickly rushes to the over to the safe.
Because of a keyhole situated on its lock, everyone would think that the safe requires a key, which it does but not the kind that one would expect. The keyhole is meant to be a diversion, but Kai knew better. It's actually a mage-tech construct and only opens when the ring is close to it like a proximity key/lock from Kai's previous life.
Opening the safe, he finds several bulging sacks of coins and whatever else, and without thinking about it too much, stores everything into his inventory before closing the safe and pocketing the ring. Kai then quietly makes his way back out of the room
Back out on the main deck, and to Kais relief, the party happening in the mess room is still going on with no one the wiser. Since it would appear very suspicious to the dock guards if he were to leave again, he instead goes to the starboard side of the ship, the side that isn't moored to the dock, and quickly removes his outer wear before using one of the many ropes hanging over its side to carefully lowers himself to just above the waterline.
Learning his lesson from the Emperor Perch he focuses on his sonar which seems to have changed slightly and gotten more advanced. Not really caring about why such a change occurred at the moment, since he currently has more important things going on right now… like escaping with his life intact, he can see on his sonar that there are only regular size fish and smaller crustaceans in his vicinity.
Kai then lowers himself all the way into the water until he is fully submerged.
Funny how I keep finding myself in the depths of the sea somewhere Kai thinks to himself
Kai's earliest memory was of water. Not the gentle, playful kind that lapped against the shore, but the powerful, unyielding kind that filled his lungs and stung his eyes. He had been thrown into it, a tiny human projectile, by his grandfather, a seaman through and through, with a heart of gold and hands like leather. That was the day Kai learned to swim.
Now, years later, the memory of that first plunge served him well as he cut through the moonlit waves, the saltwater a cool embrace against his skin. His strokes were long and precise, the product of countless hours spent in the ocean's company. He had become one with the water, an extension of its ebb and flow. The world above the surface was a distant hum, a blur of shadow and light dancing on the waves, but Kai's eyes remained fixed on the distant shore, a beacon of safety amidst the vastness of the sea.
The moon hung low in the sky, a silver coin pressed into the black of the night. Its bright glow, just enough to illuminate the way forward, a silent guide in the dark. The stars were scattered above, a reminder of how small he was in the grand scheme of things. Yet Kai felt no fear, only the rhythmic pulse of his heart and the steady pull of the current beneath him.
He had been born into a life of the sea, a world of endless horizon lines and secrets hidden beneath the waves. His grandfather, may he rest in peace, had weaved tales of ancient sea creatures and treasure-filled shipwrecks as he drifted to sleep, and he had grown up believing that the ocean held the answers to all the questions in the world. And now, in this new world, as he approached the shore, and with it a new lease on life, he couldn't shake the feeling that something momentous waited for him there. But what could it be?
Kai doesn't have the answer right now, but he is sure of one thing…
His self-induced debt to his predecessor for this new body and this new life in a wonderful world he could only fantasize about…
Has now been paid in full.