Kimetsu no Yaiba: Demonic World

by DemonLordGalm

Becoming a Demon was not what he wanted to happen, but Tanjirō wouldn't let that stop him from saving his sister, even if it meant only she could be the one to be cured. Will he persevere against the odds? Or will his darker half get the better of him...? Demon Tanjirō / Nezuko AU. COMPLETE

51. The Dead Sea

^ Chapter 51 - The Dead Sea ^

---

^ 14 Days Later ^

"This ship is really something else, Níngguāng-san…" said Tanjirō as he leaned over the railing, looking down one side of the ship as it churned through the foaming ocean water at a steady pace.

"Your words warm my heart, Tanjirō...I appreciate them." Níngguāng replied with a soft smile, the woman standing close by with her eyes glowing a soft orange instead of their usual light red.

It had been fourteen days since they had departed Tokyo, and they had already made it through South-East Asia, passed through the Suez Canal, and were well on their way through the Mediterranean Sea. The canal helped cut down the time of travel extensively, because without it they would have had to go all the way down around Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, and northward to reach Europe. But that was only one small part, it was the owner of their vessel that was enabling their journey to be so rapid. Thanks to Níngguāng, they were going to be able to reach Europe much quicker than if they had relied on civilian transport.

The key was in her Blood Demon Technique. As several of them had guessed, her Blood Demon Art allowed her to manifest brilliant crystals from thin air and manipulate them telepathically with mere thoughts. With this ability, she created several large crystals that were fastened to the bottom of her ship so that with her on board, she was propelling them forward at a much greater speed than what a regular shipping vessel of the age could only dream of reaching.

Of course it was still beyond them how Torres had been able to reach Europe so rapidly after leaving Japan, but at this point they weren't even trying to waste brain power in thinking of the ins and outs. They only worried about where they had to go, and what they would do when they'd get there.

"So...you were the one that told Shinobu where to find me, right?" Tanjirō asked, turning around to look up at the taller woman with his arms resting on the metal railing of the junk.

"Indeed I was. I could see how much you mattered to them, and considering how I was already assisting your organization...it was natural for me to give them the information~" replied Níngguāng with a light giggle.

"Yeah...thank you for that, if it wasn't for you telling them that...I may not even be here at all."

Tanjirō lifted his arms off the railing and held them at his sides, bowing respectfully to the woman out of thanks and mutual respect for her, and all that she had done to help the Demon Slayer Corps. Níngguāng giggled softly again as she reached forward and lifted up his head so he could see her smile.

Winking at him and leaving it at that, she then took a puff out of her smoking pipe and strolled away down the deck towards the stern of the vessel, the way her hips swayed side to side turning Tanjirō's cheeks red.

"Tanjirō-kuuun~!"

He whirled around and barely caught a glimpse of Mitsuri bounding toward him before she threw herself against his body, practically knocking the wind out of him. He grunted, her large boobs muffling his voice quite a bit, before he felt himself be tipped off balance and scrambled for anything to hold onto in order to stop himself.

Unfortunately for him, the railing was just out of reach of his fingertips, and with a giggle Mitsuri landed right on top of him when he fell right onto his back. His face was nearly enveloped by her bust and his body practically froze up from the compromising position he was in.

"Hi hi~ Sorry for knocking you over!" Mitsuri said with a smile as she got off him and helped him to his feet, Tanjirō's face as red as a tomato. Since Mitsuri wore her uniform with her cleavage exposed, when she was smothering him, his nose had been rubbing against the bare skin of her mounds, which had made him get even more flustered. "Something wrong? Your face is super red and it makes you look even more adorable."

"U-Uh, no, it's nothing Mitsuri-san...you just surprised me is all…" Tanjirō replied with a shaky tone, his eyes drifting away from Mitsuri out of embarrassment.

Mitsuri smiled and giggled again before walking to the railing and resting her arms on it, her chest held in place by her elbows. She gazed out at the horizon as the sun was beginning to set and stood there silently, almost as if she were waiting for something to happen during the serene moment.

Taking it as she was expecting him to join her, Tanjirō did just that and situated himself on her left side, looking at the evening sun as well. The wind blowing through their hair and the smell of the sea was something neither of them had ever experienced while in Japan, so even though they were on their way to Europe for a mission to save Nezuko, they were still able to find some enjoyment in exploring beyond their home.

And they both knew they weren't the only ones either. All of the Hashira and those who made the decision to join them were amazed with the outside world, and the sheer magnitude of the ocean itself. Water stretched out for as far as the eye could see, truly making them realize just how small they really were.

It was why it was all the more imperative that they save Nezuko from Torres' clutches and put an end to whatever plan for "salvation" he had brewing. Coming from Europe, whatever he was thinking of doing certainly wouldn't just involve his home country. The entire world could be at stake.

"It's beautiful, isn't it, Tanjirō-kun? The sunset?" Mitsuri asked softly, her hand coming up to pull back a few strands of her hair that had blown out of place with the breeze.

"Yeah, it's different than one back home." Tanjirō replied.

"Are you scared…?"

Tanjirō was caught off guard by the sudden question, his head turning to meet with Mitsuri's eyes, who were gazing into his own with a tinge of worry. That was when his nose picked up the scent coming from her skin through the smell of the sea, and he couldn't help but smile a little.

She was worrying for him, because his sister had been stolen from him. The care and heart that he could see within her eyes, with those slit pupils that had terrified Japan because of Muzan's influence, was enough to set his mind at ease and give him the same feeling of being with Shinobu.

That alone was enough to make his heart start beating a little faster and his face showed it as his cheeks again turned a little red. Mitsuri realized how close she was to him too and her own cheeks turned red and she covered her mouth with her hand, looking off to the side bashfully.

Unbeknownst to the pair, a certain Hashira wearing a butterfly haori was stealthily watching them from just outside of their view, standing downwind of the breeze so that she couldn't be detected by Tanjirō's powerful sense of smell.

Shinobu couldn't help but smile at the two of them, and she silently giggled to herself at how awkward they acted around one another. Not a single ounce of jealousy or hatred existed in her heart as she spied on them, because she knew there wouldn't be any room for it.

If she was being honest with herself, she somewhat expected this may happen at some point. Mitsuri and her were close friends, sharing a lot of things together that they wouldn't tell others, even Tanjirō. She was the first to catch wind of their mutual feelings for one another as well, so of course Mitsuri, once Shinobu and Tanjirō became an official couple, heard practically all of the details.

Tanjirō was a beacon of hope and optimism among the Demon Slayer Corps, surpassing any and all odds that he was faced with in order to rise above what he had become. The fact that Mitsuri was revealed to have demonic heritage meant that in that aspect, they were related, and brought them closer together as comrades. Mitsuri being young as beautiful, and Tanjirō kind-hearted and handsome was another factor as well.

"You can do it, Mitsuri...come on…" Shinobu thought as she silently cheered on her friend from the safety of her hiding spot.

Mitsuri herself was still staring off to the side, and Tanjirō was still feeling a little embarrassed by her level of care, leading to the both of them standing there awkwardly at the railing. He blinked a few times and he suddenly felt Mitsuri's emotional scent change in type, from one of care to one of embarrassment, and of a kind that he usually always detected from Shinobu. His heart skipped a beat and he coughed a little, making Mitsuri jump a tiny bit.

"A-Ah, sorry! I didn't mean to make you jump like that, I was just, um...clearing my throat…." Tanjirō apologized while rubbing the back of his head, Mitsuri laughing awkwardly and shaking her hands at him.

"No worries, eheh…I'm sure I surprised you a bit with what I said…" she replied, her own heart beginning to beat out of her chest.

"To, um...answer your question though...I am scared. Scared for my sister, and scared for what that guy Torres and Dōma could do to her…"

"We're...gonna get her back, you know? We all care about Nezuko-chan now! We...care about you, Tanjirō…"

Silence fell between them again, with just the sea breeze and the crashing of the waves against the hull of the ship being heard. It was an incredibly serene and picturesque scene, made even more striking by the light of the setting sun bathing their skin in oranges and yellows.

The set up was perfect, and the emotions were there. Shinobu waited eagerly to see if anything would happen, and after a few moments more of silence she began to wonder if maybe she had assumed wrong. That's when Mitsuri then shook her head vigorously side to side and, defying that notion, quickly grasped Tanjirō by the cheeks and yanked him into a kiss square on the lips.

Tanjirō's eyes went as wide and as white as the moon when Mitsuri kissed him, while his limbs went as stiff as stone. His blush followed suit, as did Mitsuri's, with her ears even turning bright red while she held her kiss with him.

Just when it seemed like time was starting to slow to a crawl, Mitsuri came to her senses and let go of Tanjirō's cheeks, pulling her lips away and taking a step back to give him space. Tanjirō was left in a sort of trance for a few moments before shaking his head and looking at Mitsuri, who was holding her arms shyly behind her back and tapping the deck with her toe.

"Mitsuri-san, you-"

"Tanjirō, Mitsuri~! There you are!" Shinobu exclaimed as she walked towards them, appearing as though she had happened upon them by chance.

"E-Eep!" squeaked Mitsuri in a high-pitched tone, whirling around with bright red cheeks still before laughing and waving awkwardly at her. "H-Hiiii Shinobu! How are y-you?"

While Mitsuri tried to play off what just happened between them in an extraordinarily suspicious and obvious manner, Tanjirō turned his head and coughed, trying to appear as inconspicuous as possible. His nose did betray him, however, and as soon as he caught a whiff of Shinobu's smell, he knew there was no chance at all to hide what had happened.

Mitsuri of course didn't have this early warning system of sorts, so when Shinobu intentionally put her arms around the two of them to give them a hug, her entire body froze up as Shinbou giggled lightly and gave them a mischievous grin.

"Was it a nice kiss…~?" she asked in a whisper, her voice cutting through them both like a searing hot knife.

"W-W-Whatever do you m-mean…? We didn't-" Mitsuri started before Shinobu pulled away, looking at her with a smug grin.

"Mitsuri, you're a terrible liar and you know it~"

She closed her mouth and dropped her shoulders while glancing off to the side, trying to keep her eyes away from her friends. She had just kissed her boyfriend, after all, without any sort of warning, so she was fully expecting some kind of punishment to be delivered. Tanjirō's mind was leaning the same way, but against their expectations, Shinobu did neither and only smiled as she fixed her gaze on them.

"S-Shinobu, why aren't you mad? Y-You should be furious! I mean I-I...I...u-um…" stuttered Mitsuri with a flushed face, her hands coming up to her chest as she poked her index fingers together shyly.

"In any other case, I would. But I could see this coming from a mile away, because I know your personality. When you told me about the time you spent with Tanjirō at the Swordsmith Village, I figured it was only a matter of time until some kind of feelings developed." Shinobu replied as she took a turn leaning on the rail with her back against it, keeping her gaze on them.

"You...were expecting this to happen?" asked Tanjirō.

"Tanjirō, you're an exceptionally good-hearted person who cares about everyone around them, even demons who some wouldn't even care to give a passing glance. You've left a mark on everyone you met...that makes you an utter shoe-in for her."

Shinobu maintained her warm smile as she explained her reasoning behind why she guessed that Mitsuri would develop a crush on him after they first got acquainted with one another. It made sense, and it actually surprised Tanjirō that Shinobu would have already given this thought far ahead of time. He wondered if Shinobu had actually been wanting this to happen, and that question was answered when he made eye contact with her for a brief moment and saw the slightest bit of smugness in her smile.

Mitsuri didn't notice it because of how flustered she was still, and she would have continued to do that before Shinobu then stepped away from the railing and held her close friend in a warm embrace. She squeaked a tiny bit at the hug, her face turning bright red, before Shinobu then stroked the back of her head with her hand to help calm her down.

"You don't have to worry, Mitsuri...believe me, it's okay. I'm happy for you, actually...You would be making the right choice to have faith in Tanjirō." said Shinobu softly, the tone of her voice helping her to steady her rapidly beating heart and remove the nervousness too.

"Are...you really okay with this, Shinobu…?" Mitsuri asked, blinking a few times.

"I am, but you should double check with Tanjirō first. Especially if you're thinking about doing a certain something after sunset~"

With that last playful quip Shinobu let go of Mitsuri and gave her a wink before swiftly turning around and walking off, her departure leaving Tanjirō and Mitsuri in a standstill. Both of them were unsure of what to think, before her words finally sunk in and at the same time they both developed heavy blushes and instantly turned the other way to not look at one another.

Awkwardly, they stayed there next to the ship railing, waiting for the sun to fully set beneath the waves and signal the end of day before Tanjirō coughed to disturb the oppressive silence.

"G...Goodnight, Kanroji-san…" he murmured softly, glancing out of the corner of his eyes to catch Mitsuri's.

"S-Same to you...Tanjirō-kun…" she replied in almost a whisper.

They then separated, with Tanjirō going to find Shinobu so that he could make sure that she was okay, and Mitsuri walking to another part of the ship in order to digest what had happened. She was still flustered and she clapped herself on the cheeks a few times to try and get herself to calm down, but it was in vain.

She had kissed her best friend's boyfriend on the lips! Without even giving him a warning or confessing to him first at all, she had just cupped his cheeks and gave him a kiss without holding back. It was enough to make her head spin, so she definitely needed to have some time alone before even trying to eat dinner before bed.

Meanwhile below deck, the other Hashira were sitting together in a rather spacious common area with some drinks, trying to enjoy themselves as best they could before they would be thrown into an entirely new environment. None of them, like Shinobu, Mitsuri and Tanjirō, had been outside of Japan, after all, so to say they were apprehensive would be putting it lightly.

"Are you sure you'll be okay with only one arm, Tomioka-san? Those wrappings the young boy put on you aren't really permanent, you know." Kyōjurō said to Giyū as the Water Hashira gulped down a cup of sake, sighing a bit.

"There was no way I was going to be left behind after finding out what happened...besides, you know better than anyone that all of us will have to be ready to fight." he replied with a cold look, but not one caused by anything the Flame Hashira had done or said. Giyū was more serious than ever before, even more than during his brawl against Akaza and his brutal strength. Injuring his former sensei had struck too close to home, and now that made things personal. "With Shinazugawa-san and Tokitō-san gone, we can't risk holding anything back."

"I agree with Tomioka-san," added Gyōmei, the hulking titan of a man holding up his arms, showcasing the markings he had obtained from his fighting. "Upper Moon One stated that those who gain the Demon Slayer Mark never live past the age of 25 years…"

"25? Aren't you already well past that, Himejima-san?"

"Indeed, I am...while the powers these markings grant is extraordinary, I fully expect my life to be extinguished any day now. I would be satisfied doing it to ensure that the young Nezuko and the innocents of the world are kept safe." Gyōmei responded to Kyōjurō.

"Well...if that's the case then, I'd presume all of us would be susceptible to that as well, considering I have one too." Kyōjurō said while pointing at his closed eye and the flame-like marking over it.

"Regardless, we have to fulfill our duty as the pillars to the younger generations. We can't fail them."

The three Hashira all nodded their heads in agreement and resumed drinking for a little while longer before retiring to their cabins on the ship. Obanai, illusive as ever, was somewhere else on the ship by himself, and Níngguāng as the captain of the vessel was standing at the helm enjoying the night breeze as the sun's light finally faded, bringing out the starry night sky.

Every other non-Hashira on board the ship, specifically Zenitsu and Inosuke, who refused to stay while their best friend went off without them, and Kanao too, were in their cabins at that point. Zenitsu and Inosuke had gotten taken care of by Yushirō before they left on board the ship, but before they left he made each and every one of them, including the Hashira, swear they'd make Torres pay. Muzan had taken away Tamayo, and Torres had snatched Muzan away from them. To him, it was unforgivable, and could not go unpunished.

With the moon's luminescent glow acting as their guide, the oriental vessel continued on its way through the water towards its final destination. Having left behind the Suez Canal, they were firmly situated in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, the last obstacle in their way before the nation of Italy. Considering that Torres, according to Níngguāng's information, came from the Roman Catholic Church, what better place to go first than the heart of the Roman Catholic religion?

In one of the cabins Shinobu and Tanjirō were in the process of getting ready for bed by changing out of their clothes and cleaning themselves with the rather excellent facilities the ship provided. The exotic businesswoman held nothing back when designing her vessel to have the absolute best in comfort and functionality, befitting someone of her social status and wealth. It was a treat to be on board.

As they were in the process of changing, with Shinobu putting on some nightwear made from Chinese silk and Tanjirō taking off his uniform top, there came a series of soft knocks on their cabin door.

"Come in!" Shinobu called out as Tanjirō turned towards the door, seeing the handle turn.

With a residual blush on her face, Mitsuri revealed herself when the door opened as the one who knocked. She made eye contact with him and saw him shirtless, which only made her blush even more and turn her head off to the side.

Tanjirō blushed as well, noticing Mitsuri was still in her regular uniform and not in her sleeping clothes, and he glanced back at Shinobu with a "help me" gaze. She smiled at him and winked before taking the butterfly clip out of her hair and walking past him while patting him on the back.

"I'm going to get some fresh air out on the deck, and maybe have a chat with Níngguāng-san. Be back in a little while~" she said. Tanjirō opened his mouth to say something, but she had already walked right out of the room past Mitsuri.

Was this her way of teasing them? Or is she doubling down on what was said earlier and left on purpose so that way the two of them could be alone together? Those thoughts were swimming around in his hand while Mitsuri waited silently in the hallway, trying her hardest not to look at Tanjirō's shirtless body. He was young, but because of all the hard work he had put himself through before joining the corps and beyond, his body had been honed into being near the peak of physical fitness for a young man his age.

Another minute or two of awkward silence persisted between them before Mitsuri asked to be allowed into the room, to which Tanjirō replied with a shaky yes. Stepping past the door she closed it behind her, still maintaining her gaze on the side wall instead of on him because of a fear that she'd faint. She had seen him completely naked before when they had bathed together that night, but back then she didn't feel the way that she did now. It was different now, way different.

"J...Just give me a second." Tanjirō said quickly as he yanked the shirt on that he had been using to sleep in, Mitsuri only hearing the ruffling sound the fabric made as he did it. "There, um...I'm okay now, Kanroji-san…"

"You...can call me by my first name, Tanjirō...remember?" Mitsuri said, her eyes returning to meet Tanjirō's.

"Oh! Right...I keep forgetting that sometimes. Plus, it's respectful...and…"

Tanjirō trailed off, losing his words within his own mind as he stood there looking at Mitsuri, almost seeing her in an entirely new light. What happened on the deck, when she kissed him without warning, it reminded him that not only was she a member of the Hashira, but a woman too. A very, very attractive young woman at that.

She was taller than Shinobu by a fair bit, and himself by one inch, and definitely farther along the route to maturity body-wise than Shinobu. Shinobu was curvy, leaning on the thinner side, and petite, but Mitsuri was more grown up and fuller than her friend. Her slender legs and rounded hips, and her bust, all of it was virtually designed to be as eye-catching as her pink and green hair.

That's when he started to remember seeing her nude in the Swordsmith Village's onsen hot springs and soon enough, his cheeks were bright red and he had to sit down on the bed so that he didn't end up falling over. Mitsuri, noticing the change in his demeanor, relaxed a little knowing that he must be feeling the same way especially because he was the one already in a relationship.

"He must be thinking about how Shinobu could be okay with this...I would too, if I were in his shoes…" Mitsuri thought as she slowly walked around the bed from the door, hunching over a tiny bit in order to see his face better. He was blushing still, and when their eyes met again he looked away quickly. "Ahhhh...he looks so adorable right now...even with those Upper Moon markings, they look as cute as ever…"

Mitsuri then boldly took the seat next to him on the bed, placing her hands on her thighs and fiddling a little with her skirt, her eyes focused down on her feet. Tanjirō kept looking the other way as well, trying not to think of her sitting so close to him until the tension in their air became so dense and intolerable that neither of them could stand it.

"I-," they both said, while turning their heads at the same time. They were both caught off guard by each other, and that only made them blush even harder.

After another moment of awkward silence Mitsuri smiled softly and pointed at Tanjirō, telling him he can go first before she would speak her mind. He nodded and composed himself as best he could before taking a deep breath.

"I-I'm sorry if the way...I've been acting has been disrespectful at all...I'm just, it's a little shocking to me is all…" he said, his general shyness and the way his force wavered somewhat causing Mitsuri to giggle lightly.

"Mm...that is fair, the only other person who had multiple women love them was Uzui-san. For someone like you, it has to be overwhelming…" Mitsuri replied, her blush lessening a little.

"Can I clear something up, Mitsuri? So...you actually like me…? Like...really like me?"

"I-I do...I know it sounds crazy, especially because you and Shinobu are already, you know...a thing...but I couldn't help it! You're just so sweet...and cute...and...you've become such an inspiration and a pillar, even among the Hashira…"

Hearing Mitsuri explain her reasoning in a slightly squeaky tone made Tanjirō remember the first time he and Shinobu had a talk like this. Just like it was yesterday, he could see himself on top of Shinobu's bed, after he had been miraculously saved by his own immune system mutating to nullify her poison. The way she clung to him, and the way she spoke with him, all of it was so surreal.

Mitsuri's confession had been out of order, with the kiss coming before the words, but the way in which she nervously meandered her way to it while fidgeting with her skirt was utterly adorable. Plus the smell she was giving off was so strong he thought he was gonna get intoxicated by it.

"It was hard for me to date, you know...because of my strength and quirks…" Mitsuri revealed, looking down at her hands as she held them in her lap to stop herself from fidgeting. "I even dyed my hair black at one point, but even that was enough...but that's in the past...for the first time in my life, I actually found someone who I can really give my heart to…"

"Mitsuri…" Tanjirō said, his expression softening. A second later he found himself putting a hand on top of Mitsuri's, and holding it firmly.

"I feel like I don't have to pretend to be something I'm not anymore...you accepted who you were and proved everyone's misconceptions about you wrong. It's amazing!"

"It just happened naturally, I guess...I was just trying to do what I thought was right, in protecting my sister and striving to get her cured."

"And that's exactly why...it happened...why I did what Shinobu did...I-I...fell...for you…"

Mitsuri rotated her head slightly to the right and dipped her gaze down, her ears turning bright red when she finally said what she had been meaning to say. It took an unexpected kiss, some self-reflection, and an entire explanation to get there, but she arrived at it all the same.

Now, it was up to Tanjirō to decide where it went. Mitsuri had opened up her heart to him, and it appeared that Shinobu was supportive of her friend for doing so. She hadn't gotten mad at them for kissing, and had even said she saw it coming.
He would be lying to himself if he said that Mitsuri wasn't attractive. For reasons he had thought about time and time again, she was beyond a good catch. Sweet, strong, and a bit of a clutz at times, as well as loyal to her friends. Thinking rationally, it would be completely insane to reject a girl like her.

"Mitsuri...do you want to try again?" he asked, drawing the Love Hashira's attention back to him, so he could look her eye to eye.

"Try again? Try what again…?" Mitsuri questioned, before she felt Tanjirō's hand tighten more around her hand. Only then did she understand what he meant, and when she did she became exceptionally shy again, but didn't look away or try to remove her hand from his. "O-Oh...that…"

"It's just a suggestion, if this is too much for you, and you want to wait...I perfectly under-mmpgh!?"

Tanjirō was cut off mid sentence when Mitsuri, acting impulsively again, closed the distance between them in a heartbeat and kissed him on the lips for the second time now. It wasn't as firm as the first one, which made it easier for him to recover from.

She did realize her mistake and was about to pull away, before Tanjirō prevented her by putting his arms around her slender frame and held her still. She made a tiny little squeak when her chest was squished against his, but her body quickly relaxed again as they continued to lock lips.

Their affections could have taken them further if not for Tanjirō's nose picking up the slightest hint of a foreign smell that stung the insides of his nostrils. He pulled away and stood up, Mitsuri blinking and sitting there confused, wondering if it was something she did.

"Something's not right, that stench...it's…" he murmured, smelling the air one last time before his eyes widened. Swiftly he grabbed his sword and ran out of the room right as the built-in PA system that was installed on the Chinese Junk blared to life.

"Everybody needs to wake up now! We have company!" shouted Níngguāng urgently, the tone of her voice enough to make Mitsuri follow soon after behind Tanjirō. At the speed they were going at, it didn't take them long to reach the topside where they were greeted with a scene straight out of ancient mythology.

Níngguāng was engaged in a fierce battle with a handful of giant tentacles composed of the same black tar-like substance that Torres showed was a part of his body, as well as grotesque, misshapen flesh reminiscent of an aquatic animal's. It smelled horrendous, like a mixture of sewage, freshly made fish chum, and decomposing corpses. To such a degree was the smell that it made Mitsuri almost throw up upon getting her first whiff of it, while it took all of Tanjirō's willpower not to hurl.

"Don't just stand there, use those swords of yours!" barked Níngguāng, smirking a little as she fired off a handful of razor sharp crystal shards right through a tentacle to her right, turning it into swiss cheese.

"Mushi no kokyū, Hōga no mai: Manabiki!" Shinobu, as quick as a buzzing bee, leaped off one of the smokestacks of the ship and utterly tore through one of the tentacles with her sword.

The force she had built up behind her was so strong that it obliterated the flesh it was made up of, leaving practically nothing behind in her wake. Then from her back, since she was only in her sleeping clothes, a pair of butterfly wings similar to her absent haori sprouted outward so that she could glide back down onto the deck of the ship without being left behind. Landing next to Tanjirō and Mitsuri, she smiled at him and winked before dashing off again, the butterfly wings folding backwards and down in order to maximize her small stature and not hinder her speed.

Tanjirō and Mitsuri's switches were instantly flipped into battle mode, and with a single nod, they both unsheathed their swords and separated to spread out among the ship. Zenitsu and Inosuke, as well as the rest of the Hashira, were quick to follow and quickly grasped the situation and worked to effectively cover every single corner of the deck.

What made it the most difficult for them was the fact they had limited space to move and fight. One wrong move or step and they would be sent plunging into the depths where whatever monster the tentacles belonged to resided.

"Hmn! I never thought I'd see myself on a boat fighting a monster! Certainly this life has been filled with all sorts of experiences!" Kyōjurō stated with a short laugh afterwards.

"Less talking, more preventing this boat from sinking!" Obanai hissed at him, taking glances every so often to keep tabs on where Mitsuri was. He wanted to make sure that she was safe.

Níngguāng grit her teeth as the blood and flesh of the tentacles fell onto the deck and sides of her once pristine vessel, something that she cherished as one of her few remaining prized possessions after her Jade Chamber. The ferocity of her attacks increased, and it wasn't long before the monster, realizing it would be more difficult to sink the ship than it originally thought, did the same.

More tentacles began to emerge from the waves and rock the ship side to side near where its hull rested in the water. The Demon Slayers couldn't reach them without risking damage to the vessel or plunging into the water themselves. Gritting her teeth, she resorted to the only option she had left.

Stopping her attack she then slapped her hands down to the deck beneath her feet and grunted, her face distorting in discomfort. She focused, and focused, channeling her mind to see only the crystals on the bottom of her ship, before a loud rumble swept from one end of the ship to the other.

"Zenitsu! Now!" shouted Kanao, the blonde taking his stance as lightning crackled to life around him.

"Kaminari no kokyū, Ichi no Kata: Hekireki Issen…!" he murmured, his body vanishing in an explosion of yellow lightning as he bounced around across the ship, slicing clean through every single tentacle they could see that was harassing the junk. "Hachiren!"

Once the tentacles fell away from the ship, leaving only the ones trying to tip it over, Níngguāng was then able to use the crystals on her ship to lift it up out of the water entirely, freeing it from the clutches of the monster, and send it surging forward through the air. The slayers had to find something to hold onto in order to avoid being blown off, but at that moment, they were free.

It was a short-lived victory, though. A distant boom was soon heard, and just a few seconds later a huge explosion consumed the back half of the vessel, knocking over Níngguāng and breaking her concentration. Like a lead balloon the ship careened out of the air and landed back into the sea with a huge splash, water spray shooting outward in all directions.

"What in the world was that?!" demanded Obanai after he looked around, trying to find the source of whatever had hit them.

"It must be the same weapon that they attacked us with back in Tokyo! Where there's one, there must be more!" Kyōjurō exclaimed when, true to his words, giant shells plunged into the water around them and exploded, causing the boat to violently shake again.

"There, over there! Those bright lights!" Inosuke shouted.

Everyone, beside Shinobu and Kanao who went to see if Níngguāng was okay, looked at what Inosuke was pointing at and even under the light of the moon, they could see a dark mass sitting on the waves. A few bright lights appeared from it, and in a matter of moments more shells landed around their ship, zeroing in on them as a few even scraped off the hull. The ear-piercing shriek of metal grinding against metal made them wince, with Zenitsu actually covering his ears because of his sensitive hearing.

Níngguāng, who had just been rendered dazed for a few moments, waved away Shinobu and Kanao before rising to her feet with a scowl on her face. Thrusting one arm forward, her ship lurched violently forward, almost toppling everyone over on deck. Luckily this move allowed for the next volley from their unknown assailant to miss completely, the mangled back end of her junk narrowly avoiding the shells.

"Does anybody even know what that scary thing is?!" cried Mitsuri while waving her arm around a little at the unknown black mass, which started to pursue them.

"It's one of those war machines I happened to overhear being talked about, when I was in the big cities…" murmured Gyōmei, his expression darkening. "Even our own country made and used them in a war with the foreign power Russia. They're what is called a 'dreadnought'."

"A...dreadnaught?" Tanjirō asked with confusion. Having grown up in the countryside of Japan, he hardly knew much about technology of the outside world, with even the Infinity Train he had ridden being one of the first times he'd seen such a contraption.

"I've heard about them too...but I don't know exactly what they are." Giyū added as the ship lurched to the right to avoid another volley from the enemy dreadnought.

"A dreadnought is a large, iron warship built for naval combat against other vessels. Boasting firepower beyond anything seen before by human standards, they can annihilate an entire vessel with just one volley from its cannons." Níngguāng stated coldly, a growl escaping her lips as she glanced over her shoulder to check where the dreadnought was, so she could make course corrections whenever they were fired upon. "I've heard of and seen them in some of my travels for business. They are truly an icon of the ability of humans to craft weapons of war."

Níngguāng's chilling disclosure of what they were dealing with gave them a stark reminder of what humans could be capable of with their own technological abilities. They were used to the destruction a demon could cause, but because of that, they had forgotten at times that regular, everyday humans were just as capable when given the right tools and reason.

"Uhhh, guys? That dread-whatever it's called is getting closer!" yelled Zenitsu as he looked past Níngguāng to their pursuer, seeing it get gradually larger and larger.
The shells were taking a shorter amount of time to reach them as well, which was another tell-tale sign that they were rapidly losing the lead they had acquired at the start. It would become harder and harder for Níngguāng to control her vessel and defend it at the same time, and with the slayers confined to the deck, they were in a bind.

Up ahead more tentacles began appearing from the waves, followed by the creatures they belonged to. Horrifying, monstrous things with jagged teeth and eyes across their horribly misshapen bodies, they looked as though somebody took the giant squid and proceeded to mutilate it with a variety of cruel experiments to turn it into a living nightmare. Another appeared, followed by a third and fourth, and with their razor-sharp beaks in the center of their bodies snapping hungrily at them, Níngguāng had no choice but to improvise.

"I apologize in advance to all of you, but this is the only viable option we have at this point!" Níngguāng announced before she raised up her other arm and created dozens of crystals in the air above the deck.

With a hand motion downward, the crystals followed her mental command and attached themselves to the waist of every slayer on deck, surprising them. The crystals grew into a belt that wrapped around their waist, and once they were secure, dividing her attention between her ship and them, she hoisted them into the air like they were a bunch of marionette dolls.

"Whoaa! Aahhhh...I'm not too keen on thiiiiis!" squealed Zenitsu as he scrambled to try and get back on solid ground.

"I see now...yes! This should work!" Kyōjurō said with a laugh before he was then sent flying towards one of the approaching sea monsters. With a roar he raised his sword up high, the blade becoming wrapped in fire. "Honō no kokyū, Roku no kata: Tsuiraku Hoshi!"

Kyōjurō came crashing down onto the monster right as the fire engulfing his sword morphed into a huge fireball, the technique utterly obliterating the horrific squid monster in a giant explosion of fire.

Giyū was next, and even though he was reduced to one arm, which robbed him of some of his strength, he still showcased his skill as the Water Hashira by doing the same with the monster he was flown to. Tanjirō felt the tug on his waist and soon enough his feet left the deck of the ship and he was soaring through the air, past the writhing tentacles of a monster that was plowed through by the bow of the junk, and towards a third who's snapping beak was hungry for a meal.

"Tsuki no kokyū, Roku no kata: Tokoyo Kogetsu - Muken!" Tanjirō, within meters of the reaching tentacles of the monster, unleashed a devastating attack of sword slashes that smashed the animal against the waves, slicing it up into dozens of pieces of flesh at the same time.

With their obstacles now removed, the three Hashira were drawn back to Níngguāng's vessel right as another shell from the dreadnought struck the port side in the middle of a turn. The explosion rocked the vessel and threw Níngguāng off balance again, the break in her focus slowing down the ship considerably and dropping Giyū, Kyōjurō, and Tanjirō the last ten feet they had left to cover onto the deck.

That slow down was enough the pursuing dreadnought needed to catch up with them and unveil itself to them in all its terrible glory. With the body of the naval vessel firmly part of its form, of course, most of the ship had been overtaken by grotesque flesh growths akin to those of marine wildlife. Coral and barnacles also dotted the once pristine metal hull of the warship, and both seaweed and kelp hung from the barrels of the cannons it sported in its turrets.

The armor of the ship, from being contaminated with flesh assimilated marine life flesh, was now a dull, oxidized green color, and it absolutely reeked of ocean water and rotting flesh. Tanjirō's nostrils burned from the stench, but even if he covered them with his hand, he was still incapable of blocking it out entirely. The scariest part of the ship, aside from its terrifying weapons, was the fact that sprouting from the side of its hull were giant, spiked squid tentacles that easily reached well over fifty meters in length.

Zenitsu screeched in fear of the leviathan, before he had to quickly hold back Inosuke from leaping off the ship to try and fight it. To Kyōjurō and Tanjirō, it was almost like the Infinity Train incident with Lower Moon One all over again, only instead of a train, it was something far worse, and far deadlier.

"Go, go, go!" shouted Obanai, his urgent calls making Níngguāng recover herself just in time to get their ship moving again as one of the beast's tentacles started to come down towards them.

Thanks to her timely recovery, they were able to just barely avoid being crushed by the behemoth of a limb. Instead, the huge waves produced by the tentacle slamming down into the ocean worked to their advantage and sent them surging forward away from the beast. Níngguāng didn't miss a beat, using her Blood Demon Art to generate a dozen more crystals that she intentionally wedged into the already mangled stern of her ship to propel it forward even faster.

Unfortunately for them, even when the tentacles stopped being a threat for the time being, the guns still were a worry, and when Kanao noticed them start to aim at them, she quickly warned her about it.

"It's always something new, isn't it...I've had it up to hear with the destruction of my property, earning through my own efforts!" bellowed Níngguāng as she whirled around and swept her right arm from left to right, the air behind them shimmering before a giant screen, as big as her ship, made of jade, gold and her characteristic crystals manifested in thin air.

The shells struck the seemingly translucent screen and exploded, causing little to no damage at all to the construct and saving them from receiving any more damage from the ships naval rifles. That minor setback wasn't enough to deter the hulking leviathan as it gave chase after them again, firing endlessly from its forward turrets in its mindless pursuit of their demise.

"W-We can't just keep this up forever! We have to figure out a way to stop that thing so we can reach Europe!" exclaimed Zenitsu while cowering next to a railing, his legs shaking from the rocking of the ship and the waves the exploding shells of the dreadnought created around them.

"There's only one way we can do that. We have to get aboard that vessel, and kill it from the inside, hmn! It's just like the Infinity Train, right, my boy?" Kyōjurō said with an optimistic laugh, Tanjirō glancing at him and smiling back.

"Yeah! If that thing's anything like Lower Moon One, it has to have vital organs inside of its body! If we get inside of it and find them, we'll be able to kill it!"

"The question is, who will go?"

Almost immediately after Shinobu posed the question did Tanjirō's hand shoot straight up, followed by an overenthusiastic Mitsuri. Gyōmei was the third to offer himself up, and lastly, as someone who would be better on larger ground, was Obanai. Zenitsu wanted to offer himself as well, but he was quickly shot down by Kanao and Shinobu at the same time.

With the volunteers chosen, Níngguāng thought about asking if they were sure, but she discarded that when she saw all of their expressions. They were serious about doing this, which left her no room to argue. Taking a moment to deflect a couple shells from the dreadnought with her crystals, she then spun around and hurled the four Hashira high up into the night sky back towards the dreadnought. The air rushed around them, making their clothes and hair flap around wildly, before they careened down towards the deck.

Tanjirō landed feet first, followed by Gyōmei with a resounding boom of his heavy-set body striking the deck on his feet. Obanai landed gracefully in silence, and then Mitsuri came down and stumbled forward a bit, before Tanjirō stopped her by holding onto her arm.

"This ship smells quite unpleasant…" Gyōmei murmured while scrunching up his nose, the stench of the sea life and sea water even worse now that they were actually on the ship.

"Easy for you to say, Himejima-san...I'm dying over here…" said Tanjirō before coughing furiously, his sensitive nose unable to handle the rancid smells all around them.
Gyōmei chuckled and Mitsuri giggled at Tanjirō's plight, while Obanai merely scoffed somewhat and held his sword firmly while examining their surroundings. They had landed on the port side of the deck close to the forward superstructure, beyond the B turret of the dreadnought. They were silenced when the naval rifles fired again, the entire body shaking from their discharge, and they quickly went to work trying to find a way inside of the huge behemoth.

Some areas they couldn't even traverse because of the way that the flesh fused with the hull, which made it more difficult for them. Eventually Mitsuri did find a way in, through a half-open door leading into the superstructure. When they entered inside, the smell became so concentrated and dense that Tanjirō was forced to cover up his nose and mouth with his arm just to try and not pass out from the smell alone.

It was dark too, with little to none of the lights that would normally be on inside the vessel either broken or smashed. Gyōmei led the way, pushing aside seaweed and walking over groupings of barnacles as they traveled deeper and deeper into the bowels of the dreadnought.

"It's so dark, I can hardly see a thing...and how will we know if we found one of the organs?" Mitsuri asked in a whisper while they walked, coming to a stairway that led to another floor below.

"I'd try to sniff it out, like I did on the Infinity Train," said Tanjirō with a muffled voice behind his sleeve. "But this stench is so terrible it's messing with my nose, I can hardly take it.

"So we just have to wander around aimlessly until we find what we're looking for, fantastic…" muttered Obanai with a sigh.

When the group finished descending the stairs, the entire ship rumbled, as if it were taking a slow and deep breath. It sent a chill running up and down Mitsuri's spine, and they were about to continue before the vessel rumbled again. All of a sudden the floor then opened up beneath them, the metal coming apart like a mouth , sending all of them careening down into the darkness.

Deeper they went before finally landing in something sticky and wet, which immediately made Mitsuri leap to her feet and start wiping herself down to try and clean whatever had gotten on her clothes.
"It seems that it knows we're here…" Obanai said as he stood up as well, feeling the floor they were standing on squish and squelch beneath his feet.

"Where are we even…?"

Upon taking stock of where they were, they noticed that instead of being in total darkness like the floors above, the space they were in actually had a little bit of light from some candles resting here and there in mismatched areas along the floor. The light they gave off was just enough to show them that what they were standing on was nothing but dark red and green flesh that moved and throbbed every so often.

Mitsuri gagged a little at the sight and looked away from it for a moment, preferring not to see it. Ahead of them past the candles was a sealed water-tight door, just past two large contraptions that had to either be part of the engine machinery or boilers for the ship. As they approached the door, they started to hear an elegant but ominous sound coming through holes in the sealant for the door. When they got closer, it became apparent that the noise was that of an organ, something that they had actually never heard before.

Tanjirō glanced at the other Hashira when they reached the door, and with a nod from them, he looked back at it and took a breath before igniting his sword with flames. With one single thrust, he blasted the door inward clear off its hinges, allowing them entry into the chamber beyond.

What they were greeted with was a candle-lit chamber lined from floor to ceiling with sea fauna and flora, from coral and barnacles to star-fish physically encrusted into the metal. There were puddles everywhere, but what took their breath away was the giant organ that took up a majority of the room, with its pipes grown fantastically into flowing, underwater shapes with steam coming out of them. The organ itself was elegantly made with shell and sea life textures, with the wood flowing this way and that, which gave it an almost alien appearance. where situated around it were more lit candles. With three rows of keys, it would have taken a master organ player to be able to use all three of them in conjunction, and that master sat before the organ with their back facing them.

Undisturbed by their forced entry, the figure continued to play a haunting and sorrowful melody that captivated the four of them. It was filled with such a sense of tragedy and emotion that Mitsuri actually covered her mouth a bit and stopped herself from tearing up.

It was only after the figure finished playing the organ and lowered their hands to their side was their presence detected, in which the figure slightly turned their head to the side.

"Tell me something...do you fear death…?" the person asked, their voice raspy and old. There was a slight nasal sound to it as well, but it was most definitely masculine, which confirmed what his gender was.

Obanai stared down at the man's hands at his side, noticing a long, slender tentacle coming out from the right sleeve of the man's tattered and barnacle-encrusted long coat. Atop the person's head also rested a similarly warn-down and sea fauna infested cap typically seen on naval captains, as part of their uniform. Bulging out from their neck was some kind of sac of sorts, that wiggled with even the slightest of motions.

"Death is a natural part of humanity. Why should we fear something that all humans arrive at?" Gyōmei answered back to the man, who turned his head back and didn't say anything.

"Natural, you say...just as natural as greed, deceit, and treachery…"

"Who are you? Why're you attacking us?"

"Because it is Father Torres' wish to keep any and all people away from him...the salvation that he has promised is nearly here…"

Obanai, not wanting to hear any more out of the man, rushed him with the intent of decapitating him, but was suddenly stopped when out from a hole in the man's long coat appeared a rotten, disfigured fish head with razor sharp teeth that stopped his blade mid-swing.

He grunted and tried to push his way through, but the fish's jaws held his blade in place long enough for the man to lift his left arm up, revealed to be a giant crustacean's claw, and smash it right into the Hashira's ribcage.

"Iguro-san!" shouted Tanjirō as Obanai was sent flying off to the side, right into the wall with a loud bang.

Instantly Gyōmei was at the ready with his flail, the massive spiked ball being hurled right for the person's upper back and head. The man then whirled around with just his hand he stopped the ball dead in its tracks, revealing his appearance to them at the same time in the light of the many candles in the chamber. Like the ship he commanded, he too was a monster, mixing man with sea life in a horribly disfigured fashion that made Tanjirō's stomach turn over.

His head was like that of a cephalopod's, with a beard made up entirely of squirming, wriggling tentacles of various lengths, with two prominent ones acting as the frame for his mouth and what would have been his nose above it. Because of the lack of a nose, a siphon instead was located on the left side of his face, enabling him to breathe normally. His eyes were sunken into his skull a bit, and they looked old and weary, like that of a man who had seen all of what life had to offer.

The hand he was using to hold Gyōmei's spiked ball in place looked normal, save for the long tentacle that stood in place of his index finger. His skin too had a light green shade to it, and he gave off the same fishy stench as the rest of his ship.

Not one to be stopped there, Gyōmei pressed his attack with the other half of his dual weapon, being joined by Mitsuri and Tanjirō as well with their first techniques at the ready. With surprising agility the man was able to avoid their attacks and protect his organ at the same time, by using his claw arm as one weapon and a razor sharp sword made of coral that he pulled out from his own body.

"Hinokami Kagura: Kasha!"

"Koi no kokyū, Ichi no kata: Hatsukoi no Wananaki!"

"Iwa no kokyū, Ichi no Kata: Jamongan - Sōkyoku."

All three simultaneous attacks by the Hashira were repelled by a powerful swing of the coral sword from the man, his monstrous strength not apparent due to his size compared to them. He then slammed his foot onto the ground and manipulated the flesh coating the floor of his grotto to come alive, developing coral spikes that came shooting outward and threatened to impale them.

Obanai, using this as a chance to make his move, went in for the kill again after recovering from the first blow he took. He definitely had sustained a few cracked ribs, making it a little hard to breathe, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from doing his part to help, and most importantly, protect Mitsuri.

With razor-sharp senses the man bashed away Obanai's sword and grasped his neck with his claw arm, suspending him in the air off the ground and choking him with the two pincers.

"It saddens me to know that you four can be so blind to the faults of humanity...if you knew better, you would be wanting to see Salvation through to the end as well." he said, staring at Tanjirō, Gyōmei and Mitsuri once they managed to avoid his coral technique.

"Our faults are what makes us human, it's as natural as the way we live and die. What exactly are you getting at?" Gyōmei asked, warily keeping his weapon ready.

"And let Iguro-san go! You're hurting him!" yelled Mitsuri as Obanai grasped at the man's pincers, trying to free himself from their grasp.

"Humans do nothing more than lie and let themselves be consumed by greed. I was one once, I assure you...I was a captain, and I lived to be quite old too."

"What's your name…?" Tanjirō asked.

"My name...is Edward Smith…"

He threw Obanai towards them, Mitsuri quickly catching him out of the air and lowering him down as he hacked and coughed while recovering the air he had been rapidly losing. The pain in his ribs wasn't helping either, and he was without his sword.

"Edward Smith…?" Tanjirō asked again, struggling a little with the pronunciation.

"Yes...that was my name, when I was a captain in the ship industry...I commanded ocean liners that would take passengers from one country to another...until…" Smith said before his voice trailed off.

"Until what?"

"Until I was involved in the horrific sinking of a boat carrying over a thousand passengers...all because of human greed. A plan to sink the vessel...gain insurance money...the screams…"

Smith clutched the side of his head and groaned, the tone of his voice becoming darker and more sorrowful. The dreadnought seemed to breathe along with him, exhaling slowly in a way that made the entire vessel shudder alongside its master. Tanjirō didn't have to look for a scent from the man because it was obvious that the man, or formerly a man, standing before them had suffered a terrible tragedy.

"The only way...for their souls to rest...is with Salvation...the world will be a better place, once all greed and suffering is done away with...I won't let anyone suffer the same way that those people did, because of those men…" uttered Smith as he gripped his coral sword tightly, snapping his claw a few times while widening his stance. His right shoulder bubbled underneath his coat, before the skin opened up as coral spikes shot outward, forming a spider web of interconnected pieces that ended in razor sharp tips that could easily rip apart anyone unfortunate enough to get caught by them.

"Human or demon...salvation will come. Please, just...allow me to help you reach it, because I know you all must have suffered in one way or another...

Tanjirō snarled a little and responded by activating his Iron Blood Armor, giving him a layer of protection against Smith. Gyōmei whirled his spiked flail around rapidly, the veins around his eyes bulging outward when he tapped into the ability he gained when fighting Kokushibō.

What he saw when looking at Smith shocked him, and made him grit his teeth in disappointment. Unlike the demons, who still held some remnants of their human identities, the most basic of which being their bone structure, organs, and everything that a human being would have, Smith had none of that. It looked like he was just a living shadow, a pitch black mass of nothingness.

Would decapitating him even work? Would they even be able to kill something they had no knowledge of ways to kill them? He pushed those thoughts aside and held onto his wits, taking a slow breath and calming himself down. Flames licked the sides of Tanjirō's lips as he glared at the former captain, his hands tightening around his blade with the increase of his heart rate.

His friends and the people he cared about were in danger outside on the open sea, and the threat that stood in the way of saving them was standing right in front of him. Coupled with the lingering anxiety over his sister's kidnapping, the combination of these factors led to him producing a reaction in his sword that had occurred only twice before. Slowly the blade, starting at the base, began to change in color from the usual black to crimson red color, a change that Smith immediately noticed and actually seemed to change his stance somewhat as a result.

"These memories...they're not mine...but...Michael's...and another…" Smith thought to himself as the three Hashira readied to pounce.

In an instant, the silence was broken by the four combatants immediately beginning to fight within the confines of the deepest chamber of the dreadnought. The strength of his coral was equal to that of a weapon a demon could make, and despite being struck by their Nichirin blades, they could hardly leave a dent in it.

His crab claw was also an issue, they had to be careful to not let their weapons be caught in the grip of his pincers because they feared he could break their blades instantly with just one sharp twist. Any kind of slash they left was also instantly healed, with the only evidence of the wound being the black tar-like ooze that would squirt out in the place of blood.

"I guess there's no changing your minds...I'm sorry…" Smith apologized before he allowed all three of them to stab him at the same time with their weapons.

Their techniques devastated his body, tearing a whole through his back and obliterating his right arm, but it hardly did anything to him despite the damage. He then grabbed onto Mitsuri's arms with his claw, forcibly wrenched them around and broke them, before tossing her aside like a nuse napkin with her whip sword still stuck in his body. She shrieked, and Tanjirō shouted in anger before he was struck upside the head next by Smith's claw, the force strong enough to nearly shatter his Iron blood Armor and force him to let go of his sword.

When he stumbled away, Smith manipulated coral pikes to rapidly grow up out of the floor and impale Tanjirō's body from head to toe. He yelled out and tried to pull himself off, but the coral growths were manipulated in such a way that he couldn't free himself from them. He was stuck, unable to move, and was forced to watch as Smith turned his attention to Gyōmei.

The behemoth of a man tried to use the other end of his weapon to bash Smith's head and shoulders down into his abdomen, but stopped when something wriggling and slimy pierced through his gut, coming out of his back. Grunting, Gyōmei stood motionless for a moment before he sputtered and started to cough up blood. Currently squirming through his abdomen was the head and body of a grotesque, half-dead moray eel, with one of its eyes dangling out of its socket by the nerve endings.

"Himejima-san!" screamed Mitsuri after she had picked herself up from the ground, her broken arms working on healing themselves.

Obanai retrieved his sword from where it had fallen and locked his jaw muscles, sucking up the pain of his broken ribs and focusing with his snake Kaburamaru on saving his comrade. Smith turned his gaze towards him and his regrown right arm suddenly extended outward, like an octopus tentacle, and faster than Obanai could react, the coral sword it wielded slashed him clean across the face through both of his eyes.

Kaburamaru barely avoided being decapitated herself, shrinking up against Obanai's neck, and with blood now covering his face and rendered blind, he had to leap away to avoid being killed on the spot.

"Please, I beg of you...resign yourselves! Is it truly right to fight for a people who can be capable of lying and cheating! Of giving up human lives in pursuit of wealth!?" demanded Smith as his arm returned to normal, Tanjirō snarling and growling while trying to break free from the coral and Mitsuri rushing over to Obanai. "I was used in a plot to intentionally sink a vessel, so that my superiors can claim the full insured value of the new ship being built at the time! Covered up with the excuse of running into an iceberg, my vessel, the ship I was responsible for, sunk with over a thousand passengers and crew members, good men, still trapped inside! You would be willing to protect people like that!?"

"Human lives...are a precious treasure, with none more important than the other...being human includes having our faults, and the choices we make…" Gyōmei uttered as his arms shook slightly, the spiked flail hovering over Smith's head. He grit his teeth and focused on preventing the pain coming from his gut from overwhelming his senses, while stopping the flow of blood as well. "It is not your right...to blame the faults of a few individuals...on the whole of Humanity…!"

---

"This is an absolute nightmaaaaareee!" Zenitsu screeched from the deck of Níngguāng's ship when they were still fleeing from the relentless bombardment of the monster dreadnought.

"We have no idea how long it will take them to kill this thing, so we have to improvise!" declared Níngguāng as she turned the ship sharply to the right, making headway towards an island in the distance.

"We're going to beach ourselves?!"

"On that island are cannons, 100-ton guns, built before the turn of the century and phased out by 1904. I know this because I pass by them every time I come to Europe through the Mediterranean. We can use those!"

Dodging shell after shell, when they got close enough Níngguāng sent Giyū, Shinobu, Kanao and Zenitsu off the ship and over the water right onto the coast. With no time to spare, the group of four took off sprinting towards a pair of fortifications nearby. Upon arriving there they saw Níngguāng swing her vessel around dangerously close to the shore, before moving forward a bit and then parking to set herself up as bait.
Shinobu was the first to find one of the guns Níngguāng talked about, a giant construct with a large barrel and a bulbous end, reminiscent of older black-poder cannons, but with modern developments like rifling in the barrel that enabled better accuracy by spinning the shell along grooves carved down the barrel.

Kanao stayed with Shinobu, and a little ways down Zenitsu and Giyū discovered the second gun that was an exact carbon copy of the first. Seeing no other guns around them, they scrambled to figure out exactly how each worked while the dreadnought came ever closer.

"How does she expect us to work these guns when we don't even know how to use them?!" Zenitsu asked frantically, his sweat dripping freely down his face.

His words did little to dissuade Giyū from examining the massive cannon, quickly analyzing it and learning how it worked before he figured out what he had to do and knew what he needed.

"Go to Shinobu and tell her this is what we have to do." he said, grabbing Zenitsu by the shoulder, and quickly telling him the steps to load the guns.

His fear disappearing and becoming replaced by his hidden serious nature, he nodded his head and took off running back to the Insect Hashira and her Tsuguko. Quickly explaining Giyū's instructions, they nodded and went straight to work turning the gun sideways toward a loading port built into the stone wall the gun emplacement was built in. Zenitsu hurried back to Giyū and they began to do the same, the strength they had from all of their training enabling them to move the hefty cannons into position for loading.

All the while Níngguāng waited anxiously with Insouke and Kyōjurō, the three of them standing near one another as they watched the dreadnought, which had ceased firing, grow ever closer. Like a shark chasing down its wounded prey, the giant leviathan of a ship seemed to lift itself up out of the water more and shockingly begin to stretch back. With the sound of tearing metal and a guttural roar, the bow of the vessel began to open up into a massive gaping maw lined with teeth, both biological and made from razor sharp, jagged pieces of the ship itself. Higher and higher did the upper jaw of the massive beasts mouth reach, with sea water cascading down in a dozen or so waterfalls.

"U-Uuuuhhh...what're we waiting for!?" stammered Inosuke, his usual bravado cracking a little under the pressure as the jaw then loomed over them, hiding the moon from view.

"If you all are going to do something, better do it-!" Níngguāng started to shout, gritting her teeth through it, before a huge boom came from the island behind her.

Instantly a huge shell, not quite as large as the ones the guns of the dreadnought could hurl, but still big regardless, flew clear over them down the gullet of the ship, exploding in a fireball that made the monster reel in pain. Flames erupted within its mouth, spreading quickly because of the fish oil that most of it was covered with into a nigh-uncontrollable flame.

Looking back, they saw that one of the 100-ton guns had been fired, with the second one manned by Zenitsu and Giyū being aimed at that very moment. Then, with a spark of lightning, the yellow-haired slayer ignited the charge and fired the cannon's ammunition right at the still open maw of the beast. The pointed shell struck true, digging through the weakened metal and flesh that comprised the rear of the beast's throat and struck one of its most vulnerable areas, the magazine where her front guns retrieved their ammunition from. With an even bigger explosion, the shells stored inside the belly of the leviathan detonated, enacting a chain reaction that created a gigantic fireball, completely shattering the boat and severing its bow, the head, from its rear. Black blood, rotten flesh, and metal were thrown outward in all directions with the following water spray as the slain beast entered its death throes before beginning to sink.

---

When the devastating explosion rocked the ship, Smith gasped and looked upward toward the ceiling, momentarily forgetting about the enemies standing before him. Taking this chance, Gyōmei surprised Smith by smashing down his weapon right onto his head and splattering his organ and his chest with his black blood. He leaped back, freeing himself from the moray eel and grunting somewhat before sucking in another painful breath and kicked the man against his instrument.

His body slammed into the rows of keys of the organ, and with a fierce tug of the chain, he dragged the axe still embedded in Smith's body down from his shoulder and out through his opposite hip. Tanjirō and Mitsuri's swords were freed from his flesh, and acting quickly, Gyōmei expertly manipulated the axe to cleave through the coral restricting Tanjirō's body and freed him.

"What's going on?! What was that big explosion?!" asked Mitsuri frantically, before they heard the bulkheads start to groan and squeak loudly. Suddenly the rivets began to pop one by one, sea water starting to spray in at an uncontrollable rate, with the room behind them filling up rapidly as well.

"Are we sinking?! We have to get- Himejima-san!" Tanjirō exclaimed as he rushed to the Stone Hashira's side after his wounds healed, the taller man hunched over on one knee clutching his gut. "Please, be careful! Don't do anything else!"

"You...and Kanroji-san...have to get out of here. You can't waste time...your sister…" Gyōmei struggled to say, spitting up some blood at the same time.

"That's crazy! We can't leave you and Iguro-san behind!"

"Yeah!" Mitsuri chimed in, Obanai putting a hand out with Kaburamaru's sight and placing it on her shoulder.

"Mitsuri, Gyōmei's been pierced through the gut, I have several broken ribs and I've been blinded...plus someone has to stay behind and make sure this trash doesn't live…"

"We're not leaving you both to die! Too many people have died already!"

Tanjirō's shout echoed off the walls of the room, making the pipes of Smith's organ reverberate with the sound for a few moments as well. Gyōmei lowered his head and Obanai didn't say anything at first, before the Stone Hashira then placed a gentle hand on top of the youth's head and ruffled his hair a little bit.

Looking down, he was eye to eye with Tanjirō and smiled warmly at him, silently telling him that he had already decided for himself that this was to be his fate. Tanjirō shook his head to try and dissuade him, but there was no changing the Hashira's mind.

"Go, young one. Iguro-san and I will ensure you make it to Europe with no other hassles...go!" he said before shoving Tanjirō off him with as little force as possible, then stood up with his weapon in hand. Smith was already recovering from the blows he sustained from the man, which meant there was little time left for them to escape the sinking dreadnought monster.

"You go too, Mitsuri. I know this isn't way neither of us thought this would go, but if this is how it happens, then so be it."

"Iguro-san! Please! You can't, what about-"

Mitsuri was stopped when Kaburamaru, acting on account of Obanai, stopped her by pressing her head against her lips almost as if it were a kiss meant to be from the Snake Hashira. She blushed, and stared bewildered at Obanai as the man tore away the bandages covering his mouth, revealing scars stretching from both corners up his cheeks.

"Please, I won't ask you again." Obanai asked softly, turning his head slightly toward her so that she knew he meant it.

Mitsuri, on the verge of tears, finally nodded, and retreated from the room with Tanjirō in a similar state right behind her. Before he could exit fully though, Obanai yanked him by the arm to a halt and pulled him in close, staring right into his face with his cut eyes, barely managing to open one of them so that Tanjirō could see what was left of it.

At first Tanjirō was afraid of what the man would say, before, for the first time, he managed to detect a smell other than what was permeating around them from Smith and the dreadnought. It was a mixture of jealousy, anger, and pain...but most noticeably, regret.

"I won't mince words...you bring an end to all of this, you hear? The fighting, the death...earn this." Obanai said in a low tone, before leaning in even closer so he could whisper into Tanjirō's ear. "Earn her…"

Tanjirō's eyes widened, but before he could say anything Obanai let go of him and shoved him out of the room to Mitsuri, telling him to get out of the sinking vessel with her.

"Demons, and whatever the hell this thing is. If they didn't exist. if you and I had met under more peaceful and carefree circumstances, maybe things could have turned out different. I have to die, so that I can do away with the impure blood flowing through it." Obanai thought as Kaburamaru, resolved to stay with him until the very end, looked straight ahead at Smith so as to provide him with the sight he would need to fight. "I was too afraid to stand next to you, and because of that, you found someone better. I come from a dirty family who killed people for their own sake and in service to a snake demon. Because of that, when I was rescued and grew to become a Hashira myself, I directed my feelings of hatred towards the demons. That is why I hated that brat so much, but now...maybe...he's not so bad after all, since even he could make you smile…"

Obanai's grip tightened more and more around his sword, and his body, despite being wracked with pain from both his ribs and face, he felt a strange sensation come to life around his left arm. Beneath his clothes, a black mark akin to a snake took shape on his skin, and in that moment he too understood the power that could come from such a thing.

His curved blade turned crimson red, and with a snarl, he and his lifelong partner from childhood were ready. Gyōmei focused all of his willpower on standing tall next to his comrade in arms, with his axe held firmly in his grip and the flail spinning rapidly above his head. Both were content and resolute, not even batting an eye at the fact that the room was now filling with water at an incredible rate.

"You've surprised me, I'll give you that...but you should have left when you had the chance...your friends will live, but you two…" Smith began to say, before Obanai scoffed and spit out some blood that had dripped into his mouth off to the side.

"Cut the crap, will you? Nothing you say is gonna deter us anymore. We're stubborn humans, after all." he said with a slight smirk.

"To answer your question again from earlier...we reiterate that no, we are not afraid of death. If our deaths will ensure that our friends reach your master, and put a stop to this "salvation", then they will be worth it." Gyōmei added.

"So the only thing left to say is this, trash…do you fear death?"

---

"Eek!" screamed Mitsuri as she held Tanjirō's hand tightly while they ran past a dozen pipes that burst, spraying out a mixture of rotten water and black sludge that coated their clothes as they did.
"We're almost there, just a little more!" Tanjirō shouted as he picked up the pace, eventually hurling Mitsuri onto his back so that she could just hold on.

The floor they were running on was becoming increasingly steeper and steeper, until it got to a point where they couldn't continue and he had to make a split-second decision. Holding his sword tightly he used all his strength to propel himself straight up, igniting the blade with fire at the same time.

"Hinokami Kagura: Enbu Issen!" he bellowed, Mitsuri closing her eyes as he slammed into the end of the hallway and burst through it with the strength and speed of his attack.

Instantly they were flying upward into open air, leaving a trail of smoke and fire behind them, with the sinking corpse of the dreadnought below them. Before they could start falling back down to the dark waters below, they were then yanked by the crystal belts wrapped around their waist and brought safely over to Níngguāng's ship resting close by. When their feet touched the deck, they were almost instantly hounded by the other Hashira, Kanao, Zenitsu and Inosuke who wanted answers.

"Where's Iguro-san and Himejima-san? Will they be right behind you?" Kyōjurō asked, Tanjirō looking up at his senior with an exasperated expression.

Mitsuri collapsed to her knees, her sword clattering on the deck, and looked down at her knees with wide open eyes, fresh tears also beginning to fall down her cheeks. Kanao was at her side instantly, wanting to see what was wrong with her, but she wouldn't say anything. She was inconsolable at that moment, so it was only Tanjirō they could rely on.

Shinobu took that as a sign for her to step forward and lightly cup his cheek, looking him in the eyes with a soft expression, before asking him in an equally soft tone.

"Tanjirō...where are Himejima-san and Iguro-san…?" Shinobu said, rubbing his cheek lightly.

"T-The're...still down there…"

As soon as Tanjirō uttered those words, a second explosion tore through the rest of the hull of the sinking dreadnought, her aft magazine having been affected by the internal fires and flooding raging within her. Signaling her end, they all stared on as the hulking mess of metal and flesh fully sunk beneath the waves, beginning its journey down into the depths of the Mediterranean.

The stark reality soon set in, and the survivors of the harrowing chase were left there in complete silence. They had been in the final stretch of their journey that had taken them to the complete opposite side of the globe, across an entire ocean, and right as they were nearing the finish line, fate stepped in to change their fortune.

Gyōmei, one of their strongest champions, and Obanai, a fearsome fighter who's agility and reflexes had earned him his spot amongst the Hashira. Both were invaluable resources, and both had survived the Infinity Fortress. But now, on the cusp of the final battle, the real one, they were both taken away from them at their darkest hour.

"We have to keep going…they got us the time we need." Giyū said as he sheathed his sword, his somewhat cold statement drawing the ire of Shinobu.

Before she could badmouth him for his bad choice of wording, she felt a firm hand come to rest on her shoulder. It was Kyōjurō, and with a slow shake of the head, he dissuaded her from making the situation worse.

"H-He's right...Himejima-san and I-Iguro-san are allowing us to go." Mitsuri said in a shaky, still not quite fully recovered tone. With Kanao's help she got to her feet, and then addressed everyone there with tears in her eyes and a determined look on her face. "We can't let our feelings get in the way! They did their job, and now we have to as well! We have to make sure nobody else dies, from here on, any more!"

---

"Sensei? Sensei…! Sensei!"

Gyōmei's eyes opened and he found himself standing in a white world, surrounded by the faces of those he thought he'd never get to see again. It was the kids who resided with him in his temple, before that fateful night where they were all taken away from him.
He thought that they would look upon him in hate and resentment, but it was quite the opposite. Several of them had tears in their eyes, while the older ones were better able to control themselves.

"What...are all of you doing here? You should have moved on by now." Gyōmei said, but some of the boys shook their heads, while the girls held onto one of his large hands.

"We always wanted to apologize for what happened that day. We ended up hurting you, right? But we weren't trying to run away." said one of the other girls, sniffling the entire time.

"We thought we had to protect you because you couldn't see…"

"I tried to get weapons. There were farming tools outside."
"And I tried to call someone for help!"

"I...see...is that so…"

The children, as more tears dripped down their small, youthful cheeks, continued to explain to them why they were sorry for chasing the eldest of their group, the still human Kaigaku then, away because they had their reasons. They said if tomorrow had come as usual, they would have explained everything to him so that he didn't have the wrong idea.

Gyōmei's heart ached and he began to cry as he thought of the what ifs, such as if that morning son had come and that demon hadn't attacked them. With a stutter he apologized to all of them, wrapping them all in his arms so that he could give them one big hug.

"We love you, sensei. We've been waiting for you all this time, so that when you did come, we could all be together again, just like back then…"

"I see...thank you, but before we go…" Gyōmei lifted his head up, looking past the light of the white area he was in to where it was dark, and the faint outline of a figure standing within it. "Iguro-san, will you be coming?"

"I don't belong where you're going, Himejima-san, not with my tainted blood…" replied Obanai, his eyes opening in the darkness while a faint hiss could be heard from Karubamaru, who was also with him.

"Then what will you do then? If you won't come with us?"

"Probably stay here for a while...I need to have time to think…"

Gyōmei smiled a tiny bit and nodded, looking back down at the children and wiping his tears with one hand, before together they walked as a unit into the light, the Stone Hashira free of his burdens of the mortal realm. The only thought he had was that for the comrades he left behind, they use his sacrifice and do what needed to be done.

For Obanai, who remained in the darkness of limbo, he crossed his arms and closed his eyes once more, thinking of what his last words were to the person he had despised ever since first laying eyes on him.

"You better do as I say, brat...or I will haunt your ass…" Obanai thought with a light chuckle, his lips curving slightly into a smile. "Make her happy for me, please...that's all this trash of a human being could ever want…"

---

A/N WOOOOOW Long ass chapter! But a damn good one at that...this was a blast to write! Before I get on with this A/N though, just something I wanna cover. In case you guys are confused, here's some clarification: The Edward Smith here is the same Edward Smith, the captain of the Titanic who went down with his ship. Ofc, in my story, he actually lives and we ofc know what happens with him here haha. What he's talking about is a popular (albeit controversial) conspiracy theory that the Titanic was switched out, etc etc, you can search it up on google!

Anyways, onto what I really want to say! I'VE BEEN WANTING TO WRITE THIS CHAPTER FOR SO LONG! Because I wanted to have the gang fight this battle against a, I'm sure you guessed it, character that had some Davy Jones attributes from Pirates of the Caribbean. He's one of my favorite movie villains of all time, an exceptionally well written and tragic character, and his theme music is AWESOME. You know I was listening to him playing his organ while I was writing this chapter, haha. I really hope you guys enjoy this one as much as I did, especially since this chapter is the LARGEST ONE YET. For comparison, this chapter is basically as large (in word count) as the 50 Page Senior Thesis I wrote last year :))

Moving on, again, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Leave a fav and a follow if you have not already, and leave a review telling me what you think! I'll catch you guys in the next one!

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Translation(s):

Mushi no kokyū, Hōga no mai: Manabiki

- Insect Breathing, Dance of the Bee Sting: True Flutter

Kaminari no kokyū, Ichi no Kata: Hekireki Issen - Hachiren

- Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash - Eight Fold

Honō no kokyū, Roku no kata: Tsuiraku Hoshi

- Flame Breathing, Sixth Form: Crashing Star

Tsuki no kokyū, Roku no kata: Tokoyo Kogetsu - Muken

- Moon Breathing, Sixth Form: The Eternal Night's Solitary Moon: Avici

Hinokami Kagura: Kasha

- Dance of the Fire God: Fire Chariot

Koi no kokyū, Ichi no kata: Hatsukoi no Wananaki

- Love Breathing, First Form: Shivers of First Love

Iwa no kokyū, Ichi no Kata: Jamongan - Sōkyoku

- Stone Breathing, First Form: Serpentinite Bipolar

Hinokami Kagura: Enbu Issen

- Dance of the Fire God: Waltz Flash