Ghost Ship (2)

Bonebeard's submerged vessel surges up directly beneath the Seahorse, and Roderick's quick order to swing hard to starboard is all that keeps his ship from capsizing. With the two hulls nearly touching, he tells his men to arm for close quarters, yet no assault comes. As Roderick wonders whether the enemy ship stands empty, Schierke detects a strange od suggesting the whole Sharkrider is one single being.

Bonebeard confirms it, appearing on his deck with a few crewmen whose bodies have taken on a slick, creaturely texture and whose pupils have narrowed to octopus-like rectangles. His temperament is unchanged, and he recognizes Isidro, Schierke and Azan from the Vritannis harbor, gnawing at his own bulwark as he rants about being driven out of the slave trade. In answer, he calls up a swarm of huge tentacle monsters, each lined with spikes and split by a tall, vertical mouth.

One of the creatures snatches a sailor and swallows him whole, and at Bonebeard's command the rest fall upon Roderick's panicked crew. Isidro, Serpico, Schierke, Azan and Roderick throw themselves into the defense but make little headway. Then three of the monsters lose their heads in an instant. Guts has arrived, freshly recovered, clad in armor and ready for the fight.

Bonebeard's ship rises beneath the Seahorse but fails to capsize it. Schierke senses that the vessel and its crew are a single entity, and Bonebeard, now visibly inhuman, summons tentacle monsters that overwhelm Roderick's men. Guts appears healed and armored, beheading three of the creatures at once.

The twenty-three page chapter continues the Fantasia Arc and first ran in Young Animal issue 21. It marks Guts' return to the fighting after his recovery and deepens the transformation of Bonebeard's crew into servants of the Sea God.