Ren explains the ION10 situation: The pirates didn't vanish. They compressed themselves into a pocket dimension to escape the navies of the world. But the dimensional anchor—Captain Rojas’s Compass of Whispers—was lost when their last ship, the ION-10 , sank in a freak storm in 1723.

Kai (panting): "Dad. Dad, wake up. Your 'shortcut through the Bermuda Triangle' idea was bad. I’m logging that complaint."

The beach is littered with the wreckage of a shipping freighter, the Herald of Dawn . Electronics hiss on the wet sand. Among the debris, we find KAI (17, cynical, wearing a hoodie under a life jacket) dragging his unconscious father, DR. ELIAS MORGAN (50s, archaeologist), above the tide line.

Elias groans, but his eyes are wild with feverish excitement, not fear. He points a trembling finger toward a cliff face where the water has receded, revealing a stone archway carved with skulls and octopus tentacles.

Ren: "Home is a surface thought. Down here, we run on ION10 rules. One rule, actually."

Kai: "Or we could just call the Coast Guard."

Kai tackles his dad. The floor splits. The Queensnake lurches, its petrified silk sails snapping open—but they are not catching wind. They are catching time . The ship pulls everything toward it: water, stone, pirates, and the two archaeologists.

Ren: "Don't be the slowest ship."