Episode 308 (Manga)

Template:Manga Episode Infobox Ghost Ship, Part 1 (幽霊船, Yūreisen^?) is the 305th episode of the Berserk manga series, written and illustrated by Kentaro Miura.

Summary

At night, Bonebeard's only mostly-intact Captain Bonebeard now houses three ships' worth of crewmen. Despite the Captain Bonebeard being barely able to move, Bonebeard still orders his men to search through the night for the Sea Horse; he's hell-bent on destroying it for fear of Roderick spreading the news that Bonebeard was beaten at sea.

One of Bonebeard's crewmen informs his captain that ever since the white light came over them, much of the crew has been spreading rumors of seeing ghosts and large creatures in the water. Bonebeard dismisses the rumors just as several spirits rise from the water behind him.

The next morning, a small bird (inhabited by Schierke) flies over the vast expanse of sea and notices ripples in the water below. It flies in to investigate, but is nearly eaten by a giant water serpent, the source of the ripples. The bird is saved when an even larger serpent eats the first serpent.

The bird flies to the next source of ripples in the water, this time the Sea Horse. It lands on a window sill, where it notices that Isidro and Puck are drawing all over Schierke's unconscious body. Schierke reenters her own body and reacts violently to being drawn on.

Farnese, Serpico and Casca enter the room. Farnese asks to know what ritual Schierke is undergoing (not realizing that the drawings on Schierke's face are the result of a prank), but, wiping off the markings, Schierke exclaims that there is no time for training, as she's come with important news. A moment later, the people in the room can hear a horn sounding from above them.

Roderick spots the Captain Bonebeard in the distance.

Roderick has spotted a distant ship through his telescope, and his navigator has blown the horn. Roderick recognizes the ship as Bonebeard's. However, the Captain Bonebeard was too heavily damaged in the previous naval battle to move at the speed that it currently does. Nevertheless, Roderick orders his men to prepare for battle.

Schierke emerges from belowdeck to tell Roderick that Bonebeard's ship is populated by monsters. Roderick becomes anxious that he will soon be facing monsters like the ones that attacked Vritannis. He orders the Sea Horse to present its side to Bonebeard's ship and to fire continuous volleys of cannonballs in an effort to sink it before it gets too close.

The cannons are fired, but Bonebeard's ship partially submerges to avoid them. Despite its hull being completely below the surface of the sea, the ship moves quickly towards the Sea Horse. Seeing now that the Captain Bonebeard could not be crewed by humans, Roderick concedes that he will need Guts' party's help, and possibly even help from Guts himself..