A flooded Mars where the economy has collapsed and survival means choosing between starvation wages or piracy: that's the actual setting, not just window dressing. Gram and his crew treat it like a playground, cracking jokes while scrounging for work in a world designed to grind people down, which makes every small win feel real. The pacing never lets you sit still long enough to notice the protagonist is thinner than the world built around him, and by the time you do, you're already invested in whether these people eat tomorrow.

On a Mars almost entirely covered by water, people live aboard huge city-ships drifting across the open seas. The economy is failing, work is hard to find, and food is costly and precious. Gram and his friends scrape by as best they can while jobs keep vanishing. Some Martians have turned to piracy against a corrupt government, and the feared Ship of Aurora is the most notorious crew of all. Earth, which rules Mars, sends a new squad of military pilots in Round Buckler mecha to crush both the pirates and the independence movement. After ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time, Gram finds himself fleeing alongside the Aurora's crew, and he is starting to like them. Adventure, comedy, romance and giant robot action share the stage.