Sooo boring.
Seriously, what do sailors do all day? Just stand around swapping stories? Play cards? Stare dramatically at the horizon?
That just sucks. Well, If there were my friends it would be better, but... you know, they sent me here alone.
En and Koro were inside, doing... something. Hana sat nearby, dismantling and cleaning a pistol and a rifle.
I sighed and stared up at the sky. Clear, except for a few wispy clouds and a flock of birds—big birds. Uncomfortably big. Like, "those might be dinosaurs" big.
"Hana, can I shoot?" I said, because why not?
She didn't even look up. "No."
"Oh, come on."
"You've wasted three bullets and missed every shot."
"I, that was my first time."
She sighed. "Allen, you waste ammo like a rich kid who's never had to buy it himself. We don't have unlimited bullets, dumbass."
"Yeah, yeah. When we get to port, I'll buy you twice as much as I used. And I learn quickly."
Hana rolled her eyes. "Fine. One bullet."
She handed me the rifle. I took it, held it like I totally knew what I was doing, and aimed at one of the massive birds.
Hana frowned. "Your grip is garbage. Aim properly."
"Yes, ma'am," I mocked, adjusting my stance.
I took a deep breath, lined up the shot, and fired—completely missing.
Hana smirked. "Wow. That bird must be terrified."
"Shut up," I muttered. "Watch this."
I steadied myself, inhaled again, and fired. This time, I nailed it. The bird let out an indignant squawk before dropping like a stone into the ocean.
"Told ya," I said, grinning. "Natural talent."
And that was it.
Satoru's brain had another trick up its sleeve—one I hadn't fully tapped into yet. The ability to process an absurd amount of information in real time.
Normally, when you watch someone paint, you might pick up on a couple of things—how they hold the brush, the strokes they make. But with a brain like Satoru's? You wouldn't just see the brushwork. You'd notice where their eyes linger, how their breath flows, which muscles tense at each movement—every tiny detail feeding into a perfect understanding.
I wasn't completely clueless—I had used this before. Just not consciously, and definitely not at full capacity. But now? Now, I was pushing it to the limit. And my learning speed? Off the charts.
"One hit doesn't make you a sniper." Hana was unimpressed.
That's when the water where the bird fell started churning.
A massive, grotesque sea monster erupted from the ocean, swallowing the bird whole. It had beady eyes, rows of jagged teeth, and the general vibe of something that eats dinosaurs as a snack.
Hana looked absolutely terrified.
En and Koro bolted onto the deck, drawn by the strong waves.
"What happened?" Koro demanded.
Hana clung to the side and gave a direct answer. "Sea monster."
En paled. "Oh, god. That one's huge."
The sea monster roared, shaking the entire ship.
"What do you do in this kind of situation?" Hana asked, still clutching her rifle.
Koro swallowed hard. "We try not to provoke it, throw some fish in one direction while we sail in the other, and if that doesn't work... we shoot it. But we've only had to do that once, and that one was way smaller."
"Yeah," En muttered, "but we should be quiet and hope for the best. This is the biggest one we've ever seen."
I squinted at the creature. "Huh. It's not that bad."
Hana whipped around. "Shut up. Are you actually that dumb? Do you understand the situation?"
"Yeah, clearly." I crossed my arms. "I've fought one of these things before."
En groaned. "Please, just don't do anything—"
The sea monster let out another earsplitting roar.
Hana clapped her hands over her ears. En and Koro clung to the mast like their lives depended on it.
Then the roaring stopped.
Hana hesitantly opened her eyes.
Allen was gone.
The sea monster opened its mouth—wider than the entire ship—and lunged.
Then there was a loud bang, and the monster's head snapped violently to the side like some giant hammer had hit it.
Hana, En, and Koro just stared at me, their brains struggling to catch up with what had just happened.
En blinked. "How is that even possible?"
Not as great as it was in my head. I could've hit harder. But punching midair is way more annoying than it looks.
Then I made the classic mistake of looking down.
A couple dozen meters separated me from the ground—well, technically the ocean. Not exactly the softest landing.
Then–
SPLASH!
I hit the water hard, and just as I was about to swim back up, the sea monster surged forward and—yep, swallowed me whole.
Let me tell you, getting eaten is gross. The inside of that thing smelled like a combination of rotting fish, sewer water, and my worst regrets. And the strangest thing is that I was not alone here.
Two very exhausted, very confused men were slumped inside the monster's stomach, looking at me like I was the weird part of this situation.
"Hey," I said, because what else do you say when you meet new people in a stomach?
They just stared.
Welp. Time to get out.
I clenched my fist, channeled my cursed energy, and punched a hole straight through the monster's gut.
Boom. Instant exit.
Water rushed in as the beast thrashed, but I grabbed the two guys and swam up before we all ended up as underwater decorations. The monster's body sank like a stone.
I broke the surface, dragging the two half-conscious men with me, and made my way back to the ship.
Hana met me at the railing, arms crossed. "Who are these guys?"
I heaved the two onto the deck. "Found 'em in the stomach."
Koro's mouth fell open. "Wait. It swallowed you?"
"Yeah." I wrung out my shirt. "Super gross, by the way."
En crouched beside one of the men, checking his pulse. "And how exactly did you get out?"
"I just punched a hole in its stomach."
En looked up. "Holy shit."
Hana squinted at me. "How the hell are you that strong? I've never seen a human do all that before."
I shrugged. "I was mostly asleep."
Hana scoffed. "Tch. Should've just ignored you."
"It's true," I said because it was.
Meanwhile, En and Koro did their whole "let's make sure these guys aren't dead" routine, which thankfully worked. The two strangers coughed, groaned, and slowly sat up.
The taller one—blond, easily two meters tall—bowed. "Thank you."
En, still looking suspicious, asked, "So... what happened to you?"
The guy, Evie, ran a hand through his wet hair. "We, uh... we got eaten by a huge monster."
Hana rolled her eyes. "Yeah, we know it. We wanna know how you got there."
The shorter guy, Drake—brown hair, looked around thirty—sighed. "We set out on a raft. Twenty minutes later, this asshole showed up."
I crossed my arms. "Uh-huh. That's cute and all, but how about the full story? Who are you? Why were you on a raft in the middle of the ocean?"
Drake's jaw tightened like he really didn't want to talk about it.
Evie glanced at him, then exhaled. "We were on a ship. It got attacked. Five of us made it out alive, but we ended up stranded on some tiny desert island. It was brutal. In the end... only the two of us made it."
His voice was heavy, thick with the kind of exhaustion you don't just sleep off.
"And then," Drake added bitterly, "we tried to escape. That went well."
I glanced at Hana, who met my gaze with an equally wary look.
Something wasn't adding up.
I mean, two guys lost at sea, getting conveniently eaten by a sea monster? Sure, weird things happen. But these guys looked way strange. Their expressions, their appearance—they weren't regular sailors.
They were lying about something.
I crossed my arms and gave them my best I know your secret look. "So… you guys aren't pirates, right?"
Evie and Drake both flinched—just a tiny bit, but I caught it.
"No," Evie said quickly. "We're not."
Drake nodded a little too eagerly. "Yeah, just, uh, ordinary sailors."
I grinned. "Oh, good. You don't have to lie, though. We're pirates too—new ones. Just looking for adventure and new members."
I could feel Hana and En's stares drilling into my skull.
En grabbed Hana's wrist and yanked her aside, whispering harshly. "What is he doing?"
Hana just sighed. "Dunno."
I waved a hand dismissively. "Relax."
Evie and Drake exchanged a look. Then Evie let out a breath. "Alright, fine. Yes. We're pirates."
Knew it. But that still can be a lie.
I tilted my head. "Cool. So, tell me about your crew."
Evie hesitated, but Drake leaned against the mast, suddenly more relaxed. "Not much to tell but... I've been a pirate for 14 years. On the Jake's ship."
"Jake?" I asked.
"He is the captain of 'The Crimson Mirage' pirates"
Koro, who'd been silent this whole time, suddenly bristled. His fists clenched like he was ready to deck both of them.
En noticed and immediately pulled him aside, whispering something urgent. Koro looked like he was about to argue but finally let En drag him away.
"Think you weren't kind pirates"
Evie intervened in the dialogue, suggesting that it would be better to hide his crimes "That's just a name. You know, to make others fear of us."
I smirked. "Alright, what is your worth?"
Evie rubbed the back of his neck. "My head is 2,700,000."
I turned to Drake.
He hesitated. "Uh… 3,120,000."
I turned back to the pirates. "Alright, so what were you doing before the crash?"
Drake exhaled. "We were headed to the Grand Line. Kakureta Island. We had a deal to make."
"A deal for what?"
Evie shook his head. "Doesn't matter. We never made it. We got attacked by other pirates—Pink Thunder."
Hana frowned. "Pink Thunder?"
Drake's jaw tightened. "Their captain, Vince Delmar, hit us hard. Wrecked our ship, took our money, and, worst of all, stole our Eternus Pose."
I narrowed my eyes. "An Eternus Pose… to Kakureta?"
Evie nodded grimly.
I clapped my hands together. "Well, that sucks for you guys. Anyway, you're probably exhausted, so let's get you inside before you pass out on deck."
They didn't argue. Once we got them to a cabin, they barely made it to the hammocks before crashing, out cold.
As soon as I stepped back onto the deck, Hana cornered me.
"Alright, so what's the plan?" she demanded. "You're a bounty hunter and just gonna let two pirates live here?."
I stretched lazily. "Yeah. I will hand them over alive, but if they do something weird, I will kill them."
"That's not a good plan, better kill them now. They are crazy dangerous pirates"
"Hana is right," Koro entered the dialogue. "I heard about them in the papers, they are monsters."
"Hey, I am here so there is nothing they can do."
"Just… If something happens, you will be the only one to blame" Koro said.
"Just hope you know what you are doing." Said Hana and went to her guns.