Chapter 5: The Lord of the Coast?

Boom!

Another dull impact sounded, far louder than the last, shaking the merchant ship; faintly, amidst the noise, one could hear agonized shrieks intermingled within.

Gatt pricked up his ears to listen, then suddenly waved his hand.

"Stern, starboard side, nine o'clock!"

Before his roar had even faded, the lookout tower atop the mast had already swung the searchlight over.

Jostled by running sailors until he staggered, Siano finally managed to squeeze his way to the ship's railing just as a pale beam of light split the night, vaguely revealing the creature's silhouette.

Everyone involuntarily gasped.

It was unmistakably a colossal beast dozens of meters long, resembling both an eel and a sea snake; beneath its aqua-blue fins, its entire body was covered in iron-gray scales reflecting a cold, sinister gleam.

"W-what in the hell is this thing?!"

A young crewmember cried out in panic.

"It's a Sea King, you idiot!"

"Damn it! Since when have Sea Kings been appearing on this route!"

"Open fire! Hurry, open fire and scare this thing away!"

"No! It's right against our hull; we need to create distance first!"

Amidst the chaotic clamor, Siano gripped the railing firmly, forcibly suppressing the fear and shrinking instinct bubbling up from his subconscious, narrowing his eyes to stare downward.

Having grown up in Cocoyasi Village since childhood, this was his first time ever seeing a Sea King.

The excitement brought on by the surge of adrenaline made his vision seem remarkably sharper at this moment.

Or perhaps the angle was just right; through the ink-black night, he could actually make out the Sea King's features clearly.

In its bloodshot crimson eyes, the black vertical pupils were slender like a snake's; grotesque fangs crisscrossed and spread, nearly covering its entire neck...

The more he looked, the more wrong it felt; the more he looked, the more familiar it seemed.

"The Lord of the Coast?"

He paused, furrowed his brow, and murmured uncertainly in a low voice.

In his memory, the Lord of the Coast usually roamed around the Goa Kingdom, far from here; could it have changed its range of activity directly after being scared off by Conqueror's Haki?

Or perhaps it wasn't the same individual, but merely a member of the same species?

Boom!

The dull, massive sound echoed across the sea surface once again; this time, many sailors saw clearly that it was undoubtedly the Sea King actively ramming its belly against the ship's hull to create the disturbance.

What was it doing?

Including Old Captain Gatt, everyone felt somewhat alarmed and suspicious; if it were hunting, several people on the deck would have already been swallowed, or it could even have capsized the entire ship outright.

But this Sea King did not seem to have such intentions.

"Hey, look over there!"

A sharp-eyed sailor pointed somewhere and screamed, "Inside that monster's belly, there seems to be something!"

Boom! Boom! Boom! Just as everyone turned to look, the frequency of the Sea King's impacts suddenly accelerated dramatically, one strike immediately following the next; the merchant ship tossed more and more violently, the shrieks emanating from beneath the sea surface grew increasingly agonized, and each time it arched its back, it briefly revealed an unnatural bulge in its stomach region.

The skin layer surrounding the bulging area was densely covered with scars and bruises, including blunt force injuries and scratches, along with many swollen, pus-filled blisters resulting from festering infections.

It seemed something was blocking its internal organs, causing it unbearable pain, driving it to constantly seek hard objects to ram and scrape against in an attempt to force it out.

Ultimately, it had inflicted upon itself this current state of being covered in wounds.

Reefs, giant rocks, warships... judging by the variety of scars, these might all have served as its targets, yet it had never managed to solve the problem.

"This is truly a huge trouble now."

Gatt's face turned iron-green.

If this continued, the complete cracking and disintegration of the vessel was only a matter of time; the entire cargo and all the sailors would inevitably meet the fate of sinking into the sea.

The crisp snapping of cargo box ropes breaking and the dull thuds of them colliding chaotically had long been coming continuously from the hold below.

The old captain suddenly whipped his head around, staring at the deathly pale face behind the helm—the young helmsman was practically hanging onto it to avoid being flung out, the veins on the back of his hand bulging violently with every turn.

"Still can't create distance!"

As he roared, another wave of salty, fishy spray crashed onto the deck, splashing everyone soaking wet with a loud splash.

"We can't do it, Captain!"

The helmsman's neck swelled to a purplish-red, his voice tinged with despair, "This thing is the agile type; our ship speed simply can't compare; as soon as we pull away slightly, it immediately sticks back on!"

"Damn it!"

Gatt spat out a mouthful of saliva mixed with blood seeping from his gums, tracing a dark red streak across the tilting, pitching deck.

Throwing away his pipe, he suddenly drew the saber at his waist and gripped it tightly; looking at that Sea King again, a trace of crazy crimson appeared in the old man's eye corners.

Fine, fine, so you won't give us any way out at all, truly treating Laozi as a coward; even if I can't take anyone down with me, before I die, I'll knock out a few of your teeth!

Don't let his current kind-eyed, gentle-speaking demeanor toward everyone fool you; back in his youth, he was also an old soldier who had gone to the battlefield to defend the kingdom, one who had fought his way out of piles of corpses reeking of blood!

"Those responsible for logistics, take that kid named Siano and hide in the safe cabin below; perhaps there's still hope of survival!"

"All remaining combat personnel, prepare to risk your lives with Laozi!"

Gatt squeezed out a hoarse voice through clenched teeth, "Damn it, at worst..."

"Mr. Gatt."

Siano's calm voice abruptly interrupted his blood-pumping charge speech.

Hm?

Gatt subconsciously turned his head, only to see the boy in surprise, fists clenched tight, staring at the sea surface eager to try.

"Have the starboard cannons aim at the Sea King's belly and fire a few shots; leave the rest to me; I have a way to calm this thing down."

"Are you kidding me!"

Gatt's face darkened, and without thinking he cursed loudly, "Hurry and hide in the safe cabin; is this the time to play the hero, you brat! What kind of ridiculous idea are you proposing!"

"Is there any other way!"

Siano whipped his head around, his voice suddenly rising an octave, "I know what you're trying to do! Jump over there to die, hack away a few times before you perish just to prove you aren't cowards—what's the point in that? Treating a dead horse as if it were alive to seek a cure; what harm could come from letting me give it a try!"

"And another thing!"

While shouting back, he ripped off his thick coat and shirt in one motion, revealing a lean, muscular torso with sharply defined lines.

His chest, brimming with the aesthetic beauty of explosive power, reflected a cold, hard gleam like iron in the night; the panther-like muscles of his back merely twitched slightly, instantly carving out gullies as if cut by a blade.

"My mom might have forgotten to tell you one thing. Sorry."

The black-haired boy looked at him in profile; his delicate, youthful face did not match the low, calm tone of his voice at all.

"In all of Cocoyasi Village, you won't find a single man who can fight better than me."

"..."

Gatto's eyes instantly bulged round.

After these few days of brief contact, the impression he had formed was that this was clearly a thin, frail bean sprout, and the wooden sword he carried around was nothing more than a toy for children playing house, something to provoke laughter.

Who could have known that only now would he realize that what he had taken for bulkiness was simply the overly puffy motherly love of autumn and winter, which had sealed away the other's true physique.

(End of Chapter)