-Vol 5: A New Life-

-Sea Monsters(2)-

“Captain! We caught something on the radar!” one of the crew members in charge of radar shouted as he spotted a huge green dot on his radar display.

“What?” the captain of the fish boat, a scruffy old man with long white beard bald hair came running. Inspecting the radar, he took a deep breath. As an experienced fish man boat's captain, he instantly recognized the dot. It's no fish, it's probably a monster that strayed from its group. Exhaling a shaky breath, he looked at the young radar specialist and said, “That’s not a fish sonny. I reckon that’s a monster…a large one at that. Go, call captain Tanaka to the cabin! Quick!”

“Yes!” shouting, the young man ran out of the room. A minute later he returned, bringing the captain with him. The man’s face looked like a bitter gourd with all the jeering and humiliation he just received from all those unruly hunters out there. Fuming in anger, he was just about to call off the whole expedition when the young man came and distracted him.

“What happened?” captain Tanaka didn’t bother with smooth talking and greetings. He urged the old man to come to the point directly. He seemed to be searching for an outlet to blow off all his collected steam. Had the boat captain a normal civilian, he would surely have been a lot ruder.

Not minding his attitude, the old man pointed his scruffy finger towards the radar screen where a large green dot was seen to be rapidly approaching the inner periphery of the outer most circle. “Take a look at that…what do you think? Is that a fish?”

Tanaka walked closer and leaned towards the radar even more to inspect the dot, a few seconds later his voice came, although he didn’t leave the screen “That definitely not a fish…atleast not a normal one. It's not exactly small either if the radar showing it to be that big. It's definitely a monster.”

“I guessed as much. So, what would we do? warn the hunters outside?”

“NO!!” Tanaka shouted in rage and turned around to glare at the old man. Gritting his teeth in unsuppressed anger, he spoke “No. Don’t say anything to them. Let them taste bitterness first. Weren’t they mocking me just now? Although this monster would be a little challenging, I can still kill it alone. These mongrels outside should be taught a lesson first!”

“You--!” the young man who was in charge of the radar, shouted in anger and was about to retort the man but was stopped by the old man. Looking at his captain, the young man saw him shaking his head and forcefully calmed himself down. With his head down, he silently stood behind the old man.

“Okay, then. Nobody from this cabin will breath a word outside.” Nodding his head, Tanaka left the cabin, not before showing a smirk towards the impulsive young man standing behind the old man.

After Tanaka was out of the hearing range, the young man could no longer contain himself and looked at the old man angrily “What’s the meaning of this captain? That man was surely doing something against the protocol. How can you allow him to do that? Lives of many hunters at stake here.” Throwing his arms out, he shouted.

“Boy! Don’t give me that look…and what’s with that tone? Did you forget I am your superior here? Shut up and do your job.” Shouting at the young man, the old captain snorted one last time and left the place, opting to go back of the cabin.

“You old man, you really know interesting ways to keep your lads safe! What, did he remind you of someone?” a voice, equally old as his, came from a man sitting near the edge of the stern, overlooking the vast ocean behind.

“You old crook! You followed here in the end. Aren’t you a softy yourself?” chuckling to himself, the old captain grabbed a bottle of beer and walked strongly towards the man sitting on the edge. Giving him the bottle, he said: “Here have a bear for old time’s sake.” After that, he took a big gulp from his own bottle before looking at the ocean, the moon in the sky illuminating the waters, giving them an ethereal vibe.

“That lad! He was also a righteous fool, don't you think so too?” the old man muttered after taking a big gulp from his bear. Wiping his mouth, he looked at the old captain beside him with his only functioning eye. His other eye was sealed shut by a talisman like eye-band.

“Sigh! He was a feisty one, alright. Always voicing out on injustice…but, the redder an apple is, the quicker it would be picked.” The old captain took another sip from his bottle and slammed it on the wooden floor of the boat before shouting out, “Why don’t they learn when to back out? Idiots!”

“Youths are meant to be impulsive…but sometimes that impulsiveness is a curse that could take their lives. Enough about this past, so what would you do, let those brats outside be?” the old man with eye patch asked while taking another sip.

“I don’t need to. These hunters outside aren't that simple, especially that girl with twin swords. She is a real deal. From the moment I saw her, my heart couldn't calm down at all.” The old man chugged a mouthful again.

“Yeah! That girl, I also saw her. That innocent persona, it didn’t match her magic and intent at all. That girl, unless you walk out from a massacre, you won't have that kind of intent. My eyes, they can see through anything, even Intents were no exception. But all I could see is just a huge red mist surrounding her, nothing else.” as he said so, he touched around the patched eye, the talisman markings on the patch started to glow yellow before setting down.

“Sigh! A girl of her age shouldn’t be doing these things. I envied our ancestors all those years ago. I heard back then there were no monsters or dungeons. People also didn’t possess magic and supernatural powers like today, I wonder how life has been in those days.” The bald captain sighed once again before stiffening for a second and continued drinking.

“Looks like it entered your sensory range. So! How is it?” the eye-patched man asked once again, not sparing a glance at the bald captain.

“It's big, alright. It's just a huge squid with a bit of magic power. Weak it might be, but for those lads out there, it might become their worst nightmare. You old thing might need to take action, after all.” The bald captain took another swing of his bottle before continuing to look at the ocean.

XXX

Kenshin looked at the huge thing in front of him in wonder. Although it was night, his vision didn’t block at all. He could clearly see the floating monster in front of him with some hidden astonishment. It's big alright, red and with a lot more powerful tentacles…but all said and done, in the end, it's just a squid.

“It's just a squid!” Isabella standing near him muttered with an unimpressed look.

“Haha! What did you expect! A legendary Kraken?” Kenshin couldn’t help but crack a joke at her. After discovering the rapidly approaching monster, they both decided to slay it before it could reach the boat. Kenshin used his [Opposites] to walk on water while Isabella’s boots glowed green before she safely walked on water like it was flat ground. After walking for approximately two kilometers, they finally stopped, and so did the monster.

They both decided to make this place as its burial ground.