"Haiyah! Why you try suicide with devil-fish? Are you tired of living?" Uncle Joey asked in his broken English.

"I slipped," Noah replied as he accepted the boss's offered hand to be pulled onto the floor of the hall.

Noah lay exhausted, sprawled on his back with his arms out wide, pale from blood loss and exhaustion. The boss had hauled Noah from the water below with the help of Uncle Joey after he gripped the rope. The boss said something to Noah in his native language, which left Noah and Uncle Joey confused.

"Haiyah! You know we don't understand. Why still try? We're not going to magically understand you!" Uncle Joey threw his hands up in the air in frustration as he walked away.

Uncle Joey walked towards his kitchen, where he took his trademark apron from its hook. Before going upstairs, returning with a few of the oarsmen.

"Get rid of devil-fish. Do not eat it. Throw into the ocean now!" Uncle Joey ordered as he pointed towards the gathered pile of headless devil-fish stinking out the fishing trawler with a smell worse than usual.

Later after dark, Noah was thrown back inside the run-down hut with the rest of the oarsmen, who all watched him with renewed interest. The boy was still locked in with them but was left alone by the oarsmen as no one was willing to risk the boss's wrath.

"Those witches used Rick and all them as bait to save their own asses from that giant snake. They could have gone back for them when the snake went to fight that other monster," someone said in the dark, crowded room.

"What do you expect? They're witches, they only see us as slave labour," another oarsman replied.

"They even get those guards to beat us and torture the boy."

"But the boss almost beat the white guard Zane to death," Another voice added.

"It was just for show, I bet they were laughing about it below decks afterwards. We never got to see the damage, and then that gap-toothed black bastard gave the boy some chocolate to keep him quiet. The boy was probably part of it all along. We never got to see what the guards did to him inside that hut, probably fed him then roughed him up a bit in exchange to keep the rest of us in line," the first voice continued.

"You're right! Witches are always cunning selfish bastards!"

There were sounds of agreement from the cramped oarsmen as they continued to discuss among themselves. Noah noticed the boy was biting his tongue in an attempt to restrain his anger and remain silent.

"All you do is talk, I don't see any of you with the courage to do anything about it," Noah cut in, causing everyone to become silent.

"Shut up! You're the same as the boy, giving up some ass in exchange for light duties," the original voice replied to Noah.

"There's more than twice as many of you than them, including the guards. What's stopping you from taking over this fishing boat. If you all wanted out, that lock couldn't hold you in here," Noah ignored the man as he continued.

"You're trying to bait us into your dirty work for you. What, upset that your master kicked you into a hole?" the man tried to bait Noah.

"Do you know what I think? You're just a coward that hasn't got the balls to do more than complain about how unfair it is," Noah goaded the man.

The man pushed through the crowd to grip Noah by his shirt while dragging his face close to him as everyone watched expectantly.

"Are you going to do something, show everyone how tough you are. Beat a withered old man, you're a real tough guy" Noah baited the man using his current withered appearance similar to an old man.

The man drew blood as he punched Noah in the mouth. Noah let it happen as he just silently grinned at the man with his blood-stained teeth glowing in the darkness. Noah spat blood into the man's eyes, the man recoiled away while wiping the blood from his eyes as Noah headbutted the man in the face leaving him crumpled at his feet on the floor.

"Ahh! You broke my nose!" the man clutched at his disfigured nose in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

Noah silently stood in the darkness before savagely kicking the man in the head to knock him unconscious.

"You lot are just sheep, letting him convince you to do his dirty work for him," Noah spoke to the amassed crowd of oarsmen who were intimidated into silence by his display of aggression.

"If you want to change anything, then you need to be willing to stand together, not cower away while blaming the unfairness of it on the world," Noah continued.

"If we all united together, ready to die with your head held high, then there's nothing they can do to stop us. The ability-users allow the guards to oppress us with violence and fear because they seem to believe that if you struggle, it will give birth to abilities if you have a strong enough desire for it. I think that is irrelevant because it will only divide us into groups as every man only looks out for his own best interests. With great power comes great responsibility. We can't just keep blaming each other for what they do to us. If we want to survive this apocalypse, then we need to stand together. Ahem," Noah finished his awkward speech to the gathered men by clearing his throat.

As Noah stood alone in the silent cramped room, he fidgeted uncomfortably with the hem of his shirt under the gazes of the oarsmen. The boy Louis glanced at the oarsmen around him, bracing himself against the wall at his back to push himself to his feet. He moved to stand beside Noah.

The next person to stand was unexpectedly the man Noah had knocked to the floor and broken his nose. The man shared a meaningful look with Noah before looking at the other oarsmen remaining seated.

"Get up if you want to be free!" the man hissed sharply in the darkness.

The man set off a chain reaction as all the remaining men began to whisper and mutter as they discussed what to do next. A few of the seated men nodded as they came to a unanimous decision to stand together. One after another, the men got to their feet as they prepared themselves for anything that may come.

The man with the broken nose watched them all stand with a fanatical gleam in his eye before turning back to Noah and giving him a nod.

Light began to shine sharply outside the door. A lantern was unshuttered, belonging to someone who had been listening outside. The lock on the door of the makeshift hut made a creak as it was quickly turned to unlock.

Noah closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he made to push through the crowd towards the opening door. The man with the broken nose interrupted Noah with a hand on his chest as he placed himself ahead of him to create a path to the door. The man with the broken nose glanced over his shoulder towards Noah.

"We stand together, fishbait," the man vowed as he puffed out his chest with newfound purpose.

As the white guard appeared on the other side of the door with an expression of annoyance, holding his spear loosely. The black guard stood at his shoulder, carrying the tarnished lantern along with his own makeshift spear.

"Argh!" the man with the broken nose let out a roar as he rammed his shoulder into the growing opening of the door.

The remaining oarsmen released echoing roars of their own as they followed him on his charge. The oarsmen quickly overwhelmed the guards, dragging them to the floor as they wrestled their weapons away. During the chaos, the survivor who had taken the makeshift spear from the black guard. Raised the spear to stab it through the black guard's throat, pinning him to the deck as he bled to death, choking on his blood with his eyes open wide in terror.

The man with the broken nose had gained possession of the white guard's spear and currently held it pressed against the white guard's throat with an expression of rage and determination. The white guard was held spread-eagle by oarsmen stretching his arms wide as they also pinned his legs to the deck, leaving him helpless on the deck.

"Time for you to die filth!" the man with the broken nose raised the makeshift spear back to stab downwards. The point of the makeshift spear became frozen in place.