Wails and Laughter

On the merchant ship, the captain gave the order to move away. The sailors controlled the vessel and turned it around, preparing to leave.

Marcel leaned over the rail, staring into the distance through a telescope, hoping to find out what had happened.

Boom, boom.

The roar of cannons sounded in the distance. Marcel's mouth fell open as he shouted, "They fired! They opened fire!"

"What are they fighting?"

The captain looked into the distance, baffled.

The merchant ship was turning around, heading away from the pirate ship, while the captain continued observing the pirate crew in the distance.

"The pirate ship is going to sink."

After a while, the captain judged from the speed at which the pirate ship was descending.

At that moment, two small boats were being lowered from the starboard side of the pirate ship facing them.

"They're running."

Marcel shouted loudly.

"Quick, they're coming this way. Keep moving away."

The captain waved his hand, but his eyes remained fixed on the distance.

"It's Dominic and his men." Marcel watched the people boarding the small boats, his eyes full of hatred.

Marcel had desperately hoped Dominic would sink along with the pirate ship, but that no longer seemed possible.

The merchant ship gradually pulled farther away, while Dominic's two boats headed toward them.

The pirate ship slowly sank. As the merchant ship moved away, it became smaller and smaller in view, and the boats rowing toward them were reduced to blurry silhouettes.

But just as Marcel lowered his telescope and was about to leave—

Splash.

A massive black shadow slammed into one of the boats. In an instant, the boat shattered into pieces, and the figures aboard were flung through the air.

"Hmm?"

Marcel stared intently through the telescope. Then he saw a huge fish rise from beneath the sea, open its jaws, and swallow a pirate whole.

"That's a sea fish? A sea fish attacked them?"

Beside him, the captain raised an eyebrow as he witnessed the scene.

"It looks like that sea fish..."

Marcel looked at it, finding it strangely familiar.

In the distance, while the sea fish devoured a pirate, Dominic tried to flee in his small boat. His fat body was impossible to miss.

"Attack him! Attack him!"

Marcel clenched his fists and kept shouting.

Then, as if the sea fish had heard Marcel's thoughts, it charged Dominic and rammed into the boat.

Dominic fell into the water, only for Xia Qiu to catch up and bite down on him.

"He's dead! Dominic is dead! That's wonderful!"

Marcel shouted excitedly, tears glistening at the corners of his eyes.

The man who had killed his father was dead. Marcel was overwhelmed with emotion.

He had wanted to take revenge himself, to kill the man with his own hands. But he also knew that with his strength, who knew how many years it would take before he could kill him.

Now Dominic had been killed, and Marcel had seen him die with his own eyes. That was enough.

"Marcel, what are you talking about? What happened?"

Marcel's words drew everyone's attention. Joezer jogged over and asked curiously.

"Uncle Joezer, look over there."

Marcel pointed into the distance and handed the telescope to Joezer, who took it and looked out.

After killing Dominic, Xia Qiu did not stop hunting. He locked onto the pirate wielding twin blades. The man was sprawled across a plank of wood, continuously coughing up blood.

"You too."

Xia Qiu circled around, changed direction, and charged at him.

This man was Xia Qiu's hunting target. He was fairly strong and Xia Qiu's second target.

"No, don't."

Leo shouted weakly, trying to escape, but his broken bones left him unable to move.

"Ah!"

Amid Leo's desperate scream, Xia Qiu bit him to pieces and swallowed him, then looked around.

He had eaten the two strongest ones.

Xia Qiu scanned the surroundings. Two pirates were swimming into the distance, while three others clung to planks in terrible condition, barely alive.

As for the remaining pirates, aside from those he had eaten, they had either been killed or injured by his ramming and fallen into the sea.

"Eat them. Let me escape from here."

Johansen swam rapidly into the distance, constantly praying that the sea fish would eat the others and give him a chance to flee.

After seeing Xia Qiu charge at him and firing a shot, he had dodged in advance and jumped into the sea.

Of the twelve pirates, he was the only one Xia Qiu had not rammed, the only one completely unscathed.

"You're swimming fast. You must be pretty strong."

But from afar, Xia Qiu watched Johansen pull ahead of another pirate. A teasing look filled his eyes. "You were the one who shot me earlier, weren't you?"

With that thought, Xia Qiu shot forward, rapidly closing the distance.

"It's coming. Damn it, why is it chasing me?"

Feeling the figure rapidly approaching from behind, Johansen's face filled with despair. He turned around and shouted, "Spare me! Please spare me!"

But the answer he received was a terrifying maw that swallowed him cleanly.

"Hope you can give me some energy."

Xia Qiu snorted, turned around, and ate the two pirates lying on planks. He ignored the pirate sinking into the sea and instead swam toward the pirate ship in the distance.

There were still seven or eight pirates floating there.

Xia Qiu charged toward them without concealing himself in the slightest.

"The sea fish is coming! Run!"

The pirates panicked and tried to escape, but it was useless.

One, two, three.

Xia Qiu devoured pirate after pirate, swallowing every last one and revealing a satisfied expression.

Fourteen pirates.

The man wielding the machete had been stronger than Muir, whom Xia Qiu had once eaten, but slightly weaker than Colonel Lido.

The one wielding twin blades had been no weaker than Muir either.

And then there were the rest.

What a bountiful haul.

Xia Qiu grinned and swam toward the merchant ship, waiting for the warm current to appear and strengthen him.

"Th-they were all eaten."

Joezer stared blankly into the distance, dazed.

That sea fish had slaughtered the entire pirate crew. He had never seen anything like it.

"It's that sea fish."

Marcel shouted excitedly, "It's the sea fish that's been following us all this time! It attacked the Dominic Pirates and killed Dominic."

"It's incredible."

Kafur could not help sighing. "I never expected it to be able to ram a ship apart when it's less than twenty meters long."

"It's coming over! It's swimming this way!"

Marcel saw the sea fish heading toward them and could not help cheering.

"Quick, turn thirty degrees to port. Leave with the wind and get away from it." The captain looked at the small flag by the ship. The wind direction did not align with the ship's course, but was offset by thirty degrees. They could still use the wind, though it would not be at its strongest.

"Why should we get away from it?"

Marcel asked in confusion.

"It might attack us next." Joezer said softly.

"But it's followed us for so long and never attacked us." Marcel said from nearby.

"Maybe it wasn't hungry before."

The captain said worriedly, "Now that it has started feeding and eaten so many pirates, it may attack us too. Hurry."

At the captain's words, the ship shifted course slightly, catching the strongest wind and accelerating away.

But even after the ship picked up speed, it was still slower than Xia Qiu.

Xia Qiu surged forward beneath the water, instantly closing in on the merchant ship.

"Watch out for a collision!"

The captain shouted, but the next moment, Xia Qiu stopped. He turned upright, slowed down, and quietly followed alongside the ship.

The warm current had appeared. He needed to wait for the strengthening to finish.

Then he would follow the merchant ship to the next island.

"Look, it didn't attack us."

As if he had been proven right, Marcel shouted excitedly from the merchant ship, "It has no intention of hurting us at all."

Joezer asked in confusion, "Strange. Why didn't it attack us, yet attacked the pirates who robbed us?"

"Hahaha, could it have avenged us?" Kafur, the burly man, said with a laugh.

"That must be it."

Marcel beamed. Leaning over the rail and looking at the large black fish, he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted down, "Mr. Sea Fish, thank you for avenging us."

"Hmm?"

Xia Qiu, beneath the sea, heard the voice and sneered inwardly.

Avenge you?

My attack on the pirates had nothing to do with you. I simply wanted to eat.

You're thinking too much.

Xia Qiu suddenly rolled to one side and flicked his huge tail upward, sending a surge of water flying into the air and splashing the people aboard the ship.

Splash.

Seawater drenched everyone on deck. They looked at their soaked clothes, then at one another.

"Hahaha."

The next moment, laughter rang out—laughter filled with joy, delight, and goodwill.

Hearing that laughter, Xia Qiu seemed to feel that his actions carried another meaning beyond feeding and killing.

But Xia Qiu immediately snorted, closed his Nictitating membrane, rolled his eyes, and slowly dived deeper.

Boring humans.