Zephyr's Awakening

On the return voyage · Marine warship

The night grew ever deeper. Dark clouds hung low, and the sea looked like steel plates bent under pressure, reflecting scattered starlight.

The battered warship moved slowly through the waves, its hull letting out low groans from time to time, as if it still remembered the natural-disaster-like battle from not long ago.

The charred marks on the deck had yet to fade, and cracks ran everywhere.

The hastily reinforced rigging was stretched taut in the wind. Dim yellow lights swayed, drawing their shadows long, then short.

Rock was covered in bandages from head to toe. The lightning around him had long since faded as he sat on a relatively intact railing, staring at the endless horizon as though digesting everything that had just happened inch by inch.

"Hey—" Zephyr walked up beside him, his steps heavy. The next second, he casually raised a hand and gave him a hard slap.

Smack!

"Ah! That hurts, that hurts—!!!"

Rock's entire face instantly twisted in pain. His body tilted, and he nearly toppled straight over the railing. He hurriedly hooked a foot around it to steady himself.

Zephyr withdrew his hand and snorted irritably. "So you know pain too? You actually dared to clash head-on with Newgate! You even smashed an entire island to pieces!!!"

Rock clutched his shoulder and sucked in a breath, yet still forced out an embarrassed smile. "Well... it's rare to run into someone that strong. I got a little fired up and couldn't quite control myself."

"Couldn't control yourself?"

"You call that not controlling yourself?! You were throwing your life away!!!" Zephyr cut him off, his tone fierce, though his gaze was not as harsh.

Rock chuckled and offered no rebuttal.

The two stood side by side in silence for a