This was bad! The hull was badly rusted.
Odin stood at the bottom of the ship, his feet planted on an iron plate protruding above the water.
Blisters of rust covered the plate, which creaked beneath his feet.
Ponzu crouched beside him, tapping her fingers against the brim of her hat.
Several bees flew out, circled the surrounding reefs, then returned.
"Looks like there really aren't any boats we can use as they are," Ponzu said. "They're all rotten. Some are nothing but frames."
Odin nodded. He had seen it too.
Plenty of ships had run aground around this warship, but not one was intact.
Some had holes in their hulls, others had broken keels, and some lay tilted against the reefs, their entire hulls covered in barnacles and seaweed.
It was as though something here had ravaged all these ships.
And Odin could think of only one thing capable of doing that-a shipwrecking storm!
"Let's find another way." Odin pressed his forehead, a headache coming on.
Ponzu looked up at him. "I guess we have no choice."
Honestly, Odin wasn't worried about being unable to cross the sea.
With the Rabbit Talisman's speed, he could run across the water, and with his current stamina, ten kilometers would be easy.
He could even take Ponzu along without any trouble.
But it wasn't time for that yet.
A shout came from the distance.
It was Gon's voice. "Killua! There's a boat over here!"
Odin and Ponzu exchanged a glance, then headed toward the voice.
Rounding a massive reef, they saw Gon standing beside a small wooden boat.
The boat was wedged in a gap between the rocks. Its hull was fairly intact, but there was a fist-sized hole in the bottom.
Killua crouched beside it and knocked on the planks. "The wood's still good. We can patch the hole."
Kurapika and Leorio came over too, both smiling.
Gon's group of four weren't the only ones who had found something. Other examinees had made discoveries of their own, while those still empty-handed picked up the pace of their searches.
Watching so many examinees make progress, Ponzu felt helpless. "We need to hurry."
"Almost all the usable boats have been found. With what's left, we might not even be able to cobble together a single boat." Odin looked out at the sea, equally helpless.
Even with the bees helping them, they hadn't found a single usable boat. It was almost unbelievable.
They fell silent again.
"Can that boat actually reach our destination?" Ponzu looked at the patched-up little boat, suddenly feeling that perhaps not finding it had been a good thing.
"Hard to say," Odin replied. "It's ten kilometers away, and who knows what's underwater? Besides, I'm worried a storm might hit. A little boat like that would be a risky bet."
Ponzu frowned. "Then how are you planning to get across?"
Odin said nothing. He motioned for Ponzu to follow him and headed inside.
They entered a bathroom and looked at the bathtub in front of them.
It was an old-fashioned cast-iron tub, its white enamel yellowed with age.
But it was intact, without any holes. Odin had already checked that when he bathed earlier.
"A bathtub?! Can we really use this?" Ponzu exclaimed.
"Of course." Odin smiled. "It's like those little boats-it'll definitely capsize in a storm. But we can race against time and leave before the storm arrives. As long as we reach the island first, the size of the boat won't matter much."
He bent down, gripped the edge of the tub with both hands, and heaved.
The tub didn't budge.
"Tch." He changed positions, crouching and bracing his back against one side of the tub before pushing with his legs.
The tub came right off its fittings.
Crazy. This was all crazy. Ponzu could only think that Odin's idea was utterly insane.
Watching Odin carry the tub out of the storeroom, Ponzu hesitated, then followed him through the hotel lobby, down the steps, and all the way to the shore.
The examinees were still arguing over there. No one noticed them.
Odin set the tub down and let out a light breath. He rolled his shoulders, then began inspecting it.
"We need something to add buoyancy and balance. Let's go look."
Odin turned and led Ponzu back toward the warship.
This time, he was looking for old tires.
There was a pile of rubbish behind the hotel, with tires mixed in.
They rummaged around and found three reasonably intact tires.
They carried the tires to the shore and used rope to lash them to the sides and back of the tub.
Three tires provided enough buoyancy.
"All done." Odin stood up and dusted off his hands.
Ponzu stood beside him, her expression conflicted.
Odin tossed his backpack into the tub, then climbed in and sat down.
The tub rocked, then steadied.
The tires floated on the surface, and the tub sat high in the water. It looked all right.
"Are you sure about this?" Ponzu asked.
"Do you have another idea?" Odin asked.
Ponzu was silent for several seconds.
"Maybe you're right," she said with a sigh.
She climbed into the tub and sat at the other end.
The tub rocked again, then settled.
Odin picked up two wooden boards to use as paddles and paddled out to sea.
The tub slowly left the shore, drifting southeast.
The sea was calm. Occasionally, a swell rolled past and rocked the tub a few times, but it didn't overturn.
The tires provided buoyancy, while the tub's own weight kept its center of gravity stable.
Ponzu glanced back.
Warship Island grew smaller and smaller, and the examinees on shore were starting to set off one after another.
"We ended up being the first after all." Ponzu looked at Odin with an amused smile.
"I didn't expect that either." Odin chuckled too.
They kept paddling. The tub moved slowly forward, not fast, but steady.
The water grew darker.
The pale green near the shore turned dark green, then deep blue.
The tub drifted on.
They paddled for about half an hour.
A tiny dot appeared on the distant horizon.
It was the island they were heading for.
It was still a long way off.
They paddled for another half hour.
The sea remained calm, but the sky had changed.
The distant clouds began to thicken, their color shifting from white to gray, then dark gray.
"The weather's turning," Odin said.
Ponzu looked up, and her expression changed.
The clouds were moving fast, closing in from the east.
The sea breeze began to strengthen, and the waves rose higher than before.
The tub began rocking more violently.
"Should we go back?" Ponzu asked.
Odin glanced behind him. Warship Island had grown tiny too. They seemed to be trapped between the two islands.
"We go forward," he said.
He paddled faster.
But the waves kept growing.
A wave struck, tipping the tub sharply. Ponzu nearly tumbled out. She clung tightly to the rim, her face pale.
"Hold on!" Odin shouted.
Another wave struck.
This one was higher, pouring straight into the tub.
The icy seawater instantly soaked their clothes. The tub filled halfway with water, growing heavier and sinking lower.
A third wave came.
The tub capsized.
Odin felt the world spin as he was thrown into the sea.
Seawater flooded his mouth, salty and bitter.
He surfaced and wiped his face.
Ponzu flailed nearby, rising and falling with the waves.
Odin swam over and grabbed her arm.
They looked at the water nearby. The tub had overturned, but the three tires were still there.
"If we'd left earlier, we probably would've made it," Odin said helplessly.
"Yeah. What rotten luck!" Ponzu said, panting.
Another wave struck.
It pushed Odin forward. He simply let go of Ponzu, trod water, and looked ahead.
The island was still in the distance.
But the waves weren't pushing them toward it.
Odin took a deep breath.
He activated the Rabbit Talisman.
The world slowed down.
The surging waves became slow undulations. He could see the path of every wave and every detail of the spray scattering as its crest broke.
He stepped against the water, pushing off with his feet.
Once, twice, three times.
His body shot out of the water.
He landed on the surface, his feet striking the crests, and kept running.
He snatched Ponzu up and held her in front of him.
He moved as fast as a shadow, skimming across the sea and leaving a white trail behind him.
"You're running on water?!" Ponzu exclaimed.
Even if he was fast, surely he couldn't be this fast!
Odin ignored Ponzu's astonishment, running over one wave, then another.
The sea beneath his feet became ground he could push off against. Every step sent water exploding outward, but it gave him enough support to take the next.
At a high enough speed, the surface of the water was just like solid ground.
He ran for three minutes.
When he stopped, the island's coastline was already visible.
Ponzu looked back over her shoulder.
Far out at sea, the other examinees' wooden boats were drifting this way too.
Some had already lost their wooden boats and could only drift with the waves, struggling to swim toward the island.
They had noticed Odin too.
"That guy's running on water!" someone shouted.
Odin ignored them and kept running.
He ran for another five minutes.
His feet touched sand.
He had reached the shore.
Odin stopped and took a few panting breaths.
He stood on the beach as seawater washed over his ankles, then receded.
Behind him, the examinees struggled to survive. Some already regretted leaving Warship Island, wishing they could have stayed like the examinees still there and found a way to get the warship moving.
Before you continue