Ch. 1The Boy and the Man-Eating Island
Eleven-year-old Roy, a transmigrant stranded on the Boin Archipelago, decided to leave the island after outgrowing his basic training. He spotted a merchant ship and swam toward it, while sailors noticed him approaching.
- Roy argued with Pea, the man-eating plant he had subdued and named, after it woke him by licking his face.
- Roy recalled arriving on the island three years earlier after pirates attacked his family’s ship and his father put him in a barrel.
- Roy traded food with a News Coo and read about Roger’s crew, then trained while considering finding Bullet before the Marines could capture him.
- Roy decided his training on the island was no longer enough and resolved to go to sea for better training.
- Pea pointed out a passing merchant ship, and Roy swam toward it despite Pea’s protests.
- Sailors Sim and Doron spotted Roy swimming rapidly toward their ship, and Sim went to alert the captain.