Joy Boy collapsed onto the deck, using the last of his strength to tremble as he raised a hand. His voice was thin, barely more than a whisper.
"I'm… hungry… so hungry…"
At that moment, Reid genuinely felt like taking off his shoe and slapping himself in the face with it.
"I haven't… had a full meal… in a month…"
Reid: ???
The blood mist swirling around him froze in place.
All the killing intent he had just built up, all that razor-sharp focus, stopped dead. It was like sprinting at full speed and suddenly stepping into empty air, nearly throwing his balance off completely.
What?
Hungry?
You have not eaten a full meal in a month?
That is the reason?
I made my stance perfectly clear and this is what you give me?
That explosive energy just now… the bouncing, the attacks, the sheer force like a cannon blast… you are telling me that came from someone who has not eaten properly for a month?
Reid's expression stiffened.
Right now, he really wanted to summon something dramatic. A blood dragon calamity. Nine dragons lifting a coffin. Anything.
Morr: Sir, he is clearly messing with you.
Reid: Shut up. Do you think I cannot tell?
He felt like his intelligence had just been thrown onto the ground and stomped on.
After all that tension, all that buildup, it was not an ambush by a powerful enemy.
This idiot had simply fainted from hunger.
Reid stared at Joy Boy, who looked like he might actually starve to death right there on the deck. The veins at his temple throbbed.
"…Forget it."
Reid had always had little patience for people like this.
He was not about to waste more words on a walking stomach. He was not a snack bar.
He glanced at the approaching pursuers.
The blood mist around him erupted.
It gathered behind his back, condensing, stretching, until it formed two massive, magnificent wings made entirely of solidified crimson mist. Their edges were not feathers, but flowing, steaming currents of blood fog.
"Hold on, kid," Reid said softly to the girl in his arms, tightening the mist around her protectively.
In the next instant, the wings slammed downward.
Boom!
A terrifying force surged through the rubber ship, along with Reid's own small vessel.
The massive elastic ship was yanked upward as if seized by an invisible giant hand, launching straight into low-altitude flight.
They were flying.
Fast.
So fast that the royal warships behind them shrank into tiny black dots within seconds, then disappeared entirely beyond the horizon.
"Waaaaah! We're flying!!!" Joy Boy screamed in shock and delight, grabbing onto anything he could.
His eyes sparkled again, hunger temporarily forgotten.
"So amazing! So amazing!!!"
Reid ignored him, controlling the wings carefully as he maintained low flight.
Only after confirming they had completely shaken off their pursuers did he gradually slow down, gently lowering the rubber ship back onto the sea.
The crimson wings dissipated.
Reid looked at the giant now clutching his stomach and whining again.
Annoyed, he flicked his hand.
A pile of food wrapped in blood mist dropped in front of Joy Boy. Mostly dried meat and fruit he had taken from a former king's treasury, along with some local specialties from BluBlu Island.
"Eat."
His tone was blunt.
"Thank you! You're such a good person!" Joy Boy cheered, immediately pouncing on the food and devouring it like a starving beast.
After finishing, he looked at Reid again.
With the same expectant gaze.
Reid suddenly felt that if all those people who worshipped Joy Boy saw him like this, their entire worldview might collapse.
Joy Boy stared at him pitifully.
Reid tossed him another small portion.
Joy Boy stared again.
Reid gave a bit more.
Back and forth it went.
Reid crossed his arms and watched as a pile of food that could have fed a normal person for a month rapidly disappeared before his eyes.
"…Hey. Rubber head."
"Hm?" Joy Boy looked up, mouth stuffed full.
Reid tilted his chin toward the now-empty deck.
"You have been at sea for a while, right? Just you alone? You have not recruited a crew?"
Joy Boy struggled to swallow before replying, completely confused.
"Crew? What is that? Can you eat it?"
Reid: …
He already knew he could not expect common sense from this idiot.
With rare patience, he explained in the simplest terms possible.
"A crew means this. You are the captain, right? You invite others onto your ship. They become your companions. You sail together. Adventure together. Those people are your crew."
Joy Boy blinked, clearly struggling to process this complex concept.
A few seconds later, it clicked.
It was practically visible. Like a light bulb turning on above his head.
His face lit up instantly.
"Oh!!! I get it!!!"
He slapped his thigh excitedly.
"That is amazing! You are incredible! You can even fly! And you have food! Join my ship! Be my crew member!!!"
Reid: …
Without blinking, without hesitation, completely expressionless:
"I refuse."
"Ehhh?!?!!!"
Joy Boy's excitement shattered instantly.
His entire body seemed to turn gray.
"…Why…" he muttered weakly. "You are so amazing… going on adventures together would be so fun…"
Reid watched him sink into despair and could not help the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.
This guy really was a complete idiot.
"Because I already have my own pirate crew," Reid said, straightening his clothes. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Reid, the Mist Sovereign, captain of the Crimson Pirate Crew. And this is my first mate…"
His words suddenly stopped.
He realized something.
He had always called her "kid."
He had never actually asked her name.
And she had never offered it.
…Forget it.
If she wanted to tell him, she would.
If she did not, he would not ask.
That was the kind of adult who did not ruin the mood.
Is it raining?
No.
That is drool.
"Amazing!!!" Joy Boy's shout snapped him out of his thoughts.
The giant's eyes sparkled wildly, drool practically pouring like a waterfall.
"The Crimson Pirate Crew! The Mist Sovereign Reid! That sounds so cool! I want a title like that too! And a crew name!!!"
Reid stared at him.
He looked like he was about to drool from envy.
"…Titles like that are not something you just make up," Reid said flatly. "They are recognition from the sea. A symbol of who you are. A crew name carries belief."
Reid paused, then added silently:
People like this…
Even when they grow up…
They will still drool over things like this.
Reid: …
-------------------------------------
Hooked already? Let me know what grabbed you leave a review and fuel the journey forward! and if we hit every 250 Power Stones, a bonus chapter drops!
Things are just heating up. Read ahead in Unbound Evolution and stay ahead of the crowd.
[email protected]/_tey
Change @ to a.