"Are you sure? Never heard of a place called Water 7 before," Sonic says, scratching his head.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure," the man responds, confused. "I've lived here my whole life. So this place looks pretty much real to me," he says with a nervous laugh.
"Well, thank you, sir, but I gotta get going."
Sonic speeds off, leaving a trail of dust behind him. A powerful gust of wind hits the people nearby. The hedgehog's eyes scan this beautiful city. For a moment, he even forgets what he was looking for.
Water 7 is a city built on water. People use seahorse-like creatures as transportation. The roads, called canals, are completely made of water. These canals are surrounded by shops and sidewalks. The buildings often have a tan color, with roofs painted red. The entire city is shaped like a fountain, with the houses going downhill along the sides.
Sonic runs on the sidewalk at high speed, dodging people by a hair. He then jumps onto a canal and runs beside the seahorses, waving at the confused people riding them. His skin is cold as water drips onto his body. He accelerates, splashing the people around.
"Oops, sorry," he says, continuing his race below a bridge. The hedgehog looks up and sees the giant fountain in the middle of the city. He grins and jumps onto the roof of a shop.
"Get down, you dirty—" says an angry old man outside his shop. But Sonic disappears before he can finish his insult.
He jumps at high speed from rooftop to rooftop, his eyes locked on the fountain. Beside him, water flows from the base of the fountain down to the city. He jumps onto a ramp above the massive current and boosts uphill, breaking the sound barrier. He uses his momentum to leap above the base of the fountain. In the air, he sees the massive pool of water inside it. He's impressed for a moment but starts panicking when he realizes he jumped too far.
"Ohhh shiit…"
He sees the water approaching quickly, but he has an idea.
Sonic gets into a ball and charges energy.
"Come on, come on, come on."
His body radiates blue and leaves a trail as he falls into the fountain.
"Go!"
As he's about to hit the water, he boosts forward toward a huge pillar supporting the fountain, bounces off it, and heads back to the huge wall keeping the water in. He brakes just in time before falling toward the city.
"Well, that was close."
He shakes the water off and takes a look at the scenery.
"Woah. So that's Water 7."
A city full of life. From up there, he can see the multiple docks around the island, water dripping from the fountain, sunlight reflecting off the water, and people going about their everyday life in a city that looks like it's drowning.
Sonic puts his hands in front of his mouth like a megaphone.
"Tails! Amy! Knuckles! Shadow! Silver! Are you guys there? I'm up here, guys!"
He looks around, thinking one of them will show up. Nothing. The only sound responding to him is the water falling into the giant pool. It's like he's surrounded by dams.
At the far right of the city, he sees multiple ships entering a dock. The biggest one in the middle has a white flag with dots forming a cross, flanked by four warships. "Marine" is what's written on their flags.
"They might be able to help," Sonic says, jumping off the wall and diving into the city.
At Dock 1, home of the shipwrights and the Galley-La Company, Iceberg stands at the end of the dock to welcome the ships. His heart is racing in his chest, but his face remains sharp and professional.
The giant boat stops first, and the warships follow.
The shipwrights behind Iceberg are afraid to move after the guest comes down from his boat.
The man wears a white suit and a bubble helmet. He rides a muscular man with a chain on his neck. The man has bruises all over his body and is physically exhausted.
Iceberg goes to his knees.
"An honor to meet you, Saint Thierry."
The Celestial Dragon walks into the yard without acknowledging his existence.
"Show me the boat," Saint Thierry says impatiently.
"This way, sir." Iceberg stands and leads the group.
The men around kneel as the powerful figure and his bodyguard march into the dock. Saint Thierry looks around proudly. He smiles when he sees the effect he has on the people.
The best shipwrights in the world, kneeling at the sight of him.
"There it is," Iceberg says, pointing at the massive ship standing five meters above ground, held by ropes and wooden poles.
"The Golden Eagle."
Iceberg bows and gestures with his hand for Thierry to take a look.
The hull of the ship is completely made of gold. Wings are carved on each side. At the front, a golden bald eagle with a menacing face stares at Thierry. The boat looks like two Marine warships merged.
"Excellent work, as expected." The man claps his hands.
"This is exactly what I saw in my dream. What a pleasure to finally see it in real life."
He stares at the ship for a moment.
"I've seen enough. I will be going now." He whips his slave to turn around.
"What a marvelous ship indeed." He says smiling.
The workers exchange confused glances.
"Saint Thierry," Iceberg calls, kneeling again.
"Yes?" the man replies without turning.
"Aren't you going to take the ship, sir?" Iceberg asks, just as confused.
"No." Iceberg clenches his teeth.
"Then why? Why ask us to build it?" he asks, trying to hide his anger.
"I needed to see that boat in real life, and I did. My time here is done."
"With all due respect, sir, that boat took two and a half years to build. I lost three men in the process. A lot of investment went into that project. I can't let all the work be for nothing."
"Nothing? Do you think my dream was meaningless?" Thierry finally looks at him.
"No… no sir. It wasn't," Iceberg says, clenching his fist.
"Good. Then all those sacrifices happened for a good reason."
"What about the payment?"
"What about it?"
"I thought you were going to pay us?"
"I was. But then you offended me… and my dream. So as punishment, no money."
Iceberg finally snaps.
"You promised!" Iceberg says, staring at him. Thierry turns and grins.
"As a matter of fact, destroy the boat too," he says devilishly.
"What?" Iceberg's voice softens.
"You heard me. I want you to destroy it."
"I can't do that, sir. It was your dream ship," Iceberg says, trying to protect it.
"Well, I had another dream today where you burned it. So do it!"
"I… I have nothing to burn it with, sir."
Saint Thierry snaps his fingers.
"Bring him some fire."
A Marine walks toward Iceberg with a flaming torch. He takes it, hesitant. The fire reflects in his eyes, hot like his heart.
"What are you waiting for? Burn it down," he says with amusement.
The shipwrights are angry but dare not show it.
One of them is bleeding from the hand, clenching it too tightly.
The Marines are laughing and mockingly chanting.
A tall, skinny Marine with a weird twirling mustache starts:
"Burn the ship, burn the ship, burn the ship!"
It echoes through the dock. Iceberg is sweating, hands trembling. He looks at the boat, thinking of all the work that went into it—for absolutely nothing. But it ended up beautiful. He couldn't be prouder.
Thierry pulls out a pistol.
"You have five seconds to burn that shit, or you're dead."
Iceberg looks at the torch.
"5… 4…"
He looks at the ship.
"3… 2…"
Then at his men, as he drops the torch.
"1."
He smiles at them.
Thierry laughs and pulls the trigger.
"ICEBERG!"
The shipwrights scream in horror.
A gust of wind passes through them and extinguishes the flame.
They all look at the creature in front of them.
"Who is that mink?! How dare you interfere?! Who are you?!" Thierry screams.
"The Incredible, the Amazing, the Marvelous… Sonic the Hedgehog," he says, flicking the bullet at Thierry's hand.
The Celestial Dragon screams in agony.
Everyone stares at Sonic, their eyes nearly popping out.
"Thanks for the help," Iceberg says. "But I think you just made the situation a lot worse."
"Worse than you dying? I don't think so."
Thierry clutches his bleeding hand and glares at Sonic.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! KILL THAT RAT!!"
"Literally just said I'm a hedgehog, but I wouldn't expect a dumb, ugly creature like you to know the difference," Sonic says with a cocky grin.
"Hope you're ready for what's coming," Iceberg warns.
Sonic wipes his nose.
"Bring it on."