On the vast, boundless sea, a merchant ship sailed towards the distance.
The sails billowed, filled by the wind, and the bow cut through the waves, creating ripples.
"So tired."
On deck, a young boy sat, stretching his shoulders, his expression filled with exhaustion.
"Marcel, already tired from unloading just this much cargo?"
Beside him stood a middle-aged man, leaning against the ship's railing, a bottle of alcohol in hand. He looked at the boy with a smile.
"Uncle Joezer."
Seeing the newcomer, Marcel sighed and said, "I really didn't expect it to be this tiring."
"This is what your father did all along," Joezer said, taking a swig from his bottle, a hint of melancholy in his expression. "Now that he's gone, you're the only man in the family. You have to support this household."
Hearing this, Marcel's eyes became determined. He clenched his fist and said, "I'll do my job well."
"A good lad," Joezer said, ruffling Marcel's hair.
"And then, I'm going to practice my sword fighting, kill all those pirates, and avenge my father." Marcel's eyes were filled with hatred.
Half a month ago, the merchant association's ship was robbed by a pirate crew. To establish their might, the pirates killed two people, one of whom was Marcel's father.
Without his father, Marcel's family lost its sole source of income.
He still had a younger brother and sister at home. The brother was still an infant, needing his mother's care.
His mother had originally planned to have Marcel look after the baby, but she was in poor health. So, sixteen-year-old Marcel resolutely joined the merchant ship as a stevedore to help support the family.
Although it was hard, as a man, he needed to bear this responsibility.
The people on the ship were also good to him. Despite having the lowest efficiency, sailing with the ship meant he was paid for each unloading task at the price of an hour's work.
The hourly rate for a stevedore was four thousand Belly. A single voyage could cover ten villages, with ten unloading tasks, earning at least forty thousand.
Twice a month would bring in eighty thousand Belly.
Eighty thousand Belly, used frugally, could basically cover the family's expenses.
If he worked for just two or three years and became proficient in the work on the sea ship, he could not only be a stevedore but also a helmsman, sailor, lookout, or accountant.
He could even catch some sea fish along the way to sell or eat.
Marcel's future was filled with hope, and he believed in his own future.
Marcel turned his head to look at Uncle Joezer and said with a smile, "Uncle Joezer, can I have a drink of rum?"
"Want a drink? You're too young. Rum isn't something you can drink yet," Joezer said with a laugh.
Marcel said with dissatisfaction, "Uncle Joezer, I'm working now, I can drink."
"Then have a little."
Joezer thought for a moment and handed the bottle to Marcel.
Marcel took the bottle, brought it to his lips, and gulped down a mouthful.
Cough, cough, cough.
Marcel coughed violently, his face instantly flushing red.
"Hahahaha."
Joezer burst into laughter. When Marcel stopped coughing, he said, "You drank too much. Rum is different from beer; its alcohol content is very high. It's your first time drinking, don't drink so much."
Marcel nodded, handed the bottle back to Joezer, and shook his head, feeling a bit dizzy.
His alcohol tolerance needed training.
What man at sea can't drink? Marcel thought, rubbing his flushed face. Just then, a voice called out from a distance, "There's a sea fish swimming below, following our ship."
"Kafur, it's just a sea fish. What kind of sea fish haven't we seen? What's the big deal?" Joezer shouted towards the distance.
"This fish is huge."
From afar, a burly man was leaning over the other side of the ship's railing, staring underwater.
"What sea fish? Why don't we catch it with a net? The merchant ship has some extra space, we can catch it and sell it."
An old man shouted loudly from a distance.
"Old Jon, you won't be able to catch it."
Kafur laughed, looking at the fish. "This fish is about twenty meters long, it's too big."
"That big?"
Both Joezer and Marcel ran to the ship's railing and looked down.
They saw a giant sea fish following the sea ship in the shadow of the water.
The sea fish was about twenty meters long, entirely black, with a massive head and a thick body.
Its head had a protruding ramming horn, and the first dorsal fin on its back protruded like a sickle. There was also a ramming horn in front of the dorsal fin.
"That's huge."
Marcel couldn't help but ask, "Uncle Joezer, what kind of fish is that?"
Joezer observed it for a while and said, "I haven't seen one like it before. It looks a bit strange."
"Why is it following us?" Marcel asked curiously.
Joezer shrugged and replied, "It might be using the ship's body for cover, or perhaps the ship's movement stirs up the water, driving fish towards it for it to prey on, or it might just be doing it for fun. Any of those are possible."
"I see."
Marcel nodded and looked at the seabed. Suddenly, he put his fingers to his lips and let out a whistle.
...
"Hmm?"
On the seabed, Xia Qiu heard the sharp whistle and looked up.
This sea fish was naturally Xia Qiu. He had followed the sea fish and left Naruto Village.
He had killed a Marine Colonel, and the Marines would definitely hunt him in this sea area, so Xia Qiu chose to leave.
The ocean was vast. As long as he left this sea area, the Marines wouldn't be able to track him. After searching fruitlessly for this sea fish, they wouldn't even remember him.
So Xia Qiu chose to leave, but he needed to consider his destination and method of departure.
He couldn't just blindly head in one direction. After all, the East Blue had Sea Beasts and Sea Kings. Even in the near seas, there were Kings of the Near Seas.
He needed to find another island. Most islands had limited water depth around their shores. The waters around the shallows were mostly below thirty meters, with some areas reaching a hundred meters.
Of course, some islands had cliffs or vertical straits right below their shallows, reaching hundreds of meters deep.
A harbor with a depth of over fifteen meters was considered a deep-water port, capable of docking 8000 teu freighters.
Where the water depth was shallow, large fish rarely went. This was especially true for sea fish over thirty meters long.
His combat power limit was roughly enough to deal with sea fish between thirty and forty meters. That would already be dangerous, but he could still manage.
Therefore, Xia Qiu needed to find the next island and, as much as possible, avoid Sea Kings and Sea Beasts. The best method was to follow a ship.
Naruto Village had many merchant ships and freighters traveling to and from the islands, which could help him find the next island.
Xia Qiu didn't choose a giant freighter. The freighters that transported salt here every week were fully loaded and headed towards the companies and factories that processed the salt.
Most of those companies and factories were located in towns or countries, which were relatively large islands.
He didn't need to go to a large island; more powerful pirates would gather there, and Marines would be stationed. It was important to know that a Marine branch base was stationed in the town. A Marine branch base in one town was responsible for about twenty villages.
So Xia Qiu set his sights on a small island, which meant he needed a merchant ship that could travel to the islands.
For example, this merchant ship was very large. Even after unloading some of its cargo, it was still sitting deep in the water.
Such a merchant ship would definitely not be trading and transporting daily necessities for just one village.
Therefore, it had to go to another island that needed goods for trade. The scale of the island wouldn't be too large.
Furthermore, such a huge merchant ship would surely have defenses against Sea Kings and Sea Beasts, and the routes it took would mostly be in areas where Sea Kings did not inhabit.
This would ensure basic safety.
Xia Qiu didn't respond to the shouting from the sea ship. He slowed down, fell a bit behind, and then leisurely continued to follow the merchant ship.
Just finished writing. Today I'm rewriting the outline. The previous outline was a bit boring and narrow, and the growth and timeline would have problems later on.
I've changed the subsequent plot today, adding some ideas and content, which should make it better.
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