As Charles soared through the air as a giant bat, he knew that the floating monsters possessed tough bodies and immense strength. He avoided a direct confrontation, flapping his membranous wings and darting toward the hillside.

  The transformation immediately caught the attention of the floating creatures, which began to pursue him. Charles thought everything was going according to plan, but just as he reached halfway, a flash of light appeared before him. One of the floating monsters materialized right in front of him, with a man covered in skull tattoos standing on its shoulder, a smug grin on his face as he adjusted his single-eyed brass frame. It seemed the monster’s sudden appearance was orchestrated by him.

  Before Charles could react, the heavy stone pillar came swinging toward him, crashing down with tremendous force. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he found himself in a dire situation.

  As he spiraled toward the ground, he noticed more floating monsters converging on him from all directions. Realizing that he needed to save himself or risk dying here, he gritted his teeth and flapped his wings with all his might, managing to hover in mid-air just as the monsters surrounded him, raising their stone pillars.

  Taking a deep breath, Charles opened his massive jaws and emitted a piercing shriek. The sound reverberated, causing the floating monsters to sway and dodge. One of them lagged slightly behind, and its air sac exploded with a loud pop.

  Seeing this, Charles’s heart leaped with hope; he seemed to have discovered their weakness.

  However, he couldn’t afford to linger. The pirates were closing in, and one of them pulled out a mirrored box. As the bright light spilled from the box’s seams, an instinctual terror gripped Charles, prompting him to flee rapidly.

  Yet, his diversion had worked. He saw that, taking advantage of the chaos, his two companions—a man and a mouse—had already reached the shore.

  But then, he received alarming news: several beams of light were rapidly approaching from the sea. They were the searchlights of the pirate ships.

  Charles dove down, reaching his companions, and pulled out a blood bag to suck on. “We need to find our ship immediately! The pirate ships are coming!”

  “Taking this route might be too late. We should swim back,” Fairbairn suggested, pointing toward the sea.

  “Are you crazy? Do you know how far it is over there?”

  “Don’t worry, Captain Charles. Trust me; the sea is my domain. I don’t want to be captured by the pirates either,” Fairbairn replied, flashing a brilliant smile.

  With the lights on the water growing ever closer, Charles gritted his teeth and plunged into the water.

  The depths were dark and oppressive. With his ability to see through the darkness, Charles noticed something moving in the shadows.

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  Fairbairn’s deep green hair fanned out in the water, swaying like seaweed. He signaled to Charles and the others to wait, then opened his mouth as if chanting something. However, sound could not travel underwater, so Charles heard nothing.

  Before long, the surface above grew bright as the pirate ship passed overhead.

  Just as Charles began signaling Fairbairn to ask what he was doing, dark shapes began to writhe in the distance, stirring the water toward them.

  Under the illumination of the searchlights, Charles quickly recognized the forms: six massive sharks with dark red skin, each nearly seven meters long.

  Fairbairn gently stroked one of the sharks’ fins, giving Charles a thumbs-up with a proud grin.

  Seeing that something had entered the water, Charles quickly climbed onto one of the sharks’ backs.

  Once everyone had a firm grip, the sharks’ powerful tails whipped, propelling them forward.

  Charles felt the immense water pressure pressing against his face, distorting his skin as the sharks shot through the water like high-speed torpedoes.

  After about a minute, he struggled to open his eyes and realized the light above had vanished; they had already left the coastline.

  At that moment, he spotted Lily, bubbles escaping her mouth, her face contorted in pain—she was on the verge of losing consciousness.

  Charles grabbed her and stuffed her into his mouth, signaling Fairbairn to surface.

  “Are these your fish?” Charles asked breathlessly, taking the opportunity to replenish oxygen.

  The green-haired youth nodded proudly. “I told you, I have a few tricks in the sea. These little guys are called ‘Little Tricks.’”

  After a brief moment of surfacing for air, the sharks continued to propel them toward the dark expanse of the ocean.

  As the lights of the coast quickly faded, darkness enveloped them, and Charles could feel the water temperature drop significantly—something was approaching.

  Suddenly, a mass of thick, black, amorphous substance surged from below, lunging at Tuba’s legs. But just then, the two sharks lunged forward, their gaping jaws tearing into the mass.

  The dark entity was instantly ripped apart.

  Watching Fairbairn’s green hair sway in the water, Charles was now certain that this guy had been lying—someone who could command such fierce sharks couldn’t possibly be a novice.

  But regardless of his motives, he was helping Charles now.

  Thirty minutes later, after another breath of air, Charles spotted a ship on the surface: it was his ship, the Narwhal.

  Dragging Tuba, whose eyes were rolling back and who was sputtering water, Charles swam toward his vessel.

  Climbing up the soft ladder onto the deck, he found the other captains had already gathered, with the ever-enthusiastic Kode at the forefront.

  “How did it go? Did you find any resource leads?”

  Taking the towel from Deep, Charles wiped his wet hair as he headed toward the cabin.

  Inside the dimly lit captain’s room, everyone anxiously watched as Charles sketched the target island’s map with swift strokes.

  Soon, a detailed map of Waterfall Island appeared on the paper. Charles pointed to the left edge of the island with his pen.

  “This is where they replenish their fuel. According to my intel, there’s enough fuel here to meet our needs.”

  Charles moved his pen across the map, marking several dashed lines.

  “I’ve drawn these lines representing freshwater waterfalls. The closest waterfall to the fuel point is five kilometers to its left. We can take advantage of the fuel transport to replenish our freshwater supplies.”

  “Great, let’s do it!” Kode jumped up, ready to head outside.

  Charles called out, “Not so fast! What’s the rush?”

  “We need to discuss the enemy pirates’ combat layout,” Charles said, drawing a circle around the Waterfall Island dock.

  “This location is home to many warships. Based on my previous encounters, their support arrives quickly. If we’re interrupted while replenishing supplies, it could cost us all our lives.”