The boy, Louis, arrived at Noah's side, holding a strip of dirty cloth while supervised by the gap-tooth ability-user, Roger. The boy appeared hesitant to approach the bleeding Noah, standing at the opening in the deck as the fishing trawler rose and fell in the ocean waves.

"Let me bandage your hand," Louis tentatively said as the other oarsmen watched Noah in silence after witnessing his actions.

"Thank you," Noah replied.

It was only now that Noah noticed the small pool of congealed blood at his feet then glanced at his slashed palm to realize that he was wounded before offering it to the boy for it to be bandaged.

After Louis finished bandaging Noah's hand, Roger arrived and shooed the boy away as he wanted to address Noah in private.

"You got your power back," Roger stated. It wasn't a question.

"I did, but it was only for a moment. It's gone again, I still can't use my ability at will."

Noah didn't mention that he had more than one ability. Only his [Battle Instinct] ability can still be triggered in life and death situations with his [Six Spirit Arms] ability still being unusable.

"The Oarsmen did not see you use it. But they suspect you are more than you seem. Blanks do not do what you did. That is why we are different from them, it is not our abilities. It is our will that set us apart. Deep down, they understand this."

Noah nodded in understanding as he reflected on the ability-users he had met. All of them, whether good or bad, had the desire to survive at any cost. They were willing to bravely face death for the slim chance of survival. Even when the ability-users gathered on the cruise ship submitted to Ronan, they were still ready to face him in the beginning while everyone else fled.

"There are Devil-fish trapped below deck as the boss repaired the hull. Uncle Joey and the boss are fishing them out now. What are they?" Noah suddenly changed the subject.

"Devil-fish, shit! They are evil possessed fish that were once mostly discarded from boats like ours that were not good to eat or escaped their nets during arrival. They are the same as the soulless on land with black crystals," Roger patiently explained after hearing they were onboard.

"Eating their meat will make you cursed until you become soulless. We throw them back if we catch them in our nets. They are not even fit for the oarsmen to eat," Roger continued.

"Why don't you feed the oarsmen rations? I saw that Uncle Joey makes enough for everyone," Noah asked.

"It is a waste to give to blanks which will not awaken abilities. Their will must be honed through struggle to become strong. You must understand this?" Roger gave Noah a deep look as he referred to Noah's current situation.

"You will return to the oars. The boy will take your place in the kitchen. His struggle is already enough. He will awaken soon, Basil smells it. The struggle will bring your power back. You will also return to sleeping with the oarsmen. They will attempt to harm you, be alert." Roger declared.

"Why?" Noah asked.

"It will help you recover your ability now that your body is strong again. The oarsmen will want to steal your ability by eating your flesh. If this happens, then it is also good. We need more ability-users, so fight. Survive."

"That's not 'good' at all! Is that why you allow those two to act as guards?" Noah asked.

"Yes, they will make the men strong with hate. The boss could no longer endure their torture of the boy, but it has already succeeded."

"Is that why you gave him the chocolate even though you let it happen? Because he had become strong enough to awaken?" Noah asked with disgust.

"I know that everyone saw it. It will make their hate grow stronger. If they are brave enough to take the chocolate after witnessing the boss beat the guard half to death in front of them. Then it would be a sign that there is hope for them. Basil showed me the boy will awaken by escaping my shirt. That is why I could give the boy the chocolate. He no longer needs to suffer." Roger patted the mouse hidden inside his shirt.

"Your suffering is not yet over until you are useful again. It will not be long now. You are not the same as those blanks, fishbait. You will live." Roger suddenly kicked Noah into the broken opening of the deck.

"Haiyah!"

Uncle Joey exclaimed as Noah flew past him into the water below, filled with leaping devil-fish. There was a large splash as the air was knocked from Noah's lungs as he landed on his back.

"Grab this!" Uncle Joey threw Noah the filleting knife as he resurfaced from the water.

Noah caught the filleting knife with his uninjured hand as he struck away one of the small devil-fish with his bandaged hand. Roger turned away from the opening above as he walked away.

The devil-fish had mostly been removed by Uncle Joey's gaff as they're too mindless to have any self-preservation instincts. They would bite anything that neared them, so only a few creatures were left in the water. Unfortunately, this included the wounded and exhausted Noah.

Another devil-fish lunged towards Noah's face. It was intercepted by the boss, who was now wielding the gaff with deadly accuracy. The boss hauled the speared devil-fish from the water. The boss flicked his wrist to remove the devil-fish with a flourish. It landed squarely in front of Uncle Joey, who swung his meat cleaver down to end its flailing. The boss didn't pause for even a second as he hooked another devil-fish to repeat the process, tossing it to Uncle Joey.

Noah drove his filleting knife into the nightmarish face of an approaching devil-fish. It had opened its twisted jaws as it prepared to leap at Noah. A small amount of lifeforce flowed from the dead devil-fish, received from Noah's [Omega] role as he killed it. Noah hurriedly used the filleting knife to pry out its grade one black origin crystal to absorb it. Feeling the lifeforce flow into his withered body caused Noah to close his eyes with ecstasy as his withered lifeforce once again recovered slightly.

Suddenly there were no more devil-fish attacking Noah in the darkness of the hull as he stood in chest-height water. There was a slight splash beside Noah as a rope landed in the water beside him. The rope was held at the other end on the floor above by the boss, behind him stood Uncle Joey assisting him in hauling Noah from the now-still water.