Roger caught the white guard's remaining hand before he could fall into the water. He had dropped the meat cleaver to the deck as a silently observing Uncle Joey emerged from the shadows of the stairwell below deck to solemnly retrieve it. He did not comment on returning to his kitchen, wiping the white guard's blood from his cleaver with a dirty rag.

"Shhhh. Everything is going to be okay. It is only pain, Zane," Roger let out a chuckle as he rhymed the white guard's name.

"Struggle will make you strong. Live" Roger continued to speak in front of the stunned speechless oarsmen as he returned the white guard's grip to the railing before letting go of his wrist.

Noah glanced towards Louis, who looked as stunned as the rest of them before appearing to take pity on the white guard's plight. Roger then slowly backed away from the rail with a gap-toothed grin as he looked deeply into the white guard Zane's eyes as he whimpered and begged for mercy.

There was a violent tug on the rope tied to Zane's feet, causing him to look backward in panic. Disregarding his severed hand, Zane attempted to throw it over the rail to pull himself forward until he was able to wrap both forearms over the side with an expression of pleading and terror on his face.

Dragging in the water behind the white guard was the black guard's corpse, which had attracted fish to feed. The fish didn't appear to be any breed of dangerous man-eating predator, which startled Noah. The changes caused by the arrival of the apocalypse affected every lifeform on Earth, with no exceptions. The fish were all exceeding one meter in length with striking yellow fins on a dark green body. One of the fish appeared to be nearing three meters in size as a subtle white-light moved beneath its scales as its lifeforce indicated that it was a grade two user without any abilities.

The fishing trawler had stopped moving after the fish's arrival while the white guard struggled to adjust his grip to haul himself back on board. The boy, Louis, could no longer stand by and watch without taking action.

The boss arrived at the rail beside the white guard Zane while wielding a speargun. He aimed towards the fish feeding at the other end of the taut rope as they entered a feeding frenzy causing the churning water to be dyed red with blood.

Louis arrived at the white guard Zane's side as he watched the boy with despair in anticipation of what he expected to come next. The boss pulled the trigger on the speargun, accurately piercing the largest of the swarming kingfish. It attempted to flee as the boss tied off the rope onto the railing beside him. He then picked up the makeshift metal spear belonging to the white guard, Zane. The boss glanced at Louis, who was currently attempting to pull the delirious white guard back on board.

The boss let out a grunt of approval before ignoring them as he took a stance in preparation of throwing the spear like a javelin as it filled with green lifeforce from the boss's hand wielding it.

"Hah!"

The boss let out a cry as he launched the spear accurately into the large kingfish with guidance from his [Metal Manipulation] ability. There was an explosion of blood as the spear pierced entirely through the kingfish to become lost at sea in a display of the tremendous amount of force unleashed.

The kingfisher no longer struggled as the boss gripped the rope tied off on the rail to begin reeling in the limp grade two kingfish he had caught.

There was a thump as Louis successfully pulled the white guard Zane back on board. The guard was currently cradling his severed stump at his wrist to his chest while whimpering. Zane's severed hand that had remained gripping the rail was knocked into the ocean by his effort to survive.

Louis stood looking down at the broken white guard with complex emotions passing over his face as he wondered why he had saved someone who he hates, but his kind nature overcame his desire for revenge.

The boss broke everyone out of their trance by instructing Roger in his unknown language. Roger appeared at his side while activating his [Air Manipulation] ability to raise the grade two kingfish from the ocean onto the deck. Uncle Joey had also arrived with his freshly washed meat cleaver as he began to butcher the large kingfish into smaller portions.

Noah ignored the white guard's crying along with everyone else as everybody watched Uncle Joey activate his [Create Rations] ability in front of them on the deck under prearranged instructions from the boss.

"Haiyah! Kingfish so nice. Ruined by rations ability," Uncle Joey complained as he activated his ability to condense the deboned fillets of meat belonging to the kingfish.

Uncle Joey's pink-lifeforce flowed through the kingfish meat to gather the contained lifeforce into a pile of uniform-sized white cubes. They're piled into a larger cube, assembled into rows of grade-two rations. There were also three cubes of grade-one rations sitting on top of the pile. The rations rested inside an amassed amount of the questionable reddish-pink goop waste regularly fed to the oarsmen. Each grade-two ration consisted of lifeforce equivalent to a large meal of the grade two kingfish flesh contained inside a small block that can be eaten at the User's convenience.

The boss spoke to Roger at his side for him to translate for him.

"You will each be given one of those cubes along with your next meal!" Roger declared.

"What are they?" Greg asked.

"They are called rations. They are better than the goop," Roger briefly explained.

"No more questions. Collect as much food as you desire inside your bowl, then the cook shall give you one ration as compensation for the guard's behaviour. If you are still unsatisfied, then you can become like him," Roger pointed to the whimpering guard, curled into a defensive ball at the railing.