“’Ello!” I said while slapping Arcus’ back.

“HOLY CYGNAS. WHERE THE HELL DID YOU COME FROM?” the half beastman leapt backwards in shock and surprise while staring at me in shock and confusion.

“SHI-SHA-SHALALA!” The wind serpent on his head agreed with him.

“Me? Oh. I came from Andor. Just like you, you know?” I said with a fake tone of confusion

“You know what I meant!” He shouted angrily at me.

“Oh… Yeah. Sorry. I came from the mines, where I killed a spider and got me this weapon.” I said while pulling out the hammer from my inventory.

“You… Damn… That’s cool.” He started complaining, but quickly got sidetracked as he stared at the hammer. “Did you make that?”

“Aye. Made of spider stuff. For smashing stuff.” I replied happily.

“Hmm… Are these your friends?” A loud voice echoed from above. I looked upwards until my eyes met with the giant treant’s as he stared at me and my group. “Oh, if it isn’t Hanbei.” He said impressed while looking at the cat-girl with a slightly surprised tone.

“Hello, sir Cherry Grove.” I greeted the treant

“Hello Tree-mister.” Rio, who was still riding on my head echoed me.

“Hmm… Greetin-” The treant started saying, only to freeze as his eyes landed on the small wyvern, his eyes widening in shock and worry.

“Before you ask, got permission from her mother, so chill.” I said quickly.

“I-Is that so…” The treant said worried while staring at me in confusion and worry. “But… Ho…”

“…Tree-mister is really big.” Rio said impressed before taking flight around him and watching him impressed. “Bigger than mom even!”

“H-Huh… Is that so?” The captain said a bit surprised.

“Rio, you can talk to tree-mister as much as you want later, okay?” I said while beckoning her to come back. “For now, I have to talk with him.” The dragon stared at me for a moment before looking around curiously. “Well, if you want to look around, feel free. Just remember to not go too far.” I told her. She chirped happily before flying out to look at the docks. “Lt. Look after her.”

“Nya-na.” He said with a brief nod before running out after the dragon.

“…Huuh…”

“Don’t mind it. If you mind it, you lose it.” Arcus quickly said. “That’s a rule for talking with Gon.”

“I should feel offended.” I said with a frown. “But I shall take it as a compliment, thank you.” I said with a smile. Arcus shrugged, but the treant looked at me, his eyes wanting to say ‘that’s not how it works.’ I happily ignored those eyes. “Anyway, a little birdie told me that you are having issues getting onboard the ship.” I said cheerfully.

“…A bird?” He looked at me confused before looking upwards. “You wouldn’t be mistaking Whisi for a bird, are you?”

“...Do I look like a bird?” Lila asked confused from behind me.

“I have no idea what is going on in the head of this man to see you as a bird.” Yami said coldly.

I sighed.

“Hmm, if it was a bird, then it was a red-bill seagulls. They are the only one that come near the pier and into the city.” The captain said in deep thought.

“It’s a saying.” I said tiredly. “Which basically means I heard from somewhere, usually a person.”

“Ahhh. Okay, that makes more sense.” Arcus nodded with a look of deep thought.

“Hmm… A birdie told me… That’s… interesting.” Cherrygrove said with an amused tone.

“Anyway. Heard you were out of space in your ship to carry Arcus and the others.” I said while turning back to the captain.

“Ahh. Indeed.” The treant nodded with a slightly disappointed tone. “Usually I wouldn’t mind carrying more people, but since we are the only ship setting sail in quite some time, our cargo is already fuller than usual, and if we take three more people and their baggage…” He said with a worried tone.

“Yeah, about that…” I said while looking towards Lily and Hanbei, since this was their cue.

“Hello sir.” Hanbei greeted the big man.

“Hmm, I take it these are the friends that you spoke about?” He asked. “Feel free to board the ship if you are all ready. My men and I will help you with your baggage.”

“Yeah, we’ll do that soon. That said, we had a slight change of plans.” She said. “Two of our friends will stay behind to deal with some business.”

“That’s right. Me and Argento will stay behind to seal some deals.” Lilly added. “So perhaps you can take them instead of us?”

“Hmm… Two less…” The treant took a moment to think. “Hmm, If you don’t mind squeezing a bit, we should be able to fit the three of you in one of the cabins.”

“That’s good. We should manage the delivery in schedule now.” El said satisfied behind us.

“That said… You’ll have to squeeze in one of the cabins with your baggage.” The treant said with some thought. “The cargo hold is entirely full and the cabins are pretty small, so I can’t guarantee your comfort.”

“Can’t be worse than sharing a carriage with teacher.” Lily said in a low voice.

“Come on. It can’t be that bad!” I complained.

“…How can sharing a carriage with Gon be bad?” Arcus asked confused.

Lily simply stared at him with a pitiful gaze that only served to open the wound in my heart even wider.

Oh well, nothing some bandaids can’t fix.

“Hmm. Anyway, we’ll set sail in one hour or less. If you need help with your baggage, just ask one of my men and they’ll help you out.” The treant said with a nod before starting to stand back up again. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go back to loading my ship.” He said while lifting some larger boxes and putting them over the ship.

Damn, who needs a crane when you have a captain like that? As I watched the scene amazed, Yuu and the others started to give their goodbyes to the undine, who was still looking a bit regretful about having to stay behind.

I joined the group by giving a grand speech about how the world is a small place and we’ll soon find each other somewhere along the road. The speech was so good that everyone was led to tears… or they would have if Lieutenant and Rio hadn’t slammed me in the head as Lt. ran away from a mice he found in the docks and the little wyvern decided to play along with him.

And yeah, it might sound funny and all, but do you have any idea how much it hurts to get hit in the head by a full-metal-plate wyvern?

“Hmm? That’s a new one.” Arcus said suddenly as I recovered from the impact, removing my face from the floor.

“What? Getting hit in the face by a flying wyvern giving a cat a ride?”

“…That too.” He agreed. “Though I meant more about the new companion.” He said while pointing to the place right besides me. I turned my head and found Pebblesworth tip-toeing the best he could back to my back, probably having been knocked off by the impact. He’s been very careful where he steps since the polishing. Kinda funny to watch to be honest.

“Yeah, he decided to stick with me since I saved him from a giant magma eating spider that makes explosive threads.” I said casually before standing up and picking up Pebblesworth and helping him to my back, where he seemed to like to hang.

“That’s a very casual way of saying something scary.” Lila said in a worried tone.

“Yeah. Being immortal have its benefits.” I said with tired tone. “Still scary as hell.” I shuddered. “Any monster that can use explosion as an attack is scary.”

“You sounds traumatized.”

“I am.” I replied coldly before sighing. “Well, at least she made a nice hammer.”

“Why a hammer though?” Lila asked curious.

“Cause reasons.” I nodded sagely.

“Ano…” Yuu called out suddenly. “The captain said that he would be leaving within the hour, so if we are ready beforehand we might leave earlier, right?” She asked.

“Hmm, Yuu is correct.” Hanbei agreed. “We don’t really have any baggage though. Want some help with yours?”

“AAh… We’d be much obliged.” Lila said with a tired tone.

“Ah, yeah… El kinda…” Arcus said tiredly.

“El kinda…?” I asked confused. As I wondered what he meant about that, only for the draconid to suddenly plop a massive baggage that was almost as big as herself. “…What?”

“Presents for family.” The draconid said as if it was a matter of fact.

“…Ah yeah. You are an Ezorea native, weren’t you?” I asked while trying to take my eyes away from the massive mallet. “But… Aren’t you overdoing it there?”

“…Am I?” She asked innocently.

“It looks fine to me, Shishou.” Yuu said In a similar tone.

“Yuu. You saying that only serves to prove Gon’s point.” Hanbei said awkwardly.”

“Heeh?” Yuu made a surprised sound as if she couldn’t understand what Hanbei meant.

“Hmm, if this is only for presents…” I stopped for a moment as I thought up something. “Should I also expect a similar sized baggage for clothes?” I asked.

The expression of sheer despair on Arcus’ face was priceless.

Still, this gives me an idea.

…

“Give me back.” Arcus said while shaking me by the hem of my clothes.

“Blood flow… Weird… Conciousness… Lacking… More than usual.” I said while feeling my mind going blank.

“Give me back all the hours of effort I spent carrying that damn thing around!” He said while shaking me even harder.

“You chosen have some really convenient skills.” El said impressed while staring at Yuu with an impressed look.

“Erm… This… Inventory of yours. You can fetch and retrieve items at will?” The Construct asked Hanbei curious.

“Pretty much. Though I’m also surprised that something as big as that could fit to be honest.” Hanbei added while checking her own inventory. “Oh, they are marked as quest items.” She added amused.

“…Can I punch you? Please, let me punch you!” Arcus said while shaking me even further.

“Sha-lala!” The white serpent shouted as she tried to pull her owner back by the neck, but his rage simply let him ignore the… Oh, nevermind. He’s going purple.

“I had… To… Carry… That damn… Thing…” He said between wheezes.

“Not my fault.” I said defensively. “Besides, now you won’t have to worry about staying inside a packed room with those massive things moving side to side wildly.”

“THAT’S TOO DAMN LATE! I HAD TO CARRY THAT THING ON MY BACK ALL THE…” He started shouting at me angrily, but a looming shadow suddenly creeped over us, getting his attention.

“Is something the matter?” The captain asked as he stepped over the board of the ship, making it sink a good amount into the water at the sudden extra weight.

“Yeah. I was just trying to kill this bastard for having such a convenient skill.” Arcus complained while staring holes at me.

“Convenient… Skill?” Cherrygrove asked curious, but decided to not mind it too much, probably thinking it was just some youngling thing or something of the sort. “Anyway, have you already loaded your baggage?” He asked us.

“Well… Yeah. That’s what I was complaining about.” He said. “I’ve had to haul that massive thing all the way here, then they just go and ‘inventory’ it!”

“I’m not sure I understand what you mean. They have some skill to carry baggage easier?” The captain asked confused.

“Carry easier?” Arcus laughed in despair. “Yuu, mind showing him the baggage?”

“Sure?” Yuu said a bit confused.

Then, she immediately took the baggage from her inventory, the massive thing appearing from thin air. The moment she did that, the captain’s eyes widened greatly and I could already feel like I knew what was coming next.

“T-That skill… Can you…” He started asking.

“Sorry, Chosen exclusive.” I quickly shot down his thoughts. “And believe me, it’s not because we don’t want to share.”

“Gh…” The captain grunted annoyed before going into deep thought once again. “Then... What do you need to use that skill?”

“Whoever saw this one coming raise your hand.” Yami said while raising her hand. Everyone else raised their hands, with the only exception of Rio and Pebblesworth, who had no idea what we were talking about.

“Welll, from what we just tested, we need that either the item be recognized as ours, or receive a quest to put them into our inventory.” Yuu explained to him. “Though we still have to test up to how much we can store in our inventory.” She frowned. “One of El’s baggage is taking up three times more inventory than usual, so it might be dependent on volume or weight.”

“A quest?” The treant looked at us in deep thought. “Hmm, I guess I’m not that knowledgeable about Chosen after all.” He then clicked his tongue. “If we weren’t leaving immediately.” He cursed under his breath.

“And with this, came the sudden boom to economy as transporters started to hire Chosen to inventory their cargos, greatly increasing the flow of goods to levels never seen before and causing the rapid development of many trade hubs.” I said with a nod.

“Why did you say that?” Arcus asked me confused.

“Just felt like making some guess about what will happen in the future.” I shrugged.

“Sha-la-shi-sha.” The wind serpent on his head said with a tired tone.

“Yeah. Good point Whisi.” Arcus nodded. “Anyway, I guess we are done, captain. We sailing now or waiting for someone else?”

“We are sailing now. Everyone is already accounted for and the cargo is already loaded.” Cherrygrove said while motioning towards the side of the ship. One of the sailors understood his commands and started to untie the ship from the docks. “Any of you never sailed on a boat before?” He asked us.

“Only airships.” Lila said. Hanbei and Yami both nodded in agreement.

“You might want to hold onto something then.” He said while holding onto the dock and then gently pushing the ship away. “My men will show you to your rooms.” He once again stood up and then held the corners of his cloak.

Wait a second. Huge treant. Standing in the middle of the ship. Massive cloak despite otherwise not wearing clothes… It couldn’t be that…

As I processed the information, the Treant raised his arms, standing in a T pose right in the middle of the ship, the cape taking the shape of sails as the mages cast wind spells towards the captain.

I had to hold onto something as the first moment of inertia affected me, but soon enough I recovered my balance.

Okay. The captain is also the main mast of the ship. If I hadn’t seen everything before, this will be it. And I expect this statement to hold true for at least a couple of hours. As I held back an amused smile, I followed a nearby elf who was already guiding Yuu and the others inside.

Hmm, how do I say this, but this really has been a fairly eventless boarding. Usually I’d expect something more major than a simple chocking of annoyance to happen right around…

“Did we depart?” A familiar voice came from the inside of the ship, prompting a very happy smile from me and some of pity from the others.

“RIVAL!” I shouted excited as Ashley appeared from the door that led to the lower decks of the ship.

He promptly froze in place, staring from the small opening of the door at me in sheer shock and disbelief, before finally clicking her tongue, cursing to herself and slamming the door shut. Or at least trying to, but failing since the sailor was already opening the door for the others.

“For Cygnas’ Sake! Why are you following me?” Ashley shouted angrily as he noticed her escape route had failed.

“Ermm… In my defense, this time it wasn’t intentional.” I said while raising my arms in the universal sign of peace.

“Do you really want me to believe that?” He asked furious.

“Ermm… Master is actually speaking the truth.” Crys defended me.

“Hmm? Someone you know?” El asked curious while tilting her head.

“Yeah. That’s the pile of mineral’s one-sided rival.” Yami said coldly.

“…One-sided you mean Gon is the one…” Lila started asking.

“Annoyingly, yes.” Ashley nodded while facepalming. “I guess you are also his victims then?” From the way he asked, it was clear that she wanted some companions.

“Victims?” “I guess buddy is closer?” “I’m more of an acquaintance myself.” El, Arcus and Lila said, respectively.

“WHAT? Acquaintance? We are more like half-cousins!” I said infuriated.

“Huuh…” She looked uncomfortable for some reason.

“Ugh. I’ll just go back to my room and hope to not meet you again.” Ashley said furiously while turning back to the ships insides.

“Aww, come on, don’t be like that, can’t you see it’s destiny that we keep meeting each other?” I said playfully while approaching him and passing my arm around his shoulder, only to quickly remove it as he threatened to stab it with one of the throwing knives I had paid her earlier. “Woah! Watch out! You can hurt somebody with that!” I said while moving away.

“It’s not can. It’s want.” Ashley said coldly to me while I replied with my best smile.

“That’s quite the friendship you have there.” The elf that was supposed to guide us commented.

“I don’t think friendship is the correct word.” Yuu said in a pensive tone.

“It’s more like a victim and a failed target.” Ashley said coldly. “I swear to Cygnas one day I’ll find out something to use against you.” He said while staring at me almost literal daggers.

“Tough luck there.” Hanbei said with a wry smile. “Gon’s main weakness was his skinning teacher back in Eldor. Probably Sol too, to a lesser degree.”

“Hmm. I can’t think of anything else that we could consider Shishou’s weakness.” Yuu agreed, much to my delight.

“Yes…” I agreed as the realization dawned to me. “YES! Now that I left Eldor, I don’t have to worry about any crazy old people threatening my life with wall-breaking flickers or random volatile experiment explosions! VIVA LA FREEDOM!” I shouted while raising my fists up in the air in excitement.

“Hmm… Does that count as tempting fate?” Yuu asked me curious.

…

“Cygnasdamnit!” I cursed.

“What’s happening at the docks?” One of the sailors asked out loud confused. We all followed his gaze towards the city, where a strange commotion was occurring at the docks.

The ship was still picking up speed, so the docks was still at an easily distinguishable range where we could just make the figure of a man riding on the back of a large bear monster. I think that he was looking at us and shouting something, but I couldn’t quite understand what he was talking.

Until I suddenly heard something nerve-wracking announcement.

“Nyaa-nanya.”

“…You serious?” I asked lieutenant, my voice suddenly cracked in nervousness.

“Nya.” He affirmed. Aura also nodded to my side, probably also recognizing the person.

“Oh Cyg. Oh Cyg Oh Cyg Oh Cyg…” I started saying nervously while staring at the person. “H-He can’t reach the boat… Can he?” I asked.

Y-Yeah, that sounds about right. The boat already set sail, and I doubt that the captain would return just to pick one more person. Yeah. We are safe, still.

“H-Hey, any way we can go faster?” I asked the nearby sailor.

“Not until we reach a wider area…” The sailor said worried. “I-Is he that dangerous of a person?”

“For me, yes. Very yes.” I said with a nod.

“Gon? What’s happening?” Arcus asked worried.

“Who’s that?” Hanbei asked curious. “Why are you so scared gon?”

“Shishou?” Even Yuu showed her worries, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel comfortable until we opened a much wider distance from him.

“…Okay… I have no idea what’s happening right now, but please, do go on.” Ashley said with a sadistic smile.

“Y-You see… That guy… He’s…” I started saying, but was soon interrupted by a very casual comment coming from the captain.

“Oh. He jumped.”

…CAAAAARP!

I turned back to the docks and saw that the man had abandoned the monster on the docks and simply jumped into the water. After a moment of nothing as he submerged, but he suddenly popper over the waterline and started swimming this way.

T-T-There’s no way a man can swim faster than a ship can sail, right? Right? As I used that fact to calm myself down, I took a deep breath before turning to the others and preparing to tell them who I saw.

“Wow, he’s a fast swimmer.” El said briefly.

I turned back to the man, my body feeling like a badly oiled machine as I stuttered my head back. And yeah. He was swimming fast. Like, really damn fast. He… he was actually getting closer.

…

THIS IS BAAAAD!

I mindlessly accessed my inventory and pulled out a flashbomb from it. I aimed at the man swimming and threw it as far as I could, setting it to explode as close to him as possible.

Covering my eyes for the flash, I could hear the cries of pain and surprise from the sailors and the others as the bomb went off. I ignored their cries of anger and annoyance as I looked back at the man.

Yes! YES! He was caught unaware by the blast and had now stopped swimming to recover from the blast.

“SAAAAFE!” I shouted happily as I looked at the man going underwater and not managing to recover in time as the ship clearly started picking up speed . “Yes. Yes!”

Excellent! Now there’s just no way for him to catch up to the ship now! Even at his previous swimming speed, it’s now just downright impossible for him to catch up to us now! He’d need to be riding a shark or something to even catch up to…

“…Oh… He’s back.” Ashley said amused.

“Hmm? Isn’t that…” Yuu started to recognize him as he approached the ship.

While riding on the back of a shark. He was riding. On the back. Of a shark.

WHAT. THE. HELL?

GYAAA! HE’S GETTING CLOSER!

“AURA! YOU CAN FREEZE HIM, RIGHT?” I asked the fox besides me, but she just looked at me and shook her head in disapproval. WHYYY? WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME? Okay… Aura won’t stop him. Then… Then… “FREEZING KNIVES AWAY!” I said while throwing freezing knives towards him.

“…Okay. Am I the only one really worried about him right now?” Lila asked.

“No… But this is too amusing to pass on.” Hanbei agreed with her.

“Hmm. Should have brought popcorn.” Yami complained.

NOT HELPING HERE!

And what the hell with that dodging ability? That’s just not human! He managed to steer the shark away from all the knives I threw at him and soon reached the side of the ship.

CAAARP!

HOT OIL! BOILING OIL! BOULDERS! PIKES! ANYTHING? ANYTHING?

As I looked around in search for anything that could help with avoiding an enemy from climbing upon the walls, my time soon was wasted as his voice creeped up to my ears.

“You thought you had given me the slip, Boy…” I heard the old, but energetic sounding voice say in a mix of amusement and anger.

“EEEEK!” I jumped away and hid behind the strongest shield: Yuu.

Staring over towards the source of the voice, I saw as a single hand appeared over the railing and started pulling the body upwards. Following that, a single head with dark gray hair and a wrinkly face with sharp eyes that stared right upon my soul. A long spear hung on his back as he managed to climb aboard the ship.

“Ah… Grandfather.” Yuu said in a pleasantly surprised tone as Kotetsu… No, Ronin climbed aboard the ship.

“Hello Yuu.” He greeted his granddaughter before turning towards me. “Hello… Gon.” He smiled. I felt my spirit leaving my body. “It’s time for some training.”