23 Departure #23

"There you go, big guy..." I said, tossing the big fish that I'd just speared into the open peak of the giant sparrow waiting for me on the other side of the stream.

The Foxy pirates had already left after staying for three days to restock their food and water supplies. During their brief stay, their captain never stopped bugging me, demanding a Davy Back rematch.

He even found my camp and kept bugging me until I relented and agreed to another round on the condition that I choose the game since I had some free time and the Davy Back fight was fun.

Foxy still wanted to have me join his crew if he won, and I settled on the announcer's giant sparrow as a joke since the foxy pirates didn't have anything I wanted as they were broke.

Ultimately, we played a game similar to Green-Light, Red-Light that had h me competing against five members of the Foxy pirates to reach the top of a steep cliff.

The rules were simple, you move when it's Green-Light and freeze when it's Red-Light. You lose if you move when it's Red-Light, but only if the referee saw you do it, and I'm pretty sure you could guess where it went from there.

Naturally, the games referee and the one responsible for telling us when to move was one of Foxy's shipmates, and to no one's surprise, they tried to cheat their way into victory.

The bastard only looked at me when it was Red Light and pretended not to see the others moving. I quickly got fed up with it and knocked him out with a rock to the back of his head five minutes into the round.

With the referee gone, I wasted no time beating the shit out of the pirates before leisurely making my way to the top. When it was time to claim my prize, I tried to refuse, but they insisted I take it, and even the giant sparrow, Chuchun, seemed offended at my refusal.

Speaking of the bird, he was from a species of bird (Super Sparrows) native to South Blue and seemed intelligent enough to understand human words and express simple emotions.

Strength-wise, I had no idea what Cuchun's parameters were, but he was strong enough to fly high at high speeds in the air while carrying someone on his back.

In any case, I thought about it and decided to accept the prize that was Chuchun since I could do with the company, and having a mount that could fly me around wasn't that bad once I thought about it.

Of course, I didn't want to force the bird and gave him the option to leave, but he refused, so here we are.

"Might as well enjoy the island while we still can..." I said with a sigh as I scratched Chuchun's plumage under his peak. "We're going to have to leave soon..." I added as I fed the oversized bird another fish.

"Hopefully, Karate Island turns will be as fun as this one..."

...

Several weeks later

"Well, that's my cue to leave..." I said as I noticed the sailors signaling to me with torches, turning to face Shanba. "I hope I wasn't too much of a pain in the ass..." I jokingly added with a chuckle.

It's been an entire year since I first came to this island, and though I was somewhat reluctant, it was finally time to leave.

I had already done everything I came here to do and then some. Though I still had a long way to go strength-wise, I was already a bonafide monster, even by this world's standards.

I won't be fighting big-shot pirates or vice admirals anytime soon, but I was strong enough to defend myself from most threats. My medical studies also progressed nicely, and I'm confident I could treat anything that is treatable.

Naturally, my body grew alongside my strength, and I was now almost another foot taller, bringing my height to 6.9 feet (roughly 210 cm) tall, which wasn't unusual in this world.

Other than my height, my muscles also grew in size and became more defined to the point where I'd put someone like The Rock to shame if he stood next to me, but that's just a bonus.

"Please don't say such things, Cedric," Shanba said, firmly shaking his head at my words. "Not only did you save my son, but you also helped us collect herbs and helped in many ways around the village," He added, his tone dead serious.

"Though I still can't fully understand what happened with those strange visitors..." Shanba said, trailing at the end of his sentence. "Something tells me you did it for our sake..." He added, looking me straight in the eye.

"For that and everything you've done for my people... I thank and bid you forever welcome to our village," He concluded, solemnly bowing toward me.

"Way to make this awkward..." I said with a bitter smile as I awkwardly scratched my head. "Where's the kid, anyway? I don't see him anywhere...?" I asked, blatantly changing the subject.

"Shanbaga did not take well to news of your departure," Shanba said, shaking his head as he sighed. "I apologize on his behalf," He concluded, giving me an apologetic look.

"There's no need. Kids can be troublesome like that..." I said with a shrug, my time in Four Clover Island flashing in my mind. "Just tell him I said to take care..." I added, putting on a genuine smile as I climbed over Chuchun's back.

"Maybe I'll come to visit sometime in the far future, but I gotta run for now..." I said as I patted the giant bird's head, and he immediately let out a faint cry and spread his wings.

"See ya..."

...

"Um... mind telling me what that thing is, young man...?" Wayland, captain of the Happy Squid, couldn't help but ask the towering young man standing before him as he nervously gestured to the giant bird nested over the front sail of his vessel.

"That's Chuchun. He's a Super Sparrow..." Cedric replied, sounding confused at the ship captain's question. "I'm pretty sure they're common on South Blue..." He added, tilting his head.

"Well, they are... but they're also known to be especially vicious birds of prey..." The captain said with a sigh. "What I'm trying to say, lad... is it safe...? It wouldn't bite someone's head off mid-voyage, would it?" He asked, getting straight to the point.

"Huh... so they can be that dangerous, huh...?" Cedric asked, alternating his gaze between Chuchun and the ship captain, his leisure attitude giving and ignorance of the giant bird's predatory nature giving Wayland anxiety.

"Well, you don't have to worry about Chuchun..." Cedric said after a brief pause, shrugging his shoulders. "The big guy wouldn't even hurt a fly," He added, retrieving a small fish and throwing it toward the giant bird.

Wayland could only watch in horror as Chuchun bit into the fish, his peak moving faster than the ship captain's eye could see as he tore the poor thing to pieces before swallowing it in one gulp.

"If you say so, lad..." Wayland said with a bitter smile. "But we agreed that I'd pick you up, and only you... It'll cost you extra to take him along," He added as he pointed at the giant bird.

If he were to be honest, Wayland didn't expect the young man to survive long on the seemingly deserted island and even contemplated forgetting about the deal and never going close to that giant-bird-infested hellhole.

However, the amount of money Cedric promised to pay in exchange for Wayland's services was nothing to scoff at, and he didn't stand to lose much except for an extra day or two on the sea if he went to the island.

"Sure. Just do yourself a favor and don't try to scam me..." Cedric said, his tone growing colder as he spoke. "I'm already overpaying you, so think on that before you set the new price..." He added, suddenly regaining his leisurely demeanor as he smiled.

"Now, can someone show me to my cabin?" Cedric asked.

"Of course..." Wayland said with a nod, trying to hide his nervousness at Cedric's words. "Harber, come and show the lad to his cabin..." He barked, gesturing for one of the sailors to come closer.

The sailor, Harber, didn't delay as he quickly greeted Cedric and escorted him into the lower deck, much to Walyand's surprise as he finally noticed the heigh difference between them.

"I could have sworn he was a bit shorter..."