1 Introduction

"Haaaa, haaaaaaa.....", an exasperated sound came from Sabik. Running from these gangs made his heart pump with excitement. This intoxication of having a near death experience is what he lived for.

He settled down near a trunk of a torn down tree. Upon closer inspection, this tree is shredded with splinters spiking near his face. Then, focusing on the important situation right now, he hears less and less of the grass rustling from being stepped on.

Feeling his heartbeat slowing down to just 100 bpm, he bolts away from the tree. The branches broke down creating a reverberating sound through the forest which does not escape from the members of the steel muscle group. They prided themselves for having muscles as strong as steel and rumors have it that even their ears are muscular. That of course means that they have super hearing. Sabik didn't get it either but he hoped they had it.

The steel muscle guards turned their faces in Sabik's direction and rushed with no regards to their surroundings. Their tanned muscles swelled in excitement and allowed them to jump over trees that are ripped apart. Their jumping powers allowed them to ignore subsequent tree trunks covered in moss and vines that would trip a normal person.

Sabik smiled again in excitement and his heart energized with renewed vigor as though it was eating its favorite meal.

He jumped and cut through the difficult terrain of the Hadlang forest which made some of the guards trip and fall into moist grass and soil. Of the 7 that chased him only 4 remained which Sabik noticed that their muscles are significantly bigger and more tanned.

'This must be their mentors. I was unlucky, I thought there would only be 3 of them. I knew there was something wrong when I saw all those destroyed trees. That much protection means greater danger to protect from. There must be a Limaw nearby.'

Though faced with an unexpected juncture in his plan, he still maintained a cool and confident composure. He came up with another plan with an easygoing attitude which contradicts this dangerous environment he was in. This was just another day for him and unexpected things happen all the time. In actuality, he loved unpredictable events because they have the most thrilling risk on his life.

With the upcoming horizon, the once dark and cold environment has little bits of sunlight seeping out through the branches which made Sabik know, he was getting near the cliff.

Racing through the terrain he steps out into flat rock solid ground and the blaring sun staring at him with a large contrast to the slippery and unpredictable Hadlang forest.

Dashing through the stone he reached the end of a cliff with nothing but rocks and crashing waves at the bottom.

In this new horizon, he sees the far-reaching and immense grandiosity of the Bagu' han ocean or most commonly known as the Bagu ocean. It is considered as the true home of the mighty and brave, as well as to those whose calling is to sail through the turf of the monstrous Limaws of the ocean.

'That is where I belong, where I'll face many dangers and tribulations.'

His heart beats with excitement with this thought but quickly calmed down.

'But not now. It's not the right time yet.'

Right as he thought this, he hears his hunters spring forth from the forest with vigor as the thought of their prey being caught crossed their minds.

"We caught you now. Haaaaa haaaa..." said the exasperated guard who was wearing nothing but black shorts with leaves covering his waist. They didn't believe in armor, only in their muscles. Contrary to popular belief, this guy seemed talkative.

"Wait wait, time out. My feet hurts from all that running" Sabik said as he kneels down and starts taking off his sandals and putting them in the pocket of his brown shorts.

"Don't worry, we're not gonna hurt you. You just have to come back with us to our base."

The other two guards didn't speak but stayed vigilant of any sudden movements from Sabik.

'They're the ones most experienced.' Sabik thought

"Hmmm that sounds really tempting but you know, i have an appointment I have to make and it sounds like that's gonna take a while."

Still with a smile on his face, he seemed like two steps back would not lead to a sudden fall 100 meters down to either spiky rocks or strong waves that may lead to death.

"It doesn't seem like you have a choice"

"Well, we always have a choice, don't we?" Sabik said as he takes one step backward which made the guards flinch in surprise

"Woow woww hold on now. We can talk about this, let's not get hasty. Don't throw your life away it's very valuable"

'My life is very valuable. My bounty would make them very rich'

"I would like to take my chances with this fall. Care to make a wager?" Sabik said with a tempting smile.

"You wouldn't" said the talkative guard with a little bit of disbelief and amusement.

Without any second of thought, Sabik jumped backwards taking the talkative guard by surprise. The two vigilant guards however, moved at the same time as Sabik.

With pebbles and dust flown backwards as they sprinted to Sabik, they reached their hands out to try and get his feet before he plunges to his immediate death. Reaching out and extending their arms as they were about to reach him, their hands were thrown off course with sandals.

This caught them off guard as they never expected him to do this. They looked down only to see him falling with no safe place to land to. They had no choice but to acknowledge his commitment.

'We underestimated him. I guess this is why nobody has caught him before' thought the guard with a sharp and pointy face with a weirdly big muscle-filled body.

With his hands in a diving position making sure his head is tucked in his biceps, he plunges downwards into the abyss of the ocean. With the waves thrashing him around, he made sure his head and other critical points in his body protected from being cut by the humongous pointy rocks littering near the cliff.

With his bruised and bleeding body, he tried to make it to the shore but before he starts making his way to the open air, he spots a shiny glowing sphere in the middle of one of these rocks. In normal and calm seas, that would've been hidden if not for the crashing waves that displaced anyone and anything in the vicinity.

With great curiosity, he picks it up and before he could even marvel at its luminescence his instincts kick in from all the near death experiences he had and he instinctively kicks his feet to swim to the right only to hear a muffled clack sound.

He turned around and sees a giant blue crab with the same size as his whole body and its pincers in an open and attacking position. He noticed that some of its shell is broken or missing.

'This guy just came from a fight. No wonder this treasure was just haphazardly placed here, he hid it while fighting some other creature'

Still grinning, he taunts the crab with the sphere that he found and starts waving it left and right to see if it could follow. Its compound eyes start to follow the treasure 2-3 times until its gaze landed on Sabik. What the crab didn't know was Sabik was searching around the seafloor with his other hand for rocks or pebbles.

As the crab was about to pounce on him, he tosses the treasure upwards to sea level which made the crab pounce on the treasure using its legs as a spring.

With the crab distracted, he also swims upwards near the crab and near its topside while he starts throwing the rocks at its eyes. With the water pressure at this ocean, throwing a rock will not gather much force. Sabik found a way to give sufficient damage by getting in close proximity and the targetting vulnerability of the carb's eyes. With a muffled sound of moving rocks in the water, he hits the compound eyes which makes the eyes regress back into its shell.

This gave Sabik a chance to grab the treasure as it was falling down and hurry back to shore with his feet and one arm pedaling as hard as he could.

As he start to feel the sand in his feet he starts running without looking back until he was back in a sandy beach. Feeling tired, he runs into a fissure near a cliff to examine this treasure he found.

Sitting down, he feels the cold touch of the limestone and the cool breeze of the ocean but his one hand, touching the treasure feels warm.

'Is this what I think it is? Is this an essence of a Limaw?'