Chapter 85: THIRD POV.

Meanwhile, on another part of the ocean, Douglas had a moody look on his face as he sat within the small, cramped confines of a lifeboat.

He leaned his back against the edge of the boat, feeling every dip and sway of the water.

Watching with a sour expression as two of his men continued to row.

Their arms moved back and forth in a slow, tired rhythm, the oars splashing weakly into the blue water.

He had been stuck out here for who knew how long.

The hot sun and salty air beating at him constantly.

Every bone in his body ached, and his skin was starting to peel from the ever present heat.

’At this rate, it’ll be months before we find land again,’ he thought to himself, a grim look on his face.

He stared at the horizon, but there was nothing to see but more water.

It was a flat, blue circle that never seemed to end.

The ocean, or should I say, the Blueberry Sea, was unimaginably vast.

It was named for its deep, rich color, but to Douglas, it currently looked like a giant, watery grave.

Just making it across this sea usually took anywhere from weeks to months, depending on the wind and the strength of the ship.

Unless one possessed a magic airship that could fly above the waves, or a magic ship powered by magic stones, it was extremely hard to go across.

The currents were strong, and the winds were fickle. Pirates like himself knew that better than anyone.

In fact, they took advantage of that very thing.

They spent their lives waiting in the shadows of islands to pillage the multitude of people who couldn’t afford proper, high-speed magic transport.

If you were on a normal wooden ship, you were prey.

But the Blueberry Sea also had other issues besides pirates.

For one, there were the rumors of merfolk. Everyone had heard the stories of beautiful but deadly creatures sinking ships for sport or pulling sailors down into the dark.

Then there were the unpredictable natural phenomena, sudden whirlpools, fog that could make you hallucinate, and storms that appeared out of a clear sky.

Even with so many red flags, people still sought to cross the sea.

They didn’t have much of a choice. The Blueberry Sea was the only body of water that connected two neighboring continents.

On one side was a land of industry and kings, and on the other was a land of spices, gold, and raw materials.

In order to facilitate commerce without spending too much money on expensive magic stones to power airships, countless merchants were tempted to cross it the old-fashioned way.

They packed their goods into wooden hulls and prayed they wouldn’t run into someone like Douglas.

That was how Douglas had made a fortune for himself.

He had spent years being a pirate, building up a reputation and a pile of gold that should have lasted him a lifetime.

Becoming what one could describe as a king of these waters, feared by merchants and respected by his crew.

But alas, now he’d lost his ship and his fortune within the span of a single day.

All of it was gone. And the worst part was the reason why. It was all due to the fact that he had decided to pick up some strange guy he found floating in the middle of the sea.

He had thought he was picking up a piece of "merchandise" to sell, but instead, he had invited a disaster onto his deck.

That young lad had been a monster in human skin, and because of him, Douglas was now sitting in a piece of floating junk.

The reason he only had one lifeboat was another blow to his pride. After the ship had been taken over and the "Superhuman" had gone on a rampage, his other men had conducted a mutiny.

They had seen their captain get tossed aside like a rag doll, and they decided they had seen enough.

All of them piled into the other boats and fled into the distance, refusing to work with a "drowned rat" like him anymore.

They had taken the extra water and most of the dried meat, leaving him with almost nothing.

Only the two men currently rowing the boat had chosen to stay. Not because they were particularly loyal, but because they were probably too scared to try and survive without someone telling them what to do.

Douglas was busy massaging his forehead, trying to rub away the headache that had been thumping behind his eyes since that morning.

He was thinking about how he would kill that Jacob kid if he ever saw him again, though deep down, he knew he’d probably just run the other way if he ever crossed paths with that demon of a guy.

*******

All of a sudden, his eyes saw something glimmer in the distance.

"What in the..." He rubbed his eyes to clear them. He blinked hard, squinting against the glare of the water. He couldn’t believe his luck.

For a second, he thought he was finally going crazy from the heat and seeing things that weren’t there.

"Oi! Hand me a spyglass!" he hollered. His voice was hoarse from lack of water, but it still carried the tone of a man who expected to be obeyed.

"Aye Aye, Captain!"

One of the men rowing the boat, the skinny one with a neck like a bird, stopped rowing and scrambled to the front of the boat.

He grabbed a small, brass spyglass from a bag and handed it to Douglas with shaking hands.

Douglas took it, pulled the sections out until it was at full length, and put it to his eye.

He adjusted the focus, his heart starting to beat a little faster. He swept the horizon until he found the glimmer again.

"It really is!" he gasped. He jolted back as if he had been stung, the spyglass nearly slipping from his fingers.

He took a shaky breath and then looked closer, leaning forward so far the lifeboat tilted dangerously to one side.