122 Bon Voyage

As Ed opened his eyes, he spotted Tao cowering in a corner of the room. It seemed the stench was so bad that not even the mighty Tao could handle it.

"Are you alright?" He questioned while covering his mouth, attempting to move closer to the pet crocodile.

As Ed got closer, Tao's whines grew greater. In desperation, it finally resorted to shooting flames towards the wall and scratching at it. It quickly broke through the steel plating and dived straight into the ocean, its skin turning blue as it did so.

'The hell was that about?' He wondered as he grew increasingly nauseous from the smell. Looking around, he spotted nothing unusual at all. Determined to leave and complain to Captain Eiden, he hurriedly left the cabin and walked down the hallway towards the stairs leading to the deck,

Many sailors were going about their duties in the hallway, but they all stopped and stared in shock at Ed, disgust visible in their eyes.

It felt surreal as Ed walked past the sailors, their eyes following him as he went. 'What's with them?' He wondered. 'I guess they don't get the chance to see a high-ranking governor very often?'

He climbed the stairs and reached the deck, but surprisingly, the smell was just as bad as before. Only when he finally lowered his hand from his mouth did the smell improve just slightly. Feeling the urge to vomit grow ever greater, he desperately searched for the Captain. Soon, he spotted the man and walked over. "Oy!" He yelled. "What the hell fucking smells bad?!" He questioned.

The Captain turned around and his eyes widened in shock. As if by instinct, he hurriedly covered his mouth and cursed. "Blimey mate! Did you fukin fall in a vat of shit?!"

"What?!" Ed replied, shocked that the Captain would speak to a governor like this.

The Captain trembled as he realized what he had just done. He hurriedly took two steps back and bowed in apology. "Please forgive my rudeness, Governor Kismet! It's just that..." He hesitantly looked into Ed's eyes. "Well, just look at yourself and I think you'll understand."

Ed frowned as he looked at his hands. There were a few traces of what looked like dirt, but nothing particularly bad. He lifted his sleeve backwards and was shocked by what he saw. A black sludge covered his entire arm, so thick that not even a hint of his pale skin was visible. He hesitantly brought his arm close to his nose and sniffed. "PFFT" He immediately spat a small amount of vomit onto the deck.

"What the fuck?!" He yelled as he hurriedly pulled off his shirt, revealing his body to be entirely covered in the disgusting gunk. 'No wonder the sailors were staring at me and it smells so bad. My face is probably covered in the crap!' Not even caring about exposing himself as somebody other than Dupe, he activated his powers to clear the sludge. Shockingly, his powers didn't work! He activated his silver flames and ended up with the same result. It seemed that the concentration of mana in the sludge was so high that it could withstand all of his attacks.

'Fuck it. Into the ocean I go.' He prepared to jump into the raging ocean waves.

Suddenly, a loud siren blared through the entire ship. A sailor atop the mast yelled towards the crew. "MUTANT HORDE! MUTANT HORDE!"

The Captain quickly recovered his wits and began shouting orders to crew members to take their stations. "Governor Kismet." He looked over apologetically while still covering his mouth. "It's my duty to protect you during the voyage. I was already informed of your low combat capabilities. Please return below deck and just leave it to us."

"You want me to go back below deck while smelling like this?!" He yelled in reply.

"Please, sir." The Captain lowered his head. "Don't make things too difficult for me. I'm just doing my job."

As they talked, mutants began popping out of the water in all directions. Red and silver scales covered their bodies. Sharp teeth lined their strong jaws. Horns jutted out from the back of their heads. Their long necks made them nearly as tall as the ship itself. Spiky shells covered their back, with several fins sticking out on both sides. Their eyes glowed red as fire and lightning swirled between their horns.

"Ugh, I can't take it anymore." Ed groaned. Ignoring the Captain's pleas, he dived directly into the mutant infested waters. He scrubbed at his arms with all his might, willing to do anything to get the disgusting sludge off his body.

After submerging himself in the ocean, a group of mutants went straight for him. However, he was too preoccupied to even bother defending himself. Their long necks stretched out as they prepared to sink their sharp teeth into his tender flesh. Suddenly, the mutants all stopped mid-bite, their wide jaws hanging open just over Ed's body. Several of the mutants immediately turned around and started vomiting into the water, covering the surface in a disgusting yellow substance.

'Ah, maybe the mutants can help.' Ed thought as he reached for the nearest one. He firmly grabbed ahold of a sharp tooth and activated his powers. Silver flames shocked the mutant as he forcefully yanked the tooth backwards, blood spraying out as he did so. The mutant didn't even seem to care for its tooth as it shook its head in raging disgust. It dived beneath the surface, immediately fleeing as fast as it could from the area.

Ed took the sharp tooth and began scraping the black gunk as best he could. To his joy, he had finally managed to scrape a thin layer of it off. However, the sludge soon covered the tooth, making it useless. He flung the tooth away and eyed the remaining mutants, greed shining in his eyes.

Like rabbits eyed by a hungry snake, the mutants fled in every direction, desperate to escape. Ed followed the closest one, flames trailing behind his body. He latched onto its jaw and reached for the teeth.

The mutant desperately swung its long neck back-and-forth, doing everything in its power to shake the disgusting human off. Unfortunately, it had no success, and Ed happily began ripping teeth out. Enraged, lightning and fire sparked on the mutant's horns. The elements spread to the rest of its body, passing the attack directly to Ed!

Surprisingly, Ed was completely immune to the attack. The lightning and fire simply bounced right off the black gunk covering his body, and so, he continued his work of collecting teeth. Nearly a minute later, the mutant was now toothless, and all of its comrades had fled.

Diving back into the ocean, Ed set to work with the dozens of teeth he collected. One scrape after another, he removed layers of the vile black gunk. Too disgusted to hold onto the material, he flung the sludge coated teeth far away into the ocean. Any birds and fish nearby rapidly fled the areas where the teeth landed.

Minutes turned into hours as he struggled getting the sludge off. Even after removing it all, a faint smell still lingered. Refusing to live with the smell, he stayed in the ocean for a full day and night while scrubbing his body. He removed so many layers of skin that his blood filled the ocean waters. Normally, this would attract all sorts of mutant attacks, but the bad smell in the area seemed to keep mutants at bay.

As his skin naturally healed due to his chimera powers, the smell finally seemed to vanish from his body. He sighed in great relief as he climbed back atop the ship. The Captain and many sailors stared at him, a mix of curiosity, respect, and disgust shining in their eyes.

The captain rose his hand into the air. "No one is to ever speak of this again! We won't be reporting this to the higher-ups!"

"Sir!" The crew members saluted.

"Thanks." Ed nodded towards the Captain, a hint of gratefulness in his eyes. Granted, the worst-case scenario was ruining Dupe's reputation and not his own, but he'd definitely prefer for the story to never spread at all.

"Mm." The Captain smiled. He looked towards the crew. "Now, go collect those teeth he hurled into the ocean!"

"What?! Why?!" One sailor stepped out of line and questioned, a grimace on his face.

"Who are you to question my orders?!" The Captain roared. "Just for that, you can go collect them all yourself!"

"But Captain!" The sailor desperately protested, retreating several steps backwards.

"Get on with it ye scallywag!" The Captain rushed forward and grabbed the sailor by the collar, hurling the man into the ocean with all his strength.

Ed watched silently in confusion, wondering what the Captain was up to.

It took nearly two hours for the sailor to find all the teeth that were covered in Ed's disgusting black sludge.

"Mm. Good." The Captain grinned. "Now go attach them to the bottom of the ship. It's going to be smooth sailing from here on out!" He glanced at Ed. "You don't mind, right?"

Ed was slightly speechless. He simply nodded, not wishing to discuss the topic any more than necessary. "I'll need a new room..." He whispered.

"Of course." The Captain hurriedly agreed.

"ANOTHER MUTANT!" The sailor atop the mast shouted.

A blue streak whooshed through the air and landed atop the deck. It was over 2 meters long, and it glared towards the nearby sailors as it moved forward. They hurriedly activated their powers, preparing to attack and defend themselves as necessary.

"Tao!" Ed yelled. "Little bastard! Running away from me the one time I really needed help!"

"Humph!" The croc snorted as it turned away. It proudly held its head high as it walked to the front of the deck and laid down. By now, the sun was just starting to rise high in the sky, and Tao had seemingly decided to sunbathe for the remainder of the day.

"Tsk." Ed clicked his tongue. "Immoral pest. Abandoning me as soon as things get a bit tough." Suddenly, he felt his stomach grumble loudly. He felt incredible hunger, as if he hadn't eaten in months. It reminded him much of his early days in the cage, when he was always desperate for a meal. Leaving Tao and the crew behind, he headed for the mess hall and ordered twenty meals.

The sailors in the mess hall stared in disgust as Ed wolfed down a ridiculous amount of chicken, vegetables, and bread.

"Is that what governors are like?" One sailor whispered to another.

"Maybe it's related to his powers...?" Another guessed.

"Humph." A burly sailor snorted. "This is what happens when rich sloths are promoted to high positions without merit. They live in another world and see us as ants fit only to serve them." He lowered his voice and whispered towards the others. "Have you heard about Harmony and Forge opening recruitment in California recently? I'm thinking of joining!"

Ed rose his eyebrows in surprise as he overheard them but continued on with his meal as normal. After he finished, he returned to his room and entered a deep sleep.

...

THUD! THUD! Someone pounded strongly upon Ed's door.

"Ugh..." He lazily groaned as he stood up and answered. "Yes?" He questioned the sailor outside.

"Sir!" The sailor saluted. "We've arrived at Hawaii. The Captain ordered me to fetch you so we can board the island!"

"Eh?" He rose his eyebrows in surprise. "How'd we get there so fast?" He rubbed his head. "We only left a day or so ago."

The sailor tilted his head in confusion. "Sir, what do you mean? We left over a week ago. You've been in your room the whole time."

"A week?!" He replied in shock. He hurriedly lowered his head, carefully examining his own body. He sighed in relief as he realized the black sludge hadn't returned. 'It must have been related to my cultivation breakthroughs.' He realized. He nodded towards the sailor and followed him towards the deck.

As he climbed up the stairs, he shielded his eyes from the bright sunshine. He could hear seagulls squawking as they flew overhead. In front of them was a lush island, covered in all sorts of colorful vegetation. However, it seemed completely abandoned. There wasn't a single person in sight. Unfortunately, the island had been abandoned fairly early on during the beginning of the Mana Apocalypse. The islanders simply weren't equipped to handle the frequent mutant floods. It wasn't just Hawaii either, as this was the case for most island states and nations.

"Good morning!" The captain enthusiastically waved towards him. Tao and Flair were right next to him, seemingly ready to leave the ship.

"Morning." He yawned in reply. "Any mutant attacks or anything while I was sleeping?"

"Nope!" The Captain grinned. "Those teeth really did the trick at scaring em all off! If the smell lasts long enough, I bet I could sell them for a fortune!"

Ed frowned in disgust but chose not to comment on the matter. "I guess this is where we part?" He questioned.

"Mm." The Captain nodded. "I saw your friend's ship a bit to the north. It was an interesting vessel I suppose..." He hesitated a moment before continuing. "Are you sure you'll be alright on that ship, Governor? If need be, I can send you the rest of the way."

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Ed dismissively waved his hand as he jumped off the ship and landed in the water. Tao dived in behind him and swam underneath him, lifting him up to the surface. "Good croc." He smiled as he patted Tao on the head while chuckling to himself. 'Can't say I ever pictured myself riding a crocodile.'

Flair didn't seem to want to join them, as she instead relied on her water-powered jetpack to fly over.

The Captain silently watched as they vanished towards the island. Finally turning away, he yelled towards the crew. "Set sail ye drunken buffoons! We're returning to Cali!"