125 Set Sail

"What do you mean?" Tai questioned, confusion visible on his face.

"The ship." Ed answered while pointing at it. "You're not telling me you sailed a wooden ship halfway across the Pacific Ocean, are you?"

"Oh, I see." Tai nodded while pounding his fist into his hand. "It's exactly as you see it. It's made of oak. In fact, some of my sect members helped build it as a gift to me." He stared lovingly at the ship. "It's served me well since then."

'Is he screwing with me?' Ed eyed the other espers, and none seemed to think anything was unusual about it. "What about the mutants?" He questioned. "Surely they'd tear the ship to shreds while you sail?"

"Mutants?" Tai tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean? Wooden ships don't get attacked by mutants. Isn't that common knowledge?"

"What?!" Ed replied in shock. "Why wouldn't they attack wooden ships? That makes no sense!"

"Sure, it does." He scoffed. "Why would a big fish attack a random floating log? It's basically the same thing."

"No." Ed shook his head. "Mutants aren't all stupid. While that might reduce the number of attacks, it wouldn't eliminate them entirely. It's just asking for something to go wrong!"

"Ah, true." Tai agreed. "But you do realize that I have hundreds of powerful espers with me, right? We have no need to fear anything on the seas. Even if we're attacked, we'll easily be able to handle it."

"But what about when you arrived here?!" He questioned while looking around, only spotting twenty or so Asians. "You would've only had a small crew. How'd you manage it?"

"Oh, that." Tai smiled. "I had an escort ship come with me that already returned to China." He waved his fan. "Enough chitchat about pointless nonsense. Let's set sail." He began leading his men onto the boat.

Ed stared speechlessly. 'I thought for sure there was something special about it... Some mystical Chinese cultivator secret or something...' He woodenly followed behind the others, begrudgingly joining them on the ordinary boat.

Flair and Tao were still on the boat, resting in the shade of an umbrella.

Tai eyed the newcomers and glanced at Ed. "That mutant? Did you bring it for the chimera conversions?"

Tao's head perked up, and he released a loud growl, staring menacingly at Tai.

"Humph." Tai snorted. "You want to fight the master on his own ship?" Seven flames began circling around his body.

"Knock it off, both of you." Ed scowled as he pushed Tai, sending him stumbling several steps forward. "The croc is my pet. If anyone hurts him, then I'll make them wish for death."

Suddenly, Tao's blue body began to shrink in size. He hurriedly scurried towards Ed, climbing up his head. Tao stared down at all the espers shorter than Ed, including Tai, with disdain visible in his eyes. "Humph." He snorted while laying his head down to rest.

"That's quite the interesting pet..." Tai said while hiding his facial expression behind his fan. "And who's the girl?"

"Research assistant." He replied. "Same goes for her. Anyone touches her, and they'll regret it." He looked over the various espers. They were all prisoners of the cage, and even after the spiders killing them, there were still almost 700 of them. He would hardly trust the many unfamiliar espers that had been locked up for unknown crimes.

"Relax." Rubi laughed while walking over, her tall muscular body and spiky red hair towering over everyone in height. "These espers all saw you fight during the escape. I doubt any of them would be stupid enough to offend you." She glared towards them threateningly. "Right guys?" She smiled.

"Of course!" A large pudgy man smiled while nodding.

"Aye!" A blond girl nodded. "I'll protect the girl from these disgusting men!" She eyed the various men with disgust evident on her face.

An intimidating black man with large muscles grinned. "Anyone touches the gator, I'll chop them to pieces!"

Ed stared at the group, his eyebrow twitching from annoyance. "This is going to be a long trip." He sighed while covering his eyes and shaking his head. Exasperated, he had Tai assign him a room, and he immediately entered secluded meditation.

...

Ed sat with his eyes closed and his legs crossed atop a small bed. His mana ebbed and flowed as he searched for the next meridian. Time slowly passed. Minutes turned into hours, and hours into days. Ed's frown grew increasingly deep as his secluded meditation continued.

'I can't find it!' He finally opened his eyes, frustration covering his face. 'Why can't I find the eight storage meridians? The Mortal Dragon Technique said I should be able to find them as soon as I breakthrough the 12 organ meridians!'

He stood up and paced back-and-forth, rubbing his chin as he walked. 'I need to get stronger, but I can't sense the remaining eight meridians. I can't meditate on the purple mana-cores or my soul might shatter. Golden faith energy is a mystery to me. I lack mutant flesh for modifying my body. I have no materials for inventing anything of any real use...' He grimaced. 'I'm bored!!!'

Giving up on making any progress, he opted to place his workaholic tendencies on hold and return to the ship deck. When he climbed the final flight of stairs, his eyes widened in shock. 'You've got to be kidding me?!'

The sun was just setting on the horizon, the rays of light sparkling against the gentle waves of the ocean. A cool breeze blew by. However, there was a large anomaly in this otherwise cool night. The espers were having a huge party! Guitars, drums, and other instruments rang with cheerful music. Many espers paired up to dance. Tao and Flair appeared to be competing in a game of limbo with some others.

Ed spotted Tai by a buffet filled with all sorts of fish, meats, and other vegetables. He walked over and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hmm?" Tai turned around, a drumstick sticking out of his mouth. He hurriedly raised his fan to hide it, finished the food, and lowered the fan, appearing just as gentlemanly as he usually would once again. "Ed!" He called in surprise. "I didn't expect you to exit secluded meditation so soon!"

Ed looked over the various celebrating espers. "What's with the party?" He questioned.

"These espers have been locked up for years." Tai smiled. "Naturally they need to let loose and relax a bit. I don't want a bunch of stressed out and pent up espers entering my sect."

"Is that so?" Ed nodded. "But why didn't you invite me?" He asked.

"Invite you?" Tai's eyes widened in surprise. He placed a hand on Ed's shoulder. "I assure you, I definitely didn't leave you out on purpose. It is taboo to interrupt somebody in secluded meditation. What if I hampered a breakthrough? Or caused you to accidently injure yourself? I'd never forgive myself!" He happily patted Ed on the back. "I bet you made tons of progress. Come, now that the hard work is over, join the festivities!" He cheerfully walked away, seemingly looking for a dance partner in the center of the deck.

Ed's eye twitched heavily. Tai's loaded words had shot him right where it hurt. 'Made a lot of progress? Interrupt my breakthrough?' He shook his head while sighing, knowing it wasn't really Tai's fault. Not wishing to make a fool of himself dancing, he headed for the buffet. He hadn't eaten in days and was feeling quite famished. Just like he usually did after exiting meditation, he gorged himself on all types of food. Some espers looked at him in disgust as it looked like he was practically inhaling food directly off his plate.

The sun slowly set beneath the waves as the party continued. Some espers paired up and returned to their rooms, giving into their passions. Others started drinking heavily. Even Ed joined them, drinking several large mugs of rum. Tao had actually broken into an entire barrel of rum and singlehandedly drank the entire thing. The drunk crocodile tottered back-and-forth as it struggled to walk along the desk. It seemed the other espers had quickly grown fond of the croc, as they offered it more drinks whenever it passed by them. Normal humans might fear such a creature, but most espers felt right at home with it. After all, they probably had more in common with the croc than they did with most ordinary humans.

Slowly but surely, the espers started drinking themselves to sleep. Tao's large body curled up around Ed defensively, as he had actually passed out in a chair atop the deck. It wasn't like him to leave himself vulnerable to strangers, but even he had times he wanted to cut loose. Somebody living a life like his with a schedule as busy as his would soon collapse if they didn't take every small opportunity for rest and leisure that presented itself.

The large ship gently sailed onwards through the night. Soon, it started to lightly drizzle atop the ship. Grey storm clouds formed overhead, and lightning flashed down from the skies. The waves slowly grew stronger, pushing and pulling the ship with great force. By the time the sun had come up, the clouds had blocked the sunshine, making it still appear as if it was night. The ship rose high upon the waves before falling low again. Espers began to wake up as they literally felt themselves falling from the skies.

"A storm!" An esper yelled.

"Is it a hurricane or something?! Jesus!" Another shouted.

Tai exited his room and returned to the deck. He was still slightly hungover, and his clothes were disheveled. He had clearly had a fun night with somebody in the captain's room. He grimaced as he saw the awful storm tilting the ship so far left that ocean water managed to get on deck. "Pull the sails up!" He ordered. "Everyone, wake up! All hands on deck!" He began pointing and shouting orders, doing his best to stop the ship from capsizing.

"Ugh..." Ed groaned as his head slammed into the back of his chair. He looked around at the busy espers doing their best to keep the ship afloat amidst the storm from hell. 'What kind of storm has to strike to roll a large ship like this?!' He wondered in shock. As far as he knew, there were no ordinary storms capable of doing this. At the very least, it had to be an extremely powerful hurricane.

He stumbled as he stood up on the deck. He even spotted a few espers falling overboard into the sea. Fortunately, all these men and women were powerful espers. Even if they couldn't climb back on board themselves, one of their friends would quickly save them.

'This... isn't right.' Ed shook his throbbing head, regretting having drunk so much alcohol. For someone with a body like his to get drunk, it truly took an incredible amount of drinking. He hadn't kept track, but it was likely he had downed an entire barrel of rum just by himself. Feeling dizzy and nauseous, he forced himself to the side of the deck. This way if he hurled, he wouldn't make a complete mess of himself and the ship.

"Ugh!" He groaned again as he tightly gripped the ship's railing. A wave of water blasted over his entire body as the left side of the ship dipped deep into the water. Feeling sticky and gross, he did his best to wipe the water from his eyes as the side of the ship started rising in the air. If he was thinking better, he might have realized he could just use his powers to remove the water and other grime covering him.

As the ship rose, he stared at the horizon. Suddenly, he spotted a looming shadow. Not quite believing what he was seeing, he rubbed his eyes with his fists. When he opened them again, he was met with a blast of sea water from the ship dunking into the water again. 'Damn it!' He frowned as he forcefully kept his eyes narrowly open. He concentrated hard on the horizon and spotted the shadow again. It wasn't that large, only appearing to be a few meters big. 'Is that land?' He wondered.

The ship continued sinking up, down, left, and right. Many espers grew sick and vomited over the ship railings. Even if they were drunk, how bad did a storm have to be to make such powerful espers seasick?

As the rocking and waving continued, Ed focused on the shadow. Surprisingly, it was actually growing larger! This was despite the fact that the storm was pushing them away from it. Slowly the shadow grew from a few meters in size to nearly ten meters. Then it grew to 20 meters. A short moment later, it reached 30, 40, and then 50 meters tall.

Ed's eyes widened in shock, and he gulped down his saliva while his hands trembled. 'You've got to be fucking kidding me?!'

With espers mostly operating by themselves now, Tai walked over towards Ed. "Hey, you could help you know!" He grabbed Ed by the shoulder. "Are you listening?!" He shouted, his breath smelling of strong alcohol.

Ed didn't respond and instead pointed forward. Tai followed along, and his eyes widened in shock. "Fuck me!" He cursed aloud without thinking. He stared in silence for a moment before he hurriedly turned around and shouting new orders to his men. The crew on deck dissolved into chaos as they scrambled for their dear lives. If before they were treating the storm as a joke, then now they were truly fearful for their lives.

Ed's mouth felt dry as he continued watching the horizon silently, the shadow still growing larger. "The Water Nightmare." He whispered as he trembled. The monster appeared like a blue blob towering out of the ocean, water pouring down its body as it moved forward. It had two large rounded fins for arms, and a sharp fin stuck out from its back. Its four demonic eyes glowed a bright purple color. It seemed to be moving slow, but that was only due to its insane size. Soon, the 500-meter-tall monster would be upon them, and they would be stuck facing it in the middle of the ocean, a territory that gave it the complete advantage.