Chapter 967: First King (1/2)
The moment the Checkpoint Turtle died, all its blood that had mixed into the ocean mystically converged around Gehen, seeping into his body as he screamed in pain. Even though the healing effect from the Water Essence was still active in his body, the pain made him feel like he would be unable to hold on.
His body seemed like it would no longer be able to hold on. The sounds of bones crunching resounded as they seemed to be broken and rejoined repeatedly. Gehen could not help but bawl from the pain, unable to tolerate it any longer when a warm feeling permeated through his body.
All the blood in the surroundings vanished as the body of the Checkpoint Turtle floated before him, its eyes glaring at him. This startled him for a moment before he realized it was dead. For a moment, Gehen felt like there was unbelievable power in him before it seemed like that wasn't the case.
It was a confusing situation as he noticed the body of the Checkpoint Turtle began to dissolve into the water. Gehen stared at it for a couple of hours until it finished dissolving completely. He then looked around, noticing the numerous seas of blood surrounding him as he sighed, thinking to himself, 'Just what happened?'
He then returned to his ship, noticing that he was the only one alive in it. There were a couple dozen Motor Fishes that had been kept in reserve. They were also alive. As for the Motor Fishes that worked in pushing the pirate ship, they had died from overexertion.
”I have to make them breed and increase their population number. It would take me a year before I have enough Motor Fishes to even move this ship to a reasonable level.” He sighed, clenching his hand into a fist as he felt his body to be in perfect condition.
But, just when he thought he could rest, he noticed a group of people arrive on boats. They seemed part of the group that had fled at the start upon seeing the pirates. It seemed that some of them had detection abilities that were able to sense the loss of life in the place.
Upon discovering that there was just one survivor, they arrived as a group, lusting for all the treasures the pirates had hoarded.
”I'll test it on them.” Gehen smiled, realizing that he wasn't the least scared, despite there being around forty people that had arrived. He exited the ship, swam through the water, and landed on its surface.
It almost seemed like he was on land now as the ship had barely surfaced. Upon seeing him, the group of people didn't display any pleasantries, treating the pirate like they would treat a monster.
They jumped on the surface of the pirate ship and brandished their weapons, heading towards him, intending to hack him to death. Gehen planned to evade their attacks when an unnerving level of confidence emanated from deep within him, causing him to feel the weapons weren't threatening to him.
He then raised his arm, watching the sword of a man land on him. The force did send him skidding back, but Gehen noticed that his arm wasn't even scratched by the attack. Even though he felt the force, he didn't feel any pain. It was a strange feeling, considering the amount of pain he always felt corresponded to the force behind the attack.
Now, he felt the attack but felt no pain. He felt strange. But, upon realizing that he had obtained what he had hoped to gain, Gehen laughed, kicking the ground as he jumped towards the attacker, slamming a punch into his stomach.
His opponent felt like a rock had hit him as the air in his lungs escaped. He fell backward as Gehen stomped on his head, silencing him.
Gehen gazed at his hand, noticing that the skin was covered with a faint texture. It was akin to the Checkpoint Turtle's shell. He noticed how the shell was only at the place the man's sword had landed. 'So, this layer of armor will be auto-generated when I receive an attack?'
Intending to verify it, he jumped into the fray and attacked a couple more people, taking more attacks in response. Even though he felt the impact of the attacks, he didn't feel any pain. Soon, he noticed how the places he was attacked were now covered by a faint layer of the shell. But it soon disappeared after not being attacked anymore for a certain duration.
Gehen continued to hit them, slowly experimenting with his abilities. After some time passed, all the attackers were lying down, exhausted, beaten and battered. As for Gehen, he was completely fine. As the effect of the Water Essence was still in him, he wasn't even tired.
He then looked at the group before him, saying, ”Since you dared to steal from me, that makes you pirates as well.”
They were too tired to even refute him. Seeing their response, Gehen smiled as he said, ”I was just intending to search for subordinates. You came at the right time. Follow me, and I can promise you wealthy lives. I'll also nurture you to become stronger than you are.”
After a while, all of them submitted. Gehen then spent the day showing them the ropes, drilling into them everything they needed to take care of. Their battle was enough for the group to know that they couldn't do anything to Gehen.