78 Vol 2. pt. 15 Patch 3.0: Opening Ceremony (2/2)
”Did I do something wrong?” Nell asks.
”You probably shouldn't have let that asshole see your face,” Fenrir honestly says.
”I am sorry, I was just so excited and wished to show you my first—”
”No, it's alright. Don't worry about it. It's great that you caught your first fish,” he says, trying to sound excited for her.
”You mustn't force yourself, my hero.”
The rest of the crew is looking over at him as well now.
”Sorry, I'm just losing my touch.”
The Weeping Tit pulls up next to The Shoebill now. ”Hey, Captain Wolf! I heard some of 'at. Don't mind 'im. He's just a young lad like yourself who feels like he's got to prove himself to everybody. That's why I figured you two would get along – you'd make great rivals to motivate each other!” Jax explains.
Fenrir wants to complain, but he believes that Jax only meant well by introducing them. ”It's no problem. I've known guys like him before, so I'm used to that sort of attitude. He'll definitely make a good rival.”
”Glad to hear it! Now, we're off to catch the rest of our fish. Good luck with yours!”
The Weeping Tit sails off.
The Shoebill is alone on the water once more.
Nell hands Rod back over to Fenrir. ”Thanks,” he says. ”I'm going to go fish over by the front.”
He walks over to the helm of the ship.
Nell starts following after him, but Serra grabs her arm. ”Let him be alone,” Serra says.
”Are – are you sure? He seems… like something is wrong,” Nell says, looking over at him with concerned eyes as he casts his line.
”Yeah, guys need space sometimes,” Serra says.
”She's right,” Oleander joins in. ”I've seen him like this before. He just needs some alone time to do his own thing. He'll act like nothing is wrong later once he's calmed down, and then you've just got to play along with him.”
”Are you sure? That does not seem very healthy,” Nell says.
”Trust us, I've known him for almost a decade now, and Serra here is his girlfriend.”
Cassiel is looking over at Fenrir as well. She knows that he needs some space, but she wants nothing more than to go over there to try and comfort him.
”He'll be okay,” Serra says to Cassiel. They can all tell that Cassiel is struggling by how she's constantly switching between turning toward him to walk over there, returning to fishing, and then turning again.
”I know, but still,” Cassiel replies.
”We need to focus on fishing. Need a lot more fish.”
”Yeah, you're right. Let's catch some more fish.”
The girls return to fishing. Oleander and Nell switch between watching the three fishing together and checking up on Fenrir.
Meanwhile, a determined beast of a man occupies The Shoebill's bow.
Fenrir reels in his second fish, taking his total up to two and a half. Then he reels in another one, and another one, and another one.
Every single fish that he reels in is tossed into a barrel so that he can cast his line again as soon as possible.
He pours every last ounce of his determination into catching fish right now.
There is no way that The Soaring Wolves won't make it into the first stage of the tournament. If he has to catch all seventy fish by himself, he will.
His barrel has twenty fish in it after another two hours.
Five hours into the opening ceremony, he has secured over fifty fish in his barrel.
They already have more than enough fish in total required to secure their position in the tournament's first stage, but he refuses to stop.
”This is bad,” Oleander tells the girls and Corwin.
”How so?” Nell asks.
”It's worse than I thought. He's in one of his moods. He'll act like everything is fine, but he's not going to feel better until he ruins that guy. He can't stand those kinds of guys the most. I bet he doesn't even care about Ull right now.”
”He is very competitive, isn't he?”
”None of you have seen him get serious yet. Looks like you might.”