122 Bon Voyage (1/2)
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!”