In the jungle.
Five dark figures nimbly darted through the trees, quickly surrounding a giant bear.
Roar!
The bear stood about three meters tall, with a V-shaped patch of white fur on its chest. It reared up on its hind legs and bared its fangs at the gene wolves.
The five gene wolves growled low in their throats, patiently maintaining their encirclement without attacking.
Wolves excel at coordinated hunting. They rarely engage head-on, instead waiting for their prey to expose a weakness before launching their assault.
Then, a whistle sounded through the jungle.
The five gene wolves twitched their ears. One of them stepped aside, creating an opening in the circle.
Seeing this, the bear mistakenly thought the wolves had made a fatal error. With another roar, it charged recklessly toward the gap, easily breaking free.
The wolves followed at a steady pace, herding it from behind.
"The seventh uninhabited island."
Reddy emerged from behind a nearby tree with two clones, looking up at the sky through the gaps in the leaves as he muttered to himself.
There were quite a few uninhabited islands in the East Blue, but aside from those with human settlements, very few had rare beasts living on them.
Perhaps they had already been swept clean by Golden Lion.
In any case, it had taken him considerable effort to find this giant bear on the island.
Reddy and his two clone bodyguards followed the trail left by the bear and the gene wolves.
About half an hour later, the trees thinned, and Reddy stepped out of the jungle.
By then, the five gene wolves had driven the bear onto an open beach and were engaging it in a hunt.
By the time Reddy and his clones emerged from the jungle, the bear was already at its limit. Its body was covered in wounds, its fur stained red with blood.
Roar!
The bear caught Reddy's scent and let out a threatening roar.
Its intention was to intimidate the three humans and avoid further trouble, but one of the gene wolves seized the opening when it roared. It lunged forward, sinking its teeth into the bear's right hind leg and yanking backward with all its strength.
The bear let out a desperate roar as it lost its balance and collapsed onto the sand.
The other four gene wolves immediately pounced.
Three of them clamped down on its remaining limbs, while the last one locked its jaws around the bear's throat.
Soon, blood soaked the sand, and the bear stopped moving entirely.
Reddy waited patiently for another ten minutes before approaching with his two clones, drawing the sword at his waist as he walked.
When he reached the bear, the five gene wolves released their grip and retreated to the side, lying down nearby.
Reddy examined the carcass, then used his sword to slice open the skin around the neck wound, parting the muscle tissue until he exposed the carotid artery. He pulled out a syringe and drew a sample of blood from the vessel.
Genetic samples weren't limited to blood.
Hair, muscle, and other tissues could also serve as genetic material.
However, blood was generally the most suitable sample.
After collecting the sample, Reddy began processing the bear's carcass on the spot.
Before long, a campfire was crackling under a coconut tree on the beach.
Large chunks of bear meat were skewered on branches and roasted over the flames. Drops of fat dripped into the fire, hissing softly.
The aroma of roasting meat soon filled the air.
Reddy leaned against the coconut tree and spent 100 energy points to analyze the bear's genetic sample.
[Gene Rating: LV4]
Seeing the prompt, Reddy's spirits lifted.
This was an excellent genetic sample, one of the few LV4 samples he had obtained so far.
If he used the bear's genes as a base and fused them with other genetic fragments, there was a high chance of producing an entirely new LV5 gene.
Woof! Woof!
Suddenly, the gene wolves stood up from the beach, staring at the sea and growling a low warning.
Reddy looked up.
About three hundred meters away, a black dot bobbed up and down on the waves.
"A shipwrecked survivor?"
After Golden Lion's escape from Impel Down, he had become extremely low-key, only searching for uninhabited islands with rare beasts in the remote stretches of the sea. For this reason, Reddy had deliberately avoided major shipping routes.
This castaway piqued his interest.
Reddy signaled for the gene wolves to stay on the beach and remain alert, then waded into the sea.
A huge splash erupted.
The gene sea beast flipped over in the water and swam up to Reddy.
"Go."
Reddy climbed onto the creature's back and pointed toward the area where the castaway was floating.
"Cough, cough."
Sivedia coughed violently, his body curled into a ball.
Wait.
Didn't I fall into the sea?
Was I rescued?
Sivedia snapped awake and sat up abruptly.
"You're awake?"
Reddy picked up a piece of sizzling bear meat from the fire, blew on it, and took a bite.
The smell of roasted meat overwhelmed Sivedia's senses. He scrambled to the fire on all fours, grabbed a skewer, and shoved the meat into his mouth.
Even though the searing heat burned his tongue, he refused to slow down.
But the next second, Sivedia spat the meat back onto the sand and glared furiously at Reddy. "How dare you feed me this disgusting slop? I am a noble of the Cia Kingdom! Are you trying to kill a high-ranking aristocrat, you peasant?"
Reddy only cared about replenishing energy, not flavor.
But as a noble, Sivedia had never eaten roasted meat without even a sprinkle of salt.
Not to mention, wild game had a strong, unpleasant gamy taste if not properly prepared. After roasting, the stench was unbearable.
"You're a noble?"
Reddy had never even heard of the Cia Kingdom, but he was intrigued by Sivedia's status.
"Of course! In recognition of you saving my life, I will permit you to..."
Sivedia cut himself off when he heard a low growling sound. He turned and saw several monstrous beasts baring their fangs at him. He screamed in terror. "Save me! Save me right now! I'm a noble!"
Reddy raised a hand, and the gene wolves lay back down, though they continued watching the panicking Sivedia with predatory focus.
"Are they... your pets?"
Sivedia stared at the gene wolves, his voice shaky. Realizing that Reddy wasn't some lowly peasant fisherman as he had assumed, his attitude noticeably improved.
Reddy took another bite of roasted bear meat and asked instead, "Have you ever seen a giant ship flying in the sky?"
"You have quite the imagination."
Sivedia immediately regained his noble superiority. This country bumpkin had no common sense.
How could a ship possibly fly?
Though he had already prepared himself for disappointment, Sivedia's answer still frustrated Reddy. He reconsidered his plans.
"Maybe I should create a giant bird and search for the Floating Islands from the sky."
Seeing the terrifying beasts around Reddy, Sivedia decided to behave. He wandered off to look for some wild fruit to fill his stomach.
"I swear, if I make it back to the kingdom alive, I will never set foot on a ship again."
After searching the area, Sivedia didn't dare venture deeper into the jungle and found no edible fruit nearby. Gritting his teeth, he made his vow.
But then, a ship appeared on the horizon.
"Help! I'm a noble! I can reward you handsomely!"
Sivedia rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Convinced it wasn't a hallucination, he rushed to the shoreline, waving his arms frantically to attract the ship's attention.
By some miracle, the ship adjusted its course and began sailing toward the island.