A long, heavy silence stretched between them. Nothing changed ,the kid seemed to have spent every last bit of her bravado just stepping out of the trees.
'They clearly don't look like they were playing hide and seek.'
Before he could say anything , a loud grumble echoed from the toddler's stomach, and her eyes welled with tears. The older girl looked utterly helpless.
'Can a toddler eat rice crackers?'
Remembering the rice cracker's pack in his pockets he tossed it toward them, it landed softly in the sand at their feet.
'Existential crisis can wait a bit. I had enough of those anyways'
Forgetting his own disorientation , he took charge. "Follow me, we wi..."
PEW
Cutting through his sentence. The sound of a gunshot ripped through the tranquil air.
It wasn't just loud; it was visceral.
And more followed.
His body reacted without his permission ,it shrank instinctively ,bringing with it a vivid sensation.
With his newfound confusion ,the perplexity grew bigger, but he had to put it on hold for now.
But his instinct clicked. He had to move.
"To the beach" he commanded, his voice tight.
'moving toward the sound is a risk, even if allies are present in the active zone, we'd be walking straight into a potential battlefield... Or worse.'
Without another word, they were sprinting. Clueless and terrified, the child followed his lead. clutching the toddler. He instinctively looked for a river or a stream to follow-- a basic survival tactic, but found none.
'I never signed up for Survivor.' he thought, as fatigue started to catch up quickly, his lungs burning-- a sensation he hadn't felt long since.
He Abandoned the search for water and gambled, running wherever the ground sloped downhill, praying it would lead to the shore.
Fortunately. The gamble paid off.
He was exhausted. Not even knowing what he was running from. But better safe than sorry.
"We made it" he sighed a sigh of relief, announcing
"water? where? I don't see it" a tiny voice asked ,the toddler spoke --what might be it's first words
'Dora ? ginger Dora ?'
'Am I getting punished ? Am I in h..'
"whoa! Look..It's the beach. You see , It's your first time seeing it" the older girl exclaimed, full of excitement and enthusiasm.
'Well..fair enough. I only realized from the sound after all, we just arrived'
'I almost got relieved. We need a backup plan'
He gathered dry sticks ,arranging them for a signal fire. Then sat on the edge. Waiting , closely monitoring.
'I wish I had a mirror or something'
He Reflected on the previous events while having nothing else to do. Something he'd paid no mind to earlier now clawed at his attention.
"Why there clothes looked no better than a rag, while his own clothes were in good shape? " **
"they look cool no gonna lie ,like might be designer ... I'm probably well off" He said checking his fit
"Well ..was well off" remembering his current situation
"How couldn't this designer compete though .I only know a certain starfish that was famous ,and i would rather wear trashbags"
His wait didn't take long. Shortly after, A single dark speck appeared on the horizon: a ship.
'I only see one point in the horizon, judging from what the gunshots I heard earlier , if the ship ahead is a coast guard ship .It might be a close fight or even a loss. '
'if, that was a battalion ,and we notified them ,they might request backup and the confrontation would probably occur here ,with the smoke drawing the other party .If it was a regular ship though, we are doomed ..but they will inform authorities most likely ,so we should just wait hiding ,if it was their ship then we're fu..'
'I need to gamble'
'I am gonna assume that the map I have is this world's and not just some fiction. So It's nature is different --It's a world full of seas ,therefore the number coast guard should be significantly higher. All that bullshit means ,I am gonna assume that the ship is a battalion'
"Do you know how to light up fire?" he turned asking the girl
No response
'Of course she doesn't. What's with my stupid questions'
"You," he said to the girl, "remember where we gathered these sticks? Go hide there. Don't make a sound."
He knows his next move ,he needs to find a way to convey a message
Overthrowing his remorse to waste his new drip ,he discovered that he is wearing an undershirt.
He tore it off his own ,and bit down hard on his thumb, the sharp sting a shock. Squeezing drops of blood onto the white fabric
"Why am I try-harding' feeling a rush ' have anemia ,I am using all my blood here' he scrawled a simple, desperate message: REQUEST BACKUP.
**REQUEST BACKUP** --It looked like a flag
He lit the fire. As smoke began to curl into the sky, he searched for a branch and tied his bloody flag to it
He stood beside the fire ,and held the flag high.
'If they were guards and they spotted the smoke ,they will surely use the magnifier to investigate and figure out what's going on, I need them to see me. The messier, the better'
He set the the flag tightly on the stick, and waited beside
The ship drew closer.
'If no signal came .I am just gonna try sound ,I am throwing all my cards here'
He saw a flash of reflected light— a spyglass. A response.
'It's up to them if they request backup now. But they used a response with secrecy, still.. I don't wanna get my hopes up' He run to hide
Once there. He collapsed onto the sand, the adrenaline leaving him hollow, there was nothing else he can do now.
The youngest kid, the ginger, had already drifted off to sleep, curled up against the blue haired one, who was now eyeing him with less wariness and something that looked strangely like sympathy.
His ranting continued again. The questions kept coming, a relentless cascade, until he landed on the most important one.
"Am I dead?"
A bad timed ,yet justified sense of pride surfaced for a moment "I knew I couldn't get knocked out," he scoffed, a smirk touching his lips. "Did that guy kill me though? Why? I didn't do anything."
He conveniently ignored the memory of taunting and triggering his opponent's entire fanbase ,lineage, bloodline and ancestry ."Was he that afraid of losing? Shouldn't he have just sent his goons to rough me up?"
His smirk faded as a new, more infuriating realization hit him. "Couldn't he have done it before the training camp? Before I had to cut weight? Why make me go through all that? I even finished preparing my finisher."
His rant was cut short. The ship got closer ,and another ship appeared behind the first, moving faster. Relief washed over him.
He stared out at the approaching ships. "So. what am I doing here then?"
They waited for what felt like less than an hour. Before he could spiral further down the rabbit hole of his last question, the ship were close enough to make out their details.. One unit broke off from the main group, a smaller, faster vessel that looked like a rescue boat. It reached the shore quickly, and a team led by a woman with a determined face rushed over, medics immediately tending to the two children. Several others offered him help, handing him a canteen of water. He took it, but his focus wasn't entirely there. His attention was snagged by a much larger ship, a military vessel that was now dropping anchor just offshore.
The ship finally settled, and a figure emerged on the deck, standing silhouetted against the bright sky. He was broad shouldered, wearing a white coat that billowed around like a cloak. And as the man stepped forward into the light, a shock, lanced through him. He saw the stern jaw, grayish sideburns, black hair with several whites .
He witnessed the sheer, imposing presence he'd only ever seen drawn on a page.
"Is that Garp ?"