Early morning, three days later, dock pier.
"Wait, do I really have to carry this thing with me?"
Shano timidly raised the Radio Snail that had been forced into his hand.
"Quit whining. Just take it."
Belle-Mere barked, "All this fuss about going to sea, and you'll be gone for a month! How do you expect me to relax when you're still just a kid?"
"Uh, I don't think age matters though. Seems like nobody in the entire village can beat me..."
"Just take it, Shano."
The middle-aged man in a brown patrol uniform crossed his arms and laughed heartily, the shiny little windmill atop his head spinning wildly in the sea breeze.
"Otherwise, she won't let you leave today. And remember, take care of my little baby. If you want to call, dial the village office number. Ugh, if Belle-Mere hadn't cornered me against the wall so many times forcing me to hand it over, I wouldn't have given it to you, kid."
"Big mouth!"
Belle-Mere exploded, slapped Ken hard, knocking his cap—and the windmill—off into the sea next to the pier.
"My new windmill!" Ken frantically jumped in to retrieve it.
"So it was yours after all, Uncle Ken."
Shano came to understand, flicking the Radio Snail's head. "I wondered why this little guy had a windmill growing out of its head."
Bluru bluru!
The Radio Snail was lazily chewing basil leaves, but after being poked, it glared at Shano, puffing up its cheeks angrily and turned its face away.
Hey, that's kinda fun.
This was his first time actually playing with a Radio Snail. Quite cute, really. Just pricey—starting at tens of thousands of Belly.
Yeah, can't afford one yet. Maybe someday, once he saved up, he'd get one for each of his sisters as pets.
"Violent maniac, I was just helping you persuade him!"
Ken grumbled as he climbed back onto shore, blowing the wet windmill and carefully placing the patrol cap back on his head.
Such bad luck. Why does fate always mess with my little windmills?
Every so often—about once a year—the windmill on his head would mysteriously vanish.
He had no idea which damned little thief took it. This was just made a few days ago, almost got stolen again.
Belle-Mere ignored him and turned instead to the tall, gaunt old man directing the crew to count the goods, flashing a gentle smile:
"Mr. Gat, this kid's never been on a ship for so long before. Please watch out for him along the way."
"Don't worry, I come to your place every year to buy supplies—pretty much an old friend now. That's no trouble at all."
Gat smiled, lighting his pipe and speaking politely. "Asakura Island's a commercial hub, always on our route. I promise, we'll get this kid safely to the island."
"Thank you so much."
Belle-Mere smiled, pressing her palms together in a gesture for safe voyage prayers.
As soon as Gat walked away, she suddenly changed face, scowling at Shano:
"Alright, get moving. Seeing how hard you've worked lately, I'll let you off this time and allow you to go to Asakura Island to relax. But don't forget—every week, you have to contact me at least once!"
Of course, his real purpose for going to sea couldn't be told to his family.
Traveling thousands of miles just to steal the hat from an eight-year-old brat—nobody would ever believe that.
So he changed his story to: being bored at home, wanting to explore Asakura Island, maybe visit a swordsmanship dojo and see if he could learn a move or two.
Turns out,
A convincing lie usually needs a foundation of truth.
The second reason instantly managed to fool Belle-Mere.
She'd heard rumors back when she was in the Navy.
That island had several famous swordsmanship dojos, and every year they'd host a grand Sword Dao tournament together—best place in the nearby seas to study Sword Dao.
And from her secret observations, Shano's swordsmanship training wasn't going all that smoothly. Plus, there's a Navy Branch stationed on Asakura Island, so the route's quite safe.
So after quite a bit of hesitation, she finally agreed to Shano's rather bold request.
"Got it, got it, I'm going! Make sure to say goodbye to Nojiko and Nami for me!"
It was only six in the morning—barely even five when he left home. The two little girls were still sleeping soundly, so Shano just pinched their cheeks, not wanting to wake them up.
Belle-Mere helped him tuck the Radio Snail into his coat pocket, and the windmill on the shell immediately made a ridiculous bulge in the fabric, so Shano lightly patted it, a little dissatisfied, waved goodbye to the two adults who came to send him off, and jogged toward the cargo ship in the distance.
The salty sea wind brushed past the boy's gradually fading silhouette.
"..."
Belle-Mere sniffed, quickly turning away too fast to be normal.
Only Ken saw her slip a few large bills into the boy's pocket along with the Radio Snail.
"Say,"
After a while, Ken asked curiously, "Why'd you sneak the money in with the snail? Aren't you worried it'll eat it?"
Belle-Mere's sneaky move to wipe her tears froze instantly.
"Ahhh damn it, why didn't you say so earlier!"
The red-eyed, ponytailed woman whipped around, panic written all over her face, charging toward the end of the pier, yelling:
"Hey! Shano, wait! Don't get on the ship yet—!"
...
The moonlight was a bit dim, the sea shrouded in the night.
On the merchant ship's deck, warm orange lights glowed, and the mismatched tables and chairs of the jumbled banquet steamed with merriment.
The ship was fairly large, carrying twenty or thirty crew. They gathered together, whistles sounding off now and then, cups clinking and cheers rising in the air.
The banquet definitely wasn't for welcoming Shano—he was just a passenger hitching a ride and wasn't that important yet.
As for the reason... On this sea, do you really need a reason for a party?
"Hey, kid, how's it going? Still dizzy and want to puke?"
Old Captain Gat puffed his pipe as he sidled up and threw an arm over Shano's shoulders.
"I'm fine now, Captain Gat."
Shano quickly swallowed the roast meat in his mouth, and there were only eight or nine empty plates stacked beside him—clearly, even eating in front of outsiders, he was shy and restrained, taking small bites.
Speaking of what Gat brought up, it really was kind of embarrassing.
After all, it was his first time on a big ship for an ocean voyage—he'd never experienced anything like it before.
Yesterday morning, when the merchant ship hit full speed and bounced through the waves, Shano was actually slumped over the railing, nearly puking up his dinner from the night before.
A couple middle-aged uncles surrounded him, patting his back, handing him water and towels, helping him get through it.
Luckily, all those years of training weren't for nothing; his tough body gave him better endurance than most.
After just a few hours, the seasickness eased off.
By the next day, after a nap, he was fully back to normal. No matter how much the ship rocked, he was alert and energetic, no different from the old sailors.
"Ho, pretty solid constitution! Your mom worried over nothing, haha."
Gat grinned, tapping his pipe. "You'd make a good sailor someday. What do you say, in a few years, wanna work on our ship?"
"If the chance comes up, I'll definitely consider it." Shano chuckled, knowing Gat was just teasing and not turning him down outright.
The ship's crew really treated him nicely—he had a great impression of them.
"Mr. Gat," Shano asked curiously, "the ship's been sailing for more than forty hours now. How much longer until Asakura Island?"
"This time the currents and winds have been favorable—better than expected," Gat said cheerfully. "Four days tops, if nothing else crops up..."
Thud!
A heavy, muffled bang suddenly shattered the nighttime peace, cutting Gat off mid-sentence.
"What was that sound!"
"What's going on?"
The lively banquet snapped to silence—everyone jumped up, looking around in alarm for the source of the noise.
"It's coming from the stern!"
Gat's sharp as ever, immediately making the call, and barked, "Don't panic! Helmsman and gunners, take your positions! Send a few people to check the stern!"
"Aye, Captain!"
The crew quickly split up, moving according to orders.
Shano instinctively reached for the Wooden Sword at his waist—he didn't really need to carry this thing, but since he said he was going to learn swordsmanship, he might as well play the part.