Chapter 49

Tatsuya, Yumiko, and Tsubasa were currently savoring the succulent fillets before them, prepared personally by him. Of course, this time he was careful enough not to use any of his own chakra during cooking, not even a little bit.

He had also generously shared some portions with the captain since the man helped him and provided the kitchen. With the fish being so large, he was even able to set aside half of it, preserved in storage scrolls for the future use.

Yumiko's eyes fluttered shut in sheer bliss as she slowly chewed the buttery soft meat, letting the rich flavors roll over her tongue. "Oh...oh wow..." she breathed, relishing each transcendent umami note. "It's like it's melting in my mouth - such incredible velvety texture!"

Even Tsubasa seemed momentarily stunned by its exquisite taste. A faint crease appeared between her brows as she processed the nuanced tastes and mouth-feels.

"Extraordinary," she finally murmured, approval lacing her typically frosty tone. " Very delicate, yet there's such complexity packed into every bite. The natural saltiness of the ocean, tingles of electricity, almost floral perfumed notes underlying the rich butterfat..."

She met Tatsuya's eyes with an eerily intense look. "Is this really your first attempt at preparing this fish? I've never tasted anything remotely close."

Tatsuya simply smiled, spearing another buttery-pink morsel and popping it into his mouth with clear relish. As the flavors burst over his own palate, he merely hummed contentedly and reached for his sake cup.

While they enjoyed their food, Tsubasa's gaze suddenly sharpened into icy slits as she sensed something off.

She looked at Tatsuya and saw that he had also stopped eating, currently wearing an annoyed expression.

"They really decided to come at the worst time," he said, standing up abruptly.

"Hmm?" Yumiko looked at him in confusion. "What happened?"

"We have some uninvited guests," he said, and immediately, Yumiko stopped eating, her eyes narrowing as she understood the implication.

Thud.

Tatsuya turned toward the sound and saw two men jumping onto the ship's deck - one with a bearded, grizzled face likely in his mid-forties, a scar crossing his features and had crooked nose, while the other was a young guy with a long face, around mid-twenties.

"Both have chunin-level chakra, but the bearded one has a little more," he murmured to Yumiko and Tsubasa.

"Go deal with them," Tsubasa said flatly. "I haven't finished my fish yet."  

He shrugged nonchalantly at her words and turned to Yumiko. "You take the long face. I'll handle the crooked one."

Yumiko gave a curt nod, her gaze focusing sharply on her opponent.

"All of you, down on your knees now and bring your Captain here!" the grizzled, bearded pirate bellowed in a rough, arrogant attempt at intimidation - just as he'd brazenly done on countless ships before.

However, this time would prove quite different. Mid-blustering sentence, Tatsuya's hand lashed out - his fingertips clamping down on the man's craggy face with merciless, vise-like force. The cocky pirate's eyes bulged grotesquely as Tatsuya's iron grip constricted around his skull.

In one blindingly fluid motion, Tatsuya launched himself off the deck, hauling the trapped pirate's flailing body along with him. Executing a graceful midair flip, he channeled every bit of  momentum into a whiplash-fast downswing - slamming the unfortunate brigand's body straight down into the sea with a big splash of spray.

The long face guy could only gape in stunned horror as his partner disappeared beneath the roiling waves with horrific abruptness. "You...you bastard!" he snarled, snapping out of his shocked daze. But before he could react, a scorching ball of condensed steam and raging flames roared towards his face.

"Shit!!" With a panicked yelp, the man flung himself sideways off the deck just as the explosive projectile detonated in a searing conflagration. Even so, the punishing blast seared half his hair clean off in a pungent wisp of smoke as he crashed into the briny depths.

"Dammit! They have ninjas on board," he thought frantically as he hurriedly tried to put some distance between himself and the ship.

On the surface of the sea, Tatsuya watched impassively as the haggard, crooked man clawed his way back to the surface, gasping and hacking up seawater. The pirate coughed heavily, spitting out water from his mouth, and glared back at Tatsuya - his ragged breaths sawing raggedly in and out.

"You're quite daring," Tatsuya said evenly, "robbing a whole ship like this. And since you're  able to walk on water, I'll assume you must be a ninja of some village. But I don't see a headband, so I'm guessing you're a rogue."

The man didn't say anything, too stunned to even reply. 'Didn't that man say there were no ninjas on the ship? Was I wrong?' he thought weakly. 

'They're likely a three-man team and we're only two. We can't win! And this boy looks insanely strong! Dammit!!' His mind raced desperately.

'I have to attack first while he's distracted,' he resolved.

"We are from--" He started but suddenly stopped mid-sentence, and dashed towards the boy at full speed, a kunai gripped tightly in his hands.

Tatsuya smirked as he easily dodged the slash by taking a casual step back. "Nice try, though," he taunted. 

But the man didn't stop, continuing to hack and slash at the impassive Tatsuya, who dodged every strike with almost insulting ease. He tried everything, punching, kicking, headbutting, fighting dirty everything he can, but nothing seems to work for him.

'He has chunin levels of chakra, but his Taijutsu skills are meh.' Tatsuya thought, dodging once again.

His Byakugan made the pirate's attacks childishly simple to evade. "Aaargh! Stop dodging!" the man shouted in frustration as he slashed his nth attack at Tatsuya's heart, trying to kill him. But Tatsuya just smiled and sidestepped again.

Before the pirate could recover from his reckless momentum, he felt himself tripping over some invisible force. And then a harsh, breathtaking pain exploded through his chest, knocking the air and nearly his consciousness away.

Aack!

He then felt himself flying tens of metres before crashing back into the sea with bone-jarring force, so hard that he was barely able to stop himself from drowning back into the water.

Ack!  

"My....ribs. I can't breathe..." He felt a suffocating heaviness in his lungs, as if they were filled with lead.

"Aargh! What did you do...I can't breathe..." The pirate raged at Tatsuya, but even those words were a struggle to choke out.

Tatsuya walked calmly over to the crouched, struggling man and said in an almost warm tone, "I just messed around with your chest's tenketsu points. And don't shout at me - you're the one who attacked us, not me. But don't worry, it won't be too painful. You'll lose consciousness before you actually die."

He bent down a little to regard the dying pirate. Tatsuya had no pity - these types of pirates usually killed most or all crew whenever they boarded, so mercy was the last thing to consider.

Suddenly, the crooked man grabbed Tatsuya's legs with a vise-like grip, as if his last reserves of life force depended on it. He looked up with a bloodshot, manic smile and crazed eyes. "If I'm going to die, I'll take you with me!"

And then, from under the surface just below their feet, a massive water dragon burst forth, its gaping maw swallowing both Tatsuya and the pirate in one big gulp.

.

.

.

.

.

All the crew on the ship looked at the scene with their mouths agape in horror, thinking the boy was done for.

"Is he dead?" one of the fellas said, trembling. 

"Shut it, ye'. Or I'll toss you right in after him!" the captain snapped at him. "Don't ye' see, that lady with them ain't even stopped eating yet. She clearly has things under control."

The man quickly put his head down. "Aye, Captain, sorry about that."

"Shit, the sea's gone red as blood!" another shouted, pointing.

They all looked, and sure enough the sea had turned a deep crimson. "That ain't just blood," the captain muttered under his breath, a hint of nerves in his tone.  

"And now the woman's stood up too." 

They watched as the woman who'd been calmly eating rose from her seat and moved to the edge of the deck, staring at the reddened waters.

"Good heavens! Something's coming up!" a deckhand yelled.

They snapped their eyes back to the water, and saw a shape emerging from the surface.

"Oh fuck! Ruined my bloody clothes!" Tatsuya suddenly burst out, his body and face drenched in gore and blood, though clearly not his own.

Behind him, various body parts and chunks began floating up.

"Are you still going to hide?" Tatsuya said, his expression becoming serious as his eyes scanned towards a certain direction intently.

"You are much better than I thought. I really didn't think you would survive that." A voice came as a man suddenly appeared in front of him.

"You would be stupid, if you think I didn't see you hiding there." Tatsuya said, gazing at the appearance of the man.

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