“Search”

Apart from giving Saul the task of carrying Ryu to take him home, he had to tell him everything that happened since it had been a few hours since they were on the island and he had no news of them.

Finally, after a few minutes, they arrived at the ship, upon noticing the arrival Saul smiled and greeted everyone. Quickly Yamamoto told him all the events that happened during these hours.

First that Bokuden let them stay on the island, to which Saul sighed in relief, as he did not see good that they use the island as a base when the original inhabitants do not accept them. He then told him about their confrontation with Nelson, how Nelson almost killed Robin, and the new prisoners they have at their disposal.

"Thank you for not killing them" Saul said thankful that Yamamoto didn't get rid of these marines, even though he had deserted from the Marine and that these marines followed Nelson's evil orders, he knew what it felt like to have a superior and the pressure they exerted when they gave an order you didn't want to follow.

Besides, these marines had families and if Nelson had the backing of someone powerful if they disobeyed him and did not have enough strength or contacts, they could not only put their lives at risk but also the lives of their families, even so, he thought they should have a punishment for the acts they committed, so he did not think it was wrong for Yamamoto to take them as manpower.

"No need to thank me" said Yamamoto shaking his head, then he told him about Apis' dragon friend and that they should find his home which is supposed to be somewhere on this island, and that he will be the one in charge of carrying Ryu.

"Leave it to me, I already felt bad for not doing something dereshishi" Saul said laughing.

Before leaving for Ryu's cave, the 5 Marines who were unconscious finally woke up, their two companions quickly told them the whole situation. To Yamamoto and Saul's surprise, their expressions were not of fear, anger, or anything like that, but of relief and they accepted having to follow Yamamoto's orders to expire their crimes.

*Their conscience must be weighing heavily on them* thought Yamamoto satisfied as this way they are less likely to try to do something and he would have to cut their heads off, even so, he would not let them walk freely, he quickly went inside the ship in search of handcuffs for both feet and hands.

He asked Olvia for help since they would be too many handcuffs for one person to carry, to his luck they found for everyone, there were even more, *This can be useful for the future* thought Yamamoto, there were also Kairōseki handcuffs, although they were not as many as the normal ones. This is because this ship is the best in the marine and its equipment is excellent.

While the marines were handcuffed none of them made a complaint and they accepted it easily, Yamamoto kept the keys, *I wish this system would give me the typical space storage* thought Yamamoto while he kept several keys in his shirt.

After that, they resumed their journey to the cave where the dragon Ryu was while Apis again led the way. After walking for a while they reached the outskirts of the cave, "Before we start searching, let's go inside I want to have a little chat with him" said Yamamoto while looking at Apis who nodded in agreement as she entered the cave.

Yamamoto followed Apis together with Olvia who was curious as it would be the first time she would witness a mythological creature, Robin also followed them and outside waiting were Saul and the other imprisoned marines.

Upon entering both Yamamoto and Olvia were surprised to see Ryu, not every day you can observe a creature that appears only in legends, *It seems that he doesn't have much time left* thought Olvia something sad noticing Ryu's sick and weak state.

Ryu noticing the arrival of Apis and the others, slowly opened his eyes, where he could see peace and tranquility, *He looks like a wise old dragon* thought Yamamoto while he approached Ryu with Apis.

"Can you ask him if he remembers anything about his home? We can't search blindly" said Yamamoto to Apis, Battleship Island was a big island, it would take a long time to explore the whole island and more if they carry Ryu and Apis and others follow them.

Besides, if their home is Lost Island it is supposed to emerge every 1000 years, and if it didn't emerge yet they should look for a place on this island where a large expanse of land can emerge, and the problem was that it was only a few hours before nightfall, so they had to do it fast, otherwise it would only get complicated.

"Yes leave it to me" Apis replied enthusiastically as she looked at Ryu.

Apis closed her eyes looking focused in Ryu's direction, *It seems that their communication is like telepathy* thought Yamamoto. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes again and said, "He doesn't remember very well, he only knows it's eastward, he's kind of senile."

"Okay that information will do, well done" said Yamamoto, even though it wasn't something very accurate it would save them a lot of time.

"Hehe it was nothing" Apis said somewhat sheepishly at Yamamoto's praise.

Apis told Ryu that it was time for them to take him home, so she asked him if he could get out of the cave so that Saul could carry him, as this cave was not big enough for him to enter.

With difficulty, Ryu managed to get out of the cave. Saul quickly saw Ryu's weakened state and carefully carried him on his back and began their search towards the east of the island. Olvia had a compass so it was not difficult to find the right direction and what they were looking for would be a kind of giant lake where a large expanse of land could emerge.

Being a large group and especially for Robin and Apis who were girls, their pace was slow. As for the Marines who were handcuffed their walking was even more difficult, but Yamamoto did not worry about them, as this was a light punishment for what they did.

On the journey, Yamamoto asked Apis if she knew the location of a large lake, she shook her head and replied that the only thing she knew was a river where she usually goes with her grandfather in search of water.

After walking for a long time and not finding any lake or water source, Apis began to get tired, "Are you okay? We can stop for a while to rest" said Olvia worried about the girl.

"N-no, it's okay let's keep going" said Apis while wiping the sweat from her forehead, she wanted to fulfill her friend Ryu's dream, so she couldn't be a burden. As she picked up the pace of the others he almost tripped and Yamamoto managed to keep her from crashing to the ground.

"You don't look so good" said Yamamoto, before Apis could respond he crouched down and putting his back in front of Apis said, "Come on up"

Apis was a little surprised, but quickly with a smile she climbed on Yamamoto's back who resumed the search, unlike Robin who could keep up, Apis was always running here and there making her stamina run out much faster.

Another 30 minutes passed and they were unable to find anything, in this time Robin also got tired and Olvia did the same as Yamamoto and carried her. On Saul's side, there was no sign of tiredness.

*Damn, it's going to get dark soon* Yamamoto thought somewhat annoyed as he noticed that it was almost dusk.

If it gets dark it would be troublesome as they walked too much, plus he couldn't tell Olvia and Clover to take Apis and Robin to the village, as Apis wants to be present before saying goodbye to Ryu.

"We'll walk a little more, otherwise we'll come back" said Yamamoto who looked at the remaining time of the mission.

[Remaining time: 20 hours 34 minutes...]

*We still have time for another day of searching... we did walk a lot* thought Yamamoto noticing that they walked about 3 hours approximately.

After walking for about 10 minutes, Yamamoto was about to give up and turn back towards the village, but as they passed some trees, they came to a kind of large lake surrounded by many trees, *At last... although it may not be and nothing will emerge from here* thought Yamamoto.

"Is it here?" asked Clover with some fatigue from the long walk.

"Maybe... let's wait a while if nothing happens we will search tomorrow" said Yamamoto, although the others did not know when this lost island could emerge, he did know and it had to be in less than 20 hours, so if in this time they are here nothing happens, it would still be feasible to come back tomorrow and see if it is still the same.

Clover, Olvia, and the other marines sat exhausted, plus the marines who had to carry two wives, on Yamamoto's side he noticed a while ago that Apis had fallen into a deep sleep, on Robin's side she was the same.

Saul carefully supported Ryu on the ground and everyone began to look at the lake, time passed and everything was still the same, the only thing was that the sun was setting, showing a very beautiful view, while reflecting its reddish-orange color in the lake that had very clean water.

When everyone thought that nothing would happen and they were about to get up to return to the village, out of nowhere the earth began to tremble.