"Mother!" Jas immediately rushes to her grandmother's embrace with tears as she suffered from being left alone by her friends.
"There you go, hush now. Mother is here now." patting the back of the kid as she tried to calm it down.
"But mother, everyone hated Pate and even you hated him. Pate did nothing wrong against us, why all of you so hard to Pate? Did he sin? Why not forgive him like forgiving me when I'm being naughty!" with pent-up emotion, Jas cries silently but still let it out to her mother who is stun rooted.
Mother Riz sighs as she clears her foggy mind and continues to gently pat the back of the kid, "Well, mother is wrong but to protect you from any unexpected situation is a job that I must fulfill. Sorry, my child for making it hard for you."
Mother Riz looks at Jas who fell asleep in her embrace and she can only make sure that she has a comfortable position. After fixing the little Jas's position she turns her head as she hears footsteps.
It's Old Geez who is lifting a wooden box to his shoulder and with a serious expression he squatted in front of her, whispering "Riz, our situation got worse as our lookout in the mountain spotted a pirate ship in the backshore, with an estimated of hundred fifty pirates rushing in the forest."
Riz's eyes shined as she blurted "That's good! then let the marines and pirates take each other out as we wait here and - wait, worsen!?" But Mother Riz stops realizing the meaning of the frowning Old Geez and she can't help but question it "Why!?"
"The pirate is the notorious Winged Jaw Pirates. Their captain, a zoan type devil user, flies through the mountain just to reach the front shore and enter the marines ship."
"T-this… How come the pirates and marines are collaborating to attack this island? Is this still related to Pate!?" Riz pondered for a long while as she lifted her head and said "We can only find Pate to get the answers we need!"
"That's what I'm thinking, but the kid is nowhere to be seen. He might anticipate that this will happen and conceal himself, and the high probability of hiding himself from everyone is in the forest and here in the underground!"
"Anyway, are you planning to get out there!? it's too dangerous when we have enemies in our back and front." Riz looks at the old wooden box that lay on the side of Old Geez.
"I don't have much of a choice, I need to divert their attention to me before they can find this place as I asked others to search the whereabouts of Pate here in the underground and tunnels." standing up Old Geez put the wooden box again to his shoulder and gazed back at Riz who was looking at him.
"Don't worry, we will prevail in the end." smiling at her and then turning around as he walks to the tunnel.
"Come back safely, Geezer!"
"I will!" stretching his other free arm, he thought 'It's been a long time that you didn't taste blood my friend.' as his hand grips the wooden box tightly.
In the hidden part of the forest, a part that wasn't explored by anyone lies Pate in a cocoon envelope by a thin green vine and connected to the encircled tall trees hanging him in the center unconscious.
One by one, the green thin vine slowly snapped until it couldn't bear the weight of the unconscious Pate and be destroyed.
Pate's eyes open wide and his retina enlarges as he instinctively grabs something he can hold to slow down his descending but there is nothing to hold as he falls to his back with cracking of bones reverted to the surroundings.
"Urrgghhhh!" As the pain of a broken back fastly feeds to his subconscious mind giving rise to a feeling of dozens of needles piercing through his lungs makes it hard to breathe.
'F*ck! what the heck am I doing here!?' trying to call for help but he can't even breathe decent air because of the inflicting pain in his lungs.
Gritting his teeth for his nearing unfortunate death and can only lose hope as he accepts the embrace of death but a refreshing green aura envelops him as he bathes on it feeling the fast recovery of his body.
'Ohh right, I have these skills. What a shameful experience' he can only laugh at himself.
After the green aura that envelops him subsides he slowly sits up and stretches his body "Such a painful experience, I need to modify this skill and make it trigger when the time damage inflicted on me."
After noting in his mind what should be done, he surveys his surroundings and finds himself in a place where tall trees reign supreme but what surprised him the most is in the center of it.
An enormous tree that makes every tall tree around it like an infant, its branches and leaves covering almost all of the tall trees here, snatching the nutrients coming from the moonlight.
'What moonlight!? It's nighttime!? sh*t!' Pate immediately stood up as he was sure that Mother Riz would scold him while twisting his ear.
How he could explain that he was miraculously absorbed into the sentience of the forest even he would raise an eyebrow with a question mark hovering to his side.
He runs out immediately but halts in his large strides remembering that he doesn't know where he is. Using his Absolute Perception skillfully and like unseeable tentacles, it coils around Pate then stretches out in six directions to scout his surroundings.
Pate only perceives many trees and bushes and there's no living creature that can be found, he can only stretch it far to find a way but he didn't notice that a hovering text appeared on his side showing what level he currently is using the Absolute Perception.
> Absolute Perception (Bloodline Ability)
Current Level - Third Form: 100 kilometers
And it steps up to Fourth Form 1,000 kilometers before he can finally see dozens of unrecognized people whose oozing a malicious intent as they burying dynamite that has an analog timer attach in the side with many different wired colors connected to it.
"Marines!? What are they doing here?" Pate has a terrible premonition as he didn't care and unleash the maximum form of his Absolute Perception.
The fourth Form and Fifth Form have a wide gap in it with fifty times data to bear and must allocate it uniformly in his mind.
A splitting pain engulfs the conscious mind of Pate but ignores it as a film of different views keeps flashing in his blood tearing eyes, he focuses on the three different locations.
The first locations are the Marine Captain Jiggs which has a mysterious connection to one of the two heirs that plans the death of the true owner of this body.
Second, the powerful captain of the pirates has a connection to the other heir and with the same purpose as the other one, and now it's flying in the direction of the third location.
Pate fell to his knees, gasping for breath as the splitting pain in his mind still lingers in his head.
Lifting his head and look in the direction of the third location of Old Geezer, he stands up staggeringly as the green light envelops him to heal him and wash out his fatigue.
Pate didn't finish the healing process of his skills and run out there 'Wait for me Old Geezer!' as the blood that streams to his cheek fall to the grass.
Clunk! Clunk!~
A spark scattered as the two metal weapons collide with each other but the broad scimitar at the hand of Old Gizzer forcibly slash through the saber and the pirate with a splash of blood, Old Geezer side step vanishing to his place.
"Die!" a pirate jump high with two hands holding his saber slashing down where Old Geezer appeared.
"Humph" Old Geezer step gently to the ground as he charged forward with momentum while his two scimitar dance in the moonlight entangling the attacking pirate.
Old Geezer stops in his track with sweat pouring in his forehead as he exhaled air in his lungs, while in his back the pirate stays still and slowly staggers to its knees where a burst of blood gushes out to the numerous wound slash to its body and fall to the ground dead.
Looking at the dozens of corpses around him, he sighs as he knows this is the time to retreat but a whooshing sound heard from his back making him startled as he knows who it is and without hesitation jumps out.
Booom!~
A plunged of smoke spread while Old Geez distance himself and tried to take a glimpse of the silhouette in the smoke who have a wing that expands to almost five meters wide.
"Ehhh, to think you dodge my sneak attack. You are good, why not join my crew!?"