This time, perhaps due to shamelessness heavily dripping in the tone as the voice said it, but Sebastian finally located the bastard who was acting boss from the shadows.
Shifting his sharky body, he turned back again, and though nothing was showing before him he was confident that the voice sounded from there.
Bright like suddenly flared, color rapidly filled the vacant space before him, the first dominant color that appeared was dark green before brown quickly followed it.
In just one look, Sebastian confirmed that this fellow was hovering before him since but he probably hid before with magic. Seeing this, he really wanted magic now.
As soon as the colors appeared, it was quickly followed by the features. The brown color revealed a hard semi-circular shell, then from the hard shell emerged 3 dark green pairs of webbed hands.
Sebastian looked intently, looking for the last finishing touch that would form the whole organism, then the turtle's head suddenly popped out, making him flinch and trash his tail fan a bit.
"Well, hello there".
"A turtle?"
"Yeah, are you surprised?"
As it spoke, the big turtle that was easily bigger than Sebastian's current body gently waved at the Grouper fish, indicating that it could go.
Sebastian was speechless for a moment, looking on with his mouth slightly parted in a big 0 shape, making bubbles rise up in the ocean. "You're shameless".
"Yes, I know".
"…"
After taking his time to organize his thoughts, Sebastian calmed his mind and asked. "Why did you ambush me?"
"I didn't, you're too cheap for me to spend such effort on". The turtle gently raised its foremost webbed pair of hands in a posture that felt like it was picking its nose at Sebastian.
Ignoring that, Sebastian continued asking. "How are you able to talk to me?"
"Which village did you crawl out from?"
"You're f*cking asking such a dumb question like how do I talk? Man, did your parents not teach you anything about Oceania at all?"
Sebastian felt a little offended by that, but he suppressed it as he caught a keyword there. He suddenly tried to act in a way that would make him look pitiful, though he was sure that it was probably looking awful.
The turtle paused, bringing down its webbed limb on seeing this strange scene. "The f*ck are you doing?"
"I'm sorry, it's just that my parents abandoned me, please teach me about Oceania, I don't know anything".
The turtle paused for a moment; eyes dazed like it was thinking through what this great white shark just said. Then it suddenly threw its head back and erupted laughing.
"Hahaha, kid, you're really shameless…, and clueless too. Just like me".
"You don't know about the shark incarnation ceremony?"
"No". Sebastian shrank.
"Then you really have a lot to learn". It raised its webbed limbs to pick its nose again. "Well, before going to that, what brought you here? Aren't you ashamed, coming to flex your ego here by feeding on Blue Tangs, food that even I reject?"
"Umm, that, I'm…"
"Forget about that, I'll just take it as it's because of your shamelessness. About wanting to know more about Oceania, nothing comes for free". Its eyes suddenly seemed to gleam slightly.
Sebastian shuddered, he was familiar with this look, it was the look that merchants gave to fine babes when they're doing business with them.
"I…, I, what is the price?"
[You have activated skill: Swim.]
As he asked, stuttering he slowly moved his tail fin left and right, propelling himself forward at a barely noticeable speed.
The turtle answered. "About the price…"
[You have activated skill: Dash.]
[You have activated skill: Bite.]
Boom!
Sebastian suddenly bolted forward at the turtle; his jaws already wide open in expectations of the loud crunch sound after it landed. But contrary to his expectations, he didn't hear that.
Ta…kpa!
[You have been hit by a skill: Holy Slap {×2}]
Sebastian was stunned in one place, looking like a fool as he felt the pain waves of the 2 sharp slaps hit his brain hard. He could not see it, but he could imagine the 2 slap marks that were currently in his sharky face.
"Think you're clever right, Kid?"
"No, no, I was…"
Pa!
This time, Sebastian saw it clearly. The turtle just casually waved one of its webbed limbs, then a white energy manifestation in the form of a palm appeared. This manifestation was what slapped him.
"I'm sorry".
"Don't be kid, I'm used to disciplining newcomers every time".
Pa!
"Please…"
Pa!
After giving the mischievous shark the spanking of its life, the turtle finally settled down and rested its front pair of limbs to the side of his shell like a human resting his hand on his chin.
"So, can we continue now?"
"Yes, I'm sorry, yes".
"Good boy!"
What made Sebastian more resentful was that the slaps didn't take his health points due to some magical manipulation by the turtle, but they hurt as hell which left him crying.
"The price for learning under me is…, to join me!"
Whoosh!
The sound spooked the hell out of Sebastian again as he yelled and curled himself up, trying to cover his head with his fins which of course yielded no positive result.
He waited for the slap, he waited again but nothing happened. Still, in trepidation, he turned to look again, and what he saw shocked the hell out of him.
Seeing his shocked expression, the turtle revealed a wide grin. "Welcome to my clan, the Leroy clan".
Fishes, lots of fishes, and sea creatures were what dominated this expanse all of a sudden. Groupers, turtles, crabs, the species of sea creatures present were too numerous for Sebastian to count completely.
After finally reining in his shock, he turned to the turtle with a weird expression on his face. "Leroy, that's your name?"
"Yep, anything the problem?"
"No, you just reminded me of someone". Sebastian laughed awkwardly while trying to avoid the intense gaze of the dozens of fishes that were resting on him. "He was actually one of my idols, Leroy Jenkins".
"What?"
"Ah, nothing".
"Good". The turtle nodded before turning to the community of fishes that were behind him, which were his clan members according to him.
"Boys, welcome our clan's newest member, the great white shark…" It turned its head. "What's your name, kid?"
"Sebastian".
"Welcome, Sebastian!"
"WELCOME SEBASTIAN!" All the fishes and ocean creatures cheered the new member of their clan.
"Umm, thank you".