6 hours later, the ship still showed no sign of stopping. They had already resupplied along the coast several times, even weathering a storm. If it hadn't been for Arthur's special ability to avoid the storm through information from the fish, the new ship would probably have been scarred by now.
This fishing vessel was never meant for oceanic voyages, meant only to fish in nearby sea regions. It was a tall order for this boat to travel all the way from the coast of California to Mexico.
Finally, after about 7 and a half hours, the ship finally came to a halt. Shiller looked somewhat pale, he clung to the railings, staring at Arthur who was just stepping out, and asked: "Have we truly arrived?"
"We're near a group of islands at the moment, I need to figure out which specific island it is. If you're not feeling so good, rest up inside for a while. I'll take a swim to go searching."
Shiller nodded in approval of this arrangement. Firstly, because he couldn't swim and secondly, even if he could swim, he have no energy left to.
The Gray Mist was right, his seasickness was a psychological reaction. The Gray Mist could forcibly control his stomach muscles to avoid spasms, but these uncomfortable feelings would migrate elsewhere, like chest tightness, cold sweats and so on.
Even if The Gray Mist could alleviate all these discomforts, Shiller's mind would still tell him that these areas were uncomfortable. Thus, he decided it would be better to stay on the ship.
The Superego planned to take a vacation and did not allow him to enter the Thought Palace. This meant he could not seek the blessing of the dream god, nor directly provoke Lucifer by touching the feather. Even if he wanted to jump into the sea and drown himself, Death would not take him away.
Shiller entered the only guest room on the boat. This should've been a resting place for the sailors, but it did have a reasonably decent sofa bed. He lay down on it, slightly drowsy, and fell asleep.
However, he was roused from his sleep by a loud commotion. He heard some strange sounding Spanish, followed by several gunshots.
Just as Shiller was getting up, he felt the bed shaking - clearly, someone had boarded the ship. He stood up, grabbing his own umbrella, and positioned himself by the door.
The people outside were speaking Spanish, Shiller could only understand a few words. It seemed as if they were talking about how new and nice the boat was.
Suddenly, a flurry of footsteps came from outside the door. The door swung open with a "bang". The intruder, holding a rifle, entered the room mumbling Spanish curses.
But as soon as he stepped into the room, a knife pierced through his chest. Shiller withdrew his umbrella, looking at the man who fell to the ground, his face showing a frown.
From the look of the vest and bandana, he looked a bit like a Mexican, but also a bit like a pirate that operated in the Caribbean Sea Area. Soon, however, Shiller was able to identify these people. He heard someone outside shouting the name of a drug, these people were Mexican drug traffickers.
From their tone, it seems they wanted to take this ship back to transport drugs. Judging by the footsteps, these people should've already entered the cockpit. Shiller flashed to the end of the corridor. The trafficker at the end spotted Shiller and instinctively raised his gun to fire a spray of bullets.
Now, Shiller was certain that these ruthless people were indeed drug traffickers. Pirates would normally opt for kidnapping and demanding a ransom, but the traffickers would eliminate all the crew, they do not need survivors.
Bullets, of course, couldn't penetrate Ye Meng Jia De's snake skin. Shiller opened his umbrella to block all the bullets. One cut per person, after killing about five or six of the traffickers, he reached the cockpit.
There were still three people in the cockpit. Upon seeing Shiller, they mumbled a whole bunch of Spanish. But when Shiller killed the first one, the first reaction of the remaining two was not to fire at Shiller, but to shoot at the control panel of the cockpit.
After dispatching the remaining two dealers with a single slash each, Shiller heard them cursing him before their deaths. Coupled with their previous destruction of the cockpit, Shiller concluded that these drug dealers had treated him as one of their own. Before their death, they wanted to destroy his ship to ruin his business.
In this region, only this group of people would be so aggressive, and perhaps, there were American agents among these people, intentionally trying to stir up conflicts.
Looking at their clothes, Shiller guessed that this was a group of small fry from a drug cartel. They happened upon this fishing boat and wanted to take it back as a sign of merit.
Because their equipment was not sophisticated, they had nothing on them, and they were not strong fighters. A few flashes and slashes were all it took to finish them. If they had been seasoned, well-trained armed drug traffickers, it wouldn't have been so easy.
The rampant drug trade in South America couldn't prosper without America's acquiescence. The elite drug traffickers' weapons were comparable to those of the American infantry, and there is no need to mention how they obtained them.
After dealing with these drug dealers, Shiller didn't sigh in relief. The cockpit was messed up by these guys' bullets. One of them even used a shotgun on the control panel. This wasn't a warship, even on warships, a direct shot like that would send the buttons flying.
Soon enough, Arthur stumbled upon the bodies strewn about the place and the mess in the cockpit. Then, he spotted Shiller, looking pale and weak, holding the umbrella knife and ending the traffickers one by one to ensure they were truly dead.
Standing outside the cockpit, Arthur swallowed nervously and whispered, "..... Is this the professor at Gotham University?"
"You're back? Come in." Shiller beckoned to him and said, "Look, they messed up this place. Can this ship still sail?"
Arthur was more concerned for the ship than everything else. He stepped over the bodies at the doorway, walked in, and carefully inspected the control panel, "I'm afraid it's going to be difficult, most of the buttons are dysfunctional. I'll try to see if I can still start it."
Arthur fiddled around and said, "No can do. There seems to be a problem with some wiring. I need to check the engine."
With these words he left the cockpit, only to come back after a while, "The boat hijackers are professionals. They didn't damage the engine but they did destroy the engine's control system."
"Can you simplify that?" asked Shiller.
"In other words, they've dismantled the ignition circuit of the vehicle. Although the engine is intact, it can't be started,"
"Can you fix it?" Shiller asked.
"I could, but it requires materials. I can't conjure up wires out of thin air. Plus, I've just located the person stranded on an island. We need to rescue him."
"Get off the ship." Shiller said decisively as he turned to leave, "Those people might be on our heels soon. We can abandon the ship, safety comes first."
Arthur opened his mouth, looking at the bodies strewn about, uncertain who Shiller was referring to in terms of safety. But he followed Shiller off the ship anyway, and when stepping on land, he glanced back at the ship with regret.
Of course Shiller was trying to ensure Arthur's safety. Even the young Superman, who was still developing, did not possess the kind of strength he possessed at his peak. Aquaman was even more powerless. Even in his prime, he wasn't very strong. It was unclear whether the young version of him could even withstand bullets.
Although he would be invincible once he jumped into the water, he might be paralyzed with fear upon seeing a band of brutal armed drug traffickers charging towards him, and even forget that swimming is his strong suit.
The place where the two set foot on the land was also an island. Shiller looked around and saw nothing but palm trees and sea birds on the island. He asked, "So, how do we get to that island you talked about?"
"Well...I...I can swim over there..." Arthur started, but seeing Shiller's unfriendly look, he quickly changed his tone, "No worries, I just spotted a group of good buddies, they can take you there."
Ten minutes later, Shiller was looking at a bunch of dolphins swimming in the sea. He sighed deeply and asked Arthur, "Why do you think they can carry me?"
Shiller couldn't precisely determine the species of the dolphins, but their bodies looked rather slender and their sizes were not large. Plus, their backs didn't seem to be meant for carrying passengers.
Dolphins come in many different species, perhaps the larger ones can indeed carry humans swimming, but the ones before him obviously couldn't.
Arthur pondered for a moment and said, "Wait here, I'll go find some others."
About half an hour later, Arthur returned. He was treading water in the deeper water, looking somewhat exhausted. Shiller shouted, "What's up? Did you swim too far?"
"No, it's just that...I had to negotiate with him..."
Before Arthur finished his sentence, he was swept into the water by a spout of water. Then, Shiller saw an enormous creature emerging from the water, its body was black with a patch of white on both cheeks, resembling a giant panda. It was an Orca.
"You can first step onto the dolphins' backs, then ride the Orca over. This big fella is large enough to carry a person, no doubt about that."
Arthur swam over and whistled to call the dolphins. They surfaced one by one, forming a stairway of sorts. Shiller glanced around and sighing resignedly, he began his trek across the ocean surface.
Thanks to the Gray Mist's influence, Shiller had better balance than most people. Although his footing was uneven and his shoes got wet, he made it onto the Orca's back without trouble.
The Orca's tall dorsal fin almost reached 1.7 meters, serving as a perfect handle. Clinging onto the fin, Shiller found the Orca's movements to be steadier than the ship.
As Arthur swam ahead, he said, "It's not easy to find a good-natured guy like this one. These guys are usually very playful. To get them to carry a person, you need to offer some decent benefits."
Hanging onto the Orca's fin, Shiller asked in amusement, "So what did you bribe him with?"
"I had to play with him. In fact, out of that half-hour, I spent only five minutes communicating with him--the rest of the time was spent playing."
When the Orca kept half its body above water, it didn't swim fast. So Arthur was able to swim in front of the Orca. He stopped and patted the Orca's head, saying, "This is a good fellow. It's just reached adulthood, but it is already big. It will definitely grow into a big guy in the future."
"I've heard that Orcas are found in the Gulf of Mexico, but I didn't expect to find them so easily." As Arthur swam on, he said, "Moreover, Orcas usually travel in pairs or in family groups. It's rare to see a lone one."
Although the man-and-whale team didn't swim fast, they arrived at the isolated island that Arthur had scouted previously before too long.
This time, there were no dolphins for Shiller to step on. After Arthur made it to shore, he looked at Shiller who remained on the Orca's back, saying, "The Orca can't come to the shallows, or it will be stranded!"
"I'm sorry, Professor, for this last little stretch, you might have to swim..."
Then he saw Shiller disappear from on top of the Orca, and the next second, he was standing beside Arthur, completely dry.
Arthur's eyes widened and he murmured,
"Is this the professor from Gotham University?"