Yamiru had thought that his daily long runs had sufficiently developed his strength and endurance in his newly enhanced body. In fact, he believed it might have improved even further.
Now, he realized just how naive that was.
The giant shark cleaved through the waves, its sharp teeth bared as it leapt out of the water, snapping at Yamiru, but missing as it plunged back into the sea.
"Why are you jumping around, you damn..." Yamiru gritted his teeth, pushing his body to the limit. His arms and legs felt like they were being dragged through the water by four solid iron rods, yet he shouted, "What are you, a shark or a dolphin?!"
It was only in the heat of the moment that Yamiru realized just how terrifying he could be when pushed to the edge. One moment he thought he'd reached his limit, the next he was tapping into even greater potential driven by his instinct to survive.
"I can't... I can't hold on..."
"I'm really about to collapse..."
His limbs felt too heavy, and Yamiru's vision blurred. He could barely move his arms and legs, and each stroke of his body felt more sluggish.
Unwilling to accept it, he thought, "The problem is, I panicked and flailed too much at the start, and I never adjusted to this kind of reckless burst of energy. I wasted so much stamina..."
Yamiru wished he could eat another Senzu Bean. If only he could recover his strength just once more, he was confident he could swim even farther with the same energy.
"I wonder if the two halfs of a Senzu Beans in my pants pocket slipped out in the water... or if they got soaked and ruined, would they still be good to eat...?
"But even if they didn't fall out or get ruined, I can't exactly eat them now\... This damn shark is too close!"
The thought that the precious beans he saved might be ruined or lost made his frustration grow.
What is this old man even trying to do... Where is he taking me? He said I had to reach land before lunch... I remember there are a lot of small islands near South City, but I don't know which direction I'm swimming in... This is a headache...
:Is he trying to take me to a deserted island to train? But didn't he say he didn't have time to take me on as a disciple?"
Yamiru kept swimming for his life, trying to distract himself from the exhaustion by overthinking.
Suddenly, he heard a dull, muffled horn from ahead: "Woo—"
"Hmm? What's that..."
With his enhanced eyesight, now controlled by his own will, Yamiru's dynamic vision and observation abilities had drastically improved. It felt like he was truly one with his senses.
Without slowing down, Yamiru glanced to the side and quickly identified the source of the sound—it was a passenger ship departing from the East Coast port of South City!
Yamiru couldn't help but be amazed. "I'm this fast? I've actually caught up with a passenger ship sailing straight across the calm sea? I'm awesome!"
As he drew closer to the ship, the people on the deck noticed the commotion on the water.
"What huge waves! What kind of sea creature is that?"
A couple, enjoying the breeze on the deck, noticed the large waves approaching. The woman pointed excitedly.
The man lowered his sunglasses, squinting into the distance. The waves were so high, they couldn't see the relatively small figure within, but the man's face suddenly changed when he spotted the sharp, blade-like dorsal fin of the shark following the waves.
"It's a shark hunting," the man told his girlfriend.
"A shark? Wow!" The woman gasped, covering her mouth, though it was unclear what exactly she was in awe of.
"The shark is formidable in the sea; it can track any scent of blood and will never let its prey escape! That thing is done for—it'll become the shark's next meal, ha-ha." The man laughed gleefully, shouting at the shark and Yamiru, who was struggling in the waves, "Nice! Go for it, big shark! Oh-ho!"
"You sure know a lot!" His girlfriend snuggled up to him and said sweetly, "And you're not afraid of sharks, you're so brave!"
The man became even more smug, whistling louder.
Soon, others on the deck began to hear the commotion and gathered around. Since the couple had assumed the fleeing creature was some kind of fish, everyone followed suit.
"Ah! Why is it coming toward us?!" One passenger exclaimed in surprise.
Others saw it too—the large white waves that had been traveling alongside the ship, seemingly in parallel, suddenly veered off course and headed straight toward the ship.
"The shark's following it..." the woman clutched her boyfriend's arm in fear.
"Don't worry, it's just a shark," the man reassured her, thinking to himself that sharks couldn't possibly climb the metal ladder welded to the ship's hull. He'd never heard of a "shark person" before!
"It's climbing up!!" Someone suddenly screamed.
"Oh my God!" another person shrieked.
"How is this possible?" The man leaned over the deck railing and looked down. After the waves settled, he saw something climbing the metal ladder. His eyes widened in disbelief. "The thing being chased by the shark... it's a human!?"
\---
Yamiru tried to use the flow of water to leap out of the sea and grab the ship's iron ladder. His mind was calm now, not chaotic like when he fought Buru.
It seemed that after the life-or-death race with the shark, Yamiru's spirit had been elevated, and his calmer side had been tempered, making him even stronger.
As he neared the passenger ship, his dynamic vision quickly assessed the height. He zeroed in on the fifth-to-last rung of the ladder. It was as though he could simulate the next few seconds in his mind—how he would use the water's force, what angle he would take, and how he would grip the ladder...
"Now's the time!"
With a burst of energy from his core, Yamiru shot out of the water like a fish. His left hand slipped, grazing the ladder's iron rung with his fingertips, but his right hand "thwacked" onto it with a tight grip.
"Ah!" The shark, right behind him, lunged forward, its massive mouth almost engulfing Yamiru's dangling lower body.
Above, someone on the ship screamed, "Ah!!"
Others couldn't bear to watch and turned away, muttering, "Sigh..."
"Quick, call the sailors and lifeguards!" a man in a suit shouted.
"Wait, look, the shark... didn't bite him!"
"How is that possible? I saw half of his body in the shark's mouth!"
\---
Yamiru's young but muscle-hard arms gripped the ladder, his body lying sideways as he clung to the upper and lower rungs of the ladder.
"Heh... heh-heh..."
In that lightning-fast moment, Yamiru had disregarded everything, pushing himself to the limit because he didn't want to die. His head had rushed with adrenaline, and he didn't even feel the muscle pain anymore. He hung on the ship's welded ladder like a monkey.
His brain was shaking, the feeling of life and death was so exhilarating, his heart was pounding like it would explode.
The shark missed its bite and fell back into the sea, circling below the ship, still unwilling to leave.
Yamiru glanced at the sea near the ship. Sure enough, after he reached the ship, the old man had slowed down, standing on the water's surface and silently watching him from a distance.
"Whoo—" Yamiru withdrew his gaze, took a deep breath, and climbed the ladder, trembling but determined, like a monkey scaling it toward the ship.
"Where is he? The person being chased by the shark?"
Two lifeguards in life jackets rushed out onto the deck.
"Uh..." The passengers looked at each other, some pointing down. "It looks like... he's almost up..."
Before the person could finish the sentence, a shadow shot up from below the railing and landed with a crash on the deck. Everyone immediately smelled a strong scent of seawater, along with a visible aura of masculinity.
"It's a boy?!"
"Is he some kind of monster? He swims as fast as the shark?!"
"I've heard that in life-or-death situations, humans can unleash incredible potential…" The last one to speak was the man in the suit who had called for the lifeguards.
"Ha-ha! Hahahaha..."
Yamiru, drenched and exhausted, collapsed on the deck. His muscles were cramping, but he couldn't stop laughing.
He yelled at the blue sky, "Sato Yamiru is awesome!!"
After shouting, he burst into another fit of laughter, feeling the rush and exhilaration. It felt so damn good, even if he looked a bit ridiculous, but it was all sincere.
The others stepped back, exchanging glances.
The two lifeguards, feeling like they didn't matter at all, couldn't help but approach and ask, "Um..."
"Wait a second, I'm just taking some medicine to recover my energy." The boy, lying on the deck, shivered and raised a hand to stop them from getting closer. Then everyone watched as he awkwardly searched his wet pants, finally pulling out half a bean.
It hadn't soaked through! It's preserved!
Yamiru was overjoyed but then suddenly thought, "Doesn't that mean I can't make a healing soup with this? And I can't crush it into a pill or anything..."
Crunching it with his teeth, he felt fully revitalized.
Yamiru's eyes gleamed with golden light as he grinned, then did a flip to his feet, splashing seawater onto the onlookers.
"Bleh bleh!" The couple who had first noticed Yamiru spat out the seawater that had gotten in their mouths. "So salty... ugh..."
The man suddenly realized that the boy, after getting up, was heading straight toward him. He panicked, "W-what do you want?!"
"You were just watching, huh? Want to see the show, do you?" Yamiru cracked his knuckles, his small frame forcing the man to step back.