Chapter 43: Sea King Pets
Massive bodies twisted together, and sharp claws and fangs flailed wildly. The weaker Sea Kings were quickly devoured, leaving behind nothing but bleached white bones. In no time, out of the hundreds of Sea Kings, a dozen or so were torn apart, with heaps of shredded flesh scattered everywhere, most of which was quickly consumed by the other Sea Kings.
As time slowly passed, many of the well-fed Sea Kings returned to the depths of the sea to rest and recover. Some Sea Kings, too injured to move, slowly sank into the ocean, facing their tragic fate.
A vast expanse of the sea turned blood red, the intense smell of blood hitting them head-on. The surface of the sea looked like a hellish scene—sharp, tragic, and brutal.
"Looks like those guys have finally sunk," the fat man said, patting his bottom as he stood up. He pointed toward the large exposed stretch of beach beneath the cliff. "How about we go treasure hunting? Many sea creatures like to lay their eggs on the beach, and Sea Kings are no exception. Every time they eat and sink down, we go to the beach to look for some young Sea Kings to bring back and raise," the fat man said, his eyes filled with anticipation. "They say that if you happen to find a Sea King's offspring, those abandoned young Sea Kings will treat the first creature they see as their closest companion. The third king of Naga had such an encounter. Under his careful care, that Sea King grew to over a hundred meters in length and could understand some simple commands. It was hailed as Naga's guardian beast."
"Such an opportunity? It sounds both thrilling and exciting, of course, we have to give it a try," Kado nodded in agreement. Seeing the fat man's eager expression, Kado figured that even if he had disagreed, the fat man would have probably jumped down to search for the Sea Kings anyway.
The rest of the group weren't exactly law-abiding citizens either. They were always eager for unknown adventures, and the chance to see juvenile Sea Kings in person was too tempting to resist. One by one, they eagerly leaped off the hundred-meter-high cliff.
These individuals weren't ordinary people; a hundred-meter drop was nothing to them. Furthermore, the ground below wasn't rock, but soft sand, so jumping down posed no danger at all.
"These guys really aren't slow," Kado sneered.
With a flick of his hand, Kado solidified the space connecting the top of the cliff to the beach, creating a 45-degree sloped surface. He smoothly slid down the incline like a person on a slide, landing gracefully on the ground.
As he landed, Kado looked around. In front of him was the blood-red sea, and behind him, the lonely cliff. There were no signs of juvenile Sea Kings. At that moment, the fat man and Captain Gula also slid down the hair ropes, landing not far from Kado. Kado couldn't help but ask, "It's so empty around here. Where are the juvenile Sea Kings?"
"Heh, those juvenile Sea Kings are afraid of being eaten by the giant Sea Kings, so they hide themselves very well. If they were that easy to find, wouldn't the residents of Naga be eating meat all day long?" Captain Gula smiled slightly and explained.
"Oh, that's true," Kado nodded in realization. "These Sea Kings eat their own kind, so of course, they wouldn't spare the young. Anyone in their place would hide." Kado understood now. The juvenile stage of any animal is the most dangerous time in its life, and the mortality rate is the highest. By instinct, they would hide themselves carefully, just like newly hatched sea turtles. They bury themselves in the sand, leaving only their heads exposed, watching the surroundings. Once they sense no danger, they rush toward the sea.
The beach was quite large, enough for Kado and the others to search for a long time. The fat man looked around and said with some confusion, "Where's the chef? The one who cooks so well—where did he go?"
Kado also turned his head to look, but didn't see Sanchi anywhere. He then called out to Fite in the distance, "Hey, Fite, have you seen Sanchi? I remember he jumped down with you, right?"
"I didn't see clearly. It seems like he disappeared as soon as he fell," Fite shook his head. Although he had jumped down with Sanchi, the impact from the hundred-meter drop was quite strong, and he was a bit flustered, having no time to worry about Sanchi.
At that moment, a dirty head suddenly popped out of the sand in front of the fat man, swiveling around and looking everywhere.
"Wow, this must be the juvenile of a sea turtle-type Sea King! We're so lucky, we happened to stumble upon it just as it was leaving its nest!" the fat man exclaimed joyfully, rushing forward to grab the large head and try to drag it out.
"Spit, spit!"
Sanchi spat a few times, spitting out the sand in his mouth, his face showing a frustrated expression. When he jumped down earlier, he had prepared himself to land safely, but he didn't expect the heavy pot behind him to throw off his calculation. He ended up crashing onto the beach, creating a large human-shaped hole in the sand.
At that moment, the fat man rushed over to Sanchi's head, grabbing it with both hands and pulling him out of the sand.
From a distance, Kado saw the fat man pulling something with a round shell out of the beach and thought it was really a sea turtle. He quickly moved forward to take a look.
"Ugh, what the hell are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Sanchi growled, more frustrated than ever. He had been planning to crawl out on his own, but to his surprise, this fat king had grabbed his head and dragged him out, nearly snapping his neck in the process.
After Kado and the others approached, the fat man stood in front of Sanchi, looking awkward and behaving like a well-behaved child. Sanchi, hands on his hips and carrying the huge iron pot on his back, loudly scolding the fat man.
The others looked at the large human-shaped hole in the sand and instantly understood. They all burst into laughter, which made Sanchi's face turn red with embarrassment, and he no longer had the energy to scold the fat man.
"Ugh, it looks like there's something inside," Fite said, glancing at the human-shaped hole, then suddenly turned to Sanchi and asked, "Did you drop something when you fell?"
When Sanchi heard this, he quickly stretched his head to look at the large hole. The things in his big iron pot were all his treasures, not just various cooking utensils and seasonings, but also his collection of women's underwear. If anything had fallen out, it would have made him feel incredibly distressed.
"What is this thing? It doesn't seem like something I dropped," Sanchi shook his head. The object in the hole was a piece of snow-white, oval-shaped material that looked like rock, definitely not something he had dropped.
"Could it be a sea king's bone?" The fat man glanced at it too. The snow-white, oval-shaped object did resemble a bone, so could it possibly be the bone of a sea king?
"Why don't we dig it out and take a look?"
The group quickly began digging, and before long, the object was uncovered.
"It's an egg!" Sanchi was stunned. The egg was incredibly large, even taller than him by half a meter. It looked like a massive pebble.
"My god, such a big egg! If we make scrambled eggs with tomatoes, how many plates could we serve?" Kado rushed over, hugged the massive egg, and wore a blissful expression. Scrambled eggs with tomatoes was a very famous home-cooked dish on Earth, and it was his favorite. He remembered that when he was a child, every time his father had a good catch, he would buy two pounds of eggs and a few tomatoes to make a plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes. Back then, he was only five or six years old, and the country's economy wasn't very developed. Eggs cost over one yuan per pound, which was considered quite expensive. At that time, a worker's monthly salary was only a few hundred yuan, and a pound of meat cost just over four yuan. A plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes at a restaurant would cost over ten yuan. So, it's easy to imagine how precious this dish was for a five or six-year-old child.
Just like children who love eating hot dogs, even though they may no longer find them delicious as they grow up, they will deeply reminisce about the time when they longed for a hot dog. That kind of food, once only imagined, stays with them for life. Kado was feeling the same way now. His love for scrambled eggs with tomatoes wasn't just because it was delicious; it was also a way for him to remember his past life, his childhood, and his father. It was a kind of nostalgia, a way to hold onto those memories.
"Crack."
A faint cracking sound pulled Kado out of his reverie. He was surprised to see a thin crack appearing on the surface of the egg in front of him.
The crack grew larger and larger, but instead of the expected scene of egg whites and yolks spilling out, a damp, gray-green head emerged as a small piece of the eggshell fell away. Its oily green eyes locked directly with Kado's.
"Ah, a monster!"
The sudden appearance of the gray-green, wet head startled Kado, causing him to instinctively take a few steps back. He almost couldn't resist attacking the giant egg in front of him.
"You lucky bastard, your luck is just too good!" The fat man grumbled in envy, muttering unhappily. He had walked back and forth across this beach dozens of times and never encountered a freshly hatched Sea King. Kado, however, had managed to find one on his first try, which made him feel bitter about the unfairness of fate.
"You think this is a newly hatched Sea King?" Kado quickly stepped forward, circling the giant egg with excitement. His heart was filled with joy. In the web novels from his past life, whenever the protagonist crossed over, they would always find a powerful pet—something that would help them with danger, and whenever there was an advantage, they'd be the ones to benefit. In reality, he had been in this world for thirteen years and hadn't even encountered a cute pet like Princess Vivi's duck, let alone a powerful one. But now, here he was, possibly encountering a freshly hatched Sea King. If it really was, as the fat man said, a baby sea turtle-like Sea King, then wouldn't he be able to tame it? Even if it didn't grow to a thousand meters, a hundred meters would be amazing. And when that time came, he wouldn't even need a ship. He could just ride on a turtle as big as an aircraft carrier, sailing across the seas and conquering the Grand Line—how glorious would that be?
"Don't get too carried away with excitement just yet," Gula interrupted Kado, his expression somewhat gloomy. "Although there have been many successful cases of taming Sea Kings in Naga's history, the chances of failure are also high." He continued, "I once encountered a newly hatched Sea King, but for some unknown reason, that Sea King ended up dying."