Pablo and Tsuyoi paused. They both stared at Kori with a mix of surprise and confusion. Kori just smiled in return.
Tsuyoi nervously turns towards Pablo, his voice cracking.
"...how did she even find us?"
Pablo looked at him.
No change in his expression.
Then he took a slow breath.
Pablo coughed and reached for his bag. He took out his water bottle and took a sip. After his coughs eased, he closed his face and exhaled, very slowly.
"I wonder why." Pablo leaned back in surrender, as if something in him just gave up.
Kori giggled softly, settling into her seat.
The ship was quite large for something illegal. Consisting of two floors for passengers, and another room for the shipmate. Under the deck was the storage room.
Normally, going to Miraculous Islands without Government Ships is illegal. But Tsuyoi and Pablo can't afford that, as they are already wanted criminals.
Especially Tsuyoi.
More than anyone else.
'Illegal' has become normal for the population of Thalorien. Almost expected.
But that comes with downsides. This means there is no real security and even the worst of the worst can be on this ship, sitting next to you.
Pablo is aware of this fact, so he doesn't plan on sleeping on the way.
"Well, we can't throw you to the sea. So I guess you're coming with us." Pablo rolls his eyes.
Kori cheers playfully. She raises her hand for a high-five.
"Yay! Way to go, Team!"
Tsuyoi smiles and also raises his hands.
"Yeah, way to go!"
"We are not a team." Pablo grabbed Tsuyoi's arm mid-air.
both Tsuyoi and Kori look upset. Although Kori looks less sincere.
"We're not?" The two say in unison.
"I don't know what you're scheming, so don't expect me to welcome you." He asserts.
She pouts, but even that looks fake.
"You're such a meanie. I just want to get along with you guys."
"Why though? I almost died because you ditched us. Now you appear out of nowhere, acting like it's all sunshine and rainbows." Pabo berates her emphatically.
She chuckles upon hearing this, covering her mouth to hide her amusement.
"You're so cute when you get worked up." She bluntly says.
A faint blush heats up on Pablo's face, he breaks eye-contact and tries to ignore what she just said.
"This is what I'm talking about." Pablo sighed.
Pablo pulls out a book from his bag, and starts reading it to pass the time. The sea gets him nauseous, so he intends to distract himself.
"I won't trust you until I figure out what you want." Pablo says bluntly, he isn't here to play around with Kori.
Unlike someone else. Tsuyoi puts an arm around Pablo to ease the tension.
"Come on man! Cut the girl some slack. You focus on enjoying this ride, okay? Also don't forget to use that brain of yours to come up with a plan on the way."
Kori nods, supporting Tsuyoi's decision. Her smile is starting to annoy Pablo.
After a bit of awkward silence, Pablo sighs and reluctantly agrees.
"Your attitude is going to end bad for us, just so you know."
"Alright!" Tsuyoi pulls back his arm, and rests his head on the ship. Meanwhile, Kori starts to watch the mesmerizing sky.
As the ship travels to Eldoria, time passes quite fast. Pablo doesn't even feel a hint of sleep, in contrast both Kori and Tsuyoi are asleep. Kori rests his head on Tsuyoi's shoulder, while Tsuyoi rests his on Pablo's shoulder.
The only voice on the ship is Tsuyoi snoring.
Pablo watches every passenger sleep, nothing out of the ordinary except for Kori.
Even the way she sleeps is enough to give Pablo the chills. He can't tell exactly what it is, but something is off about her.
"She's… kinda cute." Pablo thinks to himself, but realises he is being distracted again. He must focus if he wants to expose what she truly is.
Pablo hears some noise in the storage room. The sounds of barrels falling over. But he dismisses the thought, and blames it on the ship's movement.
"I've never met a Magiborn before. I don't think I ever saw Mana either. I have to work with zero information." He puts a hand on his chin.
"The document Tsuyoi found didn't give us too much info. Only something about purple eyes, and that name. Could Sanita Infermum be the doctor? I doubt it, given how the United Government treats Magiborns. Could it be the patient?" Brainstorming, Pablo desperately tries to think of a plan.
Tsuyoi tries to hug Pablo, his arms slowly wrapping around him.
"...Haisha… you've lost weight…" Tsuyoi mumbles.
Pablo softly pushes Tsuyoi's arms, not wanting to wake him up. As he does so, the noise in the storage room is heard again.
This time, Pablo gets suspicious. But doesn't intend to do anything about it.
After some time passes, Pablo feels the urge to sleep. But he won't give into that urge as he doesn't want to let his guard down.
Especially after hearing that noise.
But his rejection is not as strong as his desire for sleep, his eyelids grow heavy and they start to close.
Then suddenly, he feels his body shivering. A voice in his head wakes him up. His eyes open. He can't make out what the voice says however.
"This feeling…" He checks his arm to confirm that he got goosebumps.
He quickly gets up, Tsuyoi head slams to where Pablo was sitting and like a domino effect, Kori falls over too. But this doesn't wake them up.
Pablo checks his surroundings, and then he realises that this "wave" he just felt before came from the storage room.
He thinks that it's best to just go and check it, but isn't dumb enough to go there unarmed. After his encounter with Arzt, Pablo stole his handgun. The same handgun that almost killed him.
The gun had 6 bullets left and Pablo couldn't find any more. He reaches for his bag and grabs the gun.
"I don't even know how to use this thing. I guess I'll have to learn on the spot." He inspects the gun and then slowly heads over to the storage room.
He gently opens the door, it lets out a creak.
Right after entering, he notices the only thing in this room is the moonlight entering through the cracks.
He walks around the room, using his hands to make sure he doesn't crash into something.
The only noise here is his footsteps. Just as Pablo was about to leave, other footsteps joined Pablo.
Pablo gasped, and aimed where the noise came from. He tries to pull the trigger, but notices how hard it is to do so because he didn't know he had to cock the gun before pulling the trigger.
"Huh?" Confused, he looks at the gun.
The intruder didn't waste time and ran towards Pablo, he delivered a powerful punch to Pablo's face. Sending him flying towards the barrels behind him, dropping his gun.
"Shit!" Pablo whispers in pain, unable to speak louder because of his broken jaw.
"Curiosity killed the cat once again." The Intruder speaks out, pulling out a flashlight and directing it towards Pablo before opening it.
Due to the blinding light, Pablo can't see the face of The Intruder.
He walks towards Pablo and crouches to his level. The light tears up Pablo's eyes.
"Who do you work for?" The Intruder asks simply.
Pablo can't answer, unable to move his mouth anymore.
"Shit, I think you've hit him too hard." Another voice speaks out. It seems like there are two of them. Or maybe even more.
The flashlight is turned off. Pablo uses this moment to focus on his jaw. After his battle with Arzt, Pablo gained more control over this mysterious regeneration.
"He broke my jaw with a single punch. My Treasure Adaptation makes my jaw drastically more durable. This means if that punch landed on any other part of my body…"
His jaw slowly started to knit itself together.
"...maybe even stronger than Haisha." Pablo trusted how light his body was. He figured he wouldn't make that much noise if he crawled towards him and tried to bite him.
But to do that, he must heal his jaw first. Or else he can't activate his Treasure.
One of the intruders picks up Pablo's dropped gun. They cock the hammer and point it at Pablo, threatening any move he makes.
"You stay right there. If you scream, I'll kill you. If you move, I'll kill you. If you do anything I don't want, I'll kill you." The Intruder exclaims, coldly.
Pablo's jaw was almost healed, tiring him out. Healing a wound like that, with a body like his…
Due to the darkness, he doesn't know what the barrels behind him have inside. He doesn't want to eat something useless and waste his chance.
"The best call is to bite the armed one! The other, I can handle just fine!" After his jaw heals, Pablo slowly crawls forward.
His feet and hand are light as a feather, allowing him to stay unknown in this darkness.
"They won't shoot. Too loud." He thinks.
Pablo gets closer, but puts pressure on a loose part of the ship without realising.
It creaks, letting the intruders know Pablo is moving.
Pablo panics, and looks up.
"I'm done for!"
The Intruder's finger is on the trigger, ready to shoot.
"I don't like it when people think I'm bluffing. You worthless trash."
Pablo raises his hands reflexively, trying to block a bullet with his hands.
"Wait, no!" Pablo yells out in desperation.
As he pulls the trigger, the shot bullet hits Pablo's hand. But… it doesn't go through it.
Pablo's ring glows, none of them understand what just happened.
The Intruder checks his gun, confused.
"Did I miss?" He thinks. But before he knows it, the bullet comes out of Pablo's mouth and hits his head.
"Ough!" Unable to react, he is left dazed. The bullet doesn't pierce his head.
Even though Pablo is confused, he isn't paralyzed. He gets up and bites the arm of the other intruder.
"He is a Treasurer! A fucking Treasurer!" He screams in pain. But Pablo's mouth can't bite it off fully, despite how strong it is.
Pablo uses all his might and tries to bite off his arm like a wild dog.
"How?! Did I lose too much strength regenerating? I don't feel like it..." Pablo thinks.
Due to how much noise was made, Pablo believes Tsuyoi and maybe even Kori might come for help.
But no one comes.
The shot intruder tries to collect his thoughts, but the impact was too hard. His vision shakes.
"Impedire's sound barrier seems to be working. Others won't hear a thing! But due to the pain, he'll lose his focus and drop the barrier! I gotta get up and help him!" He tries to stand up, but falls down again.
Due to the darkness, Pablo doesn't know where the door is. He needs Tsuyoi awake.
He lets go of the Impedire's arm, realising he can't pierce through it. Impedire pants and holds onto his arm. Even if there is no actual damage, it hurts like hell.
Pablo gets an idea and pierces a part of his clothing. He swallows it but doesn't shoot it.
Because this counts as a Treasure activation, his ring starts glowing. He decides to use the light to see his surroundings.
"He is trying to get away! Impedire, snap out of it!" The other intruder is starting to get his vision back.
The light Pablo created doesn't seem to be enough. He can't hold in the cloth anymore as it blocks his breath. He shoots it behind him in hope of hitting one of the intruders.
Impedire chases Pablo without a light source. So he can't fully commit to the chase. This allows Pablo to be further away.
But due to Pablo running out of light too, he has to be careful as well. He rips off a part of shirt again to activate his Treasure.
"Forte, I can see him glowing!" Impedire yells, he appears to be close to Pablo.
Pablo manages to see the exit door, he picks up his pace.
"I'm… so… close!" He can barely hold in the cloth. Running out of breath, Pablo gives it all he's got for the last stretch.
"Come here, you!" Impedire lunges towards Pablo, grabbing him.
Pablo manages to open the door before being grappled by Impedire.
"Tsuyoi..!" He can see Tsuyoi sleeping, he shoots the cloth from his mouth and aims it at Tsuyoi to wake him up.
The cloth is fired from Pablo's mouth, losing its speed as it travels. When it manages to land on Tsuyoi's face, the force isn't enough to wake him up and he snores it off.
"Damn it!" Yelling in desperation, Pablo is out of ideas.
Impedire gets Pablo in a lock, making him unable to breathe.
"It's the end of the road for you, Dawnthinker!" His grip around Pablo's throat gets stronger.
He desperately tries to break free but it seems to be futile. Pablo's vision grows darker, his body grows cold as death approaches.
Even colder.
…too cold.
With his eyes going dark, Pablo is able to see the foot of someone in front of him.
"Do you need a hand, Pablo Drake?"