Disclaimer: If you recognise it, surprise, I don't own it.

Chapter 7– I'm not too fond of Garp.

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"Finally, we are here. It took you forever, damn brat. I was very close to just doing the rowing myself, but luckily, I had my crackers to keep me company. BWAHAHA!" Garp bellows as the small rowboat we have been riding beaches on the tropical island shore of Troga.

I don't pay an iota of attention to Garp's words as I quickly hop out of the boat and onto the sandy beach before the vessel even entirely stops. Dropping to my hands and knees, I clench my hands and feel the sand run through them. Feeling each grain run through my fingers assures me that I am not dreaming.

*Mwah* Mwah* Mwah*

I start to kiss the ground feverishly, thankful that the nightmare is finally over and that I am no longer floating about on the high seas accompanied by an evil madman. I am finally back on the ground where everything is safe and nothing can hurt me.

I am never going to get on those seas ever again, and I know that my goal is to travel around the world and become the world's strongest man, but I will manufacture a plane to travel the world instead of traversing the dangerous waters.

"Stop whining, brat. It only took a few days to get here, and we only had o deal with a few small fish. And stop kissing the sand. It's weird. Is there something wrong with your head?" Garp's question stops me from kissing the sand, drawn out of my fugue by his baseless accusation.

I mean, who the hell is he to say I am weird and ask me if I am okay in the head? He is the one that is weird and messed up in the head, and what does he mean by small fish? They were not small in the least. That entire boat ride was a nightmare.

First of all, the distance I had to cover was much too considerable, and I had to row it all by myself. I didn't really question it or think anything about how far I would have to row when I began, but I paddled for a full day and night before I no longer paid attention to the day cycle and just focused on rowing.

Second, resisting the urge to sleep and take a break was hard, so very hard, primarily because of my debuff. So why didn't I take any breaks? Well, I quickly learned why that was a bad idea when I first tried to. Garp was either eating his crackers or sleeping, and during one of his naps during the night, I also decided to take a rest. Unfortunately, he was stopping me from doing so when awake, so that was my only chance.

During my nap, I was awoken by a sudden blast of wind that threatened to topple over the small rowboat, which I found very bizarre as there had been no wind at all for quite a while. I don't know when it happened, but during my rowing, at some point, I noticed that there were no currents in the seas and no tides. It was absolutely still, and there was no wind to boot. When I asked Garp about it, he told me to ignore it, so I did.

When I opened my eyes after the sudden blast of wind, I came face to face with a scaly mountain, the biggest thing I had ever seen, and it had a mouth full of scarily sharp teeth, and two draconic yellow eyes glowed in the darkness. I was so shocked and scared by the sight that I couldn't even move or do anything as the beast suddenly opened its mouth and lunged to devour me.

I was only saved by the timely intervention of Garp, who moved with great speed and struck the sea monster on the tip of the snout with his oar. he still insists it is a backscratcher, which launches the beast a million miles away. Then he turns around and goes back to sleep, ignoring me and the situation entirely.

After that, I learned never to take a break because these things were widespread in these waters, and we were attacked several times by more of what Garp called Seakings, some bigger and some smaller, which Garp fended off with ease.

This boat ride was also made infinitely more complicated because Garp forbade me from eating or drinking anything until we reached our destination. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do about the madman's condition, so I just had to accept that and sneak some of the broken pieces of cracker on the floor into my mouth while Garp nodded off.

One night, with Garp deep in his sleep, I take the opportunity to stop the rowboat for a moment and scavage for crackers on the boat's floor, getting lucky and finding some pieces instead of just the usual crumbs. Garp is like an animal, and he devours like one as well. His stomach is eternal, and his hunger is astounding. he hardly leaves more than crumbs behind. This night Garp was deeply asleep. I could tell because of how giant the snot bubble from his nose was. Over those days at sea, I noticed that the deeper he was in sleep, the larger the snot bubble.

I was searching through the floor for his scraps. Some might have said this is humiliating and that they would never do it, but to them, I say bugger off. I had been rowing day and night with no sustenance, and sea creatures had randomly attacked me at every turn. I needed to eat these little crumbs to survive and receive Garp's training so that I could fulfil my goals and realise my full potential, and I wanted to go the distance.

Searching through the things on the floor, I begin to pick out the pieces of crackers to gather them all together and then devour them all at once. It just seems to be more filling this way rather than eating them straight off the floor. Suddenly a cold wind brushed over my skin, causing me to shudder. Before there was silence, I could now hear the soft wind blowing against me, which shouldn't be possible, according to Garp.

I Immediately turn around to come face to face with a gigantic yellow eye with black split pupils right next to the boat, the eye of a Seaking, or in this case, a Seaprince, given it is much smaller than the other ones, and yet it is still huge, way bigger than the rowboat. I watch, stunned, as I stand right in the centre of its eye, its eye which is slowly moving upwards, water streaming down its face and sloshing off the top of its head.

This one, while smaller, must be much smarter than the others, and it must have been observing us for quite some time as it chose the exact moment when Garp was in a deep sleep. First, it waited for me to stop the boat and forage for crumbs, and then instead of bursting out of the water like the others and alerting Garp, it chose to slowly rise from the ocean right next to the boat so that it could have a better chance of ambushing us and getting a good meal.

It slowly, ever so slowly, rises up out of the water, so slowly that the water basically dribbles off of its head, allowing it to have a silent entrance leaving me without the protection of Garp, most likely after having observed us after this long, it must now know that I am the weaker link. It would be folly to try to eat Garp, meaning that I am its target, and there is a possibility that it will move to attack me if I open my mouth to speak.

I know for a fact that Garp takes a while to wake up from his sleep. He is very drowsy after a nap, so am I willing to shout for his help, knowing that as soon as I do, the beast will move to attack me? But, on the other hand, am I willing to bet on Garp waking up faster than usual and coming to protect me before the beast can gobble me up? Hell no, the man might be strong, but he sure as hell isn't dependable. I will scream to wake him, but that is not the only thing I will do.

I looked down at the oar clenched in my right hand. Ever since this journey had started, I had kept this oar on my person at all times. After the attacks of the Seakings, I had made sure to keep it clenched in one of my hands after seeing Garp using an oar to bat away those numerous beasts. It gave me a measure of comfort to hold it in my hand, so I had it even when I was rummaging for Garp's leftovers.

In Garp's hand, this oar, which seems to be made of some type of oar, managed to do severe damage, but that is not what I was focusing upon. Instead, I am focusing on the fact that this oar which should be pretty flimsy, seems to be incredibly durable and firm, enough so that it does not break when used to beat Seakings. Therefore, I can't just scream and wait for Garp to come to save me. I need to do more than just that, and I will, making use of this oar in my hand.

The Seakings head is still slowly rising, its unflinching gaze on me, waiting to see what I will do. Its eye is nearly entirely out of the water. If I wait any longer, I will miss my chance, and it will have risen too high for me to do anything. While my tool might be mighty, it still does not have much of a reach and won't do much when piercing into the beast's skin.

It is simply too big for my small oar to have any effect, which is why I have to go for a vital spot, the eye, which is slowly getting further and further away from me. Staunching myself, I grip my oar, steady my beating heart, and look the monster straight in its eyes.

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"ARGGRGGHHHH!" I scream aloud to alert Garp to the current situation and bolster myself up and somehow boost my courage as I run forward and lift my right into the air above my head. Grasping the oar with both of my hands, I step onto the boat's edge and then use that as a platform to jump towards the creature's massive pitch-black pupil.

I thrust both my hands forward and smash the oar forward and into the slit black pupil of the beast. I can feel it as it punctures the surprisingly vulnerable eye and sinks through the gooeyness and into the eyeball.

Immediately I hear a mournful wail as the beast opens its jaw, and then it shoots straight out of the water and into the air, no longer caring about being silent and just wanting to vent. Instead, its mournful wail transforms into a roar full of rage.

I grasp the oar tightly as it shoots straight up into the air with me still attached to it via the oar still sticking out of its eye. It begins to madly flail every which way trying to unlodge me from its eye, but I stay put and hold remains fierce, resisting the cold air and the water spraying against my face having to close my eyes when it got too much.

Not only because I want to keep damaging this beast but because if I let go, I will be flung off into the far distance, which will make the splash hurt quite a bit, not to mention the fact that I will be in open water miles away from my boat and with ravenous sea creatures surrounding me.

"ARGGRGGHHHH!" I screamed as I held on for dear life as the beast continued to move with wild abandon. My hands turned raw as my hands twisted and turned against the wood with every change in direction, but no matter how the thing moved, I do not let go knowing this was my only lifeline. Suddenly the beast went still, allowing me to just dangle in the air for a moment before we plummeted straight down, and all I knew was coldness.

I still held on for dear life, but my grip was beginning to slip, the extreme cold was badgering me constantly, and I could feel myself turning numb. I could feel the ocean itself start to seep into my very bones, and I was beginning to lose strength. Finally, feeling myself letting go, I opened my eyes, trying to stay awake and alert. Still, even with my eyes open, all I see is darkness, hardly being able to see the beast's skin right in front of me.

This stupid fish is undoubtedly the smartest one I've seen yet, and knowing that I can't breathe underwater, it decided to take us down below. Still, even so, I don't let go knowing that if I do, it will just eat me as soon as I do. My breath began to escape from my mouth, disappearing in little bubbles that floated away in the water, I panicked, but there was nothing I could do except hold on tightly to the oar, my only lifeline.

*Snap*

It snapped, my only lifeline. I guess it wasn't the mighty weapon I thought it was, or maybe I just wasn't strong enough to pull out its full potential. Still grasping onto the broken handle of the oar, the other half of it still lodged into the eye of the beast, I began to drift off into the cold, freezing ocean, all the air now escaping my mouth as if an unstoppable leak had sprung.

And as I sunk into the ocean's depths, I looked up into the absolute darkness to see a circle of light shimmering through the top of the sea. The light of the moon illuminated my surroundings and revealed to me the dozens upon dozens of Seakings that surrounded me, every space around me being filled by one, I felt despair set in, and hopelessness fills my being at the sight.

There was no oxygen left in my lungs, and the Seakings began to move in closer to me, blocking out my only source of light. I could see their jaws opening, revealing the sharp sets of teeth held within, which would soon be tearing me into tiny little pieces. The darkness began to seep in from the corners of my eyes, and I allowed it to do so, not wanting to be conscious when I was ripped apart by the countless beasts surrounding me.

Before the darkness entirely covered my eyes, I saw the moonlight above me ripple intensely, and all of the Seakings suddenly moved. And then I woke on the boat. Garp sat across from me, still munching on his crackers as if nothing had happened.

For a moment, I had pondered if anything had happened and If I didn't just end up falling asleep from sleep deprivation and ended up having an intensely realistic dream, but then I looked to my right, where I saw my fingers were tightly grasped around a broken piece of wood, which used to be an oar.

We didn't talk about it, and I didn't try to. Garp merely got frustrated that he had to give me his backscratcher to use as a makeshift oar, even though it was an actual oar. So after that, I put my head down and continued to row, not even stopping to sleep or scavenge for more of Garp's crumbs, and I just kept on rowing and rowing until I got to my destination. I didn't worry about starving, and I didn't worry about not getting enough sleep. all I worried about was getting to Troga as soon as possible.

A few more incidents with beasts occurred, but I never stopped my rowing for even a second. Even when my arms ached and my lungs burned, I never stopped rowing, I didn't stop to eat, I didn't stop to sleep, and I didn't stop when something tried to eat me. Because if there was one thing that was reliable about Garp, then it would be his brutish strength, I could rely on that, and I did so as I continued my travel.

While Garp may not have been reliable when it came to other things, I could always rely on the fact that he likes to be undisturbed, so even when he was sleeping, he would bash away threats. Even when a Seaking burst out of the water suddenly and rushed forward to take a chomp out of us, Garp, still sleeping, stuck his hand out and backhanded the giant sea creature away. I continued the rest of the journey like this, wanting to get it over with as soon as possible and start my proper training.

So it was only natural for me to get off of that boat and onto the land as soon as we beached because while Garp may not have had that taxing of a journey, I certainly did. Garp may be correct when he says it only took a few days to get here, but those few days were full of danger for me, and it was very traumatic. I was attacked by numerous Seakings, dragged down into the depths of the ocean and nearly drowned, and worked to the bone while being starved.

I can't be bothered to argue with the man, though. So I just get up off my knees and turn around to go back to the boat. Garp himself has now landed on the sandy beaches of Troga. He is walking off to do something or other. I don't pay attention in favour of going to the boat and grabbing the huge sack that Garp has been resting on this whole trip which is full of supplies. I just want to set up whatever we will be using to sleep, eat some food and then go to bed.

Grabbing hold of the sack, I turn around and walk back a distance on the sandy beach, not wanting to open the sack too close to the sea and risk any of the supplies being washed away by the ocean currents. I get busy trying to undo the knot that holds the bag closed, but I have some difficulty undoing it. Whoever did this knot pulled the string so tightly that I could hardly even pull at the thing. My nails couldn't seem to find enough purchase to loosen the knot.

"Oi, Brat! What the hell do you think you are doing? Put that back right now!" Garp yells from a distance, walking out of the tree line and towards me. I continue to struggle with the knot, not paying him any mind as I just want to sleep, I am finding it very hard to stay awake right now and could drop dead at any moment, but I need to set up my bed and eat something before I do.

"Relax, old man. I am just opening up the bag to get the supplies out and set up our tents or whatever you've got in here, then get some food and go to sleep. After all, I haven't slept in a few days, and I haven't eaten either, you know- Ah, finally opened the damn thing." So I say when I finally loosen the knot, and then I grab the top of the bag and pull on it to open the sack wide. I am too tired to look through the thing, so I just grab the pack from the bottom and then pour everything out onto the sand.

"AH, YOU DUMB IDIOT! MY SNACKS, YOU'RE GETTING SAND ON MY CRACKERS!" Garp shouts as the contents of the bag are thrown all over the beach, a literal waterfall of crackers having poured out onto the sand, with nothing else coming out of the bag. I let go of the sack, letting it blow away with the wind, shocked that there was nothing else inside. This colossal sack that I thought held a bunch of supplies actually only had a literal mountain of crackers inside and nothing else.

Garp emerges from nowhere, holding the sack that I just let go of and dropping to his knees. He begins to shovel packet after packet of crackers back into the bag like a man possessed, cursing me all the while for dumping his precious crackers on the ground. I don't care. I turn around and walk a distance away from him before sitting down on the sandy beach. I then flop backwards and rest my back on it.

We have just come to a tropical island out in the middle of nowhere that looks to be completely deserted, with no sign of civilisation on the island at all. We have no supplies to speak of, and we have nowhere to rest. Furthermore, there are undoubtedly a number of dangerous animals on this island, not to mention the fact that the surrounding seas are full of gigantic Seakings.

We are going to die. Wait that is not correct. I am going to die. Garp will be just fine, but I will not. My stomach rumbles as I lay on the coarse sand staring up at the bright blue sky without a cloud to be seen, the evening sun glaring down at me.

My hunger is painful, but the slumber's call is much more enticing. It is vastly more potent than my hunger. So I- I am going to sleep.

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My stomach dangerously gurgling is what brings me back to Earth. Is this Earth? I don't care anymore. All I know is that my hunger has brought me out of deep sleep, and I need to eat something. But when I open my eyes, I am not treated to the same sight I saw before I slept. Instead of the bright blue sky, I expected to greet me, I saw a canopy of green trees and foliage covering my vision.

Sitting up, I look around to find myself in a clearing in the middle of a forest, surrounded by trees on all sides, with no clue where I am. Even when I look up, I find it hard to spot the sky through the absolute litany of trees that occupy my surrounding space. I panic, not knowing how I arrived here and knowing I did not fall asleep here, which means that someone must have moved me while I slept, and the only other person on this island, as far as I know, is Garp.

Putting my hands on the ground, I push myself to stand up, and as I do so, I catch a glimpse of a boulder behind me. Now on my feet, I turn around and walk over to the boulder, upon which is inscribed a message. It seems to have been carved into it with some sort of circular tool, something in the shape of a finger. Disregarding that fact, I look towards the message within the rock, which hopefully holds the reason I am out here in the middle of nowhere.

[Brat.

The training begins now.

Find your way back to the beach.

Hurry, or this book of yours goes into the ocean. Garp]

Goddamit, that book cost me quite a bit, and this bloody oaf is just going to chuck it into the sea. Not to mention the fact that he has stranded me in the middle of this stupid island while I am still tired and suffering from starvation, with no clue as to where the hell I am.

Which way is the goddamned beach?