Zara Vance thought for a moment. "Trading the treasure chest for pure water is doable, but it needs to be at least ten bottles. Any less, and it's not worth the trouble."
"Alright, I'll go talk to Hank Fowler at noon," Luna Lovelace nodded in agreement.
"Can't you go now?" Zara frowned slightly.
Luna smiled wryly. "No time now. I'm off to cut some grass."
"Cut grass? What for?" Zara was confused.
"To pay off a debt!" Luna declared, hoisting the entrenching tool and heading towards a patch of tall weeds nearby.
Zara: "...."
Meanwhile, Hank Fowler arrived at the beach and greeted the large tree first. "Morning, Tree Bro!"
The tree shuddered involuntarily. Oh, crap, not this demon again, it thought miserably.
Hank glanced at the tree, chuckling. "Tree Bro, why do I get the feeling you're a little scared of me?"
Tree: "N-no, not at all! I just woke up, that's all. Still a bit groggy."
They had only met twice. The first time, Hank had stripped its bark; the second time, he had chopped off a branch. Of course, it was terrified!
"Alright then, go back to sleep. I won't disturb you," Hank said with a grin, heading towards a sandy area further down the beach.
The tree breathed a sigh of relief. Please don't come back, it pleaded silently.
There were two beaches on the east side of the island. Hank first went to the smaller one. The Sand was quiet. He scanned the ocean surface, but there were no treasure chests in sight. He turned his attention to the sand beneath his feet. "Morning, Sandy!"
The Sand: "Good morning, human."
Hank: "How are things today? Any clams around?"
The Sand: "No clams, but there are two conches."
Hank's eyes lit up. "Where?"
Conch meat was delicious, and much bigger than clams. Two conches were better than a dozen clams.
The Sand: "Just five meters ahead."
Hank walked forward, took out his Spatial Bag, and pulled out the entrenching tool, and started digging. Soon enough, he unearthed two massive conches, each weighing at least eleven pounds (five kilograms).
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"Who the hell is disturbing my sleep?" one of the conches suddenly grumbled.
The entrenching tool, ever the instigator, chimed in, "Your Digger grandpa did it!"
"Little Digger, we've never done anything to you. Why did you dig us up?" the second conch huffed.
The entrenching tool chuckled. "It was my big bro's idea. Ask him."
"Human, why are you doing this?" the first conch demanded.
Hank rubbed his nose, smiling faintly. "What else? I'm going to eat you, of course."
The second conch scoffed. "Eat us? Do you even have the ability? Can you break through our defenses?"
The first conch added, "Our shells are harder than steel. I suggest you don't waste your time. Just let us go!"
Hank chuckled. "And if I were to throw you into a pot of boiling water, how would you deal with that?"
"Huh?" Both conches were stunned, then panicked. If they were boiled, even the hardest shell wouldn't save them!
The first conch was almost in tears. "Human, please let us go! We don't taste good at all!"
The second conch chimed in, "Not only do we taste bad, but we'll also give you diarrhea! You should eat something else!"
"Being eaten by me is the greatest honor of your lives. Don't be ungrateful!" Hank snorted and promptly muted the two conches. The world fell silent.
He then carried the two giant conches to the other beach. As soon as he arrived, two large blue crabs scuttled over excitedly, greeting him warmly. "Good morning, human!"
"Morning!" Hank smiled and introduced himself. "My name is Hank Fowler. Just call me Hank from now on. It sounds awkward when you keep calling me 'human'."
"Okay," the male crab, Bruiser, nodded. "I'm Bruiser, and this is my wife, Petal. You can call us by our names too."
"Those are great names," Hank said, then got down to business. "Have you seen any treasure chests today?"
"No," Bruiser shook his head.
"Aww," Hank was slightly disappointed.
Petal suddenly spoke up, "Hank, do you eat fish?"
"Of course," Hank replied without hesitation.
Petal pointed a large claw towards a cluster of rocks nearby. "There are many pools of water in those rocks. A lot of fish got trapped there during low tide last night. If you want to eat, you can go catch them."
Hank was taken aback. "You're giving me the fish? Don't you want to eat them?"
Bruiser quickly said, "We've already eaten a lot, and we're full. Besides, you're our savior. Giving you some fish as a thank you is the least we can do."
"Well then, I won't be polite," Hank said, excitedly making his way into the rocks. He scanned the area and sure enough, found several fish trapped in one of the pools. They weren't huge, but each was at least a pound or more.
Hank's eyes lit up, and he jumped into the pool, catching fish with his bare hands. After about ten minutes, he had caught all five fish from the pool. He then moved on to other pools, each containing a few fish. Hank was having a blast.
Two hours later, he had caught over thirty fish, the largest weighing nearly eleven pounds (five kilograms). It was a bountiful harvest. Of course, Hank didn't catch all the fish, leaving a dozen or so behind. After all, Bruiser and Petal needed to eat too. He had to leave some for them.
After catching the fish, Hank returned to the beach, chatted with the Sand for a bit, and easily obtained the location of the clams. He then started digging with his trusty entrenching tool.
More than an hour passed in the blink of an eye. Hank had dug up over twenty clams. It was now noon. Hank said goodbye to the two crabs and headed back.
When he approached the large tree, he stopped, looked at it, and smiled. "Tree Bro, you need a haircut."
"What do you mean?" The tree was confused.
But then, Hank swung his Machete.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Small branches fell to the ground. He wasn't trying to hurt the tree; he just needed firewood for cooking.
"Arghhhh!" the tree screamed in agony.
"What? I'm just giving you a little trim. Why are you screaming so loud?" Hank said, rolling his eyes.
"A little trim? You're mutilating my body!" the tree protested indignantly.