Now that I wasn’t being constantly pressed down on by millions of cusecs of water, I was actually doing rather fine. The water was pleasant and not fucking freezing. Also, for some reason, the sun was actually pleasant rather than blinding. Probably because I was focusing more on the stuff that was happening below me rather than above.

Why?

There was so much going on here.

Still, I wondered whether it was better to swim or walk. I could definitely walk but I honestly didn’t want to walk on coral. And while I could swim, I was slow as fuck compared everyone here. There was another problem. I knew where the island was and I knew which was the next island. But that was about as much I knew about this place. I wanted to ask around, ask for directions and other tidbits, but they just flat out ignored me. It was one thing when they wanted to eat me but a whole different one when they were just literally rejecting the fuck out of me.

Sort of offended but who cared about that crap. Let’s at least start from the island next door. According to Goribo, they came through that island and that the time the tide was much lower than now and they’d walked. I didn’t feel confident in walking on the corals, so I chose to swim.

Water swayed over me, lathering on me, yet didn’t wet me like I thought. Yet honestly felt like a big as fuck safe zone. Or was it because I was too close to the surface?

It was going to take a long while but at least I wouldn’t have cuts on my feet that could get infected and fuck me over for days. I already knew I could get sick in this world. My body had rather strong immunity considering I rarely got sick but I wasn’t going to take chances, that was for sure.

It's still strange how I only got sick twice. It was even stranger that people my age didn’t get sick like kids back home. I used to hear my classmate got sick and took the day off all the time. Or maybe they were just using excuses to skip school. People had cure for injuries but not for diseases, so yeah, odd.

Anyway, swimming it was.

I was fine with the arduous journey. But the giggles… the occasional giggles coming from around me was really, really embarrassing. These sirens didn’t want to help me but they sure loved making fun me of. And whatever the hell they’d given me was starting to wear off. My neck felt stiff and I couldn’t move my arm as much as I liked. And I was only halfway there! At least this rate I was going to have to walk.

Argh!

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Sighing… I walked.

Hhmm… I walked carefully and despite how I thought I’d have cuts and bruises all over… nothing happened.

So, I kept walking.

And walking.

And walked.

***

About an hour later I reached some sand before the actual beach. Even now I had water up to my thigh. The air didn’t feel much different from the sea. I felt about the same in either place. I sure as hell wasn’t going to go back in the water though.

I could sort of see the ridges and deep pockets of water just next to the sandy bits. Sometimes I got the feeling I was standing on giant lilies and the world down there was all ocean.

I carefully, very carefully tiptoed forward and checked whether the trees moved or not. I didn’t see any blindingly vibrant flower or bug or even withering vines. Just… just trees. Phew.

And finally, some actual decent fruits. Coconuts!

I pulled out my machete which was still hanging along with most of my stuff. I lost some things but I had more than enough.

I still couldn’t probably use the machete without using both hands but this was fine. I picked a brownish green coconut that looked uniform in shape and size (which I found just lying around) and placed it on a rock, and then smashed the machete on it. The machete dug into the nut but didn’t cut it. How the fuck do you even cut this?

I never actually saw how people cut it. Whenever I fancied some coconut, I went to the market and got myself a precut version and just ate it. Argh, why didn’t I binge on coconut cutting videos!

I somehow freed the machete with a stone and whammed it on the nut again. But the same. I took the stone and slowly tried thumping the machete down but to no avail. It was too hardy.

“Screw you~!” I took the coconut above my head and slammed it on the rock and that splattered a small hole in the thing. I suppose the cuts had done something. Fuck… I just lost most of the water and the rest were dripping out. I quickly drank as much as I could as most of the water just sprayed beneath me.

Kinda sweet, slightly salty. But refreshing.

And this situation wasn’t that bad; I aimed my machete at the cracked spot and slammed it down. Once I had a good grip, I used a rock to continuously beat the machete’s backside and force it in, effectively cutting the damn thing in two. The coconut wasn’t ripe but it wasn’t underripe either. It had some white flesh, a bit soft but not overly so. Took effort but I slowly cut the flesh out of the nut with my knife and ate it.

Finally!

Some damn good food!~

I should catch some fish. And I would have… if there were fish in here.

***

After enjoying a good feast of a single splattered coconut, I rested for a while, watching the afternoon sun. I wanted to go into the island and explore. But I didn’t feel like doing any of that, mostly because of my shit health condition. I couldn’t even move my arm anymore, so I tied some dry branches to it with vines and hoped it’d heal at least semi-decently. My head though was a whole different issue. I kept having a massive headache that kept going on and on, on repeat. I could have easily fixed all this if I still had my elixirs but… yeah, fuck you ocean.

I built a makeshift shelter with some vines, branches, and coconut leaves; somehow. I even made a bit of a roof, so if it rained, I’d have at least some cover. Let’s hope I don’t die from this.

Eyes drooped. While I tried to keep my senses sharp… they didn’t stay sharp. They just dulled and I slowly fell asleep even though I didn’t want to.

Too tired.