~5284 words
The sound of roosters crowing on the roof of his two-storey building woke Hyde up as he stretched his body. He had spent the entire night near the window, overlooking the pirate crew belonging to Salt Hound Ferrick, as he watched them repair their ship.
Now that he looked down, he saw almost all of them pack the logs to the side and store them inside the ship before locking the doors leading to private compartments. Then all of them began to walk towards the south.
Hyde assumed they were leaving to eat food since the general direction in which they were walking led to Flying Fish and Wine. He had to make haste, given it was quite possible that White Shark Hamilton would inform Salt Hound Ferrick about him.
He went to the washroom and removed his coat before pulling the sleeves of his black shirt up, revealing thick arms which were riddled with bulging veins.
Hyde lowered and splashed some water on his face before cleaning his teeth and then chewing on some mint. Once that was done, he washed his face again, moistened his hair and gave them a rustle with his fingers before walking out of his room.
As he exited the hotel room, he saw a lot of the Morrow's crewmates still loitering around. Some of them were on the ship while others were waiting for their friends to disembark so they could leave together.
Hyde did not stay in one place and in a non-suspicious manner, began to make rounds. He looked at various ships, showing equal fascination to each one of them. A few of Morrow's crewmates showed some suspicion, after seeing him touching other ships and looking at them, they left him alone.
His size and intimidating presence had some part in making them not look at him, but it was negligible. Once all of them were gone, Hyde did not immediately rush towards Morrow and instead went around it.
As he observed from quite a distance away, he noticed the changes in the Morrow after an entire night of repairs. The repairs seemed to have been done in quite the haste, given how it looked like Salt Hound Ferrick had used whatever wood he could find instead of finding a matching color.
The fresh timber contrasted with the old planks that were darkened due to excessive exposure to sun and salty water. There were a lot of discarded nails around the planks and some in the sea.
It was quite obvious that Ferrick was not aiming to bring his ship to one hundred percent efficiency. The surprising part was why? Because until last night when Hyde was observing them, it seemed like they were doing quite a diligent job at it.
It was then when Hyde remembered what White Shark Hamilton had said. Ferrick was called Salt Hound because he could 'smell' danger and misfortune directed towards him.
"So some kind of Danger Premonition or Spiritual Intuition. But Ferrick is not a high or mid-Sequence Beyonder. That creates a discrepancy between the danger intuition's level he had shown versus his actual sequence." Hyde talked to himself and waved his hand, swatting smoke away from his face. "This can mean a few things such as either he has kept his Sequence a secret, he is from a Pathway I have no intel on or he has a Mystical Item that aids him. Because so far I have done no preparations to hunt him down.
Unless, the danger he has sensed doesn't stem from me."
Hyde fell into deep thought. He shared the same mind as Kiyotaka, however, a bit of it was influenced by the body he was in as well, so his deduction skills were not on the level of Kiyotaka. That said, his Pathway's core theme compensated for that.
His brain suddenly seemed to string several threads of possibilities and divided itself amongst them. These possibilities were not all logical in the strictest sense of the word as he began to take the supernatural world and powers into account as well.
"That narrows it down. What he has isn't merely supernatural danger intuition but rather something directly tied into one's Fate. A Fate Pathway Beyonder makes more sense." Hyde spoke in a rather satisfactory manner.
With that said, he placed both his hands on the ship and pulled himself over it. As he landed on the deck, he tip-toed and avoided a thin string which seemed to have been laid out in a way that an intruder would definitely trigger it.
"Paranoid little man." Hyde looked amused as he smiled and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, there was a strange light in his eyes and the empty ship suddenly seemed to contain various people.
Reconstruction!
He was reconstructing the scene of the ship. In this heightened state where all of his senses were boosted to abnormal, supernatural extents, he began seeing small things.
Overhead, the balustrade right over the captain's cabin had abrasions and slight traces of fabric stuck between rough wood.
Hyde looked at it and narrowed his eyes. "So this is where you spend most of your time."
Without a care in the world, he climbed over the captain's cabin and arrived in front of the balustrade. He placed his hands on it, but then it looked like he was unsatisfied, so he changed postures.
He tried this a few times before arriving at a pose which involved placing his left elbow down and gripping the far end of it with his right hand. Remaining in that position, Hyde observed the deck as all kinds of deductions entered his mind.
However, there was something bothering him.
"1.72metres, middle aged. One leg missing, replaced with a peg-leg. But you are not alone... Never alone." Hyde turned back and looked around. In his vision, several instances of people slipping entered his mind beside him.
He bent down and touched his fingers to the ground. "No excessive wiping, or color differences. Which means that whoever slipped here, did not do so through natural means and was rather a supernaturally recreated effect."
A rather devious smile formed on his face. "A little Beyonder helper. It makes sense, just being able to sense danger should not allow you to stay alive for so long. Judging by the effect on a non-Beyonder, it's safe to assume that his helper is also a low-Sequence Beyonder, much like himself."
Satisfied with himself, Hyde jumped from where he was standing and landed on the deck. Then, he broke open the captain's cabin with a kick, poured himself some water and sat on what looked like Salt Hound Ferrick's seat before taking out his revolver and checking the chamber, counting the bullets.
Once that was done, he flicked it back inside and pushed it into the holster and placed his feet on the table. "Well then... let's see which of you is worth turning into a Mystical Item."
*****
The first set of footsteps returned roughly two hours later.
Hyde could hear their voices even before they reached the gangplank. There were several voices mixed together which were accompanied by the occasional clinking of bottles and the heavier sound of boots striking the wooden pier.
Apparently, not everyone had decided to remain inside Flying Fish and Wine for long.
Hyde remained seated leisurely. The cup he had taken from Ferrick's cabinet was still in his hand while his boots were comfortably planted on the table. The broken door was partially hanging from one hinge and moved slightly whenever the sea rocked the Morrow against the pier.
A moment later, several shadows passed across the windows and a collective, exasperated expression left their lips. "...What the fuck?"
Hyde took another sip leisurely from the cup of warm water while the voices outside immediately became quieter and footsteps hurried across the deck.
Six men appeared near the broken doorway one after another, although only four actually entered the cabin while the other two remained outside.
Much to his Hyde's disappointment, none of them seemed to be Ferrick or the other Beyonder that he had inferred existed aboard the ship.
The man standing at the front was tall and broad, perhaps in his late thirties, with a thick beard and a recently bandaged left palm.
There was a large sailor's knife hanging from his waist, however, the placement of his feet and the repeated abrasion along the knuckles of his right hand indicated that knives were hardly his preferred method of fighting.
The second man was considerably thinner with a revolver underneath the coat on the right side. The coat itself had been buttoned carelessly so that drawing the weapon quickly was feasible.
The third had a slight limp in his right leg, probably caused by the exhaustion of working through the night rather than an old injury. His pupils were normal but his breathing was heavy from climbing aboard while a small blister had broken underneath one thumb and had been crudely wrapped with cloth.
The fourth was reaching for something to his back while the other two were watching silently.
Hyde's eyes moved between all six as he methodically recognized them. After all, he had observed most of them throughout the night and eight hours of physical labor was going to work quite well in his favor.
'Non-Beyonders.' Hyde realized as his eyes landed on the large man at the front. The man's eyes moved from Hyde to the shattered door and then towards the boots resting on Ferrick's table.
'First one always closes the distance instead of drawing the knife. He's right handed and will open with a wide haymaker towards my jaw. His bandaged left palm prevents reliable grappling in case his first attack fails.'
Hyde's attention shifted toward the thinner man. 'The second the first one is dealt with, the second man will draw his gun. The strange buttoning will cause his withdrawal to delay marginally, which he will compensate by stepping left to clear the barrel.'
'Limp prevents the third one from stable rotation. He'll remain outside striking distance until someone else commits. The fourth one has a weapon behind the back. Short blade judging from elbow angle. He is most likely attempting the flank once my attention shifts to the others.'
'Estimated result: four incapacitated. One with a possible fractured wrist, one dislocated shoulder and two unconscious with no deaths.'
The entire sequence took less than two seconds inside his mind. As everything clicked into place, the broad pirate spoke up. "Get the fuck out of the captain's chair."
Hyde took a loud sip from the warm water and smacked his lips before smirking at him. "Nope."
The man blinked and then his hands clenched into fists.
Hyde remained seated and the first punch came almost exactly as expected.
The pirate stepped forward and swung his right fist toward Hyde's face, putting enough force into the strike to kill an ordinary person on the spot. Hyde's head moved perhaps several centimeters before his left hand caught the wrist and pulled at it rather than blocking it.
Letting momentum do its sweet job, Hyde elbowed the man right into his ribs and a horrible grunt escaped his mouth while the air disappeared from his lungs. Before he could fold completely, Hyde's giant hands grabbed the back of his neck and smashed his forehead into the edge of Ferrick's table.
As he slumped, the thinner pirate had already reached inside his coat while his elbow moved outward... exactly as Hyde had predicted.
For the first time in two hours, Hyde stood up and then blitzed towards the second one. Perhaps it was the size difference between the two but it seemed like the pirate suddenly felt scared seeing him up close.
Hyde's right hand caught the revolver before it had fully cleared the coat while his other hand closed around the man's wrist.
A rather devilish grin appeared on his face as he twisted the wrist, breaking it. The pirate screamed and released the weapon as Hyde caught it.
Meanwhile, the fourth one with the hidden knife rushed from his side and attacked. However, Hyde seemed to have predicted him as well as he took a step back, causing the knife to whistle past him.
Before he could recover, Hyde caught the other man's wrist as well. Without waiting, he drove his elbow into the man's elbow, breaking it instantly. He then placed his hand on his shoulder and kicked his back so hard that the shoulder left its socket with a wet plop.
The pirate dropped immediately while screaming in agony while Hyde finally looked towards the limping man. He lifted the revolver he had caught from the second one and pulled the hammer.
The pirate with a limp suddenly raised both of his hands in the air. After all, witnessing three men getting manhandled in just a few seconds had encouraged him to reconsider his participation.
Hyde lowered the stolen revolver and took a better look at his face. "Are you going to attack me?"
The man's mouth opened and then closed as he mumbled in a defeated manner. "...no."
"Good." Putting the gun into his pants, Hyde walked towards the other two who were watching everything with a dumb look on their face. The man with the limp lowered his head and stumbled sideways to not get in Hyde's way.
While the fifth pirate was smart enough to stand far away, the sixth, however, had drawn his revolver.
Hyde noticed the movement through the reflection on the cabin window before hearing the hammer move.
Reaching for the stolen gun, he raised it towards the man and fired it before he could. The bullet struck the revolver itself and the metal of the pirate's revolver screeched while flying away from his grasp in a deluge of sparks.
Hyde inspected the revolver in his hand and hummed. "Decent piece of equipment alright."
He checked its remaining ammunition before sliding it into the waistband of his trousers. Right after that, he blitzed outside and appeared behind the one who had fired the bullet. Without waiting, he swung both of his hands from behind and slapped his ears.
The ringing and disorientation caused by such a force was so much that the man began bleeding from his ears and immediately fell down unconscious.
The remaining pirate who had wisely kept his distance stared at Hyde and then slowly and carefully, moved towards the men scattered around the cabin and deck. His hand hovered close to his waist, but after several seconds of consideration, he slowly moved it away.
"Good choice."
The man swallowed and raised both of his hands slightly. "We're done."
Hyde looked at him for a few moments before turning towards the limping pirate who had also surrendered. "Take the others and leave the ship."
Both men seemed taken aback. "What?"
"You heard me. Or do you want the same treatment as this one?" He pointed at the one who was still spasming on the floor.
The limping pirate looked towards the unconscious man bleeding slightly from his ears and then towards the two whose arms Hyde had damaged. "You're... letting us go?"
Hyde's brows furrowed as though the question itself confused him. "Why wouldn't I?"
Hyde looked around at the six men once more. They were pirates, and judging from their behavior it was unlikely that any of them were particularly good people, but none of them possessed anything he considered worth killing them over.
Their lives provided no Beyonder Characteristics, no information that Ferrick himself could not provide and no sense of accomplishment whatsoever.
Killing them after they had already lost would be akin to stepping on insects for the sake of proving that his shoes were heavier than the worthless insects. "Get them out before your captain returns."
The two men did not need to be told again. The limping pirate moved towards the man whose shoulder had been dislocated and helped him stand while the other started dragging the unconscious one by his arms.
When he passed Hyde, his eyes briefly went towards the stolen revolver tucked into Hyde's trousers.
"Oh?"
He pulled the weapon out, but suddenly the man shivered and tumbled back, afraid Hyde was going to shoot him.
Hyde chuckled and then without saying a word opened the chamber and emptied the remaining bullets into his palm before tossing the revolver towards the pirate. "The ammunition stays with me."
"...Right. Sure..."
Hyde pocketed the bullets and returned to Ferrick's cabin.
He was not particularly concerned. A weapon in the hands of a man who had already surrendered did not concern or threaten him.
By the time the pirates had dragged the last unconscious man down the gangplank, Hyde was sitting once again inside Ferrick's chair with the cup of water in one hand. As he took a sip from it, he spat it out. "Cold. It got cold too quickly."
Having a bad taste in his mouth, Hyde picked the cup and threw it towards the limping man who dodged it just in time as it broke into several pieces.
As he was thinking about warming some more water, he heard the sound of wood hitting against wood. This sound was akin to someone walking but more mechanical and heavier.
Hyde's smile suddenly widened. 'The peg-leg.'
Another set of footsteps followed alongside it, lighter and considerably more even. Neither person hurried despite the injured crewmen they had just passed on the pier or the shouts of people calling two very specific names.
Hyde took out a new cup and began pouring some water in it.
Several seconds later, a short but broadly built man appeared in front of the broken doorway.
Salt Hound Ferrick looked somewhere in his middle forties. His skin was bronze while his faded blond hair appeared nearly white around the temples. A short beard covered the lower half of his face while his pale blue eyes possessed a peculiar stillness in them.
His left leg ended slightly beneath the knee and had been replaced by a dark wooden peg reinforced around the bottom with metal.
'Approximately one hundred and seventy-two centimeters. That's Ferrick.'
Hyde's observation that stemmed from Reconstruction had been accurate. Beside Ferrick was another man who was perhaps in his thirties.
He was lean with long limbs and dark brown hair that had grown slightly too long around his forehead. He had a narrow face with hazel eyes that travelled first towards the broken door, then the blood on the deck, and finally towards Hyde.
His fingers were moving as he rolled a silver coin between them.
'So that's the helper.'
Neither of the two spoke as Ferrick's eyes moved around his cabin.
"Salt Hound Ferrick, I assume."
Ferrick's eyes returned to him. "Get your feet off my table."
That response made Hyde's smile deepen as he lifted his legs, as if removing them, but then banged them harshly on the table. "No. Although I am slightly disappointed."
Ferrick's eyes narrowed. "With what?"
"You. Who else?" Hyde leaned back into Ferrick's chair. "I was told Salt Hound Ferrick could smell danger before it arrived." His gaze briefly moved towards the hastily repaired deck outside. "You felt something coming last night, didn't you?"
Ferrick did not respond as Hyde shrugged. "And your response to that danger was to make your men repair the ship faster? Not something like bracing for a battle or something like that? Oh well, you are quite weak, so I believe you ruled out a head-on collision."
"Careful now." Ferrick finally spoke.
Hyde smiled and tilted his head. "There it is." He sat back up and pointed towards Ferrick's eyes. "I see you, that fearful little boy trembling in his boots right now."
Salt Hound Ferrick's nerves suddenly tightened and anger bubbled inside him as he reached for his revolver while the younger man moved at almost precisely the same moment.
Hyde's feet dropped from the table and something strange passed beneath them. However, before he could blitz towards them, the wooden boards seemed to lose all friction and his right foot slipped violently sideways.
Tumble!
Hyde had barely enough time to shift his weight before Ferrick's revolver cleared its holster and a gunshot exploded through the cabin.
Hyde twisted in the nick of time as the bullet passed beside his cheek and buried itself inside the wooden wall behind him. He hit the ground with one hand but immediately kicked the table towards Ferrick.
However, Ferrick, instead of dodging wildly, moved exactly far enough for the edge of the table to pass without touching him while his revolver remained perfectly aligned with Hyde throughout the motion.
BANG!
Hyde rolled behind the overturned chair as the bullet punched straight through its backrest as his eyes sharpened.
'That is not ordinary marksmanship. He has advanced. He no longer only has a nose for trouble but his physical capabilities have also been enhanced.'
He came to the conclusion because Ferrick had fired while adjusting for both Hyde's movement and the rocking of the ship without visibly correcting his aim.
Hyde realized that the information from the bounty was definitely outdated as he kicked himself upright.
Ferrick fired again but instead of avoiding the bullet after it was fired, Hyde moved before Ferrick's finger fully compressed the trigger and felt the projectile tear through the fabric near his shoulder.
Danger Premonition!
Meanwhile, the younger man had already moved outside the cabin.He was avoiding direct confrontation while maintaining an angle from which he could interfere.
Hyde's eyes followed the younger one as he mumbled. "Tumble, eh? So you are an Apprentice Pathway Beyonder. Not half-bad."
"Jason," Ferrick suddenly barked, causing his hand to move. Hyde immediately closed one eye and turned his face partially away while a violent white light erupted through the cabin.
Flash!
Even prepared and having already predicted it through his Danger Premonition, Hyde's remaining eye stung violently and his vision turned into a mess of white spots.
Taking advantage of this small window, Ferrick fired through it.
Hyde rolled sideways but felt something hot tear through the side of his shirt. He landed on the cabin wall and immediately moved again before another bullet destroyed the wood where his head had been.
'He isn't only reacting quickly. He is calculating distance, momentum and destination while factoring in the rocking of Morrow and other factors. He's like a robot. Which means...'
Having a rudimentary understanding of Ferrick and Jason's abilities, he bolted outwards. But before he could do so, he recoiled back into place due to his Danger Premonition warning him and a bullet tore through the thin clearing from which he was about to run.
Salt Hound Ferrick's Danger Sense suddenly began blaring alarms as he began firing towards Hyde. However, by using his Deduction, Reconstruction and Danger Premonition, it seemed like he was weaving through the bullet trajectories.
A crimson flame suddenly appeared in Hyde's palm and Ferrick's eyes flickered towards the crimson bracelet around his wrist.
Just as Hyde flicked his wrist, the peg-leg produced a heavy sound and Salt Hound Ferrick jumped quite a distance away while the fireball exploded, sending burning fragments of wood across the deck.
Jason immediately stepped forward and using Deduction, he was quick to tell that he was going to use another Tumble. However, he did not avoid it and instead allowed Tumble to make him fall.
While doing so, he also activated Analysis and began dissecting the core structure and parameters of the spell such as direction, trigger, spirituality expenditure and the way the effect imposed itself on the relationship between the target and the surface beneath it.
Suddenly Hyde disappeared from where he was and appeared in front of him as he wrapped his fingers around his neck and slammed him against the wall. "I am going to throw you from here. Once you fall down and regain your footing, I want you to perform this spell again."
Jason's face stiffened as Hyde threw him from above the cabin who crashed shoulder-first against the wooden deck and rolled twice before hurriedly forcing himself back onto his feet. His expression had already lost much of the confidence he had displayed earlier as he stared upwards at Hyde.
"What the hell are you—"
"Tumble." Hyde rested one arm against the railing above him. "Do that again."
Ferrick's Danger Sense suddenly warned him as he roared. "Jason, move!"
As he said that, Salt Hound raised his revolver and fired three times in rapid succession, but Hyde had already left his position before the first bullet reached him. Instead of retreating back into the captain's cabin, he vaulted over the balustrade and dropped directly towards Jason.
Jason reacted immediately and the wooden deck underneath Hyde once again seemed to lose its relationship with friction, forcing his landing foot sideways.
However, instead of falling, he had already adjusted himself as she smiled.
A much clearer spiritual structure formed itself inside Hyde's mind. Tumble was surprisingly crude when stripped of its supernatural exterior as it did not directly control the victim, nor did it physically alter the floor but rather, it imposed a brief supernatural occurrence upon the interaction between movement, balance and the surface supporting the target.
It was akin to a circus trick.
Jason barely managed to raise his arm as Hyde's shin crashed into it. The impact broke Jason's arm and he was then thrown several meters away.
As Hyde took a few steps back, he looked at Jason and gently clapped. "Bravo! That second demonstration cleared up a lot of doubts."
For perhaps the first time, Jason understood that Hyde had deliberately allowed the ability to affect him and that thought alone drained all the blood in his face.
Ferrick fired again and Hyde tilted his head, letting the bullet pass by him. "You have excellent coordination, but your shooting patterns are quite predictable."
Salt Hound Ferrick's face reddened with anger and this time he aimed not where Hyde was standing, but where Ferrick calculated Hyde would move after observing his dodging patterns. However, Hyde did not move and the bullet passed him harmlessly.
"You missed." Hyde chuckled. "That must be frustrating. Your calculations about my movements will only work if I work within the limited parameters you have to work with. Someone like you never stood a chance. Now, kill yourself. I do not want to dirty my hands with your filthy blood."
Salt Hound Ferrick pointed his revolver and pulled the trigger.
"Oh by the way, your bullets have depleted—"
While Hyde was in the midst of talking, Salt Hound Ferrick had already covered the distance between them. Ferrick himself knew as well that the bullets were depleted but wanted to create an idiotic image in Hyde's head to get him to lower his guard.
However, before he could fully reach Hyde, something strange suddenly affected the relationship between his peg-leg and the deck and he slipped.
The Imitation was considerably weaker than Jason's original ability, however, it did not matter. Salt Hound Ferrick's biology compensated for that lack of output.
As Salt Hound Ferrick tried to correct his center of balance, Hyde's fist struck him across the face before his shoulder touched the deck. The impact lifted Ferrick completely from the ground and sent him crashing through several wooden crates.
Jason, who just realized that Hyde was toying with them until now, suddenly shivered and took a step back as Hyde began walking towards him.
Jason raised both hands and released another blinding Flash but Hyde closed his eyes before the light fully manifested, making use of a weaker version of a Devil's Danger Premonition.
As if to add insult to injury, Hyde continued walking with his eyes closed. "Do another one." He said while facing in Jason's general direction.
"You're fucking insane." Jason turned and ran.
Hyde sighed. "Disappointing."
Jason had run only a few meters away when he heard the deck creak behind him and attempted to activate Tumble without looking back.
However, nothing happened to Hyde and instead, Jason himself suddenly lost his footing. His eyes widened as his legs flew beneath him.
Before Jason could hit the ground, Hyde caught the back of his coat and lifted him up with one hand.
Jason legs that were lifted off the ground thrashed around violently. "Wait! Wait, we can—"
Hyde lifted him even higher before slamming him into the mast, causing the wooden structure to shake. Jason coughed violently as the air left his lungs. "W-We can negotiate!"
Hyde bent down and brought his face closer to Jason. "You're a Beyonder, you know?"
Jason coughed and looked up at him. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Everything." Hyde stood and pulled his revolver while Jason's expression twisted into that of genuine fear as he hurriedly raised his hands.
A sudden gust of wind erupted between them and Hyde's arm was pushed sideways.
Jason scrambled on all four and attempted to escape as Hyde watched him run for less than two seconds. Then, as if he had enough, he pulled the trigger.
BANG!
Jason jerked face first into the wooden flooring and began drowning in his own blood that gushed out of his neck.
Hyde lowered the revolver and then looked up, only to see that Salt Hound Ferrick had climbed from the ruined crates. Blood was covering half of his face while several teeth were missing, yet his revolver was steady in his hand.
Hyde looked mildly impressed. "You're durable."
Ferrick pushed a single bullet into the chamber and fired at Hyde's head, however, he twisted around the bullet and rushed towards him like a ramming bull.
Ferrick's Danger Sense exploded repeatedly as he attempted to calculate Hyde's trajectory, but every time a conclusion formed, Hyde altered his movement.
Ferrick fired but the revolver only produced small clicking sounds.
Hyde's hand wrapped around his wrist and Ferrick attempted to strike with the other but Hyde caught that as well.
The difference in their physical size and strength was simply too much.
Hyde slowly forced both of Ferrick's arms apart and slammed his back against the corner of the ship before driving his knee into Ferrick's ribs.
However, instead of flailing around, Ferrick suddenly drove his forehead towards Hyde's nose. Hyde moved to the side and loosened his grip on one of Ferrick's hands and elbowed his face so hard that stars appeared in his vision.
Then, he closed his hand around Ferrick's throat and lifted him into the air as he struggled, his peg-leg striking uselessly against Hyde's thigh while his Danger Sense continued screaming warnings.
There was nowhere left to move.
Hyde looked into his pale blue eyes and scoffed. "Stuffy nose, I think."
Ferrick's face darkened from lack of air and within the next few seconds, with a flick of his thick fingers, Hyde broke the man's neck before throwing him down on the deck, right beside Jason.
Silence returned to Morrow as Hyde looked from one corpse to the other before checking the revolver in his hand.
He had used considerably more bullets than expected.
Behind him, several of Ferrick's ordinary crewmates were staring from the pier. None seemed willing to climb aboard after witnessing the final portion of the battle.
Hyde glanced towards them and that was enough to make them avert their eyes or step backwards.
He went into Ferrick's cabin and boiled some water before throwing some leaves in it, making green tea for himself. Once that was done, he walked outside and looked ahead towards the sea while sipping on his green tea.
A moment or so later, he turned around and a smile formed on his face as a crystal-clear, cold gray stone and a transparent crystal that refracted rainbow-colored light materialized on Salt Hound Ferrick and Trickmaster Jason's bodies.
*****
Author's Note: Here's the official illustration for Hyde. One's with back and one with grey-ish. I gave him grey coat but I know some of you lot imagined him with black, so eh, here it is.