Weeks passed.
Tika's bounty rose:
**"Mad Wolf Tika – 88 Million Berries – Dead or Alive"**.
Not bad for a sixteen-year-old idiot with a death wish.
---
They docked at an island: **Verdant Blood**.
A jungle paradise hiding a dark secret: it was ruled by a Warlord named **Baron Croven**, whose pirate fleet terrorized nearby villages.
The crew landed.
Tika immediately got bitten by a poisonous plant.
"I fucking hate this island."
Asia saved him.
But there was no rest. Baron Croven's scouts attacked by nightfall.
The crew split into teams:
- Izuku, Renji, and Asuna — frontal assault.
- Artoria and Beast — defense.
- Senku and Soma — sabotage.
- Ed and Tika — sneak attack.
---
The battles were brutal:
- Izuku faced waves of mercenaries, his energy form sparking like a living storm.
- Renji fought a swordmaster with a venomous blade.
- Asuna dueled a sniper atop crumbling ruins.
- Artoria clashed with a giant summoned beast.
- Beast crushed platoons like ants.
- Senku and Soma booby-trapped enemy bases.
Tika and Ed snuck into Croven's fortress.
*Oh god oh god this is a bad idea why do I agree to these things every time I am so fucking stupid.*
Inside, they found children — prisoners forced into labor.
Tika snapped.
The final battle came like a hurricane.
Tika, channeling all his fear, anger, and guilt, fought Croven himself.
It wasn't pretty.
It wasn't honorable.
It was desperate, messy, chaotic.
But it was victory.
And it was *theirs*.
---
When they sailed away from Verdant Blood, villagers cheering behind them, Tika stared at the horizon.
Dreams weren't enough.
They needed strength.
They needed madness.
They
needed to keep going.
And he would lead them — even if it killed him.
---