074 The Wound in Waldo's Heart

The next day, the azure sea churned with rolling waves beneath an endless sky, and a small boat drifted lazily with the wind. At the bow, on the deck, beneath a sun umbrella, a golden monkey lounged on a recliner, legs crossed, holding a banana in one hand and a goblet in the other, eyes half-closed in utter contentment. It sipped its drink, smacked its lips, took bites of its banana, and wore an expression of pure enjoyment. Anyone unaware might have mistaken it for some pampered scion indulging in a life of decadence.

Not far away, a figure with shackles of stone on his hands, looking utterly disheveled, glared angrily at the golden monkey on the recliner. Sensing Waldo’s resentful gaze, the monkey opened its eyes, its face immediately darkening. It set down its goblet in a distinctly human manner and screeched, "What are you staring at? Hurry up and massage my legs!"

Waldo’s face flushed with anger as he reluctantly shuffled over and, trembling, began to knead the monkey’s legs.

The monkey grumbled, "Idiot, haven’t you eaten? There’s no strength in your hands!"

Waldo erupted, his face livid. "Damn you! If you’ve got any guts, kill me! A man can be killed but not humiliated! Take off these shackles and I’ll teach you a lesson—not how to be a man, but how to be a monkey!"

He had endured enough from this monkey. For days, the creature had treated him like a subordinate, punishing him at the slightest provocation, leaving Waldo half dead each time. The fool didn’t seem to realize he was wearing sea stone shackles that drained his strength, yet still demanded he serve tea and water. When he failed, or didn’t meet the monkey’s expectations, he was beaten senseless—bruises and swollen cheeks were the least of it.

At first, Waldo had resisted the monkey’s unreasonable demands, but after several brutal lessons, he decided to temporarily submit to the creature’s tyranny. He swore to himself: a true man knows when to bend and when to stand tall. This was only temporary. Once he escaped, he'd make sure the monkey understood why its backside was so red.

The monkey stood up, arms crossed, eyes slanted, and looked at Waldo with a strange expression. "Oh? You dare talk back to me?"

Waldo shivered at that gaze. The endless days of torment had taught him to fear this monkey.

Sure enough, his fears were confirmed in the next moment.

"Wait for it, you damn monkey! One day, I'll kill you!" Waldo was now the bait as the monkey fished from the rail. His lower half soaked in seawater, his curses grew weak, but he still mustered the strength to hurl insults.

The monkey sneered, "Still cursing? No food for you today." It secured the fishing rod and walked away, leaving Waldo’s face pale with terror.

"Come back here, damn monkey!" Waldo turned to see the dorsal fin of a fish slicing swiftly through the water toward him, and he struggled frantically.

"If I die, Sky Bird will be angry." The monkey paused at these words, hesitated, then came back to the rail and hoisted Waldo into the air, leaving the carnivorous sea creatures to merely graze his behind.

"You damn monkey, I curse your backside to stay red forever!" Waldo writhed as a half-meter-long sharp-toothed fish clung to him, wriggling back and forth. The agony left him ashen-faced.

The monkey was furious, its consequences dire. Using Moonwalk, it strode over to Waldo, baring its teeth, and stripped him of his clothes. Instantly, a naked, unidentifiable object was left to paddle in the sea.

Stunned for a moment, Waldo felt a chill and exploded in rage, screaming, "If you’ve got the guts, kill me! If you humiliate me like this, you’ll be struck by lightning, you red-bottomed beast!"

His eyes reddened, his outrage flooding the sea; humiliation so absolute he wished for death.

The monkey clapped its hands in triumph, then disappeared from the rail, leaving Waldo cursing after it.

"I’ll kill you!"

"Red-bottomed monkey!"

"If you dare, fight me for three hundred rounds!"

"I’ll teach you how to be a monkey!"

"You bastard!"

Suddenly, a reeking sock landed squarely in Waldo's mouth, its intoxicating scent nearly causing him to faint in bliss.

A single tear slid down his cheek—Waldo was crying, bullied to tears by a monkey. This was humiliation, a wound that could never be healed; at this moment, Waldo felt utterly wronged, utterly miserable.

Meanwhile, at the bow, on a patch of grass, Xuan Ye sat cross-legged, eyes closed, his whole body enveloped in golden-red flames. His breathing was steady, blood circulating, and behind him, a three-legged divine bird stood with wings spread. The flames flickered around Xuan Ye as if alive, and every moment, strange powers manifested within them. To the naked eye, Xuan Ye’s grievously wounded body was already beginning to heal.

This was a healing state Xuan Ye had developed—absorbing external heat, refining the flames, and feeding back into his body. It rapidly restored his strength, accelerated his blood flow, and quickly healed his injuries.

Two hours later, Xuan Ye exhaled a plume of flame and slowly opened his eyes. His dark eyes shone like stars, radiating endless spirit and sharpness. He stood and glanced at the monkey lounging on the recliner, shook his head, and said nothing. Throughout this time, he had watched clearly how the monkey tormented Waldo, who had gone from disdain to resistance, finally to cursing, and Xuan Ye found the monkey's antics quite amusing.

Looking out across the sea, Xuan Ye frowned ever so slightly.

"Hey, get up," he called as he walked to the recliner. The foolish monkey was drooling, smacking its lips, mumbling in its sleep.

"She-monkey..."

"Bananas, so many bananas..."

Xuan Ye couldn’t help but laugh and, seeing how deeply the monkey slept, chose not to disturb it, turning instead to the rail.

He was greeted by the sight of a naked figure, his bleeding backside still beset by a couple of tenacious little fish.

Xuan Ye raised his hand and pulled Waldo up, his expression somewhat odd.

"If you’ve got the guts, kill me. A man can be killed but not humiliated," Waldo whispered, too weak to even curse.

This had been Waldo’s darkest, most humiliating days; he now even harbored a fear of the monkey. No one could understand the blood and tears in Waldo’s heart. Once, he was full of pride, with a bounty of five hundred million berries, but now he had fallen to such depths, suffering a devastating blow.

He swore that if he ever got the chance, he would wipe out every last monkey he encountered—especially this red-bottomed golden monkey.

He loathed the monkey with every fiber of his being.

"For a pirate worth five hundred million, your tolerance is pitiful," Xuan Ye said with disdain, standing before Waldo’s furious face.

"Humph... humph..." Waldo could only grunt; he truly lacked the energy to speak. Wasn’t his face haggard now?

It was all so pitiful, so pitiful...

.......................