The situation... was pretty dire, putting it lightly.

I mean, Legoshi was tied to a chair, which had a rock tied to which, and was hanging precariously on the edge of the cliff by the shore known as "Reaper's Drop". Of course, the situation was dire. And yet, the wolf could only ask:

"Melon... why do you do this? Why do you hurt people?"

To that, the hybrid asked:

"Just because it amuses me. There is something about seeing other animals die that is just so much fun! So, when you drop down there, be sure to make it amusing for me, yes?"

With this, the next thing Legoshi knew, was that the hybrid had his hand on his neck, and now he was hanging even more precariously over the edge.

"You know, animals all get that same expression of fear when they are about to die." Melon said to the wolf as he looked him in the eyes. "Carnivore or herbivore, when they realize they are done for, they all have the very same expression. Totally free of falsehood and pretense."

He looked closer, seeing the fear in Legoshi's eyes.

"Yes, that's the expression right there." The hybrid said with a smirk as he saw that expression. It was one of the things that gave him a sensation tingling inside of him. The closest thing to arousal he was able to feel.

And that reminded him of...

"I wonder if Haru will have that same expression when I eat her..."

Melon said that to himself. It was a musing. Merely the hybrid thinking louder than he intended to in a moment of distraction. However, that didn't mean that Legoshi would not hear his words.

"W-what?" The wolf spoke, his voice strained through the hand with a firm grip on his neck. "What did you say!?"

And then, he felt the smell.

That was Melon's smell. The combination of the smell of a herbivore and carnivore. And one that he had felt a few times when he was near him.

And once when Haru was on his apartment, emanating from her body as if the owner of that smell had rubbed himself all over him.

"Y-you..." Legoshi said, glaring at him. "That smell on Haru-chan... was from you!"

That ws an accusation, if Melon ever heard one. To that, the hybrid looked on his eyes, and laughed.

"Well, aren't you a smart cookie!" The hybrid said, "Yeah, I do know your girlfriend, Legoshi."

He leaned even closer.

"I guess I will tell you, since you are not going to live to see tomorrow either way." Melon said, "You see, I know Haru from her college. I work as a teacher part-time, and Haru is in one of my classes. She is quite the smart girl. Not the smartest, but surely not stupid. She caught on to me when no one else did, figured out I am mixed. Confronted me about it, even. I was quite surprised."

"Anyways, we have a conversation, and I realized she and I had a common acquittance! Which is you! Talk about coincidences, no?" He said to the wolf. "I can totally see why you like her, Legoshi. She is quite something. I never met someone like that. She just awakes something in me. Looking at her made me... hungry."

Legoshi was tensing as he heard that, his lips were curling in a snarl the more he listened, and Melon seemed happy to keep talking.

"Anyways, I did tell her that, and that somehow turning into a little promise between us. Well, more of a bet, if you think about it." Melon said, "You see, my birthday is near Rexmas, and when I said to her that this 'wolf friend' of hers' would not be able to save her from me, then she was so peeved about it that she agreed that, unless you were able to save her, she would let me eat her! Now, how does that sound?"

"You see, this is the reason why I'm about to get rid of you now. Well, part of the reason." Melon admitted. "I have never wanted to eat someone as much as I want to eat that rabbit, and I don't want to risk any chance of not getting to do so. So, I will be killing you now so you cannot be the knight on shining armor and I can have my Rexmas/birthday feast in peace. Sounds reasonable, no?"

Legoshi didn't agree. He didn't agree at all.

All fear was gone from his features, and now the only thing on them was hate.

"You..." The wolf growled. "Don't you dare lay a finger on her! If you come anywhere near Haru, will kill you!"

Melon paused for a moment, taken aback ever so slightly.

"Wow, your face just got scary all of a sudden..." The hybrid said as he looked at the wolf, who seemed like he wanted to tear him apart. "What, not wanting me to eat the herbivore you would one day eat? Because that's how this little relationship with her would inevitably end. Believe me, I know."

"You know nothing!" Legoshi barked back at him. "You know nothing about me, about Haru, or about what I feel for her! You are just a pathetic piece of garbage who would do the world a favor if you crawled into a hole and stayed there until you died!"

Melon was taken aback by this. The wolf became really aggressive all of a sudden.

Was it all because he found out Melon was planning on eating that rabbit?

"If you ever come near Haru I'll kill you!" Legoshi said, "I'll rip your limbs off one by one and then I'll give you to Yahya for him to turn you into fertilizer!"

The hatred on Legoshi's eyes as he spat those threats was enough to make Melon involuntarily flinch. For the first time since meeting the wolf, Melon was genuinely afraid of him.

"Oh... you are serious, I can tell from the look on your eyes." Melon spoke, before opening a smile once more. "Well, all the more reason to just kill you now! Sayonara, Legoshi!"'

And, with that, Melon let go.

Legoshi could do nothing more than squirm and look up at the grinning hybrid on top of that hill as he fell and fell, until...

TCHBUMMPH

And, just like that, Legoshi was on the water. The rock tied to the chair he was into draggin him down towards the bottom. All the while, the wolf continued to squirm.

He needed to get out of there. He needed to get out! He needed to catch Melon before he could do anything to Haru.

Legoshi no longer cared about his deal with Yahya, all he cared about now was getting to Melon and stopping him. If he didn't then Haru would die.

However, that was a losing battle, as the ropes tying Legoshi to that chair held firm while the rock dragged him and the chair all the way to the bottom of the shore. And yet, the wolf continued to struggle.

Even as his lungs hurt from him holding his breath until his cheeks turned blue and his instincts forced him to expel the stale air and take in a lungful. Even when his body convulsed due to his lungs and stomach filled with water. Even as his ears started bleeding as his blood thickened because of the salt water of the ocean. Even as the corners of his vision started darkening from the lack of oxygen.

During all this time, there was only one though on Legoshi's mind:

I have to save Haru...

And that was the last thing on his mind, before his eyes rolled to the back of his head a few seconds before his heart stoped beating...

Legoshi was floating.

It was the same sensation of being in water. Was he still in the water? He was not breathing.

Was he... dead.

No! He could not be dead! This meant no one was going to save Haru!

He could not be dead! He needed to live!

"Is that really what you desire?"

Legoshi's eyes widened. He found himself floating in the middle of the void. There was nothing around him.

Save for a pair of lights right in front of him which, Legoshi soon realized, were eyes, belonging to a MUCH larger creature, staring intently at him.

"Do you really want to live, wolf?"

Legoshi looked at those eyes. At the creature staring at him.

"Yes..." The wolf said, not even thinking about it. "I want to live so I can stop Melon from hurting Haru..."

Then, the owner of the eyes said:

"I see... so, if I offered you the chance to live again, would you take it? If I offered the chance to send you back, would accept."

Once more, Legoshi's answer came with no hesitation.

"Yes!"

"Even if I told you that only suffering waited for you? Would you still want to go back?"

"Yes." Legoshi said, "I faced a lot of pain already, I can face more if it means saving Haru. I can't let she be devoured. I can't let Melon do it to her. So, if you really can send me back, please..."

The eyes continued to stare down at Legoshi. And then, something else appeared.

A mouth. A smiling, massive mouth filled with sharp fangs, each one as long as Legoshi's forearm.

"Yes... you will do nicely." The figure said, as the face came closer to Legoshi's. The wolf could only look with wide eyes as the massvie T-rex that stared down at him while smirking.

"You will be the first one."

Legoshi didn't had time to think about it, for that was when he felt himself falling.

...

PROCESS SUCCESSFUL.

UNIQUE ABILITY ACQUIRED: SEA KING

RESTORING VITALS...

Legoshi's eyes snapped open, his mouth opened and in Legoshi took lungfuls, one after the other, deep and desperately.

As he took lungful in and lungful out, he relaxed. His breathing stabilized as the water entered and left his lungs at a steady pace.

As his breathing normalize, the wolf sighed. He was calmer now.

He looked down, and saw he was still tied to the chair.

He needed to get out of there. However, he found out he could not free himself on his own. The rope was too thick and was tied too tight.

Maybe he could cut them? Legoshi looked around, but he could not se any rock that was sharp enough for him to use them to cut the ropes.

Then, he noticed he was not alone there.

Something was swimming towards him.

A shark. No. Two sharks.

They were swimming towards Legoshi, and they were talking to each other in Seaspeak.

And Legoshi could understand each word.

"Why, won't you look at his, sister?" one of the sharks said, "A wolf! A denizen of Land down on our Sea!"

"Yes, I see, brother." The other one said, with a distinctively feminine voice. "He appears to be in a predicament, no? I wonder how long he has been holding his breath?"

He was not. Legoshi was breathing normally as he looked at the two, of them as they swan around him.

"Uhh, excuse me?" Legoshi said, speaking in perfect Seaspeak. "I need some help. Would you two mind helping me?"

"Oh! He can speak our language!" The female shark said in surprise. "Normally the Land inhabitants can hardly speak two words of our language!"

"Please, I really need help!" Legoshi said, "I was put in here by a bad person from Land! He is going to hurt the woman I love! I need to stop him! Please, you have to help me!"

"Oh, I'm afraid we won't do it, wolf." The male shark said, "Now unfortunate for you, to cross paths with me and my sister as we are looking for food. Normally we have to swim for a long time to find enough fish to fill our stomachs, and here we find an easy meal that could fill both of us, incapable of swimming away! We'd have to be incredibly foolish to waste this chance. So, we will be eating you instead."

"Please, don't take it personally." The female said. "We are only ensuring our own survival."

Legoshi knew at that moment. They were going to eat him.

It was like Sagwan said. Creatures of the sea had no qualms about eating each other. They did it for survival, and they saw it as part of life, for life and death were meaningless in the sea.

However, Legoshi's life was meaningful. It was meaningful because he needed to live to save Haru.

He could not be eaten by those sharks.

He could not die!

Just as the sharks were getting ready to bite at him, Legoshi yelled at the two:

"Stop it!"

Suddenly, the two sharks stopped. They stopped moving and backed away, and they only stared at Legoshi.

Nearly as if transfixed.

Legoshi saw the two of them like this, and then he barked another order:

"Get me out of those damn ropes!"

And the sharks obeyed. With their jaws, they bit off Legoshi's ropes, freeing the wolf, who swam around them, before taking a hold of both their fins...

"Take me to the beach! Now!"

And the sharks obeyed, both swimming in synch towards the sand, with the wolf ridding them while holding on their dorsal fins, his mind focused on the one beast who confessed to him he planned to eat Haru.

And on killing him for daring to think about doing it...