Rui tapped his feet as he waited in the cockpit.
"The island has come in view," Captain Crartas as he gestured, before turning around to the crew of sailors behind him. "Alright folks, let's slow down according to protocol,"
Rui ignored the surge in the bustling of the sailors behind him. "Why slow down when the island is that close?"
"It was protocol that came into play after we realized that they cooperate better when we aren't rushing at them at top speed. They're a paranoid bunch," The captain replied.
"They already know we're here," Rui replied.
Half of the coast of Vilun Island was sharp cliffs with dangerous rock formations that protruded from below the surface. The other half was more gentle beaches that the M'etKanun Tribe resided near.
The Martial Union had no intention of infringing on the territory of one of the Martial Tribes of Vilun Island with a cruise ship, thus the only route was to scale up the cliffs that were naturally uninhabited.
Of course, the intelligence made it clear that they would not be able to interact with the M'etKanun Tribe due to their frequenting the oceans around the island.
That was why Rui was waiting for the inevitable confrontation with the M'etKanun Tribe.
He had worn the attire that the Martial Union had given to represent them, and he also had his mind mask ready and prepped to put on the second he sensed something or was alerted of something.
Rui was actually quite grateful that he had other Martial Artists engaging in surveillance because his sensory techniques weren't of much use. Tempestuous Feel was utterly useless when it came to sensing phenomena underwater, while Seismic Mapping was largely useless due to how different sound waves propagated underwater vs how seismic radiation propagated on land.
Unless the M'etKanun Tribe was incompetent enough to generate tremendous amounts of noise underwater, he would not be able to sense them coming up to him.
This had really shown him how useless he was in aquatic environments.
('I can't allow that to remain this way in the long run," He sighed.
His Martial Path was adaptive evolution, and Rui had set high ambitions that he had no intention of reneging on. That meant that he would need to learn how to adapt to even aquatic-oriented Martial Artists even in their home element.
"Sir, they're here," Squire Kravis nodded when they reached close to the island. "A few seconds."
Time slowed down in their perspective as they exchanged a nod with each other while Captain Crartas was frozen mid-air. Rui walked out of the cockpit briskly as he headed toward the front of the ship.
"They're here, sir," Another Martial Squire seamlessly shot out of the ocean and onto the ship.
"Good work," Rui nodded. "You have 'it' prepared, right?"
"Of course, sir."
Rui gazed into the waters before the ocean. His sharp senses couldn't pick up a thing aside from a few fish, except for his eyes that saw several human figures emerge to the surface of the water, skywalking before the ship.
They wore garbs that seemed to be fashioned from the aquadynamic scales of aquatic animals and other adornments that all originated from the oceans. Rui spotted many corals and shells adorning necklaces on their neck and other parts of their body.
Their patterns and designs across their body were done with squid ink.
Yet what drew his attention was their eyes.
They were prepared and willing.
Rui knew that they, like all other Martial Tribes, had no problem with picking a fight with the entire ship if necessary.
They too had set their eyes on him as well. For he had long donned the most powerful mind mask that he could muster.
Even the Martial Artists around him felt bewildered at his tremendously overpowering presence.
The five Martial Squires of the M'etKanun Tribe could see that he was the most powerful Martial Artist on the boat. Of course, this was only because he had told Senior Ceeran to wrap his aura and vibe as deep as he could, Rui could only hope that his highly magnified aura would be able to hide and overpower his highly diminished aura as well.
Thankfully, it seemed to work out.
"Greetings, respected warriors of M'etKanun Tribe," Rui smiled at them as he spread his arms, speaking fluent Vilun dialect. "We come in peace,"
"What is your purpose for coming to this island, outsider?" The strongest Martial Squire standing at the lead asked him.
His voice was deep and his tone was detached. He didn't bear any hostile intentions, but he wasn't going to be particularly friendly with them either.
"We come in peace," Rui repeated, before continuing. "We come for friendship, and we have a gift to offer to the M'etKanun Tribe."
None of them were particularly surprised.
Rui waved his hand as one of his assistants gave him a large and ostentatious box. They swiftly accepted the box from Rui's hand unceremoniously, before opening it up.
"Hm," The man nodded. "We accept the gift. Thank you. Continue"
The five of them returned to the ocean as unceremoniously as they had arrived.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
"They're gone," The Martial Squire nodded.
"That was easy," Rui shrugged. "Hope the negotiations with the G'ak'arkan Tribe are that easy."
"They won't," Senior Ceeran's voice interjected from behind. "Trust me."
At this moment, Rui was not inclined to trust anything the man had to say regarding the case, but he was right. It was one thing to respect the general claim the M'etKanun Tribe had over the waters surrounding the island as outsiders. It was another thing entirely to manage to compel the G'ak'arkan Tribe to cough up their most valued techniques that were a heritage for centuries, most likely.
"Proceed towards the island, and continue as per protocols," Rui instructed once he stepped into the cockpit.
"Aye aye, sir," The man smiled, nodding. "Onwards we go, men,"
Rui breathed deeply as the ship reached the island.
