"He actually started playing."
Deathstroke, hiding behind a normal face, sat with the still young King at a luxurious restaurant... at the outdoor snack stall outside the restaurant, each ordered a bowl of udon noodles and watched the scene inside through the restaurant glass.
Under the warm and bright lights, Monac was surrounded by a group of flamboyant young ladies, calling for a big table of good food and wine.
Amidst the clinking of glasses, the Magic Prince had long forgotten his previous reluctance, and now he was laughing so hard that even his tongue popped out from his mouth.
Monac seemed to be tasting sweetness like Wolverine. Women knelt to pour him drink, fed him dishes, their fragrant skin brushing against his ears. He accepted everything that came his way.
Xiaowang looked at the dining table in the luxurious restaurant, then lowered his head to look at the shack made of worn-out straw mats he was in.
Looking at others' big fish and meat, and then at his own bowl of noodles.
Really 'Black' Dragon noodles because besides soy sauce soup and some noodles barely enough to fill the tooth gaps, there wasn't any other complement, couldn't even bother to sprinkle some chopped green onions for color!
As a good chef, Wang, although expressionlessly slurping the noodles, began to complain internally.
Su Ming wasn't really eating, just picking a noodle with chopsticks as a pretense, while his peripheral vision kept an eye on the whole street and Monac's reactions. To be prepared for contingencies, he even kept an eye out on the sky.
But the street was still silent deep into the night, besides the buildings tinted red by lights, nothing special was happening.
The restaurant Monac chose was not far from the coast, theoretically, if the Ghost Ship passed nearby, he should be able to feel it.
As long as he felt it, whether he took the bait or not, Su Ming would be able to catch clues, just like that.
Yet, time passed, the noodle soup started to cool, the people in the restaurant still continued their revelry, the Magic Prince even imitated Japanese dance.
"Master, no movement still?" Wang lowered his voice, leaning closer to Su Ming.
Su Ming rubbed his chin, simply put down the chopsticks and pushed the somewhat dilapidated lacquer bowl farther away: "It looks like there's another limiting condition—the person being tempted has to be on water. At that time, Captain America was taken on the water, and Gin and I also saw that strange ship on the water, so everything is related to water."
"Sea water or river water? Does snow or rain count?" Wang asked.
Su Ming pursed his lips irritably, wasn't this crossing a river by feeling the stones, who knows: "Are the noodles enough? I didn't touch mine, want it?"
Wang shook his head, looking at Su Ming's bowl of already soaked noodles: "No thanks, it's really awful, only soy sauce flavor, if we want to eat we can't go inside and have something good?"
"You must control the meal size, watch your diet, get moving, or you'll regret later on." Su Ming's gaze became distant.
"??? "
Wang looked bewildered, what does this mean? It sounds like he's going to get diabetes? Can the Eye of Agamotto even see this?
Su Ming didn't care about Wang's confusion, he was thinking about how to make Monac go to the sea now.
"Boss, where's the most luxurious cruise near Roppongi? The kind that even while docked accepts guests to stay?"
Su Ming pulled out a US dollar from his belt, buying intelligence from the small noodle stall owner. The boss looked like a bitter man, the wrinkles on his face could kill flies, showing deep-seated resentment.
Usually not only bow to cook noodles, but also nod, bow with a heavily bent back.
"A ship docked at the shore still allowing accommodation, well, there's none, this guest, why not stay at an inn?"
The noodle stall owner found these two people strange, they looked Eastern but kept speaking incomprehensible gibberish, now the older one spoke Japanese like with a Kyoto accent.
But for the sake of the US dollar, he certainly didn't withhold any information.
Su Ming tapped on the makeshift counter, not sure where he found a damaged door board to make the counter and two stools: "I'm saying that guest is an American, he likes staying on the boat."
The small boss immediately bent lower, as if the star-spangled banner of America flew before him.
"Ah, if it's an American gentleman, naturally it's different, he just needs to go to the seaside, look at that ship, walk on board and stay, everyone will welcome."
"Hmm, this answer is okay." Su Ming gave the tip to the boss, stood up and led Wang out of the stall.
Lifting the worn cloth covering the shack, the cold wind blew on his face once again, in such a short period time, some Panpans appeared on the street, they were late, looking enviously at those sisters who had hooked up with foreigners in the restaurant.
Su Ming beckoned to them, some saw but ignored him directly upon seeing his Asian appearance, as if seeing a loser, filled with disdain and prejudice.
Japanese men are total losers, they have standards, if they want to rely, they rely on Western gentlemen.
Su Ming sighed, pulled out another small stack of dollars from his arms, waving them twice in the air.
This time it worked.
"Gentleman, do you want company?" Instantly women surrounded, changed their attitude to obediently, as if the one rolling their eyes earlier wasn't her.
"I don't want to, but my dollars do." Su Ming rubbed the bills with his thumb, seeing their eyes turn greener before speaking: "See that foreigner in the restaurant? Take him to the seaside, find a big ship, let him stay, this money is yours."
"Really?" someone asked, but they were too short to be seen in the crowd.
"I'll pay ten US Dollars as a deposit for each of you, and you can ask that foreigner for the other ten US Dollars after the fact." Su Ming generously began distributing money, assuming the hypothesis would later be proven to see if this guess was correct.
If the kidnapper's ability is indeed related to water, then the scope of investigation is greatly narrowed, and the principle is likely similar to a mirage or some sort of trick played through various liquids.
Watching the women take the money and strut into the restaurant looking for Monac, Su Ming once again vanished into the darkness.
...............
"Come on, Mister~~~" the women called like cats, laughing playfully as if they had forgotten the harshness of reality.
"Heh heh, I'm coming." Monac at this moment looked nothing like a gentleman, practically indistinguishable from a hooligan.
There were many similar conversations, but the situation was not quite as inappropriate for children.
In fact, this was a game anyone could play; after being plied with quite a bit of alcohol, Monac was smoothly led to the docks by the women, who, as local bullies, knew where the big ships were and would certainly bring him here for money.
But whether it was the alcohol or something else, Monac suddenly wanted to play hide and seek; therefore, on the cold winter night, a dozen or so people began playing beside the dock.
A flowery handkerchief covered the Magic Prince's eyes, and he listened to the sounds to catch the women running around him.
From time to time, a girl would touch him and then leap away like a deer, leaving behind crisp laughter that echoed far across the empty nighttime docks.
No one wasn't curious about what was happening; even patrolmen had come by, but upon hearing it was Americans, they promptly turned and left.
In the current Japan, Americans could kill with impunity, and they definitely wouldn't risk trouble over such trivial matters.
"Degenerate, so degenerate."
Su Ming and Wang stood on the church rooftop at the port, watching the childish game below, and he couldn't help but sigh.
Monac is such a reserved person, but once he lets loose, he's even crazier than Howard.
But don't play hide and seek at the docks; in the dead of night, quickly get on the ship and verify whether Su Ming's guess was right!
Wang also watched expressionlessly, but unlike Batman, who could hide his emotions well, his gaze seemed to faintly reveal a trace of... envy?
Well, life at Kama Taiji is too plain. Although there are female students, the entire place is just so small—a manor, really.
Look up and down, a rabbit doesn't eat the grass near its burrow.
These adolescent boys have hardly seen such a scene, wanting to replace Monac is also a normal reaction.
"Master, are we going to watch hide and seek all night? Are they going to play Eagle Catches Chicks or Throwing Handkerchief next?"
Su Ming sighed, folding his arms and hiding behind the rooftop cross: "Who can say for sure? But they're just ten or so steps away from the ship, let's wait and see."
"Oh! He caught someone! Look, Master, they're heading onto the ship."
"I see, and... it is indeed as I suspected, the Ghost Ship can only sense superpower users present on the water surface, huh? Heh...."
Su Ming sneered coldly, as he saw a huge black shadow far beneath the water, approaching the dock in the gloomy waters of the night.
It certainly wasn't a whale; it was much larger than a whale, and this was not a beach where they come to beach themselves, so the situation was quite clear.
The Ghost Ship had appeared.
"Prepare, Wang, once it surfaces, open the teleportation gate, and we'll board," Su Ming instructed again.
"I understand, Master." Wang became serious.
He was different from other students from Kama Taiji, even from his father. He used the Double Pendant Ring.
With a slow motion of his left hand and right hand, he could open two different teleportation gates simultaneously, which, most of the time, was a somewhat useless trick.
Like a young idol introducing herself by saying her special skill is making funny faces, it's probably something along those lines.
But the Double Pendant Ring had its advantages; Su Ming had some ideas, though there would be time to teach them later.
"It's coming... hold steady... go!"
Su Ming watched the enormous black shadow emerge from beneath the water like a monster, appearing out of nowhere in the deep waters of the port, and immediately ordered Wang.
This ship was larger than the Titanic, and theoretically, the water depth in the dock area couldn't possibly accommodate it lurking beneath. So, was it some kind of spatial technology? Or phase technology?
But none of that mattered as long as Deathstroke boarded the ship; these technologies would eventually be his.