Multiverse: Deathstroke

Chapter 72: Ch.71 Cheverie Port

"Barry, build a bonfire here, big enough to roast a whole cow."

Su Ming tossed his lighter and cigarettes aside, shedding his disguise to reveal the black and yellow armor underneath.

Barry glanced at the nearby cross-shaped gravestone. Although slightly damaged, it was still relatively clean.

"Uh... are we really going to have a barbecue in front of someone's grave?"

"Of course, it's for the sake of this world."

Su Ming took out a small bat-shaped oxygen bottle, lifted his helmet, and put it in his mouth. With the helmet back on, he answered in a muffled voice.

"Sigh, I don't think I'll ever be able to look at our world's Aquaman the same way again."

Despite his words, Barry's actions were honest and straightforward. In an instant, he had gathered a huge pile of firewood, stacked it into a massive bonfire, and somehow found gasoline to pour over it.

Seeing Barry obediently following orders, Su Ming couldn't help but marvel at how effective the justification of a righteous cause was. It could even make superheroes follow orders without question.

Even if their actions went against Barry's moral compass, at least he wasn't resisting too much. Bringing up the excuse of the world's safety always worked like a charm.

While Barry was busy preparing, Su Ming walked over to the pier and dived into the water.

Cheverie Port wasn't a major harbor. In fact, it barely had a few boats. The town of Cheverie was on the other side of the cliff, where the townspeople had a docking area. This place was just a sheltered bay, a haven for boats during hurricanes. Its geographic location was excellent, but it wasn't used much otherwise.

It was his first time diving in this suit, especially in the lead-heavy armor. He sank to the bottom almost instantly.

The time was only early morning, and the weather here was much better than in Gotham, but the seabed was still pitch-black. Through his red-tinted goggles, everything appeared in various shades of red.

There were some old fishing nets, a few dilapidated sunken boats, and some coral and seaweed swaying gently in the underwater currents.

His target was fish, not just any fish, but big fish.

Aquaman could communicate with marine creatures and had a particular fondness for seahorses, which he used as mounts. Besides that, dolphins and sharks were his friends, as their brains were large and intelligent enough to play with him.

Strictly speaking, Maine was more known for its swamps and alligators, but alligators weren't Aquaman's friends. Perhaps it was because alligators were descended from lizards, and thus Aquaman couldn't communicate with them.

However, the coastlines here did have sharks, and the ones circling nearby were the Sea Queen's friends. Preferring to befriend fish rather than humans, the Sea Queen had indeed led a dark childhood.

But that's Earth -11 for you. The DC world was already dark, and this dark multiverse was even darker.

As he pondered this, he swiftly grabbed a fish swimming by, pulled out a knife, and made a shallow cut.

The wound wasn't deep, but it was enough to make it bleed and flee. Repeating this process, in no time, he had wounded dozens of various fish.

He needed a few sharks. Only by injuring the Sea Queen's friends could he catch her attention.

In a place like Cheverie Port, she wouldn't bring her army because it symbolized her human half. The Sea Queen was always wary of this, just as Aquaman in the Prime Earth was.

Atlantis folk harbored great hatred for surface dwellers. In the early years of the Sea Queen's reign, many felt she was unfit to rule because of her impure bloodline. Her rule was stabilized under her iron fist, but she wouldn't want anyone to see her disgraceful past.

That's why Su Ming chose Cheverie Port, not only because it was her hometown with her father's grave but also because it was the only place where she wouldn't bring her army.

Sharks could smell blood from 200 kilometers away and would swarm to feed. Su Ming's plan was to lure them with the blood of numerous fish.

Bruce's bat-shaped oxygen canister could last a long time. He had plenty of time to wait, leisurely killing fish while observing the dull underwater scenery. Time passed quickly.

About ten minutes later, he noticed large, dark shapes with arrow-shaped tails swimming from a distance.

"They're here."

He put away his knife and replaced it with a longsword, now aiming for one-hit kills.

After all, sharks were still just fish with limited intelligence. With his black-and-yellow Deathstroke armor, its orange hue served as a warning color to sharks. They wouldn't necessarily avoid it, but they wouldn't attack outright either.

They swam around with their mouths open, filled with rows upon rows of sharp teeth, feeding on the wounded fish. The water gradually turned murky.

"These sharks are quite fat. If the Japanese saw them, they'd probably drool."

Japan held 40% of the world's deep-sea fishing yield, consuming everything from whales, dolphins, to sharks.

He mused on this while swiftly taking action.

When one shark swam close by, he pushed off the seabed with a powerful kick, propelling himself like a torpedo. The strength of a modified human was evident as he tightly grasped the shark's head and drove his sword down hard from the top.

The shark struggled a few times and then went limp.

He repeated this method on another shark, then dragged both by their tails, walking on the seabed back to shore. Cold seawater dripped from his armor, and the sharks' bright red blood stained the beach pebbles.

He dragged the two sharks up to the bonfire atop the hill, where Barry was adding more wood to the fire.

"Alright, find a place to hide. When the Sea Queen arrives, use the same misdirection tactics as before."

Su Ming pointed to the nearby lighthouse, indicating for Barry to act accordingly.

Barry glanced at the two huge sharks, each longer than his height, their rows of teeth resembling saws, their dark, glistening skin reflecting the light.

"Hmm, since the fish are already dead, let's make sure they're well-cooked later."

Su Ming nodded reluctantly in agreement, knowing that making shark taste good was almost impossible. He once again donned his Talon disguise and chopped down two small trees, skewering the sharks like kebabs and planting them upright next to the bonfire near the grave.

Whether such a massive shark could be properly cooked this way was uncertain, but Westerners loved their medium-rare steaks, so fish steaks should be similar, right?

He knew that, at this moment, countless eyes in the water were watching him. These fish would soon go and report to the Sea Queen.

Looking around, this spot on the cliff offered a panoramic view. The breeze was gentle, creating a genuine camping atmosphere. He even went to the Sea Queen's old home, grabbed a chair, and took a tabletop to sit beside the bonfire.

The tabletop was from a regular dining table, which he used as a large fan to direct the smoke towards the sea.

The sharks' fat dripped onto the fire, crackling and sizzling. The flames licked at the sharks' bodies, and a strange aroma began to fill the air.

Su Ming fanned the flames with one hand while adjusting the cooking angle with the other, but his eyes, hidden beneath the owl mask, were always fixed on the vast ocean waves.