26. Transportation Is the Great Enemy~

Sailing the open sea is no easy task.

It was particularly grueling for Tai and Zeromaru, who were traveling on a wooden raft. The constant, rising waves made them sway and pitch, proving to be an incredibly uncomfortable experience. Tai managed well enough—though feeling somewhat unwell, he could endure it—but what he didn't expect was that Zeromaru was the type to get seasick the moment he stepped onto a boat.

"Ugh, blegh!"

Zeromaru lay miserably against the edge of the raft, wishing he could empty his entire stomach. In reality, however, nothing but bile came up. It was a sad state of affairs. The food they had eaten earlier had long since been digested during the battle against Devimon. After the fight, they had been in such a rush to build their raft and set sail that they hadn't had time to eat anything since.

They did have supplies given to them by the folks on File Island—fruits with various patterns on their skins that, despite their appearance, would never grant the power of a Devil Fruit; brown rice from the village of Pagumon; and fried eggs from the base of Infinity Mountain—but Zeromaru was clearly in no state to eat.

Having spent so much time together, Tai felt a pang of annoyance at himself for never realizing that Zeromaru suffered from seasickness.

"Zero, why didn't you tell me sooner that this was such a big deal?"

"Ugh... I've never been on a boat before!"

Exhausted, Zeromaru dragged himself bit by bit off the raft. Seeing this, Tai asked, "Going into the water? Well, you should feel a bit better staying in the water." He then suddenly recalled, "Come to think of it, I've never actually seen you swim before."

"Splash!" Zeromaru went into the water.

As soon as he submerged, the sea suddenly became calm, and the raft stopped rocking. Tai sighed quietly to himself, "How peaceful."

Just then, a cry for help drifted over:

"Help! Help me, Tai!"

"Blurp, blub-blub-blub!"

Zeromaru poked his head out of the water. His eyes were streaming with tears, a crab was hanging from his mouth, and his head kept dipping below the surface before he struggled to pull himself back up. Watching Zeromaru flailing and calling for help like a drowning dog, Tai fell silent.

He had a feeling this voyage was going to be difficult. He gripped his oars and paddled toward Zeromaru. As he watched the portion of Zeromaru visible above the water growing smaller and smaller, Tai shouted:

"Zero! What are you doing, Zero!"

At that moment, a shock like an electric current surged through Zeromaru’s body. *Oh no... cramp... I’ve got a cramp.*

Zeromaru gave Tai a smile that looked utterly burnt out. "It seems there isn't a ship big enough for me on the route to the new continent, Tai..."

As the surface of the sea stopped bubbling, Zeromaru gave a thumbs-up and disappeared entirely into the ocean.

"Ze—ro—!"

Tai dove in with a splash. The goggles he always wore on his forehead finally served their purpose. Underwater, seeing Zeromaru sinking with an expression of serene acceptance, Tai swam toward him without a second thought. With a physical constitution now comparable to that of a Mature-stage Digimon, it only took a few strokes for Tai to reach his partner.

Just as he reached out to pull him up, a dark shadow rose from the deep.

Tai initially thought it was just a large fish, or at worst, a Seadramon or a similar Digimon. Though he was at a disadvantage underwater, it posed no threat to him. But as the shadow loomed closer and he saw the true scale of the creature, Tai’s expression shifted violently, and cold sweat began to pour down his face.

The shadow was a whale, at least several dozen meters long!

It was a Whamon—a Mature-stage Digimon.

This was likely what they called megalophobia. Tai had defeated plenty of Digimon stronger than a Whamon, but seeing that massive form in the deep sea still made his scalp tingle.

Whamon opened its mouth, and with a suction force like a vacuum cleaner, it swallowed the surrounding seawater along with Tai and Zeromaru.

Inside Whamon, the walls were like red, fleshy pipes. Tai and Zeromaru drifted forward with the current. Seeing Zeromaru surface and begin coughing up the water he had inhaled, Tai felt relieved, though he silently added "learning to swim" to Zeromaru’s list of special training.

As for how to get out of Whamon, Tai wasn't too worried. If there was an entrance, there had to be an exit. If all else failed... well, Digimon had to excrete waste eventually.

Following the flow of water, Tai drifted as if on a river into a bright, spacious chamber.

"Is the inside of a Whamon really structured like this?" He looked around at the walls, which shone with incandescent light like the Tokyo Dome; there were even handrails for people to hold onto. "Or is every Digimon like this inside?"

Just then, Tai spotted a rather unsightly Black Gear on the ceiling of the chamber. He understood everything in an instant.

"That Devimon! He doesn't even stop after he's dead!"

Noticing a foothold on the edge of the space that hadn't been eroded by seawater, Tai grabbed Zeromaru and swam over. The moment his feet touched the ground, Zeromaru was suddenly full of energy, raising his arms high above his head. "Master Zeromaru is back! Hahahaha!"

Before he could gloat for long, Tai noticed a ring of red lights suddenly flickering in the gaps of the ceiling, followed by a viscous, brownish liquid flowing down.

The liquid hit the ground, emitting a plume of acrid smoke.

Tai remarked, "That’s stomach acid."

"It seems the area we're in is Whamon’s stomach."

Zeromaru scratched his head. "Stomach?"

"It’s the place where it turns what it eats into poop."

Zeromaru looked around, stunned. "Just how big of a pile would that be?"

"Anyway, let’s take out that Black Gear first," Tai said, pointing to the ceiling.

"Zero."

Zeromaru immediately responded, "V-Breath Arrow!"

The Black Gear attached to the ceiling was about 20 meters away, well within Zeromaru's range. As the gear shattered, a brilliant white light flashed within Whamon, and a suction force from above yanked Tai and Zeromaru upward, ejecting them along with a stream of water out through Whamon’s blowhole.

Whamon’s massive body had surfaced, and Tai and Zeromaru landed right on its back.

"I am truly sorry for the trouble I caused you," a voice filled with regret came from beneath them.

"Don't worry about it, don't worry about it." Tai, already used to such things, patted Whamon on the head.

They were almost at the Server Continent. Running into a Digimon that had been attacking people because of a Black Gear at the very last moment—in a way, it felt like things had come full circle.

Whamon asked, "I saw you sitting on a wooden raft earlier; you must be heading somewhere."

"If you don't mind, please let me carry you. Consider it my penance."

Tai and Zeromaru exchanged a look. "Of course we don't mind! If anything, it's a huge help."

With Whamon’s assistance, their speed increased nearly tenfold. Tai lay on Whamon’s back, soaking in the sun and the sea breeze, feeling incredibly content. "This is what sailing is supposed to feel like."

With the crashing waves, Whamon leaped, carving a perfect arc through the air before crashing back into the water with a massive splash.

"Woooo-hooo!"

Like a thrilling rollercoaster, Zeromaru shouted in excitement.

Watching the energetic Zeromaru, Tai asked, "Why aren't you seasick anymore?"

Whamon’s movements were much more intense than those of the raft.

To his surprise, Zeromaru looked at Tai with disbelief. "That’s a rude thing to say! Whamon is our friend, it’s not a boat."

"What kind of logic is that?" Tai was baffled. Because it wasn't a boat, he wouldn't get sick?