The morning breaks humid and overcast as the lifeboat continues heaving in steady swells. Pi Patel is stunned to find the zebra still alive despite a massive, exposed wound, and he stays curled near the prow, too weak and frightened to balance himself safely.

The hyena remains tense and restless, bloated from eating, while Orange Juice is also agitated, baring her teeth. By noon the zebra finally dies, becoming glassy-eyed and unresponsive even as the hyena continues to nip at it.

In the afternoon, the rising tension erupts into violence when the hyena charges Orange Juice. Pi immediately assumes Orange Juice will be killed, but Orange Juice shocks him by striking the hyena hard enough to knock its head against a bench, forcing it to retreat and briefly giving Pi hope and admiration for her hidden ferocity.

That advantage collapses when the hyena attacks again with practiced killing intent. Orange Juice’s frightened, uncoordinated defence fails; the hyena seizes her throat and drags her down into the bottom of the lifeboat, where Pi can hear the struggle but cannot see it.

Expecting to be next, Pi staggers forward to confront the hyena and sees Orange Juice’s body beside the zebra, her head severed. Before Pi can act, Pi looks down and discovers Richard Parker’s enormous head beneath the bench; overwhelmed, Pi retreats to the bow and collapses, spending the night delirious and fixated on the reality of the tiger.