One day later.
"Bzz— kzzzt—"
Along with the distinctive current noise of an old loudspeaker, the broadcast in every cabin aboard the Capitano sounded at the same time.
"Hi! Good morning, everyone! I am your most beloved, most greatest captain—Giovanni, currently playing Lord Spavento!"
The Captain's voice, full of dramatic tension and flamboyant intonation, swept across the deck and lower cabins like a piercing sea wind.
"Please come up to the deck and enjoy the beautiful view outside! Now, let me grandly introduce our current position—we've already sailed out of the coastal waters, and we're presently navigating among an archipelago in an unknown sea area northwest of Port Alexandra! Look at those scattered green islets—don't they look exactly like emeralds spilled across blue silk?"
In the broadcast, Giovanni cleared his throat and continued announcing in that excited tone: "To celebrate our escape from the city's gloom, the great and benevolent captain has decided to grant everyone a full thirty minutes of shore leave! You can go pick up seashells on the beach, or breathe some fresh air that doesn't smell like coal smoke. After free time ends, please return to the deck immediately for assembly, because then I will announce the new exploration objective of our great voyage! With that, I wish you all a wonderful time! Ciao~"
The broadcast cut off.
In a lounge on the lower deck, Miguel was sitting in a hammock, wiping down his greatsword. Hearing the broadcast, he lifted his head in surprise and looked toward Faith, who was seated at the desk flipping through an ancient sea chart.
"An archipelago? This fast?" Miguel frowned and walked to the porthole to look outside. Sure enough, beyond the glass was no longer an endless sea, but instead reefs and islands covered in tropical vegetation. "I remember at normal sailing speed, from Port Alexandra to these northwest islands should take at least a week. We only left yesterday."
"There's nothing to be surprised about, Miguel." Faith didn't even raise his head. His long fingers gently turned a yellowed page of parchment, brushing it off in a flat tone. "After all, we're riding the 'Abyss Conveyor Belt.' As one of the so-called 'White Crow World' leftovers, this ocean current hidden beneath the deep sea has a flow speed and rules that completely exceed common sense. Its power really can't be underestimated. Crossing a week's worth of nautical miles in a day is basically standard operation."
Miguel let out an "oh" like he half understood, and was about to sheath his sword and go up to the deck for some air.
Just then, the cabin broadcast sounded again.
But this time, it wasn't Giovanni's frivolous voice. It was Tin Man's flat, metallic, cold electronic tone.
"Bzz— broadcast insertion. Crewman Miguel, crewman Faith, please be advised."
Tin Man's voice echoed through the cramped cabin.
"Direct instruction received from Captain Giovanni. The two of you are to proceed immediately to the eastern shore of Island No. 2. The Captain will be holding a small ceremony there and requires the attendance of both of you. Repeat: proceed immediately to the eastern shore of Island No. 2. End of broadcast."
Miguel and Faith exchanged a look. Both saw a trace of confusion in the other's eyes.
"A ceremony?" Miguel scratched his head. "What is that guy up to now? Didn't he just say shore leave?"
"Who knows." Faith closed the sea chart, stood up, and smoothed the wrinkles in his clothes. "But since the Captain named us directly, we'd better go take a look. After all, 'ceremonies' on this ship usually come with some unexpected surprises… or scares."
The two went up to the deck, lowered a shallow-draft wooden dinghy, and rowed toward Island No. 2 as Tin Man had indicated.
The moment they stepped onto the beach carpeted with fine white sand, they heard a rising and falling aria.
"Ah! Boundless azure! You are the cradle that embraces all, and the grave that devours all—"
Giovanni, wearing that flashy red coat and a wide pirate hat, stood with arms spread in an extremely exaggerated stage pose, facing the surging sea and loudly reciting lines stolen from some third-rate tragedy. The sea wind snapped his coat hem; he looked like a red-bellied frigatebird in the middle of courtship.
"What is he even doing?" Miguel's mouth twitched.
Hearing footsteps, Giovanni stopped his performance. He turned around, saw them, and immediately put on a radiant smile, enthusiastically waving at them.
"Hi! My dear assault captain, and our learned strategist! You're here at exactly the right time!" Giovanni strode over with that flamboyant gait.
He walked up to Miguel, suddenly glanced downward, and then, as naturally as breathing, pointed to a dull-gray round-bellied clay jar sealed with mud at his feet.
"Miguel, my good brother." Giovanni patted Miguel's shoulder, speaking with the familiar coaxing tone of someone humoring a child. "You see, this splendid outfit of mine really isn't convenient for carrying heavy things. Could I trouble you to display your knightly spirit and take that clay jar by my feet? We're going to the other side of the island."
Miguel glanced at the ordinary-looking jar and didn't think much of it. He snorted. "You're just lazy. Fine, fine. I really can't do anything about you."
Without hesitation, he bent down and lifted the jar with one hand. It was unexpectedly heavy, like it held most of a jar of sand and dirt.
Led by Giovanni, the three crossed a dense coconut grove and arrived at the other side of the island.
Here was a steep cliff. Black volcanic rock jutted up like fangs pointing at the sky. Below the cliff was bottomless deep-azure seawater. Waves slammed violently against the rock wall, whipping up piles of white foam and a deafening roar.
Giovanni stood at the edge of the cliff and dropped the playful grin from his face. His expression turned solemn—rarely so.
From an inner pocket of his coat, he pulled out a neatly folded sheet of paper, cleared his throat, and began to loudly recite a eulogy to the roaring sea below.
"Dust to dust, earth to earth. A mad soul will eventually cast off the shackles of flesh and return to that unnamable abyss…"
Giovanni's recitation sounded somewhat ethereal in the wind. After he finished, he tore the paper into pieces and let the sea wind scatter them into the air.
Then he turned and looked at Miguel, who was still holding the jar with a baffled expression.
"Alright, Miguel." Giovanni pointed down toward the sea. "Now open that jar and scatter everything inside into the ocean."
Miguel frowned. He didn't understand the custom, but he did as told. He slapped off the mud seal, walked to the cliff edge, and tilted the mouth downward.
A stream of gray-white powder, mixed with small clumps like gravel, poured out of the jar. The wind suddenly swept in, blasting the powder into the air. Most of it fell into the rolling deep sea, but a small portion drifted onto Miguel's sleeve.
"Cough, cough…" Miguel waved away the dust and turned to Giovanni. "Hey, what is this supposed to be? What's in that jar? It smells like burnt wood."
Faith pushed up his glasses, his eyes showing curiosity.
Watching the powder vanish into the waves, Giovanni let out a soft sigh.
"This is something Ms. Mary quietly asked me to do before we left." Giovanni braced both hands on the cliff railing, gazing into the distance with a deep look. "She said that when Victor—that old lunatic—was young, he once half-joked to her: if his life ever came to an end one day, don't bury him in Port Alexandra's cemetery that reeks of machine oil. He hoped his body could be buried in the eternal palace of the legendary Atlantis."
"I think we probably won't find the real Atlantis in our lifetime." Giovanni shrugged. "But since the waters beneath this sea area connect to the Abyss Conveyor Belt, and these currents can reach any corner of the world… I figured that throwing his remains down from here, riding the power of the current, would likely let him fulfill his dream of wandering the seabed."
Miguel froze. "Victor? That mad doctor who made Alice and the rampaging robots? President Mary asked you to throw his remains away?"
"No, no, no. Correction."
Giovanni suddenly turned, his expression becoming extremely punchable. He flashed Miguel a grin dripping with smugness.
"By the way, my dear assault captain… what you just personally scattered wasn't some 'remains.'"
He pointed at the now-empty clay jar in Miguel's hands.
"That was that old guy's ashes."
"..."
The air on the cliff solidified instantly. Only the sound of waves battering stone echoed around them.
Miguel slowly lowered his head, looked at the empty jar, then looked at that tiny bit of gray-white powder stuck to his sleeve.
The next second—
Miguel's face turned green with a whoosh.
"Ghk—!!"
Like he'd been electrocuted, he flung the clay jar into the sea, then went berserk, slapping his sleeve madly. He even rushed to a shallow pool of seawater nearby and scrubbed his hands frantically, washing and washing while making broken, collapsing retching sounds.
"Giovanni! You bastard! Freak! Psycho!!!" Miguel's furious roar tore through the sky. "You made me carry a dead man's ashes! And it got on me! I'm going to kill you!!!"
"Hahahahaha!" Giovanni clutched his stomach, laughing so hard he doubled over. He nimbly dodged a rock Miguel hurled at him. "Aiya, don't be so stingy! The dead are to be respected—seeing him off is a virtuous deed that builds merit! You should feel honored!"
Faith watched the scene and shook his head helplessly.
"So that's how it is." Faith looked at the raging sea and murmured, "Burying the past in the deep sea is also a kind of farewell."
…
The afternoon sunlight grew a bit scorching.
The thirty minutes of shore leave ended right on schedule. On the broad deck of the Capitano, all crew members had assembled.
Frank still had his cigarette in his mouth and leaned against the mainmast. Renass was checking the capstan for the rigging. Tin Man stood in the shade, electronic eyes flickering red. And Ollie—now a plump white-furred bird—stood arrogantly on Giovanni's shoulder. Even Miguel, who had just washed his hands eight times, and the still-neat Faith, stood in the front row.
Giovanni put away all his teasing and flamboyance. He had changed into a crisp pirate captain's formal uniform, a splendid rapier at his waist. When he stepped to the center of the deck, that pressure of a superior and the compelling charisma of a leader poured out without reservation.
He swept his gaze over his crew, his eyes sharp as an eagle's.
"Good afternoon, everyone."
Giovanni's voice was steady and thunderous, even overpowering the sea's roar.
"Since everyone is here, I won't keep you in suspense. First, I announce the first official destination of our great voyage—"
He pulled an ancient sea chart from his coat and snapped it open.
"We will cut through the archipelago's fog and head for the legendary city of the giant tree—[Annual Ring City]!"
At the name, Frank's eyes narrowed slightly, while Renass let out a whistle.
"We're going there to retrieve a special gem. Or, more accurately, to recover a core component." Giovanni tilted his head and glanced at Ollie on his shoulder. "We're going to reclaim a part Ollie has lost, to assemble a blade that can cut through every obstacle on this sea—an ultimate weapon that can save this damned world!"
"Chirp!" Ollie puffed out its chest in cooperation.
Giovanni folded the chart away, clasped his hands behind his back, and began pacing on the deck.
"Just as always, as your captain, I will do my best during this voyage to find ways for you to make money—treasures buried in the deep sea or hidden in ruins. That's a pirate's duty, right?"
He smiled, but there was little warmth in it.
"But today, at the moment we sail toward the unknown, as the captain of this ship, I believe it's necessary for you to understand—why we are risking our lives on this adventure."
The atmosphere on deck became extremely quiet. Everyone listened with full attention.
"Yes. We won't only cross storm-tossed oceans—our footprints will also step onto different lands across eight continents… We will meet monsters, storms, armies, and even gods."
Giovanni stopped, his gaze sweeping over Miguel's resolute face, over Faith's probing eyes.
"And the meaning of this—far surpasses anything money, honor, or even eternal fame could ever give you!"
"We are pirates."
Giovanni suddenly drew the sword at his waist and pointed it at the sky. The blade flashed with blinding light in the sun.
"And the belief of pirates, since ancient times, has only ever been one thing—'freedom'!"
His voice rose sharply, carrying suppressed anger and tragic solemnity.
"But unfortunately, everyone, look around you. The days of freedom are growing fewer and fewer."
"Why?"
Giovanni lowered his sword and stared coldly at them all.
"Because an invisible rope has long since been looped around every one of our necks! And it tightens upward every moment, day and night!"
He made a choking gesture around his throat.
"This invisible rope has already hanged many people. It hanged the citizens of Port Alexandra's hope for the future. It hanged countless sailors who make their living on the sea. It is even strangling, bit by bit, the very space this world has left to breathe!"
"And the beginning of all this…"
Giovanni's voice sank, like he was telling an ancient and terrifying ghost story.
"Comes from a legend passed around in the shadows."
"'At midnight, the foreign emperor came ashore.'"
The moment those words fell, Tin Man's electronic eyes flickered sharply, and Frank's expression also became exceptionally grave.
"This isn't just a bedtime story, everyone. These were bloody events your ancestors truly lived through." Flames burned in Giovanni's gaze. "The emperor brought chains, brought the lie of order, brought the blockade of this world."
He drew a deep breath, sheathed his sword, and walked to the figurehead at the bow, turning back to face everyone.
"I want you to understand that you standing here are not only the crew of the Capitano—"
Giovanni yanked open the lining of his coat, revealing on his chest a dark-gold emblem like burning steam interwoven with gears.
"You are also members of La Compagnia del Vapore Velato (the Hidden Veil Steam Troupe / Company)!"
"You may have heard that wall's name in taverns, or from drunken ramblings of old sailors."
Giovanni's voice grew extremely severe, each word like a hammer striking the deck.
"The Wall of Angramainu!"
"Thirty years ago, in a single night, it rose from the ground and completely encircled the entire continent of Asiasia, turning that land into a hell on earth! A death wall no one can cross! And now that wall is spreading—its shadow is covering us all!"
Giovanni threw his arms wide as if to embrace the entire sky. In his eyes burned a light both mad and utterly lucid.
"So our goal isn't to become saints who save the world! Saints can't save a world that's already rotten to the core!"
He laughed wildly, his laughter filled with a pirate's defiance and grand, fearless spirit.
"What we're going to do is steal it back! To seize this world that's been sealed away and taken from us—seize it back from that dogshit emperor!"
"Everyone!"
Giovanni stood high at the bow, facing the fierce sea wind, and unleashed a deafening roar to his crew.
"To plunder a world! As pirates, is there any goal more thrilling than that?!!"
"ROAR!!!"
A pirate's war song, in that moment, truly rang across the sky above the abyss.