“I suppose it was successful?” Zero leaned on the mast and raised an eyebrow, awaiting a response from his crewmate.
“It was.” Apollo nodded while feeling the caress of the cold wind on his face. “You told him that Sea King’s subordinates were the culprits?”
“Yes.” Zero nodded. “That villager told me how you guys looked, and he would’ve known immediately if I translated correctly, so I impulsively blamed the Sea King.”
“That’s good.” Apollo said with a smile. “Sea King’s territory is dangerous, and even Mars wouldn’t be crazy enough to go there.”
Zero nodded and then turned to Ambrose, looking curious. “You have the heart in your inventory?”
“Yeah…” Ambrose rubbed his neck with an uncomfortable expression. It had bruise marks. “I think my inventory is not perfectly safe, either. Somehow, Mars can see something but cannot touch it.”
“You have to get rid of the heart as soon as possible.” Apollo said with crossed arms.
Ambrose nodded and wondered with a frown. ‘Before, he didn’t act like this when he saw me. What changed? It happened after the encounter with that Bonney pirate.
‘Hmm, there were the treasures I put inside my inventory, but there was also that Sky Fall item. It had an eye inside, so could it be that Mars can sense the fate of living things?’
Ambrose rubbed his chin and planned to check out the Sky Fall closer when he returned to his cabin.
He then looked up at the night sky and saw the crimson crescent moon illuminating the vast expanse of stars.
‘It’s late, so I suppose I should leave now.’ He then stood up and said, “I am off to sleep. Good night.”
“Good night,” Apollo replied as he continued to gaze at the celestial beauty above.
After returning to his cabin, he sat down on the bed and opened his inventory, then brought out the pearl with a swimming eye inside.
“Hmm…” Ambrose turned it around but couldn’t find anything special about it.
As he was about to toss it back into his inventory, he happened to share a glance with the eye, and immediately, his body froze.
The eye seemed to be staring right through him with an intense, haunting gaze.
“That’s strange…” Ambrose shook his head, and as he was about to put it back in inventory, the eye suddenly shook left and right as if it were mimicking the shake of the head!
“The hell!” Ambrose flinched and almost dropped it to the ground, but managed to catch it just in time.
As he put the pearl on the desk, he stepped back and looked at the eye that seemed to follow his every move.
“This is so creepy…” Ambrose gulped and said, “If you can understand me, shake your head; uh, I mean, shake your eye?”
The eye remained still for a moment before slowly shaking left and right.
“What the fuck?” Ambrose covered his mouth and rummaged through the drawer. He found parchment paper and an ink pen.
There were also a small jar of black ink sitting beside the paper.
After putting all the required items on the desk, near the pearl with a swimming eye, he said:
“I’ll say letters, and you’ll shake your eye if it belongs to the word you want to say. Do you understand? Shake if yes.”
The eye shook left and right, indicating that it understood clearly.
Ambrose nodded and began slowly saying letters. “A… B…”
As soon as he reached the second letter in the alphabet, the eye suddenly shook left and right.
Ambrose nodded and wrote “B” on the parchment paper.
After that, he continued.
“A… B… C… D… E… F… G… H… I… J… K… L… M… N… O…”
The eye shook.
Ambrose wrote another letter, now spelling “Bo.”
He then continued.
“A… B… C… D… E… F… G… H… I… J… K… L… M… N…”
The eye shook.
“Bon…” Ambrose whispered and nodded.
“A… B… C… D… E… F… G… H… I… J… K… L… M… N…”
The eye shook.
“Bonn…” Ambrose frowned, turned to the eye, and asked. “Do you want to write Bonney?”
The eye shook left and right as confirmation.
“Hmm…” Ambrose sat on the chair and returned to the parchment paper. “What about Bonney. Can you say it?”
The eye shook left and right.
“All right.” Ambrose sighed and began saying the alphabets again. “A… B… C… D… E… F… G… H… I…”
As soon as he reached “I” the eye shook left and right.
Ambrose wrote it down and continued. “A…”
The eye immediately shook left and right.
“Ia?” Ambrose frowned, as it didn’t seem like any words could come from this. “A… B… C… D… E… F… G… H… I… J… K… L… M…”
The eye shook left and right.
“Iam…” Ambrose frowned and then realized. “You mean, I am? Are you saying that you are Bonney?”
The eye shook left and right as confirmation.
“How the hell?” Ambrose leaned on the chair with a deep frown. “You died, I saw your corpse. How is this possible?”
The eye shook left and right as if it meant that this was indeed correct.
“So, you did really die…” Ambrose rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “How can you think properly? You are just an eye, and how can you hear without ears? This is so weird.”
The eye shook left and right as if it agreed that this was indeed weird.
“All right, let’s ask this question. What do you want?” Ambrose moved closer to the desk and began focusing on writing. “A… B…”
The eye shook left and right.
“B…” Ambrose nodded. “A… B… C… D… E… F… G… H… I… J… K… L… M… N… O…”
The eye shook left and right.
“Bo…” Ambrose nodded. “A… B… C… D…”
The eye shook left and right.
“Bod…” Ambrose wrote it down. “A… B… C… D… E… F… G… H… I… J… K… L… M… N… O… P… Q… R… S… T… U… V… W… X… Y…”
The eye shook left and right.
“Body…” Ambrose finished writing and asked. “You want a body?”
The eye shook left and right.
“Do you have a way to acquire a body?”
The eye shook left and right.
“Does that include stealing someone’s body?” Ambrose asked just in case.
The eye didn’t shake.
“You have a spare body lying around somewhere?” Ambrose asked with a twitching eyebrow.
The eye shook left and right.
“This is so weird…” Ambrose whispered, and the eye shook left and right as if it were mocking him.
Rubbing his temples, he then asked. “You need my help?”
The eye shook left and right.
“Why should I help you?” Ambrose asked, but knew this was a question that again needed him to repeat the alphabet. “Sigh, let’s try this again…”
After taking a deep breath, he began saying the alphabet.
This time it was a longer sentence, and it took him about ten minutes to write it entirely.
“You can assist me in killing Mars?” Ambrose frowned and laughed mockingly. “Why would I need to kill my captain? Also, didn’t you die to him?”
The eye didn’t move.
Ambrose sighed and again began saying the alphabet. It was already getting late, and he wished to return to reality to have a warm shower and go to bed.
After another ten minutes, there was another sentence written on parchment paper.
The sentence read, “I know you want to. I also need something from him.”
“The mace?” Ambrose asked as he remembered Mars stealing that from her when she was still alive.
The eye shook left and right as confirmation.
Ambrose leaned on the chair and pondered. ‘Hmm, did she see and hear everything we did, including our planning to betray Mars? She must also be wanting revenge, as she is now nothing but an eye because of him.
‘That mace also seems to be valuable, as it seemed to be able to control the sea, and from what I heard, it actually belongs to the Sea King. She can’t return to him if she doesn’t retrieve the mace first.
‘She seems like a good ally to have, but I somehow have to help her get her body back. How can I do that when I am stuck in here?’
As he turned back to the eye, who was waiting for a response, he said,
“I’ll think about it overnight. I’ll give you my answer tomorrow.” Ambrose then put the Sky Fall back in his inventory and massaged his forehead.
“What a strange day…”