Chapter 117: Promise
“Have you heard of the island floating in the sky?”
“Floating in the sky… You mean ‘Sky Island’!”
“Shh~ Phew~~”
Aoxi whistled lightly.
“Looks like luck is on our side; the first one hit the mark.”
“Continue.”
“Hahaha! Little girl, didn’t your adults tell you that ‘Sky Island’ is a scam?”
Before Fulaihai’er across from her could continue, the onlookers around burst into laughter, as if “Sky Island” was the funniest joke here.
“Hey! Don’t burst a child’s fantasy!”
“You know, when I was her age, I believed Sky Island existed too!”
“Kid, go home and tell your dad and mom that Sky Island doesn’t exist~”
“Pfft~ I can’t take it! I haven’t heard such a hilarious joke in ages!”
……
“If it doesn’t exist, then why are you all so worked up?”
Facing the tavern crowd’s mockery, Aoxi unusually didn’t get angry; instead, she tilted her head and calmly asked back.
“Worked up? Hahaha! We…”
The pirates wanted to retort a few more times, but Aoxi interrupted them directly.
“‘If only Sky Island really existed!’ That’s what your souls are telling me~”
Her golden eyes swept over the crowd, and everyone felt seen through where her gaze landed.
“Resentment, shame, denial, disappointment, and deeply buried anticipation…”
“Just a nonexistent place stirring such complex emotions in you—looks like you’re not as dismissive of that island in the high heavens as you claim~”
Lightly tapping the coin on the table, Aoxi withdrew her gaze and didn’t look at the crowd anymore.
“You, you brat!”
“What do you know!”
As if his thoughts were exposed, a graying pirate suddenly slammed his wine glass on the table and shouted uncontrollably:
“Sky Island just doesn’t exist!”
“Those legends are just made up to fool people!”
“It’s the biggest, most ridiculous joke that even the dumbest fool wouldn’t believe anymore!”
That old pirate’s outburst was sudden, but no one else present was surprised.
In fact, his words were exactly what most people there wanted to hear.
“Alright, alright~ Old person. Whether it’s real or not, won’t we know once I go up and see?”
“Isn’t the pointer in that glass sphere clearly pointing straight up~”
Aoxi pointed upward with her finger, her attitude still casual.
“So tell me everything you know about ‘Sky Island’.”
“You!”
That pirate wanted to argue more, but as if he thought of something, he finally slumped back into his chair.
“What’s the use of telling you? You brat don’t have wings, can’t fly—even if that island exists, you couldn’t get up there.”
“Heh~ Underestimating me, huh?”
“It’s just flying, right? One of my subordinates can do it; he flies really nimbly.”
Seeing the other still hesitating, Aoxi simply picked up the two coins from the table and held them between her fingers.
“Tsk~”
“How about this: I’ll make a promise with you all.”
Zila~
With a flash of golden lightning, the original patterns on the two coins were erased, replaced by a strange two-mouthed dragon head.
Lightning Metallurgy.
All three sisters were progressing at an unimaginable speed.
“If Sky Island really exists and I successfully find it…”
Aoxi looked around, raising the two coins imprinted with the sky dragon image, and said:
“Then I’ll toss one of these coins from the clouds; if you pick it up, won’t you know if Sky Island exists?”
With that, she flicked one coin with her finger, embedding it deeply into the tavern’s central beam.
“Gulp~”
Everyone stared at the silver coin half-buried in the beam and couldn’t help swallowing.
This tavern, usually noisy, was now unprecedentedly silent.
“Tch! Boring!”
After a moment of quiet, someone shoved their chair hard and stormed out, slamming the door.
As if the crashing wooden board could cover something up.
These departing people were almost the oldest pirates on the island now, the first batch whose paths forward were cut off.
On this chaotic small island, they’d seen countless pirates like Aoxi, full of talk about Sky Island and dreams.
And those people either ended up nailed to this town like them or sailed away dejectedly…
Not a single exception.
They too had been passionate, believed, and held expectations once.
But after repeated disappointments, they gave up.
『Sky Island doesn’t exist; it’s just a scam… Yeah, that’s right, just like that.』
……
After these people left, the rest hesitated but ultimately didn’t move.
They all stared fixedly at the coin in Aoxi’s hand, their hearts in extreme conflict.
Sky Island doesn’t exist! It can’t exist! It won’t exist! It shouldn’t exist!!!
It should just be a scam, a joke!
A cruel prank for them, the fooled early arrivals, to mock the latecomers and their former selves!
They were pirates who had lost their dreams.
Setting off confidently from their hometowns, soaring above the sea with longing for it, until they crashed head-on into reality.
That nearly vertical recording pointer seemed to tell them their journey ended here.
Those unwilling to give up could only wallow in the mud day after day like defeated dogs.
The wings on their backs could no longer fly; the feathers had long detached, mixing with dirt and filth.
They wouldn’t believe, didn’t dare believe, and couldn’t believe!
But…
“The island floating in the sky… It must be a pretty fantastical place~”
“What do you think?”
“…”
“I don’t know.”
Fulaihai’er, sitting on the floor by Aoxi, finally spoke but just shook his head.
Who knows who his “I don’t know” was responding to.
“Is that so~”
Aoxi didn’t mind, just waved him off to leave.
“Next.”
“Me, me!”
The skinny man from before hurried to the chair opposite Aoxi and slapped down a thousand Belly.
Though there was Fulaihai’er as a precedent, the 5,000% odds still made this gambling addict decide to bet again.
But after placing his right hand on the table, he added:
“Just to be clear, I don’t know anything about that so-called ‘Sky Island’.”
“No problem. Next.”
Before anyone reacted, the skinny man’s spindly arm was slammed ‘pa’ onto the table; no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn’t budge.
Swiftly defeating two in a row made the others, who were eager to try, hesitate.
And the boss’s voice came timely:
“Little girl, your order of the shop’s signature snacks is ready.”
“Hm? What’s this?”
“This is cherry pie, with complimentary cherry juice.”
The boss limped as he placed the plate on the table; that’s when Aoxi noticed his foot was disabled.
But she just glanced and looked away; on this lawless town, injuries and disabilities were commonplace—Aoxi had seen plenty on her way here.
“Cherry pie…”
Aoxi curiously took a bite.
“Crunch!”
“Ugh~ So gross!”
“And why isn’t the cherry pitted! My teeth almost broke.”
Saying that, Aoxi still crunched the cherry pits like peanuts, swallowing them, then rinsed her mouth with the cherry juice.
“Hm? This cherry juice isn’t bad~”
Aoxi mumbled indistinctly.
“Next…”
