Chapter 91: Restless From Inactivity
Ember’s blade stopped motionless just an inch from Skipgate’s throat.
This wasn’t because he suddenly changed his mind to spare the man kneeling on the ground, but because a slender little hand gripped his blade ridge, preventing the deadly sharp edge from advancing even a fraction.
“What are you doing?”
Ember’s forearm felt a bit sore and swollen because the slash was abruptly halted, so he wanted to move it slightly.
But the blade seemed frozen in space, impossible to budge no matter how hard he tried, so he could only speak up and ask Sister La, the culprit.
“What this man said might be true.”
Sister La seemed not to notice Ember’s small movement, gently shifting her wrist to move his blade away from Skipgate’s neck, and explained.
“What do you mean true?”
While continuing to ask, Ember felt his hands being easily pushed away by the force coming from the other side.
“About the ‘Golden Land’.”
“I found some strange manuscripts in the archive room on the island, about deciphering text, which mentioned some terms about the ‘Golden Land’.”
Sister La let go of her hand, turned her head to look at Skipgate who was still kneeling on the ground somewhat dazed, and asked:
“Can you tell us more details about that navigational log?”
『Ah~ Angel, the angel is looking at me~』
『The angel is talking to me~』
Skipgate was in a daze right now, just staring at Sister La as if he had lost the ability to think.
“Mister Skipgate?”
Seeing no response, Sister La asked again.
『Ah~ So nice~ The angel’s voice~』
“Bang!”
Seeing him still like this, Aoxi who had been standing behind couldn’t help but step forward and knock on his head.
“Huh? Aoxi, what are you doing all of a sudden?”
Seeing Aoxi’s sudden action, Obei asked puzzled.
“I see this explosion head is clearly scared by Ember the flame head, let’s see if we can fix him like repairing a TV, maybe a knock will do it~”
“Uh…”
Sure enough, the more precise the instrument, the simpler the repair method; Aoxi’s knock directly brought Skipgate back from heaven to reality.
“Ah, ah! Ow, who hit me?!”
“Yo~ Finally snapped out of it!”
“Come on, repeat after me: ‘One two three, three two one, ah~ ah~'”
Aoxi leaned forward, waving her hand in front of Skipgate while saying.
“One two… Pfft~ No, why am I reciting this thing.”
Skipgate recited two lines before suddenly coming to his senses, and touched his head again.
“My head’s still here, I’m not dead!”
“Looks like he’s sober now.”
“In that case, hurry up and answer Big Sister’s question, what’s the deal with that ‘Golden Land’ and navigational log?”
“You believe me?”
Skipgate got a bit excited hearing their words.
“If you keep babbling, I won’t mind sending you to death again.”
Ember was getting impatient on the side; his blade hadn’t been sheathed yet.
“Oh, oh… Okay.”
Hearing this, Skipgate didn’t dare say more and quickly said:
“About that log, we got it when we just set out to sea, in ‘Paradise’.
We passed by an island called Gaya, and in this sea area we found the wreckage of a strange pirate ship.”
“Oh? How strange?” Aoxi couldn’t help but interject.
“Well~ How should I put it…”
“Usually ships at sea are destroyed either by storms and waves, or blown up by enemy cannonballs, or attacked by Sea Kings; these can all be judged from the wreckage marks.
But that ship was different; that kind of damage was like it fell straight down from the sky.”
“Fell from the sky?” Ember thought of the Golden Lion’s ability.
“That’s right, but we didn’t pay attention to it then; seeing the ship was very old, we thought of boarding to scavenge.
And then we found that navigational log in the captain’s quarters.”
“But the log was written in some strange text that no one could read.
So we were going to throw it away, but a crewmate on the ship was interested in these things and kept it.”
“And then he found it actually recorded the legendary ‘Golden Land’?”
Ember still thought this was too coincidental.
“That’s right, that crewmate of mine was formerly an ancient linguist; even after becoming a pirate, he kept the habit of researching these things.
Recently he deciphered the content in that navigational log, which is information about the ‘Golden City—Shandora’.”
After saying this string of information, Skipgate continued staring nervously at the Beasts Pirates crowd.
……
After an unbearable silence, Sister La spoke first.
Her voice was still as ethereal and gentle as ever, but she asked a strange question.
“What was the name of that crewmate of yours?”
Seemingly not expecting the “angel” in front of him to speak first, Skipgate was stunned for a moment, then quickly answered:
“He, he’s called Wright, Trans Wright.”
“Hm? What’s up? Sister La, do you know this guy?”
“Yeah.”
Sister La nodded, then looked toward Kaido who had been silent.
“Captain Kaido, what this man said should be true.”
“Oh? How so?”
“Those manuscripts I mentioned finding in the archive room were signed ‘Trans Wright’.
And the content of those manuscripts was indeed mostly related to various texts.”
“Yes, yes! That’s right, Wright was in charge of managing the archives and accounts on the island back then.”
Seeing hope, Skipgate eagerly added.
“So the ‘Golden Land’ might really exist.”
Burufaruto stepped forward at this time to help Skipgate up, and kindly brushed the dust off his pants.
“Not necessarily.”
Unexpectedly, Sister La shook her head instead.
“I’m just saying their navigational log is probably real, but as for the content in the log, no one can confirm its truth without going there in person.”
“…”
Hearing this, Burufaruto stopped his hand that was still brushing dust and tentatively asked: “Maybe… you should keep kneeling?”
Skipgate: “…”
Skipgate didn’t kneel again, but looked toward Kaido as if wanting to say something more.
But before he could speak, Kaido moved first, looking toward Sister La.
“From what you’re saying, you want to take a trip? What, getting restless?”
“Something like that, I’m somewhat interested in verifying legends against reality.”
Sister La didn’t deny it.
“Besides, if it’s real, relying on that gold could speed up our plan quite a bit.”
Hearing this, Kaido was somewhat tempted; after all, with Sister La’s original plan, by the time it came to fruition, he would probably be at an age to retire to the edge of the era.
He didn’t want that, wouldn’t accept it; what he wanted was to participate in that grand war in his prime.
Back to the present, seeing Sister La decide, Kaido still felt uneasy.
“To get the gold, first deal with that guy John.”
“He’s injured, but not something to take down in a couple moves; I’ll go with you.”
PS: As shown:
Updated eleven chapters in two days, now truly not a drop left.
