The sea lay calm and windless, the sun beating down fiercely. After a few minutes on deck, Yechui fled the scorching heat and retreated into the cabin.
With nothing but endless ocean around, there was no fear of crashing as long as they kept a rough heading.
Guni and Shalume, meanwhile, had discovered pure joy in fishing. Bucket after bucket filled with all manner of fish and bizarre sea creatures Yechui had never seen. Some were clearly sea magical beasts, grotesque, vicious, and highly aggressive… but apparently delicious.
“Another one of these!” Guni’s excited shout rang across the deck.
Yechui glanced out. Guni and Shalume were hauling in a massive net together, laughing as they cast it skyward in a blooming arc before reeling it back. Giant fish of every description tumbled out. Anything too small was tossed overboard; the keepers went into buckets already brimming and flopping.
They had already made Green store a batch in his [Storage Space]. The airless pocket preserved food perfectly, but the thought of live fish floating in there still made Green grimace.
Yet the two bottomless-stomach girls were having the time of their lives.
Yechui called out helplessly, “That’s enough, you two. Why catch so many? What are we even going to do with them?”
“Got it, got it,” Guni sang back, reeling in the net once more.
This haul contained something strange: a sleek white fish the size of a man, silvery-white, long and slender, with a sharp dorsal fin and a narrow mouth lined with blade-like teeth. It thrashed fer, snapping viciously the moment it escaped the net. Guni pinned its head effortlessly; anyone else would have lost an arm.
“Wow, what’s this one?” Guni crouched, holding the creature down with one hand while poking it curiously.
Shalume leaned in. “Looks like some kind of sea magical beast… President, any idea?”
“How should I know?” Yechui mumbled lazily from the hammock, not even bothering to look. The ship’s stock of Doom rum was strong but harsh; Debbie had insisted on a pirate-style drinking session to celebrate, so Yechui, Debbie, Lesa, and Xiles were all half-drunk and sprawled bonelessly around the cabin.
Green emerged on deck, spotted the strange fish, and walked over. “Huh? I think I’ve seen this in Teacher Merlin’s travel journals… it’s called a sea shark beast. Really vicious magical beast!”
“A magical beast!” Guni’s eyes sparkled.
Shalume, coming from a magical-beast clan (albeit not sea-focused), immediately recalled something. “Sea shark beast? Adult ones are supposed to be enormous. This must just be a juvenile!”
As she spoke, she rushed to the rail and peered down.
“What are you looking for?”
“If it’s a juvenile, the parent should be nearby. Magical beasts are brutal, but they never abandon their young… There! Look!”
Shalume waved excitedly, pointing.
Green and Guni scrambled to the rail. A dark shadow loomed beneath the surface not far away, a massive triangular dorsal fin cutting the water.
“Whoa!” they gasped in unison. From the fin alone, the submerged body had to be gigantic.
Any experienced sailor would have panicked and fled at the sight.
Even Yechui, had he been on deck, would have recognised the danger from certain movie memories.
But Guni, Green, and Shalume’s eyes gleamed. Holy crap, imagine hauling that monster aboard. Food for days!
The only question was how.
“That thing looks huge…” Green muttered.
“I’ve got it!” Guni’s brain kicked into gear at the prospect of food. She trussed the juvenile sea shark beast with the ship’s massive anchor chain, turning the anchor itself into a gigantic hook and the baby beast into live bait.
With a few spins overhead (“Hnnnnngh!”), she hurled anchor and bait far out to sea.
Splash.
The chain rattled out. In the trio’s eager gazes, the shadow below surged toward it.
The dorsal fin vanished.
Clank, clank, clank.
The anchor jerked. The chain paid out rapidly, then the winch itself began spinning wildly.
“It’s on! It’s on!” Guni whooped.
In seconds, the entire chain was gone. BOOM. The Black Pearl lurched violently.
Guni and Shalume grabbed the chain and hauled with all their might. Green helped, but his strength was laughable beside theirs.
To their shock, even combined they barely lifted the chain an inch. The Pearl veered sharply off course, tilting dangerously. Barrels, buckets, and deck gear slid toward the low side.
Fish spilled from buckets and flopped back into the sea.
Several magic cannons smashed through the rail and plunged overboard.
The commotion brought everyone else stumbling out of the cabin.
“What the hell is going on?!” Yechui demanded, face flushed from rum.
“We’re fishing!” Guni shouted gleefully.
BOOM!
A colossal creature breached the surface, easily longer than the Black Pearl itself. The adult sea shark beast, jaws clamped around the anchor, baby still dangling from its mouth. It had tried to free its offspring and ended up hooked.
It leapt clear over the ship, trailing the chain, and crashed down on the far side in an explosion of rainbow spray that nearly capsized the Pearl.
Yechui stood frozen. That’s your fish!?
“I didn’t expect sea shark beasts to be this huge!” Green yelled. The earlier fin had been just a tiny fraction!
“How long would it take to eat all that?!” Guni marvelled.
Everyone shot her odd looks. Girl, priorities!
Then the Pearl abruptly swung around, racing in the opposite direction, against the wind, yet somehow faster than before.
The sea shark beast, unable to free its mouth, panicked or raged and bolted.
Sails strained. The ship listed hard.
Yechui and the others clung to whatever they could. “Cut the anchor chain, now!” Yechui roared, hurling the golden greatsword to Guni.
Guni finally realised the mess they were in. She caught the sword and raised it high.
But the chain was taut as steel cable. Crash! A cabin wall splintered. The ship spun violently. Guni yelped, landing hard on her backside, and jammed the sword into the deck to anchor herself.
The chain vanished underwater.
The anchor was fixed to the starboard side; now the entire ship tilted until that rail nearly kissed the sea.
Turtle Baby threw up a shell barrier around the babies and Celty’s head, but it did nothing for the ship.
Yechui fired explosion spells at the chain, but the violent rocking ruined his aim.
“Let me!” Debbie shouted, clinging to a swaying door. She summoned Golden Female Swordsman Gilga. “Gilga, cut the chain!”
“At your command, Lady Debbie!”
Gilga materialised, righteous declaration ready, then a wave slapped her straight into the ocean. Her distant wail echoed: “I can’t swim…”
Yechui broke into a cold sweat. He spotted Shalume hugging the helm. “Shalume, hard to starboard! Now!”
“Which way is starboard…?” Shalume panicked.
“Never mind, I’ll—” Yechui began, preparing to teleport.
CRACK.
Honest Shalume simply ripped the wheel clean off the pedestal. One hand on the stump, the other holding the giant wheel, she offered it to Yechui. “Here.”
Yechui: “…”
The disaster continued.
Green clung to the near-horizontal mast. From his vantage he saw ahead and screamed, “President! Ship ahead! We’re going to ram them!”
“What?!” Yechui paled.
Far ahead, on the Black Pearl’s new collision course, the Sea Dragon pirate crew stood frozen on their deck.
“What the hell are they doing?!”
“They’re going to hit us! Can’t dodge!”
“Abandon ship!”
Yechui had no idea he was about to T-bone a pirate ship, the very one waiting to scavenge their wreck. He only saw a merchant vessel full of innocent lives.
In that desperate moment, Yechui gritted his teeth. “Time for the ultimate move!”
He flipped open the iPad magic book and selected a powerful BGM.
The Black Pearl was being dragged at breakneck speed, anchor still in the sea shark’s jaws, impossible to recall. To stop it, there was only one way…
A soaring, romantic melody suddenly rang out.
My Heart Will Go On.
Years ago, before reaching the capital, Yechui had once played this song on a ship to create a romantic moment… and accidentally summoned an iceberg.
Now, amplified by the upgraded iPad, it played again.
Only dozens of metres separated the Pearl from the pirate ship.
At their speed, impact was instant.
The Sea Dragon crew leapt overboard in terror.
But right then, on this still-hot late-summer sea, a colossal iceberg erupted from the water directly in the Black Pearl’s path!
CRASH!
The impact snapped the Black Pearl clean in two. The anchor section, still attached to the sea shark, plunged into the depths.
The rest of the ship finally ground to a halt…
Titanic-style emergency stop. Truly unrivalled.
