Captain – Chapter 4 – The True Meaning of the Curse

This was definitely the longest dream Roy had experienced since having memories.

It was like a jet-black silk ribbon being drawn past before his eyes. Occasionally, faint lightning would flash across the distant sky, gentle thunder would sound close to his ears, but these quickly disappeared, returning to prolonged tranquility.

The sweet dream gave him immense peace, as if he had returned to those days of sleeping safely in his mother’s arms. But dreams are not eternal sleep. When a breeze blew across the white sandy beach, brushing over his soft eyelashes, he finally awoke.

His slightly unfocused pupils quickly converged, returning from that lazy state to one of alertness and danger. The first thing that entered Roy’s sight was not layer upon layer of branches and leaves, nor was it the devil’s face—always gentle yet deeply unsettling—but a vast blue sky.

Strangely shaped white clouds floated leisurely, and the gentle sunlight reflected in his dark golden pupils without causing him any discomfort.

Roy struggled to sit up, looking somewhat bewildered at the sparkling, peaceful sea surface, touching the dry, warm white sand, feeling as if in another world—as if the terrifying waves that had nearly capsized the Mermaid and the torrential rain were just his imagination.

But certain things that came into view quickly dispelled his sense of unreality. Roy propped himself up on the white sand and stood, walking a few steps forward. The warm waves gently caressed his ankles with their foam, yet couldn’t attract half his attention. His gaze remained fixed on the sea, on those faintly visible charred shadows.

The next moment, he slightly parted his lips, a sense of absurdity rushing to his heart, because he finally saw clearly what those objects floating on the sea were.

They were fragments of broken planks, skeletal remains of ship hulls burned almost to charcoal. They were all…

The remains of the Auran Empire’s First Naval Fleet.

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“My God…”

Roy’s mind trembled incessantly, to the extent that he couldn’t even distinguish the change in his own voice, only gazing at the tragic scene before him as if admiring a spectacle.

He didn’t know what had happened while he was unconscious. He only knew that another formidable power beyond human resistance had descended—perhaps a once-in-a-century storm that had caused a massive vortex in the already unstable sea.

But if that were the case, how could these charred marks be explained?

There was no explanation. Roy could only attribute them to the methods of that devil. Despite experiencing countless storms and witnessing many legendary ghostly creatures, he had never encountered anything capable of causing such catastrophe.

“Fortunately, I had Richi and the others keep their distance, otherwise I’d probably be seeing the remains of the Mermaid among them now.”

Roy gratefully patted his chest, but found his hand met with soft resistance about three inches from his chest. Somewhat puzzled, he looked down to see what the problem was.

And then Roy discovered that this glance revealed the biggest problem of all, because the ground that he used to be able to see directly through his chest was gone, replaced by slightly bulging coarse linen, and his hand had been blocked by this raised white cloth.

“I…” Roy blinked, a faint bewilderment still lingering in his eyes.

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Certainly, among the five legendary pirates in the world today, he was the one most skilled at close combat. Through years of sword fighting, he had developed an extremely balanced and powerful physique, but without much visible muscle, let alone chest muscles. And even if he had them, they could never be so… surprising.

Having discovered some changes to his body, various strange sensations suddenly rushed in, especially his previously unnoticed voice. Roy now realized that since waking up, his deep and magnetic voice had completely disappeared, leaving only the clear and pleasant tones reminiscent of noble ladies.

This was a terrifying change, even more frightening than having his real name completely exposed to the crew.

“Hey… this can’t be happening?”

Roy’s uncontrollable voice traveled far, far away with the receding waves.

After a brief self-examination, Roy sat down somewhat dazed on the soft white sand, staring at arms that were much more delicate than their usual fairness.

He, no, she had confirmed an extremely difficult fact to accept—what the devil meant by the curse, and the meaning represented by the last words she heard before falling asleep.

“Make your name become real… make Elizabeth become real, isn’t that just turning me into a woman? Damn you.”

Having figured this out, Roy muttered in a low voice, casually picked up a pebble from nearby, and threw it forcefully toward the sea, causing a small splash. But the moment the pebble hit the water, a faint resonating sound came through the moist sea breeze, frightening her into anxiously surveying her surroundings, fearing the devil might still be present and might have heard her curse.

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Suddenly, Roy’s eyes brightened slightly, as if thinking of a possibility. She quickly stood up, no longer showing any fear in her eyes. Placing her hands on both sides of her face, she shouted loudly toward the seemingly endless sea: “Mr. Devil, can you change the curse? How can I face people like this!”

There was no reply, which was to be expected.

Roy sighed in disappointment, then recalled the reverberating sound that had reached her ears earlier. She vaguely felt it came from somewhere on the western side of the solitary island. Thinking calmly, it didn’t seem like the devil displaying his power, but more likely noise caused by the Mermaid accidentally hitting a reef upon returning. So she dusted the white sand off her body and jogged in that direction.

Shortly after she left, a faint, playful laugh echoed around, quickly obscured by splashing waves, making it difficult to confirm if someone had really laughed.

Roy quickly identified the source of the reverberating sound.

It wasn’t the Mermaid hitting a reef, but half of a broken ship’s hull crashing hard against the rocky western coast, causing a cracking sound.

The hard outer shell of the hull was too shattered to form a complete structure. Countless broken wooden splinters protruded from numerous breaches, all emitting a burnt smell.

Based on the size of the hull, Roy recognized the identity of this ship—it was the Tyrant, which had commanded the entire fleet, the one she had seen in the water mirror. But this war machine, symbolizing the powerful strength of the Auran Empire, this fortress of the sea, had been reduced to such a miserable state.

Roy followed this broken wreckage, wanting to find bodies of naval personnel. Although no one could possibly have survived such a horrific disaster, logically, there should have been some corpses left around this massive warship that once carried nearly a thousand people.

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What disappointed and deeply disturbed Roy was that, just as she had seen from afar earlier, near this half-hull of the Tyrant, not a single body could be found. It must have been the devil’s terrifying methods.

Hugging her shoulders somewhat chilled, Roy again felt grateful for her good fortune. Being able to preserve one’s life under such a seemingly gentlemanly yet truly ruthless Pirate King was luck that couldn’t be cultivated in several lifetimes.

Forget it, I’ll just go back and wait for Richi and the others to come pick me up.

Roy thought silently, lowering her head and turning back, wanting to return to the eastern coast more suitable for pirate ships to dock. However, she hadn’t taken two steps before nearly tripping over some unknown object, almost falling flat on her face.

When she looked up indignantly, she forgot where she was originally heading and what she was going to do.

It was a young man wearing an Auran Empire naval uniform. He had short silver-white hair that appeared particularly dim in the shadows where sunlight couldn’t reach. His dark uniform was wrinkled from seawater, and the epaulettes symbolizing his rank had been washed away to who knows where. But whether it was his distinctly defined face or the valuable short pistol fastened at his waist, everything proved he was not some insignificant soldier.

Most crucially, his chest was rising and falling slowly. Although his breathing was very weak, at least… he was still alive.

“There’s actually someone alive,” Roy squatted down, quietly listening to the young man’s weak breathing for a moment, then her lips curved slightly upward.

“A high-ranking naval officer of unknown rank—the Auran Empire should pay some ransom. If I weren’t afraid of coming away empty-handed this time, I wouldn’t spare your life. Anyway… consider yourself lucky.”