"That's… um…" Shaiapouf couldn't answer that question.
In truth, they all carried fragments of human memories—small, easily overlooked details. Not just the three of them, but all Chimera Ants had inherited some human memories to varying degrees. And some of their behaviors were subtly influenced by those lingering human thoughts in their minds.
"Maybe there really are demons over there…" Cyr murmured, remembering a few old rumors, his expression turning thoughtful.
For example, some of the magical beasts they'd encountered before had mentioned being cursed by a Demon King or something like that.
Some people, after seeing the tattoo on his body, even asked if he'd been cursed by a demon.
Cyr had no answer for that—he suggested they go ask Sukuna instead. He had no idea whether Sukuna was cursed or not.
"My lord, three days from now, the ship will meet us at the port." reported the blond young man as he returned with his phone.
The mafia really did get things done efficiently. Having a butler with a mafia background was proving to be incredibly convenient.
Decision made: once he gets to the Jujutsu Kaisen world, he's definitely getting himself a well-mannered butler who's also great at cooking.
No way he's losing face to Sukuna!
---
Three days later, at the port.
Cyr and the others stood off to the side waiting. Besides them, the port was completely deserted.
The entire country was still in a state of chaos. Its people were either in hospitals, being rushed to hospitals, or already buried underground.
A three-story-tall, brand-new-looking luxury yacht was docked in front of Cyr's group.
"This is Pelisha's private vessel. It was just serviced a week ago…" Maro said proudly, like he was presenting a treasure.
It was a personal-use ship—probably only used once a year. When it was, the entire Pelisha family would take it out to sea for a month.
Some of Maro's siblings had died at sea because of that.
"Not bad," Cyr commented, boarding the ship without much interest.
Luxury yachts were whatever—stay on them long enough, and you'd get tired of them too.
Some casinos occasionally held events on yachts. His dad used to sneak out to attend them all the time.
As for why he always brought Cyr along on those trips—it was to keep up appearances. He'd tell the family he was taking the kid on a nice vacation.
Who would ever suspect a lunatic bringing his preschool-age son into nightclubs and casinos?
Cyr had been blackmailing his dad with this stuff since he was a kid.
Want him to play along? Pay him. Want him to stay quiet and not tell the family? Pay him. Want him to behave and sit quietly while dad gambled? Pay him.
His early financial freedom was largely thanks to generous sponsorship from dear old dad.
The ship came equipped with everything: pool, restaurant, game room, gym, medical bay.
Only problem—it was slow.
So slow that Cyr shot a glance at the white tiger resting nearby.
"…?" Sora opened his eyes wide, looking from the ship to himself, confusion all over his face.
Did Cyr really mean that?
"Go on, hurry up," Cyr said, urging him.
"Arooo…" Sora let out a reluctant little whine but obeyed, carefully climbing onto the deck and starting to manipulate the wind to give the ship a boost.
"You two…" Cyr stared long and hard at Shaiapouf and Youpi.
Both of them had wings. They could fly. And they clearly had nothing better to do.
"Can't you two just find something to do on your own? Seriously, no initiative. Even the Ant King would be shaking his head." Cyr grumbled while pulling out three thick ropes.
He tied one end of the ropes to the front of the ship, the other ends to Shaiapouf and Youpi.
Once Sora got tired, it'd be their turn to drag the ship through the air.
The two guards had originally wanted to refuse, but Cyr casually pulled out the Prison Realm, tossing it up and down in his hand with a smirk.
"If I throw this into the sea, you'll never see your King again, you know."
The guards could only lower their heads and grit their teeth, resigning themselves to being beasts of burden.
"What about me? What can I do, meow?" Neferpitou asked cheerfully, squatting and pointing at her own nose.
"Come here." Cyr lounged in a deck chair, sunglasses on, waving her over.
Neferpitou hopped over and squatted beside him, taking a spot opposite Sora.
"Just squat there, that's fine." Cyr snapped his fingers.
After all, Neferpitou couldn't fly. For now, her only talent was being cute—she wasn't very useful otherwise.
"Catching fish occasionally is fine too," Cyr added.
"Fish?" Her eyes spun with interest.
She'd never tried that, but she could give it a go.
Without hesitation, she summoned her ability, attached her tail to the sea's surface, and dangled herself upside down, scooping at the water with her hands to try catching fish.
"So easy to distract…" Cyr glanced at her and quickly lost interest.
Maro silently stood in the spot where Neferpitou had just been, tray in hand, the malice radiating off him nearly rivaling the Chimera Ants.
With two winged ants laboring away like beasts of burden, and Cyr lounging between Maro and Sora, the trio looked like a stereotypical villainous young master with his sidekick and pet.
And letting the "pet" go scare people from time to time only made them seem more villainous.
The journey to the Dark Continent was dreadfully boring. With the sea and sky merging into one endless blue, it was easy to lose track of where one ended and the other began. Sailors, after too long at sea, often grew to dislike life on land. Even their posture when walking would be different from normal people.
They passed many uninhabited islands, but none of them were the Dark Continent Cyr was heading toward.
Even though he had no clue what the Dark Continent looked like, his instincts told him these islands weren't it.
During this time, the Hunter Association even contacted him, saying someone from the V5 wanted to meet him.
Cyr hung up immediately, not even considering it.
Later, someone claiming to be a prince of the Kakin Empire tried to order him around. Cyr didn't even let him finish before hanging up again.
A mere prince? As if.
You think I'm going to listen to you when even a nuke couldn't kill me? You want to kill me, go ahead—nuke me when I land in Kakin. Just be sure to blow up your own country while you're at it.
Come back and talk when you rule the entire world as its sole king.
---
"My lord, we've found out what happened—V5 and Kakin somehow received intel and believe that you killed the Ant King and took in his three guards…" Maro reported after a flurry of phone calls.
Though in his mind, it was the truth—his lord was absolutely the biggest hero of the whole situation!
"…The Ant King is still alive and well," Cyr said, the corner of his mouth twitching. "And those three weren't 'taken in' by me."
"So who the hell leaked all this?"
Was it Netero? The old man shouldn't have spilled everything to them, right?
Maybe someone else in the Association? Morel and the others? They didn't seem like imperial lapdogs either…
But never mind who leaked it—what kind of nonsense were they leaking?
Now everyone probably thought he was some legendary figure who punched out the Ant King and stomped on Netero.
If he really were that strong, fine.
But he wasn't! He could barely hold his own right now.
He'd just gotten smashed by Netero recently—after the old man buffed himself up.
"We couldn't trace who leaked it," Maro shook his head.
"Forget it." Cyr sighed and casually tossed his phone into the ocean.
He was planning to get a new one anyway. And right now, it wasn't like he needed it.
Who knew when he'd leave this world anyway? Once he was gone, let them say whatever they wanted.
°°°
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