"Ace…"
At the sound of the name, Danitz jumped in fright and quickly lowered his voice, saying, "While we're here, just call me Danitz again. Or really, call me whatever you like—Danny, Ditz, even Yo D."
"...…"
Alger was momentarily speechless, looking at him as though he were a stranger. He still clearly remembered—last time they'd met, Danitz had at least managed to act like a proper man.
Edward pulled out a pen and paper and jotted down a list of items, then handed it to Danitz. "Help me register these in a moment. I've got something else to do."
Danitz took the note, paused, and asked, "Where…are you going?"
"Something personal."
Without another word, Edward turned and strode quickly toward the docks. As he brushed past several pirates, he suddenly vanished.
Danitz and Alger exchanged a glance. It wasn't hard to guess—Edward was clearly headed for the Black Death.
Danitz immediately started muttering, "I knew it. I just knew there was no way he came all the way here just to shop!"
Alger shook his head. "I still need to meet with a few acquaintances. I'll be going. Take care."
"…."
Danitz was practically in tears. His only hope now was that whatever happened next, it wouldn't come back to bite him.
——
Under the effects of the Doppelgänger Charm, Edward silently donned his Invisibility Cloak, activating both its [Invisibility] and [Concealment] abilities, and made his way to the Black Death.
He flipped a coin to check for danger aboard. Confirming it was safe, he leapt onto the deck in a single bound, moving noiselessly past pirate after pirate until he reached the captain's quarters.
Outside the door stood a man wearing wide-legged pants and a brown jacket, short-browed and carefully polishing a spiked dagger.
Peering through the glass windows of the captain's cabin, Edward found it empty.
"Magnify—Imperio."
With the help of the Sequence 4-level Magnified version of the Imperius spell, Edward easily took control of the man. The pirate's face lit up with an inexplicable joy.
"Where's that Red-Haired woman? Helene?"
"The captain took her along."
"Huh?"
Edward was surprised. Tracy had clearly left the ship alone just now.
The man went on to explain unprompted, "The captain recently obtained a storage-type mystical item—a bag that can hold both items and people. She's carrying Helene in that bag."
"…"
Edward's jaw dropped. He felt like he'd just shot himself in the foot.
So, the Undetectable Extension Charmed Pouch that The Hanged Man sold off—Tracy ended up buying one of them? But she didn't even seem to recognise Alger earlier…
Oh—maybe it passed through several hands before reaching her. By then, the price must've been significantly marked up.
"Damn it! If not for that pouch, Helene would've had to stay aboard, and it would've been easy to get her blood. Now I'll have to confront Tracy head-on."
Truth be told, Edward didn't actually hold much prejudice against Tracy—if she hadn't just targeted him. On the contrary, he felt a little sympathetic. Her family situation was…a total mess.
Her mother had her with her father. Then her father turned into a woman, found a man, and had a son with him. Later, Tracy herself turned from a man into a woman. And that little brother of hers…would probably become a woman too.
Growing up in such a twisted environment, it was almost incredible that Tracy still harboured a rather naïve yearning for love. Back when she thought Klein was about to kill her, the final thing she asked was: Did Helene know about the assassination?
Call her a love-fool, or just plain hopeless romantic.
Unfortunately, she remained shackled by her mother's influence and the control of the Demoness Sect, constantly performing dirty work like trafficking humans—"deeply sinful," one could say.
Edward had originally planned to take Helene's blood, let Tracy go, take over the crew, sail out to sea, and then sink the Black Death.
Now, he had no choice but to retreat quietly—no sense alerting the enemy.
———
Meanwhile—
After entering the black palace with the crowd, Danitz registered Edward's shopping list.
The main and supplementary ingredients for a Mystery Pryer pathway's Sequence 8: Melee Scholar and Sequence 7: Warlock—these were for Dumbledore.
The ingredients for a Spectator pathway Sequence 6: Hypnotist—those were for Audrey.
And the materials for an Apprentice pathway Sequence 5: Traveler—Edward wanted those for himself.
Before long, several groups came seeking him out. The mystical materials in Danitz's hands piled up fast. Then he suddenly realised—
"Wait a second. Aren't I the one paying for all these materials? What if he ghosts me? What if he actually stiffs me?! That's half a year's worth of savings—I was gonna use that to buy a new house!"
As he muttered and fretted, a woman in a black, classical robe stepped through the palace entrance. Her robe was embroidered with numerous arcane symbols and magical sigils.
Danitz recognised her—that was Admiral of the Stars, Cattleya.
Wherever she walked, a faint starlight seemed to linger in her wake. Pirates nearby turned to look, one after another, their faces filled with awe—as though beholding a sorcerer from the Fourth Epoch.
"Pfft. Not even close to our captain," someone muttered.
Just as those words left his mouth, the long-awaited Captain Edwina appeared.
Danitz resisted the urge to approach her, worried that if Edward got into trouble, it might implicate his own captain.
"Sigh…In the end, I bear it all alone." Danitz let out a long sigh and turned again toward the entrance. "Why hasn't that guy come back yet? Don't tell me he got caught red-handed doing something shady? At the very least…he could've paid me for those materials first!"
Suddenly, a figure entered his field of vision—a man with a pale face, sunken eyes, light brown pupils, and a worn-out tricorne hat on his head.
"!!"
Danitz immediately looked away and quickly moved toward the densest part of the crowd.
"Admiral of Blood, Senor!
This was an old nemesis of the Golden Dream!
Although the Pirate Conference operated under an unspoken rule against fighting, Danitz didn't dare to gamble that this ruthless butcher would honour that agreement.
Catching a glimpse of Senor walking away, Danitz finally let out a breath of relief—
—But in the very next instant, his body froze, seized by a sudden paralysis. He had lost all control over his movements.
His pupils shrank violently as the ghastly figure of Senor loomed in them, wearing a malicious grin.
"I see you."
Danitz's right hand lifted against his will and grabbed his own throat. His five fingers clenched tightly, nails piercing into his skin, squeezing his windpipe shut, cutting off his breath.
He couldn't resist at all—he could only experience the despair of inching slowly toward death.
"No possessions allowed here!"
Just then, Edward's voice rang out.
In the next second, Senor's ghostly form was forcefully expelled from Danitz's body. Danitz collapsed to his knees, coughing violently in pain.
"Cough, cough, cough, cough…"
Edward walked over slowly. "I heard that fighting was forbidden at the Pirate Conference," he said loudly.
His voice drew the attention of nearby pirates. Those who recognised Senor immediately backed away, afraid they might get caught in the crossfire.
Senor looked at Edward with an unchanged smile.
"Found you."
He suddenly opened his mouth and let out a piercing shriek. A phantasmal skull wreathed in dark mist shot toward Edward.
"Fiendfyre!"
A torrent of roaring flame erupted, incinerating the skull into fragments.
Senor charged forward like a speeding vehicle—but his target was actually the still-kneeling Danitz.
CRACK!
Edward teleported to Danitz's side, grabbed his shoulder, and prepared to Disapparate again—but his body suddenly stiffened. In both his pupils, the image of Senor had appeared.
"Unfettered."
"No possessions allowed here!"
Senor's ghostly figure was once again ejected from Edward's body.
"Confundus! Petrificus Totalus! Avada Kedavra!"
Edward immediately fired off a flurry of three spells.
Senor, dazed briefly, managed to evade the second and third curses with his spectral form, reappearing over ten meters away, now choosing not to continue fighting.
He clapped lightly, face expressionless.
"Impressive. As expected of the moody Gehrman Sparrow."
Whoosh—!
All eyes turned to Edward.
"Gehrman Sparrow? That Gehrman? But he doesn't look like the man in the wanted poster."
"Probably disguised."
"So this is his real face? He's that young?"
"Yeah, looks totally different from the descriptions."
"Heh, who cares? His bounty's 220,000 pounds! 220,000!"
"My god, that's more than enough to last a few lifetimes."
As the surrounding pirates' expressions grew increasingly dangerous, Edward frowned deeply.
He couldn't quite figure out how Senor had so confidently confirmed his identity.
After a brief pause, Edward's lips curled into a smirk.
"Oh? And how exactly did you recognise me?"
Senor answered calmly, "I didn't recognise you. But I knew that Blazing Danitz is Fire Fist Ace—so the one who saved him must be Gehrman Sparrow."
If he hadn't arrived just in time, Danitz would've really strangled himself to death.
Danitz, still clutching his throat, slowly stood up with a grim expression.
"Cough, cough, cough…I…I only mentioned that identity on the Golden Dream…"
So, one of Edwina's simps ratted him out?
Tch…Even simps aren't reliable these days…
At that moment, Senor once again turned ghostly and fled swiftly toward the depths of the palace.
"Gehrman Sparrow, we'll be seeing each other again very soon."
His voice was loud, as if making a public announcement—to the pirates nearby, and more importantly, to the Pirate Admirals inside.
Edward narrowed his eyes.
"No need to wait. How about right now?
"Distortion"
With a flick of his wand, Edward forcibly distorted Senor's trajectory, pulling him right back toward himself.
Then came another string of incantations—
"Steal!"
He cast multiple [Theft] spells in quick succession, stealing Senor's current thoughts.
"Magnify—Avada Kedavra!"
———
[Note]: Don't forget to VOTE. It keeps me motivated.