Helga saw me come up to the helm. She was standing in front of a table behind the helm where the map of the Surtona Archipelago was laid out.
"Whoa, you clean up well." She looked me up and down, raised an eyebrow and said "But it feels like something is missing, hmmm."
I looked down at myself as well and answered.
"It's the hat, isn't it? I looked everywhere but couldn't find a proper one."
"No, no, I mean yes the hat is missing as well but that isn't it."
She thought about it for a bit and snapped a finger and pointed at my waist.
"Right! How could I forget such a simple thing? You're missing a weapon. You don't have any weapons on you, no sword, no dagger, no gun, no wand or staff either. I thought with this ship you have, you would be a mage or something."
Now that I think about it the few functioning cannons we got from that passenger ship turned out to be alchemical cannons. Queen somehow assimilated them in working condition but I don't even know the principles behind them.
I'll have to somehow get my hands on books or something about magic in general. Essence of the Blank would let me get started on any type of magic. It would be foolish to not take advantage of it.
In the meantime, I'll have to make do with what I have on hand.
"Weirdly enough, I'm not actually a mage. Queen is just special."
"Queen?"
"The ship you are standing on. 'The Devil's Queen' magnificent is she not?"
She took a look around the ship again and turned to me with a slight smile.
"She is certainly amazing." She said that right as Queen was adjusting the sails for the wind with the ropes. It felt like she was mesmerized while watching the fantastical sight.
"Are you sure you are not a mage?"
Putting all that aside, we poured over the map once more to decide on our route to the Golden Bay. Some islands we had to pass through were most likely heavily patrolled by the Melianor Kingdom due to the increased Hyrisian activity.
In the end, we decided to take the risk because as the saying goes 'the unseen blade is the deadliest' and we certainly won't see any underwater enemies coming. At least any Kingdom ship can be seen coming from kilometers away.
Our heading decided I took to the helm not because I needed to but to learn how to sail in case I ever found myself on a different ship.
Essence of the Grand Line did have a function of a dream space where a bunch of poneglyphs resides. All kinds of knowledge from the One Piece world was recorded on these things but most of them were encrypted and had to be translated.
I didn't have much to do during my lonely nights, so in my dreams, I learned about sailing from the poneglyphs. It was certainly better than trying to wing it. The only thing I lacked was experience and that was being mended right now.
Just to be sure I reminded Queen not to let anyone in my cabin other than me.
-------------------------
The travel took a long time but thanks to my perfect memory I remembered a few sea shanties I taught and sang together with Helga. I started the beginning.
"~ I thought I heard the old man say ~"
She accompanied.
"~ Leave her Johnny leave her ~"
"~ Tomorrow ye will get your pay ~"
"~ And it's time for us to leave her ~"
We kept singing to pass the time and when the song was done she asked me why I picked this song in particular.
"Are you not listening to the lyrics lass? We swear by rote for want of more, but just because I answered the call of the seas doesn't mean I never had a life outside it. It's difficult leaving it all behind to a new life."
"Was it worth it at least?"
"So far? Aye, every second of it."
She seemed to have noticed something about me so decided to ask.
"Okay wait, why are you talking like that? Saying lass or aye? You didn't talk like that when we first met."
I smiled at her.
"Noticed that did you? I was trying to sound more like a pirate or at least a bit crass. Does it not suit me?"
That seems to have amused her as she threw her head back and started laughing.
"Ahaahahhaha... Why would you even care about what you sound like to others? What? You think coming off as too polite will make you sound weak? As long as you are cautious with who you are dealing with you'll be fine."
I was reminded of the words of another great pirate due to her words.
"I need recruits lass, not opportunists that will think to betray me because of some stupid perceived notion of weakness. Caution is nothing without charisma. For if a man plays the fool, then it's only fools he'll persuade. But appear to be the Devil, and all men will submit."
She had this cheeky grin as she asked.
"And you think to become this 'Devil' ?"
I grinned as well. Holy shit this woman is just pushing all the right buttons.
"For an audience? Aye."
I left the helm to face her and slowly walked up to her.
"It's all a big show. Give your quarry something to fear."
I was around 193cm (6'4ft) in height while she was around 175cm (5'9ft) or something. So when I walked up to her with my full height to bear she slowly backed up to the railings behind her. I talked with this guttural growl from my throat.
"Some hellish thing, from a fever dream."
When her back was on the edge she looked up at me wide-eyed and mouth slightly open. I used armament haki to cover my face and made it look metallic with a snarl on my face.
"And men will drop to their knees, pleading for their lord BEFORE AUGHT ELSE." I raised my voice at the last words and after making sure the small performance was done slowly backed off and deactivated my armament haki.
I was curious what her reaction would be to my little play. I always wanted to do something like that. Would she respond like Stede Bonnet or Edward Kenway?
"I think I just came a little."
"What?"
"What?"