Chapter 89 - The Deviants' Mission
Life surged back into Luke's body, and he jolted awake. Frantic, all he saw was an endless ocean, and he was alone.
"It's okay!"
Alice and Anna reassured him. They were sitting on a small mound of sand.
"What happened?" Luke asked, looking around. He saw that the wooden boat had stopped on a tiny island, barely a few meters wide. They were in the middle of the ocean, far from the cursed island.
"We've reached the limit!" Captain Flyn appeared, emerging from a small hole further away.
"We were waiting for you to wake up…" Anna said.
Luke paused, trying to piece together the fragmented flashes of his memory. The last thing he recalled was being near death, wandering through a forest, and then jumping into the water.
Looking out over the boat's edge, he stared at the water in front of him.
"I wouldn't recommend swimming, kid. From what I've heard from the girls, you came from the shallow sea zone… a giant hazard. But these deep waters are dangerous too," Flyn warned.
"I'm alive…" Luke murmured. The moment he passed out, his mind had fallen into a dark void filled with shards of glass and mirrors. He couldn't remember anything clearly, just flashes of a desert.
"Why? Didn't expect to survive?" Anna asked.
"Guess not…" Luke chuckled.
Seeing the girls sitting on the sand, he sighed in relief and lay down in the wooden boat.
"You were a mess, you know that?" Alice said. "What happened back there?"
He looked at her.
"Better if you don't know…"
Captain Flyn appeared, looking down at him.
"Alright, alright. Emotional reunions and turbulent memories… bravo. But now we need to decide, and your friends waited for you to wake up."
Luke sighed. "So, your 'smooth and safe' exit isn't going to be so smooth and safe after all…"
"Oh! You remember what I said? I don't remember much myself," Flyn said, taking a swig from an old glass bottle.
"Want some rum? They say it cures everything."
"No… thanks."
"Good, I wasn't keen on sharing anyway."
Then why did you offer? Luke wondered.
He stood up. His white shirt had a hole in the chest area, but it was clean, though slightly stained with blood. He pulled it aside and saw his chest, unmarked and unscarred. He touched his neck where the knife had made a small cut, but there was nothing; everything had healed perfectly.
"I… I did a good job. You don't have to worry," Anna said, looking at him with concern.
"I know, Anna. I'm just amazed at your abilities," he replied.
Healers are truly powerful…
"How did you get hurt in the chest?" Anna asked, her eyes full of concern.
Alice also looked at her friend in black, waiting for his response.
"I pissed off an overprotective mother," he shrugged and jumped out of the boat.
Alice walked over to him and handed him a letter. Closing her eyes briefly, she murmured something, and then…
[You have received the card Holy Canteen]
"Take yourself to the hospital," she said.
The blonde girl then turned and sat back down on the sand.
Luke said nothing.
"We're at the limit. According to Flyn, this is as far as his boat can go without alerting the monsters in the depths of the ocean," Alice explained.
"The only way to move forward and reach the exit is if we get a special ship..." Flyn added.
"Nothing comes for free. Why are you helping us? And how did you survive in that place without getting caught?" Luke asked directly.
"Straight to the point. As I told the warrior while you were half-dead, my price is simple: I get to keep the ship. Once you return home, I'll use it to go back to mine."
Luke carefully considered the words of the man who was drinking rum and belching.
"From what you told me, you're not originally from here but from outside. Is that right?"
"Exactly. Or did you think that crazy island was the only place like this?"
"Honestly, I wasn't thinking about much. I was too busy trying to stay alive..."
"Fair enough," the man replied. "Beyond this deep sea, crossing the storm zones, the treacherous calm sea, the aquatic titans born of Undine, and a bunch of other dangerous waters... that's where my home is."
"Don't tell me our exit is after all of that too?" Luke asked, feeling the weight of the situation.
The problem just keeps growing...
"No! That would be terrible for both of you and me. Can you imagine me having to share my precious rum on such a long journey? I'd be heartbroken... Your exit is just beyond the storm zone, straight ahead a little further... But as I said, we're at the limit. My boat can only go this far. We need a ship if we don't want to attract some giant from the depths or get caught in the storms."
Luke thought about everything the man had said. He seemed to be sincere, not purely acting out of charity. It was a mutual agreement of interests.
Just like my deal with them, my allies? I... still don't know what we are now.
"You must be hiding a lot... but I see you want to get home as much as we do," Luke said.
"Indeed, I am. Who would be crazy enough to share their secrets with just anyone? You'd have to trust that person a lot, and I don't trust anyone," he laughed while drinking.
That hurt more than that stab to the chest...
Luke thought as he glanced quickly at his two traveling companions, who had shared so much with him, but Luke had never told them anything.
"How did you end up in that hell? On that insane island..."
"What else, kid? Gold, glory, conquests, power... but never for other women. I'm loyal," Flyn said, raising his hand to show a ring on his finger.
"I'm the most faithful pirate in these seas... come to think of it, maybe I'm the only pirate still alive here... but either way, I still hold the title of the most faithful in these seas."
Luke stared at his eccentric partner.
This is going to be complicated...
"You still haven't answered..."
"I thought I did..." Flyn took another drink. "I had a grand ship. I set out on a journey, leaving my beloved behind. I swore I'd return with that ship full of gold and ask her to marry me."
"Wait, you're not married? You have a ring on your finger."
The pirate sighed.
"Looks like you need some social contact... I'm engaged. It's going to be tough on your future girlfriend if you're clueless about these things..."
Luke continued to eye the man.
"In short, I got caught in a storm, and when we crashed into what I thought was a rock... or maybe the head of a giant sea dragon? My ship was destroyed. Luckily, I survived... just me and this boat that you've now filled with blood. Disgusting, by the way. And in the end, I found myself on that island. Thought I was dead, but I survived."
"Got it... so this is as far as it's safe to go," Luke said, glancing around the small island they were on, which was only a few meters wide.
"Correct. I spent the last 10 years exploring every direction, trying to find a way out or a kind soul to help me. But no one survives these seas... well, except for me. I used that time to gather enough resources for the journey ahead," Captain Flyn explained as he pulled a wooden chest from the hole and tossed it toward Luke.
Luke opened the chest and was taken aback.
"It's just filled with rum..."
"And what else do you need to survive?" the pirate laughed heartily.
This guy is irritating... but he's also kinda fun...
"Wait! 10 years? That's a long time... and your fiancée..." Luke began.
"Hey! Don't you even think about saying she forgot me. You clearly don't understand love, do you? Pirates are romantics, we never abandon our loves, and my beloved... I can guarantee she still loves me. I remember it like it was yesterday when we raided a monstrous island, wiped out the creatures, and drank rum while celebrating around their bloody corpses... what a day."
"That sounds really romantic," Anna complimented.
Little Anna, that was messed up, not romantic. What kind of twisted teenage romance are you hoping to have one day? God, I feel sorry for your boyfriend already.
"And why didn't you just get another ship and leave? If you know how to find one..." Luke asked.
Captain Flyn grinned and replied,
"The ship is anchored at the Island of the Drowned Dead. I can't go in there, but you outsiders from this world... can. All you need to do is sneak in, avoid the Boss guarding the lair, and then steal the ship"
"What? You want us to steal a ship from an island of drowned dead?" Anna asked in shock while Alice was already calculating.
"Deal!" Alice responded confidently.
Why do I feel like this won't end well for me?
"One question, Flyn..." Luke started.
"Captain Flyn," Flyn corrected.
"This ship you want us to steal... is it the one that can dive into the sands of the shallow sea and has a bunch of undead chained to it?" Luke asked.
"Oh, I see you're well-informed. Yes, that's the ship I'm talking about," the pirate laughed and took another swig of rum.
The three Deviants exchanged glances.
We're screwed...