"Is this Mr. Buggy's ability?"
On a small skiff hanging alongside the towering warship, concealed in a thin white mist.
Jacques opened his mouth, still shaken.
He had seen with his own eyes how the people aboard the warship had gone mad—especially the Vice Admiral in the justice cloak and gold-fringed epaulettes. His stern expression, cold as winter, had twisted into a rage as wild and senseless as the ocean itself.
He was swinging his bloodstained blade wildly at his own men.
"Truly awe-inspiring."
Swan replied dreamily, her face slightly pale.
Using her ability to drag an entire warship into the Silent Domain clearly came at a cost.
"It's just a little... terrifying."
Jacques took a moment to consider his words before settling on that description.
He had wanted to say "crazy."
Working with someone like that wasn't just terrifying—it was crazy.
"Aren't you afraid?" he asked thoughtfully.
He had leverage over Jacques too, but it wasn't hard to understand why someone would be afraid.
Before meeting Buggy, Jacques had been nothing more than a Navy officer with a little ambition.
That was precisely why he could say this to Swan, who seemed like the only normal person in Buggy's crew.
After all, he had witnessed her arrival with his own eyes.
"Afraid of what?"
"Mr. Buggy gave me a purpose. Why would I be afraid of him?"
Swan turned to look at him in confusion, her voice full of bewilderment.
Then she smiled sweetly. "And my purpose is to help Mr. Buggy accomplish everything he wants to do."
Well, in private, she called that purpose Long Hair's Promise.
It was a way of remembering Mr. Buggy, who had once taken a lock of her long hair.
He was her savior.
At the thought, her eyes were unmistakably filled with