"Honestly, I thought we'd have to sail for half a year, maybe even a full year, before reaching the Corridor of Despair. I remember it took you several months to get here last time too, didn't it, Ken?"
Chloe and the others stood by the rail, gazing into the distance. A stretch of land was faintly visible where the sea met the sky.
This was the Corridor of Despair, the boundary between north and south.
To the north lay the Storm Ocean, while to the south was the Sea of No Light. Beyond the Sea of No Light was the South Continent.
The Corridor of Despair was a long, narrow strip of land. Seen from the sky, it looked like a toothpick laid across the vast blue ocean.
"Mm, it did take several months back then. But we didn't even have a nautical chart at the time—we just headed in the general direction. This time, we can follow the route from before, so naturally it's much faster."
After Ken spoke, he looked toward Jeremiah. He was fiddling with a cone-shaped instrument fitted with a small telescope. The old captain carefully peered through it, estimating the angle.
It was a sextant, an instrument with a long history. Pirates had used it to determine their position back when they still sailed in ships with sails.
After a while, he lowered the instrument and pulled out a nautical chart from his coat to compare it against. Only then did he break into a wide grin.
"That's right, it's here! We've reached the Corridor of Despair!"
A wave of exclamations rose from the ship.
They had reached the Corridor of Despair in just over ten days this time, and that was while still unfamiliar with the sea conditions. With the Black Pearl's power, they