Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “Inside the Nest”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Victor and Mark dive underwater to investigate the Giant Sea Ape, while Ai Miye, Anna, and Arthur remain aboard the Black Knife. Arthur wants to see the monster, but Ai Miye firmly forbids him from following.
• Rather than confront the Sea Ape directly, Mark and Victor follow its enormous footprints across the seabed and discover a cavern that serves as its nest.
• They use a Drifting Observer—a small underwater camera—to scout the cavern safely and broadcast the exploration through the livestream and Chat Group.
• Inside, they find a female Sea Ape guarding numerous giant eggs. They also discover a large pile of bones, metal objects, and tens of thousands of Gold Coins.
• Mark and Victor debate the meaning of the bones, with Mark believing they may be ancestral offerings and Victor suspecting they could be the remains of prey.
• To steal the treasure, Mark devises a distraction: he will lure the female Sea Ape away while Victor collects the valuables. Because Cursed Relics may be hidden among the treasure, Victor uses indirect methods and mechanical gloves to avoid touching anything dangerous.
• Mark initially fails to provoke the female Sea Ape, realizing she refuses to leave because she is protecting her eggs. He steals one egg using his Eternal Space, successfully enraging her and drawing her out of the cavern.
• Victor enters the nest and begins transferring the treasure through a Spatial Passage. However, just as he is collecting it, one of the remaining eggs cracks open, creating an immediate new danger.

Character Developments

• Mark demonstrates tactical intelligence by avoiding a direct battle and creating a calculated diversion. He also shows concern for his reputation, especially because Jennie may be watching his livestream.
• Victor acts cautiously and responsibly, especially regarding the possible Cursed Relics. His nervousness contrasts with his determination to secure the treasure.
• Ai Miye displays authority and practical judgment by preventing Arthur from recklessly pursuing the Sea Ape. She also insists that she and Anna receive credit for discovering the monsters.
• Arthur is shown as enthusiastic and curious about legendary sea monsters but remains obedient when Ai Miye orders him to stay behind.
• The female Sea Ape is characterized as a powerful, highly protective mother. Her instincts allow her to detect the theft of an egg immediately.

Significant Themes

• Risk versus reward: The enormous treasure tempts the group to endanger themselves despite the presence of powerful monsters and possible Cursed Relics.
• Teamwork and division of roles: Mark serves as bait while Victor gathers the treasure, showing how cooperation allows them to overcome a stronger opponent.
• Caution in the face of the unknown: The explorers avoid unidentified creatures, use remote surveillance, and take precautions against cursed objects.
• Maternal instinct and protection: The female Sea Ape’s refusal to abandon her eggs becomes the key weakness that Mark exploits.
• Greed and ambition: The gold excites Ai Miye and motivates the dangerous operation, while Mark is also influenced by the desire to impress his audience and maintain his image.

Character Interactions

• Ai Miye reassures Arthur that she is safe but firmly prevents him from joining the expedition.
• Mark and Victor coordinate their exploration through gestures and the Chat Group, negotiating how the treasure will be divided.
• Ai Miye challenges their initial division of profits and secures a share for herself and Anna.
• Mark and Victor collaborate closely on the plan to distract the female Sea Ape, with Victor trusting Mark to draw it away.
• The chapter ends with Victor alone in the nest, racing to collect the treasure after an egg begins to hatch.

Summary of “Mother Sea Ape’s Fury”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Victor frantically loots valuable treasures from the Sea Ape nest while Mark distracts the mother Sea Ape elsewhere.
• A baby Sea Ape hatches. Its cry alerts the mother, which abandons its hunt for Mark and returns to the nest.
• The newborn approaches Victor, driven by hunger. Victor hesitates to kill it because he sees it as an innocent creature, but it attacks him and nearly bites his head.
• Victor shoots and kills the baby Sea Ape in self-defense just as the mother returns. Enraged, the mother attacks Victor with overwhelming force.
• Victor is thrown into a pile of bones, loses his Underwater Breather, inhales seawater, and suffers serious internal injuries. He spends 1,000 Exchange Points to replace the device and resumes gathering treasure.
• Mark intervenes by smashing another egg to draw the mother’s attention away from Victor. The mother becomes even more furious and repeatedly punches Mark.
• Mark survives because his Curse Power Body Protection prevents the attacks from penetrating his defenses, though he is repeatedly driven into the ground and wall.
• Victor realizes Mark’s protection depends on limited Curse Power and may eventually fail. He races to finish looting before the mother can kill them.
• When another egg begins to crack, the mother’s rage intensifies. It nearly kills Victor with a devastating punch, but he escapes through a Spatial Passage at the last moment.

Character Developments

• Victor is shown to be greedy and treasure-focused, yet still morally conflicted. He hesitates to kill the baby Sea Ape because of its innocence, but acts decisively when it threatens his life. His injuries and dwindling resources force him to balance survival, treasure collection, and concern for Mark.
• Mark demonstrates loyalty and courage by repeatedly placing himself between Victor and danger. Although he is mocked for constantly being sent flying during livestreams, he willingly endures the mother’s attacks to buy Victor time.
• The mother Sea Ape shifts from a hunter defending its territory to a creature consumed by grief and maternal fury after its baby is killed and its eggs are destroyed. Its strength and speed increase dramatically as its rage grows.
• Hawkins observes the battle through the livestream and criticizes Victor and Mark for risking their lives for treasure. His comments also highlight the limitations of their equipment and abilities.
• The chat-group members mock Mark’s predictable misfortune, while Jennie and Anna defend him and recognize his bravery.

Significant Themes

• Maternal instinct and grief: The mother Sea Ape’s rage is driven by the loss of its child and threats to its remaining eggs.
• Survival versus morality: Victor struggles with whether killing a newborn creature is justified, but survival ultimately determines his actions.
• Greed and recklessness: Victor and Mark continue looting despite extreme danger, valuing treasure enough to risk serious injury or death.
• Loyalty and sacrifice: Mark repeatedly protects Victor, accepting punishment and danger so Victor can complete the mission.
• Limits of power and preparation: Curse Power offers Mark substantial protection but is not limitless, while Victor’s dependence on the Underwater Breather exposes the weaknesses of relying on equipment in combat.
• Humor amid danger: The chat group’s teasing of Mark provides comic relief and contrasts with the genuinely life-threatening battle.

Character Interactions

• Victor and Mark cooperate through the Chat Group, with Mark distracting the mother while Victor collects treasure.
• Victor hesitates to harm the baby Sea Ape, but the baby attacks him, forcing him to defend himself.
• The mother Sea Ape attacks Victor after witnessing the baby’s death, then redirects its fury toward Mark when he destroys another egg.
• Mark’s intervention saves Victor temporarily, while Victor’s continued looting gives their escape effort a purpose.
• Hawkins acts as an outside observer, criticizing their recklessness and considering punishment for their unauthorized treasure hunt.
• Jennie and Anna defend Mark against the group’s jokes, earning his exaggerated gratitude.

Chapter Summary: “Election”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After escaping the mother Sea Ape through Eternal Space, Victor and Mark recover in House Town. They reflect on how overwhelmingly powerful the creature was, especially its final attack, which Victor believes would have killed him instantly.
• Mark recognizes that monsters may be far more dangerous than even high-level Curse Casters. His control of Silver Wolf proved largely ineffective against the Sea Ape’s enormous durability.
• Hawkins appears and reprimands both men for leaving the Black Knife without permission, abandoning their duties, and risking their lives. He threatens to confiscate the treasure they recovered.
• Mark and Victor comically beg Hawkins to spare their treasure by clinging to his legs. Ai Miye records the incident and threatens to post it on the Forum.
• Ai Miye proposes electing a first mate to manage crew affairs and enforce rules when Hawkins is absent. Hawkins agrees to hold a vote but confiscates the treasure until the position is filled.
• Mark and Victor campaign aggressively against each other. Ai Miye initially gains the most votes because of her influence over the orphan group.
• Mark and Victor temporarily cooperate to argue that Ai Miye, as a minor, should not be eligible to serve in a combat-oriented pirate crew. Hawkins compromises by naming Ai Miye reserve first mate until she comes of age.
• In the final vote, Mark and Victor receive only their own votes. Asmodeus abstains, and Qiao Si narrowly wins the position of first mate.

Character Developments

• Victor gains a deeper respect for the danger posed by powerful monsters and admits that his previous understanding of terrifying enemies was naïve.
• Mark remains impulsive and competitive but also shows growing awareness of his limitations after being overwhelmed by the Sea Ape.
• Hawkins demonstrates his authority and commitment to rules while remaining playful and willing to compromise. He establishes a formal leadership structure rather than handling every matter himself.
• Ai Miye reveals strong political instincts and considerable influence over the crew, especially the orphans. Though denied the official position due to her age, she becomes the reserve first mate.
• Mark and Victor shift from rivals to temporary allies when Ai Miye threatens to win, exposing their shared desire for authority.
• Qiao Si emerges as a quiet but acceptable compromise candidate and becomes first mate despite receiving little attention during the campaign.

Significant Themes

• Rules versus personal freedom: Mark and Victor’s punishment emphasizes that even adventurous pirates must follow a system of order.
• Leadership and authority: The election establishes a hierarchy within the Blackblade Pirates and shows that leadership depends not only on strength but also on influence, maturity, and political support.
• Power and ambition: Mark, Victor, and Ai Miye all seek the position for different reasons, revealing their desire to shape the crew’s future.
• Youth and responsibility: Ai Miye’s exclusion because of her age raises questions about whether leadership requires combat experience, maturity, or simply the ability to command loyalty.
• Humor and camaraderie: The crew’s arguments, theatrical campaigning, and Hawkins’s teasing create a lighthearted contrast to the deadly Sea Ape battle.

Character Interactions

• Victor and Mark commiserate over their near-death experience but quickly become rivals during the election.
• Hawkins disciplines the two men while humorously manipulating the treasure dispute.
• Ai Miye uses the confiscation threat and her influence over the orphans to strengthen her political position.
• Mark and Victor insult each other throughout the campaign, then unite to challenge Ai Miye’s eligibility.
• Hawkins mediates the dispute by appointing Ai Miye reserve first mate and allowing the adults to compete.
• The final vote reveals the crew’s lack of confidence in both Mark and Victor, resulting in Qiao Si’s victory.

Chapter Summary: “Delusion Fishing Rod”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Qiao Si discovers that she has been elected first mate of the Blackblade Pirates. She is shocked because she lacks experience managing a large crew and had only voted for herself, assuming Jennie would not support her.
• Hawkins reorganizes the pirate crew’s leadership:
  • Qiao Si remains first mate.
  • Mark becomes second mate and battle chief.
  • Victor becomes boatswain, managing a separate division of pirates.
• Mark immediately adopts an exaggerated, boastful “second mate” persona modeled on rivalries aboard other pirate ships, amusing and irritating the others.
• Hawkins examines the treasures Mark and Victor recovered. Among them are:
  • The Deep Sea Canteen, a mysterious bronze card and oddity.
  • The Delusion Fishing Rod, a highly dangerous relic capable of manifesting things buried in the user’s deepest disbelief.
  • The Bell of Despair, a Death-Tier relic whose sound drives listeners into despair and suicide while inflicting the same despair on its holder.
• When Hawkins touches the Delusion Fishing Rod, it drains the life from his body, reducing him to dry bones, but produces Dandan, a strange creature he once drew as a childlike cartoon.
• After Mother creates a replacement body, Hawkins investigates Dandan and concludes that the fishing rod materializes things that a person believes cannot exist. However, these creations are physically incomplete and scientifically impossible, consisting largely of protein.
• Hawkins tests the rod again and fishes up a cartoon mouse. After examining it, he concludes that the rod’s enormous cost makes it largely impractical: it can create impossible entities, but they have little biological or scientific value.

Character Developments

• Qiao Si is unexpectedly elevated from guard to first mate. Her humility and willingness to surrender the position to Ai Miye in the future demonstrate her lack of ambition and loyalty to the crew.
• Mark reveals his insecurity about his lack of administrative skills. He compensates by embracing an overly smug and theatrical persona as second mate, while remaining primarily suited to combat.
• Victor presents himself as more rational and capable of management, criticizing Mark’s reliance on seniority and violence. He accepts his role under Hawkins’s authority.
• Hawkins continues to approach supernatural objects analytically, sacrificing one of his bodies to test the fishing rod and conducting experiments to determine its rules and limitations.
• Mother remains vigilant and immediately recreates Hawkins after his death, emphasizing both the practical value of his duplicate bodies and the strange, controlled nature of his existence.

Significant Themes

• Leadership and suitability: Authority is not assigned solely by seniority. The crew attempts to divide responsibilities according to individual strengths—combat for Mark, organization for Victor, and overall leadership under Hawkins.
• Loyalty amid rivalry: Mark and Victor are encouraged to maintain a conventional first-mate/second-mate rivalry, but both remain obedient to Hawkins.
• The cost of knowledge: Hawkins repeatedly risks his life to understand mysterious relics, showing that discovery often requires extreme sacrifice.
• Reality versus delusion: The fishing rod gives physical form to things believed impossible, blurring the boundaries between imagination, disbelief, and existence.
• Scientific curiosity and skepticism: Even supernatural phenomena are subjected to testing and analysis. Hawkins refuses to accept that the summoned creatures are truly alive merely because they appear to exist.
• Despair and trauma: The Bell of Despair recalls Hawkins’s own long experience with hopelessness, suggesting that the relic’s power is especially significant because he understands its effects personally.

Character Interactions

• Qiao Si and Jennie’s unexpected mutual vote leads to Qiao Si’s promotion.
• Mark and Victor argue over seniority, ability, and authority, with Hawkins settling the dispute by assigning them separate responsibilities.
• Mark jokes and bickers with Qiao Si and Ai Miye, while the others react with confusion to his exaggerated behavior.
• Hawkins interacts with Mother through the replacement of his destroyed body and relies on her to maintain his experiments.
• Hawkins studies Dandan and the cartoon mouse as products of his own former imagination, turning his personal delusions into objects of scientific investigation.

Chapter Summary: “Jin Ba Joins the Group”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Hawkins reflects on despair, loneliness, and his fear of death. Although he once longed for companionship, he now realizes that solitude also has value and resolves to cherish the bonds he has formed.
• On the Rogers, Mark begins training the pirates under his command using modern exercise methods such as squats, push-ups, and sit-ups. He takes his position as second mate seriously and wants his subordinates to become stronger.
• Hawkins briefly interacts with Mark and Victor, but their teasing conversation—especially Victor’s remarks about women being shallow—quickly becomes chaotic when Qiao Si appears. Overwhelmed by their banter, Hawkins returns to his research.
• At the Isolated Island Laboratory, Hawkins experiments on the golden dragon, whose mind had previously been consumed by madness. He places Trist’s crown on its head, and the crown restores the creature’s sanity.
• The golden dragon reveals that his name is Jin Ba and that he was transformed by a Cursed Relic. Hawkins offers him two choices: swear loyalty or die. Jin Ba chooses to live and submit.
• Rather than enslaving Jin Ba as he did the pirates, Hawkins directly invites him into the group because Jin Ba was an innocent person victimized by the cursed object.
• Jin Ba joins the “I Love My Family Group” chat and struggles to understand advanced technology, the chat system, and modern internet culture. The others welcome him with jokes, introductions, and playful rivalry.

Character Developments

• Hawkins: Shows greater awareness of his own loneliness and attachment to his crew. He values the relationships he has built, though he remains socially uncomfortable with Mark and Victor’s humor. He also demonstrates mercy and fairness by distinguishing Jin Ba from the pirates he enslaved.
• Mark: Becomes more responsible and confident as second mate. He trains the crew and takes pride in the Blackblade Pirates’ family-like atmosphere. He remains boastful, competitive, and eager to joke with others.
• Victor: Continues acting as a sarcastic provocateur, especially toward Mark and the other aspiring officers. His humor highlights the crew’s relaxed, familial dynamic.
• Jin Ba: Transitions from a cursed, irrational golden dragon into a sane but cautious individual. He accepts Hawkins’s authority pragmatically and begins adapting to an unfamiliar world of technology, group chats, and modern culture.
• The Crew: Their banter reveals strong familiarity and camaraderie. Several members jokingly compete over future ranks, showing their ambitions and close relationships.

Significant Themes

• Despair and companionship: Hawkins recognizes that despair can be deadly, but also reflects on the irony of longing for company and later craving solitude. The chapter emphasizes the importance of valuing relationships once they are gained.
• Fate and transformation: Jin Ba’s life changes repeatedly—from guard to city lord, then cursed dragon, and finally crew member—illustrating the unpredictable nature of fate.
• Mercy versus control: Hawkins rules through power but does not treat everyone identically. He enslaves criminals without guilt yet offers Jin Ba membership because Jin Ba was an unwilling victim.
• Adaptation to unfamiliar worlds: Jin Ba must adjust to advanced technology and communication systems, creating humorous contrasts between his traditional background and the modern knowledge of the crew.
• Family and belonging: The Blackblade Pirates increasingly function as a family rather than merely a crew, with training, arguments, teasing, and mutual acceptance reinforcing that bond.

Character Interactions

• Hawkins and Mark discuss Mark’s experiences aboard the ship, with Mark expressing affection for the crew and describing it as more like a family than his actual family.
• Mark and Victor trade insults about rank, appearance, strength, and women, while Qiao Si observes and exposes Victor’s attempt to avoid responsibility for his remarks.
• Hawkins attempts to escape the crew’s generational humor and returns to his laboratory.
• Hawkins questions Jin Ba about his identity and transformation, then gives him the choice between loyalty and death.
• The group welcomes Jin Ba through the chat, introducing themselves while joking about future positions.
• Mark mistakenly assumes Jin Ba may be a woman, leading to further teasing. Jennie helps Jin Ba take a “selfie,” while Victor mocks Mark for complimenting her.
• Hawkins discovers that the crew is quoting expressions from novels he uploaded, creating another humorous reminder of how his writings influence their language.

Chapter Summary: “Counteracting the Curse”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jin Ba becomes more integrated into the Chat Group after Hawkins removes his restraints and allows him to find a residence in Eternal Space.
• The Fear Mirror begins malfunctioning after the Giant Spider leaves to fight a Sea Ape and apparently dies. Instead of showing only Anna’s cursed reflection, it now shows both Anna and Ai Miye covered in black mist and displaying signs of decay.
• Hawkins suspects the Fear Mirror may require two sacrifices and worries that Ai Miye has also been contaminated by the curse.
• He develops a solution by creating a Conversion Contract Program that transfers the curse-offsetting power of genuine missions into a universally usable system.
• Hawkins adds a curse-resolution method to the Exchange Page. However, the conversion process consumes half the original power, leading him to divide currency into:
  • Daily Exchange Points, earned through routine tasks and usable for necessities and technology.
  • Mission Exchange Points, earned through genuine missions and usable to offset curses or obtain valuable items.
• Mark enthusiastically tries to earn mission points by hunting pirates. Victor becomes frustrated because he has only a limited role and cannot leave the fleet easily.
• Mark realizes that he delayed resurrecting Avril, and the new system makes resurrection require scarce mission points. He resolves to prioritize her resurrection in the future.
• Hawkins advances Anna enough points to remove her curse, both because her situation is dangerous and because her Witch genes may eventually allow her to produce highly valuable potions, including a Curse Power Recovery Potion.
• The crew begins undertaking missions aggressively. Ai Miye and others compete to clean toilets, while Mark takes a group of skilled pirates away for combat training aboard the renamed ship Mark.
• As the Black Knife nears the former location of Black Market Island, Qiao Si reflects on the consequences of Hawkins’s acquisition of the island, including disrupted ocean currents, altered shipping routes, and major climate changes.
• Now serving as first mate, Qiao Si feels pressure to manage the fleet properly. Influenced by a book on lordly conduct, she attempts to appear mysterious and emotionally unreadable, copying what she believes is Hawkins’s leadership style.
• Her attempt to test whether Arthur can read her thoughts fails comically. Arthur then spots several approaching pirate ships, prompting Qiao Si to eagerly prepare for action.

Character Developments

• Hawkins demonstrates his resourcefulness by creating a flexible system for offsetting curses and shows concern for Anna’s survival. He also recognizes Anna’s future strategic and economic value.
• Anna becomes even more important to the group because of her Witch genes and potential to create powerful potions. Her curse is treated as an urgent priority.
• Ai Miye may have been affected by the Fear Mirror, though the chapter leaves the extent of her contamination uncertain. She remains protective of Anna’s feelings.
• Mark becomes highly motivated to earn mission points and takes direct action against pirates. His competitive, impulsive nature remains evident.
• Victor is frustrated by his inability to participate in Mark’s pirate-hunting mission and envies Mark’s freedom.
• Qiao Si grows into her leadership responsibilities but feels insecure about replacing more experienced officers. She tries to imitate Hawkins’s reserved persona, with humorous results.
• Arthur remains innocent and easily deceived, believing Ai Miye’s joke that Mark has “Idiot Disease,” but he also proves useful by spotting the incoming pirates.

Significant Themes

• The cost of protection: Curse removal is possible, but it requires genuine effort and mission completion rather than routine labor.
• Resource management and responsibility: Hawkins can help others only because he has accumulated substantial energy and resources; his generosity has practical limits.
• Leadership and imitation: Qiao Si’s attempt to copy Hawkins raises the question of whether leadership comes from appearing mysterious or from genuinely bearing responsibility.
• Progress through systems and contracts: Hawkins continues transforming supernatural forces into structured, manageable systems through technology and programming.
• Economic value and survival: Individuals are protected not only because of personal bonds but also because of their potential usefulness to the group.
• Humor amid danger: Serious threats such as curses, death, and climate disruption are balanced by jokes, teasing, and misunderstandings.

Character Interactions

• Hawkins reassures Anna, Ai Miye, and the others while investigating the Fear Mirror.
• Ai Miye reacts unhappily when Arthur suggests she may be cursed, trying to prevent Anna from feeling guilty or frightened.
• Mark and Victor exchange sarcastic remarks about Mark’s enthusiasm and Victor’s inability to hunt pirates.
• Mark privately regrets postponing Avril’s resurrection and accepts responsibility for his mistake.
• Qiao Si questions Arthur about her thoughts and emotions, but Arthur misunderstands her behavior and compares her to Mark.
• Arthur’s discovery of the pirate ships shifts the scene from comic introspection to an imminent confrontation.

Key plot points and events

• The Black Knife encounters a fleet flying the distinctive crossed-feather flag of the Pirate Queen’s organization. Qiao Si learns that the fleet belongs to the Pirate Queen’s Pirates and orders the Blackblade Pirates to fight.
• The opposing fleet is led by Anakin, who has been promised the position of first mate if he kills Hawkins, the “Son of Pirates.” He initially underestimates the Blackblade crew, but their battle readiness makes him reconsider.
• The two fleets clash. Anakin’s crew uses special fire oil that burns even underwater, throwing the Blackblade Pirates into disarray.
• From the Black Knife’s lookout, Victor attempts to shoot Anakin but kills the combat captain beside him instead. Anakin catches Victor’s next bullet and reveals his power to transform parts of his body into feathers and wings.
• Anakin flies to the Black Knife, kills several pirates, and corners Victor. Qiao Si intervenes but is badly wounded. Anakin mocks her and insults the Pirate Queen; Qiao Si challenges his sexism by pointing out that he serves a woman.
• Anakin disables Victor’s rifle and drives his hand into Victor’s chest, leaving both Victor and the gravely wounded Qiao Si apparently defeated.

Character developments

• Qiao Si takes command of a major battle for the first time. Though she recognizes the risks, she commits to fighting and shows courage by confronting Anakin to protect Victor.
• Victor acts quickly as a sniper but is outmatched by Anakin’s speed and powers. He abandons caution when Qiao Si is threatened, at great personal cost.
• Anakin shifts from confidence to caution when he sees the Blackblade Pirates’ fighting spirit, then relies on his own strength and ambition to try to win the battle by killing their key fighters.
• The Blackblade crew responds to the prospect of battle with enthusiasm, while some enslaved pirates see combat as a chance to vent their anger or perhaps die on their own terms.

Significant themes

• Leadership and responsibility: Qiao Si’s decision to fight carries the burden of victory or defeat.
• Courage and loyalty: Victor and Qiao Si risk themselves for one another, while the crew embraces battle despite their circumstances.
• Power and ambition: Anakin sees killing Hawkins as a route to promotion and believes a leader’s defeat can decide a whole battle.
• Sexism and hypocrisy: Anakin demeans Qiao Si as a woman, but she exposes the contradiction in his respect for the Pirate Queen.
• Information and perception: Rumors have distorted Anakin’s view of the Blackblade Pirates, and their true strength becomes clear only when the fleets meet.

Key plot points and events

• Anakin overwhelms Victor and Qiao Si, revealing that the crew’s numbers are no match for his strength.
• Arthur tries to protect his friends by shooting Anakin, but Anakin catches and hurls the bullet back. Anna’s newly manifested Fear Mirror monster—an eerie, regenerating double of herself—blocks it.
• The double attacks Anakin, injuring him with a brutal blow to the kidney. He recovers quickly and fights back, but its body can repeatedly dissolve and regenerate.
• Anakin burns through a rare liquor he had saved for seven years, then becomes furious and threatens to kill the crew and abuse Ai Miye and Anna.
• Ai Miye reveals she has called for help. Jin Ba arrives in the form of a gigantic golden dragon, repairs the damaged Black Knife with vines, and frightens the surrounding fighters into stopping.
• Anakin tries to find a chance to escape, but Jin Ba seizes him and carries him away.

Character developments

• Anna demonstrates a new ability: she can manifest a powerful, nearly indestructible monster from the Fear Mirror, apparently modeled on herself.
• Ai Miye stays with Anna and Arthur under pressure and has arranged backup, showing resourcefulness and courage.
• Arthur remains protective despite being outmatched, repeatedly trying to defend his companions.
• Anakin is established as exceptionally powerful and fiercely devoted to the Pirate Queen and the Featherfolk, but his rage and cruelty make him a clear threat.
• Jin Ba shows his growing trust in the Chat Group and his bond with Ai Miye, whom he treats like a daughter. He acts decisively to protect her group.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Numbers cannot compensate for the gulf in strength between the crew and Anakin; survival depends on Anna’s unusual ability and Jin Ba’s intervention.
• Found family and loyalty: Ai Miye, Anna, Arthur, and Jin Ba protect one another, while Jin Ba’s acceptance by the Chat Group gives him a place where he is treated as a person.
• Fear transformed into strength: Anna’s former fear has disappeared, but the Fear Mirror produces a new, formidable manifestation.
• Cruelty and protection: Anakin’s threats contrast sharply with Jin Ba’s intervention to defend the children.

Character interactions

• Arthur tries to defend Qiao Si and Victor, and Anna’s double saves him from Anakin’s rebounded bullet.
• Ai Miye reassures Anna and Arthur, then admits she has called for help.
• Anakin fights Anna’s double, whose regenerating attacks force him to retreat and provoke his anger.
• Jin Ba responds to Ai Miye’s call, confronts Anakin, and carries him off before he can attack the others.

Key plot points

• After defeating Anakin’s forces aboard the Black Knife, Hawkins treats the badly injured Qiao Si and Victor, criticizes their poor performance, and orders the remaining fighting to stop. He then enslaves the captured pirates in Eternal Space and reorganizes the fleet.
• Qiao Si reports the victory’s cost and spoils: fifty of Hawkins’s pirates and thirty enemies died, while more than nine hundred enemy pirates—over seven hundred combat-ready—were captured, along with five ships and substantial treasure. Hawkins approves Qiao Si’s proposed rewards and leaves her to distribute them.
• In his laboratory, Hawkins considers improving his subordinates’ strength with personalized Genetic Arms. Lacking suitable human genes, he turns to Dream Realm Creatures as a possible source.
• The Pirate Queen learns that Anakin is dead and his crew captured. Unable to hunt Hawkins across the vast seas, she decides to lure him to Transit Island and ambush him with overwhelming force. She recruits Maning, a powerful and unrecognizable infiltrator whom she once rescued from the Dream Realm.
• At sea, Mark learns that the apparent absence of pirates is because Hawkins’s Blackblade Pirates have absorbed them. Just as Mark considers returning home, he spots something in the distance.

Character developments and interactions

• Hawkins shows both strategic judgment and a willingness to cultivate loyalty: he criticizes Qiao Si and Victor’s weaknesses but lets Qiao Si handle the rewards, knowingly giving her a chance to build authority.
• Qiao Si accepts responsibility for allocating rewards and denies herself and Victor payment because of their poor showing. She recognizes Hawkins’s gesture as deliberate support for her leadership.
• The Pirate Queen shifts from grief and anger over Anakin’s death to a calculated revenge plan, choosing deception over a direct search.
• Maning reluctantly agrees to repay the Pirate Queen’s favor by infiltrating Hawkins’s crew, while confidently claiming she can manipulate men.
• Mark and Xiao Yaojin share a comic exchange: Mark’s hunt for pirates has failed because the pirates are already serving aboard his own ship.

Significant themes

• Potential versus practical strength: Hawkins argues that future promise is meaningless if it cannot help someone survive now.
• Leadership and loyalty: Rewards, delegated authority, and opportunities to prove oneself help strengthen a crew’s cohesion.
• Power and consolidation: Hawkins’s growing fleet changes the balance of the Seven Seas—and leaves few independent pirates for Mark to encounter.
• Revenge and strategy: The Pirate Queen’s response shows that powerful enemies may prefer traps and infiltration to open confrontation.

Chapter Summary: “Living Dead”

Key Plot Points and Events

• A battered merchant ship approaches Mark’s pirate vessel instead of fleeing, immediately raising suspicion.
• A fat man, Jin Dong, begs Mark to save an apparently dying girl named Millie. He claims pirates attacked their ship and stabbed her in the stomach.
• Mark allows Jin Dong and Millie aboard, but Xiao Yaojin points out that it is suspicious for someone fleeing pirates to seek help from another pirate ship.
• Once aboard, Millie suddenly attacks the pirates, killing four of them with her sharp nails. Jin Dong reveals that the apparent rescue was a trap designed to infiltrate and destroy Mark’s ship.
• Peng Jiesi quickly restrains Millie, forcing Jin Dong to surrender. Both are tied up and questioned.
• Jin Dong explains that he and Millie are aspiring “Pirate Hunters.” He met Millie near Mateo Town when she was suffering from a high fever. After recovering, she became extraordinarily strong, emotionless, and obedient only to him.
• Jin Dong admits that he previously encountered real pirates and had been defeated after revealing Millie’s strength too early. He devised the merchant-ship deception to get close enough to attack Mark’s crew.
• Mark agrees to investigate the location of the pirates Jin Dong encountered and considers what to do with Millie.
• Through the Chat Group, Hawkins examines Millie in his laboratory. He confirms that she is not carrying a Cursed Relic and determines that she is neither a normal human nor a conventional zombie.
• Hawkins identifies her as a “Living Dead”: biologically dead, without consciousness, thought, or soul activity, yet still physically active and capable of following Jin Dong’s commands.
• Unable to determine the cause through medical, genetic, or bacterial analysis, Hawkins orders Mark to travel to Mateo Town so he can investigate the mystery personally.

Character Developments

• Mark becomes more cautious after Xiao Yaojin exposes the flaw in Jin Dong’s story. Although initially deceived by the child’s convincing condition, he quickly regains control and handles the attackers decisively.
• Xiao Yaojin demonstrates sharp observational skills by recognizing that Jin Dong’s request for help from pirates is illogical.
• Peng Jiesi proves his overwhelming strength by subduing Millie effortlessly, preventing further deaths.
• Jin Dong is revealed as clever, opportunistic, and desperate. Though he attempts to deceive Mark, he quickly surrenders when his plan fails and explains his motives.
• Millie is established as an emotionless, highly dangerous being who lacks independent will and obeys Jin Dong without question.
• Hawkins shifts from technical experimentation to scientific investigation. Millie’s unexplained condition fascinates him because it may reveal a new supernatural force or a connection between this world and Earth.

Significant Themes

• Deception and survival: Jin Dong uses a rescue plea to disguise an attack, while Mark’s crew must distinguish genuine desperation from manipulation.
• The boundary between life and death: Millie challenges ordinary definitions of humanity, being dead in body and mind while still capable of movement and violence.
• Science versus the unknown: Hawkins applies systematic examination but cannot explain Millie, suggesting that some forces lie beyond current scientific knowledge.
• Curiosity and discovery: Rather than simply treating Millie as a threat, Hawkins sees her as evidence of a larger mystery and seeks the underlying cause.
• Trust and loyalty: Millie’s complete obedience to Jin Dong raises questions about whether her behavior comes from their final contact, supernatural control, or another unknown mechanism.

Character Interactions

• Mark and Xiao Yaojin: Xiao Yaojin warns Mark about the suspicious merchant ship, helping him recognize the trap.
• Mark and Jin Dong: Mark initially offers aid but later interrogates Jin Dong after the betrayal. Jin Dong shifts from fake desperation to frightened submission.
• Jin Dong and Millie: Jin Dong commands Millie to attack, and she obeys instantly, though their relationship and the source of her loyalty remain unclear.
• Peng Jiesi and Millie: Peng Jiesi’s effortless restraint of Millie establishes the power difference between them and saves the crew from further casualties.
• Mark and Hawkins: Mark supplies information and sends Millie through the Spatial Passage, while Hawkins performs the examination and directs Mark to investigate Mateo Town.

Chapter Summary: “Mad Woman”

Key Plot Points and Events

• A month passes while the Blackblade Pirates use their access to Eternal Space to train and improve their equipment. Victor purchases weapons, Qiao Si acquires Nano Armor, and Mark continues searching for the Blood Spear Pirates.
• Mark travels to Mateo Town, a remote settlement near the Black Sea known as a refuge for criminals. His arrival causes the entire town to evacuate in fear.
• While searching the town at Hawkins’s request, Mark learns from Xiao Yaojin that a woman is imprisoned in a secret dungeon beneath a bar.
• The imprisoned woman recognizes Mark as “Silver Wolf Mark” but insists he should have joined the Blood Spear Pirates, suggesting that her reality differs from the current one.
• Hawkins arrives and is similarly identified as an anomaly. The woman claims he is not the “real” Hawkins and says he has broken the world’s predetermined fate.
• Hawkins brings the woman back to his laboratory in Eternal Space. She introduces herself as Norns and describes repeated deaths and resets in which she witnesses the ultimate destruction of the Seven Seas.
• According to Norns, a vengeful man will return from hell, destroy all life, and transform the Seven Seas into the Black Sea. Before this occurs, Hell’s Gate will repeatedly open, diseases will spread, and the dead will rise.
• Norns says she has repeatedly tried to escape through the Mist Sea but failed because of its disorienting nature and terrifying, possibly monstrous dangers.
• Hawkins suspects that Hell’s Gate may connect to the Dream Realm, but Norns has never heard of the Dream Realm, deepening the mystery surrounding her visions and the world’s possible cycles.

Character Developments

• Mark remains confident and blunt, initially dismissing Mateo Town and assuming the imprisoned woman is simply insane. However, her knowledge of an alternate version of his life forces him to recognize that something supernatural is occurring.
• Hawkins becomes highly interested in Norns after she identifies him as an anomaly. His calm, investigative approach contrasts with her unstable behavior, and he begins treating her as an important source of information.
• Norns is revealed to be traumatized, mentally unstable, and possibly trapped in repeated cycles of death and rebirth. Despite her “madness,” she possesses extraordinary knowledge of possible future events and alternate timelines.
• Victor and Qiao Si demonstrate the crew’s ongoing preparation through improved weapons and armor, though they do not participate directly in the chapter’s central events.

Significant Themes

• Fate versus free will: Norns believes Mark and Hawkins were meant to follow predetermined paths, but their current actions have disrupted that fate.
• Alternate realities and reincarnation: The chapter raises the possibility that the world repeatedly resets, with characters following different outcomes in each cycle.
• Apocalyptic prophecy: The transformation of the Seven Seas into the Black Sea presents a future of revenge, disease, resurrection, and total destruction.
• Knowledge and madness: Norns’s fragmented, contradictory speech makes her appear insane, but her predictions may be accurate. The chapter questions whether madness results from possessing knowledge others cannot comprehend.
• The unknown and failed escape: The Mist Sea represents an almost impenetrable barrier, emphasizing the limitations of even someone who has experienced countless cycles.

Important Character Interactions

• Mark and Xiao Yaojin: Xiao Yaojin alerts Mark to the imprisoned woman and persuades him to investigate despite Mark’s initial lack of interest.
• Mark and Norns: Norns’s recognition of Mark and her insistence that he should have joined the Blood Spear Pirates immediately establishes that the current world differs from the one she remembers.
• Hawkins and Norns: Their conversation forms the chapter’s core. Norns challenges Hawkins’s identity, while Hawkins calmly questions her about the cycles, the Mist Sea, Hell’s Gate, and the Seven Seas’ fate.
• Mark and Hawkins: Mark protects Hawkins when Norns reaches for him, and Hawkins entrusts Mark with continuing the search around Mateo Town while he investigates Norns further.

Chapter Summary: “Thomas Island”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Hawkins questions Norns about her knowledge of the Dream Realm, Cursed Relics, and future disasters. She reveals that her repeated “reincarnations” have shown her a sequence of increasingly severe catastrophes.
• Norns predicts that:
  • More people will become Living Dead.
  • A town will mysteriously vanish.
  • Eventually, the Seven Seas will be destroyed by a powerful figure connected to the Dream Realm.
• Hawkins offers Norns the choice of remaining in the present world or returning to her previous life. She chooses to stay, promising not to reveal that Hawkins is not the real person he appears to be.
• Hawkins teaches Norns to use the Chat Group and Forum, then evaluates whether her memories and predictions are genuine. Her memories contain only imprisonment, leaving open two possibilities: she is truly foreseeing the future, or she suffers from supernatural delusions.
• Three weeks later, Marliano Town—with nearly 70,000 residents—vanishes completely overnight. Only traces on the ground remain.
• Hawkins sends Mark to investigate. Mark leaves Mateo Town, relieved to avoid attracting the attention of Dempsey, a powerful Lord who is stronger than both Peng Jiesi and Rogers.
• Mark reaches the site of Marliano Town’s disappearance fifteen days later but finds no clear explanation.
• Hawkins then receives news that Qiao Si and the others have arrived at Thomas Island, the site of their treasure hunt.
• Hawkins asks Norns what disaster will follow the town’s disappearance. She predicts that a small island in the Xipuwili Sea will come alive because it is actually part of a sea monster’s back.
• When Hawkins confirms that the island is Thomas Island—the very island beneath him—he realizes Norns’s predictions are continuing to come true.

Character Developments

• Norns: Moves from a frightened captive to a potential ally and source of future knowledge. Her credibility increases when Marliano Town disappears exactly as she predicted, though Hawkins still doubts whether her visions are genuine or caused by an unknown mental or supernatural force.
• Hawkins: Becomes increasingly cautious and strategic. He recognizes that the Dream Realm threat may involve a being stronger than a Ninth-Rank Curse Caster, possibly a godlike entity. He begins preparing both to confront this enemy and to flee the Seven Seas if necessary.
• Mark: Shows greater caution and humility. Rather than assuming he can solve the mystery, he admits that he cannot guarantee success when investigating Marliano Town’s disappearance. He is also wary of Dempsey’s overwhelming strength.
• Qiao Si: Continues supporting Hawkins’s operations and reports the group’s arrival at Thomas Island.

Significant Themes

• Uncertainty and hidden truth: Hawkins cannot determine whether Norns is a genuine prophet or the victim of supernatural delusions.
• Escalating apocalypse: The Living Dead, the disappearance of Marliano Town, and the coming transformation of Thomas Island suggest that disasters are unfolding in a predetermined sequence.
• Preparation versus survival: Hawkins plans to fight the approaching threat but is equally prepared to abandon the Seven Seas if the enemy proves impossible to defeat.
• Limits of power: Even Hawkins acknowledges that defeating a godlike figure through schemes does not mean he can match such a being directly.
• Fate and inevitability: Norns’s warnings appear to be coming true, raising the possibility that the future disasters may be unavoidable.

Character Interactions

• Hawkins and Norns: Hawkins interrogates Norns about the future, offers her protection, and establishes her as an ally under a secrecy agreement. He later contacts her for information about the next disaster.
• Hawkins and Mark: Hawkins orders Mark to investigate Marliano Town. Mark communicates his findings and doubts through the Chat Group.
• Mark and Dempsey: Though they do not meet, Mark fears attracting Dempsey’s attention because Dempsey is far more powerful than the fighters Mark has previously faced.
• Hawkins and Qiao Si: Qiao Si reports the group’s arrival at Thomas Island, unknowingly placing Hawkins at the center of the next predicted catastrophe.
• Hawkins and Norns’ prophecy: The chapter ends with Hawkins realizing that the island he is standing on is the very location Norns warned would awaken.

Chapter Summary: “Maning”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Hawkins learns that the Eternal Sea Chart’s Infinity Treasure Hunt carries a curse: failing to find the treasure before the deadline would activate it. Despite realizing Thomas Island is actually part of an enormous sleeping monster, he continues the search.
• By probing beneath the island with Curse Power, Hawkins estimates the creature to be tens of thousands of meters tall and nearly one hundred thousand meters long. Fortunately, it remains dormant.
• After six hours, Victor’s sailors locate the treasure buried beneath an ancient tree. Hawkins opens the chest and finds gold, ornaments, and several notebooks. He rewards the sailors and slaves, though he has little interest in the gold.
• The notebooks belonged to Thomas, a pirate who lived two hundred years earlier and operated in the Xipuwili Sea. They contain information about the Seven Seas’ rulers and their hidden histories, including:
  • Yazhong Island’s Lord Odekro’s son, Aldrich, who has a yin-yang face.
  • Hard Biscuit Island’s Lord Dunluns having twin sons, Dempsey and Deng Jiesi.
  • The seemingly insignificant Lord of Bottle Island being exceptionally dangerous.
• Hawkins suspects that Dempsey’s twin brother might be connected to the disaster Norns predicted, though he admits this is only speculation.
• Since the Eternal Sea Chart reveals no further treasure locations, Hawkins changes course toward Sean Village on Yazhong Island, a major livestock market. He plans to buy animals in bulk and establish an ecological farm on Black Market Island.
• Meanwhile, Mark investigates the disappearance of Marliano Town on Hard Biscuit Island. He learns that people are vanishing from nearby towns every day, causing widespread panic and prompting families to flee.
• Mark sends Xiao Yaojin to gather information. Xiao Yaojin, eager to survive and regain his freedom someday, tries to prove his usefulness by flattering Mark and obeying his orders.
• A young woman named Maning flees from several men and collides with Mark. The men claim that Maning’s mother sold her to them. Because Hard Biscuit Island legally permits parents to sell their children, Mark must determine whether he will intervene.

Character Developments

• Hawkins remains practical and composed, continuing the treasure hunt despite the terrifying monster beneath Thomas Island. He demonstrates curiosity and strategic thinking by studying Thomas’s notebook and connecting its information to Norns’s prophecy.
• Mark shows some improvement from his former impulsiveness. He investigates the disappearances instead of acting immediately, though he still proceeds directly into danger with his pirates.
• Xiao Yaojin becomes increasingly submissive and calculating. Recognizing that Mark and Hawkins control his fate, he deliberately makes himself useful to avoid being treated as expendable.
• Maning is introduced as frightened and desperate, repeatedly attempting to escape the men who claim ownership over her.
• Dempsey’s unnamed twin brother becomes a possible figure connected to the predicted disaster, though the chapter offers no confirmation.

Significant Themes

• Fate versus free will: Hawkins reflects on whether his apparent coincidences indicate that his life is being controlled like a game or story.
• The danger of hidden power: The sleeping monster, the mysterious Lord of Bottle Island, and the possible disaster linked to Dempsey’s brother all suggest that immense threats may remain concealed beneath ordinary circumstances.
• Exploitation and survival: Maning’s situation exposes the brutal legality of child-selling on Hard Biscuit Island. Xiao Yaojin’s behavior similarly shows how oppressed people may submit and manipulate circumstances simply to stay alive.
• Information as power: Thomas’s notebook provides Hawkins with valuable historical and political intelligence, while Xiao Yaojin’s ability to gather rumors makes him useful to Mark.
• Humanity’s smallness before greater forces: Hawkins’s description of the monster emphasizes how insignificant ordinary people and islands are compared with ancient, colossal powers.

Character Interactions

• Hawkins works with Victor’s sailors and rewards them after the treasure is found, while Qiao Si handles the practical arrangements.
• Hawkins and Qiao Si discuss their next destination, leading to the decision to travel to Sean Village.
• Mark relies on Xiao Yaojin to investigate the disappearances, while Peng Jiesi and Rogers remain obedient but resentful tools under Mark’s command.
• Maning’s collision with Mark brings her into conflict with the men claiming to have purchased her. Mark challenges them by asking how much they paid, signaling that he may intervene despite the island’s laws.

Chapter Summary: “Demon Sacrificer”

Plot and Key Events

• Mark rescues Maning from abusive villagers who intended to harm her. When they act arrogantly, he orders his hidden pirates to break their limbs and remove them.
• Maning explains that her mother sold her after being deceived and falling into debt. She escaped because she feared being abused but now has nowhere to go.
• Because Maning is exceptionally beautiful, Mark is especially willing to help her, though he says he must first ask Hawkins whether she can join them.
• Xiao Yaojin reports that the people disappearing from Marliano Town are mostly insignificant residents. Mark concludes that the disappearances are probably deliberate rather than random, possibly intended to create panic and drive people away.
• Maning reveals a rumor about “Demon Sacrifice,” a ritual in which people offer sacrifices to demons in exchange for power.
• The group suspects that someone may be sacrificing townspeople to a Dream Realm monster, perhaps allowing it to enter the Seven Seas. If so, killing the sacrificer might resolve the crisis without confronting the larger enemy.
• Hawkins arrives at Hard Biscuit Island and takes command of the investigation. He assigns the pirates to search the disappearance sites and monitor suspicious individuals, offering fifty years off their sentences to whoever finds the sacrificer.
• Hawkins does not suspect Maning, unaware that she has a connection to the Pirate Queen and is secretly terrified by his overwhelming strength.

Character Developments

• Mark becomes more ruthless and openly domineering when dealing with people he considers unworthy, but he also shows compassion toward Maning and takes responsibility for finding her a safe place.
• Maning is established as a tragic, abused survivor. She presents herself as helpless and grateful while secretly recognizing Hawkins as far more powerful than she was led to believe.
• Hawkins demonstrates his authority and strategic judgment by immediately organizing a large-scale search. His presence gives Mark confidence and causes Maning to reassess the danger of her situation.
• Xiao Yaojin remains eager and somewhat comic, becoming highly motivated by the promise of a reduced sentence.
• Ai Miye and Anna sympathize with Maning’s suffering while watching Mark’s livestream.

Character Interactions

• Mark intimidates and punishes the villagers, then shifts to a gentler tone with Maning.
• Maning appeals to Mark for protection and later provides information that changes the group’s understanding of the disappearances.
• Mark reassures Maning that Hawkins is trustworthy, ironically overlooking her hidden connection to the conspiracy.
• Hawkins and Mark work together as leader and subordinate, with Mark visibly relieved when Hawkins arrives.
• Hawkins gives the pirates a dangerous mission and motivates them through the promise of reduced punishment.
• Maning silently curses the Pirate Queen for misleading her and begins mentally conditioning herself to maintain her disguise as a pitiful victim.

Significant Themes

• Power and intimidation: Mark’s treatment of the villagers and Hawkins’s overwhelming presence show how power determines social interactions.
• Compassion versus exploitation: Maning’s tragic history contrasts with the people who abuse or sell her, while Mark’s willingness to help suggests that powerful individuals can still choose mercy.
• Hidden identities and deception: Maning conceals her true situation, while the suspected sacrificer hides behind seemingly random disappearances.
• Escalating supernatural threats: The chapter expands the world’s dangers beyond Cursed Relics, introducing demon contracts and Dream Realm entities as additional sources of power.
• Small causes creating major disasters: Hawkins emphasizes that seemingly minor problems—such as isolated disappearances—can grow into a catastrophe if ignored.

Plot points and events

• Hawkins agrees to let Maning join the Blackblade Pirates after Mark introduces her, despite her suspicious circumstances.
• Maning, secretly working for the Pirate Queen, assumes Hawkins intends to test her with a dangerous ritual. She considers escaping but feels utterly outmatched by him.
• Hawkins takes her through a spatial passage to Eternal Space and shows her how to use a modern restroom. While alone, Maning worries about being exposed, but eventually gives up on delaying.
• At the plaza, Hawkins asks her to register by pressing her hand against a screen. Maning imagines several attacks on him, but recognizes they would all fail and completes the registration.
• Once admitted to the Chat Group, Maning is surprised by its silly, friendly banter, which clashes with the pirates’ fearsome reputation. She soon gets absorbed in its videos, novels, and comfortable amenities.
• Hawkins leaves her in Eternal Space, confident that Mother can control her if she causes trouble. Meanwhile, he and Mark continue searching for a demon sacrificer who has been making people disappear without being detected.
• A week later, Maning has largely abandoned her intelligence-gathering mission, preferring the comforts and entertainment of Eternal Space. She hopes Hawkins will eventually kill the Pirate Queen, freeing her from her obligation to her.

Character developments and interactions

• Maning begins wary and determined to escape, but her fear of Hawkins makes her cautious. After joining the group, her suspicion gives way to fascination and comfort; she postpones her mission and becomes distracted by its pleasures.
• Hawkins is perceptive: he notices Maning’s odd behavior and suspects she is hiding something, yet chooses to let events unfold rather than confront her. His calm confidence contrasts with her anxiety.
• Mark introduces Maning and remains behind to keep watch. He and Hawkins later discuss the missing demon sacrificer.
• The Chat Group members welcome Maning amid teasing and jokes, revealing a playful, affectionate side to the pirates and helping draw her into their community.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: The feared Blackblade Pirates’ private group is goofy and welcoming, unlike their public reputation.
• Control and power: Maning imagines escape and attack, but feels powerless against Hawkins; his confidence is reinforced by Eternal Space’s safeguards.
• Comfort as distraction: Eternal Space’s convenience and entertainment gradually undermine Maning’s resolve to spy.
• Suspicion and uncertainty: Hawkins watches Maning without openly accusing her, while she continually misreads his intentions and wonders what hidden mechanisms he may have.

Chapter Summary: “Incoming Attack”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After completing a livestock purchase in Sean Village, Qiao Si leads the Black Knife and the rest of the fleet away from Yazhong Island. She has acquired nearly six thousand animals, but realizes this supply will not be enough for Eternal Space’s growing population.
• As the fleet leaves the bay, the Pirate Queen’s six-warship fleet intercepts them. She has tracked them with Liam’s assistance after Maning, her informant, disappeared and presumably betrayed her.
• The Pirate Queen orders Hoqi Endu to seal the surrounding sea. His sword creates a vast cage of light blades that cuts off the area and prevents Hawkins or anyone else from escaping through spatial abilities.
• The Pirate Queen freezes the sea, allowing her forces to attack directly. Her troops begin destroying and boarding the Blackblade Pirates’ ships, making it clear that they intend to annihilate the entire group rather than capture their ships or seize their treasure.
• Qiao Si discovers that she cannot contact the Chat Group, return to Eternal Space, or activate her Nano Armor because the spatial seal blocks her connection to Hawkins’s resources. She is forced to rely solely on her own combat ability.
• Enemy pirates smash through the ships’ hulls, killing the logistics crew. Qiao Si uses grenades to kill several attackers, but the fleet is rapidly overwhelmed.
• The Black Knife’s semi-biological structure protects it: its vines seize and drain any pirates who approach without attacking. However, an enemy middle-aged man exploits this limitation, stepping aboard without triggering the ship’s defenses.
• Qiao Si attacks the man but is outmatched. He strikes her with a supersonic punch, sending her crashing into barrels and leaving her seriously injured.
• The Pirate Queen demands to know Hawkins’s location. Qiao Si refuses to answer and taunts her, so the Queen tortures her by piercing her hands and knees with ice crystals. The chapter ends with Qiao Si enduring the pain without revealing Hawkins’s whereabouts.

Character Developments

• Qiao Si shows responsibility and anxiety over her new leadership duties. Though inexperienced, she successfully completes the livestock mission and quickly adapts when the attack begins.
• Her confidence is shaken when she realizes how dependent she has become on Hawkins, Eternal Space, and advanced equipment. Without those resources, she recognizes that her own strength is insufficient.
• Despite being badly wounded and tortured, Qiao Si remains defiant and loyal, refusing to betray Hawkins even when directly threatened.
• The Pirate Queen is portrayed as calculating, ruthless, and personally determined to destroy the Blackblade Pirates. She uses outside assistance and a specialized spatial-sealing tactic to neutralize Hawkins’s greatest advantage.
• Hoqi Endu demonstrates powerful sword-based abilities and serves as the strategist who prevents the fleet’s escape.
• The middle-aged attacker is revealed to be extremely strong and physically flexible, defeating Qiao Si with ease while mocking the Blackblade Pirates.
• Hawkins and Victor are absent from the battle at the crucial moment: Hawkins is cut off by the spatial seal, while Victor is trapped in Eternal Space after escorting the livestock there.

Significant Themes

• Dependence versus self-reliance: Qiao Si’s technology and access to Eternal Space fail under the spatial blockade, forcing her to confront her personal limitations.
• Loyalty and sacrifice: Qiao Si chooses torture rather than reveal Hawkins’s location, demonstrating the loyalty expected within the Blackblade Pirates.
• The vulnerability of preparation: Even though the fleet has valuable ships, weapons, and manpower, an unexpected tactic—destroying the hulls and sealing space—renders much of their preparation ineffective.
• Ruthlessness and total war: The enemy’s willingness to damage or destroy valuable ships reveals that this is not a conventional raid but an extermination campaign.
• Leadership under pressure: Qiao Si must command the defense despite lacking experience and being forced into a battle she did not anticipate.

Important Character Interactions

• Qiao Si reports the livestock mission to Hawkins and receives his pragmatic approval regarding the possibility of enslaving future enemies.
• The Pirate Queen commands Hoqi Endu to trap the Blackblade fleet, revealing her trust in his abilities and the importance of preventing Hawkins’s escape.
• Qiao Si rallies the enslaved pirates and crew to defend the fleet, then personally attacks the invaders with grenades.
• Qiao Si clashes with the middle-aged enemy fighter in close combat but is defeated by his superior speed and strength.
• The Pirate Queen interrogates Qiao Si about Hawkins, while Qiao Si responds with silence and open defiance, leading to her torture.

Chapter Summary: “Hawkins Was Unhappy”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Pirate Queen interrogates Qiao Si about Hawkins’s whereabouts after capturing and severely torturing her. Qiao Si refuses to cooperate, even spitting at the Queen. The Queen freezes the saliva and drives it into Qiao Si’s eye.
• The Pirate Queen orders Sekun, a sadistic subordinate, to extract all of Qiao Si’s secrets. Sekun begins tormenting her, but Hoqi Endu suddenly senses someone forcing his way through the spatial seal surrounding the area.
• Hawkins realizes Qiao Si has stopped responding and concludes that the enemy has sealed the surrounding space. Using stored Curse Power, he forcibly breaks through the seal and reaches the Pirate Queen’s ship.
• Hawkins immediately kills Sekun before he can use Qiao Si as a hostage. He then comforts Qiao Si, assures her that she has not disgraced the Blackblade Pirates, and sends her away to receive medical treatment.
• The Pirate Queen surrounds Hawkins with her forces and orders an attack. Hawkins, emotionally affected by Qiao Si’s suffering and the memories it awakens, responds with unusual irritation and lethal decisiveness.
• A powerful ax-wielding pirate attacks Hawkins but is instantly killed by a beam of light piercing through his head. Hawkins then targets the middle-aged man who had previously defeated Qiao Si.

Character Developments

• Qiao Si demonstrates extraordinary courage and loyalty. Despite horrific torture, she refuses to reveal Hawkins’s location and continues resisting until her body can no longer endure the pain. Once Hawkins arrives, her emotional restraint collapses, revealing the immense pressure she feels as vice-captain.
• Hawkins shows both his tactical ability and his normally detached personality. He carefully locates Qiao Si through the spatial barrier, breaks through it using Curse Power, and eliminates Sekun instantly. Qiao Si’s condition triggers memories of a girl who once sacrificed herself for him, causing genuine anger and making him unusually “unhappy.”
• The Pirate Queen remains cold, domineering, and confident. She respects Qiao Si’s defiance but treats her ruthlessly, while also displaying disgust toward Sekun’s particularly vile behavior.
• Sekun is characterized as sadistic and predatory. He views Qiao Si’s resistance as entertainment, but is completely overwhelmed and killed the moment Hawkins appears.
• Hoqi Endu recognizes the danger of Hawkins’s intrusion and attempts to warn the Pirate Queen, emphasizing his awareness of the spatial conflict and the limits of his available Curse Power.

Significant Themes

• Loyalty and resistance: Qiao Si’s refusal to betray Hawkins highlights the loyalty expected within the Blackblade Pirates.
• The burden of leadership: Qiao Si believes that, as vice-captain, her defeat reflects on the entire crew. Hawkins reassures her that enduring under overwhelming circumstances is not disgraceful.
• Hidden emotional wounds: Hawkins’s normally controlled and detached demeanor is disrupted when Qiao Si’s suffering recalls a past sacrifice, revealing unresolved memories and buried compassion.
• Power and intimidation: The chapter contrasts the Pirate Queen’s cruelty and apparent dominance with Hawkins’s overwhelming, instantaneous violence.
• Protection and vengeance: Hawkins’s rescue of Qiao Si is both a practical intervention and a deeply personal response to seeing someone suffer in his place.

Character Interactions

• Qiao Si and the Pirate Queen: Their exchange is a battle of wills, with Qiao Si’s defiance opposing the Queen’s cold authority and torture.
• Qiao Si and Sekun: Sekun treats her suffering as amusement, while Qiao Si continues resisting him despite her injuries.
• Hawkins and Qiao Si: Hawkins comforts and protects her, restoring her sense of dignity after she believes she has failed the crew.
• Hawkins and Sekun: Their brief confrontation ends instantly, with Hawkins killing Sekun before he can use Qiao Si as a shield.
• Hawkins and the Pirate Queen: Their confrontation marks the beginning of a major battle. The Queen accuses Hawkins of arrogance, while Hawkins regards her hostility as unnecessary—until Qiao Si’s suffering gives him a personal reason to fight seriously.

Chapter Summary: “Waste Utilization”

Key Plot Points and Events

• A boneless pirate captain uses a Cursed Relic whose pain-based curse is ineffective against him because he has no bones. Despite his agility and ability to evade Hawkins’s laser, Hawkins kills him instantly with a powerful magnetic field.
• Hawkins unleashes the Black Knife’s amplified magnetic-field domain. It tears apart four of the Pirate Queen’s captains, while three others are killed by concentrated laser attacks. The entire group is eliminated in under three seconds.
• Horrified and grieving the loss of her longtime generals, the Pirate Queen transforms into her powerful royal Featherfolk form, gaining rainbow-colored feathers and strength approaching that of a Lord.
• She attacks Hawkins with a feather strike measured at roughly 1,000 Curse Power. Hawkins easily blocks it by concentrating more than 10,000 Curse Power in his chest, realizing how dangerous the Pirate Queen’s strength would be to weaker opponents such as Mark.
• The Pirate Queen recognizes that Hawkins is a Curse Caster and concludes that he cannot be the real Hawkins, since the original “Son of Pirates” could not realistically have survived the process of becoming one.
• Hawkins challenges her to guess his identity, but she instead creates a massive ice avalanche as a distraction and flees.
• The Pirate Queen escapes toward Ironcloth Island, hoping that her ally Liam can protect her. However, Hawkins had previously scattered coordinate-bearing germs onto her body, allowing him to open a passage into Eternal Space and capture her with a tentacle.
• Afterward, Hawkins pulls the remaining pirates into Eternal Space and enslaves the Pirate Queen’s forces by contract. Though the Blackblade Pirates lose over two hundred members, they gain around two thousand replacements.
• Returning to his laboratory, Hawkins discovers that the Pirate Queen caused Qiao Si’s frost injuries. Rather than killing her, he decides to imprison and exploit her as Qiao Si’s assistant and as a subject for studying the Featherfolk bloodline.

Character Developments

• Hawkins: Demonstrates overwhelming combat power, strategic planning, advanced technological preparation, and emotional detachment. He is increasingly comfortable using enemies as resources, viewing the captured Pirate Queen as both an assistant and research material.
• The Pirate Queen: Reveals immense strength, royal Featherfolk abilities, courage, and loyalty to her fallen generals. However, she also shows practical judgment by abandoning a hopeless battle quickly. Her defeat marks a major reversal from powerful ruler to imprisoned captive.
• The boneless captain and other pirate captains: Their deaths emphasize the vast gap between Hawkins and the Pirate Queen’s strongest subordinates.
• Qiao Si: Remains injured but is receiving treatment. Her need for a capable assistant creates the immediate practical reason for Hawkins to preserve the Pirate Queen.
• Mark: Though absent, his abilities are used as a comparison to highlight how devastating the Pirate Queen’s attack would be against someone with limited Curse Power.

Significant Themes

• Power disparity and overwhelming force: Hawkins’s magnetic fields, lasers, Curse Power, and technology make him nearly unbeatable, turning elite enemies into helpless victims.
• Identity and deception: The Pirate Queen correctly senses that Hawkins is an impostor, raising questions about his true identity and how convincingly he has replaced the original.
• Pragmatism versus loyalty: The Pirate Queen mourns her lifelong generals but chooses survival over a futile final stand. Hawkins similarly treats war as an opportunity for strategic gain and resource acquisition.
• Exploitation and utilitarianism: Captured enemies are enslaved, recycled into Hawkins’s forces, or repurposed for experiments rather than simply killed.
• Technological preparation: Hawkins’s germ-based tracking system and Eternal Space technology show how planning and innovation can eliminate an opponent’s chance of escape.
• Grief and survival: The Pirate Queen’s sorrow over her fallen comrades contrasts with Hawkins’s detached efficiency.

Character Interactions

• Hawkins effortlessly kills the Pirate Queen’s captains, establishing his dominance and provoking her grief and transformation.
• The Pirate Queen attacks Hawkins directly, but he blocks her strike and evaluates her strength rather than immediately killing her.
• She confronts him about his identity, while Hawkins teasingly invites her to guess who he really is.
• Her attempted escape is countered by Hawkins’s hidden germ-based tracking markers, demonstrating that he had controlled the encounter from the beginning.
• After capturing her, Hawkins connects her defeat to Qiao Si’s injuries and decides to force her into serving as Qiao Si’s assistant while preserving her for bloodline research.

Chapter Summary: “Rise and Fall”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Autumn arrives across the Seven Seas, bringing colder temperatures and highlighting the hardship faced by the poor, elderly, orphans, and beggars.
• On Ironcloth Island, Lord Liam flirts with a new maid, Huili, revealing his careless and seductive personality. His behavior abruptly changes when he learns that Hawkins has defeated and killed the Pirate Queen.
• Liam’s grief exposes a long-hidden love for the Pirate Queen. He had admired her for years but concealed his feelings behind coldness and businesslike behavior. After her marriage, he assassinated her husband out of jealousy, though he continued pretending to remain impartial toward Jade Island.
• A gray phantom urges Liam to seek revenge against Hawkins and suggests that he may be the strongest lord in the Seven Seas. Liam does not answer, leaving his intentions uncertain.
• News of the Pirate Queen’s death spreads rapidly. Hawkins’s reputation reaches its height, and many believe the Blackblade Pirates will invade Jade Island and take control of the Pirate Queen’s former territory.
• On Jade Island, the Pirate Princess struggles to accept her mother’s defeat. She hides in grief until pirates find her and claim they need her leadership.
• The pirates betray her, stabbing her and planning to offer her to the Pirate King in exchange for their own survival. The Pirate Princess unleashes her Featherfolk powers, kills her attackers, and escapes.
• She flies to Ironcloth Island to seek refuge and recover, despite not trusting Liam. With no leader remaining, Jade Island collapses into disorder as minor leaders fight over power and loot, causing the once-prosperous island to decline.

Character Developments

• Liam: His flirtatious, morally lax exterior gives way to profound grief and suppressed romantic feelings. His history with the Pirate Queen reveals that his apparent indifference has always concealed strong emotional attachment. His desire for revenge may draw him into conflict with Hawkins.
• Huili: Introduced as a new maid who becomes the target of Liam’s advances. Her failure to leave immediately after being dismissed leads to implied danger, emphasizing Liam’s volatile nature.
• The Pirate Princess: Moves from sheltered admiration and dependence on her mother to painful awareness of betrayal and political danger. Though initially overwhelmed and naive, she demonstrates strength by defending herself and choosing to flee rather than surrender.
• Hawkins: Though absent from the chapter, his defeat of the Pirate Queen establishes him as the dominant power in the Seven Seas and greatly increases support for the Blackblade Pirates.
• The Pirate Queen: Her death transforms her from a seemingly invincible legend into the source of a political and emotional power vacuum.

Significant Themes

• Rise and fall: Hawkins rises to unprecedented prominence while the Pirate Queen’s empire collapses immediately after her death.
• The cost of power: Political forces quickly abandon the defeated and exploit weakness, as shown by the pirates’ betrayal of the Princess.
• Hidden love and emotional repression: Liam’s tendency to disguise affection as coldness demonstrates how unspoken feelings can lead to destructive decisions.
• Betrayal and survival: The pirates prioritize their own safety over loyalty, while the Princess learns that authority does not guarantee trust.
• Instability of leadership: Jade Island’s prosperity depended heavily on the Pirate Queen; once she is gone, the island rapidly fragments into chaos.
• Class hardship and mortality: The opening discussion of winter underscores the vulnerability of ordinary people and contrasts with the powerful figures whose conflicts determine the fate of entire islands.

Important Character Interactions

• Liam and Huili: Their flirtatious encounter reveals Liam’s indulgent personality, but his sudden dismissal of Huili after hearing the news shows his emotional instability and cruelty.
• Liam and the gray phantom: The phantom exploits Liam’s grief and encourages revenge, potentially pushing him toward a larger conflict.
• The Pirate Princess and the traitorous pirates: Their confrontation marks her transition from naïve heir to a more hardened survivor.
• The Pirate Princess and her mother’s legacy: Though they never interact directly, the Princess’s admiration for the Pirate Queen shapes her grief and her struggle to assume responsibility after her mother’s death.

Chapter Summary: “Exclusive Weapon”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Qiao Si’s injuries have healed, and she trains against the enslaved Pirate Queen in Eternal Space. Despite wearing Nano Armor and wielding a greatsword, Qiao Si cannot break through the Pirate Queen’s defensive ice crystals.
• Frustrated by the gap in strength and experience, Qiao Si ends the session. She remains aware that the Pirate Queen is controlled by Hawkins, not by her, and uses the training to steadily improve herself.
• Back in House Town, Maning and Ai Miye work on creating a game using materials left by Hawkins on the Forum. Qiao Si shows little interest and orders the Pirate Queen to help in the kitchen.
• Mark and Arthur urge Hawkins to claim the treasures of Jade Island, arguing that the Blackblade Pirates defeated the Pirate Queen. Hawkins refuses, insisting that Jade Island is not part of their current plans and ordering them to focus on finding the Demon Sacrificer.
• The Demon Sacrificer has apparently detected the surveillance bacteria and stopped attacking other towns, making their identity difficult to determine. Hawkins suspects the culprit may have left with the relocated residents.
• Using blood and genetic information from the Pirate Queen, Hawkins makes a major breakthrough in developing Exclusive Weapons. He discovers that her body can reversibly transform between human and Dream Realm monster forms when stimulated by a special hormone.
• During the 505th test, Hawkins’s prototype spear kills a hostile gorilla, absorbs its bioenergy, and successfully transforms into multiple forms, including a spear, longsword, longbow, fluid-like armor, and other shapes.
• Hawkins activates Fusion Transformation with the weapon. His body grows into a massive, winged, horned demon-like form, greatly increasing his strength, physical durability, and healing ability.
• In this transformed state, Hawkins discovers that he can control lightning instinctively. He experiments with shaping electricity into knives and swords, realizing that this ability disappears as soon as the transformation ends.
• Satisfied with the prototype, Hawkins announces that everyone may customize one Exclusive Weapon. Qiao Si requests a Nano Armor-style greatsword, while Victor chooses a sniper rifle that fires powerful beams instead of bullets. The rest of the group submits their designs, and Hawkins begins producing the weapons.

Character Developments

• Qiao Si remains determined to grow stronger. Rather than becoming complacent because she can command the Pirate Queen, she recognizes her own weakness and deliberately uses the Pirate Queen as a training partner.
• The Pirate Queen has been reduced to a completely obedient tool through Hawkins’s contract. She cannot speak or act without permission, emphasizing the loss of her autonomy.
• Hawkins demonstrates both scientific ingenuity and strategic discipline. He refuses to be distracted by Jade Island’s treasures and focuses on the Demon Sacrificer and the development of weapons for his entire group.
• Maning and Ai Miye contribute to the community by attempting to turn Hawkins’s materials into a game.
• Victor shows confidence in his preferred combat style by choosing a sniper rifle and requesting greater offensive power.

Significant Themes

• Power and subjugation: The Pirate Queen’s transformation from a powerful independent figure into a controlled servant highlights the consequences of losing freedom and the unequal relationship between strength and authority.
• Self-improvement through challenge: Qiao Si accepts that she cannot yet defeat the Pirate Queen and uses that disadvantage as motivation to train harder.
• Science merging with the supernatural: Hawkins applies biological research and engineering to create weapons that possess seemingly magical abilities, such as transformation and lightning control.
• Adaptability and individuality: Hawkins’s weapon can imitate many forms, reflecting his broad knowledge, while each ally receives a weapon tailored to their personal combat style.
• Priorities and restraint: Hawkins refuses to pursue immediate treasure, choosing instead to concentrate on unresolved threats and long-term preparation.
• The mystery of transformation: The Pirate Queen’s reversible genetic mutation and Hawkins’s Fusion Transformation suggest that monstrous abilities may be biological, controllable, and capable of being reproduced.

Important Character Interactions

• Qiao Si spars with the Pirate Queen, then orders her to assist in the kitchen.
• Maning greets Qiao Si as “First Mate,” while Ai Miye explains their game-making project.
• Mark and Arthur argue with Hawkins about claiming Jade Island’s treasures, but Hawkins firmly rejects the idea.
• Hawkins tests the Exclusive Weapon alone, discovering its transformation abilities and new lightning-based powers.
• In the group chat, Hawkins offers customized Exclusive Weapons, and Qiao Si and Victor specify their desired designs.