The afternoon sun blazed fiercely.
The Explorer was sailing toward Sonia Island, naturally in pursuit of the Golden Leaves.
Sifa stood at the bow, sunlight falling over him as Grigor squawked noisily by his ear, but his thoughts were on his conversation with Chik that morning.
The pirate was quite cunning and refused to reveal what the remaining two ritual items were. But Sifa was in no hurry. If necessary, he could simply have Kardashian hypnotize the pirate and make him reveal them himself.
Chik had revealed something else, however. He had already contacted the Admiral of Stars and arranged for Cattleya to provide him with protection in exchange for the secret of the Fountain of Youth.
They had agreed to meet on Oravi Island, but Sifa had beaten her to it and brought Chik aboard the Explorer.
So, when will the Admiral of Stars come knocking? Sifa was rather curious about this future member of the Tarot Club, especially since she was the adopted daughter of Emperor Roselle's daughter. With any luck, he might even get some of the emperor's diary pages from this captain.
Just then, he heard a commotion and saw the sailors rushing toward the stern. Then the boatswain, Nelson, ran over. "Captain, there's a ship-a very large sailing ship."
Sifa smiled. "It certainly is lively today."
He reached the aft deck, where the sailors had already moved aside, giving him a clear view of a huge sailing ship on the distant, sunlit sea. Its length seemed to defy reason. It looked exceedingly slow, but in fact, it was rapidly approaching the Explorer.
As the enormous sailing ship drew closer, its flag became clearly visible. Against a black background were ten equally sized white stars, encircling a cold, lashless eye.
As a member of Black Sails