Louf briefly imagined the miserable prospect of spending all day busy in the kitchen without a moment's rest, and she could not help sticking out her tongue.
Although her main job was being a well-behaved cook, she also regularly took on plenty of duties that ordinarily belonged to a maid.
Even though Little Fox did not dislike cooking, and quite enjoyed preparing delicious food for Adrian, she absolutely did not want to be trapped in the kitchen all day as an emotionless meat-roasting machine.
As the man and fox chatted and joked, the island cloud had already flown to the edge of Ancient Island.
Adrian reached out and gently tapped the casing of the Lead-Gray Pocket Watch, calling for the ship spirit Lumi while slowly lowering the island cloud.
Ripples spread through the empty air, and a large three-masted sailing ship flying the Gilded Dragon Ghost Flag slowly emerged from a fold in space, settling onto the shimmering blue sea.
Its pale blue-green hull immediately sent up a brilliant spray of water, with waves spreading farther and deeper through the sea.
The Nether Abyss's quiet landing disturbed the deep-sea behemoth that had lived off the western side of Ancient Island for who knew how many years.
An enormous shadow rapidly rose through seawater so dark that one could not see a hand before one's face.
Adrian landed on the Nether Abyss's deck with Louf.
"Adrian! Are we continuing toward Reverse Mountain, or changing course for the Sabaody Archipelago?"
Floating in midair above the helm, Lumi called toward the deck in a clear voice.
"Let's change course for the Sabaody Archipelago! Then we'll head through Fish-Man Island to the New World, just like we've done these past two years."
Adrian waved to Lumi.
Traveling back and forth between Paradise and the