Lowering my finger, I watched Mirage's body collapse onto the ground, staining the floor with her blood while giving her a disinterested look.

"No, I don't care about your stupid prophecy; however, that knock-up stream sounds interesting." Remarked Diddy with a slight smirk as he ignored Mirage's body and inspected the eternal pose in his hand.

'Okay, now what the hell is this? I believe she called it an eternal pose, so it probably works the same as a log pose, but with a slight difference, I presume.' Thought Diddy with a raised eyebrow as he held the eternal pose, which was pointing west at an angle, confusing him, though before he could further question it, he heard a groan coming from behind him.

Hearing Freyja's voice, I turned around and saw her entering the room through the busted open vault door while rubbing her head in pain; she also seemed a little exhausted, but that was probably because she had Naga-sa strapped to her back.

"Are they dead? The person who was making those illusions?" Questioned Freyja with a scowl while rubbing her head in pain as she glanced at Diddy before observing the room, noticing two corpses sprawled on the floor.

"Yeah, I killed her; she was just some lunatic who was obsessed with reaching Sky Island, whatever that is." Remarked Diddy with a nod as he stored the eternal pose in his vest pocket before approaching Freyja.

"N-Never heard of it, but whatever, I'm sure we can ask Sebas whenever he awakens from the beating you gave him; also, get this thing off of me!" Stated Freyja with a nod before turning around, allowing Diddy to grab Naga-sa off her back while she took off the holster herself before throwing it to Diddy.

"Yep, that's what I intended to do." Said Diddy as he holstered Naga-sa to his back and left the room while Freyja followed from behind, the two leaping into the air and heading back toward the ship.

"Anyways, I'm curious: what kind of illusions did you experience?" Asked Diddy curiously as he looked behind him, glancing at Freyja, who was using her large, leathery wings to fly.

"Ugh, creatures of such monstrosity that they even made you look normal." Remarked Freyja as she shivered while thinking back to the various abominations she was forced to experience.

"Heh, sounds interesting. I hope those monsters exist somewhere in this world; I'd love to fight them." Commented Diddy with a feral grin, while Freyja just opted to stay quiet, not wanting to relive those horrible memories.

The flight back to the ship was relatively quick, especially since I didn't have to babysit Freyja; when we arrived, there was no one on the top deck, but I knew they were here as I could hear them below me.

"Well, that definitely could've been more thrilling, but I suppose not every island can be a jackpot; I'm just satisfied it wasn't completely lame." Stated Diddy as he landed on the upper deck of his ship and stretched a little while Freyja landed beside him.

"Speak for yourself, you crazy, Captain; I'm going to take a rest; after all that, I need it." Muttered Freyja as she walked down the stairs before taking a left and entering the captain's quarter, right underneath the upper deck.

"Ay, make sure to keep an eye on the log pose, Freyja; I don't want to stay here doing nothing because you forgot to check whether it had reset." Yelled Diddy as he lightly stomped on the wooden floor beneath him, and instead of a verbal response, he got a grunt from a Freyja.

Ignoring Freyja, since we pretty much had nothing to do now that Mirage was dead, I set Naga-sa beside my hammock and decided to pass some of the time with a light nap to get back to peak condition since while fighting against Sebas and Freyja wasn't enough to exhaust me, it wasn't like I was fighting two marine soldiers. While it may not seem like it, given my presence and overwhelming strength compared to them, Sebas and Freyja are both strong in their own right; otherwise, I wouldn't have wanted them to join my crew.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

'Hopefully, Sebas is awake when I finish napping.' Mused Diddy as he drifted to sleep just as the first rays of sunshine emerged from the east of the horizon.

___

___

Hearing the sound of something being hit repeatedly, I groaned in annoyance as I reluctantly awoke from my peaceful nap; standing up, I gave a loud yawn while doing a little stretching to get my body warmed up before I grabbed Naga-sa and walked towards the front of the upper deck.

"Grand, are you the only one awake?" Asked Diddy as he looked over the railing and saw Grand practicing his punches against the iron weight nailed to the mast, which had been flattened considerably from his mighty fists.

"No, Father is also awake, but everyone else is resting." Replied Grand as he looked up at Diddy, who nodded his head before leaping to the other side of the ship while he continued punching the mast.

Walking down the stairs, I passed by two cabins before entering my third, only to see Sebas resting on the bed while nearly every part of his body, except his face, was wrapped in bandages.

"Hoho, Captain; you here to check up on your second mate?" Asked Sebas with a slight chuckle as he slightly turned his head and looked at Diddy approach him.

"No, not really; besides, this wouldn't have happened if you were able to resist the poison. I don't care that you're old, but if you're going to be so easily affected by poison in the future, I'll just off you myself; I don't need a liability." Replied Diddy with a slight frown as he leaned against the wall and eyed Sebas, who merely smiled in response despite the threat.

"No need to warn me, Captain; being manipulated with illusions has thoroughly stained my image. You don't need to worry about me ever being mentally manipulated; I promise you, Captain, that'll never happen." Stated Sebas calmly, though Diddy could discern the anger and humiliation radiating from his old eyes, causing him to smirk slightly.

"Then so be it, though I'll make sure to hold you accountable to that promise. If you fail to uphold it, I'll kill you; how does that sound?" Remarked Diddy with a feral smirk while Sebas chuckled in response.

"Fair enough; anyways, Captain, knowing you, you didn't just come here to chat with little ol' me. Do you need something? The assistance of an old man's wisdom and knowledge, perhaps?" Questioned Sebas with a smirk before shaking his head, his tone turning slightly more serious, prompting Diddy to show him the eternal pose.

Handing the eternal pose to Sebas, who could barely move his hands given his injuries, I told him pretty much everything that the women said, leaving out the thing about prophecies since I deemed it useless. Once I finished speaking, Sebas just continued to observe the eternal pose in his hands for a few minutes, thoroughly testing the limits of my patience, but eventually, he started speaking, just in time, too, as I was thinking about injuring him again.

"I've heard about the Mythical Sky Island, a place where dirt is more valuable than gold; however, hearing the myth and learning of its existence are two completely different things." Said Sebas with a slight frown as he floated the eternal pose back to Diddy, who placed it in his vest pocket.

"So Sky Island is real, then? Well, it looks like we've got a fun adventure ahead of us." Remarked Diddy with an exciting smirk, one that Sebas grew wary of.

"Having seen that eternal pose, I'm 100% sure the Mythical Sky Island exists; however, there is a problem, Captain; the knock-up stream is the only way to get there, and it's very dangerous and deadly. While I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, without a proper navigator or helmsman, we're as good as dead if we try to take the Knock-up stream." Stated Sebas solemnly as he stared right into Diddy, slightly calming him down and causing him to frown.

"So it's that dangerous, huh? You're just tickling all the right spots, aren't you, Sebas? You know I'm not going to avoid a place just because it's a little dangerous and deadly; that's where the fun usually hides anyway." Declared Diddy with a feral grin, eager to visit Sky Island.

"Haa, I know, Captain, and I'm by no means trying to stop you; it would be a useless endeavor anyway. I'm just saying until we get at least a decent navigator or helmsman, we should hold off; besides, we'll also need to equip wings on the side of the ship, or we'll most likely fall back into the ocean." Said Sebas with a sigh before trying to drill the seriousness of the matter into Diddy's head.

"Tsk, I suppose you're right; I don't really want to damage this ship any more than it's already been damaged, at least until we find a proper ship. Speaking of ships, do you know of a place where we can get a custom-made ship?" Said Diddy with a frown of annoyance before folding his arms and tapping his foot.

"Yes, there is a place called Water 7, a so-called paradise spot for shipwrights from around the world; it's even rumored that there are shipwrights that can craft a ship using Treasure Adam Wood. The only problem is Water 7 is most likely on a different route, so unless we find an eternal pose for Water 7, we'll never get there." Replied Sebas with a nod, his words both surprising and confusing Diddy.