Gone Fishing!

After waking Skayla from her nap, Lina immediately brought her to the ship’s bridge, where Barbarossa was reviewing the Mana Doppler’s records with a deep frown.

“I can’t believe I overlooked this,” Barbarossa muttered, rubbing his tired eyes. “The Doppler hasn’t detected a single fish in hours.”

He struck the metal wall with his right foot.

“In the middle of the open sea... that’s not natural.” Barbarossa turned toward Lina and bowed his head. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention.”

Lina was surprised. She never imagined the once-feared Pirate Lord would willingly bow his head to her.

“There’s no need for that, Captain.” Lina returned the gesture with a respectful nod. “Right now, we need to figure out what’s happening.”

“You’re damn right!” Barbarossa shouted, spreading a nautical chart across the table and placing a small wooden ship on it.

“This is our current position. Under normal conditions, the Flying Crimson would reach Piraeus in three days. I’ve authorized the crew to push the Power Unit beyond its normal limits, reducing that to two and a half days. Even so, we’re still a full day away from port.”

“Isn’t pushing the Mana Core beyond its limit dangerous?” Skayla asked.

“Aye,” Barbarossa answered. “Drawing too much mana could rupture the Mana Conduit pipes, but strangely, they haven’t made a single peep since we left port.”

“That’s because Lina is aboard,” Skayla proudly announced, placing both hands on Lina’s shoulders.

Everyone looked at her in confusion.

“The Mana Core contains a small fragment of its host’s memory. Because of that, it behaves whenever Lina is nearby,” Skayla explained before Lina elbowed her in the stomach.

Barbarossa looked puzzled, but after everything he’d experienced lately, it wasn’t the craziest thing he’d ever heard.

Suddenly, the Flying Crimson came to a violent stop, throwing everyone off balance. The bridge lights flickered, steadied for a brief moment, then flickered again before going completely dark.

“What in tarnation is going on?!” Barbarossa shouted, catching himself against the navigation table. “WHY HAVE WE STOPPED?!”

The helmsman frantically flipped several power relays.

“I-I don’t know!” he answered, quickly turning toward another console as his face went pale. “According to the readings, the Mana Core isn’t supplying any mana!”

Barbarossa stared at him in disbelief.

“That’s impossible!” Barbarossa shouted, rushing over to verify the readings himself. “A Mana Core of this caliber could easily power this ship for the next two centuries!”

Barbarossa rushed toward a brass nameplate mounted on the wall and pulled it aside, revealing a hidden keyhole. He removed a key from inside his coat and inserted it into the lock, causing part of the wall to open into a narrow observation room.

A thick glass window in the floor overlooked the chamber containing the enormous purple Mana Core, but its brilliant glow was now flickering like a dying flame.

“I assume that’s not supposed to happen?” Lina asked.

“No. The Core should maintain a steady glow at all times,” Barbarossa answered.

“Ooooo, let me see!” Skayla said, squeezing past everyone and activating her Mana Sight.

Skayla studied the flow of mana coming from the Core as it changed direction every time it flickered. The mana would suddenly bend downward and be pulled toward the bottom of the ship as if something was attracting it.

“Is there anything beneath the Core room?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Barbarossa replied. “The Core rests above the thickest section of the hull to prevent it from being damaged in battle.”

Skayla frowned.

“What is it?” Lina asked, noticing her concern. “What did you detect?”

Skayla remained silent for a moment as everyone waited for her answer.

Suddenly, she began stomping her feet.

“I REALLY WANTED TO SEE A GHOST SHIP!” she shouted.

Before Lina could respond, something violently struck the Flying Crimson from underneath, causing the emergency barrier to immediately activate.

“What now?!” Barbarossa shouted, grabbing the wall to keep himself from falling.

Lina quickly grabbed Skayla and pulled her close, keeping both of them steady.

“Really? That’s what you’re upset about right now?” Lina asked.

“BLEH!” Skayla responded with a goofy expression, sticking out her tongue.

As the ship stabilized, Skayla pulled her wooden staff from her item box.

“Well, I guess it’s time to do some fishing,” she said with a cheeky smile before happily walking out of the observation room, humming a playful tune along the way.

“Fishing?” Lina and Barbarossa repeated in confusion before following Skayla onto the deck.

Barbarossa immediately began barking orders for everyone to prepare for combat, while Lina moved toward the center of the ship and knelt. She held her sword upright with both hands, closed her eyes, and began chanting a spell.

“I call upon the shield that never yields. Protect those whom I treasure and let no harm befall them. As their protector in this mortal realm, I shall stand against all that threatens them—Svalinn’s Divine Shield!”

The sea surrounding the Flying Crimson began to glow brightly. A faint image of an enormous shield with wings appeared across the surface of the water, with the vessel resting directly at its center.

Barbarossa’s eyes widened as he stared over the railing.

“WAIT A MOMENT!” he shouted. “ISN’T THAT A TYPE OF HOLY MAGIC?! WHY DO YOU KNOW HOLY MAGIC?!”

“Do you really want me to explain that right now?” Lina asked.

Barbarossa paused as a series of powerful impacts struck Lina’s shield from beneath the ship. The surrounding sea erupted with every attack, sending seawater raining across the deck.

“...Yeah, not right now,” he agreed before turning to his crew. “DID ANYONE SEE ANYTHING?!”

“NO, CAPTAIN!” one of the crew members answered.

While everyone searched the water and sky for any sign of an attack, Skayla began drawing a massive magic circle across the wooden deck with her staff, humming a playful tune as she worked.

“How much longer?” Lina asked, standing beside Skayla with her sword drawn.

“Almost done,” Skayla replied. “Just a few more lines and a spot of that, and we’re all done!”

Skayla finished the final line with her staff. The magic circle released a bright purple glow before suddenly disappearing.

Everyone waited, but nothing happened.

“What spell did you cast?” Barbarossa asked.

“Give it a second,” Skayla replied, carefully monitoring the bottom of the ship with her Mana Sight.

“Ah... there you are!” she shouted, quickly wrapping her arms around Lina for support.

A deafening screech erupted from beneath the sea, causing several sailors to collapse onto the deck after losing consciousness.

“WHAT IN THE HELL DID YOU DO?!” Barbarossa shouted over the noise.

“I THINK THERE’S A SEA MONSTER SLURPING UP THE MANA FROM THE SHIP’S CORE!” Skayla shouted back. “SO I CAST A PRANK SPELL THAT CHANGES THE FLAVOR OF ANYTHING THAT PASSES THROUGH IT! I USED IT ON LINA’S MEDICINE WHEN SHE REFUSED TO TAKE IT BECAUSE IT WAS TOO BITTER!”

Lina’s eyes immediately widened.

“YOU SO DID NOT!” Lina shouted, glaring furiously at Skayla.

The screeching finally came to an abrupt stop.

“Wait a moment,” Barbarossa said. “Does mana even have a taste?”

“Of course,” Skayla answered. “Mana has its own taste, smell, texture, and appearance. That’s one reason Mana Stones come in so many shapes and colors.”

“What flavor did you change it to?” Lina asked, wrapping an arm around Skayla’s head and giving her a noogie for secretly using the spell on her medicine.

“The worst thing we’ve ever eaten,” Skayla answered once Lina released her.

Lina froze as the memory returned.

“Oh... you did not.” She slowly took a few steps back.

Skayla nodded with delight.

Lina’s face immediately turned pale, and without another word, she rushed toward the railing and hurled up that morning’s breakfast.

“Care to explain?” Barbarossa asked.

“When we were seven, Master Atena was left in charge of us,” Lina explained, wiping her mouth with a handkerchief. “She was too hungover to take us out for food, so she made porridge using random ingredients from her item box.”

Lina suddenly went pale again and continued to hurl.

“It looked and smelled delicious,” Skayla said, taking over the conversation. “But the flavor and texture kept changing. One moment it was sweet and chewy, then it became sour, bitter, spicy, slimy, and crunchy.”

Barbarossa’s face twisted in disgust.

“Whatever she put in it damaged our sense of taste for three weeks,” Skayla continued. “Everything we ate kept changing inside our mouths, and no medicine or healing magic could fix it.”

Skayla suddenly went pale.

“...I said too much,” she muttered as nausea set in.

Skayla rushed over and joined Lina at the railing.

Suddenly, a towering waterspout exploded from the sea, shooting high into the sky as the Flying Crimson rocked violently back and forth.

“Well, judging by the reaction you two are having, I can only assume whatever’s hiding inside that is having a pretty bad day too,” Barbarossa chuckled, finally having a physical target to focus on.

The towering column of water collapsed back into the sea with a thunderous roar, revealing a colossal creature rising from beneath it.

A dark-green body stretched hundreds of meters into the sky, with dozens of thick tentacles flailing wildly around it. Five massive yellow eyes stared down at the Flying Crimson, each one focused on the tiny vessel beneath it.

One by one, weapons slipped from the crew members’ hands and clattered against the deck. Some stumbled backward, while others simply froze in place, unable to tear their eyes away from the colossal sea monster towering above them.

Everyone aboard the ship was overwhelmed by fear... except one.

Barbarossa grinned with excitement and instinctively touched the old scar running across his chest.

“It’s been a long time... Kraken!” he shouted, drawing his cutlass and raising it high into the air.

For a brief moment, the entire sea fell completely silent.

Except for Lina and Skayla, who were still puking their guts out over the railing.

BLEEEAGHH!