Even when the hot pot was almost finished, no one touched the lump of 'egg burn'.
"What a waste."
Lily picked up a piece of Kurozumi and took a bite. Sage couldn't even stop her and watched her chew a few times and swallow it.
"Are you okay? Do you need to go to the hospital? Where's the medic, we need a ship doctor!" Sage shouted.
Of course, there is no hospital on the sea, there might be some mobile sea hospital, but Sage hasn't come across one.
The crew he recruited were mostly combatants, where would he find a ship doctor?
This one's a navigator, who's going to take responsibility for sailing if something goes wrong?
"Why do we need a doctor?" Lily asked curiously, stuffing the remaining Kurozumi into her mouth, showing a happy expression.
Seems like... it tastes good?
Sage instinctively looked at Renedia.
"Is it really delicious?"
Renedia blinked several times, picked up the egg burn in front of her, first sniffed it with her little nose to ensure there's no strange smell, then gently took a bite, her big, lively eyes quivered.
Her eyes went through shock, panic, and then nostalgia... after a flash of many emotions, it ended in enlightenment like a Buddha, turned to solace, then to the emptiness of all things, and finally lost its luster.
Like a doll, Renedia handed the egg burn to Sage, her tone flat as if reciting lines, "Sage, this is delicious, you should try it."
Sage backed off directly, shaking his head, "I've used such lowly tricks to the point of exhaustion."
Lily looked at Renedia, asked, "Reni, aren't you allergic to eggs?"
"Yeah, I'm allergic to eggs..."
Renedia's hand loosened, falling backward directly, and fainted.
Watching this made Sage break out in a cold sweat.
Whether she's allergic to eggs he didn't know, but he understood this stuff was hard to eat.
"Reni! Reni!"
Lily hurried over, reached out to shake Renedia, turned her head, "Sage..."
"It's fine, it's indeed 'allergy', fainting for a bit is fine, not a big issue."
Sage waved his hand, looked sternly at Lily, "Lily, you're too much!"
"Ah?" Lily looked puzzled.
"How can the navigator be in the kitchen, don't do this kind of thing anymore!"
Sage shouted loudly, "You're an officer, besides your own duties, you can enjoy the privileges like me, don't do these meaningless things, it will squeeze the living space of the subordinates. You want to do all the work, isn't that working too hard? Whether as a pirate or in life, one shouldn't work too hard!"
This stuff, cannot say it indeed tastes bad, even a little girl has suffered from your cooking.
They're all subordinates, the first to start a business with him. It's just cooking, he does understand, just say it in a gentle way.
"Captain Sage!"
Gin ran in, said, "We spotted an island!"
Even though there's a banquet, someone has to keep watch, the control room on the third floor still needs pirates to watch, Sage implemented a rotation system, randomly selecting two to go up on duty, then find two more to rotate.
Gin went up an hour ago, even though he's the combat commander, he doesn't seem to regard himself as an officer, diligently fulfilling every pirate's duty.
In his eyes, officers are special.
Lady Lily is a navigator, the earliest to follow Captain Sage, naturally an officer.
Although Lady Renedia is young and just joined the Pirates, she is a Devil Fruit ability user and the person who built this huge ship, of course, she is also an officer.
And himself... besides fighting, he can do nothing.
Even fighting is learning the moves taught by Captain Sage, still far from enough.
"An island... has emerged."
Sage walked to Renedia, grabbed her by the nape of her neck, shook a bit, waking Renedia up, drawing a breath directly.
"Wow! Just now I saw my master, he was kindly waving me over, wanting to take me to find materials for a better Treasure Ship, the ocean there was different, emitting a strange blue aura..." Renedia said absently.
"That's the ocean of Hell, don't look next time! Lily."
Sage flicked her on the back of her head, then looked at Lily.
Lily nodded, found a window, used a telescope to focus on the discovered island, confirmed, "Sage, we've arrived, it's the Shallow Sand Kingdom."
...
The Shallow Sand Kingdom is not an island nation, located on a land north near the East Sea, this land has many countries, and the Shallow Sand Kingdom is merely a small coastal country among them.
The terrain where this country resides is mostly shallow shores, covered by sand, with no ports nearby, but on the beach, one can see huge sand houses made from sand, and many fishers using nets to catch fish on the beach.
One of the fishers, seeing the approaching giant dark cloud, was shocked, turned, and shouted, "The storm is coming, everyone be careful, run inside, don't get swept away!"
"No, it's wrong, look... there's a ship!"
Another fisher's pupils shrank, pointing at the storm beneath the dark cloud, quivering, "There's... nobody on the ship!"
Under the storm's gloomy sky, with a flash of lightning, illuminated a huge black ship moving closer. This gigantic ship, under the fierce storm, showed no signs of damage, as new as if just built, yet no one was visible on board!
The lookout tower of the mast, the enormous deck... not a single person, coupled with no signs of damage, and the large wind and rain that followed the ship...
"Gho-ghost ship!" The fisher screamed in terror, "It's a ghost ship! The ghost ship from Hell! They're here to take us away, run!!"
The legend of ghost ships is widespread on the sea, even the tales vary across different sea regions.
There's the legend of the forever unable to return home 'Flying Dutchman'.
And the ghost ship appearing from the sea depths, accompanied by the Sea Giant.
Also, the island ships filled with zombies and ghosts...
Now with a ghost ship appearing from the storm, it doesn't seem odd.
The approach of the huge ship made the fishers near the sea grab their nets and run inland, but how could their speed compare with the approaching dark clouds, soon the entire sand-covered region was shrouded in shadow, bringing strong winds and rain, turning the surroundings pitch black.
The giant ship also docked at the shallow shore.
Boom!
A thunderbolt exploded, casting a radiance, a slowly running fisher subconsciously looked back, only to see golden glows suddenly appearing at the bottom of the ship near the shallow shore, under those glows, a line of silhouettes appeared, slowly approaching.
"Ghosts!!"
The fisher screamed in horror, eyes fluttering, fainting.
Sage advanced, with movements the jewelry on his hand gleamed under the lightning, he heard the sound, looked around, "Where? Where are the ghosts?"
Are there ghosts on the sea?
Seems there's no such thing, or are there Devil Fruit ability users?
"With the darkness, we suddenly appeared, it might be mistaken."
Under the wind and rain, Lily's hair was drenched, turning into golden long straight, rainwater sticking to her clothes, outlining a graceful figure.
Sage furrowed his brow heavily, deliberated while stroking his chin, shook his head, "What a joke, I'm a pirate, not a dead ghost."