(Nero POV)
"Well, I hope it's just my imagination. But I feel like this ship been moving way to slow for a while."
By this time the wind, which had been light, left us, and it was nearly a calm, with a swell on the sea. We were immediately waiting for a while for Kane's reply.
"What?" For a short while, Kane was looking around him. Before long, he continued, "Come to think of it, the sail isn't catching any wind at all..."
He raised his eyebrow as his eyes widened in a shock. No, he's overreacting. It's not like he's really surprised, though it's true that his eyes have widened. But Kane is not known for such exaggerated reactions after all. "Dammit..."
"What's wrong Kane?"
As I met Kane's gaze, he shrugged his shoulders. "We've entered the calm belt!"
It was a surprising and bold deduction, but all the facts line up, so it has to be the truth. Meanwhile, Prompto's smile became stiff as he said, "That island looks weird."
I moved my eyes away from Prompto's gaze and looked forward. The focal point of the island was a large mountain situated in the center. It is carved with gigantic curved snake statues and the name of the native tribe of the island, Kuja. Within the center of the mountain, there was a deep valley.
The next destination the Log Pose pointed to was the distant island on the sea: "Amazon Lily"
"Amazon Lily...?" I mumbled, eyes down on the map Kane had spread out. It was a collection of different sized islands. On Kane's recommendation, the Devil Pirates' ship was currently heading for Amazon Lily.
To get to the island, we couldn't just continue sailing naturally as we had. It seemed going to the island required us to get the ship cover some distance by its force.
Upon returning to reality after realizing what island it was, Prompto spoke.
"Boa Hancock is pretty well-known, you know?"
I looked at Prompto, "Really? So does she have three different faces on her head or something like that?"
"Well, I dunno about that, but I wouldn't be surprised if she did. I've heard this before, but Boa Hancock is the most beautiful woman."
"But that's not the only thing Boa Hancock is famous for. She has another nickname."
"Really?"
"So how about it, Nero? Wanna guess what it is?"
While I have no intention of attending a game show, I decided to think about it upon being asked. If it's Kane that's asking such a question, then Prompto style silly nicknames would be out of the question.
"Queen?"
Prompto smiled broadly. "Amazing! You were actually very close. It's 'the Pirate Empress' to be precise. Just think about it, to be entrusted with such title, doesn't it sound awesome?"
The Empress, yet another very exaggerated nickname. For her to be honoured with such a name...
"Is she sadistic or what?"
Kyouko, who was looking at a distance for some reason, now turned around to interject, "That would be a dominatrix, not an empress."
"I see. Then why is she called 'the Pirate Empress'?"
"Well, she's pretty and all that, plus she's good at making people do her bidding with a cool attitude. It always seemed like she could control the people around her with ease."
"Really?"
Sounds amazing. She seemed to be the sort of commander-type person. Yet because of that, things have now developed in a way, not to my liking. I had no intention of doing anything for anyone.
As I crossed my arms, Prompto tapped his fingers on the poll. Just as he had stopped his rhythmic tapping, I saw him grinning once again. "Besides,"
"Besides what?"
"It's not like you care about all this." He seemed to be blowing off steam but he wasn't really wrong.
I was realizing we were getting nowhere near the main topic, I lifted my gaze from the map and gazed at Kane. Even though he was worrying before, he quickly brightened up.
"Anyways, getting the chance to take down a warlord wouldn't be so bad," Kane said.
I once again looked at the person before me. Kane Queen, Jimmy's older brother, worthy opponent and deadly strategic, is rather soft-hearted for a serious guy. He's totally different on the inside. It's quite difficult to explain just what that difference is - anyway, he just feels different.
The ship continued forward, steadily drawing closer to the entrance of the Amazon Lily. We would soon be arriving at the goal on Kane's map, the marked place.