Seeing the crew's attention diverted elsewhere, Anderson relaxed somewhat.
At that moment, he felt the gaze of the boatswain, Wolf Gunter, known as the "Sea Serpent."
This cautious fellow seemed to have sensed something was off for a while now, and finally, unable to hold back any longer, he quietly stepped forward.
"First Mate, a ship's approaching!"
Before Walter could speak, a lookout's warning cry rang out.
Anderson followed the sound and looked out over the railing.
A sailing ship several dozen meters long was bearing down on them. Bathed in sunlight, the ship gleamed a golden hue, quite unlike the grimy exteriors of typical pirate vessels.
It looked clean and well kept, without the usual clutter of cannons crowding its deck, only a single golden cannon mounted along its centerline.
What drew even more attention was that the ship's sails bore painted images of coins from many different currencies: the Loen Pound, the Intis Firkin, the Fusac Gold Horn, the Fennepot Gold Guilder...
"Ah, that's Vice Admiral Iceberg's Golden Dream!"
Amid the crowd, the Third Princess of Fusac let out a delighted exclamation, having recognized the ship as the flagship of the legendary female pirate admiral.
"Heh..."
For some reason, the moment he saw the ship, an odd smile crept across Anderson's face.
He walked over to the railing on his own and called out to the woman standing at the bow, "What are you doing here?"
"Heard you'd taken up piracy too. Thought I'd stop by and say hello."
The woman at the bow answered calmly.
She was strikingly beautiful, her face shaped like an egg, her nose high and straight, her lips thin, her blue eyes clear as spring water.
She wore no tricorn hat. Her long brown hair was parted down the middle and tied simply at the back of her head, then flowed smoothly down over her back.
She wore a simple white shirt with dark trousers and leather boots, which lent her an air of spirited, vigorous beauty.
Vice Admiral Iceberg, Edwina Edwards!
"So that's how it is. Hoping to use our old acquaintance to worm your way into our captain's good graces," Anderson said with a laugh, his tone carrying a hint of teasing.
"No wonder you were everyone's favorite student, top of the year. You always did know how to work a room..."
Edwina and Anderson went back a ways. The two of them had once studied together at the Church of Knowledge, though her results in the exams had not been anything to speak of, and she never quite took to the Church's atmosphere. In the end she left outright, becoming an outer member, and traded it for a freer sort of life.
Indeed, behind "Vice Admiral Iceberg" stood the Church of Knowledge.
"Watch your mouth!"
"Don't you dare disrespect the captain!"
"Say one more word and see if you don't catch a cannonball! That's a Purification Cannon, perfect for scrubbing out that filthy mouth of yours!"
"Get him! You heard her, get him!"
Behind Edwina, a crowd of male pirates surged forward, hurling curses at the "Fog Sea's Mightiest Hunter," every one of them wearing open fury laced with some less obvious emotion underneath.
"Heh heh..."
At the sight, Anderson's smile only widened.
He seemed about to say something, but his eyes flicked toward the captain's cabin behind him, and in the end he held his tongue, merely waving at the pirates instead. "Morning, everyone aboard the Golden Dream. Enjoying your lessons these days?"
Lessons? Enjoying them?
The pirates froze for a moment, then flushed red.
Nominally pirates, they functioned more like a band of treasure hunters.
In order to better locate treasure, these burly, broad shouldered men were made to sit through the captain's lessons on knowledge every single day.
It was an experience both painful and pleasurable: the pain came from the studying itself, and the pleasure, well, came from a certain someone's personal instruction... ahem.
"Enjoying them? I'll enjoy your..."
Whatever the case, the jab had struck a nerve.
A few of the more hot tempered ones were about to snap back, but quickly realized: what if, by saying they didn't enjoy the lessons, the captain simply stopped scheduling them any lessons at all in the future? So they held themselves back, faces forced into a strained, burning red.
"Alright then."
Seeing the pirates fall momentarily silent, Anderson continued, "I'll pass your good wishes along to our captain. If anything comes up at this gathering, we're open to cooperating."
This was really what he'd meant to say all along, using the captain's reputation to secure a temporary ally for the fleet.
"...Fine."
Edwina looked him in the eye and nodded calmly.
Though Anderson had cut off contact with the Church of Knowledge since becoming a pirate, the two of them still retained a certain understanding between them.
At that moment, a small boat came sailing over from the direction of Black Lake Island and pulled up before them.
"Esteemed Blood Reverend, and esteemed Vice Admiral Iceberg, I am the Count's servant. Please allow me to guide your vessels in to dock."
A uniformed man stood in the small boat, bowing to them.
"Captain..."
Anderson made a show of stepping into the captain's cabin to ask for instructions, and emerged a moment later to tell the man, "Lead the way."
Edwina raised no objection either.
And so the two flagships, along with their respective escort vessels, followed the guide boat toward Black Lake Island under the watchful eyes of countless pirates.
When those pirates caught sight of the warship trailing behind the Doe, their first reaction was confusion and disbelief. But once they made out the blood streaked black skull flag flying above it, that confusion swiftly turned to awe and shock.
For they had recognized it: the owner of that warship was none other than the notorious villain who had recently caused such an uproar across the Sonia Sea, the Blood Reverend, Alexander Gascoigne!
Standing on deck with the rest of the crew, Anderson felt far less calm inside than he appeared, and he too found himself studying the pirates gathering around them, along with their unusual, singular vessels.
An ancient warship gleaming in the sunlight with the resplendent colors of dusk itself, Vice Admiral Dusk Bulatov Ivan's flagship, the Twilight;
A vessel that seemed built from countless masses of flesh and gnarled branches, dripping with a bloody menace, Admiral of Blood Senor's flagship, the Rose;
A vessel of strange, avant garde design, surfacing as though it had risen from the very depths of the sea, Vice Admiral Deep Sea Howl Constantine's flagship, the Nuince...
And the flagship of the "King of the Five Seas," Nast: the Black Emperor. This three masted sailing ship, a hundred meters in length, sat moored upon the water, radiating a dignity that defied description.
Suddenly, Anderson saw a streak of black light shoot out from the captain's cabin, flying toward the sail of the Black Emperor.
Looking closer, he realized it was that same black canvas sail, the very culprit responsible for carrying them through the spirit realm.
Beside them, the Golden Dream let out a flash of light as well, and Edwina lifted a piece of canvas in her own hand. It seemed she too had arrived here by the same means.
Just as Anderson was observing these pirate ships, someone else was secretly watching them in turn.
"So Temperance has come too..."
Aboard the ghost ship Ghostly Blue Avenger, Alger Wilson's gaze swept over the faces of the crew one by one, searching for any trace of the Blood Reverend, but found none.
For that particular person was, at this moment, still out on the Fog Sea.
A brand new sun hung in the sky, scorching the black sailing ships below.
Its clean, pure radiance drove out all that was unclean with a vengeance.