The Red-Nose Captain's actions also drew in the people on board who were still in decent shape—like the first mate, Kurapika, Leorio, and the others.
He clamped a pipe between his teeth—mysteriously, it still hadn't gotten wet even in this torrential rain—and smacked his lips as he said:
"Kid, I've been sailing on this ship for decades, and this is the first time I've ever heard someone explain St. Elmo's Fire like that. 'From tradition'? 'From myth'? I've drifted around my whole life. I can't claim I've been to every corner of the Six Continents, but I know the basic countries. And I've never heard of anything called Italy or Greece. Are there really countries like that on the Six Continents?"
The Red-Nose Captain was smiling—clearly, he thought Roy had just made all that up on the spot.
Hearing the captain's words, Roy opened his eyes and replied flatly, "Italy and Greece were just countries that existed on the Six Continents a long, long time ago. Some old historical records in libraries mention them. Ossan, judging by the way you're talking, you haven't read many books, have you?"
The Red-Nose Captain felt like he'd just been stabbed in the chest.
"As for corona discharge—that cold-glow effect—modern physics textbooks explain it. If you've got time, ossan, you can go check whether the phenomenon described there matches what appears when St. Elmo's Fire shows up."
"And the related accounts of St. Elmo's Fire have also been mentioned in the works of various great figures. St. Elmo's Fire was referenced in Caesar's Bellum Africum and in Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia, among other old books. And in Melville's famous Moby-Dick, there's a passage describing the first mate Starbuck discovering St. Elmo's Fire and shouting, 'Holy bodies! Holy bodies!' A historian and merchant from a small nation called Venice—Antonio Pigafetta—also mentioned the phenomenon in the journal he wrote while sailing with a captain named Magellan.
"And when the biologist Darwin sailed aboard the Beagle on his famous voyage around the world, he wrote to his close friend, the botanist John Stevens Henslow, describing the moment when the Beagle lay at anchor at the mouth of the River Plate: 'Everything seemed on fire, the sky was bright, the water full of light, and even the mastheads had blue flames.' That's describing the appearance of St. Elmo's Fire."
"So, ossan—if you're the captain, the backbone of the ship—read more books."
First Mate: "..."
Kurapika: "..."
Leorio: "..."
At that moment, the Red-Nose Captain's lips trembled.
Am I really getting old?
Can't keep up with the times anymore?
Why have I never heard of so many famous people and books?
Is this really the difference between someone who reads and someone who doesn't?
For a while, the Red-Nose Captain spiraled into self-inflicted torment.
As for the others on the ship, the first mate had already felt his brain short-circuiting. Leorio barely managed to close his hanging mouth and muttered under his breath, "I didn't think a tiny sailing phenomenon would involve such a headache of knowledge. If you're a doctor, dealing with rare diseases and weird syndromes must be even worse… yeah, being a doctor is not easy."
Kurapika, meanwhile, racked his brain and still couldn't find any of the names or books Roy had mentioned.
"Looks like the books I've read—and what I know—still aren't enough. This examinee…"
Kurapika looked at Roy with a heavy, guarded stare.
"This is troublesome."
Over here, the Red-Nose Captain also snapped back to himself. He was someone who'd been through storms and seas—he wasn't about to have his worldview shattered by a few sentences.
But precisely because of that, he found Roy even more astonishing.
He pulled the pipe from his mouth and asked, "Just who are you, really?"
"Me?" Sensing the storm was about to pass, Roy closed his eyes again.
"Just an ordinary mangaka looking for story inspiration, that's all~"
…
The Red-Nose Captain didn't dwell on Roy's "mangaka" identity. After the storm passed, even though it was still pouring outside, the ship gradually steadied. The captain directly brought Roy, Android 18, Gon, and the other two into a small room.
"What are your names?" the Red-Nose Captain asked.
"I'm Gon," Gon answered quickly.
"I'm Kurapika," Kurapika also answered, back straight.
"Ugh, what a pain. I'm Leorio," Leorio said. Since everyone else answered, he didn't resist and just gave it up.
"Roy." Short and to the point.
"Android 18." A cool, clear voice.
Even if her household registration said "Lazuli," it was obvious Android 18 still didn't want to use her past name.
As for fake names and aliases… wasn't Illumi also using the alias "Gittarackur"?
None of that mattered.
But clearly, the name "Android 18" was unusual and drew everyone's attention.
"Why would such a beautiful ojou-san use such a strange name?"
Still, judging from what happened on deck earlier, Roy and Android 18 were obviously a pair, so Kurapika and the others didn't ask further.
"Then why do you want to become Hunters?" the Red-Nose Captain said.
In his life he'd taken on countless examinees. He'd seen plenty of names far weirder than this.
But that question was basically poking a hornet's nest—because with these two problem children, it hit a nerve.
"Why should we tell you? This isn't an interview," Leorio said, and Kurapika's eyes also filled with wariness.
(End of Chapter)
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