Chapter 1 The Sea Calmed

The sea calmed.

Alice saw the tentacle fall onto the deck, and some flesh and blood fragments containing great power also fell beside the captain's feet. The vitality rapidly faded from these pieces of flesh and blood, and at the same moment, some enormous creature lurking beneath the waters around the Vanishing Sail began to accelerate its descent—after paying the “price” of a tentacle, it quickly fled the waters around the Vanishing Sail, its manner almost suggesting a desperate escape.

As this massive shadow submerged again into the deep sea, the ocean regained its tranquility at an astonishing speed, and the dark, inky clouds in the sky completely dissipated.

…Perhaps that wasn't a cloud at all.

Alice looked up at the sky. She remembered what the cloud had looked like before, and recalling the cloud's outline as it dissipated, she finally vaguely matched it to the shadow that had been under the water around the ship.

The thick cloud in the sky seemed to be a shadow, cast by some immense creature in the sea.

The crackling and popping of burning flames came from the edge of the deck, interrupting Alice's reverie. She quickly looked towards the captain and saw that he had returned to his usual demeanor. The tall man had a cheerful smile on his face. He had noticed Alice standing not far away, and he waved for the doll to come over.

Seeing Alice approach him, Duncan kicked the large fish on the deck, his tone slightly uplifted: “Look, I caught a big fish!”

“Big… big fish?” Alice’s expression was a bit dazed. She looked at the thing beside Duncan's feet. Among the twisted and churning flesh, countless eyes with torn flesh still gazed at the sky in a half-open, half-closed state, and jagged fangs gleamed with a metallic coldness between the eyeballs.

With Duncan's kick, half of the eyes on the severed tentacle suddenly blinked, but then all closed.

“Yes, a big fish,” Duncan said cheerfully. “You see, it took me quite a bit of effort to get this thing up here.”

Even though she was just a doll, Alice felt her eyes twitch for a moment. She opened her mouth to speak but didn't know where to begin to correct the topic.

She looked at the "fish" beside Duncan's feet.

An ugly big fish lay there—a dark black color, a pitted and uneven skin, strange grayish-white patterns near the fins, bony spurs extending from its head, and a pair of lifeless fish eyes meeting her gaze.

And many "small fish" were scattered on the surrounding deck.

Alice suddenly lost all expression and words. She stared wide-eyed at the scene before her, looking at the "fish" lying on the deck, looking at the things that had been something other than "fish" just a moment ago.

The doll, lacking life experience, did not yet understand what it meant to "doubt one's life," but at this moment, she truly began to doubt everything. She even wondered if she was "dreaming"—where had that tentacle, those fragments of flesh and blood, gone?

Perhaps her momentary daze was too obvious. Duncan immediately noticed Alice's abnormality. He raised his eyebrows and looked at the doll: "What's wrong? Is something the matter?”

“I…” Alice opened her mouth, but just as she was about to correct something, the rules the goat-headed man had told her suddenly appeared in her mind.

On the Vanishing Sail, Captain Duncan was the absolute authority, and his words were the absolute “truth”—if the real world contradicted Captain Duncan's words, then the captain's judgment prevailed.

“There's nothing wrong at all!” Alice suddenly reacted, saying quickly. Then, as if to cover up the overly nervous tone, she quickly changed the subject, “By the way, Captain, that storm just now was really scary…”

“Storm? Are you talking about that wave?” Duncan looked at the doll in confusion. “That wave was indeed quite large, but it's far from being a storm… but that's right, you haven't seen any real storms.”

Alice: “…You’re right.”

If Captain Duncan called the storm that had almost covered the entire sea a "wave," then it was a wave. If Captain Duncan believed the things he caught on the ship were "fish," then these things were fish.

“…I feel like you're a bit nervous. Are you really okay?” Duncan still noticed the strangeness in Alice's tone. He looked at his "first mate" with some concern. “Are you seasick? Can you even get seasick?”

“I’m fine, it’s just that the ship was shaking so much just now…” Alice looked at the captain's concerned face but didn't know whether to feel relieved or even more afraid. She could only stiffly change the subject. “By the way, what are you going to do with these… ‘fish’?”

“Is that even a question?” Duncan immediately laughed. “Eat them, of course!”

Alice's expression instantly froze: “…Eat?”

“What else? Haven’t you noticed that the food supplies on the Vanishing Sail are too monotonous?” Duncan was clearly in a good mood. “I plan to break up the big one, stew some, roast some, and salt the smaller ones to make dried fish…”

He cheerfully talked about his plans, but although he sounded confident, he wasn't sure if he could actually succeed. His cooking skills were only so-so, and he had no experience in handling such huge sea fish, and he only had theoretical knowledge of how to make dried fish, without any practical experience at all.

But how would he know if he didn't try?

The only problem… was not to get a stomachache.

Duncan still retained some rationality in the joy of the great harvest. He cautiously looked at the big fish beside his feet, wondering if this gift from nature was poisonous.

The safest way was to find some unlucky guy to try it first.

He first thought of the goat-headed man in the captain's cabin, then instantly rejected that option. Then he glanced at the cursed doll opposite him—this doll wouldn't work either.

Alice didn't even have a stomach.

Finally, he looked at the pigeon on his shoulder.

The pigeon also tilted its head to look at him.

Ai Yi didn't look like a normal creature at all, but if he had to find a living thing with flesh and blood on the ship, it seemed that only this pigeon was left…

A moment later, Duncan left the deck with his “harvest”—lunchtime was approaching, and he couldn't wait to improve the food on the Vanishing Sail.

Alice stayed where she was for a while, then came to the door of the captain's cabin.

She hadn't planned to look for the goat-headed man. Ever since she had witnessed the "first mate's" babbling skills last time, she had developed a deep sense of awe for the entire captain's cabin.

If possible, she didn't want to take the initiative to step into the captain's cabin door.

But the things that had happened today were too strange, and she felt it was necessary to consult with the experienced Mr. Goat Head to see if this was a normal phenomenon on the Vanishing Sail.

She wasn't violating the crew rules, just inquiring about the situation, which shouldn't be a taboo.

After hesitating for a full dozen seconds, Alice finally plucked up the courage to push open the door of the captain's cabin.

The next moment, she was shocked to see that the goat head had already turned towards the door, staring intently at this side—it seemed to have been waiting for her to come over.

“What happened outside?” The goat head asked extremely concisely, which was very rare for it.

Alice sensed something wrong from the other party's abnormal behavior. She quickly turned around to close the door and came to the navigation table, telling the other party everything she had seen.

After she finished speaking, the goat head fell into an extremely abnormal silence—it didn't say a word for a full minute.

The wooden goat head couldn't make expressions, but Alice could clearly feel… that things seemed to be beyond this "first mate's" judgment.

Alice suddenly became nervous. She leaned forward subconsciously: "Could it be that these aren't normal things that happen on the Vanishing Sail? Could it be that the captain is really..."

“Everything is normal on the Vanishing Sail,” the goat head finally woke up from its silence. It answered quickly, interrupting Alice as if to block some loophole as soon as possible, “Listen, everything is normal on the Vanishing Sail, always normal, and the great Captain Duncan is as great as ever!”

“Then… I was just looking at your reaction…”

“Things are a bit beyond my expectations—but that’s because my imagination and cognition are insufficient,” the goat head's words quickly became fluent. It seemed to be gradually recovering from its shock to its usual state. Then, its emotions clearly began to rise, and even its tone became passionate and excited. “Yes, the great Captain Duncan—he should be even greater and more powerful! There is nothing abnormal, Miss Alice, listen, everything is as usual on the Vanishing Sail! Let the captain do what he thinks is right, and don't continue to discuss this topic… You just need to remember this fact from today onwards:

“There is fish in the Vanishing Sail's kitchen, and fish is a delicious ingredient.”