Chapter 556 - 221: I’ll Eat You—

「Ten days later. Cordo Sea, near a reef-filled region.」

"First Officer, are you sure about this direction?"

Ronan stared straight ahead, his face beaded with cold sweat. Thick, dark clouds blanketed the sky, and flashes of lightning flickered within them. The fierce sea wind carried the distant RUMBLE of thunder.

He was already regretting it immensely, cursing himself for listening to the navigational advice of the First Officer—a queen who was sexy, beautiful, noble, dignified, and passionate as fire.

Even though this route would shorten the distance to Aleksey Island, and even though sailing with the wind would allow the *Leonard* to pick up speed... it also meant passing through a sea full of reefs...

And in fact, the situation ahead was even worse than he had anticipated.

A storm had appeared over the already dangerous waters. Not only did it reduce visibility, but the fierce winds, lightning, and churning waves greatly increased the risk of crossing.

"Oh? Are you questioning me?" Clelia’s eyes, bright and clear as she gazed at the storm, were filled with excitement. Before Ronan could even speak, she thrust a fist toward the sea and shouted, "Conquer it!"

’Conquer... conquer it...’

The corner of Ronan’s mouth twitched. Even if they were on a fully-equipped Five-Masted Sailing Ship capable of dominating the Cordo Sea Region, it didn’t mean he was willing to recklessly charge through a Stormy Sea Region when they could easily go around it.

He turned to look at the other pirates on deck, his gaze landing on a few of the more experienced old hands, hoping they might offer some more sensible advice.

"Um, Second Officer, is it possible that, uh, when the First Officer said ’conquer,’ she meant ’go around’ the storm?" the newly appointed Boatswain, Helvin Hayes, asked, swallowing hard as he stared, pale-faced, at the violent winds and waves outside.

Ronan shot him an appreciative look. ’Good man, you get me!’

"First Officer, I understand your orders. Turning the helm to port to go around the storm."

"Hm?"

Clelia glanced at him, smoothing the hair on her forehead that had been ruffled by the wind. She spoke slowly, deliberately. "You can try. See if I don’t break your legs~"

"Heh, haha, First Officer, I just remembered that the Captain mentioned something about coming out later to check on our training progress..."

With no other choice, Ronan had to bite the bullet and bring up Wei’en’s name. After all this time, he knew the only person who could keep this beautiful First Officer in line was their rarely seen Captain.

However...

"He’s coming out?"

Clelia’s eyes lit up, and a charming smile graced her lips. "Triangle-Eyes, why didn’t you say so sooner? In that case, I’ll leave command to you..."

She had just turned to swap out this puppet body and return to the theater space when she paused. Looking at Ronan, who hadn’t even had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief, she continued, "You’re not lying to me, are you?"

"Of course not! No way! Absolutely not," Ronan delivered a rapid-fire triple denial. Even though he was bluffing, he absolutely could not admit it now.

’As long as we get around this dangerous patch of sea, it won’t matter if I get beaten to death or... well, beaten to death... Captain, save me...’

"It had better be. Otherwise..."

Clelia extended a delicate finger and casually gestured toward the sea. A streak of black light shot out like a sharp arrow, piercing the turbulent water.

BOOM!

After a pause of a few seconds, that patch of sea violently exploded. Dozens of Deep Sea aberrations that had been lurking beneath the surface were blasted into the air by the impact.

Their crimson eyes were filled with madness and cruelty... then confusion and bewilderment. "ROAR—ROAR?"

"Puppet Arts—Control."

Immediately after, black threads shot out from the long hair behind Clelia’s head, wrapping around the aberrations’ bodies. In the blink of an eye, they fell still.

Witnessing this scene, Ronan and the rest of the pirates also fell silent.

’The Queen First Officer... is so strong...’

"You’ll end up just like this!"

With that, Clelia snapped her fingers.

SNAP.

The tangled mess of fine black threads instantly pulled taut. Before the despairing eyes of the Deep Sea aberrations, the threads sliced them into countless tiny pieces of flesh. The gale-force winds swept the remains into the sea, attracting a frenzy of fish that tore at and devoured them.

Having done all this, Clelia looked at the dumbfounded pirates, nodded in satisfaction, and turned to walk toward the ship’s hold to leave this puppet body via her source connection.

"Phew..."

Seeing her leave, Ronan let out a long breath. ’Her Majesty is finally gone.’

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, looked at the pirates around him and the rapidly approaching storm, and roared, "Dammit, get ready! We’re going around the storm!"

"Yes, yes! Quickly, clear the remains from the deck!" Boatswain Helvin shouted.

He had spent so many years with the Purple Flower Clan and had never seen a First Officer as reckless—er... as adventurous as Clelia. It was certainly a challenge.

"Boatswain, should we prepare to activate the Array?" a pirate shouted, standing behind the figurehead and clinging to the ship’s railing to keep from being thrown overboard by the wind and waves.

"What the hell are you waiting for?! Activate it now! Can’t you see the storm is almost on us? And those aberrations, too—dammit, more of them are climbing up..."

Leaving the pirates to their chaotic scramble, Clelia, now back in the theater space, rose from her comfortable lounge chair. She gave a lazy stretch, which made the two orbs on her chest seem to swell a full size larger.

She glanced at the Guards who were training. "Vian, it’s time for sparring. The winner gets an extra meal tonight. The loser... gets extra training!"

"Yes, My Queen!"

Vian slipped out of her somewhat heavy leather armor, leaving her in just a short tunic. Her once long, dark-green hair was now cut much shorter, and her silver-gray eyes, once only pure and gentle, now held a new, resolute glint.