Chapter 184

Author's note: so I've been playing Elden Ring for a week now, and I have to say the damned thing is really addictive!

I'm even thinking about writing an Elden Ring fanfic, or maybe a jump chain that starts in the Elden Ring world! Would you guys be interested in reading something like that? Either way, it won't be anytime soon.

Anyway, who else is playing it, and what do you guys think about the game so far?

........................

"What's with the weird-looking bird, captain?" Doc Q said as he sat in front of me, giving the south bird standing at the table between us an inspecting a look.

I honestly couldn't blame him for describing it as weird-looking because of how it looked perched on the table staring me in the eye, its head facing me despite its body facing the other way.

"Jyo!" the south bird exclaimed, spreading its wings in outrage as it glared at Doc, seemingly telling him to watch his mouth.

"Calm down, will you?" I remarked with a chuckle, throwing a piece of fruit from the plate in front of me towards the bird, and it quickly caught and swallowed it in one gulp, calming down.

Several hours had passed since I found this overdramatic bird, and I had caught it quickly enough after it tried to flee. However, getting it to stop trying to peck the flesh off my face with its peek proved a much more challenging task.

Still, I made it reconsider its attitude after a bit of the good old carrot and stick tactic. The carrot being the ridiculous amount of fruits that went into the south bird's seemingly infinite spatial storage of a stomach, and the stick being the occasional Conqoureros Haki therapy whenever it misbehaved.

Perhaps out of greed for the food, fear, or realizing it would lead a better, safer life with me, it finally accepted its fate and stopped trying to bite my face off and running away.

"This is a south bird," I remarked as I turned to look at Doc, ruffling the bird's plumage as it softly called, pushing its peak against the back of my hand.

"It's my new pet," I added, chuckling as the bird lightly bit my hand, likely in protest to me calling it a pet, making me shrug my shoulder.

"You sure have weird tastes, captain..." Doc said, scratching his head as he looked at the south bird with a befuddled expression.

"What did you call it, anyway?" Doc asked after several seconds of silence after his fill of observing the strange bird.

"I'm going to call him Iago," I remarked with a smirk, thinking back to one quirky red parrot who accompanied one of the most iconic villains from my childhood.

"That's as good a name as any, I suppose," Doc said with a careless shrug, losing interest in the subject.

"Hey, captain! Hey, Doc," Elly greeted from the side as she suddenly came to the table, sitting next to me with her hand reaching for Iago, who leaned into her touch. Elly was the first of my crewmates to be acquainted with the south bird, and he seemed to like her more than the others he's met so far.

I greeted her back with a smile, Doc doing the same as he nodded in her direction.

"Do you have any plans for tomorrow, captain?" Elly asked as she removed her hand from Lago's plumage, and he called softly, proceeding to bury his head into a plate of fruits on the table.

"Not really. Do you need something?" I asked as I watched Iago with a smile, taking out my whisky bottle and taking a sip.

"I heard there are a lot of shipwrecks near this island..." Elly said, trailing at the end of her sentence. "People say they fall from the sky, and most of them are really old..." she added as she took out rusted spyglass from her bag.

"I bought this from a stall nearby," Elly explained as she put the spyglass on the table, gesturing towards the initials engraved on its side. "The man who sold it to me said it belonged to a famous pirate from six decades ago..." she added with a smile.

"I was hoping we can take the Black Pearl and dive for treasure and investigate the shipwrecks," she concluded, looking at me with puppy eyes that were so adorable an imaginary sign saying super effective could have appeared over her head.

"Sounds fun. I'll tag along too since I have nothing better to do anyway," I replied, shrugging my shoulders as I took another sip of whisky.

"Thanks, captain! You're the best!" Elly exclaimed, giving me a tight hug and a kiss on my cheek as she got up and ran towards Kozue, Byron, and Bepo with an excited expression on her face.

"This girl..." I said with a sigh, shaking my head as I watched her report the good news to the others seemed just as eager and excited as her upon hearing it.

"Ships falling from the sky, and I even heard there's a knock-up stream nearby..." Doc muttered to no one in particular as he pondered Elly's words. "Captain, do you think there's a sky island above Jaya?" he asked after a second of silence.

"I know there's a sky island above Jaya," I replied with a shrug of my shoulders, making Doc's eyes widen. "It's a piece of Jaya that the knock-stream shot into the sky 400 years ago, believe it or not," I added, pointing to the ceiling with my index finger.

"Ever heard of Nolan, the liar...?" I asked, getting a nod in response, and I proceeded to tell Doc about the real story that happened and how Nolan's descendent was on this island right now, trying to clear his family's name.

...

"Safe and sound at home again, let the waters roar, Jack," I hummed, my fingers playing the strings of my guitar as I looked around, seeing my crewmates all gathered at the hotel's dining area.

It was already late in the night, and everyone came back to the hotel to rest and relax with each other before calling it a day.

Everyone was doing their own thing. Byron was sitting near me, nagging me for a song for the past 30 minutes, until I had no choice but to oblige.

Wilson was sitting next to us as well, enjoying a bottle of tropical, fruity alcohol as he listened to me sing after pestering me along with Byron for the song.

Elly, Kozue, and the new addition to their group of females, Domino, were sitting on their own, discussing god knows what with heated expression, exaggeratedly gesturing with their hands as they did.

Law and Doc Q were in a heated discussion of their own as they talked about medicine, Bepo sitting next to Law and enjoying some of the local cuisines.

Bob and Laffite, on the other hand, were in their own world as they sat facing each other, a chessboard between them as they quietly played against each other.

"Long we've tossed on the rolling main, now we're safe ashore, Jack..." I sang, Byron and Wilson, joining me for the chorus as the alcohol began kicking in.

"Don't forget yer old shipmate, faldee raldee raldee raldee rye-eye-doe..!"

(Author's note: Safe and Sound by The Fisherman's Friends)