Reaching Zou

Ian was still hugging the blue-eyed petite girl Libell to his chest when they both had seen the elephant. As such he set her down on the ground, much to her displeasure.

Although the spirit of the ship took the shape of a little girl, she was quite smart and knew that Ian needed to do something now as he saw they were close to reaching the 'island'.

Still, Ian was able to see the disappointment in her eyes, so he promised her.

"Hey, Libell, don't worry, later I'll play with you as much as you want, okay?" Ian lowered to her height as he said gently.

"Mn!" She gave him a beaming smile and a nod. Quite happy at his promise.

He then stopped using the voice of all things, but to his surprise, the figure of the little girl didn't disappear at all as he expected she will.

Still, the little girl herself vanished suddenly, only to appear on the sails of the ship swinging her little legs and humming to herself.

Ian shook his head at that and started walking inside as discreetly as possible.

Although the question of how he was able to see her now, after he had already shut down his ability, was on his mind, he still knew that he should go to sleep before his family wakes up. And he would leave that question until later.

There was also the fact he needed a bit of rest, as even now he was suffering from a massive headache.

****

A few hours later.

All on the ship had awoken already except their lazy captain.

Since Robin was the one to spend the night with him, she was assigned the task of waking him up.

Usually, they would not wake him up at all, until he naturedly felt he had enough sleep and he would wake up on his own.

But the situation was quite urgent so they sent her to wake him up.

She made her way to the first floor where his room, and where she took a shower earlier, was.

When she reached there she knocked on the door before entering.

Ian immediately began stirring once he heard knocking.

He turned to see only to find Robin there.

"Good morning, Ian!" Robin made her way towards him as she greeted him.

When she reached him she shared a kiss with him, before he replied.

"Good morning!" He said.

She smiled as she started on her purpose.

"Everyone is already up. Earlier we had entered a foggy area with nothing in sight. The ship is already stopped since yesterday, thankfully. We are not sure there are not obstacles hidden in the fog that might damage the ship after all. And so we need your opinion on this matter, so get up sleepyhead!" Robin said. As she explained to the sleepyhead what was happening.

Ian was in fact capable of steering the ship in his sleep. However in the world that would be nothing short of suicide. As to steer the ship one would need a log pose, and Ian would not be able to watch over the log pose if he was sleeping. The same goes for a vivre card. As such, they usually just dock the ship for the night.

Ian stirred from the bed as he rubbed his eyes.

"Well, we have most likely reached Zou then!" Ian said.

Internally he felt a bit bad about lying to his crewmates. But it was better than making them worry needlessly about him.

Robin was surprised for a second. She didn't think they would reach Zou this quick.

Ian got up to enter the bathroom, leaving Robin waiting.

****

A short while later both Ian and Robin joined the others on the deck.

All of them with the exception of Bert were on guard as they didn't know what the fog would bring. However, Ian spoke up to make them stand at ease.

"Good morning guys." He first greeted. And at their replies he said. "This fog is hiding our destination, Zou. As I'm sure Bert knows already." Ian said and pointed at Bert.

Who only chuckled in response.

"Anyways, since Bert refused to say anything before, I'll tell you now," Ian said. He then did as before and sent a wave of energy that pushed the fog aside and let them see what lay before them.

Much to the shock of the girls, they saw a living breathing giant elephant.

Bert and Ian had refused to tell them about where Zou was, simply for making them experience it themselves.

"This is Zunesha. A one thousand years old gargantuan elephant that wanders the new world and carries on its back the island of Zou. If you are wondering about its size then it is estimated at 35km. Yes, you heard me right." Ian spoke up. Even he was excited to introduce such an experience to the girls.

The girls each had their own reaction. Elene's was excitement above all. After all, like Ian, she already knew about this. But it was another thing to see it with one's own eyes.

Stella was the most vocal about it. Continuously shaking Bert's hands and muttering something between amazing, and how this was possible.

Meanwhile, Robin was smiling. She was also a bit excited, as she admired the view. After all, not many get to see such a spectacle.

"I don't know much about the island itself, however, except that the Mink race lives on it," Ian said. "I think I'll let Bert do the talking from now." He finished.

Bert gave a nod.

"The island of Zou is called a phantom island because it is always moving. Only a vivre card would point towards it. It is home to the Mokomo Dukedom of the Mink tribe. The dukedom itself has two rulers governing over the Minks. The 'ruler of day'. And the 'ruler of night'." Bert said.

They gave nods. And were about to ask more, when something crashed into their captain from the sky.

When they all turned to Ian alert, they found out that Ian had a little girl in his arms whom he was admonishing. His eyes glowing a bit red as his future sight had activated.

"Libell, what if you had fallen and got hurt? Don't do this again okay?" He spoke. Leaving his crew perplexed.

The little girl gave nods of her head hurriedly. As she had jumped at him from the sail. Although she knew she wouldn't get hurt, and she can even fly, she still enjoyed the feeling of being cared for.

Ian then noticed that all of the crew were looking at him.

At first, he thought they were looking at him because to them it sounded as if Ian was talking to himself. But moving the little girl from his arms and putting her down, showed the crew looking at her.

So he asked.

"You can see her?" He said.

"Of course we can see her," Stella replied as she got close with the rest.

Bert and Elene nodded their head.

Meanwhile, Robin thought about it.

"Do you mean to say we shouldn't be seeing her?" She asked.

Ian gave a nod. And turned towards Libell.

"Didn't you tell me that you can't show yourself to the crew yet, as you are still young? Come to think of it even after I had shut down my ability earlier I was still able to see you…" Ian asked.

Libell herself didn't know anything. But she still wanted to help Ian so she thought hard about things.

Meanwhile, Robin asked Ian.

"First of all, who is she?" This was the question on the crew's head.

"Ah, that's right I forgot. This is Libell, the spirit of the ship. But she wasn't yet able to show herself to us as she is still young. But I am an exception as I saw her with the use of my ability." Ian explained.

"Did anything change that made you able to do that now?" Ian asked Libell.

She thought about it for a bit before replying.

"I don't know. The only thing I know is I feel a connection towards your ring just like I do to the ship." She spoke up. She then started to hide behind Ian as all of the crew were looking at her.

Ian when he heard that he gave his ring a look. And immediately understood things. Because on his ring an engraving of a dragon was added. He was sure it wasn't there before.

He then spoke to the little girl.

"Don't be scared Libell, these people are my family, they won't hurt you or anything," Ian assured her.

She peeked at them and saw that they all wore gentle smiles on their faces.

Elene stepped up closer to her and held her hand for her to take.

Libell looked at the hand for a bit before looking at Ian.

And Ian only gave an encouraging nod of his head.

She then took the arm and Elene hugged her as she pressed her cheeks to hers.

"Ah, such a cute little girl," Elene said. To which Libell blushed a bit. But there was a smile on her face.

The rest of the girls came closer to them and soon they were all fussing over the little girl, with Ian and Bert chuckling to themselves from the side.

"Alright, I'm going to start the ship up so that we can reach near Zunesha," Ian said.

Bert gave him a nod. Meanwhile, the girls didn't even reply to him as they took Libell inside the ship.

Ian just shook his head muttering to himself something about how he was already forgotten and then got to work.

Next stop, Mokomo dukedom.