Chapter 40: Athkatla Island
The journey continued for Vlad, who had a pleasant sleep after finishing the surgery on Charles Vane, taking off from the island who he learned from the notorious pirate it was called the [No-Man's Land] for reasons that picked his interest, but because he didn't want to risk anything, he decided not to approach the lush island.
Especially after having a discussion with Titania on this subject, where she could feel something ominous inside the island, and is confused why she had such a feeling, asking Vlad if he had anything on his mind.
The latter pondered on a viable explanation for this phenomenon, then when having something decent, he tells the Fairy, about the possibility that something might be lurking inside the island.
"You ask what could possibly give you this sensation? From what I can hear from the wind, and what I can smell, there is indeed a distinct smell of plants. Exactly as you mentioned the island being, full of trees and greeneries.
There can be many things, which I am not aware of, plants that might not even be documented."
Their conversation went on for a while, until Charles, who picked from the lower deck on their talk, not wanting to be left to die in such a situation, shouted to Vlad with all his strength.
"Blind fuck! OYYY, DRACUL! You better don't step inside the No-Man's Land!"
Hearing Charles warning him with a serious voice, it made Vlad who was standing on the main deck, taking in the breeze of the sea to feel curious on what this notorious pirate had to say, such that he climbed down the lower deck again, to see Vane.
"You know more about this place than I don't?"
"Yea, man, this place is called [No-Man's Land] for a reason. Once someone steps on this land, and gets deeper, you never return. Besides, haven't you seen the shipwrecked ships? Do you think they are there for no reason?"
"They are shipwrecks. Should there be a meaning behind it?"
"Of course there is you dumbass. We left those ships without taking the scraps to warn any idiot stupid enough to commit suicide by exploring the island. What I know, and can tell you is this.
The island houses a variety of poisonous plants that make the air inside toxic. And to add salt to injury, you don't even know from which plants this is the cause."
"Interesting. So my initial assumption is right. There are poisonous plants on the island."
"No shit. Also, another piece of information I am willing to share with you, is this, but take it as stories since no one confirmed. There's stories about how the island is inhabited by some monstrous beasts adapted to the toxic environment of the island."
Charles didn't even want to think about touching his feet on the shore of this small, insignificant island, and he was sure that Vlad at least for once was of the same mind as himself. Yet, the following statement from Vlad shocked him.
"Beasts that can adapt to toxins? I have to check on this …"
"Wait, you dumbfuck, are you serious? You'll die."
"Sure, but not now. Maybe after I regain my sight, where I will be able to fully conduct research on this matter. Right now, I am hindered by my sight."
"Phew. At least some of your brain is sane enough." commented Charles in a sarcastic tone while laying on the table, to which the Fairy on Vlad's shoulder began nodding her head like a chick happy to eat some grains.
"Right, right? Finally, someone who can agree with me on this journey. Pirate, you have to work with me in making Vlad stop acting crazy."
Vlad shook his head, and did a gentle tickle on Titania's head, before giving Charles a cold, indifferent look, departing from the lower deck, resuming to his preparations of departing from where he anchored closer to the [No-Man's Land].
Raising the anchor and later on unfurling the sails, jumping next to the steering wheel, he began doing his first work-out by pulling around the wheel with the intent of guiding his caravel out of this place, with a new destination being the target which waited for him, somewhere in the distance, or better said on the map.
"Titania, check on the map and the compass if I took the right direction toward Athkatla." ordered Vlad, who began listening to the song of the waves and the wind which was another piece of information he was counting on in this journey of his.
"You have to go in the two-a-clock direction, you are currently moving with the steering wheel in the direction of one-a-clock." mentioned Titania after she spent her time without panicking on reading the directions on the map, and also calculating the coordinates matching with the compass directions.
"Understood. For whatever reason, I felt that the wind was helping me more in my initial direction. No problem. Good to have you with me, dear Titania." said Vlad, with a serene smile on his face, which Titania took in fully since she was looking at him for a reply.
"S-Sure, you can count on me."
"Mhm, I know. Once, we passed Bulge Island and this No-Land, I can show you the Holy Wisdom that we talked about when we got to that Cathedral."
"No need. I was just curious at that time."
"Titania, it's not like I have something else to do specifically, besides, reading books with you, playing chess and various games with you, training myself, and fishing."
"At least you remember your words." remarked Titania in a quiet voice, which Vlad fully heard, making him chuckle and reply.
"Words given, words kept. Besides, drawing Holy Wisdom will be interesting.
I wonder if I remember as it was in the past without the minaret being constructed."
Getting the ship on the clear path and securing the steering wheel with his gadget, he walked inside his cabin along with Titania, which looked to hold more spirit inside thanks to the books he "bought" at cheap from the old Priest.
Taking out a blank piece of paper of a decent size, as if it was for a building project, and with a pencil that he sharpened using the magic sword which he morphed into a small pocket knife, he mentioned Titania.
"All that I am about to draw to you, little Titania, might not be for sure exactly the life-like counterpart of this Wonder, but I will make sure to imprint on this sheet of paper the whole spirit one would receive from gazing at the Cathedral."
The Fairy kept her quiet, watching Vlad start his drawing, where everything looked to be chaotic, not making sense.
Various lines were drawn, almost at random, but each minute he was working on the drawing, Titania could see the shape of a building coming out, and the way it looked overshadowed the Cathedral inside Bulge Island by a lot, that she couldn't believe if such a building existed.
"The Church of Holy Wisdom, is the name of this piece. It is said that by the grace of God, and with the help of the Archangel Gabriel, Emperor Justinian came up with the plans of building this building.
This grand building stood tall even after a thousand years since its construction, remaining immemorial, watching the downfall of this once great Empire called the Roman Empire."
Vlad began telling Titania the story of the Holy Wisdom Cathedral and how its inception came to be not caring if she believed him or not, only doing this to ease up his mind, and refresh his memories. It was one of those moments that he cherished dearly all of his memories of his former life.
In about one hour, the first drawing of Holy Wisdom was completed which had the Fairy shocked especially when she heard Vlad describe this building in a life-like manner, making her believe that somewhere in the World, a building like the Church drawn by Vlad waited for them.
"Where is this church? You never told me?"
"In the Queen of Cities, Constantinople."
It was a back and forth, where Titania asked Vlad all sorts of questions, which he felt obliged to answer, while keeping things vague with regard to where exactly those places could be in this world. He learned from the so-called "Emperors of the Sea" that entered his own world, that people would react in different manners in regard to terms such as "outlanders".
The thought that maybe someone would be capable enough to do to him what he did to Wormblod and Quinn was a thing stuck in his mind, which instantly would shut down all further attempts of his at explaining certain things to Titania.
Nevertheless, the journey continued with the duo moving to a different subject of discussion, which this time was related to clothes and tailoring, something which for the Fairy began getting awakened. A passion for which Vlad didn't know a lot about, but wasn't quick to call defeat, speaking his mind on the subject to what he understood.
.
Days passed, and each of their daily activities would be completed in full, granting them a small progression to their journey. The books Vlad took from the Cathedral in Bulge Island, which he didn't read at that time, started running dry, making him feel slightly cheated by how dull some of the books he randomly picked could be.
Meanwhile, Titania couldn't wait to finish reading Vlad's books and be done with them, resuming her activities to something else more "productive" such as feeding the sea beggars that once again returned to irritate Vlad by polluting his surroundings with their annoying cries.
It was an amusing moment for the Fairy seeing Vlad get worked out by the seagulls, either them being the News Coo or the beggar ones, each was vocal when glancing at the latter.
However, for most of the journey he ignored them, only allowing the News Coo to act as it wished since it was bringing along daily news to him, giving him this chance of being up-to-date with the events of the world.
Some of the news, as read by Titania was interesting, while for the most part, they were boring to him, bringing out talk subjects touching different regions than South Blue.
It wasn't something noteworthy in Vlad's case, and he let them pass by, even if those mentioned individuals on the news might hold some power in the world, it didn't impress Vlad at all. For the news to impress him, it would require something that will align with his interests.
Like this, days flew by with the ones sailing the medium-sized caravel that didn't hold any flag to attest their connection to a side, where Titania could enjoy the new sceneries always appearing in her golden eyes, taking great enjoyment in sightseeing some smaller islands on their way to Athkatla.
Such apparitions were rather rare after gaining distance from Bulge Island, but were taken as a good luck charm by Vlad who didn't expect to see anything until approaching the range of his new stop. Yet, on his ship there was a person who had more experience in this regard, and had plenty of information.
The Captain of the Vane Pirates, Charles Vane who for about one week remained in the constraints of the lower deck, recovering from the surgery he was put on by Vlad, slowly made his way out to the main deck after building himself a pair of crutches, returning himself to a familiar setting, on the board of a ship, watching the everlasting blue.
Titania was curious about this criminal and if she took some of her time while Vlad was checking his wound to ask questions, now that Charles Vane was out of his cage, walking on the main deck, it allowed her to get more vocal. A thing that Vlad didn't stop her from, not caring what she was doing with her free time.
The passage of time on the sea was a hellish concept, especially when you had nothing better to do on this journey, yet this wasn't the case for Vlad who continued with his daily routine which filled his schedule without fail.
One of the important routines he kept doing almost daily was training his body and sword, a point where the pirate who could in the later days watch Vlad from the perspective of an observer, saw the amount of hard work put behind.
Besides the thought, this tall young man was blind, and shouldn't be able to see what he was doing with his sword, yet managing to make an intriguing sword style, initially put him in doubt.
A doubt vanished immediately once Vlad mocked him for losing his focus, a point where he regained his spirit simply from his desire to get revenge on Vlad for his humiliating defeat.
On the other hand, Vlad didn't bother with Charles Vane too much, with the exception when he checked his wounds, and passed some food, he was ignored by the latter, only Titania having too much free time, leading to her entering into conversations with the pirate.
Still, his training continued regardless of the situation, and such that his body in this month of May, grew to reach 192 centimeters, a subtle height change that Vlad had no clue it was happening since apart from the itching of his body each night he thought was from the hot temperature, Titania couldn't see the difference and himself, was a blind man.
Closing into the predicted day of 15 May, only being separated by 2 days from reaching Athkatla, there was a situation happening on the caravel where Vlad who was sitting inside the Crow's Nest, with some seagulls that sat like stones on the wooden supports, received the visit of a the beautiful Fairy raiding a News Seagull that stopped on the supports of the Nest.
*COOO*
"Quiet. Can't you see your brethren are all quiet? Follow their lead and stop crying about it."
"You meanny, leave them alone. They are innocent. Also, there's today's news for you. I paid the little one already."
"Mhm, you wish to read for me? Didn't you say you'll read for me when I get new books?" inquired Vlad, casually, remembering how relieved Titania behaved once she passed a section of the library.
"This is different. Reading news has become one of my habits, thanks to someone."
"Yes, I wonder who." replied Vlad, in a stoic manner, making the Fairy jump on his upper body, and with her shoes having a small heel, piercing his button left to relax under the sun.
"Ready to hear the news?"
"Sure. I doubt what might change in the following days, but being informed is always a strength."
The Fairy fully agreed with Vlad on this one, and while nodding her head, she noticed how the News Coo departed after bidding farewells to her.
"Ahh, the little guy departed without getting some more information from him. Tsk, whatever. From what those little ones mentioned on their passing, Athkatla is a safe and pleasant place to live."
"We'll see. So what's the news about?"
Titania opened the newspaper which she placed on Vlad's body, and getting herself closer, she noticed the image of a man with a displeasing appearance being fronted, brewing feelings of disgust for the Fairy for some reason.
『Kaido on the Move』
She told Vlad this headline, and began reading this piece of news that discussed Kaido and his fights with the Super Pirate Rookie called Sasaki which ended unfortunate for this rookie, who bent under the power of this Emperor of the Sea.
She continued reading the article, until ending it with the conclusion of the page talking about this event.
"[It was once again confirmed that no one is safe inside the New World, and that the four Yonko are the rulers of the sea in that region.]
[An unfortunate rookie who caused a lot of chaos in the Paradise, now finding out that he was nothing more than an ant against the greats.]
[Kaido. Who can beat this man who is said to be the Strongest Creature in the World?"]
Hearing that, Vlad began pondering about this piece of news which threw an interesting question on to his lap. Kaido? The Strongest Creature in the World?
'Wormblod mentioned Kaido when I interrogated those Yonko's back home. However, what he said was that Kaido was one of Zebeck's men, nothing about him being some Yonko.'
'Well, it makes sense since I am currently in the year 1514, while Wormblod and Quinn have been mentioned to come from the year 1476. Their era passed long ago, but their information, all their interesting locations, I vividly remember all the discussions I had back then.'
'This means that Roger survived that storm, and lived to tell the story, becoming the Pirate King and finding that One Piece treasure.'
.
"What are you thinking about Vlad?" asked Titania when she saw Vlad ponder about the news she just read.
"Nothing in particular. Just thinking about this Kaido person. I wonder how it would be to meet such a person in the future. The Strongest Creature of the World? Haha, I wonder if this title can stay strong when I challenge him."
Titania's face shifted into panic and with a deep gaze at this blind man, discussing on the fly various suicidal aspects, she told him with a stern voice.
"You better not do what I am thinking you will do?"
"Ohh, I don't understand what you are referring to."
"Don't play it dumb, you know exactly what I am talking about. Don't you dare to challenge such people and lose your life."
Vlad opened his abyssal eyes, and while moving his large hand, using his index finger he caressed the Fairy's head.
"We don't know what the future might hold for us. If I find Atlas's Tombs, and what's inside manages to cure my eyesight, everything will change for me. I will be born a new."
The Fairy quieted down, and while resting on Vlad's chest, she turned the pages of the newspaper filling the young man on the events of the world, which were like filling information that he would probably forget in a couple of minutes.
Nonetheless, the days passed by since that incident with regard to discovering some of Kaido's exploits in the world, and once the day calculated by Vlad that he will arrive to Athkatla, everyone on the caravel, meaning Vlad, Titania and Charles could see over the horizons an island appearing in their sight, excluding the one at the steering wheel.
"Oyyy, Dracul, I don't know what witchery you have done, but what you told me about reaching Athkatla on the specific time, is spot on. How can you do this?"
"These are navigation skills.
I doubt someone who only thought about making money, scheming on people, and pillaging settlements would probably understand." commented Vlad from the upper level of the ship, keeping the steering straight, moving slowly but surely toward an island that looked rather stunning.
From the distance both Titania and Charles could see the mountainous area, and the jungle covering the island in an lush green, something Vlad probably never saw in his medieval life, apart from maybe reaching the Carpathian Mountain, glazing at the scenes only his eyes could see.
Approaching closer to the island, Titania who flew back on his shoulder began guiding him toward the only settlement she saw from the air, and getting there, she could see a city that had a simple architectural style, which followed the standards of the South Blue, but not really, having buildings with a European-Style.
Yet there was a mixture of styles and colors, where most of the buildings have an aged style that encompasses the lush fauna of the island.
"This place is called Jade Town? Correct, Titania?"
"So the map says." confirmed Titania, remembering the map inside the Captain's Cabin, engulfing an entire table.
"Mhm, let's hope this place is better than Fiddler City. I don't mind killing idiots, but I want to keep myself fresh for when we reach Sorbet Kingdom."
