On the deck of the Flying Dutchman, Sparrow was delivered there by a black mass as he was captured by it. But there was a man who appeared in front of him. The man who introduced himself as the Flying Dutchman, Captain Hedrick. He looked menacing, evil, and serious.

Sparrow didn't know anything about this man and the ship, but the fear of the female hand that was trembling, told him, instinctively, that this man was dangerous as he brought fear to the dead.

Because of the fear, the hand quickly pulled Sparrow to escape, but Hedrick whispered angrily, "Get out..."

The hand disappeared and left Sparrow alone.

"...", there was silence between them, but Hedrick started walking towards him slowly and talked.

"I'm quite surprised that you don't know me as I had to introduce myself... I assume that you don't know my story, either..."

"...Is it the story of the King's Crown that covered my legend?...", he continued.

"Nope, I just don't know anything. Mana seems to know your ship. She must know something about you..."

"Hmmm?... Well, good for her. I really wanted to bring fear to the living about me... But it's my first time to see a living not showing any fear of me."

"Was I supposed to get scared upon seeing you?..."

Hedrick drew out his cutlass as he was near him and Sparrow started moving backward as he expected an attack. Hendrick laughed, "Boohahaha!", and answered seriously, "The beginnings are knowing things, the middle is when you experience everything, but the ending is just death..."

Hedrick moved his arm so fast that the tip of the sword slashed Sparrow's chest horizontally, leaving blood to come out. And that made Sparrow jump backward in delay.

That was fast..., Sparrow thought.

"Now you know me, it's time to experience fear and all its branches... Coming from me!"

He jumped towards him at high speed and the fight started.

"..."

Back to Book and Mana, he asked while walking, "Hey, Mana, I just realized that this isn't our ship. Was it upgraded while I was sleeping?"

"No, it was not. And this isn't our ship. This ship belongs to Captain Hedrick Vander and the ship is called the Flying Dutchman by today's generation. He was cursed along with the ship to roam the world eternally."

"Why was it called the Flying Dutchman? Is it because the ship is flying and he's a dutchman?"

"Yes, you're right... A lot of people, right now, misinterpreted to call the phantom vessel as the Flying Dutchman, when in fact, it should be called to Hedrick. You see, the first people, who have heard the legend, were told by the spared lives by him to tell his and their personal story when they were on board. But when time passed by, versions of stories were made and the original story was changed that the real story was forgotten, as they kept spreading to generations to generations."

"Back in his time, he was a good Dutchman, his nationality, and a captain, loyal to his royalty. And ships were actually invented to float on waters and sail around the world.", she continued.

Book interrupted as he was surprised, "Wait? Ships can float on water?!"

"Yes."

"Ok.", and she continued, "After his death, curse, and his story told, the occurrence of his ship was prominent that when sailors saw-"

"What are sailors?"

"...People who sail at sea..."

"I see. You can continue now."

"...So when sailors saw the ghost ship, they would immediately shout in fear, "The Flying Dutchman!", with intentions towards Hedrick and sail away from it because of the dangers he could bring to their journey and deaths to the crew. And when the new generation came, they would shout the exact name when they saw the ship, but not towards to Hedrick anymore. But to the ship already. They got used to calling the Flying Dutchman to the ghost ship and forgotten about the captain. Because of that, the story was twisted and accepted by most until right now that they believed that it's the real one."

She continued, "About the flying, in the Flying Dutchman, this ship actually flies because it resides inside every storm that is created around the sea, preferably the bigger storms. When a storm brews, the Flying Dutchman slowly appears beca-"

"Wait, the last Flying Dutchman you say. Is it the ship or the captain?"

"...Both because I prefer the ship to have a name and there is no other name rather than the Flying Dutchman... Now... Can I continue?..."

"Alright."

"Because he brings fears, bad omens and storms as he brought it with his curse. I think, we went inside a good cloud at first then a bad cloud, and lastly inside this place. So my guess is that the whole cloud will slowly turn into a big storm and that's the time the Flying Dutchman goes back to the sea.

"Heeh... By the way, how did he get a curse?"

"From the Devil, of course. He dealt with him, he suffered consequences."

"That's a nice story... Is there more?", Book enjoyed the storytelling and wanted more.

"There are more! He became a pirate after known as the Flying Dutchman and is known to be the most feared ghost pirate in the world. After the death of the most feared living pirate, Blackbeard, there were stories that he killed Blackbeard as a ghost."

"Wait? Ghosts can kill ghosts?"

"Apparently it's possible as he obtained the cutlass of Blackbeard as a sign of victory of their ghostly battle. Both of them were living at different times as Hendrick died years before Blackbeard did, so I guess, it's true. Now, a lot of people feared him, the skies, and going on ships. Because they said that Hedrick loved to be the Devil and played with the living."

"He plays with people? He seems like a playful guy. Does he like playing tag?"

"No, you idiot. He will play with you like torturing you until you die as it appeases him. He'll torment you with eternal pain, suffering, and fear like what the Devil would do."

"Whaaaat!?", he was surprised, "Let's find Eve fast! I don't want to play with him! Nobody wants to!"

While they were talking and walking, an evil baby walked towards Book's leg. It started to tie a white cloth around its neck and teleported a salt container on its hand. It spread the salt around his ankle and teleported the salt container to where it belonged.

Then Book felt cold around his ankle and reacted, "What's this?", he looked at it, and shouted in fear, "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

An evil baby held his ankle and opened its mouth wide, preparing to bite it so bad. But that panicked him and ran straight, without light, and leaving Mana alone, "Hey, wait!"

The baby failed to bite him, but before Mana would chase Book to calm him down, she felt something terrible behind her.

They heard him.

She looked behind and saw the black mass going towards her.

"What the...", she was shocked and opened her eyes wide, but she thought of an idea as she looked around and saw a doorless room. She quickly went inside and the black mass passed by the room. She saw the mass moving fast like a train and it was going for Book.

"They're following him because of his scream.", she figured as it solely depended on its hearing to find rather than seeing things as she was not followed.

When the black mass finished passing by the room, where Mana stayed, the ghost of the boss, from the Round House Gang, was running hardly together with the mass because of his circular figure.

"Ah, it's that guy.", she immediately recognized him before.

As everything and everyone passed by, she came out from the room and the place was quiet and empty again, except for Book's faint screams but the baby was still there, the one who almost bit Book's ankle. It seemed it was looking at the hallway where the black mass left and tried to call it as it was pointing a finger towards Mana. It was making unintelligible, random words with sharp sounds.

Mana looked at it casually and the baby felt it was being watched so it looked at her and hissed. She kicked the baby so hard and it penetrated through the wall.

She sighed, "Back to do it again..." because they were separated again and she had to find Book again.

She walked towards the hallway where Book ran off to and kept on hearing Book's screams.

"..."

While Book was running away, without knowing that he was being chased by a black mass, he stumbled upon a hallway that was burning. But he saw a little girl sitting on the floor, staring at the wall of fire.

"Oh no! There's another one there! I'm surrounded!"

As the black mass was nearing towards Book, loud screeches were made. That made Book turn around quickly, and his butt whipped and jiggled with an exposed butt cheek. Then the little girl looked behind her and saw Book's back. She grinned and together with the fire, she looked evil and devilish.

As things were getting intense as the screechings were getting loud, Book's heartbeat was beating so fast as he would expect that something would appear in front of him.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no. I don't like this... Not one bit!"

"Hi, Book!"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

Eve appeared beside Book and he was so surprised and shocked by her presence that he passed out. His eyes rolled out and his body died. Because of that Eve laughed, "Hahaha! You got scared of that?"

She grabbed his leg, "Come on, let's go back to the ship."

Since she found him already, she's done with her goal and would now go back.

As she was dragging Book, with his face sliding across the floor, she was talking to Book, "Why were you running away scared, Book? Was it because of the monsters? Hahaha! You should have seen your face when I scared you!"

"..."

Then the black mass arrived in front of them and it transformed into different monsters and ghosts. Eve looked at them unflinching. She thought they weren't scary and said bravely, "Ahahaha! It's impossible for you guys to scare me. I'm the strongest so I have nothing to fear."

She walked towards them apathetically and they stared at her with disfigured voices, low and high pitches. The monsters were salivating and the ghosts were giving her an uncomfortable, mean, scary look. As she walked, they gave her a path to pass to the other side and continued staring at her. When she was at the center of the group, the monsters, and ghosts, behind her, started to move slowly towards her.

"Ehehehe...", she laughed nervously and continued, "Book would be scared, right now, when he saw you, guys..."

She saw a scary monster and said, "You look nice. Good job. You, too. Also, you. Niceeee body!", as she looked more and pointed fingers at them.

Being stared by so many eyes made her uneasy and uncomfortable. Her anxiety heightened that she just did it like a natural defense and now, she wanted to run away as fast as she could, but it was hard to do it.

She immediately whispered, "Book... are you there?", with her lips pointing at his side.

The feeling that Book passed out or inactive made her feel that she's alone and fear was slowly filling her mind and body.

When they left the other side of the monsters and ghosts, all of them were following her back. She instantly stopped and they stopped moving. She felt she was being followed, but now, it's gone so she walked again. They continued following her and she stopped again. The monsters and ghosts immediately stopped.

After that, she looked at them to check if they were following her because she felt she was being followed again. They looked back at her with their terrible faces, but it seemed normal of what was happening now.

She continued walking and they continued, too. Now, with the same feeling of being followed, the cycle was made: she stopped, they stopped, she looked at them then looked in front, she walked, and they followed.

She noticed something different from their actions and thought, I'm pretty sure they move when I move...

They did the cycle three times and the moment she stopped and they didn't stop moving already. And when she saw them moving without her moving, she was shocked.

"Wait a minute! I'm not moving! So why are you moving?!", she realized that they had it and she started panicking, "Book, wake up!"

She grabbed his collar and started shaking, "Boooook!!!"

Book's head was banging on the floor multiple times and he was still unconscious.

As they got nearer, their voices were creeping inside the ears of Eve and that made her hurry up, "Book... Please...", as she's now scared.

She's still a little girl after all.

She started to frown and get teary-eyed, "Book, don't leave me alone in this..."

"..."

Then a ghostly face of a man jumped and screamed in front of her face.

It was so sudden, scary and terrifying that anyone would jump away. But Eve looked at his face with a very unhappy face. Her frown and eyes were pitiful, and tears started to flow down. She's really got scared and cried lowly at first, "Mmmmmhhh... Mmmhhhh... WuuuuuuaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHAHHHHHHHHHHHH! WAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!", but loudly at the last.

Her cries were now loud, but it sounded painful and sad to hear that would hurt anyone's heart.

Then another ghost man appeared behind the ghost, who scared her, and slapped his head. He looked at him with complete disgust and displeasure, and slowly shook his head left and right for scaring a little girl like that while the other man looked at him with complete visible confusion and his reaction translated to, "Aren't we a fucking ghost? We're supposed to scare the living shit out of them."

But the monsters were impatient and jumped at her. She noticed it and freaked out, "BOOOOOK!!! LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!!"

She grabbed his leg and ran as fast as her little legs could. While running, she was screaming intensely with fear. But she accidentally tripped from an elevated piece of wood, that was separated from the rest. Naturally, she let go of Book's leg and landed both of her hands on the floor.

Due to panic, she stood up immediately and ran away, leaving Book behind. Her scream echoed and fainted as she's in a far distance from him. As the monsters and ghosts continued to chase, they passed by Book and realized as they stopped.

They slowly looked at Book and smiled with pure evil.

"..."

Back on the surface of the ship, Hedrick punched Sparrow with his ghost hand and sent him to the captain's cabin.

"Tedious..."

He lifted his ghostly hand and Sparrow levitated out from the hole, and the broken pieces of wood were fixed as well, making the cabin normal again. But Sparrow was covered with so many stabs, slashes, wounds, and blood around his body. His clothes were slashed and torn. His face was covered with running blood and his eyes were almost closed as his state was about to give up and die.

He's in deep trouble.

When Hedrick levitated Sparrow in front of him, he looked around his body and said, "Hmmm... Not bad, not bad... I think this part needs to get slashed."

Hedrick slashed the forehead and more blood flowed down from his eyes to his chin.

Sparrow didn't flinch and Hedrick continued, "I think, this part needs to get impaled.", as he pointed the tip of the cutlass towards one of the thighs.

Sparrow slowly moved forward and the sword slowly went inside his thigh until the tip and the rest of the blade were at the other side. He groaned in pain from this, but Hedrick pulled the sword immediately and impaled the other thigh.

"Ack! Rrrrrr...", he flinched from the pain, he was feeling.

Hedrick replied as he pulled the cutlass out, "Better... Haahh...", but sighed in unhappiness and continued.

"But why is it so unexciting doing this? Is it because you don't talk that much? Not screaming in pain? Or I have done this so many times that I don't have lost to have fun torturing the living?"

Might as well kill him..., he thought and then asked, "Hmmmm... Before that, may I know your name?"

Sparrow was breathing heavily and answered in pain, "Uuuhhh... My name is Sparrow..."

Hedrick dropped Sparrow down and wondered, "Sparrow? Have I heard of that name before?...", then he smiled with so much evil, together with his eyes, "Now, there's something I need to do... With you."

Hedrick flicked his ghostly finger and flew Sparrow to the cabin's wall. He laid on the wall and Hedrick continued, "I was about to kill you immediately because of boredom, but your name has taken my interest... Sparrow... To make myself entertained by me, I would like to have a fight with you because it seems you may be the last bird, I'd kill when I threw a stone many years ago."

Hedrick opened his ghost hand widely and hundreds of different types of swords appeared floating before Sparrow, "Pick one and a fight shall start."

Sparrow looked at all of them but caught a sword from his eyes. He struggled as he stood up, but got his balance. His injury weakened him, yet chose to fight Hedrick as he pointed a sword.

"Ahh... Very good choice of a sword."

Sparrow picked a greatsword that the whole half of the sword was gone, the blade, the handle, and the guard, leaving a flat surface on the side of the sword. But the color of the blade was white, and so were the handle and the guard. It was literally a white, halved greatsword, but the flat side of the sword was releasing black fires. They were swaying as winds passed by.

The sword floated in front of Sparrow and turned it to face the handle towards him. Then it dropped and pierced through the wooden deck. He held the handle and pulled the sword out from the deck with one hand. The black fires covered his hand, but he was not feeling any burns or pain from it.

Sparrow held a greatsword with one hand and would use it without any help with his other hand.

Then the rest of the unpicked weapons disappeared, and Hedrick dashed and slashed Sparrow without warning. He was behind him and kicked him. He was sent to the mast and hit it bad.

"Ooooohh... I am very sorry, I will try not to kill you so fast. I need to see what you can do as someone named Sparrow."

What did Hedrick want from Sparrow, especially his name?

"..."

Back to Mana, as she was walking around with a torch, she suddenly heard a faint scream of a little girl that its volume was increasing. She figured and said unsurely, "Eve?"

She moved the torch forward to her body to light the place in front of her. There, as she was squinting her eyes, she saw Eve crying and running in full-speed with tears dropping on the floor.

"Eve!", she shouted happily as she finally saw her.

"MAAAAAMAAAAA!!!", she instinctively called her as a mother for help.

Mana lowered down and they hugged each other. Eve was still crying as she was scared and traumatized.

"Calm down, Eve... I'm here... What happened?"

Eve was looked at her with pity and was sniffing a lot, "They... Monsters... Ghost Scared... Me... And then... I... I left Book... Alone... Please help me, Mana..."

The face of Mana got serious as she wanted to protect Eve from anything and everything, but she wasn't there when Eve experienced it. That seriousness lasted shortly and looked at Eve with a smile of calm and comforting, "Hold my hand, Eve. Let's see these MONSTERS AND GHOSTS.", she said the two words deeply and continued normally, "And save Book."

"Uh...", she agreed and held her hand.

Now, both of them were walking to save Book and a fight between a captain and a vice-captain should occur. But which one would be more intense and thrilling: Mana vs the monsters and ghosts or a captain vs a vice-captain?