Yukikaze was most famous for her "blessed" attribute. Her own luck was absurdly high, but her teammates often met misfortune. Malicious tongues called her a ship who "absorbed her allies' luck to increase her own fortune."
In the shipgirl compendium, Yukikaze's Luck stat reached as high as 50 points, making her one of the luckiest shipgirls of all. At the naval base, Yukikaze really did possess the skill Blessed, which allowed her to draw in her companions' luck to strengthen her own attributes—an ability downright terrifying.
As a UK-class shipgirl, Helena naturally couldn't bring herself to resent a "teammate-killer" like Yukikaze. On the contrary, she almost wanted to give her a thumbs up.
"Yukikaze?" Yamato's interest was piqued. "Your base has Yukikaze?"
She had heard Yukikaze's name before but had never seen her. After all, Yukikaze was listed in the compendium as a 5-star gold-rarity shipgirl—extremely rare.
By now, one would think that at least a few commanders out there had constructed Yukikaze. Yet few were ever known to the public, and people cynically speculated those commanders had all been "jinxed to death" by their own Yukikaze—the so-called blessed ship.
Even Yamato herself was very interested in her. Yukikaze was the most famous destroyer of the entire J-class, having fought in almost every brutal battle: Midway, Guadalcanal, Leyte Gulf, the Kikusui suicide attacks. She had escorted giants like Yamato, Shinano, and Kongou.
While her allies were sunk one by one, the battle-hardened Yukikaze had never once even taken moderate damage. She became the only Type-A destroyer of the J-class to survive to the postwar era. Over the entire war, her ship's casualties numbered fewer than ten men. Her luck bordered on the supernatural.
"She goes by the name Dan Yang now. She's a C-class shipgirl," Ranger said with a cheerful smile. "If you're lucky, you might meet her someday."
The "opportunity," of course, would be if the Commander ever appointed Yukikaze as secretary ship. But with Bismarck using the war as an excuse to monopolize the position, even if they rotated later, who knew when Yukikaze's turn would ever come.
Speaking of which, the J-class girls at the base were truly unlucky. They had plenty of talent—Akagi had even been the Commander's wedding ship—and yet not a single J-class shipgirl had made it to his side. Meanwhile, the UK-class already had five.
Could it be that Yukikaze had sucked away all the J-class's luck? Ranger thought darkly. It was very possible.
Bismarck toyed with the quick-repair tool in her hands and said, "We all need to work hard."
Yamato was puzzled, but the other shipgirls understood what she meant.
To summon more companions from the base, the Commander needed power. By sinking more Abyssals, the Commander gained more energy—and with it, more shipgirls could be summoned.
But what Bismarck was really thinking of was Yukikaze's pitiful state from before.
Yukikaze was a shy, unconfident little girl. When her companions played, she only dared to hug her knees and watch from afar. Afraid her "blessed" power would bring misfortune, she always stayed alone.
If she had any friends at all, they were the "buckets."
Yukikaze's ability was healing, and she liked carrying a red-cross satchel filled with "buckets," running across the sea to deliver repair tools to her companions.
She would even do things like balance a bucket on her head to pray to the gods, because her one wish was to protect everyone—protect them all.
But during the long search for the Commander, the quick-repair tools had been exhausted. For a long time, Yukikaze's satchel had carried no more buckets.
Even though she was remodeled into Dan Yang and joined the C-class, the "blessed" power remained, and she still had few friends.
At times, even Bismarck felt a pang of sorrow for Dan Yang. If she truly were as cold-blooded and ruthless as her iron-blooded soldier's façade suggested, she would never have kept that black cat, Oscar.
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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