The Sonia Sea.
A large pirate ship sailed through the open ocean waters. The sky was clear and sunny, with the only disturbance being the soft ocean breeze.
As the ship moved through the sea, many pirates were atop the vessel as some of them conversed, some of them drank, some of them fought, some of them played…
In the midst of such things, a man with a black trench coat, a stylish cane and a top hat walked through the apparent crowd.
But strangely, even though he appeared out of nowhere, none of the pirates had reacted to this man. They hadn't even looked his way. It was as if he was never there.
While walking, he laughed softly as he recalled his time on this boat.
"This would be the third time coming atop the Black Death…" His deep voice vibrated through the hard black wood that made up the stern.
…
In a dark cabin.
A young woman—one whose looks would dazzle any man—sat near a window that showed the ship crashing through the waves. The sunlight coming from this window made her look even more enchanting—like she had came down from the heavens themselves.
Her black hair cascaded down her buttoned white shirt as she appeared to be thinking about something.
Gazing at the window with her dark eyes, she opened her mouth to speak to apparently nothing.
"How do you think I'm doing concerning Helene? Do you think they will be successful?"
Then, a brilliant female voice from a strange location sounded.
"Did you bring me here just so I can hear you pondering about such things?"
The female pirate smiled.
"Of course. You should know that this can help me with my…acting." She hesitated slightly. "At the same time, your insights are a lot more reliable than mine."
The voice echoed throughout the cabin once more. "Hmph. I am only pleased because your work helps the Demoness."
Then, before the female pirate could respond, the voice said in a hurried tone:
"Wait."
"Someone extremely dangerous has entered this ship."
The female pirate's heart nearly dropped.
"What?"
"What do you mean?"
The female voice, still sounding somewhat unbothered, replied, "I mean exactly what I say. Now, make sure to follow my instructions."
"Don't try anything rash. Don't send anyone after the person either. It doesn't seem like they want to cause a commotion, since they entered silently."
As small droplets of water were forming on her face, the female pirate tried to recollect herself.
"That's not what I meant. Are they dangerous in comparison to me, or dangerous in comparison to you?"
The female voice paused for only a second. Afterwards, she laughed.
"Someone extremely dangerous only to you isn't a threat at all."
"This person is very dangerous to me as well. That's why I'm giving you instructions."
"Now, what you should do is to wait to see what this person is going to do. Since I heavily doubt that they are domain to negotiate with someone as weak as you, it's very likely that there is something very important on this ship that had attracted this person. In that event, it's best you let them get it."
The female pirate placed her hands on her leather pants as she tried to remember all of the 'valuables' that were present on her ship.
But, no matter how much she thought about it, nothing on the ship should be valuable to someone who even her 'voice' considered extremely dangerous.
Unless, it was the voice itself.
Trying to control her facial expressions, the female pirate spoke.
"What if this person is coming after you?"
As if she was expecting this answer, the female voice responded, "In that case, so be it. We will have to come to a negotiation."
Digesting this information, the female pirate froze for a second. All sorts of questions were running through her head:
"Why is this person on my ship? How does this person know that I have a powerful helper? Who did I offend to make them come after me or her?"…
Then, she slowly got up. As if she didn't want the person on the ship to hear her, she methodically paced herself around the room, trying to find any sort of preparations that she could make.
But suddenly, as she stop near the window again, she saw something extremely strange.
The entire sky was black!
Not only that, the sea had turned a blood red!
It was as if the underworld had arrived to usurp the physical world!
The female pirate's dark eyes gazed at the sky that looked like the abyss. Ironically, a chill ran down her spine as she felt her spiritual intuition flare up like a volcanic eruption.
She slowly turned her head in the direction of her spiritual intuition. As she did, she felt like with every movement she made she would've had to face the embodiment of death itself.
Then, she finally turned her head completely.
In her sights was a man in a black trench coat and a dark top hat. His eyes were piercing and intense, and his very aura gave immense danger.
He sat emotionlessly on a wooden chair across from her, legs crossed—hands fiddling with the silver cane.
With a deep voice he said to her, "Hello, Admiral of Ailment, Tracy."
"How have you been?"
Tracy's eye twitched due to the mysterious man's casual attitude.
She didn't know what to say at first, as her throat felt as if it was trapped between two stones.
Though, knowing that the female voice from earlier was here, she mustered up some courage. Then, she asked, "You know me?"
The man's lips curled up slightly.
"I know many things. I know that you've been trying to go for Helene."
Tracy's expression immediately darkened as her eyes widened. Before she could even respond, the man continued.
"But don't worry. That's not what I'm here for. I'm not here for your money either."
"My request is simple: spread my name throughout the seas. If someone wants to challenge me, let them."
"On that note, I will go after certain admirals of the seas."
Tracy's expression softened slightly as she immediately thought, "Why is he going after those admirals yet he's negotiating with me. It's not like my influence is greater than certain admirals like Admiral of Blood and Admiral of Death…"
"Is it because I have her here? Is that why?"
After recollecting her thoughts, she nodded as she only said, "Okay. I can do that for you."
"Very good." The man replied. "I will know if you don't follow my instructions."
Tracy trembled slightly. She then asked, "What is your name so I can spread it?"
The man's lips curled up once more. With a smile, he said, "The crazy adventurer, The World, Gehrman Sparrow."
Tracy almost raised an eyebrow as she thought, "A Tarot card? And it's the last one of the Major Arcana no less…He's apart of an organization that specializes in the Tarot?"
But a second later, she dismissed those thoughts. She clearly didn't want her thoughts to go adrift while this threatening man was standing in front of her.
"Understood." She didn't object to the man's orders.
"Excellent." Holding his top hat, Gehrman Sparrow stood up. "I'll be taking my leave."
Just as Tracy was about to let out a breath of relief, she held it as she heard the man's voice again.
"I have a parting word to say."
"Katarina. Beware of the evil spirit, the Red Angel: Sauron Einhorn Medici."
With that, Gehrman Sparrow disappeared from the cabin.
As he did, the sky faded back to its normal color, and the oceans radiated with a warm blue color.
While composing her emotions, Tracy held her heart as she whispered, like she was afraid that Gehrman Sparrow could still hear her.
"Who was he?"
After a pause, Katarina's voice echoed from a hard to identify location.
"I don't know. He is obviously partnered with some hidden, great existence that I currently don't know of."
"You should be very lucky he didn't kill you as a way to spread his name."
Tracy chuckled nervously.
"But you're here…"
Katarina immediately bursted out into laughter.
"Hahaha! You are way too naive!"
"Let me put it this way—if I had to choose between myself or you, I would have chosen myself ten times out of ten!"
After a semi-awkward pause, Katarina spoke once more.
"Make sure to follow his orders for the time being. I'll make sure to report this to the Sect."
"After all, he could be a 'He'. And if he is, then you are riding this boat on his seas."
Tracy's eyes narrowed as she held her chest.
"Then that means he is even greater than Nast."
"That means he's the new King of the Five Seas!
…
In Sefirah Castle, Klein leaned back in the Fool's high back chair as he observed the world from an infinite distance above.
"Great. Now I have a wah to reasonably approach Edwina and Cattleya through Gehrman Sparrow."
Klein's strategy was simple: force Tracy to spread the name of Gehrman Sparrow so that notable figures such as Edwina and Cattleya would also hear about him.
With their knowledge of him and how he spared Tracy, they wouldn't be too threatened when he would inevitably approach them. In fact, it would make it even more likely that they would ally with him due to his strength and his connection to a powerful organization.
In other words, with letting his name spread, he would indirectly be giving Edwina and Cattleya knowledge about Gehrman Sparrow. Thus, it would make it a lot more likely for them to be more trusting of him, since they know about his actions and what he's affiliated with.
Of course, Klein could use his powers of the Fool to arrange events in history and in time to achieve this goal. This would be much easier and much faster.
But he didn't want to go down this route. If he did, he would be taking their agency. As someone who has grown close to all of them, even viewing them as his friends, he would never want to change their fates for his benefit without their consent.
With a soft smile, Klein muttered to himself, "I'm getting away with a lot when it comes to making changes. I've been moving very loosely ever since Amon and Adam began 'Their' move…"
Even in my plan to become the Lord of Mysteries again, it would involve making changes on a higher dimensional level…"
"If this truly is an alternate timeline, how much can I get away with? Can I get away with it, or do I have to allow Celestial Worthy to take over in order to prevent a convergence?"
Klein held his head with his arm that rested on the long mottled table of Sefirah Castle.
He was silent for a while, seemingly thinking about something.