In the flashes of lightning across the inky black sky, Davy Jones's expression was unreadable. He simply said in a deep, heavy tone:
"I am not Vander Decken. My name is Davy Jones, and I am the Captain of this Spectral Doom."
Davy Jones? Spectral Doom?
Not Vander Decken? And not the Flying Dutchman?
Koby looked up in astonishment, his mouth agape, unable to close it for a long time.
Alvida also looked at Koby in surprise, as if questioning him why he could make such a mistake.
What if Davy Jones and Vander Decken were opposing forces? Wouldn't doing this offend him again?
However, at this moment, Koby was thinking about something even more terrifying.
The name Davy Jones... wasn't that the name of the legendary "Ruler of the Deep," the "original Captain of the Flying Dutchman"?
How could this be?
That was the legendary deep-sea devil, a great figure even Vander Decken feared immensely. How could he appear here?
There's no way this is happening! It must be a coincidence, I must be overthinking it!
Koby continuously wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. The more he thought about it, the more he trembled.
Davy Jones walked over unhurriedly, the deck creaking with every step. Each sound made Koby and Alvida's hearts skip a beat!
He took out a well-preserved pipe from his embrace, lit the tobacco, and then held the slender end of the pipe in his mouth.
He took a puff and blew hazy smoke rings towards the two trembling humans. The tentacles beneath his octopus head wiggled flexibly like worms, and he asked indifferently:
"Do you fear death?"
"Do you fear that dark abyss?"
Hearing these two sentences, Koby and Alvida's hearts plummeted to the bottom, and their entire bodies turned cold!
It's over, it's over, this time it's really over!
Koby quickly kowtowed repeatedly, like pounding garlic.
Alvida also lowered her eyes submissively, not daring to be negligent.
Davy Jones took a few more puffs, then repeated the words he had said countless times on the Flying Dutchman when he pulled dying people from the seabed:
"All your deeds laid bare, all your sins punished."
"Life is cruel, why should the afterlife be any different?"
Davy Jones put down his pipe and tapped it against his hard left crab claw. The sparks that flew out scattered like fireflies.
"I'll give you a choice. Join my crew and postpone your judgment."
"Will ye serve?"
Koby and Alvida looked up in despair. They had thought they were dead for sure, but they didn't expect such a turn of events, a glimmer of hope!
Koby, who feared death, kowtowed repeatedly and skillfully, being the first to exclaim:
"I will serve! Great Captain Davy Jones! I am willing to serve!"
Alvida thought for a moment, then her plump body prostrated on the deck, and she also surrendered, saying:
"I am willing to serve as a crew member of the great Captain Davy Jones!"
However, Davy Jones looked at their performances, frowned, and formed different opinions in his mind.
He felt quite disgusted and repulsed by Koby's weak and incompetent demeanor as a man. Even as a new sailor, he wasn't this cowardly when he first went to sea.
Alvida, in comparison, was much better. Besides being a bit fat, she had no other flaws. In fact, this flaw wasn't even a flaw on the Spectral Doom.
After all, Captain Davy Jones himself looked even more bizarre and grotesque.
Regardless of his inner assessment of them, Davy Jones needed their intelligence now, so he asked in a deep voice:
"Now, I have some questions for you, and you must answer truthfully."
Koby quickly replied, "Yes, great Captain Davy Jones!"
So, Davy Jones asked Koby about the Flying Dutchman, learning the story of Vander Decken and the approximate location of the Flying Dutchman—Fish-Man Island.
Fish-Man Island!
As long as he could get there, he could reclaim all his power!
This further intrigued him. The Fishman and merfolk of his previous world didn't have such large settlements, let alone a Fish-Man Island Kingdom.
Next, Davy Jones asked for a lot of related information.
Some Koby could answer, some he couldn't, and Alvida would supplement. Through this piecing together, he gained a rough understanding of this world.
The world was divided into four seas—East, West, South, and North—with the Red Line obstructing them.
The Celestial Dragons and the World Government ruled the world, with the Marine as their most capable pawns, but Pirates and the Revolutionary Army were challenging their ruling order.
Davy Jones also heard information about Devil Fruit Users, but upon learning that eating a Devil Fruit, while granting strange and varied abilities, also made one unable to swim, he lost interest in eating the fruit.
If his Ruler of the Deep and Ocean Goddess powers weren't in the seawater, how much room would they have to be utilized?
He definitely wouldn't eat such a fruit with complete side effects.
Davy Jones was more interested in the Sea Kings living in their Calm Belt nests. Perhaps he could tame them to fill the void left by the Kraken he had been forced to kill.
Just imagine, the future Ruler of the Deep, surrounded by countless Sea Kings—what a unique and magnificent scene that would be!
In addition, Davy Jones also heard the story of Pirate King Gol D. Roger and his one piece.
The route Pirate King Roger once sailed was the so-called Grand Line, with the Calm Belt on both sides of the route.
According to what he revealed before his death, the one piece was at the end of the Grand Line.
Pirates, for this elusive one piece, embarked on journeys. Most of them perished at sea or, disheartened, drifted to some island.
Only a very small portion of Pirates could survive the first half of the Grand Line and reach the "New World" in the second half, searching for the Pirate King's one piece there.
However, Davy Jones was also unenthusiastic about this.
For him, the Pirate King's treasure was far less valuable than the "treasure" he left on the Flying Dutchman!
However, he was quite interested in Pirate King Roger himself.
When Davy Jones was still the Ruler of the Deep, the nine Pirate Kings of different sea areas would flee at the mere sight of his Flying Dutchman.
However, the Pirate King here seemed to be only one at a time, and was recognized as the strongest at sea. His strength should be far above his own as the Ruler of the Deep.
Even though Roger had already died, there must still be many individuals in this world whose strength was on par with his.
This gave him a sense of crisis. He didn't want to be held by the heart again, becoming someone else's henchman, constantly groveling.
After a long silence, Davy Jones once again sensed the hunger of the Spectral Doom beneath his feet. It seemed one pirate ship couldn't satisfy its appetite, so he looked at Koby.
Koby immediately forced out a fawning fake smile, just as he had done when facing Alvida.
Davy Jones put his pipe back under his robes and asked, "You're Koby, right?"
Koby quickly replied, "Yes, great Captain Davy Jones!"
The tentacles beneath Davy Jones's mouth wriggled, and he asked, "Tell me, where is the nearest island?"
Koby's expression stiffened.
He recalled the fate of the pirate ship and those Pirates, and instantly understood what Davy Jones wanted to do. But after a moment of hesitation, the fear of death ultimately overshadowed everything else.
As long as I can survive, there's still hope... He nodded and said, half-truthfully, "Great Captain Davy Jones, I know if you head northwest, there's an island there with a town called Shells Town."
Alvida, hearing this, secretly glanced at Koby, then lowered her head with a complex expression, choosing silence.
Davy Jones nodded and said, "Let's go there. You guide the way."
"Yes, I am willing to lead the way for you!"
Koby said ingratiatingly, but in reality, he was thinking of another idea.
Although he had agreed to become Davy Jones's crew member, it wasn't voluntary. This was just a temporary measure, and he had always been thinking about how to leave here alive.
So he deliberately concealed the information that Shells Town had a Navy Branch base, intending to lead Davy Jones directly into Marine territory.
For Koby, who had hoped to join the Marine since childhood, the Marine was an omnipotent existence, the embodiment of justice.
And Davy Jones was undoubtedly the embodiment of evil.
Koby firmly believed that justice would surely triumph over evil!
He wanted to see how the Marine fleet would sink this Spectral Doom and how they would arrest this Davy Jones!
Just as he had previously hoped for the Marine to defeat the Alvida Pirates.
However, the apprehension in Koby's heart never completely dissipated.
As long as... as long as this Davy Jones isn't the legendary "Ruler of the Deep," otherwise... No, no, no, I must be overthinking it..