Inside the control room of the White Pearl, Darla sat at a desk, staring seriously at the glowing projections in front of her. Countless numbers and item lists scrolled across the document.

"Hmm... we really bought a lot from the Red Dragon Boat," Darla muttered, rubbing her temples. "Miss Serena, draft all these into the official records."

A projection shimmered to life beside her. Serena, a green-haired girl in a holographic appeared and smiled. "Yes, Darla."

With a graceful wave of her hand, all the floating texts instantly rearranged themselves into neat charts and tables.

"Done."

Darla nodded in satisfaction. "Perfect."

Just then, a maid approached, balancing a tray in her hands. "Here’s your coffee, Miss Darla."

"Thanks," Darla said, taking a sip. The aroma relaxed her a little. "I already gave permission for everyone to enjoy the first floor of the Red Dragon Boat, right? Don’t you want to go and have fun? The first floor isn’t just for gambling — there’s an entire entertainment district down there. Even Mathilda went. She’s probably buying some hot and cute girls as we speak."

The maid shook her head, smiling shyly. "We’re happy here on the ship, Miss. The White Pearl is our home. That place is too chaotic anyway. Sister Mathilda warned us herself — without strength, stepping into the Red Dragon Boat is like a chicken walking into a slaughterhouse."

Darla chuckled softly, setting down her cup. "You’re not wrong... but I kind of wanted to go." She sighed dramatically. "Still, there’s so much work left."

"I can help you, Miss," the maid offered.

"Huh?"

"These reports — we can help too. We might look like cute maids, but we’re also trained to handle this kind of work," she said with a proud smile.

Darla grabbed her hand with mock tears in her eyes. "You’re an angel! My savior!"

The maid blushed. "It’s just part of the job, Miss."

---

Meanwhile, just as Darla had said, Mathilda was indeed on the first floor — the entertainment area of the Red Dragon Boat.

The huge deck was loud and colorful, filled with music, laughter, and the scent of alcohol and perfume. A stage stood in the center, where a beautiful mermaid girl was being auctioned. The crowd shouted over one another, waving glowing credit boards to place their bids.

Standing calmly among them was Mathilda, holding a paddle in one hand — and several beautiful girls on leashes in the other. Each girl wore a thin chain around her collar, following quietly behind her.

"That woman again..." someone whispered.

"She’s buying all the top-tier girls!" another complained.

"Who is she? How can she spend so much money?"

"Already more than fifty million Lydia," someone gasped.

Mathilda, completely unfazed by the gossip, raised her paddle again. "Sixty million."

The crowd fell silent.

A few seconds later, the auctioneer slammed the hammer down. "Sold! To the elegant lady in pajamas!"

Mathilda smiled lazily. "Another beauty joins the family~"

The bystanders could only shake their heads. The strange woman from the White Pearl — rich, shameless, and fearless — was cleaning out the market.

---

Far away, near the dragon territory, in the middle of an empty sea, a flying vessel soared through the clouds.

The skies stretched endlessly, with no ships or islands in sight. Inside the vessel, Yumina sat at the helm while Myrtle monitored the readings.

Suddenly, the entire vessel jolted.

The engines sputtered — then stopped.

"What the hell happened?" Yumina shouted, panicking as the vessel froze in midair.

"We’re being locked onto by something," Myrtle said sharply.

A moment later, they saw it — a massive beam of light shot down from the clouds above, pulling their ship upward like a tractor beam.

"Above us!" Yumina yelled.

Through the thick mist, they saw a flying island descending slowly. Strange devices were glowing along its edge, the source of the pulling force. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Pirates?" Yumina muttered nervously. "I heard some of the top pirate crews use flying islands like mobile fortresses..."

Myrtle shook her head. "No. The structure and arrays look too refined. This is probably someone from the Dragon King Territory."

As they rose higher, the details of the island came into view. It wasn’t large — only a few hundred meters across. There was a single wooden hut in the center, surrounded by blooming sakura trees. The air was warm and fragrant, completely untouched by the cold outside. Mist covered everything, creating an eerie, dreamlike beauty.

Then, through the mist, two red eyes appeared — glowing faintly, watching them.

"Enemy," Myrtle said, her tone cold as her body began to glow.

Yumina clenched her fists, her gauntlets forming around her hands. Prana began to stir.

But before they could react, the entire vessel exploded.

"What happened!?" Yumina cried out.

The protective barriers of the flying ship were supposed to withstand even dragon breath. Yet it shattered instantly — they hadn’t even sensed what attacked them.

In the chaos, a water barrier surrounded them, protecting both Yumina and Myrtle.

Myrtle spread her domain instantly, stabilizing them in midair.

Then a voice echoed from within the mist — calm and soft, yet chilling.

"Ohhh... enemies?"

Yumina and Myrtle froze. They looked down and saw Zuzia, who had been below deck, emerged, her orange eyes glowing like molten lava.

"I totally forgot about the princess." Myrtle mouth twitched.

"So, two Divine Seekers and one Grandmaster without a domain," the voice from a mist said, "Even that won’t be enough to defeat me. Hand over your pocket dimension, and I’ll make you my slaves instead."

The red eyes in the mist glowed brighter, radiating killing intent.

Yumina clicked her tongue. "Of course... someone’s after the pocket dimension. I knew this would happen the moment she stored a whole flying island inside it."

"Like hell you’ll get it!" Zuzia snarled. Her skin glowed with heat as magma veins appeared across her arms. She launched forward, transforming into a streak of molten fire that shot through the mist.

Both Yumina and Myrtle watched as Zuzia lunged forward, charging straight into the thick mist.

But then—

From behind them, Zuzia suddenly came flying out again, still in her attack stance, as if she was still launching forward. She skidded to a stop in midair, blinking in confusion.

"Ara?" she muttered, looking down at her palm. "Did I just... get teleported?"

Ahead of them, the same glowing red eyes reappeared, completely unharmed.

"It’s using some tricky arrays," Myrtle said, narrowing her eyes. "We’ve stumbled onto a tricky opponent."

Inside the mist-shrouded island, within the wooden hut, a girl and a ghostly figure floated beside an array core, their hands moving across glowing symbols.

The girl’s expression was calm, her dark hair tied into a bun. The ghost beside her smiled faintly.

If Tyler had his old memories, he would have recognized them instantly.

They were his old friends — Veronica and Moeko.

And now, they stood between him and his crew, hidden within a trap of their own design.

The real battle had only just begun.