Edna's eyes widened in shock and surprise at his words. "You… You….," she stamred, trying to voice her thoughts, yet still doubting if she would be able to express them correctly.
'A nightmare,' Edna pressed her lips together. The beast, the demon with the title of a prince, had had a 'nightmare.'
What a discovery! The revelation made a shiver crawl all over her skin as she couldn't help but pause and imagine what kind of nightmare a man like him would have. What kind of nightmare would give him an image of warmth and serenity? - two words which had vowed to both heaven and earth never to associate themselves with the demon in front of her.
Yet --
"Haha…" He let out a calm laugh, and his eyes twinkled with amusent as he stared at her and spoke. "You seem surprised."
"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" said Edna. "You had a nightmare," she repeated as if still trying to convince herself. She then pursed her lips, licking away the words from them as she continued, "I thought you were the one who gave out nightmares, not the one on the receiving end of it."
The demon prince scoffed at her words. "I am only a man, not a god. So, of course, I can still have nightmares at tis," he said, removing his eyes from her and refocusing them back on the horizon. "You know, I could barely rember it…" He paused, hesitating. Edna noted. Soon after, he continued, "It was a terrible, weird dream where the only emotions I could feel were utter defeat and hopelessness... a terrifying dream where nothing seed to make sense except for the way I felt."
"Haha!" This ti, it was her turn to give a short laugh.
However, at the sound of her laughter, which seed to mock his words and paint them with an ink of falsehood, he rely smiled, his lips stretching out in a corner of his mouth, appearing fake and withdrawn.
She stopped in her tracks, once again pursing her lips as she stared at him. With a deep sigh escaping her lips, she uttered, "After hearing this, I feel like nothing you say can shock anymore."
He chuckled, catching her off guard. Clearing his throat, he spoke, "Are you sure about that?".
With a hint of hesitation, she nodded her head. "Yes," she replied. Edna was more than certain of what she had said.
"Do you mind if I take you up on that offer?" he asked, pulling out a smoking pipe from God knows where and placing it between his lips. Using two of his index fingers, he gestured as though he was firing sothing out of his fingers, creating a bright spark of flas that lit up the pipe as he deeply inhaled and exhaled the smoke.
"Where did you get that?" she couldn't help but ask. Just looking at him, it was evident that this was his first ti smoking from a churchwarden pipe.
"From their ship," he responded, gesturing towards the ashen ghost ship that followed the commands of the waves. "I also saw so bottles of alcohol, but it was a bit too much for to carry, so I took one or two and left." He then turned to look at her and said, "You still haven't answered... How sure are you about what you have said?".
Edna wanted to answer, but his behaviour was too suspicious for her to give a straight answer. "Why are you suddenly interested in what I said? The last ti I checked, my voice had no aning, right?" she asked.
In response, a cloud of smoke escaped his mouth and clashed against her face. "A bet," the demon prince said, the instant the smoke dissipated. "If you really ant what you said, then I am willing to make a bet with you?" He smiled, and his smile carried a tint of trickery and chaos - two words that always radiated from him whenever she set her eyes on him.
Edna wanted to rack her brain and see what was in his head - what he was thinking about. But imdiately, a wave of tiredness washed over her, and she ntally gave up. Releasing a tired sigh, she responded, "Do I have a say in the wager?".
"Hmm," he responded, his subdued tone unsettling her. It made her feel as though she was walking into a trap.
Regardless --
"If I win, then you will free from being your slave and let go scot-free," she said, biting her lips at the end of her words. If it was a trap, then she would rather weigh it down from her heart with freedom - her freedom.
"Okay," the demon prince responded.
Edna blinked. "Okay," she repeated, unsure if she had heard correctly.
He nodded his head. "Yes." A puff of smoke escaped his mouth and wandered into the horizon once more.
At this point, Edna focused her attention on the horizon too, thinking that maybe there was sothing amazing about it this night that she had missed.
"And for the second wager…" He suddenly uttered, "If you lose, you will pour that water back into the sea and fetch the clean water we have inside the ship."
"...Only that?"
"Yes, only that."
There was no need for her to mull over the benefits, as it was already in her favour. Though she had thought that he was going to take full advantage of the situation as he had always done, it seed unlikely from his current disposition that such a thought had even passed through his mind.
"But, don't say that I didn't warn you."
"I won't" She responded.
He turned his gaze to her for confirmation before nodding his head and asking, "Do you know anything about Captain Silver Tongue and his fleet?".
"Yes," Edna furrowed her brows. "But why are you asking?"
Prince Wyatt released a deep, tireso sigh. "It seems that I will be eting him often in the future."
Edna beca more confused until a glimpse of understanding sparked within her eyes. "You! You are not planning to do anything stupid, are you?"
"Well, I am already a rogue pirate because I killed Captain Crimson Eye and his crew," he said. "You seriously don't think that burning a few ships and killing off so pirate crews would be without consequences, right?"
She winced at his words. She had heard about the term 'rogue pirates', the most famous being a pirate called Captain Jack. However, regardless of their fa, news about their deaths or imprisonnt always seed to find its way back to her ears months later. Being a rogue pirate was a title that ca with more problems than it was worth.
"Now, I will have to face Captain Silver Tongue and his captains, with whatever number of fleets they have under them."
"...Are you regretting your actions?"
"?.. Regret?... Never," he spat. "I know what I did. Whatever actions I take, I am fully aware of them. Regret is a word that I have sworn not to take seriously."
"Then why are you telling all this?" she pointed out.
Silence!
Prince Wyatt replied, "Because I am not going to stop, and neither will I run away."
Edna's eyes flew open wide as comprehension swiftly clouded her mind. "Yo--".
"I will voyage to the following sea and confront its captain, utilizing every tool at my disposal: deception, poison, whatever it takes to conquer and claim that sea as my own. From there, I shall progress to the next, and so on... I will not cease until I possess every sea and territory they once held."
"That..." She was incredulous. "That is an exceedingly audacious claim to make. Do you genuinely believe that you, no matter how mighty you may perceive yourself to be, can take on an entire legion of pirates?"
He mused. "That is precisely why I will take them down one by one."
Shaking her head in disbelief, she couldn't help but wonder if he was truly aware of the magnitude of his words. "They are pirates, masters of the sea. They know those waters like the back of their hands. They are not just so prince on a ship who thinks he can play pirate," she remarked, her tone sceptical.
"And let be clear, Captain Crimson Eye is the weakest of the Seven Captains under Captain Silver Tongue. He only commands a few fleets, while the others have hundreds or even thousands. That is precisely why Queen Mavena and the other fallen royals never dared to attack him," her voice grew icy as she posed a pointed question to him. "Do you honestly believe that you can face them alone?"
His smiled. "Yes, I do". His grin widened even further. "No matter what, I will conquer and vanquish them all. I will set their ships ablaze with fire and brimstone, and I will carve their flesh with weapons forged from the very depths of the earth. They may hold their titles in high regard, but they are completely oblivious to the kind of man I am and the chaos and destruction I shall wreak upon them."
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