Chapter 444: Three Sea Charts!
Ryuunosuke and Gaban's boarded the Eternal Ship together.
"Bullet, so it really is you!" Gaban's barked the moment he stepped aboard. "How shameless—you're freeloading off the young generation's ship for food and drink?"
His words were sharp as blades. Bullet opened his mouth, only to close it again, looking oddly cowed. That flicker of unease hinted at something deeper between the two—an old, unspoken history.
"Mr. Bullet," Ryuunosuke intervened lightly, "Mr. Gaban's asked to visit, and I figured you'd be glad for the company. Why don't we share a drink—or at least a meal?"
Bullet scowled. "A drink? This guy never let me touch the stuff back on the ship! And now he shows up, acting like he's needed for some 'critical moment'…" His voice rose in frustration, complaining to Ryuunosuke. But the barrage was clumsy, and compared to Gaban's seasoned sharpness, Bullet was quickly overrun.
Ryuunosuke chuckled and poured a vivid green drink. "Come, have something. If you won't drink wine, try one of our Dragon Hunter specialties instead. Nojiko—bring the rubbings of the historical texts for Mr. Gaban."
"Yes, Captain."
Nojiko stepped forward, laying a neat stack of rubbings on the table. "Mr. Gaban's, I'm navigator of the Dragon Hunter Pirates. These are the rubbings we've collected. We've deciphered and plotted them already, but there's a problem—the Eternal Pointer Mr. Bullet provided doesn't match our results. Could you take a look?"
She bowed slightly, her voice steady and polite.
"Hah… well, since I'm aboard, I may as well be useful," Gaban said, smiling as he adjusted his glasses. "Besides, anyone who's kept that idiot Bullet from self-destruction deserves my thanks. Least I can do is work a little."
He leaned in, eyes scanning the etched stone rubbings. For all his gruffness, his gaze softened when he looked at Nojiko. Her presence impressed him. To stand as navigator of such a crew was no small feat—and to decipher poneglyphs on her own? Gaban knew firsthand how near-impossible that task was. On Roger's ship, even with extra help, it had been an immense struggle.
This woman… and this crew… were not ordinary pirates.
After a few minutes, Gaban set the papers down, surprise flickering across his features. "These are genuine. Identical to the ones I saw in my time. Which means your interpretations are accurate too."
Then his brow furrowed. "But… if this is right, why doesn't it align with Bullet's Eternal Pointer?" His eyes slid toward Bullet. "Don't tell me you botched the record? The captain threw his Eternal Compass into the sea, so you tracked it yourself? Figures you'd screw it up."
Bullet's temper flared. "I did not! I logged my own Eternal Pointer, straight from Raftel itself! I didn't touch the captain's. My record's flawless!"
"Really? Then prove it. Show me your positioning analysis," Gaban pressed, arching a brow. "As a navigator, you must've drawn your own chart, right?"
Gaban hesitated—until Nojiko spoke up. "Actually, charting isn't my strongest skill. But our ship spirit can handle it."
She raised her hand, and with a shimmer of light, Gaino materialized, bowing politely.
"Greetings, Mr. Gaban. I am the ship spirit of the Eternal Ship. I handle charting and mapping. Miss Nojiko calibrates the results. Please, take a look."
Gaino swept his small hand across the table, and a luminous projection flared to life: a holographic sea chart, every line crisp, every scale exact. The precision was startling—nearly flawless, with negligible error.
"This is the target location we charted," Gaino explained.
Jabba studied it carefully. "Strange… this isn't far from where I remember. In fact, it's more exact than our own methods back then. So why doesn't it match…?"
Another wave of Gaino's hand summoned a second chart. "This one marks the position derived from the Eternal Pointer."
Side by side, the maps looked almost identical to untrained eyes. Ryuunosuke squinted, utterly lost. "They look the same to me. Apart from different islands marked… I can't tell what's different."
Nojiko sighed. "They're not pointing to the same sea, Captain. The coordinates don't overlap at all."
Ryuunosuke groaned. "So we're… not heading to the same place after all?"
Silence settled. Gaban pulled a pen from his bag, scribbling rapidly on a scrap of parchment. His hands moved with the confidence of decades at sea. In minutes, a third chart emerged.
He sat back, staring at it grimly.
Bullet's chart. Gaino's chart. And now Gaban's chart.
Three different maps. Three different destinations.
Everyone gathered around, frowning. Even Ryuunosuke felt his head throb.
"This is ridiculous…" he muttered. "So which one's right?"
Gaban tapped his paper. "I can't say. All three might be. Each source has merit. We'll need time to study them, cross-check data. Captain, lend me your ship spirit and navigator. Together, we may be able to reconcile this."
"Fine by me," Ryuunosuke said. "We're sailing toward Bullet's coordinates for now. Figure out the truth before we arrive."
Gaban grinned, excitement flashing in his eyes. The laziness he carried before was gone—replaced by the fire of a seasoned navigator confronted with a challenge too enticing to ignore.
He gathered the rubbings, the maps, and—without asking—snatched up the green drink Ryuunosuke had offered earlier. He sniffed it once, eyes widening at the surge of vitality within. Without hesitation, he downed it in a gulp.
"Good stuff," he muttered, already striding away with Nojiko and Gaino at his side.
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