Bounty.

Like usual, Akane and Ban were fishing, while Laffitte was navigating the ship towards the next island.

They had met with a man named Crocus when they exited Reverse Mountain. He had warned them about the fierce weather and how inconsistent and strange it could be. He specifically told them about the log pose.

The log pose followed magnetic fields it had become accustomed to. Whenever one reached an island, the log pose needed a certain amount of time to adjust to the new magnetic field. The time it took would differe each island. Islands like Little Garden for example, would take a year before it had become adjusted.

They had thanked Crocus for the information and departed as soon as they could. For the whale that Crocus was taking care of had begun thrashing about and smashing against the Reverse Mountain. When they had sailed away, they could see Crocus entering the whale. Not long after it had seemingly calmed down.

At the moment, Akane and Ban were just relaxing while the sun was still shining. Who knew when the weather would turn bad. It could happen any moment.

***

Just like that multiple days passed.

The weather would turn bad out of nowhere, from heavy snow, to burning heat. From heavy rain, to hailstones the size of footballs. Luckily the ship was made from good quality and wasn't damaged as quickly as other ships would.

In the distance Akane could see the island coming closer and closer. It appearance was very strange, resembling giant cactuses.

"Catain, we'll be arriving at the next island shortly." Laffitte said, steering the ship towards the cactus looking island.

"Thanks, Laffitte." Akane said. She couldn't wait to go exploring.

"Oi, Ban. Let's see who can find the most interesting thing on the island."

"Oh, you're on. Laffitte can be the judge." Ban replied.

"Let's start as soon as the ship reaches the dock."

The ship got closer and closer towards the island. The first thing they spotted, not mentioning the Cactus-like mountain, were a big crowd of people. They seemed especially happy to greet them.

When the ship docked at the harbour, they company was invited to join them for dinner.

"Ban, why don't you join them, at least I can get a head start." Akane said as she disappeared in the crowd.

"Tsk, she really knows how to cheat. Laffitte, why don't you join them? If I don't get started now, the Captain might win for once." Ban said as he too disappeared in the crowd.

Laffitte sighed and looked around. The smiled of the crowd had faded a bit, but they still tried to act generous and jovial.

"Now, why don't you talk about the reason you were waiting for us?" Laffitte said, the smile on his face widening while the clear look in the crowds eyes faded.

***

Akane wandered around the island in search for something interesting. So far she had only seen a small town and the cactus mountains. The mountains might look like cactuses from the distance, but they were completely covered with gravestones, giving the whole mountain an eerie atmosphere.

The town itself seemed merry, but when she walked into the homes of the residents they appeared mostly empty and disbanded. It didn't even look like people had actually lived in there.

Aside from that, there weren't even any exciting animals or interesting stuff. It was just a town full of weird people who were overly cheery and Cactus mountains filled with gravestones.

Not long after, Ban too arrived as he too seemed very disappointing.

"How about we start the challenge on the next island. This one is as good as empty." Ban said.

"Agreed. Let's find Laffitte and leave as soon as the Log pose has adjusted." Akane replied.

The both of them walked back to town and went to find Laffitte. Strangely enough, the towns people weren't bothering them anymore as they all seemed to ignore them. It was ad if the townspeople didn't even see them.

Sitting at the only bar in town, Laffitte relaxed at the counter sipping on a glass of red wine.

"Yo, Laffitte. How was it?" Akane said as she looked around. The tables were filled with food, but there weren't any towns folk.

"Ah, captain. They were all bounty hunters. They were attracted to the bounty we have on our head." Laffitte said, holding up three wanted posters.

Below almost all of the posters stood dead or alive, except for hers.

Demon Sheriff Laffitte.

Bounty: 80.000.000 Berri.

Dead or Alive.

.

Ban the Undead

Bounty: 100.000.000 berri.

Dead or Alive

.

Demon fox

Eldertale D. Akane.

Bounty: 300.000.000 berri.

Only Alive.

.

"Ahahaha, I still got the same nickname, nice~" Ban said as he looked over his wanted poster.

Akane looked over her wanted poster and only felt the need to complain. Why did only her wanter poster say, only Alive? It didn't feel like a really wanted poster compared to Laffitte's and Ban's.

"No need to pout, little fox. It's only a matter of time before they will change it to Dead or Alive. Heck, the dead part on mine is really funny." Ban said as he continued laughing at the irony of his own wanted poster.

"It's already a surprise our wanted posters have such a high bounty, captain. There should be a good reason why and your own wanted poster should be a clue." Laffitte said, not particularly interested in his own wanted poster.

"Aaah, whatever. Let's leave as soon as the log pose has adjusted. I really want to leave this island and see what the next one looks like. This one was just depressing."

Akane said as she too filled herself a glass of wine and began to sip from it.

The mood quickly became better when Akane became a bit tipsy and went to rest on Ban's lap while in her tiny fox form.

When she woke up, they were already back on the ship and on their way to the next island.

From what Laffitte had heard from the bountyhunters were that the most likely island they would go to was either Little Garden, Kyuka Island or Kenzan island. There might be others, but the most likely ones would the these three.

Akane was all giddy when she thought about it. Which island would they go too. She really could wait to see!