You're also a part of the crazies now

Freddy III, the king of Bedrock Island, and his close aides were standing on a balcony and watching the soldiers get clobbered by the pirates.

'They're so strong?!'

Freddy had never expected them to be so strong, as they had surrendered very easily earlier. As he looked at Tom collecting the fallen gold, he thought,

'If that guy is the captain, then surely he should be stronger than the rest, but he still got beaten by Hansen?'

As soon as he reached that thought, Freddy remembered how he had treated Hansen earlier and started sweating profusely. While hoping none of his close aides caught him being scared, Freddy prayed that the pirates would just leave.

His prayers were probably heard by some higher being as the pirates started running away after more soldiers started arriving. Looking at them leave, Freddy thought back to what the gray-haired pirate said.

'Please don't come back!'

"Do not worry, Your Majesty. Our soldiers will bring them back, along with what they're trying to take."

Wondering who the hell was that stupid to not realize the pirates' strength, Freddy turned around and saw his treasurer watching the pirates' backs with bloodshot eyes.

"They took so much gold. Aah! Bring them back alive! I'm gonna skin them myself!"

"Calm down, treasurer!"

Thankfully, it seemed his other aides were still in their right mind, as they held down the treasurer and pulled him away from the balcony.

Letting out a sigh, Freddy turned around to his butler and said,

"Inform our soldiers to not engage the pirates and see what they are doing."

"Me?"

"Who else am I looking at?"

"But they're already so far away…"

"That's exactly why you should not be wasting any time. You can return with them after you confirm that the pirates have left."

The butler looked at Freddy with an aggrieved look as the latter left the balcony and headed inside.

**********

As they were running, Yuuki glanced behind him and noticed the soldiers had slowed down for some reason. Dismissing it as his imagination, he kept running. But when he looked back again a few moments later, he noticed they had fallen behind by quite a lot.

"Hey, I think they're slowing down."

"Nyahaha, of course. These losers can't keep up with us!"

Well, whatever it may be, it made it a lot easier for them to reach the dock. As soon as they got there, Tom headed towards the man who had collected a toll from them when they arrived.

"Hmm, what is it?"

Tom looked at the bored expression on the man's face and cracked his knuckles with a wide grin. Feeling something out of place, the man, once again asked,

"...What is it?"

"How dare you collect money from me?"

"Huh?"

The man did not get to talk anymore, as Tom smashed his face in and knocked him out. Snorting at the way the man was sprawled out, Tom rummaged through the desk he sat on and found a pouch of money.

Tom took the pouch and walked to his ship while counting how much money there was inside it. 

"This barely covers the interest."

As he got back onto the ship, Tom saw his crewmates looking at him. Frowning at the weird looks he was getting, Tom shouted,

"What are you morons looking at?! Why is the ship not ready to sail?! Get to work!"

His words seemingly had the effect as Tyke and Yuuki started pulling up the anchor and trying to unfurl the sails. 

"Tsk tsk, let me tell you, Tom-san. We picked up quite a lazy bunch."

"...."

Tom looked down at Jerry as the latter looked at Yuuki and Tyke with a haughty look. Grabbing his collar, Tom lifted him and threw him up.

"Unfurl the sails, brat!"

After confirming that everyone was working, Tom pulled out his beach chair and laid down on it.

"Slave driver!"

It seemed like someone shouted something but surely, it was his imagination. After all, how can he be a slave driver? He would be the most fair employer in the world if he were running some kind of business.

Putting his hands under his head, Tom rested his eyes. As he felt the ship move, he fell into thought.

On the other hand, Yuuki watched Jerry as the latter peered at Tom with binoculars from underneath a tarp. Noting that Jerry was looking at Tom, who was seemingly asleep on the other side of the deck, Yuuki asked,

"What are you doing?"

"I'm observing."

"...Why exactly?"

Letting out an exaggerated sigh, Jerry put down his binoculars and looked up at Yuuki.

"Tom-san died a little while back, right?"

"Right. You know, I kinda forgot about that."

"Well, when he wakes up after something like that, he gets weird."

"Weird?"

"Yes, he became almost blind the last time it happened."

"Almost blind?"

"When he transforms, he can't see anything properly. It wasn't like that before."

"Huh. Well, if you just want to observe him, why don't just go next to him?"

At that suggestion, Jerry looked at Yuuki skeptically and asked,

"You want me to sit next to him and stare at him?"

"Not exactly what I would do, but sure."

"Do you know how weird that sounds?"

"...Right. And peering at Tom with binoculars from underneath a tarp is not weird at all."

"That's right! You finally got it, Yuuki-san!"

Tilting his head with an incredulous look, Yuuki let out a sigh and said,

"Your sense of weird is weird, Jerry."

"Huh?"

"Oh! I think I just saw him move!"

Looking at Jerry snapping his head back to peer at Tom when he heard that, Yuuki shook his head and walked towards Tyke, who was at the helm.

"Do you know those two are very weird?"

Tyke raised an eyebrow at Yuuki's question and said,

"Well, kind of."

Leaning on the railing, Yuuki let out a big sigh while looking at the captain and vice captain and thought,

'What did I get myself into?'

"Don't worry too much."

Hearing Tyke say that, Yuuki looked at him as the former continued talking.

"It'll be okay."

"...."

"You will do just fine."

"...."

"All will be well."

"...."

"...This too shall pass?"

"Okay, I got it."

As Tyke felt proud of himself for motivating his fellow crewmate, Yuuki realized he might be the only sane person on this ship.