Odd Containment Specialist.

Chapter 866 The Strange Island

After Sparrow finished speaking, the room fell silent. Then, everyone present surged toward Sparrow in a fit of rage, raining punches down on him. The scene became chaotic, filled with shouts and curses.

"Do you even know we almost died?!"

"Damn pirates! You can't believe a word they say!"

After everyone had vented their anger by beating him, Sparrow, sporting two dark circles under his eyes, got up from the ground and revealed a sly and cunning smile: "At least now we know they know they're in the time loop, which is good progress, don't you think, Mr. Natsu?"

“Well, the original plan won’t work. This tide of events won’t be quelled anytime soon, but the fact that Sprite suppressed it so quickly shows that they were well-prepared for this disaster. They must have also learned about the future course of history through some channel,” Ignaz said.

"So you mean the original history can no longer serve as a predictor?"

"Yes."

"Let's take a look at the notebooks we stole first; maybe we can find something useful in them." Hippolyta took the notebooks out of the box one by one and tossed them to the people around her.

"What is this thing?" the thug who had lost his teeth after being beaten by Xia Shou asked unhappily.

"These must be notes left by the first person to fall here."

"Well done, now we have something to do!" Sparrow stepped forward, spread his arms and spun around, but no one paid him any attention.

Xia Shou also picked up a book at random, intending to flip through it carefully.

To be honest, he wasn't sure what Sparrow was up to. His first operation had been a complete failure. The attempt to lure Ximen Qing had failed, resulting in the loss of their first mate, and their theft had also failed, almost leading to their total annihilation. It was hard to imagine that such a ridiculous outcome was part of Sparrow's plan.

Xia Shou's impression of Sparrow became increasingly stereotypical. If this was Sparrow's acting, it had to be said that his acting skills had reached a superb level. He perfectly portrayed a reliable yet unreliable pirate.

His past glories inspire trust in his abilities. Before a deeper collaboration, one might even think that his unreliability is just a facade. However, as the collaboration deepens, even those who were prepared beforehand might find themselves thinking that he might have no real skills and has only gotten where he is today by sheer luck.

Xia Shou thought that Sparrow might not have any plan at all, or he might have thought of everything very simply and just came up with it on a whim.

Especially seeing how seriously Sparrow is studying his notes—an illiterate person pretending to be literate so as not to appear too stupid.

“Let’s go to the ship first. I have a nice place where we can slowly read these books.” Sparrow handed the notebook in his hand to the sailor and turned to walk towards the shore.

……

……

They boarded the Black Pearl again and arrived at a lonely island.

“Welcome to the island where time has no end!” Sparrow exclaimed. “I was stranded on this island, spending three days and three nights in the shallows, getting to know every sea creature in the ocean. Then I tied some sea turtles together with rope and made a raft…”

No one listened to his tired, overused stories from movies. One by one, they went ashore on their own. Even those who were curious about the island didn't ask Sparrow. Instead, they casually inquired with any of the crew members, as if the captain of the Black Pearl was merely a figurehead.

From other people's casual conversations, Xia Shou also learned about the island's true extraordinary nature.

Time moves very slowly on this island. You might spend a whole day there and then be gone for less than a second. It only appears after a period of history becomes a cyclical history, and the island appears in every cyclical history, like an anomaly that transcends time and space, a unique marker of cyclical history.

It's not that just anyone can find this island; even those who have been there before almost never find it a second time. Only Sparrow can find it every time, as if there's some magical connection between him and the island.

“We can take our time here,” Sparrow said as he passed by them, then went into the grove. Xia Shou glanced at the cooldown time for his self-destructive act; for the first time, the cooldown time was described in a new way: 【＞9999 years】.

This proves that the crew was not lying. Time flows incredibly slowly here. A very long time here would only be a very short time in the Scar Era. And there is still a rate conversion between the Scar Era and the present world. Therefore, the cooldown time for self-destruction is extremely long.

However, since the cooldown time is not infinite, it means that time is still flowing, and even on this island, time is not still.

"There are places like this? This is amazing!" Su Weiyu exclaimed excitedly.

"Are you that happy?" Xia Shou asked.

"Of course! Didn't you feel that time was too tight when you were on missions before? Every mission was rushed, and you wished you could save time even to drink water. But this place can put reality on pause and give you a breather."

"That's true, and you can add a lot of operations on the spot. If you were to read through all these notes in real life, I wonder how long it would take."

“It’s not just about that, but also about our mood. Ah Shou, don’t you think we’re under a lot of mental pressure? Our minds are constantly on edge, and we feel like we’re about to develop anxiety. Wouldn’t it be great if we could come here for a break and adjust our mindset during that time?” Su Weiyu’s eyes sparkled.

"It's like..."

"It's like when you're fighting a boss in a game and you desperately need to pee, but this game doesn't have a pause button. This island is like the pause button, allowing you to go to the bathroom, have a snack, or even go online to look up a strategy guide before continuing to fight the boss!"

A peculiar metaphor, yet strangely apt.

Xia Shou felt that Su Weiyu had suddenly changed the direction of his thought process.

Then, Su Weiyu suddenly said, "Want to play beach volleyball?"

Xia Shou was taken aback and glanced to the side. The others were reading their notes under the scorching sun, grumbling and cursing. Everyone was very busy.

However... the old crew members of Black Pearl were indeed very relaxed. One group started setting up camp, while another group unloaded fishing gear from the ship and prepared to go fishing.

“Sparrow must have gone to drink rum, just like in the movie! He’s so relaxed, why can’t we relax too? And you really need to balance work and rest, aren’t you tired?” Su Weiyu walked behind Xia Shou, put her hands on his shoulders, and squeezed them hard.

Xia Shou's cheeks flushed slightly, but fortunately the intense sunlight provided some cover.

The sensation of Su Weiyu's massage reminded him of that time in his dream, after the battle, when he was just lying on the bed and Su Weiyu sat on his back and massaged him.

He still remembered what Su Weiyu said back then, which was incredibly lewd: "I'll give you a massage now, and you have to give me a massage later too, but... not with your hands."

Come on, come on, beach volleyball.

"But there are no volleyballs."

“Uh…” Su Weiyu suddenly fell silent.

Clearly, she hadn't considered that at all.

Xia Shou: "Let's look at the notes first. We can rest when we get tired."

(End of this chapter)