When we caught the fluorescent whale... or rather, when Faust said we had caught the dream-eating turbid current, a presence stirred from beyond.
Ahab.
"You're fighting better than I expected."
"Hey... don't tell me you were just watching us fight from the back?"
"I would have only gotten in the way if I'd interfered."
Even when Gregor snapped at her, Ahab answered with a shameless grin.
The sailors trailing behind her... there were clearly fewer of them now. Something must have happened.
No. Thinking about that woman's personality, it was unlikely she'd had an accident while directing things herself.
...Did she throw them away as expendable pieces to reduce variables? The same way she did to Stub.
"...I can't see them. The rest of the crew. There are only five. Why?"
"You're asking me questions now. I suppose that's the influence of those others. I kept the necessary number. The ones I could afford to cut before we got here. I suppose this too was caused by their meddling."
"Answer me. Why."
"More importantly... are you not going to welcome this captain and her surviving crew? Queequeg? The heart that can kill this whale is right in front of us!"
So it was true. And the fact that she was trying to brush it off so casually made it impossible to deny.
"Pip hates mermaids!!! Ah, hurry, hurry!! I want to get out!! But Pip keeps turning white. This, hey, hey. It won't come off."
"The white-flower phenomenon... it's getting worse... now it's truly becoming a nuisance. The closer we get to the heart..."
Sure enough, their bodies had turned visibly white.
If even Ahab was dragging her words out, then the condition must have been severe.
"But you lot haven't changed at all since before. And this sound that's been irritating me this whole time!"
Ahab tapped her harpoon prosthetic against itself and walked toward Dante.
Not a chance. I wasn't going to let her get any closer. I naturally shifted my body to keep a safe distance between them.
"No further approach will be permitted."
"Tch. Tell me what's inside that head of yours. What is it?"
<...!>
Then. I felt it clearly—the moment Ahab's and Dante's gazes met in midair.
Why? The Golden Bough was resonating. A fragment of memory that had belonged only to the prisoners was beginning to surface in reality.
The memory of the other passage Ahab had taken.
"Captain... you said we wouldn't become mermaids..."
"So this method failed too."
Within the memory, Ahab acted with extreme calculation.
"Uh...? No...! If you cut that off, everyone behind us will...!"
"Captain! It's Pip! Pip cut the blood vessel!"
"Excellent! I wonder how pleased Stub would be if he knew this!"
"Is he watching Pip? Can we kill the whale of hatred?! Heheh, hahahahaha!!"
If it wasn't certain that she and the people she needed survived, she discarded them cleanly.
"Uh... huh? Aaaagh!"
"C-Captain... what are you doing...?"
"I kicked that sailor and shoved him forward. The right path wasn't that way. Are you planning to beg for your life like this?"
No mercy, no principle. If it wasn't necessary, there were no exceptions.
"Cap... captain... that's not it..."
"If that pale whale of evil is still alive, then this world will keep edging closer to the end even as we speak! We can smash it with our own hands, and you want to leave it alone and beg for your lives? Ha! Then all the sailors who've been sacrificed so far will have died for nothing! Oh, my God!"
"N-no... We, we can die..."
"You will not die! I did not order my sailors to die! Don't die. Become great."
What a lunatic. Right—if you keep someone's life hostage and keep gaslighting them, I suppose even that kind of thing becomes possible.
I didn't particularly want to see that scene play out in front of me, though.
When the memory projection ended, Ahab smiled brightly and said, "That head of yours... has a truly fascinating ability. Just like whales."
"...The Pequod's crew. Sunk. In front of the heart. By you."
Even at Queequeg's rebuke, Ahab showed not the slightest panic and met her gaze with pride.
There was nothing in Ahab's eyes. No shame, no embarrassment, no regret, nothing at all.
"Ha, hahahah!! Yes, I suppose I did sacrifice my crew. They're probably mermaids somewhere out there, or if they were lucky, melted by acid."
"Why..."
Gregor, who had been in a similar position to the sacrificed crew, asked instinctively.
A soldier's question, plain and simple. Ahab answered without a shred of guilt, just as boldly as I'd expected, not missing a single beat.
"I know this heart more precisely than I know my own body. The structure of the pancreas we passed through was long and endlessly complex! And if our limbs melt away, we can't come back like you can. I had to calculate the optimal number that could reach the heart. Was that wrong?"
She was exactly the kind of person I'd expected, so it wasn't even surprising. Using people however she pleased, then discarding them just the same. A vile piece of human garbage.
After lightly justifying her own actions, she began to praise herself instead.
"I even awakened their pride and greatness right up until the moment before they died. And when I couldn't do that, I helped them die before they could feel that fear. Those people are bodies bound to me by oath. A promise that they would stake everything to catch the pale whale! Ishmael! Is that not so? Now we..."
"...have to go... to the heart?"
"Exactly! And for that, there is one last thing I need."
Ahab fixed her gleaming eyes on Dante.
"That fragment."
"This Ahab can't be fooled by anyone! What's inside your head is part of the golden fragment that neutralizes the white-flower phenomenon. Am I wrong? That's why you haven't become a mermaid! We are about to begin our final battle, in which we will stake everything! The very source of all evil in the world and the City itself! At the heart of this pale, hate-filled whale, who knows what fate awaits us."
Speaking with force, with a voice that could enchant people, Ahab drove her speech forward, then thrust in a dagger with a soft, sudden tone.
"And clearly, you're the one with the least combat experience among them. Then what if you die along the way? What happens to the rest of your crew? What if your breath ends in vain before you can blow the heart apart?"
"Your crew, and even ours, would all turn into mermaids within hours."
Though she surely couldn't hear the words, she answered as if they were having a conversation.
As if she had anticipated exactly how Dante would respond!
Wow. She really was insane. So this is what happens when innate madness and talent are combined.
"Offer me the golden fragment in your head. Then I will take full responsibility and get everyone remaining here out."
"That... isn't... wrong, Captain."
...What?
No, no, no—he was actually thinking of taking that deal? After seeing what that woman had just done?
He was going to trust someone who had so casually ignored her promise to get the crew out? Seriously?
"With a single sacrifice... everyone can get out safely. Even the last poor souls left behind."
"I do not wish to hand over the manager's head..."
"Then are you saying you'll all choose to become mermaids together without even piercing the heart?"
"That's..."
"Don't you all have reasons to survive here? Is your purpose in life to sacrifice yourselves for that clock-headed thing? Out there! Somehow! Don't you all have something you want to accomplish once you get out!!"
Wow. Incredible, really. She was mixing truth and lies with such skill, adding a persuasive voice and a hired crowd-rouser, turning public opinion to her side.
Unless you'd been dragged into some especially annoying mess, you'd have no choice but to be tempted. She was that good at talking.
Well, it seemed like she'd finished talking, so maybe it was time I intervened.
"Wow... I was wondering how far you'd go, but you really are something. You dress that up beautifully."
"You... are that sharp-eyed sailor. Yes, are you tempted by the offer? You would know, wouldn't you? It makes no sense to stake your life on that unreliable, variable-ridden clock-head!"
"You think that kind of nonsense will work? I just watched you kill the sailors you'd promised a future to, all because you wanted to catch the whale."
"Hm, so that's how it was. I thought as much. That's why I wanted to keep you under me in advance. Even if I said I'd grant your wish, you wouldn't follow me, would you?"
"You're asking the obvious. The most important thing in a deal is trust, isn't it? How am I supposed to believe someone who sold that away on the way here?"
Ahab's attitude flipped like a hand turning over.
Human emotions are always so hard to pin down. Even if you get swept up by the people around you, once cold water is thrown on you, you sink back down.
So she gave up cleanly, huh. If we'd met in a better place and on better terms, I might have wanted to work with her.
But that wasn't now. She was a swindler, and we were the ones here to arrest her.
The battle for public opinion was ours. Even the prisoners who had wavered for a moment were now staring straight at her.
And Dante too.
"Understood."
Yes. Dante was not someone who would be swayed so easily.
At that stubborn, thorough refusal, clear hostility began to settle into the prisoners' eyes as they looked at Ahab.
I watched Ahab with eyes that had grown sharper.
Now then, Ahab. How are you going to handle a board that's already broken?
That was what I was thinking, sincerely.
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