Chapter Sixty takes place aboard the Pursuit, a pirate ship sailing far east in the Unending Sea, beyond where most ships venture. The navigator Padar has successfully guided the vessel to a specific position beneath a constellation the Seiikinese call the Magpie, at the ninth hour of night. Despite the dangers of the gyre, Padar used his expert knowledge of the stars to reach this precise location.

Niclays Roos waits on deck alongside Laya Yidagé, who stands with folded arms and a grim expression beneath her hood. Niclays thinks of someone named Jan and reflects that he is almost there, suggesting a deeply personal motivation driving his journey eastward.

The Golden Empress herself steers the Pursuit, rotating the wheel as the sails catch the wind and the ship changes course. She calls out "Onward," and her pirate crew echoes the cry with collective joy. Niclays feels their excitement magnified in his own heart as the ship sails beyond the edge of known maps, heading toward what he refers to as the mulberry tree and untold wonders.