Ryouma's compliment earns him a brief, piercing look, a switchblade of an expression that is safely done away with as soon as Jin Guangyao determines (for the moment, anyway) that Ryouma is not mocking him. The smile doesn't return to his face because it never left in the first place. "Thank you, Sakamoto-gongzi," he replies. The placement of the term appended as it is to Ryouma's family name, and spoken with such precise courtesy, should reveal it to be an honorific.

He turns to look back out towards the lighthouse and takes a breath, gathering his thoughts. "I think," he begins again, "that I can perhaps make the journey by sword. But it would be quite unfortunate to discover that I am wrong halfway to the far shore." Unfortunate, and possibly deadly. He would prefer not to die (again) so soon. He looks Ryouma's way again. "Do you have any ideas for how to get across the water?"