Admiral Jones marched into his quarters with a disgruntled frown. Another failed hunt had left a sour taste in the pirate's mouth. His chat with their newest cabin boy didn't help either. Avery Jones thought it would be best to change out of his soggy britches and try his best to relax until supper. However, the sailor's frown only sank deeper when he opened the door to his private quarters and saw Welz waiting for him inside.

  "Oi. Got a spare moment?" The lookout smirked without regard for their failed mission, nor his boss' current demeanor.

  Jones marched past his underling. "Not now, Welz. I've gotta change our course before nightfall. The beast we need is close... I can feel it in my bones. She must've fled to deeper waters, perhaps the reefs by-."

  "Admiral." Welz's grin turned into a stubborn glare quickly. "Please... I need to talk with you. It's important."

  Jones studied his comrade and responded in a more appropriate tone. "I see. This must be about the job I gave you."

  "It doesn't feel right. He's a good lad. I-"

  "He's a damn monster." Aggression took hold of the Admiral's pitch. "You just see those bright eyes and think of him as some cheery orphan—not me! I've seen what that little fuck really is!" Jones sighed, taking a moment to take hold of his temper and continue. "No. You'll keep sedating him, and that's an order! It's safest for everyone on board to have our new cabin boy stay nice and calm. Understand me? You might not realize it, but we're living in a nightmare with him on this ship. I don't know why Helen dropped him here, but once she picks him up I promise everything will go back to business as usual."

  Welz let his sight fall to the floorboards of the Admiral's cabin, tapping his good leg in anxiety. "I suppose it does keep him from zippin' around too much. Still... I don't like druggin' a fuckin' kid."

  "He's not a kid, Welz! The sooner you understand that, the sooner you'll understand! I've only seen eyes like that one time before, and I'm not taking any chances. As far as you and the rest of our crew should be concerned, he's Helen's beast! Nothing more!"

  The peg-legged Inagi turned his back on his Admiral to march out of the cabin. "Well, that beast has a name. Lil' Mira's been a good lad to us. I know the two of you have history, but I hope ya can see the lad in him too one day."

  Down in the galley, Helen's beast was busy playing a game of cards with Vice-Admiral Rish, snacking on stale bread and sipping on yet another glass of tranquilizer-laced juice. He was having a swell time, even though there was nothing particularly entertaining going on.

  "Well played, young Mira." Rish barked out through laughter as he won another game of War: a children's card game from Nepsis. "You'll best me next time." He lied, pulling the cards together and shuffling them with his hook-less hand, a talent Mira never grew tired of watching. "Say, have you heard any word on when Lady Helen is coming for you?"

  "Nah. She hasn't sent anything, but I sure would love a ride home soon. I haven't seen my little brother in such a long time."

  "Aye," agreed Rish. "It's a damn shame being so far away from family. Lucky for me, all the family I've got sleeps on this ship."

  Mira put his newly dealt hand on the table and looked at Rish with a sideways glance. "Y'all really do think of each other as family here, don't ya?"

  "Well, of course we do!" scoffed the hook-handed pirate. "After all, lad, we're all each other have left out here on the open blue. We all lost or left our birth-families long ago. Now we do our best to be there for one another when we can. You've seen it—being on this ship isn't always smooth sailing. We put in long hours every day tracking those Leviathans when Avery gets riled up and declares a new hunt. And we don't dally around when it comes to slaying 'em neither." He pulled back, reflecting on the many years he's called the Thousand Legends 'home.' "Our Admiral may be a bold man, but we all put in the work to keep up with him. You'd be wise to find a greater role on this ship, after all the crew loves having your..." he searched for the right phrasing. "Your endless energy."

  "Me? Be a pirate?" Mira smiled at the idea, suddenly having images of a life at sea race through his mind.

  "Well sure, lad! I mean, you're halfway there already by living with us. All you gotta do now is swear loyalty to the Admiral. He may have a sour mood for today, but he'd change his tune if you paid respect." With another win, Rish pulled the cards on the table together and began shuffling them with a single hand, breaking the deck and flipping his fingers to rearrange the cards with a technique that took over a decade to perfect. "Now that I think about it, that's how Xere came to join our crew—feisty as he is..."

  Mira's eyes grew wide as the hundreds of oceanbound adventures continued to force their way into his brain. However, something was missing. These daydreams only made him sad because his brother Sachi couldn't be found in any of them. "No..." He finally responded. "I can't. I made a promise. I need to get back to Sachi's Kingdom so I can keep him safe."

  "Suit yourself." Rish shrugged casually and continued, "I will say though, I think you'd make one Hel of a swashbuckler. I've seen how fast you are, and we could use a speedy little shit like you. Plus, your Radiant Art has a lightning-nature. You'd be a star at stunning Leviathans—the perfect addition to our hunts."

  "No thanks." Mira began shoveling bread in his mouth once more, rarely stopping to chew. "What's the big deal with this hook-thingy anyway? I'm starting to feel bad for all those big fish we've gone after. None of them get a chance to fight back after being shot and sang at. Admiral Jones just comes in and takes cheap shots at them right after too—it's no fair. We can't find the thing he wants either. I think he should just stop."

  "We don't hunt them for sport, lil' Mira." Rish let out a long sigh and picked a card out from the top of his pile. He peered deeply into the nautical-themed symbols on the cards gripped in his fingertips. Then, he decided it was time to tell Mira a story. "That hook we're after isn't some paltry trinket. It's a lost artifact of the Golden Age—an Immortal Weapon, lad." He took a moment to see if Mira was impressed yet, but there still wasn't a single hint of understanding in those lost eyes of gold. Rish wondered if the blue-haired child had been hiding a mean poker-face this whole time without letting on. "Legends—old stories from the dawn of the Trench—they all say that fishhook saw our whole world. She hitched herself from one great sailor to the next." The Vice-Admiral chuckled to himself. "The thing's been lost for a few hundred years now, but we have it on good authority she was swallowed up by a Leviathan."

  "Okay...?" Mira scratched his head, understanding little of what Rish was saying. "And who told you that?"

  Rish smirked from ear-to-ear at the question. "Lady Helen, of course." Mira was hardly surprised. After all, it seemed like Helen had all the knowledge in the world.

  Later that day, Mira retired to his room to take a nap. Upon arrival, he saw the dark-scaled cabin boy brooding again; staring out their window into a dark sea with a scrunched forehead. Mira cocked his head when he laid eyes on Xere.

  "Everything okay, big buddy?"

  Xere snapped back around when Mira spoke, as if he had been too occupied to notice the sound of their old door as it creaked open. It wasn't an unusual sight to see Xere gazing out that window, but today the Inagi prince looked especially pouty. He stared Mira down, looking too angry to be disturbed.

  "Why would you lie to me?" Xere questioned with a scowl.

  Mira soured his expression and became serious for a moment. "I don't do that."

  "You said you'd take me home, but that's impossible." Xere shook his head slowly. "I actually got my hopes up for a minute there when you said it too. So dumb... It's just not possible yet, okay? But one day soon—when I'm stronger—I'll make it home." He clenched his scaled fists. "I'll make my father throw me a fuckin' parade when I finally get there too."

  The blue-haired fool closed the door behind him and sat on the floor with a loud thump, allowing his full weight to fall on the floorboards. The face he wore was one of a child determined to solve an impossible problem. "What about swimming? Couldn't we just hop overboard and swim back to your house?" He made sure to add, "I'm not the fastest swimmer, but I could ride on your back like a surfboard."

  "That won't work!" Xere snorted, Mira's stupidity feeling predictable by that point of sharing a room with one another. "Rish keeps the maps locked up, so I have no idea where we are half the time. If I go overboard, I'd have a greater chance of getting eaten by a Leviathan—or Killer Squid—or being kidnapped by some even worse crew than ever getting home. Besides, even if we did run, the whole thing it would be pointless. With a ship this fast, Jones would track me down in no time. No..." Xere gathered himself. "There's only two ways for me to get home: either I find the hook, or I become the Admiral."

  "What does that mean?" Xere's final statement confused Mira more than anything else he said. "The Admiral is the Admiral. You can't just take someone's name like that, Xere."

  "Well," Xere's face became determined. "We have a rule on this ship—if you want something, you need to fight for it."

  "Hmm. Me and my brothers had a similar rule about mealtimes growing up." Mira remembered Spring Island gleefully. "I never got the last serving of meat because I was never willing to duel for it. I only tried once—didn't go well."

  Xere patted Mira roughly on the shoulder as he stood back up. "Well, the same rule applies here. Anyone can be the Admiral if they can beat Avery Jones in a fight."

  Mira looked perplexed. "Then I don't get it. What's stopping you from becoming the Admiral?"

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  "Are you kidding me?" Xere scoffed. "I've tried eight times now, but I can't hurt him; even when he isn't in that beastly form."

  "Really?" Mira went back to scratching at his mess of blue hair. "He doesn't seem that tough to me. He's super slow when he's big too."

  Xere glared at his roommate over the statement. "I had a feeling you'd say that. Something's... wrong about you." He squinted at Mira. "You've seen what Jones can do, but you're not afraid of him like everyone else."

  Mira raised a brow, confused again. "What's there to be afraid of?"

  "Other than his ability to transform into a sea-monster?!" said Xere, almost yelling. "He's also stronger than he looks when he's in his regular form. You might not know this, but members of our Clan are naturally ten times stronger than the average Human."

  "Ten times?" Mira's voice was disappointed in pitch. "That's not too wild. Most Humans I know are weak too. Fighting him barely sounds fun."

  "Fun? Are you insane?" Xere raised his arms to his sides in exasperation. "What's fun about getting pummeled over, and over?"

  "Well, I haven't had a good fight in years." Mira sneered at his fellow cabin boy. "Maybe I'll beat him up and become the next Admiral for you. How's that? She-he-he!"

  Xere rolled his eyes. "Yeah! Good luck with that, ya blue idiot. At your size, he'd mop the deck with you in less than a minute."

  Mira snickered. "Maybe. Who knows..." He stood up. "Want me to give it a shot?"

  "Hel no!" The Inagi boy's face became irate once more. "I'm gonna be the next Admiral—no one else. So don't you do anything, okay? You're just gonna mess it up for me!"

  "Suit yourself, jerk. No need to be rude about it." Mira crossed his arms. "When's the next fight? I wanna watch."

  Xere grinned. "You're in luck. I've decided to challenge him again tomorrow morning." He walked back to the window of their bedroom to stare into the void of the sea once more. "I've gotta keep fighting, no matter how many times I lose."

  The next morning Xere stirred to the usual sounds of his boiler room, the crackle of Mira's static flying through the air and the eek! of Welz opening their door to bring Mira his morning orange juice. On most days, Xere would've been bothered by the commotion, but this dawn felt different for the young Inagi. Today Xere would duel his Admiral once more, and though it was early, he was too excited to try sleeping any longer. Mira was ecstatic to see his roommate up at the same time as him and gave the scaly boy a too-heavy pat upon the back. The sting of Mira's slap woke Xere fully. The blue-haired boy then left in silence with the crew's lookout, a wide grin on his foolish face.

  Xere rubbed at his back, knowing Mira had left a fresh handprint on him. He felt alert, but somehow still surprised by the undersized child's strength. The senior cabin boy turned to face his window to see they were still above water; the only proper time a duel could be held on the deck. At least this way I stand a chance, he thought to himself. Xere already knew a below-sea battle would result in Avery shifting his form and thrashing him like a guppy. He'd lived through such challenges thrice already.

  Xere finally rose from his bed and walked out of the shared boiler room. His shoulders slumped with the burden of the day's challenge as he marched through the lower deck and up to the galley. When he climbed the final step, all of the Neptunes were already waiting for him. No surprise there. Mira must've had loose lips, for all eyes were pinned to the staircase since the crew first heard his footsteps. Admiral Jones sat at the end of their largest table, cutting his tuna and half-fried eggs without looking up. Knowing all waited on his next move, the Inagi prince marched toward his Admiral and interrupted the man's meal with a stern demand.

  Xere spoke through clenched teeth. "Take me home, now."

  "Huff... really, Xere? This whole thing again?" Jones' gaze fell on Mira's excited grin first, then the rest of the Legends. "It seems you lads've been chattin' away, huh?" His eyes moved back to the red and black scaled boy before him, voice stiffening to an authoritative growl. "We already told you, there is no home for you down there. And you know damn well my hook is good as lost without you!" His focus went back to the half-eaten plate. "Fuck, Xere..." he cursed, having a hard time spitting those next words out. "We need you. There's no way around it."

  "Then I have no other choice..." The bulky teen balled his hands. "I challenge you for your seat as Admiral."

  "Again?" The Admiral dropped his cutlery, still looking for a way to continue with his breakfast. "C'mon, lad! We've been down this road before. You already know how this is gonna end. We've got a big day ahead of us, so why even try?"

  "Because... if I don't fight now my dreams will never come true." Xere had blue fire in those white-less eyes as he growled at Avery. "I'd rather die for my dream than live for yours!"

  "Well, that's the thing about dreams, prince." Admiral Jones stood, his annoyance fully seeping into his tone. He removed his coat and hat, stretching a shoulder across his chest. "Some of them are just that—dreams. It's better to live in the real world than die for some illusion just 'cuz you hate your Papa." Jones' delivery was as cruel as the words he spoke. "So, I'll give you one more chance. Take a seat, eat the damn eggs Shik made for us all, and shut the fuck up about going home." That final bit had a snap to it, one the whole crew recognized as a final warning.

  "No...." Xere smiled with too much pride in his eyes, a look that screamed he was only hungry for violence. "We're going outside, Admiral."

  The galley erupted into a roar of cheers at the challenge. Welz began slapping on the table and riling up his fellow crew members until the wood around them started to rumble. Mira joined in with the fun and pounded on the table as well, shouting about his faith in Xere's victory. Rish, the only one who looked concerned, tried his best to quell the crew's hollering, but his attempts were useless. It had been some time since Mira's arrival and the commotion around his origins, and duels between crewmates only came around a few times a year. Needless to say, the Neptunes were ready for a bit of drama. It didn't take long for the crowd of rowdy pirates to push their way outside to the deck, each of them giving Xere another rough pat on his back to show support as they filed out of the oversized galley door. Admiral Jones was last man to step out into the early day's light Holy Sola blessed their deck with.

  "I'll give you one last chance, boy... before you cause yourself any more pain." Avery had a pity in his voice, but none showed in his stare. "Withdraw from this duel, now."

  It was too late for the cabin boy to back down. At this point the Inagi youth already had his fists up. The only response he gave to his Admiral was the slow shaking of his head; No.

  "Suit yourself, brat." The Admiral spat off the deck. "You've already got your hands up. Why don't you stop fuckin' about and do something! Here!" The Admiral stuck his chin out. He stepped half-a-foot from Xere, now a reachable target for a man much smaller than the one he offered his face to. "I'll even give you one free shot."

  Xere grit his teeth. He knew he only had one real chance at bringing the Admiral down, a risky gamble relying on knocking out the cocky Admiral with that first attack. He stepped quickly and swung up at Avery's jaw with an uppercut. Behind his fist raged all the misery he had felt over his years on their ship as a slave in all but title; all his pain, all his futile frustrations. His knuckles connected perfectly on the underside of Jones' chin, forcing the Admiral to clamp his mouth shut and erase his overconfident smile. The crowd of pirates roared as Xere made contact, eager to see how long their duel would last.

  "Ah! Dammit!" Jones yelled out, suddenly reaching for his face with both hands. "Ya made me bite ma damn tongue!" He stretched out his jaw a few times, rubbing at it furiously, and glared at Xere. "I warned you not to do all this!" The Admiral cocked back his arm and struck Xere at the center of his scaled nose before the cabin boy had a chance to duck. The younger fighter stumbled back and reached for his face too, blood just beginning to drip from his nostrils. Xere could barely see with his hand clamped over his nose to stop the blood flow, so he wasn't ready for what came next.

  The Admiral's knee sank deep into Xere's gut. The young man crumbled and coughed at the blow, drool hanging off his ruby-scaled lips as he tried to regain footing. It was no use. Xere became wrapped in a bear hug he couldn't struggle away from, and the Admiral promptly slammed the young man to the floorboards with his full weight. Jones flipped his cabin boy around and hopped to kneel over him, slamming down with his right fist into the boy's face once his prey was flat on his back.

  "Why don't you learn!" Jones shouted down to Xere after his sixth punch. "Why do you keep challenging me!"

  "I already told you!" Xere managed to push through the onslaught of blows. He jerked upward and smacked Admiral Jones' forehead with his own, pushing with every ounce of strength in his body to break something inside of Avery. Jones stepped away for a moment, and that split second was all Xere needed to make a difference in this fight. He swung hard with his left fist and connected again with the Admiral's chin. The crowd exploded into a frenzy at the sudden rally, and as the Admiral fell away from Xere and onto the deck, they began hooting the cabin boy's name as if they were watching some championship boxing match.

  "Xere! Xere! Xere!"

  The young fish did his best to force himself back into a fighting stance, his legs feeling weak after the beating he'd already taken. He managed to find his feet for a moment, but the left ankle rolled under his weight in that disoriented state. The leg slipped out entirely, and Xere felt his face smack against the deck before even knowing he'd fallen. His Admiral, cruel as the man was, wasn't about to let this opportunity go to waste. Jones hopped up and pulled his leg back as high as it could and let loose with a devastating kick that struck Xere right between the eyes. From the crowd, Mira could have sworn he saw those blue eyes go fully white as his roommate's body rose into the air and flopped over once more.

  However, the cabin boy wasn't done yet. Xere found his center of gravity as he toppled over and scrambled back onto his feet. He tried rushing Jones again, aiming lower this time to take the Admiral down by his legs. But again, the attempt was of no use. The elder Inagi shifted his body weight to redirect Xere's momentum, sending the teen tumbling across the deck. Xere crashed onto his side, quickly met with another kick from his Admiral. He groaned in a pitch more similar to Inta chants than Romani Imperium as Jones' boot sank into his guts. This time Avery didn't let up, slamming his foot into the cabin boy's belly over, and over; lost in his own sea of rage that clouded the man's vision.

  "How dare you challenge me again, you fucking brat!" The Admiral's shout felt more personal than a taunt exchanged between duelists, like Xere's challenge had struck some nerve no other member of the Neptunes knew the man possessed. "This ship has been passed down my family for five generations! This is my ship! You hear me, brat! My hunt will go on!" Jones kicked ceaselessly into his cabin boy, enraged to a point that paralleled madness. The crew could do little more than watch with miserable faces as Xere took his beating. Not a single one of those pirates had right to interfere with this challenge, and they had all heard how the boy was warned not to go down this road again.

  "Have I not been fair!" Jones continued to boil with rage as he started to stomp on Xere, the feeling of swinging his leg back becoming too tiring. "Have I not been-"

  Suddenly the beating was over, for in a blue flash the Admiral was on the ground rubbing at his hip. A savior had stepped into the ring without a hint of joy on his face, calling an end to the duel without any claim to the duel's outcome.

  Mira Van'Heatah spoke calmly. "This fight is boring." Golden eyes fell on Admiral Jones. "You won. Stop being rude about it."

  Jones glared at his youngest crew member, but before he could express his frustrations, he was interrupted by the groans of the young man who challenged him.

  Xere whined through the pain of several torn muscles in his abdomen, still seething with rage in his tone. "I... I can't be done... I-"

  "Just stop." Mira looked down at his roommate without any amusement in his stare. "You lost. Deal with it. Stop being stupid and give up before you die."

  Xere never noticed it before, just how unnatural Mira's eyes were—some shade of gold too flawless for Mortals to possess. He had only seen the wonder in the boy's stare, but in this moment, he understood something unholy lurked beneath all that childish glee. The blue static of Mira's Radiance buzzing in the air made it hard for Xere to speak as he peered into that golden abyss. Eventually, he found the right words. Xere let his head fall on the deck once more and flattened like a starfish. With unwanted tears falling from his eyes, the Inagi prince spoke.

  "I surrender."

  (To Be Continued...)

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