Chapter Text
Sword sat alone in the bustling tavern, staring distantly at the rest of the locals. A few were alone like he was, a few others drunk, others dancing and singing with tipsied cheer. Sword remained quiet, never one to participate in too many social activities. His gaze continued to drone on amongst the crowd.
Sword noticed a particular duo, a man with a peculiar orange cone on his head and a small pink and yellow child with a little decorated helmet hiding behind the older man. They seemed to be just ordering some food and drinks.
Sword looked off to the side, his expression scrunching up a little. It had been a couple months since his father had come home. He’d told Sword it would only be two months at most. He’d been regularly visiting this tavern in hopes he’d show up, but with each passing day, he was losing a little more hope.
Sword fantasized about the day he’d come back. Venomshank the Fearsome, opening those grand spruce doors and stepping in, boots clicking with every step. The entire tavern would go silent, breaths bated with admiration and fear. His crew would be right behind him, following close behind like a flock of migrating birds, lifting themselves up in his shadow.
And then, his father would approach him and embrace him in his arms once more, and the world would be at peace again. Sword missed the feathery touch of his clawed fingertips sifting through his hair comfortingly.
He wished he could go and search for him, but he hasn’t had many opportunities to become an apprentice for any sailing ships, since those required referrals, and the crew that was able to do so was lost at sea. Without a proper ship, he was unable to travel.
Sword wished he’d come back to comfort him again.
“Hey! You!” A shrill voice snapped Sword out of his daydream. Sword blinked, a little dazed, and then realized someone was standing right across from him. His hands lay flat on top of the table, leaning over Sword. The tavern lights outlined his lanky silhouette as Sword was forced to look him in his one eye.
“Oh— sorry, was I taking too long on this seat?” Sword asked, getting prepared to leave his chair.
“No! No! Stay! You just seem alone, yearning for an adventure!” The stranger announced, adjusting his mask. “Say, you look young and promising, how about you join my crew?”
Sword opened, then closed his mouth.
“Uh—?”
The stranger continued on.
“We’re going to hunt for this golden artifact in the west, some folks here are willing to purchase it for a really good buck! However, I could use a crew for some assistance with retrieving the artifact! So, what do you say?”
Sword stared at the stranger for a while. The stranger’s hair was a little unkempt, noticeably dirtied from working outside. Curved pink horns poked out from his hair and on the sides of his face. He also wore a black mask and eyepatch, with streaks of pink peeking out beneath the cloth. Despite the mask covering half of his face, a wide smile seemed to reflect through his one eye.
Sword opened his mouth, then closed it. Maybe if he went, he could look for his father on the way. He probably wouldn’t get an opportunity on a licensed ship in another long while.
“Well?!” The stranger seemed impatient, tapping his foot repeatedly.
Sword didn’t give an immediate reply.
“Oh, well. I guess I’ll come back tomorrow morning, if you’re just going to stare at me like some sort of beached up whale!” The stranger turned away.
“Wait—“
The stranger stopped in his tracks and turned to face Sword.
“I’ll come with you,” Sword answered with some finality.
The stranger lightened up and smiled impossibly wider with his eye.
“Great choice! Meet by the far left of the docks by dawn tomorrow. Don’t be late!” The stranger snickered. “What’s your name?”
“Sword,” he slowly replied, with a wavering uncertainty in his voice. The stranger trilled in delight.
“Glad to have you on my crew, Sword! I’ll see you at the docks!” The stranger suddenly rushed out of the tavern as quickly as he had appeared, holding the scarf firmly to his face.
Sword watched him practically jog out of the tavern. He wondered why they were in such a rush.
Oh well. Sword stood up from his chair and left the bar shortly after.
—-
That following morning, Sword left his house with his backpack and a little bit of hope. He left a note on the dinner table in case his father does return home, and hired a caretaker for Sisyphus (not that Sword thought he needed one, Sisyphus seemed to fare well alone whenever he went traveling with his father).
Sword jogged down to the docks, running until he found that familiar stranger. He seemed to be preparing the sails of his boat.
Sword glanced down at the boat. It seemed to be made primarily of metal, not like the typical oak sail boats that Sword was used to seeing. There were a few flimsy blemishes on the sides where the metal connects. Despite this, it seemed well constructed and sturdy, with orange tinted windows that looked like furious eyes on its bow.
There was also the name of the boat etched on the side. “BIOBOAT”.
Sword thought the name was a little on the nose.
“Sword!” The stranger shouted, pausing from his activity. “You’re late!”
“…I think I’m right on time, actually.” Sword glanced at the sun, which was just beginning to rise just above the horizon.
“All the others are here, and you were the last to show up. That means you’re late. Now come on here! The earlier the better!” The stranger gestured for Sword to come up on board.
A small plank was lowered so that Sword could hop on. As soon as Sword got on, two new faces turned to stare at him. One of them, who was rather large with an owl-like mask over his face, seemed to be busy organizing the ship’s supply. The other, with bull horns and a hat covering the top of his messy, tied up hair, appeared to be just lounging around the ship with his arms supporting his head. Sword quietly waved to the duo. They returned with an equally silent wave.
“Katana, Skateboard, this is Sword. Sword, Skateboard and Katana.” The stranger briefly introduced. “You three are going to be working for me for the entire trip, so you better not do anything foolish!”
The bull-horned boy — Skateboard, then piped up. “Wait! What about you? You never even bothered telling us who you are!!”
“Just call me captain!” The captain shouted with a dismissive wave.
“I believe his name is Subspace,” Katana replied, slowly raising his head to address Skateboard. “He visits the tavern every couple months to complete commissions from Lord Pwnatious.” Katana then lowered his head to continue his task.
‘He sort of looks like a big owl,’ Sword thought, watching the way he delicately sorted through items with large pointed claws and created low hums with his voice.
Suddenly, a large weight came to slap Sword on the back.
“Ho! Sword! Wanna mess around the deck?” Skateboard grinned.
Sword blinked.
“Mess around?”
Skateboard grabbed a scrap piece of wood, spinning it around on the incredibly slippery deck of the ship and jumped on it, letting himself spin on the wood until it inevitably lost speed. Then, he hopped off. “Like that!”
“Isn’t that a little dangerous? What if you hit your head?” Sword asked, glancing down at the piece of wood.
“Gah! I’ve done it plenty of times. I know what I’m doing!” Skateboard kicked it to spin it around again and hopped on.
The boat suddenly made a lurch to the left, throwing Skateboard off the wood. Sword held onto the mast and grabbed Skateboard by the wrist.
Skateboard’s wide-eyed expression morphed into a grin.
“Thanks!”
“...So what were you saying about ‘knowing what you were doing’?” Sword raised a brow.
Skateboard chuckled sheepishly. “Well—”
“WE’RE TAKING OFF NOW!” Subspace abruptly announced from behind the steering wheel. Sword took off his backpack and threw it to a nearby corner before quickly tying one of the straps to the deck with a small rope.
The boat began to sway a little more as Skateboard and Katana readied the sails and Subspace untied the rope holding the Bioboat onto the dock.
As the little village slowly disappeared from view, Sword shifted his gaze to the ocean horizon, wondering what else could lie in the ocean…