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Kab downed her mug of beer, satiated as she motioned to Marnie at the counter. “Damn, Marnie! I actually forgot how good your drinks were!” She and her friends, as well as the Nightingales and company were all sitting inside the Nightingales’ tavern, with their Faction leader and tavern-keeper, Marnie Gatlin, serving them heavenly drinks to drown their shocks, worries, and whatso whatsos.
“Glad you’re enjoying them, Kab,” Marnie responded back to her as she was preparing another tray of mugs, carrying them on one arm. “I’m glad that you and Rae are safe and sound. Though, I am concerned with the fact that you two are allowing your friend over there to drink with you.”
Magic was sitting on the table next to Kab, Maddy, Rae, and Ros’, drinking her sixth mug of beer alongside Cruppy, Olive, and Shelby. Being the youngest member of the crew, Kab had to admit Marnie was right about being concerned for Magic’s health, yet couldn’t help but chuckle her concerns away.
“Magic is anything but normal,” Kab and the others always joked around whenever Magic did something that no normal child should be doing, like sleeping right next to fucking crocodiles! “I’m sure a few beers will taste and act like water to her.”
Marnie, instead of being reassured, was slightly disturbed by the answer but simply nodded as she brought the next tray of drinks for the pirates. “So…, Ros! What did you used to do before coming to the Faction Isles?” Apo suddenly asked, causing Ros to spit her drink in her mug, coughing.
“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Ros dismissed Maddy who was about to pat her on her back. “I… uh, well…” Ros stammered on her words as she tried to come up with an answer. “I… really… It wasn’t that much of a deal. I was just a monster hunter…”
“‘Not that much of a deal’?!” Kab exclaimed in utter disbelief. “Ros, you were a monster slaying gal!”
“Men knelt before you in fear whenever you showed up,” Rae added as a matter of fact.
“You could deflect bullets!” Maddy shouted out loud. Ros’ cheeks got redder and redder in embarrassment as the three pirates continued on.
“Wait, really?!” Shelby exclaimed in shock. “Ros, you can deflect bullets?!”
Before Ros could say anything regardless of it, Kab suddenly pulls out her flintlock and fires directly at Ros. In a split second, Ros bends down as she reaches for one of her sabers and whips around swiftly as she pulls out the sword and swings it using her spins momentum. The steel of the blade connects with the bullet as she hits it out of trajectory, causing it to sail through the air and pass by harmlessly without hitting or killing anybody.
Graecie, Apo, Will, and Acho were wide eyed with Graecie lifting up her eyepatch so she could see with both of her eyes (yes, she still has her two eyes, the eyepatch is for show) at the stunt that Ros pulled out. Olive was just as mouth agape as the others. Cruppy and Magic were cheerfully clapping at Ros for her stunt. Shelby followed Cruppy and Magic soon, her clapping more slower than theirs due to her shock.
Ros sheathed her saber as she glared at Kab. “Kab, what were you thinking?!” Ros never sounded– No, she was never angry as far as the Faction Isles’ pirates were aware of. “You could have killed somebody!”
“But I didn’t,” Kab countered as she looked smugly at Ros. “Because, I knew you would stop the bullet.” Ros kept glaring at Kab but eventually sighed in resignation. “There, there.” Kab patted Ros’ head as if she was a dog, in which the purple haired girl quickly swatted it away.
“Ros, you have to teach me all you know,” Apo said swiftly. “You have to teach me how to fight like you!” Apo’s eyes were filled with excitement and hope, which made it harder for Ros to deny his request as she hesitated.
“Well, it’s not easy,” Ros explained, scratching the back of her head. “You would have to work every day, practice your techniques, and train your body to become stronger.”
“Wha– I am strong!” Apo said as he flexed his arm. “Look at this muscle!”
“Pfft, that’s nothing!” Kab said as she flexed her own arm, hers showing more muscle than Apo’s. “Besides, you’re nowhere near as Ros.” Ros’ pink face went full red at the implication and before she could say anything about it…
“Oh~” Shelby said teasingly. “Ros, you got muscle in you?” Ros’ mind was literally releasing steam with how innocent Shelby was looking at her, waiting for her answer.
“Shelby,” Graecie glared at the Kestrel with disdain. “Ros, don’t answer to her.”
“I’m just asking,” Shelby placed a hand on her chest as if she was hurt. “Ros doesn’t look like the kind with muscles.”
“What?” Kab said in disbelief. “What do you mean? Ok, then how do you explain this?” Kab’s hands reached for Ros’ shirt, her mind not processing anything until she felt Kab’s hands grabbing her shirt and starting to pull it up.
“Wait, Kab!” Ros’ embarrassment was just at her limit, something behind it wanting to break loose. “Kab Foster, don’t you–!”
Ros’ shirt covered her face as Kab raised it up, allowing all people in the tavern full view of her belly, which was ripped with six-pack abs. The Nightingales were in shock, which was fair enough, with Acho and Will having the tendency to look away without prying, Apo looking at the abs with amazement, and Graecie’s face so red and her mind too fried to turn and look away. Olive and Marnie looked away respectfully, with Olive covering Cruppy’s eyes with one hand, not wanting the innocence of the little creature gone. Maddy was shouting and lecturing Kab at her impulsive behaviour while Rae whistled with praise at Ros’ work. Magic just “ooh” since… Well, she’s a child.
Shelby, on the other hand, was the one who was actually taken aback. At first, she didn’t expect anything that impressive and was just planning on teasing Ros nonstop, but now that she was actually seeing Ros’ hidden muscles on her abs, her brain just turned off completely. She was frozen in place, mind blank, muscles immobile, and with a nosebleed that was trailing down from her nasal cavity on her face.
“See? Ripped as fuck,” Kab said with pride when suddenly she felt a pair of hands holding her hands. “Huh. Ros–?”
Ros pried away Kab’s hands from her shirt as she delivered a strong kick at Kab’s guts, sending her against a table. The sudden attack and noise snapped everybody away from their stupor with Shelby quickly cleaning the blood from her nose. Ros’ expression was obscured and almost blank, her eyes focused on Kab as she was completely expressionless. “Kab. I’m giving you… three seconds to run before I literally kill you.” The threat sent shivers down the spines of everybody as Kab simply chuckled.
“Oh~,” Kab wasn’t intimated at all. “Back to old–” Kab quickly dodged the saber launched by Ros as the purple haired girl lunged at her, sword ready as she missed Kab who started to run away from her as she chased after her. “Haha! Like good old times!”
Everybody quickly got out of the way as Ros chased down after Kab with murderous intentions, slashing at her at the slightest opportunity and trying to stab her but Kab was too fast for her to reach. Marnie was shouting at the two of them to stop trashing her tavern before giving up as the two of them weren’t listening to her. Kab grabbed one of the trays that fell and used it to catch Ros’ saber which stabbed through the tray. Kab then forced Ros’ grip on her saber to falter and release it, allowing Kab to throw the tray and the saber away as she ran.
Ros then pulled out a knife that she kept with her in case of emergencies and resumed her chase after Kab, which led to her baiting her into throwing it which she blindly felt for it and threw the knife right at Kab who dodged it, letting the knife fly right at…
Clown, who thankfully caught it as the crew walked next to him, and were shocked and horrified at the knife that was thrown at and almost killed their captain in a split second. The Nightingales, Olive, and Shelby were all surprised by the new strangers and shocked at Clown’s reflexes as Kab, Maddy, Rae, and Magic were staring at the rest of the crew in surprise and horror of the accident that almost happened. Ros was at a loss of words as she was snapped out of her anger when she spotted the rest of the crew (not all of them but still) standing in front of her after years of separation.
Clown chuckled as he inspected the knife before focusing on Ros. “Captain.” Ros dutifully said as she straightened her back like she did before before bowing down to her captain and dear friend. “You’re here.” Clown chuckled once more at the act of formality.
“You don’t have to call me captain, Ros. You’re not part of the crew anymore.” Ros felt her heart sink at the statement. So how, that just hurt more than any attack she sustained and faced before. It was like… the world was trying to drown her in the ocean alone and by herself, with no one going to save her nor drowning alongside her. A reminder she wasn’t going to fit with anybody ever.
A memory that kept haunting her even today.
“But I will gladly accept a hug from my friend.” Clown said as he opened his arms, inviting her for a heartwarming hug. Ros instantly rushed towards him, the man who seemed calculatingly cold but had a warm heart and a soft care for his friends, hugging him back tightly.
“Nice to see you again, Ros.” Clown said softly as Ros didn’t want to let go of him, wanting the moment to last forever.
Until she remembered she threw a knife at him accidentally. “Same. Sorry about the knife.”
“It’s fine,” Clown wasn’t a person who forgave others easily, though when it came to his friends, he liked to mess with them as a punishment. Though, not this time. “I would like to know why you threw a knife, though.”
All comfort and happiness washed away as Ros suddenly remembered how she got here. “Kab.” She responded drily.
“I simply wanted to show Ros’ new friends how ripped she was,” Kab defended herself as Ros released her hug from Clown reluctantly and glared at the girl. “I only showed her abs, it’s not like I completely undressed her!”
“... What?” An unknown person with a split smiley mask said as he, Pyro, Ivory, and Clown entered completely into the tavern.
Ros had never seen this person before, which prompted her to ask. “Oh, are you a new member of the crew?” The man turned to face her and extended a friendly handshake which she responded back.
“Yep. Blake Winsweep,” Blake responded. “I’m the helmsman of the crew and good at my job!” Ros’ eyebrow perked up at this fact. New helmsman? But that was…
“What?” Ros said as she looked at Clown with confusion. “Wait, Clown. What happened to Branzy?” Branzy was their supposed helmsman, a reliable and trustworthy person who could always get them out from harm’s way. Which is why Ros felt her heart sink with how the members of her old pirate crew hissed and looked away uncomfortably. “No. No–”
“He’s alive,” Clown corrected before the thoughts clouded her. “Branzy’s alive. But… he lost an arm during one of our expeditions.” Clown’s breath was heavy. “He had to retire to land. He’s safe and fine.” Ros sighed as she heard the news, never able to bear even the thought of one of her crew members and friends dying.
“H–Hi,” Graecie approached the now gathered group of monster hunters, nervously waving at them as she welcomed them. “W–Welcome to the Nightingales’ tavern. A–Are you guys Ros’ friends?” Ros couldn’t fault her, this entire day has gone south in mere minutes, which she completely forgot how enjoyable it was at the best of times when things just went wrong.
Clown politely bowed to Graecie as he introduced himself. “Clown Pierce, former captain of Ros and current captain of our crew.” Clown then looked at Kab, Maddy, Rae, and Magic as they watched the rest of the crew happily from the counter. “I hope those four didn’t cause you and your pirates any trouble. Especially Kab.”
Kab snorted. “Oh please, I didn’t do anything at all!”
“You punch someone right in the face,” Maddy added.
“You almost got Clown killed,” Rae followed next as Kab stared at her two friends in shock.
“Greetings,” Pyro followed as he introduced himself. “My name’s Pyro. Me and Clown have been partners for a long time and we’re one of the original members of the crew.”
“Hello, I’m Will,” Will introduced himself before addressing the rest of the Nightingales. “And these are Acho and Apo, some of our newest members.”
“Is it true that you guys are monster hunters?” Apo asked excitedly. “How many monsters have you hunted down?”
“We do more than hunting,” Ivory said, measuredly. “Hi, I’m Ivory. To further explain, our crew sometimes takes on bounties and assassination requ–”
“Hahaha!” Blake uninterrupted Ivory as he placed an arm around her, stopping her abruptly. “No, no. We have slayed a fair number of monsters! We even took down a leviathan once!” Graecie, Will, and Acho looked at Ros for an answer, with the purple haired girl shrugging as she didn’t know how to answer. They did take the occasional bounty for fun or funds, but assassinations? Well, that’s new.
“Cool!” Apo said as he was pulled back by Ros. “Hey! I’m not done yet!”
“Don’t mind Apo, he’s a bit…,” Ros started to say.
“Hotheaded? Bloodlust?” Shelby offered as Ros beamed at her a thankful smile, which caused the corners of Shelby’s mouth to twist into a smile. “Hi! I’m Shelby, one of the Kestrel’s newest members!” Shelby extended a hand as Clown took it.
“A Kestrel?” Clown raised an eyebrow behind his mask. “Isn’t that another faction?” Shelby nodded in confirmation.
“Yep! I was just here to visit Ros,” Olive walked forward to introduce themselves with Cruppy on their arms.
“Hi! I’m Olive, a Heron,” Rae involuntarily flinched at the mentioning of the faction, with Kab holding her hand comfortingly. “And this is Cruppy!” Olive showed the little sea creature to the four new pirates, all of them except Clown backing away from Cruppy. “Oh, come on!”
“What is that thing?” Ivory said cautiously, her hand hovering over her scythe.
“What kind of monster is that?” Pyro asked as he had never seen a monster like Cruppy before, and he was supposed to know all kinds and types of monsters.
“This is Cruppy!” Olive kept repeating. “Come on! He doesn’t hurt anyone!”
“Except a komodo dragon!” Apo shouted from behind them. “I saw it kill one with its bare hands!”
“You heard someone claiming that Cruppy killed a komodo dragon!” Olive shouted back. “Don’t listen to Apo or Martyn, Cruppy hasn’t hurt anybody.” Clown leaned forward towards Cruppy, inspecting the weird creature in front of him. It appeared to be a sea urchin made out of a jelly-like purple substance, with arms and legs and an almost unnoticeable face in it.
Clown patted Cruppy’s head, avoiding the spikes that it had, and noted how soft it was. “He’s very soft.” Clown honestly couldn’t see anything dangerous coming from Cruppy and motioned for the others to come closer.
“He is,” Rae nodded in agreement as the other pirates watched and even dared to touch Cruppy, getting more comfortable around the little creature.
“Huh, it is soft!” Blake said as he ruffled Cruppy’s head. “Aw, you’re not that bad.”
“Hey, are you all done?” Marnie asked as she had her hands on her hips. “If so, do you mind helping me clean up this mess?” All pirates contemplated how wrecked the tavern was, with all the tables and chairs destroyed, the spilled drinks, and the slash marks across the floor and the walls.
“Eh… can we skip?” Blake felt intimidated the instant that Marnie shot a dirty glare at him. “Ok, ok! We’ll help clean up!”
~~~
“Hey Ros, you didn’t need to help us out,” Kab said as she spread out the sleeping bag for Rae to sleep on. Years of sleeping in the floor and streets cause Rae to feel more comfortable sleeping on the ground than on a bed, which Kab didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing. “We could have found an inn or something to stay at. You didn’t have to give up your personal life for us.” She, Magic, and Rae were staying at Ros’ bedroom at the Nightingales’ barracks, spending the night with her and her faction with the others.
Ros insisted that they should stay at the Nightingales base when she learned more about the state that the Bounty currently was in and the situation that her crew was facing. Marnie agreed of letting them stay at the Nightingales base until they were ready to sail through the ocean once more, which caused Graecie to feel uncomfortable since that meant rogue pirates were staying at their home and base (Rae and Kab both called after her, prompting Clown to shush them and calm down). Maddy and Ivory were staying at one of the Nightingales’ bedrooms, Jojo’s. Acho invited Blake to stay with him while Pyro chose to stay with Apo, liking his attitude and spirits. Clown kept insisting he would stay outside, seeing how cramped the base was and kept reassuring that he would be fine with no further arguments coming out from that point forward.
Shelby and Olive went back to their respective factions, saying that walking this lately was normal and they would be fine on their own. Blake then shouted at Olive to tell some Cleo person that their drinks were shit, which Kab had no idea what was he talking about but decided to drop it because she was fucking tired.
Ros was currently fixing her bed as Magic was patiently waiting for her, having changed into her PJs as Ros turned to face her. “Hey, just because I’m not part of the crew, doesn’t mean I should stop looking after my friends!” She grinned at Kab but chuckled a bit before grinning back at her. “Besides, the Nightingales are supposed to look out after their friends and families, and you guys are my friends and family!” Kab couldn’t help but let out the heartfelt laughter escaping from her mouth as a tear was forming on her eye.
Oh, how much she missed Ros.
Kab finished preparing the sleeping bag as Ros finished fixing the bed. “Ok Magic, bed’s done. Now please–” Magic instantly jumped into the neatly done bed and undone all of Ros’ work as she cuddled into the bedsheats. “Never mind.” Kab laughed so hard that she fell on the ground, hitting her fist into the floor and waking up someone by accident.
“Hey, can you guys quit it!” Apo’s voice sounded from down below. “Some of us are trying to sleep!”
Ros sighed as Magic was laying on the bed comfortably, waiting for Ros to join her. “Hey, where’s Rae?” Kab stopped laughing as she hasn’t seen her childhood friend anywhere, the girl claiming she needed to go out for a moment and would return back.
“No idea,” Kab said as she started to get worried. “Should we–”
“I’m back!” Rae called out as she entered the room…
Which Cruppy trapped in her arms, struggling to free themselves.
Ros’ eyes widened in shock. “Rae! Why do you have Cruppy? He’s supposed to be with Olive!”
“I borrowed her,” Rae said, though it didn’t sound convincing enough. “She’s staying with us.”
“Did you just kidnap them?” Kab questioned but Rae ignored her and lay inside the sleeping bag meant for her, planting Cruppy where a pillow would go and dropping her head on top of it, using Cruppy as a pillow, still holding it with her arms.
“Rae, you can’t use…,” Low snores came from Rae as she was fast asleep. “God, what’s next? A brawl?” Kab chuckled as she could imagine she and Ros winning that easily.
Magic yawned as it was getting late as her eyelids were starting to fall. “Ros…” Magic closed her eyes and fell on her pillow, fast asleep. Ros and Kab looked at each other before chuckling as they walked to their respective beds and lay on them.
“Good night!” Ros said as she blew the lantern out, letting darkness fall on the room.
“Night, Ros,” Kab said as she felt her head resting on the pillow, her mind completely shutting down as she drifted into sleep.
Boy, she thought, this was going to be an adventure.