(CHAPTER 9: DEPARTURE)

Two row of people sat face to face at each other at the table of The Calm Water Tavern. They have just finish loading up and preparing all the utensils and equipment that they needed, and now they are having a "before trip" ceremony, which is like some sort of ceremony in hope of a successful and safe trip. The other crew within the bar are all super high, some were excited for the quest that awaits, while some were happy that they are back safe and sound.

Except for them.

Hero is in rage as he glare towards the gang. So do the merchant name Tubbo and the elegant man name Edward, who glare back tauntingly. Brine's head hung low for the whole trip as she fumble her fingers and bit her lips softly, she felt stressed, uneasy of what is happening. The witch, Evanora seems to be interested in Brine's eyes as she stares at her and tap the wooden oak table with her needle sharp finger in a mysterious rhythm. Norman and Rose seems to be in a confused and awkward situation. Captain Black seems to not mind about the situation at all as he munched on the fish fillet served before taking a huge gulp of the kelp beer.

"Eat up." He push the food and beer towards the people. "This ain't a staring contest. You need energy for tonight too, got a load of items we need to move up to the boat." The rest stare at the food for a while before proceed to dine, breaking the awkward situation, at least for now.

After finish dining, they head out of the tavern and towards the storage room located at the dock. The night wind blows through them, sending a chill down their spine as it was late midnight by now. "We will get to the Big Betty right now and departure after that as soon as possible, sooner the better." Captain Black said as he start to move the crater within the storage room. Which held some basic supplies such as food, water and basic surviving equipment. The rest join in, moving boxes after boxes, crater after crater, barrel after barrel of item onto their ship, the Big Betty.

During one of the transportation, Hero sneak out of the rest and proceed to explore the ship on his own. It was a medium sized ship, with three master sails and two square sails at the side working as propellers. The ship itself is old but well made, build up by dark oak log and birch log. It was also quite spacious, containing a storage room, two bunker with four beds each, a captain's cabin, a kitchen, a dining area and what would be described as an entertainment room that consists of a variety of cards, games and items.

After making sure that they are indeed normal voyagers not pirates, Hero slip back to work. There are a ton of crates waiting to me moved. Some are used for trading and some are used to maintain the ship. And by the time they finish moving, it was already near dusk.

"Well done mate." The captain praised blankly as he look at the crew, who were already out of breath. "Better than before I would assume. It would normally take them till dawn, but now we did it before dusk." He let out a snicker as he signaled the crew to get onboard. "Get up mate, we will set sail shortly." The rest follow order as they climb up the ladder beside and into the deck.

"Pull up the anchors!" Captain Black ordered, Norman and Gales immediately pull down the two levers that pull up the anchor out of the sea. "Set the main sails!" Edward climb up the ladder and swing from rope to rope with his slender arms, with a slight pull on one of the ropes, the sails roll down and expand along with the wind, ready to go. "Cut the chains!" Hero took his saber and cut the chains with ease, with a snap, the boat starts to move with the wind, picking up speed as every second passes. "Let's get sailing!" With that he put his hand around the handle of the wheel and spins it as the ship turns around, heading out of the harbor.

And into the sea.

As soon as the ship sail into the vast ocean, Captain Black has create a poll in order to decide the bunker they are living in and the people they are going to live with for the next two month of sailing. They also have to decide which task they are going to handle. "No man live on my ship without blood and sweat." He remember how Captain Jack used to say those words. After some voting and sorting, the whole schedule of the entire trip is sorted out.

Hero would be tasked to clean up the entire ship and make sure there is no leaks or possible future damage to the hull. He is tasked to work together with Gale, who is already on the wrong foot with him the moment they met. Besides him, copper golems created by Gale also aid them, helping them reaching tight spots and fix small problems. Brine and Rose is sent down to the ship's kitchen to help Evanora to prepare food for the men. The two witches seems to get along quite well, Rose would share about her potions while Evanora would show her the spells. Brine seems to get along quite nice with them, as they constantly tries to find a way to treat her eyes and help her regain sight. Norman is task to be the sight keeper, a task to keep the ship out of possible obstacle or collision. So now he basically camps on the ship's watchtower for the whole day with Edward, who is the puppeteer. He is the man of the ropes as he keeps the sail steady and checks it time to time. Both of them are pretty chill actually, they would often stay up late gazing at the stars and talking about their stories and adventures.

At night, Captain Black would call him out to the deck and mesmerize with the beautiful scene of Glowsquid shining dimly like the stars in the ocean. "Those are Glowsquids, the star of our sea and the guide to the monument." He would told him blankly and together they would enjoy the scene, until sun rises once more.

The first few days are actually quite ok and refreshing, but as days and weeks passes, Hero's gang got sea sick, except for Brine. But luckily they are able to overcome that quite quickly. That's why the captain would always tell them to keep things distracted through fishing, swimming and activities of all sort. And it seems to help a lot to them, especially to pass their time. During free time after his daily routine of cleaning and checking, Hero would often plop himself in the captain's cabin and read some books as well as journal written by him, of course after getting his permission. In which he learns a lot about the sea, about the sky, the stars, the winds, the waves and of course, the danger lurking beneath it.

"Hey Hero-boy." This time, his reading is interrupted halfway when Captain Black come and knock on the door. "What is it?" He put the book in hand back to the shelf and ask "Come out to the deck, I wanna show you something."

Hero open the cabin's door and headed towards the front deck of the ship. The sea is calming as the sun began to set. The sea breeze gently blow past him, sending a cool, refreshing feel to him. The setting sun dyes the sky red orange, looking like an omelet dangling half in the sky. "Here boy." He signaled Hero to come closer as together the stood together side by side. "You wonder why I say that the Heart of The Sea can save lives." He say as he open a small dark oak chest, revealing another the Heart of The Sea. He took it out of the box gently. Suddenly the boat began to shake violently, as if something was ramming against it, causing him to almost loose balance and fell of the ship, if not the captain caught him by his arm.

"These are drowns." The captain said calmly as he stares at them, his eyes are full of sadness, and respect. "These are warriors who fought with the waves but lost, their spirits would roam in the sea, hoping for salvation, hoping to escape the icy cold water that keep pulling them. Deeper and deeper." Sadness flashes in his eyes. Hero looked down towards the group of drowns, who are just identical to zombies, but wearing sailor and captain's outfit. The captain let go of his hand and the sphere fell down into the ocean. The moment the sea came contact with the sphere, a bright light shone, calming the waves as the drown close their eyes. As lights shone onto them, they are finally set free. "The Heart of The Sea is capable to free their soul and pure the sea. It is a powerful relic, but as a price, it is hard to obtain" He closes the oak chest and put it back to his pocket. "That's why I dedicate my entire life, together with my crew to pure the sea." He patted Hero's shoulder.

"When I first saw you and your crew back then before you enter the harbor, I saw something familiar within you." He continue. "I saw the young me, within you. That's why we fake the incident at the market, so that I can brought you back to the sea. At the same time, you also needed a ship, coincidence? Well I don't think so." He let out a broad smile and but both of his hand on his shoulder. "I know you have other business to do, but I will bet that your stay with me on this ship will be worth it. If I can't stay you and your gang, at least let me teach you something."

Hero look at the hand on his shoulder and then towards Captain Black before answering. "Yeah." Hero nodded, as the sun set beneath the horizon, both of them look at each other and smilled...