| Pirate Captain...?

"Oh, so what? The great god-- Ruler Of The Seas, Holder of Fortune Ithiestis is retiring?"

"Isn't that just sad!" Voices of scoundrels wisped around in my clasp of consciousness. In the midst of what seemed to be the deep sea, my eyes peered open. I was greeted by a somber breeze, along with the salty air of sea.

It felt like home...nevertheless it wasn't. I sat up from the bed and looked around. Wooden boarding, plain white sheets, a simple, neat room with nothing but a bed. It was obvious to say the least. I was in a motel. Not too far from view, I could see busy docks mounting their luggage and waves crashing through the shores.

I hummed a song and got up. But as soon as I stood, the door burst open along with a shrill scream. "Ahhh!"

I covered my ears and quivered my brows. "For fuck's sake, what's with yelling so early in the morning?" I asked only to notice that I had no clothes on.

"...."

"M-my dearest apologies," the young lady excused herself out the room. I massaged my nose bridge, albeit embarrassed.

. . .

Clad in silk white linen along with a pair of culottes, I marched down the stairs and found myself greeted by a crowd of drunks. I looked around, dumbfounded by all this. 'Didn't it say this was the lounge? Why is there a pub instead?'

"Young man!" A middle aged man came up to me as he hung his arm over my shoulders. "Yer finally awake? My sister-manager said you've been staying here for 3 days now."

'Finally awake?' I recalled the drowning memory from before. "What happened to me?"

The man's face turned weird. "Ah, you probably don't remember, do you?" He scratched his head. "Well, some folks found you dried out on the beach. Oh, and there was this lady, she seemed to know you."

"Did she bring me here?" The man nodded in response. 'What is this, Kasther?' I sighed to myself. 'And here I thought you left me a peaceful life.'

"Where is this 'lady' now?"

"Probably sailing. She's a pirate you see... Now, which crew did belong to again? Ah, that's right! NightCrew—"

"NighCrow?"

"Yes. Don't worry though, she usually comes by every Sunday."

"Alright." I smiled, but inside, an idea was already forming in my head. 'I should go look for her.' I had nothing to do— And it was boring to sit around waiting for Kasther.

"Then I'll be heading out."

. . .

Sailing across the sea, my hair fluttered in the wind as I leaned near the boat's borders. "Aye, kid, yer gonna fall in the water if you keep leaning like that!"

'I am the retired god, Itheistis, though, that doesn't mean I can afford an actual boat.' Here I was, traveling the seas with a fisherman's boat. That didn't irk me though.

"You know any pirates from Nightcrow crew?"

"What do ya' say?"

'Geez, this old man.' I repeated, "Nightcrow crew! Know anyone there?"

"Ey, that's no way to talk to an old man," he grumbled. From then on, all I could hear was the fisherman's mumbling, accompanied with the clashing waves.

I tapped the floorboard with my foot as I--

"Itheistis." With that all-too- familiar voice, I turned my head in an instant. "Kasther..."

There he was, the soul who retained my current appearance, the person who's body I took hold of. We looked the same, the only difference was that he was a transparent ghost.

"How come...I didn't get any of your memories?" Kasther laughed.

"Wait, wait. I don't think we should be talking here. That old man might think you're crazy."

"That's not wrong though, so just answer me." Kasther looked at me for a moment. Before words could part from his lips, the fisherman suddenly yelled.

"Ship! There's a ship up ahead!" I gazed at the distance and saw it myself. There was a huge ship, and an oddly conspicuous Jolly Roger. Three crescent moons, two stars and a sword. It was Nightcrow's symbol.

From my side, Kasther had already disappeared. I didn't have a sword, but I was ready for a fight. Absentmindedly, I yelled out, "Hey!"

The ship only continued to move, without stopping nor even turning in my direction. 'How I wish I had my full powers back.'

"Old man...fire the hole!"

"Aye," a cannon erupted from the floor boards and shot through the distance-- Reaching out to NightCrew's ship. That probably caught the crew's attention, seeing as their boat headed towards us.

I called out like a crazed maniac, "Aye, you old folks!"

"Goddamn fucking Kasther--!" I wasn't sure if I heard right, but a marrow voice echoed in the distance. 'Eh? How do they know my name?' I suddenly got chills. I scanned through my memories, or at least I tried remembering the story Kasther told me.

Kasther was none but a lone pirate sailing the seas, he was alone but he had one goal in mind-- to reach an island only known to exist in myths. The island of Nikris.

A bomb suddenly shot past our boat. I hurried to the deck. "Old man-"

"Ain't no need to worry, I got this," he grumbled as he persistently spun the wheel, contracting to a different direction. The ship vastly approached us, and before I knew it, someone jumped down and landed on our boat. He held a sword, his hair clumped in curls, and his face-- his face was wickedly handsome.

He looked at me, eyes filled with hatred and bloodlust. Then, I recalled a certain person. Scandivian. That person in front of me was no other than Scandivian, Kasther's worst nemesis and a captain of a powerful, infamous pirate crew.

'So that crew was NightCrew?' I scoffed. Nothing could phase me, however... if anything, that face could certainly charm and fry my brain. He then continued to, no, he lunged at me with incomprehensible speed, swinging his sharp sword.

He caught me off guard, but just in time, I managed to dodge his attack. I ended up lying on the floor, his sword pointing to my chin. His face was cold, and his eyes, boy his eyes...they were intense and cruel, yet handsome and sharp.

"What happened to you?" he spoke with mockery. "You're not usually this brazen as to bomb my ship..." He glanced around. "With a fishing boat at that... Hm, since when did fishing boats have cannons? Either way, it doesn't matter. For you..."

He sunk his sword deeper, enough to make my neck bleed. He snickered. "You will die here."

"Wait, wait, wait. I need you to back track here...kill me?" I questioned.

"What do you ex-- fuck-!" I kicked Scandivian in his abdomen. He dropped his sword, and in the moment, I grabbed it and jumped a distance from him.

He held his stomach in contempt and looked at me with a loathing gaze. His complexion was pale, pale as snow. "Did I kick too hard?" I genuinely asked.

"Fuck you, euk-" he coughed up blood. "Give me my sword back." I stood tall as I leaned over the boat's border. A playful smirk laced on my lips as I observed the pirate in front of me.

"Hm, don't feel like it. Why don't you take it from me instead?" I propped the sword into the air.

"....." Scandivian while barely audible, muttered something. "You're not Kasther." He sensed, as if he got a revelation.

I only continued to smile. "Can you speak up?"

"Who...are you? I know you're not Kasther. That punk...would never be such an idiot." A chill then run down my spine. My gaze shifted around, trying to find something. Unconsciously, I posed in a fighting stance.

Scandivian's figure disappeared, and appeared right before me. He held a dagger to my neck, as his other arm kept me in his tight embrace. It wasn't anything intimate, I know. It was his way to threaten me. But honestly, I couldn't get anymore serious.

I withdrew a breath as Scandivian stood behind me. "You wanna kill me? Then go ahead."

Scandivian's grip on the dagger was firm, and it wasn't too far from making contact with my already bleeding neck. Still, his hand somehow trembled. He let go of the dagger, and took a step away.

I faced him, and he drew a crooked smile with his lips. "You really aren't Kasther, huh?"

I remained silent. The wind was harshly cold. The breeze brushed against me as my hair fluttered in the wind. "I might be."

"You're not. I bet my entire crew that you're not. Unlike him, you're weird."

'...what?'

He began to walk and walk and walk, and as I knew it, he was gone. His figure once again disappeared. His ship withdrew, and drove off once again, far into the horizon. I felt the sword in my hand. He had the chance yet he didn't steal it back.

'Weird, huh?' Crazy, psychopathic, stupidly charismatic, he was used to being called that. But weird? Weird how? I thought again, and almost forgot.

I managed to meet Scandivian in the very first day of possession. But... 'I still don't get it...' My eyes focused on the fisherman as he sailed the boat back to shore.

'If the lady pirate was from his crew, then why did she save me?' Scandivian and Kasther were each other's nemesis. I doubt that his crew members didn't even know that.

Then I thought back to when Scandivian pointed me his dagger. 'He could've easily killed me.'

Sun setting, dusk approaching, I sat at the back of the boat, pondering on my thoughts. 'Why didn't he?'

Too much thoughts wandered idle. I gave up on coming to a conclusion, having tired out my self both physically and mentally. 'I'll figure it out tomorrow.' I lay myself on a sack, holding a handkerchief to my neck.

'Right... tomorrow...'

. . .

"Captain! How come you just left him like that!?" Desiderus demanded as he followed his captain around the ship.

"Brat, watch your manners!" Samiyah pulled Desiderus by his collar. Then, as if to poke around even more, another joined in and asked, "That's right, sir. You even ordered--"

Samiyah, covered her crewmate's mouth, just before her words could completely come out. Scandivian, stoic as ever continued marching towards his room.

"That guy even fired a bomb at us..." muttered Desiderus to himself. Samiyah pulled the two aside and massaged her temples. "You know the captain hates 'that guy', right?"

"Of course we do!" said Ayres indignantly. "So why does he even save him; spare him all the damn time?"

"Because we need him," a deep voice intervened. The group looked at a dark alley where Luciantis rested.

"After all, he is the key to finding Nikris."

. . .

END