Pirate Of Joy
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It was the first time I’d seen a real live pirate. And it was on my ship, so that made me feel even better about myself and my crew. We were just getting started with our voyage across the ocean, heading from one land to another for some reason known only to us pirates (and maybe not even then).
It’s probably because we wanted more treasure or something like that. But anyway – let me introduce you properly: My name is Doryen, also known as “the Pirate of Joy.” The captain has called himself Skree. That’s his nickname in this little world he created where everyone knows him by that name instead of his actual last name which starts with an A…
The rest of our team consists of two others who have been on board for quite a while now. Their names are Lektor and Noggin. They’re both good friends of mine; they’ve helped out during the whole journey, especially Noggin since we had to go through dangerous waters at some point when we crossed the ocean.
He saved all of us, including the cat. She didn’t make any trouble anymore though, after that incident, she got scared enough for her lifetime. Now there were three cats aboard the ship – two kittens that were very much part of the group, and then there was our old friend, the grey-white mouser that came along too.
Not sure why but she always comes back whenever someone dies onboard – either the person themselves or somebody else if you catch my drift. Anyway, we took care of her most of the time she joined us, fed her fish, cleaned up her messes when they happened, you know how it goes.
She seemed okay with us until recently when Skree told her off pretty bad…I don’t think anyone likes him really. Well, except for me – well, no actually I can see that he does annoy people sometimes. Maybe it’s just my imagination?
So what do we look like right now? Right. We’re wearing these weird clothes that seem to be designed specifically for pirates, although nobody ever seems to use them outside of their own ships. Our ship is small compared to some other ones that I’ve seen in the port.
Most ships aren’t big enough to sail far from shore, but ours managed somehow thanks to a couple of modifications we did over the years. You’ll understand once you get closer to the island where we’re going next.
Now here come our new guests! First up we have Zuul and MeeMaw, otherwise known as “Zuzu” and “Granny,” respectively. They’re siblings who have grown up together with Granny being the older sister – although neither sibling will admit such things, of course.
They’re both incredibly intelligent, which makes sense considering that they grew up without parents – and also, due to having access to books and tutors. Even so, they still act childish in many ways, which is great fun for us – we could use more young blood around here!
At least, that’s what we tell ourselves every day when we wake up. Then again, the fact that we have two kittens on board doesn’t hurt either…but that’s beside the point. Oh wait, never mind! Here they are:
And finally, we have Kiki, the newest member of our crew. She used to work as a slave before escaping and ended up joining us by accident. Or rather, because we found her and rescued her from slavery.
She looks kind of like the typical “girly girl” type, but trust me on this – she isn’t one bit girlish. In fact, if anything she reminds me a lot of myself. Except for the whole “being female” thing of course…oh well, guess I’m not completely unique after all 😀 Anyway, she’s very smart, quick-witted, and brave.
She’s already proven herself useful several times, but I expect she’s going to prove herself even more often in the future. Her ability to solve problems is incredible. Plus, she can cook delicious food which means she might end up stealing all of the attention away from me!
Ahaha…well, maybe not. Let’s hope not at least. She deserves everything she gets after surviving in that horrible place. And she’s cute too, so it should be fine. Probably.
Anyway, let’s move forward to the story:
We sailed further into the sea, passing by various islands. All of them looked relatively similar, and yet each of them had its own characteristics. Some had jungles, others had beaches full of white sand, some had forests nearby while some had nothing but plains stretching endlessly towards the horizon.
There was even a desert somewhere, although none of us have ever visited it personally – mostly because we haven’t felt like exploring deserts. Although I heard stories about some tribes living in those places, I wouldn’t want to meet them in real life…especially since their women dress like sluts.
It would be embarrassing for me if I’d run into them. But yeah, whatever – I digress. This is important stuff anyway.
One night, I woke up suddenly from a sound sleep. The room was silent and dark apart from an orange glow emanating from the fireplace near the bed. As I slowly opened my eyes, I noticed Zuul sleeping peacefully next to me.
He wasn’t snoring or anything like that; his breathing was deep and regular. So he must have been asleep. That made me wonder why I felt something strange in the air though. Something different than usual.
A moment later I realized exactly what it was – the smell of cooking food reached my nostrils. My stomach growled in response and I remembered that everyone else aboard the ship was probably awake right now.
Which meant that whoever was responsible for cooking this time, was likely still working on breakfast – or lunch if they decided to eat earlier today. Since most people were eating late tonight, the smells usually didn’t reach the bedroom until much later. Usually. Tonight, however, someone seemed determined to make sure that I knew that dinner was ready as soon as possible.
I got out of bed quietly – not wanting to disturb anyone, and walked over to the fireplace. When I saw the source of the light coming from there, I froze in awe. Someone was indeed preparing our meal, but they weren’t using any sort of utensils, nor were they doing anything remotely resembling what humans normally call ‘cooking.’
Instead, this person was simply burning wood in order to heat the water enough to boil it. After boiling it, this person then puts the hot liquid into large bowls along with dried meat and vegetables.
Once finished, these bowls were placed on metal trays which were set inside a larger tray filled with cold seawater, thus keeping the contents warm throughout the entire process. Finally, once everything was done, the same bowl-shaped container was carried outside and dumped onto the deck.
By the time the steam cleared, fresh snowflakes began falling down from the sky in front of me. They quickly melted under the warmth of the sun shining brightly above us. For a moment, everything around me turned into a beautiful winter landscape painting.
However, when the first wave of droplets splashed against me, I understood that such paintings could never capture reality.
After cleaning up the dishes, I went back upstairs where I found Zuul and Kiki sitting together talking. At first, they looked surprised to see me, but after realizing who it was, both of them smiled at me.
Zuul said good morning in his usual calm voice, while Kiki just kept smiling happily – apparently pleased that she managed to wake me up early again. Then they both sat next to each other and continued their conversation, leaving me alone downstairs.
While I waited for them to finish chatting, I took the opportunity to look around the kitchen. To say it was small would be an understatement; it barely fit into the tiny space between two walls of the main cabin. Yet despite being extremely cramped, it somehow worked perfectly.
Everything seemed organized and in perfect condition; nothing looked dirty or broken. A few moments later, a figure emerged through the door leading outside. It appeared to be a human man wearing a leather jacket adorned with numerous patches.
He wore pants and shoes made out of animal skin, as well as gloves lined with fur. The only piece of clothing that I recognized him as wearing was a red bandana tied around his neck – otherwise, he really didn’t seem to care whether he was seen or not.
His short hair was greasy and unruly as if he hadn’t washed it in weeks. And his beard was long and scraggly too; the ends of it hung down almost all the way to his chest. The last thing you’d expect to see a human doing this far away from civilization – especially one this scruffy and disheveled looking!
“Good afternoon,” he said cheerfully, walking towards the table. “What can I do for you?”
He spoke clearly and without accent – unlike most sailors, he actually sounded intelligent. Even so, I couldn’t help noticing the strange looks he gave me whenever he glanced at me. But before I had the chance to ask about them, we were interrupted by someone entering the room behind him.
This new arrival was also female, and much taller than her companion. She wore a white dress decorated with intricate patterns and embroideries, as well as several golden bracelets dangling on both wrists.
Her brownish curly hair spilled out from underneath a wide headdress covered with colorful feathers and beads. On top of her head, she wore what seemed to be a very heavy crown made entirely out of gold, which was decorated with more precious stones.
Although I wasn’t familiar with her appearance yet, I instantly sensed something unusual in the air around her, like an invisible shield blocking off any attempts of making contact with its wearer. In fact, even though I tried my best to focus on her face, I couldn’t remember seeing it anywhere else either.
Not even on those rare occasions when she allowed herself to be pictured alongside her husband. I wondered why she always hid part of herself from view – did she believe that others would think less of her if they ever learned how powerful she truly was?
The woman stopped in front of us and bowed politely. Unlike her companion, she didn’t speak loudly – instead, she used the same soft whisper as her husband. “My name is Yaraa’i, Captain of the Sea God.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” I replied respectfully.
Yaraa’i nodded in reply. “We’ve been expecting you for quite some time now. My apologies for taking so long to greet you properly.”
Zuul suddenly stood up and approached the captain. “I’m sorry… but please forgive our rudeness,” he started, bowing low. “Our ship has arrived earlier than expected. We’re already preparing to depart.”
She smiled kindly. “Don’t worry, it isn’t your fault. You are free to go anytime. As long as you don’t cause trouble here, no one will stop you. If you decide to leave, that means there must have been another reason for coming ashore in the first place.”
Her words caused everyone present to become silent. They exchanged glances then turned to look at me. Zuul and Kiki stared nervously at each other while I remained still, wondering what exactly they wanted from me. After waiting patiently for a couple of seconds, I decided to get things going myself.
“Actually, there is something I would like to discuss with you,” I said calmly. “But since I doubt this meeting would make anyone happy, perhaps we should find somewhere private for it?”
Everyone began speaking at once. Zuul immediately stepped forward and placed himself between me and the strangers. “If we stay here, we could end up getting hurt!” he insisted. “You need to let us go right away!”
Kiki frowned disapprovingly. “This is none of our business, and we have absolutely no obligation to listen to whatever they want to talk about.”
Captain Yaraa’i shook her head regretfully. “I wish I could oblige you, but unfortunately it won’t work. The only person who gets to choose where we meet is my husband. So unless you plan on fighting him, I suggest you take yourselves back to the Sea God and wait for me outside until I am ready to receive you again.”
With that, she walked past them and headed for the exit. Everyone followed quickly after her except for Zuul and Kiki. Once they saw that no one was following their lead, they finally returned to sit down.
“So…” I sighed heavily. “Why did you come here?”
Zuul shrugged helplessly. “I just thought it might be useful to know more about this man,” he explained. “Who knows? Maybe his presence will bring good fortune to us.”
“And what exactly do you expect to happen?” I asked curiously.
He looked confused for a second then answered. “Well, I guess I’d rather not say. It all depends on whether or not it happens.”
“How can you be so sure? What makes you believe that anything will change at all?”
His answer was almost immediate: “Because I trust my intuition. That’s the whole point of having one.”
Despite the fact that I knew full well that it wouldn’t be wise to argue with such people, I couldn’t help feeling disappointed. I had hoped that I would finally be able to learn something interesting about the mysterious figure who kept popping up in our lives.
However, judging by what little information I got today, I doubted that he was anything special at all. He probably never existed in the first place. Just like everything else associated with the legends surrounding Lord Jigoku.
After leaving the building behind us, we continued walking toward the beach. Since I wasn’t wearing proper footwear, I soon found myself slipping and sliding over the rough ground. Luckily Zuul managed to hold onto my arm and support me, otherwise, I would surely have fallen flat on my ass.
Even though I knew that the sand was warm and inviting beneath our feet, I couldn’t stop thinking about how much more comfortable the grass felt underfoot. Perhaps the locals had some sort of aversion against nature and preferred living among stone walls instead?
Or maybe they were simply afraid of the sun? No matter why it seemed to me that they had missed out on a lot of fun if that really was the case. Why waste your life indoors when there’s an entire world out there awaiting exploration?
Eventually, we reached a small pier stretching off into the sea. There weren’t many people around, which made sense given the lack of entertainment options available here. In any case, most of them had gathered near the entrance of the temple grounds, so we ended up arriving without drawing too much attention to ourselves.
At least that was what I wanted anyway; I didn’t feel safe enough yet to walk through this town alone.
When we finally arrived at the wooden platform, Captain Yaraa’i sat herself down on one side of the table while Zuul took the seat across from her. Kiki chose to stand beside me and lean against my shoulder protectively. She seemed eager to show me that she wasn’t completely useless during this exchange.
The captain leaned forward and placed both hands on top of the tabletop, looking directly at Zuul. “Now then…what exactly do you want to tell us?”
“That’s simple,” he replied confidently. “We are here because we’re worried about the future of our tribe.”
“Are you referring to the recent developments involving the new emperor and the war with the Humans?” she asked cautiously.
“Yes. As you may already know, our clan has been blessed by Lord Jigoku ever since we became part of his army, but lately, things haven’t gone according to plan. Our numbers are falling fast thanks to those monsters, and the last few months have seen several deaths amongst our warriors as well.
We still don’t fully understand what’s happening, but we’ve noticed that each time someone dies, another animal comes to replace them. They’re different species every single time! For example, yesterday morning we lost two foxes, then this afternoon we welcomed a pair of rabbits into the tribe. How is that even possible?! Do you have any idea what this means for us?”
She frowned deeply before answering. “You mean to tell me that you aren’t aware that this isn’t actually happening? That these animals replacing your members are just hallucinations brought on by stress caused by the current situation?”
Zuul let go of my hand and stood up straight, glaring angrily at the old woman. “What are you talking about?!” he shouted loudly enough for everyone nearby to hear him clearly. “Do you honestly think we don’t see what goes on with our own eyes? You obviously don’t remember what happened back home!”
A loud gasp echoed throughout the room as the other guests turned their heads in surprise. Their faces told me that they remembered very well indeed what had transpired in the village of the Zuul’s ancestors. The young ones especially looked terrified.
But none of them spoke up to voice their concerns. Instead, they remained silent and watched attentively as the captain attempted to calm the angry warrior down.
“Calm yourself, Zuul,” she said soothingly. “I am not denying what you say or dismissing it as mere nonsense. It is entirely possible that some kind of spiritual disturbance exists within the minds of your followers.
After all, there were no signs whatsoever that they suffered any sort of trauma until recently. If only we could get inside their heads…”
He scoffed scornfully. “There’s nothing you can do to make yourselves look better than you already do!” he roared furiously. “And if anyone here thinks differently, then I’ll gladly put them in their place right now!”
His words caught Kiki by surprise. Her ears flattened slightly at first, but after a moment she decided to remain quiet and continue standing next to me rather than voicing her opinion. I was grateful for that decision; I certainly didn’t want anything else to happen between us today.
So far, things had been going quite smoothly despite being surrounded by strangers. Maybe it was best to leave everything at that, for now.
Captain Yaraa’i nodded thoughtfully as if coming to some important conclusion. “Well, I must admit that this is an unexpected turn of events. Perhaps this explains why we haven’t found any sign of you in the mountains where you disappeared nearly half a year ago.”
“How did you find out about that?” He sounded genuinely surprised.
“Oh, we simply followed your scent when you returned earlier this week. Your trail led us here. Now then, please sit down once more and explain to me how you came to be here.”
He hesitated briefly but eventually seated himself again. Then he proceeded to speak in a low tone. “As I’m sure you’re aware, we’ve been hunting these ‘monsters’, so called because they bear little resemblance to normal beasts, for over seven years now.
And we have never encountered creatures such as these before. They’re almost like humans, except that they move awkwardly, act strangely and talk gibberish instead of speaking proper English. We captured a couple of them back then, but we couldn’t communicate with them properly either.
Even then, they refused to cooperate, so we gave up trying to learn about them and left them alone. No one wanted to risk their lives in pursuit of something that seemed impossible to capture or kill. Until now, that is.”
“Until now?” the captain repeated curiously. She glanced at the two soldiers who had escorted us here, but neither of them made any effort to stop us from listening in. There really wasn’t much point in stopping us anyway since most of our group was eavesdropping on what the captain had to say anyway.
“Yes. A day or so ago, we managed to take down one of the beasts without too many problems. When I examined its corpse, however, I discovered a strange symbol etched into it – one that looks similar to the tattoo that you wear upon your forehead.
At least that’s what I assumed based on what I saw during your fight against Jigoku. Is it true? Are you indeed the legendary hero known as Tsubasa Kazama?”
The Zuul shook his head gravely and answered firmly: “No… I’m afraid not.”
Yaraa’ii sighed and closed her eyes for a brief second. “Very well. Let’s try another approach. Tell me, Zuul, what exactly were you doing back home six months ago? What prompted you to abandon your family and friends and run away like a coward?”
“I wouldn’t call it running away!” He raised his voice sharply while pointing a finger at Captain Yaraa’ii. “You people are all insane! How dare you question what I did? Do you even know what those monsters did to my town?!”
“Your actions were foolish,” she replied calmly, “but they hardly constitute an excuse for abandoning your companions or leaving your home behind. As far as I can tell, you weren’t forced to do anything under the threat of death. You chose to flee and live on your own. Why would you choose to do that?”
“Why?! Because I didn’t feel like dealing with all that anymore,” he snapped angrily. “Those damned demons destroyed everything I knew and loved! My entire world was torn apart, and I just couldn’t face living in it again! Don’t ask me why!”
She opened her mouth wide and stared at him incredulously for a few moments. Then her expression softened somewhat. “…All right. That might actually help me understand why you acted the way you did. But still…”
“But what?” he demanded loudly, interrupting her.
Her answer was slow in coming. It took several seconds until she finally said, “We believe that we may have found evidence suggesting that you aren’t telling the truth about what happened there. For example, we don’t doubt that you fought off the monsters responsible for destroying your village, but we also think that someone helped you accomplish that feat.”
Zuul snorted derisively, shaking his head vigorously. “That doesn’t make sense at all! The only person who could possibly defeat them single-handedly is me!”
Yaraa’ii nodded silently, apparently satisfied by what he’d told her so far. After a short pause, she added quietly, “If that’s true, then your story makes no sense. If the monsters killed everyone in your village and you somehow survived… shouldn’t you be dead yourself?”
“…Huh? How the heck am I supposed to know that?” he retorted indignantly, clearly annoyed by the fact that I hadn’t already explained this to him. His reaction was understandable though; I had been rather vague in my explanation. Well, it’s not like I expected anyone else to figure things out, after all.
The End