A couple days later, all five of them were on deck enjoying the sea breeze and catching wind in the sails. It was a slightly cloudy morning, just barely sunny outside. Yeonjun and Hueningkai were seated and fixing the bandage that was on his hand. Captain Soobin was at the front and steering the ship.
Taehyun was also sitting on the main deck and wiping his cutlass with a white cloth, while Beomgyu was looking out in the open sea.
"So Yeonjun, you know how to use a sword, right?" Hueningkai asked, "Do you think you're up for a bit of training?"
The other shrugged, looking down at his hand.
"I'm not sure yet," Yeonjun replied, "Did you want to train with me or something?"
Hueningkai shook his head and laughed.
"I don't do a lot of the fighting, it's not my thing," He admitted, then looked over at the other crewmates, "But I'm sure the others would love a new training partner."
Yeonjun looked around at the other crewmates.
"Wouldn't Beomgyu be at a disadvantage since everyone has swords and he's got— you know, knives?" Yeonjun wondered.
"You'd be surprised, he's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve," Hueningkai replied, looking over at the boy. Yeonjun hummed in response, taking out the sword he had bought yesterday.
"Do you want to train for a little bit with me?" He offered, "I'll go easy on you, plus my left hand is out of commission so it'll be an even easier feat for you."
Hueningkai still politely refused, insisting that it wasn't his thing to fight.
"I think I'm good," He declared, "Fighting isn't my thing."
"But it's my thing!" They heard Beomgyu shout from the shrouds. The boy had overheard, and he climbed down and jumped onto the deck.
"I heard Yeonjun wanted to train with someone, hm?" He said boldly, putting his hands on his hips, "Well lucky for you, you've got an expert on board to train with you."
Taehyun rolled his eyes, and Hueningkai sighed.
"I'll just train with Yeonjun since he wants so badly," Taehyun volunteered, getting up and drawing his cutlass.
"It would be unfair anyways, it's a knife against sword," He added, Beomgyu rolling his eyes.
"Oh come on!" The other whined, "They're not that unfair— I have dull knives if you want me to use those. They barely hurt when I throw them!"
"Nope," Taehyun refused, "You can watch with Huening. You two can duke it out another time."
Hueningkai clapped his hands excitedly, scooting over for Beomgyu to sit down.
"This should be interesting!" He commented, Beomgyu settling down next to him.
Yeonjun looked at the two who were eagerly seated on the crates. He took a deep breath, drawing his sword and pointing it towards Taehyun.
Swiftly, the other lunged at Yeonjun, their swords clashed with their feet hitting the hardwood floor of ship. Yeonjun blocked the other's strike, slightly stumbling back. He held his left hand behind his back, clenching it in a fist. Yeonjun straightened his feet, and tightly gripped his sword.
Taehyun used this opportunity to strike again, this time aiming for the other's feet. Yeonjun quickly retreated, jumping to the side and advanced forward with his sword raised.
Taehyun blocked the other's attack with a quick parry above the head, staggering back but standing his ground.
Their swords crossed, the metal scraping against each other as their eyes met. Taehyun stepped back hesitantly, spinning around and going for an attack on the opposite side of his opponent. Yeonjun flinched, turning around and quickly blocking the other's strike with his blade.
Yeonjun jumped back, then lunged at his opponent with his blade, who quickly countered the attack. With their swords crossed, Taehyun looked the other in the eye.
"Not bad," Yeonjun scoffed, as Taehyun's blade pressed against his. Taehyun let out a huff of frustration, tightly gripping the cutlass.
He smiled slyly at the other. Hastily, he flipped his blade around and knocked the sword out of Yeonjun's hand.
Hueningkai and Beomgyu flinched, as Yeonjun's sword was knocked onto the deck, landing with a loud clash. The two fell silent, looking at Yeonjun then at Taehyun.
Yeonjun's eyes widened in surprise, turning to retrieve his sword when Taehyun sprinted in front of him. Taehyun turned on his foot, standing in front of Yeonjun's sword and his blade pointed towards the other's throat.
Panting, Yeonjun raised his hands in defeat. Taehyun lowered his sword, and smiled warmly.
"How's that for 'not bad'?" He scoffed, putting his sword back in his belt. Yeonjun walked over to retrieve his sword, returning it to his belt as well.
"Next time, don't get too confident," Taehyun advised, brushing himself off, "You never know what your opponent has up their sleeve."
Yeonjun laughed, scratching the back of his head.
"I guess so," He scoffed, "You'll have to teach me that trick you did."
"You mean the one where I knocked it out of your hand?" Taehyun asked, "It's simple, I could teach you later."
Beomgyu smiled mischievously, looking over at Hueningkai.
"How about you and I have a duel?" Beomgyu offered, then held up his right hand, "I promise to play fair, I won't use those jagged knives with teeth and I won't throw them at you."
The other still shook his head, and got up.
"I'll go check if the captain wants me to steer," Hueningkai replied politely, "You can duel with the captain if you want."
Beomgyu scowled, crossing his arms. Hueningkai walked to the front of the ship, where Captain Soobin had been navigating.
"Duel with the captain," He mumbled, "As if I'm gonna do that."
Taehyun scoffed, sitting down alongside Yeonjun. Beomgyu rested a hand on his knee and a hand on his chin.
"Hueningkai just casually tells me to train with Captain Soobin himself," Beomgyu mumbled, "As if he's not just gonna beat me in half a second, I doubt I'll even be able to land a hit on him."
"You were close that one time," Taehyun recalled, "You knocked his sword out of his hand and you had him cornered. But then Captain tripped your feet and was able to get his sword again."
Beomgyu hummed in response.
"So you're saying, I need to not be tripped and jump when he goes for my feet?" Beomgyu asked, raising an eyebrow.
Taehyun shrugged, "Close enough."
Beomgyu sighed, putting his hands on his knees again. He pulled out a curved, steel knife from his pocket with a wooden handle and a jagged edge.
"This was the first knife Captain ever got for me a few years ago," He recalled, gripping the handle tightly, "I barely use it in fights anymore since it's quite old... He got it for me when I first joined the crew."
"How many knives do you have anyway?" Yeonjun asked, gesturing to the other.
"That's a secret," Beomgyu winked, putting the jagged blade back into his jacket pocket.
"He always seems to have some on him," Taehyun added, "None of us know how many in total he has, though I've counted probably fifteen."
"Not even close," Beomgyu said boldly, "Fifteen is barely scratching the surface of my collection!"
"Although I don't blame the captain," Beomgyu shrugged, "If I used more than three knives he probably wouldn't stand a chance-"
"Stand a chance against who?"
Beomgyu yelped, nearly falling off the crate, seeing the captain was standing there. Taehyun and Yeonjun laughed, Beomgyu stumbling back onto the crate.
"What are you guys talking about?"
"Captain you scared me!" Beomgyu exclaimed.
"Hueningkai was telling him to train with you, then he just went off about not being able to beat you," Yeonjun explained, gesturing over at the embarrassed boy.
"Then— I was telling him about the time that he almost did," Taehyun added, "Then he showed us the knife you got him, then he got all cocky and-"
"Alright enough you two!" Beomgyu exclaimed, covering his ears. Captain Soobin scoffed, crossing his arms.
"Beomgyu you're not afraid to train with me, are you?" He jested, "I thought you were the one who's always up for a challenge."
Beomgyu crossed his arms too, and rolled his eyes.
"Am not," He replied shamelessly, "I just don't have the guts to throw knives at my own captain."
Soobin hummed in response, looking around.
"Why don't we train a bit this afternoon?" He offered, "We should eat something, Hueningkai and I got us plenty of food back at Illusion Isle."
Beomgyu sighed deeply, and nodded.
==========
"Okay you throw me the fruit then I'll cut it!" Beomgyu called, Hueningkai picking up a banana from an open barrel. The two were fairly distanced, while the others watched along the sidelines.
"Are you sure?" The other called back, "What if you completely miss? You could rip the sails or something!"
"I'm not gonna miss!" Beomgyu yelled back, "Just trust me on this one!"
Taehyun, Yeonjun, and Soobin watched, seated near the railing and sharing a piece of bread. Hueningkai and Beomgyu were throwing the bad fruits around, or just the ones that had bugs in them.
"So, Taehyun," Yeonjun asked, dipping his bread in a bit of coffee, "A-Are you guys just going to use me for something?"
The other raised an eyebrow, "What the heck are you talking about?"
Yeonjun shrugged, taking a bite of the bread.
"I don't know... I'm still surprised how you all are so— quick to let me in your crew," Yeonjun mumbled, "My old crew was so quick to get rid of me so.. I figured there must be some reason that you let me on board."
Taehyun furrowed his brow, and gave Yeonjun a confused look.
"How hard did you hit your head?" He asked, then huffed.
"Listen, if anything, I couldn't just leave you there," Taehyun began, and looked out into the sea, "I just didn't want to leave you there... I trust you, alright? It took a lot of convincing for us to bring you here on board."
Yeonjun shrugged, drinking a small sip of coffee.
"Are you going to stay with us?" Taehyun asked quietly, "If you don't want to stick around... we could always drop you off somewhere and you could go about your life. I'm sure the others would miss you though—"
"What? No of course I'm not leaving," Yeonjun reassured, and sighed, "I don't want to leave.. I'm just worried about— Nevermind."
Taehyun hummed in response, looking back at the other two who were still throwing fruits. There were the remains of fruits all over the deck, and a couple of fruits with daggers sticking out of them.