Captain Soobin's body slammed against the ship deck. He groaned, clutching his stomach tightly. Bang Chan walked over and grabbed the other by the shirt collar. He winced, glaring at the other captain.
"I'm going to ask you one more time," He scowled, "Where. Is. The. Map."
Captain Soobin wiped the cut on his lip, glaring at his enemy.
"I'm not telling," Soobin panted, "Beat me all you want. It's not on this ship. You'll never find it, not anytime soon."
Bang Chan raised an eyebrow, seeing the members of his crew searching the ship. He had rushed over after the commotion, quickly putting a stop to them after Beomgyu had badly hurt Changbin with his knives.
Bang Chan looked over at Soobin again, frustration in his eyes. The other captain faltered, his chest heaving and his hair a ruffled mess.
"Your crewmates ran off with it, didn't they?"
"Maybe they did. Maybe they didn't," Soobin huffed, "At least it's not in your hands."
Captain Bang Chan scowled, turning to Felix and Hyunjin.
"Find me those three and bring me the map," He said firmly, the other three nodded obediently.
"Yes Captain!"
Beomgyu and Soobin were tied up again, below deck and locked in a room. The captain sighed, lying down on his back. He winced again, clutching his arm. Beomgyu's knives were taken again, this time further out of reach.
"I hope the others are okay," he whispered, Beomgyu laying down next to him.
"Don't worry Captain," Beomgyu panted, "They're smart. We'll be out of this mess in no time."
"But what about you?" the boy asked, "Are you okay? You suffered a lot of hits back there—"
"I've been better," the captain answered, "Not great—... but I'm still alive."
Beomgyu hummed in response, as Captain Soobin closed his eyes to rest. The other glanced over at his captain, who had fallen asleep lying on the wooden floor. Beomgyu curled up next to him, closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.
<————⚔️⎈⚔️————>
Yeonjun, Taehyun, and Hueningkai froze at the sight of the other two looking back at them. They didn't look angry, their expressions were difficult to read.
"What are you three doing near our stuff?" one of them asked, resting his hands on his hips. Hueningkai laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head.
"Oh- Well— You see here—"
Yeonjun glanced behind him to see a couple members of Bang Chan's crew walking down from the ship and on the docks. His eyes widened with shock, then looked back at the other two.
"Could we— Talk this out on your ship?" Yeonjun asked, chuckling nervously.
The boy with the spear raised an eyebrow, "No. We're not going to. Answer my friend's question."
Taehyun turned around to see what had Yeonjun so panicked, then saw the other pirates in the distance. His eyes widened with surprise, then laughed nervously again.
"Listen, we weren't messing with your stuff or anything..." Hueningkai explained, scratching the back of his head, "We're just—... a little bit lost. We're not familiar with this area, so we figured we would ask around for directions."
The two didn't seem impressed.
"And you decided to ask for help... by hiding behind our stuff and watching us?"
Yeonjun nodded, and cleared his throat.
"A friend of ours was in a ship that looked like this," Yeonjun explained, "We were wondering if he was on board so we could talk to him—"
The black haired boy raised an eyebrow, looking back at the ship.
"What does he look like? And what's his name?"
Taehyun exchanged a look with the other two, gripping his sword nervously.
"He's got— spiked boots, and a fan," Taehyun uttered, "Kind of tall? He also has a set of throwing stars I saw him use last time... then he had—"
"He's on board alright," the other replied, "But what's his name?"
Taehyun looked over at Yeonjun and Hueningkai, who were concentrating on trying to remember.
"It was Wooyoung, right?" Hueningkai said in a quiet voice, "The one with the spiked boots?"
"Wooyoung was the other one," Yeonjun mumbled, then looked up at the two boys, "Can we talk to Wooyoung instead?"
The one with red highlights in his hair hesitated, "He's busy talking with Captain Hongjoong, you'll have to wait a bit."
Taehyun looked behind them, seeing the Bang Chan's crew asking other sailors that were at the dock. He huffed, biting the inside of his cheek.
"I'm Park Seonghwa, first mate," one of them said, extending a hand, "And this is Jongho, lead gunner and quartermaster."
Taehyun willingly shook the other's hand, introducing himself to the other.
"I'm Taehyun, that's Yeonjun, and Hueningkai. From Captain Soobin's crew."
Jongho raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms across his chest.
"Captain Soobin... where have I heard that name before?" He wondered out loud, "Does he know our captain?"
"You seem to know a couple of our crewmates, so they must've met before," Seonghwa suggested, "But then again—"
Taehyun could see the crewmates behind him slowly starting to head in their direction. He tugged on Yeonjun's arm, whispering for him to do something. Yeonjun cleared his throat again, putting his hands in his pockets.
"Let's talk about this on your ship, we're in a bit of a rush," he said nervously, as Jongho rolled his eyes.
"Again with the ship?" Jongho complained, "Why do you want to go on there so badly?"
"We want to talk with the captain, a-and our friend too," Taehyun answered, "As soon as possible, before—"
They could see Changbin and Hyunjin quickening their search, heading towards the ship they were at. Taehyun, Yeonjun, and Hueningkai panicked inside then looked over at their new friends.
Taehyun clenched his teeth, reaching for his sword when Yeonjun grabbed his arm.
"Not yet, we don't want to give ourselves away."
Seonghwa and Jongho exchanged a puzzled look on their faces, looking at the other three.
"The rest of our crew's ship was captured not too long ago, and we were barely able to make it out," Hueningkai explained in a quiet voice, "We could really use your captain's help."
Jongho's expression softened, looking over at Seonghwa. The other sighed deeply.
"Fine, we'll just wait for Captain Hongjoong to finish talking. You can go with Jongho, I have to take care of something."
They thanked Seonghwa, and the three of them walked with Jongho back onto their ship. A couple other pirates were sitting around, but neither Wooyoung or San was anywhere to be seen amongst the crewmates.
"I hope we didn't find the wrong person," Hueningkai whispered quietly, leaning over to Yeonjun. The other hummed in response, nervously looking around at the other crewmates. He sighed deeply, straightening himself and hiding his fear.
"Don't be scared," Jongho reassured, "They don't bite—... Besides Yeosang. He'll bite. Probably."
The three had their backs to the docks, hoping Captain Bang Chan's crewmates didn't recognize them and stir up trouble.
"Jongho!" the three of them looked over to see another boy leaning against the mast.
He had dirty blonde hair, wearing a black shirt with the collar laced in a criss-crossed pattern and a pair of black pants with a red sash tied around his waist.
"What's with the trio?" He asked, gesturing to Taehyun, Yeonjun, and Hueningkai.
"They wanted to speak to the Captain," Jongho answered, "And they wanted to talk to San and Wooyoung."
"Well actually just the captain will do—"
Jongho turned to Yeonjun before he could finish his sentence.
"Captain Hoongjoon doesn't just speak to anyone, there has to be something in for us if we were to help you," Jongho interrupted, picking at his fingertips, "You're lucky enough for Seonghwa to let you on the ship."
Yeonjun fell silent, nodding solemnly.
The other boy sighed in frustration, "Jeez Jongho, just chill out! Hongjoong won't hurt a flea even if he had to. I'd say he's a lot easier than talking to San."
"Well actually—" Taehyun opened his mouth in objection, Jongho cutting him off again.
"The Captain doesn't exactly do 'favors' without getting anything in return," Jongho responded, "And last I checked, it hasn't changed."
The other boy huffed, rolling his eyes.
"Don't mind him, he's like a sour apple that was picked too soon—"
"I'm telling the captain you called me that!"
"You better not!" the boy snapped, pointing a finger at the younger. Taehyun, Yeonjun, and Hueningkai stood there with puzzled looks on their faces. The other boy had a somewhat deep voice when he talked, his words strung together and uttered out smoothly.
"I'm Mingi by the way," the boy smiled warmly, "Don't mind Jongho, he's sweet once you get to know him."
Taehyun laughed awkwardly, shaking the boy's hand. They heard a door unlock, three boys walking out from below deck.
One of them they immediately recognized, the spiked boots and an oak brown coat draped around his back.
One of them in the middle had somewhat long, light brown hair with a single braid off to the side. His sword was neatly tucked in his belt, half covered with his dark coat.
The last one had wavy, pitch black hair, a single earring hanging from his left ear and a black shirt on.
All three of them wore darker tones, clashing with their already dark hair colors. They stood in the doorway of the captain's cabin,
"What's going on out here?" the one in the middle said suddenly, looking at the three. At the sight of the three, Mingi scurried off to attend to the sails.
"Captain! These three are from Captain Soobin's crew," Jongho explained, gesturing to them, "Seonghwa and I found them digging through our stuff."
"Hey! We weren't digging through your stuff!" Taehyun snapped, "We were jus—"
The supposed captain held up a hand, Taehyun closing his mouth and huffed in frustration.
"And why are they on our ship?"
"Capt'n I know them!" San chimed in, "They're friends— of my friend. You know, the one I had a knife fight with back in—"
"I know who you're talking about," the captain responded with almost no hesitation, "That still doesn't answer my question. Why are you on our ship?"
Hueningkai looked at Taehyun and Yeonjun, the two silently urging for someone to say something. Taehyun cleared his throat, holding his hands behind his back nervously.
"We're here b-because— um—"
Quietly, Yeonjun reached over, grasping the other's hand gently. He reassuringly looked over at Taehyun, and nodded.
Taehyun breathed deeply, squeezing Yeonjun's hand.
"We wanted to talk to you... and ask something of you," Taehyun began again, looking at the ground. The other captain raised an eyebrow, exchanging a look with Jongho.
"Our ship's been captured by Captain Bang Chan," Taehyun added, still holding onto the other's hand, "Our captain normally does not like to ask for favors from others, but we were vastly outnumbered; five to eight. We need help from you to take our ship back..."
"So," Taehyun sighed, "I would like to ask, Captain, would you please help us?"
The other captain stayed quiet, looking at the three without saying a word. San leaned over, whispering something in the captain's ear. He relaxed his shoulders, scratching his head.
"Captain Soobin... where have I heard that name before?" the captain wondered out loud, "Soobin... What's the last name?"
"Choi, I believe," Jongho answered.
The three could feel their hope slipping away slowly, the captain showed no interest in helping them get their ship back. Taehyun clenched his teeth, gripping Yeonjun's hand.
"Please... our crew barely made it out alive," Taehyun sighed, "We just need your help to get our ship back and we'll be on our way."
The other boy who was with them chimed in, "What's in it for us? Captain Hongjoong doesn't—"
San gave the other a sharp jab with his elbow, uttering for them to be quiet.
"You don't even have to sacrifice your whole crew, if we just had enough to—"
Hueningkai stopped mid sentence, hearing footsteps approach the ship. Seonghwa was back on board, holding something in his hand.
It was a glass bottle, containing a map inside.