Rewritten
***
Suzy Aranaz hated birds almost as much as she hated paddling boats.
"Captain, can you row for a while? My arms are starting to burn," she said, nudging her nose as the bandage at her shoulder. Mere days ago she'd been shot with a poisonous arrow. At least that's what Sehyun said as he stitched her skin.
Thankfully, she was an Aranaz. A member of the strongest, most resilient family in Spain. Out of all the countries, only six had a family of power.
Tereline had the Djords with unbelievable strength in mind and body, Auber had the Fiores with near-perfect minds and the ability to create foolproof strategies, Britain had the Grangers with excellent senses, India had utmost control over their minds and incredible healing abilities, and Spain had the Aranazs with immunity to poison and pain. And of course, there was Ireland with Branches having the ability to survive even the toughest of situations and the mind to overcome even the worst of traumas. They could take the burden of a whole country with a healthy amount of stress.
Shame they were vulnerable to diseases.
Despite the Aranaz's immunity to pain, Suzy's immunity to feelings was her own quirk.
The captain had mentioned on many occasions that he was envious of her immunities, but Suzy always replied that she wished she had his intellect.
Sehyun grimaced as he hated rowing boats as well. "Maya, you were so insistent to come, so why don't you relieve Suzy of her duty?"
Sending Sehyun a glance of anger, she snatched the paddles out of the quartermaster's hands. She would rather get married than deal with Sehyun's sarcasm and passive aggression. She couldn't say anything back. Maya knew there was no winning against someone who had never been proven wrong.
Not even by King Djord--on multiple occasions.
He picked fights with everyone and never lost. He had a way with words that pissed her off.
Sehyun beamed without his eyes, entwining his fingers together. "Illorin," he said, turning to face the gunner. He inhaled. "Nevermind."
The gunner had been snapped out of his daydream. "Aye," he muttered before returning to drag a hand in the sea.
"Captain," Suzy said, standing up causing the boat to rock. "We're almost there."
Maya rowed the rest of the way, wiping sweat off her brow every once in a while, and was about to kiss the sand after finally reaching land. The tropical island looked normal from the shore, but Suzy had told her that the rowdiness started right behind the treeline.
It took Maya a moment to hear the fiddles and the screaming, but once she did, she wanted to forget the sounds. Wanted to pretend they didn't exist.
She snuck a peek at Sehyun who seemed equally disgusted if not more. She felt the urge to complain to him just as she always did. After every function and family dinner, she would not waste time to find Sehyun and complain about the other nation's princes and princesses, how she would have to be elegant for hours at a stretch, how her father kept her oppressed and rarely listened to her, and how her mother did nothing to help her.
To Sehyun, her only talent was complaining. She would complain about the useless things her teachers would teach expecting him to do something.
But he'd merely said, "Why would I help someone who does nothing to help themselves?"
He was so annoying. Especially when he was right--all the time.
Maya would never do anything to solve her problems. She relied on Sehyun to do it for her in the name of "helping her."
But he'd stopped after a while. He never "helped" her again.
Sehyun wanted her to learn how to do things on her own, but it seemed the only task she could complete do alone was eat, sleep, and poop. She even needed someone to keep her entertained.
"Let's head in," he said, hesitant as he approached the line of palm trees. He turned to face the Black Egret once again and found many other pirate ships floating around the island.
But only one caught his eye. Only one seemed familiar enough to hold his attention.
Pushing the palm trees and other greenery out of the way and blocking the sun with his palm, Sehyun led the way into the craziest place on Earth.
Pirate's Haven.
The only people in there were pirates proud of their title and the ladies they wanted entertainment from.
The captain wanted someone to try and approach Maya and Suzy if only to see how both women would turn the tables. He wasn't one for chaos and drama, but any conflict created by Suzy was a different type of entertainment.
The evil part of him loved Suzy's ability to create chaos despite being a passive person.
Within seconds, the smell of booze climbed up his nostrils. He had come prepared for this and covered his face with a makeshift cloth mask Suzy had made for him.
Just over the small hill, Sehyun spotted the tavern and the casino.
Then he heard Maya curse at the sand in her boots and Illorin's snicker.
"Let me borrow your shoulder," she said to Illorin. Before letting him bend over, she grasped his shoulder and emptied her boot of sand.
"Captain," whispered Suzy, leaning into Sehyun's side. "I think we should leave them here."
He nodded but said, "Let them come. We'll use them as a distraction if necessary."
"Aye." Suzy fell back, shadowing her captain's every step.
Maya, Illorin, and Suzy followed Sehyun into the casino, trying their best to avoid drunk pirates missing eyes and common sense...and hygiene. And of course, they had a small missing piece Maya liked to call "manners" and Sehyun liked to call "decency."
"This is such a disgusting place. Why would anyone come here?" Sehyun muttered, looking around the tiny island. He'd been on edge ever since he arrived to avoid contact with such pirates. They were the reason the pirate name was tarnished.
There were only two pirates Sehyun saw as role models, and his father ridiculed him for it. His father had said, "Why don't you respect some real men? Why some crazy women?"
Sehyun had merely replied, "I don't see why not."
Mary Read and Anne Bonny, both friends of his ancestors, and both incredible pirates. He'd only read one book about them, and it was Mary Read's journal.
His father had strictly forbidden him from reading anything further about them, embarrassed that it was women who fueled Sehyun's motivation towards life as a pirate.
Not that Sehyun cared.
Distracting himself with the horrid sights of unclean men and shiny women, he pushed the door to the casino open with his elbow.
Inside the wooden cabin-like structure was a tolerable sight.
"I can't believe I let you convince me into this," he said, his angry glare settling on his quartermaster.
Indifferent to the growl in his tone, Suzy replied, "You only agreed because you know I was right. Something free of cost is bound to have some downsides and you knew that before making the decision to come here."
Pressing his lips together, he ran a hand through his chocolate mauve hair.
That was when Suzy created a distance between them. He never did that unless he was angry and disgusted. She muttered a quiet apology, earning a fake "It's okay."
The first step Sehyun took into the casino was a step in a piece of steak, swarming with ants. He squealed before rubbing the bottom of his shoe against the door. "What a pathetic place."
Maya's laugh was silenced by Suzy's empty eyes.
Inhaling, he approached a desk with a scrawny man seated behind it. As if things weren't bad enough, the man held a cigar in his hand. "What game you want to play?" he slurred.
"Poker."
"How much money you got to offer?"
"My name."
The man threw his head back and roared a laugh. "Unless your name is Han, there ain't any weight, sailor. The Golden Age is over, so get over yourself."
Bobbing his head, Sehyun held his chin. "What tales have you heard of him?"
Rolling his eyes, the man stood, placing an elbow on the desk. "Listen up. Han may be the one we hear of, but Aranaz is the true force to be reckoned with. I've heard that he can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a tummy ache."
Sehyun smiled. The man had addressed Suzy as a man. Little did he know. Instead of correcting the man, he decided to defend himself. "Don't you think intellect is a much stronger weapon than drinking poison?"
"Of course not."
Offended, Sehyun continued. "Han is the captain. Without him, Aranaz wouldn't have much of a name."
The man scoffed. "Whatever you say, sailor. Now, how much money you got to offer? How many chips you want?"
"I already told you. My name is my price."
"Get out if you ain't got anything to offer."
"Have you heard of the pen Han carries around?"
Intrigued, the man dropped back into his seat. "What about it?"
"Tell me about it," Han said, reaching in his pocket for his pen.
"From what I've heard, the pen is made of pure gold with an emerald near the top."
"How did you get such a description of my pen?"
The man froze.
Sehyun pulled his pen out of his pocket and pulled his mask down. "My name is Han, and for your information, Aranaz is a woman, musighan babo," he said using one of his favourite insults from his first language. Uneducated idiot.
"Y-You're Han?"
Smirking, he mused, "Who else could I be?"
***
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Word Count: 1624