- POV General -

Two days had already passed since the crew's tumultuous departure and Coven Island was now, like a memory, far behind them. The sloop they had repaired together was heading west towards a town called Belfort. The wind was light, the waters almost calm and the ship was gently carried without the help of the Sailing Master, Joe.

It was quite large at first but was quite small and although it had only one mast, was built for long journeys. The ship was made from oak, acacia and also from very strong tropical trees that allowed the planks to remain intact. The hull had been sealed with pitch and tar, sealing the wooden planks to prevent water from entering and the ship from floating.

The crew's beautiful pirate flag was not flying at the top of the crow's nest for discretion, and the deck, a few hours ago a mess, was perfectly clean. Everything had been stowed in the hold just below deck, so barrels of water, food, rum and more were stored there. There was also a small kitchen that was located at the front just beyond the storage area.

Under the poop deck where the helm was located, a small room was there that served as the Captain's quarters, the door of which was surrounded by stairs leading to the helm. In this small room, the six friends were gathered around a table where Diana Hellfire's journal, a handmade map and a compass were placed. Only the two brothers were missing, too busy voluntarily cleaning the ship with gusto.

Hestia stood at the end of the table, with Seth sleeping on her lap and her two white tigers sleeping at her feet as was their custom. She wasn't looking at what was laid out in front of her at all, but rather at a small creature sitting on Edward's lap. A black cat with wispy, bound hair shook gently as its one eye stared at the young woman as intently as she stared at him.

"Remind me where you got that one, Ed."

"In the hold. Probably came aboard two days ago, attracted by the food. It's a stray cat, I'm keeping him."

Sighing and shrugging, the Captain put her feet up on the table before grabbing a cigarette for her and one for Joe who deftly caught it. Soon the small room was filled with smoke as a strong smell of vanilla tobacco filled the air. As she took a bottle of rum from the floor in her left hand, Mysie's voice, slightly disgusted by the smell, came out in a coughing fit.

"And...*cough cough*...why can't I have a cat too ? This stray cat is..."

"Odin."

"Eh ?"

"His name is Odin."

Edward had suddenly cut off his friend to tell her the name he had chosen for this little stray. His eyes shone for the first time almost with tenderness and the others around the table looked at him in dismay. Lucas, Kali and Joe had their hands over their mouths to keep from bursting out laughing at this scene and Mysie's eyes were shining when she heard the name she found very beautiful.

"Oooh~ I really like Odin !"

"I like too"

"Umu umu !"

Mysie, who was quite small, did not have her feet touching the floor as she sat on the table and her legs were swinging enthusiastically in the air. She couldn't take her eyes off Edward's cat, and her still rather childlike expression brought a smile to their face. But her face kept changing, sometimes disgusted by the tobacco, sometimes amazed by the little scaredy cat, causing the others to laugh.

At the end of the table, Hestia, drinking and smoking, smiled without saying a word, being very often silent in these moments, preferring to observe. Their bodies were swaying from side to side, and as the Captain's compass slid to the ground, the young woman suddenly grabbed it. Staring at whatever was guiding them, she placed her bottle on the table before taking a deep breath.

"Good. We have a week to plan what we are going to do in Belfort. As I explained to you before, we're going there to find the same map my mother found several months ago. We know it is in the basement but no course of action has been decided yet, any ideas ?"

As Diana Hellfire's journal had indicated, a very special map in the mansion of the Lord of the City of Belfort, Lord Kokosnuss could lead them to a very special island. There, a precious object that Hestia's mother had supposedly left behind was there, waiting for her return to be retrieved. However, without a map, it was impossible to get there, especially for young pirates still looking for their bearings.

"You said Captain Diana distracted the Lord and his wife while some of her crew went undercover to copy the map. Why couldn't we do the same ?"

Kali, sitting on the right of her Captain, had raised her hand while giving her opinion on the situation.

"Oh we're going to infiltrate it for sure but we're not going to copy the map but steal it."

"Why ?"

"Well, I know Joe could do it and could even learn the map by heart at a glance but...I'd rather own the authentic. Who knows ? Maybe my mother missed out on something by only taking a copy and not the original."

What these six young pirates had learned from the incredible stories of their pirate ancestors was that appearances should never be trusted. One secret could hide another, just as a simple map could hide important information. So they all agreed with their Captain, even if discovering the location of their destination day by day was a bit stressful.

"We could use the opportunity to steal gold coins. With what we bought on Coven Island and what was given to us, we're still a little short on money. Plus, on the island we only had silver coins, so we won't get very far with that."

"That's what I had planned anyway Lucas fufu~ and maybe with a little luck we could have some exciting fights hehe~"

Straightening up in her seat, Hestia licked her upper lip at the thought of being able to let herself go, not like in the village where going too far was not advisable. Kali next to her was writing down the ideas that were being said, but from the look on her Captain's face, her pen was just scribbling in the void. Joe, who until now had not spoken and only listened, turned to the young blonde woman before speaking.

Thanks to his sharp mind, his uncommon intelligence, he was always the best when it came to planning something like this, unlike his Captain who lived only for improvisations. To avoid a scare like the one they had experienced when leaving the island, Joe had thought long and hard about an idea. Everyone trusted him and as he explained his idea, Hestia took her feet off the table, curious.

"Captain, I suggest that we act at night to avoid detection and it would also be wise to, if possible, scout the area before any intrusion. Whether we all go in together or not, if everything doesn't go according to plan you can be sure that we will have the authorities of the mansion and the city on our tail."

"Go on."

"Your mother drew a map of the mansion and stuck it in her notebook, let's use it to plan a proper robbery. I can take care of everything Captain, a foolproof plan that will get us in and out without anyone catching us."

"Without anyone catching us ? fufu~ are you sure ?"

"It's like chess, you just need to know where your opponent is placed to advance your own pieces and take the King in a fraction of a second."

Joe's answer had satisfied the young woman with the white snake who smiled once again, her cigarette almost extinguished between her teeth. Preferring chaos to calm, brute force to discretion, she was however not against the idea of discovering the plan that her friend was going to elaborate. Then, suddenly, Lucas, who was leafing through Diana Hellfire's diary, stopped at a page before taking it and putting his finger on a particular spot.

"Who is Achi Von Kokosnuss ?"

Where the young man's finger was, the name "Achi Von Kokosnuss" was written in brackets and underlined with two lines. The rest of the message was hidden by dried blood, which only increased the curiosity of the reader. Why had Diana insisted on this particular name ? That's what Lucas wondered, but also Hestia, who unfortunately didn't know any more than he did, apart from her identity.

"The Koko...thing girl is a little 13 year old brat that my mother would have met and reminded her a bit of me, she must be around 15 now. I don't know why this name has time to matter, or even what she would have been special about, the passage is hidden by blood but I guess we'll find out ourselves fufu~."

"W-Wait ! Wait a minute Hestia ! Please reassure me...you're not going to..."

"Hehehe~"

Lucas, who knew his big sister perfectly, didn't even need to explain further to understand what she meant by that. While Joe, Mysie, Kali and Edward didn't understand why he was panicking, the young man slapped his hand on his forehead. He knew Hestia perfectly well and yet she never ceased to surprise him with ever more outlandish, crazy and deranged ideas.

"Our Captain wants to kidnap young Achi !"

"EEEEEEEH ???"

Once again, everyone fell down at Lucas' announcement, even though the young woman concerned didn't seem to be more worried than that. For her, she was a pirate and therefore did what she wanted, looting, stealing, and kidnapping totally included in her method of action. However, the Captain did not have time to answer when suddenly the door opened violently, letting appear a breathless Douggy.

"CAPTAIN !!! MERCHANT SHIP IN SIGHT !!!"

____

- POV Hestia -

"CAPTAIN !!! MERCHANT SHIP IN SIGHT !!!"

As we were deciding what to do next, a small, almost lost looking puppy appeared in the doorway. He was full of sweat, breathing very heavily and one look in his direction made me frown. But, I didn't have time to answer that already my sweet Kali was getting up from her seat to address him directly, a look I loved in her beautiful coffee-colored eyes.

"Douggy, who gave you permission to come in here and what's more by almost breaking down the door ? Show a little more respect to your Captain and wait outside !"

"W-Well y-yes, sorry Quartermaster !"

Kali had acted almost naturally by showing me a side to her that made me smile and that contrasted strangely well with the shy side she always showed me. To see her talking this way to a man twice her size and build was very amusing and above all very...attractive ? So it is with a smile on my lips and without even a glance at the sailor that I started to observe Kali.

[You never showed me this side of you fufu~ Beautiful.]

*clac*

The door to the room finally closed with an embarrassed Doggy and while my eyes were only looking at my trusty Quartermaster, the others suddenly stood up. As our little sailor had said so well, a merchant ship was apparently approaching and this was the first time we had to deal with something like this. The voices of Lucas, Mysie and Joe speaking at the same time disturbed my moment.

"Hest...Captain, what do we do ??"

"A merchant ship ? Already ? Should we get the guns out ? O-Or maybe play merchants too to get us out of here ??"

"Run away ?? Are you kidding me ? We are pirates Mysie !"

[Tch..]

Everyone was very loud and starting to get on my nerves but they were right, we had a new challenge coming our way. If the brothers were right, this was very exciting news and maybe even our first target. After all, we needed money and what better way to get it than to board a ship with food. Looking up at my friends again, I couldn't help but smile.

"Why not do both ? Let's try to look natural by the time we come across them and if these merchants look like easy prey then we'll attack."

I could see different reactions on the faces, the girls looked nervous, Lucas looked hesitant but excited while Joe and Edward were smiling just like me. Pirate life was very different from life on the island, in less than a day we had almost crashed into the creek and a ship was already coming our way. However, before making any decisions, we had to go and see for ourselves what my favorite puppy had announced.

"Enough now, less talk and more action. Let's go."

"Aye !"

Without further ado, everyone who wasn't already up was getting up and heading for the exit to check it out with their own eyes. Kali and I were the last to leave and as she was about to walk out the door, I grabbed her arm and pulled her close to me. I hadn't forgotten the divine scene she had given me and for some reason I didn't know and didn't care, I wanted her to know.

"What a very interesting sight you showed me earlier. Make sure you show me that bossy side more often, Quartermaster fufu~"

"I-..."

Without waiting for her answer, I giggled as I made my way to the exit leaving a completely red and stammering Kali behind me. The sun rays were the first thing that hit my face followed by a strong iodized smell typical of the ocean. Everything was perfect, the setting, this feeling of freedom but I didn't have time to enjoy it because the silhouette of a ship much bigger than ours was looming on the horizon.

"Captain !"

"It is a merchant ship indeed."

"Given its size, it probably carries in the neighborhood of 20 sailors, maybe 30."

"Solid."

As I reached the bow, Mysie, Lucas, Joe and Edward were talking in succession while Buggy handed me a long sight. As I took a closer look at who we were dealing with, I could see a large ship made in a different way with a shape I had never seen before. Compared to ours, it was not very tall for its size, its large sails looked like bat wings.

The flag it was flying was unknown to me and on the deck at least 15 men were busy moving it against the wind to who knows where. At this sight, without being able to control anything, my blood was boiling in my veins and this desire to sow chaos took me once again. Could we really attack this ship with only eight of us?

My heart cried out to me to announce the boarding while my mind was torn by this perhaps too dangerous desire. Yet, as Joe had said, we were pirates, we had to start somewhere and I doubted that smaller ships were scouring the seas. Our first fight on the ocean could be here and now and as Loki and Azeil suddenly growled at me, I had made my decision.

"We're going to attack it."

"Y-You sure ?"

"Yes very sure, we can never live as pirates if we don't learn on the job. We need to become familiar with all of this and especially...to death."

None of us had killed a human being yet and even though we used to fight on the island to the point of death, it had never happened. I wasn't too worried about the two brothers, Lucas, Edward and Joe, but Mysie and Kali were different. Of course, I knew they were strong but facing a battlefield on the water was not easy and was nothing like what we had experienced so far.

"Let's wait for the ship to get closer and see if the Captain wants to talk to us. Keep your weapons close and wait for my signal."

"Should we raise the Jolly Roger ?"

"No flag, not for this time, let's be as discreet as possible to take them by surprise, I'm sure the hunt will only be more interesting fufu~"

For the first time in less than four days, our first target as ocean pirates had presented itself to us. My foot hit the ground at regular intervals as I did my best to calm my excitement and blood lust. It was almost noon, the sun was shining high in the sky and the day was already shaping up to be full of twists and turns, surprises and action to my delight.

Everyone was ready, Lucas had his pistol and sword out, Mysie had her bow, Kali had her whip and pistol, Edward had his spear and axe, and Joe who was fighting with his bare hands was preparing his fists. Beside me, Buggy and Douggy were pulling out their daggers while my hand rested on my family's beautiful black sword.

I was excited and at that moment I never thought my decision would change the crew forever.