POV: Brenda.

The night sky was filled of stars, viewed from the deck of my father's beloved ship, Xeranva, named in honor of my mother. My father sat cross-legged on the highest deck, his gaze lost in the dark waters below.

I was only 13 back then, and on all the adventures I had been with him, I had never seen any deaths or much harm.

He would target certain ships base on the requests of someone; the queen of Holvious

The cold sea winds tousled my hair as I approached him. "Dad," I began. 

He turned to me, his face as unreadable as ever. "I thought I told you to sleep? It's past 3 am, why are you awake?"

“Well… Your friends say that when you are going to do a serious or dangerous raid, you always sit here, all serious. So I wanted to see what’s going to happen.”

"I see... Well, make your dad happy and return to bed." His bright brown eyes met mine. “Your mom will kill me if something happens to you.”

Ignoring his words, I sat down beside him, resting my head against him. "If that were true, she wouldn't have allowed you to bring me along."

He offered a faint smile. "Yeah..."

He then straightened up and stood. "They're approaching. Now, go back inside."

"But—"

"Listen to me," he said, gently gripping my shoulders. "This isn't going to be us commandeering boats, abducting people, or coercing some into signing papers... It's going to be a gruesome sight."

Despite his warning, I protested. "I'm old enough to witness it! I—"

"Fall asleep."

Huh...?

Beneath the boat, a massive whale with blood-crimson scales emitted an eerie echo.

Suddenly, my willpower drained away, and I collapsed.

The last thing I remembered was waking up to the horrifying sight of my father slitting the throats of children on a sinking ship.

***
POV: Vernisha

I hadn't expected them to bow, but her father commanded immense respect among pirates and those involved in illicit sea businesses.

Eventually, the Vlandos responded. "Oh... Well. Sure. We can do that."

"Thank you, Nack," she said, walking forward and gesturing for me to follow. 

Nack turned to one of the men carrying boxes. "You'll handle the business with those guys when they arrive. We should be back in about 16 hours."

The man, his face marked with scars, slowly nodded. "Well… Yessir!"

"Don't worry, they wouldn't want to cross me."

"Y-yeah!" The others nodded in agreement. This guy was clearly a big shot. I wished there was a way for me to gauge the strength of others.

Brenda, clearly impressed, asked, "You have your own crew now?"

As he gestured for us to board the ship, he said, "Well, since I couldn’t be part of your father’s main crew and… when you… when it was said that you died at sea and your father refused to search for you, I broke away from it."

I disembarked from Rorsan and followed Brenda.

She smiled and said, "I… am sorry."

He didn’t respond, but when we got on board the primary deck, which he had moved to, the two stared at each other. He walked towards her and she stood still. Then he hugged her tightly. "I… am so fucking happy that you are alive."

She returned his hug. "Yeah…." Then slowly, her eyes watered. "I… am happy… to see you again."

I looked away, leaving the two to their reunion. It felt a bit awkward. When I meet my family again… Hopefully, it will be like this.

It feels like I am abandoning them… But, I will be back for sure. I just need to shake these guys off my tail, and I need more strength. Once I have enough of that, I will come back here and reunite with everyone.

But… I still feel so guilty, despite the fact I wouldn’t be able to help. Ferzan, I am counting on you to keep Katie safe. Goldbon will be okay, unless the king wants Eren coming after his head.

Oh, just realized something. Do these guys just not know who I am or…

I glanced at my hand, still smeared with the pulpy residue of the fruit—vomit. Perhaps they simply didn't recognize me.

Nack pulled away from Brenda, stifling a gag before covering his nose in disgust. "What the hell?! What's that all over you? And why do you smell so bad?!"

Brenda's smile faded into a blank expression. "Do you have a bath in there?"

"Obviously, it's on the third deck. I'll take you and your friend there."

"Oh, thanks," I said. The fact that this fruit hadn't dried and remained very moist was driving me insane.

Nack opened the wooden door for us. "Let's go. We'll be leaving immediately, as Brenda requested."

"Sounds good," she said, entering. I followed suit.

Nack closed the door as he made his way to the front and directed us down the stairs. Suddenly, I felt the ship moving.

"Do you also have a fish monster to propel the boat?" I asked.

"Yeah, I rented one from a monster broker. A bit expensive, but worth it."

I guessed the sails on the ship were probably for when the monster needed rest or to lighten the load. After some walking, we finally reached the third deck, which was essentially a bathhouse.

Bathed in the glow of soft lights, the room boasted walls of polished wood. Large bathtubs brimmed with steaming water, while the air carried the scent of the sea mingled with fragrant oils. There were also multiple showers.

This guy must have made a killing. Those boxes probably contained drugs or something, I guessed. I didn't really care.

With his arms folded, he smugly said, "So… what do you all think? It looks amazing, doesn't it? I spent a fortune on it, actually."

Brenda smiled. "It looks good. Now… you can go."

"Okay. Well, whatever you need… tell me."

"Okay."

He opened the door to leave, but before closing it, he turned back and said, "And… hopefully, you can tell me why you disappeared."

Brenda didn't say anything for a couple of seconds. "I guess, sure."

He slowly nodded, but then Brenda remembered something, "Is my mom okay?"

He turned back to her with a regretful expression. "She… took the news really hard. I don't know. I did check on her a lot. But one day, she told me she was moving."

"My father, did he…"

"No. He tried to, but she kept blaming him for your 'death'. She would hurl insults and glasses, rocks or whatever at him."

Brenda shifted her gaze to the ceiling before saying, "I see. Thanks."

He closed the door and left.

Well… Damn.

Brenda walked over to one of the showers and stood under it, letting it wash away the yellow and blue fruit matter.

I did the same. I stood under the cold water which rained down on me. I expected it to be warm, but I didn’t mind it, really.

I ran my fingers through my brown hair repeatedly. Sometimes I forgot how soft it was and how soothing it was to play with it.

With that done… I stripped down to my undergarments; setting aside my armor and the simple shirt and pants I had under it.

Of course, the shirt had a couple of holes and tears in it from getting stabbed and nearly eaten alive.

Brenda looked at me. “Cute bra.”

Hm.

I looked at it. It was just… a regular bra with designs of various colors and sizes of explosions. Perhaps I was invested in things going ‘boom!’ when I was Earth.

“Matches with my panties too. I have good taste in fashion,” I replied with a thumbs-up.

“Hah.” She tossed her armor and clothes off and walked into the steaming bathtub. There was just one issue.

I asked. “Why are you naked?”

“Who the hell bathes with clothes on?”

“I mean, among others, I would think everyone.”

"Really? Is that how it's done in Terrafall?" he asked.

"Terrafall has many different cultures, so I can't say for sure. I've never been to a public bathhouse. However, my sister once took me to a private one in the mountains. The water was red and occasionally made strange whistling sounds," I randomly added.

"Oh, you had quite a loving sister, huh?"

I moved towards the other bathtub as I responded, "Yeah, what about you?"

Instead of answering, she looked at me with disbelief. "Fine… I'll put on something."

I gave her a thumbs up. "Yeah, I don't want to accidentally see your ass or pussy."

"It could be a dick, you never know."

"That would be something else," I said, leaning my arms on the edge of the tub.

She dived in, not naked, splashing water on me. Some nearly went into my nose, but I held my breath just in time.

After a second, she floated up. "By the way, that was a joke."

"Wait, really? I almost believed that," I said, deadpan.

She leaned back and floated on top of the water. "Whatever… This feels good. Not having to worry about being tracked or monsters coming after me…"

I looked at her and agreed. "Yeah, same. Oh! That reminds me!" I exclaimed.

She raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

With a flash of black, I sent out Slimbrut. "Begin the evolution process!"

Slimbrut made various grunts as his body swayed side to side. After a couple of seconds, he fell asleep. Now… to wait 7 hours and 30 minutes for his evolution to be completed. That’s if there are no distractions.

Brenda looked at it and asked, "Where did you capture it?"

"My sister technically gave it to me. She said it's a rare monster found in the Mountains of Broken Dreams."

"Technically?"

"Utilizing drugs, she weakened it and made me capture it."

"Oh… well, damn."

"Haha. I know, right?" I said as I got out of the bathtub. "Do you think your friend here has any food worth sparing?"

"Probably. If I ask, he would give me his lunch, but I'm not evil."

I took a bath towel and smelled it to confirm it was clean before drying myself. "Oh damn. He really respects your father, huh."

Brenda also grabbed a towel. "No, he just likes me. That's why he joined my dad's crew. He kept pestering him until my dad finally agreed. He thought that if he was around, I wouldn't forget about him."

"Oh… When did that happen?" I asked.

As I used the towel to shield myself while I changed out of my wet underwear and bra, she responded.

"Well, I'm 22 and he's 21… so… maybe about a decade ago?"

I slipped into a fresh pair of undergarments, adorned with a pattern of red and blue snake fangs.

“So, one-sided love?” I asked.

“Nah.” Brenda put on a pair of pants and a shirt from her inventory. “It just never developed to anything.”

“I see… By the way, since you didn’t know who I was, is there a chance that he wouldn’t recognize me?”

“Probably not. You are going to need to look different. Maybe cut the hai—“

“I rather get fucked in the ears.”

"Excuse me, what?" She asked, taken aback.

"I'm expressing my aversion to the idea of cutting my shoulder-length hair. If it weren't for the fact that I fight, I would let it grow down to my hips," I explained.

Brenda seemed perplexed. "Well, at the very least, we should dye your hair and give you a new hairstyle."

"Do you think that would be enough?" I questioned.

"No, but it's better than nothing," she conceded. She was right.

"You wouldn't happen to have any hair dye, would you?" I asked.

She pulled out multiple bags from her inventory. "Of course, I do. Remember, I was serious about wanting to escape my old life."

That was a fair point.

"So, how do we begin?" I asked.

She walked over to the bathtub and tapped the floor next to it. "First, what color do you want?"

"Black. I think I would look really cool with black hair," I replied.

She smiled. "You're a lot more talkative than before. It's almost amusing how childlike your desires are."

Then an idea struck me. "What about half red, half black? It would symbolize—"

"No. Just black. Half red and half black would make you look like you're desperate for attention," she interrupted.

Ouch.

I put on my simple blue pants and shirt and approached her. Not wearing armor felt free...

"Now, remove your clothes," she instructed.

"What's this?" I asked, getting on guard; karate style, or Kong Fu, I don't know.

"The floor is wet. Also, I'm straight, so you don't need to worry about me wanting to see you naked or anything," she shrugged.

"I was a bit confused about the reason, but okay," I said, understanding her point.

I did as she instructed and sat on the floor.

She moved behind me and opened a bag of...ink. I felt her oily fingers running through my hair, repeating the process until I lost count. It