Jack led his daughter and officer through the crowd of the 39th pier, along the busied wharf that was abustle with tiny sea crafts, men shouting out as they held up their freshest catch to be sold the locals that packed the edge of the unstable land, desperate for sea-born delicacies. Angela tried her best to keep with her compatriots, though she found it difficult as she also attempted to take in the sights and sounds that left her abuzz with excitement. She was unaware of Hana's still-fuming ears until the officer finally muttered to herself, though with an air of disappointment toward her Captain.

"I can't believe we just let them walk away," she grumbled, heatedly.

Captain Morrison eyed her from the side, "Would you prefer spending the next week in a prison cell? That's undoubtably the consequence of having taken action, especially given those two's status."

Miffed, Hana angrily sputtered, "No! But still, those two are just so- So- Argh! I wish I could just-"

She threw a punch through the air before crossing her arms mutedly, her lips curling into a dark frown as her head fell, "Saying I needed to have a leash put on me… The only monster around here is him."

"Be that as it may, he's still a rather affluent monster," the Captain shrugged, "There are plenty of other ways, that won't imprison us, mind you, to get back at others, officer. You are aboard the Splitstream, correct? We've negated the Shimada's attempts at taking a vice grip along the whole of the Rim for some years; that alone is-"

He turned to meet Hana's bemused face, Jack's voice dropping, "You're not buying that."

She frowned, "Your methods of revenge are quite placid, Captain. No offense."

Jack shrugged, "It's kept me working for many years, Officer. Don't forget that."

Lugging around a small sack of supplies they had procured along the way through the city, slung over her shoulder, Angela asked timidly, "Who were they exactly?"

"The Shimada brothers, Hanzo and Genji," Jack explained, "They run the largest shipping conglomerate in the Pacific, though they mainly operate through subjugation, intimidating local sailors into joining them, MYC as you just saw in their attitude toward Hana and myself."

"They stink of vileness," Hana groaned, bemusedly, "Korea was one of the first countries they came to after they'd dominated Japan's seafaring business. Now our fishermen spend days on end out at sea trying to meet the Shimada's stock."

Angela nodded, lifting the sack up from her shoulder for emphasis, "I'm starting to understand why Officer Song has stuck around for so long, being paid merely in candy."

"We're one of the last companies operating around the Rim that isn't under the thumb of the Shimada's," Jack went on with a proud smile, "Though it hasn't always been easy, we've plenty of clients who are loyal to us, no matter how cheap the Shimadas cost- I'm sure that's one of the things that sticks in their craw, Hanzo specifically."

Angela Peres up toward her father, "Why is that?"

He chuckled, "Because Hanzo Shimada has done everything he has in order to ensure he has a legacy that outlives him. His tireless work has left him without children; all he has is the Shimada Company. For all the tactics he's used to become one of the largest companies, loyalty wasn't exactly a byproduct. The more he sees us, or other smaller companies, that stay in business simply due to the loyalty of so few clients, I've no doubt it bothers him."

Jack turned to his officer with a grin, "You should remember that, Officer Song."

She rolled her eyes, arms crossed, "I still wish I could have tackled them both, but especially that green-haired jerk. Even this taffy isn't help- Okay, maybe a little bit, but still."

Hana frowned while nibbling on another bit from her tiny satchel as the three of them advanced, coming upon the port once again, leaving them in an even more crowded area, Jack making sure to pull his daughter in front of him to keep her nearby. This directing from her father allowed Angela's vision to wander, returning to the same spot where the auction had been going on hours earlier, the tent now seeming nearly empty save for a few crates. Her eyes locked onto the tall crate she'd been intrigued by earlier, even the auctioneer taken aback as he recited the labeling to the crowd as though it were wholly foreign to him.

"And here we've got-! Eh, well, a crate looking to be shipped to 'far away'..?" he spoke, his loud voice descending as his confusion grew, turning to the crowd, "Anybody know where 'far away' is?"

A gaggle of laughter escaped the crowd as one man shouted out, "Ask mah ex-waife!"

The auctioneer allowed a hand to stroke his chin in thought, turning toward who must have been a superior, who merely nodded, the auctioneer shrugging in relinquished care as he returned to his charismatic self, "Well! Payment is to be determined at the conclusion of the delivery! We'll start the bidding at, say, ten doubloons?!"

A pitiful array of hands arose, though before Angela could catch the auction's conclusion, her father had taken her out of sight, leaving her to grab at his wrist as she spun her head over her shoulder, "Father! That crate's only going for ten doubloons!"

"And?" he asked sincerely, "I already told you, only fools or desperate men go for that mess."

Angela retorted, "Its only ten doubloons though! and aren't we going across the Pacific anyway? We're risking nothing!"

Her father grinned playfully, "Angela, you weren't bonding with a piece of cargo when I caught your wrist earlier, were you?"

She frowned at the unpleasant feeling of being condescended to, leaving her father to chuckle, "Why should we even bother with it?"

"I don't know," Angela groaned unhappily, "It's just mysterious is all. Who knows what we'll get if we deliver it."

As though in silent council, Jack turned to his officer, who merely shrugged in reply, before sighing himself, concluding to his daughter, "You've got enough mystery trying to pick up all you have to on this voyage, dear. For that same price, I could feed the crew for a week."

Angela frowned in resignation, not bothering to advance the point further, though she managed a glooming glance back toward the auction area, her brow rising curiously as she muttered quietly, "Green hair..?"

At that, Hana's ears perked, her body whipping to the side where Angela was watching, her teeth barring defiantly as she jumped onto her Captain's back, Jack's body suddenly convulsing suddenly in surprise as she furiously ran her feet along his backside, trying desperately to climb atop his shoulders for a view over the crowd, leaving Jack aflurry with a heated voice.

"O-Ow! H-Hana?! What are you-?!"

"She's right! It's the Shimadas!" she spoke up, too incensed to worry about the scene she was currently causing, "Captain, we've gotta her that crate!"

Jack frowned, finally managing to pull his officer down from his back, letting loose a voice of quelled anger, "Officer Song, another stunt like that and I'll have you reprimanded, understood? Now I've already told you, both, that we are not to act on emotions; I don't care if they were giving that thing away, we have a schedule and we're sticking to it, understood, Officer?!"

Hana frowned, but still managed to bow her head reverently, Yes, Captain…"

"And you, Ange-" he turned to his daughter, only to find her having gone missing, his eyes widening in shock.

He spun his body around, back toward the auction platform, his teeth grinding as Angela was standing alongside the crowd, trying to push her way closer in order to view the crate. Returning to his officer, Jack grumbled angrily, trying his best to control his temper as he began toward the platform with Hana in tow.

"I was told you would be the death of me," he complained weakly, rubbing his face as he and Hana came up from behind is daughter, catching Angela's immediate attention, "As soon as you came into this world, you screamed like you'd been drawn and quartered. Your mother said you'd be a handful."

Undeterred by her father's story, Angela leaned over a roped barrier that cut off the crowd from the auctioneer's platform, simply watching in awe as she spoke up, "This is so exciting! What if it's treasure?! or some of those things they- fossils! It's just a slab of wood away!"

"We're only watching, no bidding," Jack groaned, unsure whether his words had much of any meaning by this point, "If the Shimada's are involved, they're probably just running the prices up to ruin the foolish sailors I mentioned."

A nearby man spun his head around, his crooked teeth barred as he eyed Jack with a sinister glare, the Captain simply shrugging as he muttered back to him, "I'm just teaching my daughter a lesson; cool it."

The stranger returned to the action just as the auctioneer's voice burst back onto the scene, "Forty! Do I hear forty?!"

Just as Jack noticed Genji Shimada's face turning toward their direction, he lowered his head to conceal himself, though it came too late, the man's Japanese accent breaking through the air in a cackle from across the crowd, "Maybe Morrison'd like a shot?!"

Jack felt Hana's hand suddenly clutch his arm, instructing him to retaliate, though Captain Morrison remained stoic, simply watching the auction progress, even as the auctioneer composed himself after the sudden outburst, "Ah, er, w-well, the bidding is commencing along at forty..! Forty doubloons to the Shimada's! Going once! Going twice!"

"Forty!" cried Hana, yanking at Morrison's arm to lift herself up, her shout earning a vicious glare from her Captain.

"Forty! Have I fifty?!"

Captain Morrison reached down to grab Hana's shoulder, pulling her down as he bent low, his eyes strained in controlled anger, "What are you doing?!"

"Fifty!" exclaimed Genji, "Better hurry, Morrison; I'd hate for you to have to spend more money on a shipment than you did on your street rat of a wife."

Jack's face flinched as his head turned gradually back toward the two men across the crowd, Hana reaching up to his wrist and slapping her pocketbook into his hand, "We've got certificates for a hundred. Go to town, sir."

Her Captain yanked his hand away, pocketbook in tow, shooting the two Shimadas a ferocious looking stare as he spoke up lowly, just loud enough to be heard, "Seventy."

The crowd began to speak in hushed whispers, recognizing the inalienable signs of a bidding war between two well-respected sailors, leaving the auctioneer's voice to lighten as well, his heart pounding at being in the middle of the same conflict, "S-Seventy! Do I- Do I hear-?"

"Yes, you fool, you hear eighty!" Genji shouted, wearing a sinister grin, turning his head over his shoulder to share words with his brother.

"Do I hear-"

"Ninety," Jack spoke in repressed tenacity.

Hana bit her lip, knowing this was as far as they went unless the Shimadas gave way, which was a wholly inexplicable occurrence. They never viewed such auctions as opportunities to actually keep bank- they were always to cripple the ones they were bidding against. With the fury in her Captain's eyes, Hana's heart trembled at the thought of him going above and beyond his limit of finances, her own guilty building at her goading him along.

"Ninety!" the auctioneer shouted, "We have ninety doubloons riding on this cargo to Far Away! Does anybody have a counter- Bloody hell!"

The crowd rustled in gradually increasing wonderment, sending Jack and Hana's head's to the side to find Angela hurtling over the barricade, making a mad dash toward the auctioneer's platform with only two soldiers in between the two points. Jack's mind snapped back to reality at the sight, his free hand gripping the rope line in front of him as he watched horror as the soldiers grabbed their batons.

"Angela!" he shouted out in terror, his eyes widening as Angela rushing into arms-length of the two men before her legs collapsed below her, her body sliding in between the two with her knees leading the way, before she hopped back onto her feet, encroaching upon the tall crate with astonishing speed.

Genji nearly tore the rope barricade from its hinges, shouting out in accursed tones, launching himself over the thick barrier and dashing toward the crate himself, "You fools! Stop her!"

The auctioneer, already perturbed by the previous conflict, could only recoil in shock, stepping away as Angela vaulted atop the stage, throwing her hand out and tagging the large crate with an open hand, the loud SMACK echoing out among the crowd as she collapsed onto her tied-up legs, though she remained in possession of the crate, her hand merely sliding down its face.

She turned up toward the auctioneer, her voice in heavy pants as the man stared back at her, terrified, "I- I believe I…claim this shipment in the name…of the Splitstream."

"Bullshit!" Genji cried out, jumping up onto the platform just as the two soldiers arrived, "This is utter bullshit! You two! Have this wench arrested!"

Jack had already hopped over the barrier, fuming at his daughter having been addressed as such, shouting out in reply, "It is not! You two, soldiers, recite to this man the laws regarding the unattendance of shipping materials!"

Genji shot a blood-shot stare toward Captain Morrison, though it was the auctioneer himself who worked up the nerve to intervene, clearing his throat as he spoke up, "Barring the completion of an auction, that is, any shipping material can be physically claimed at the agreed upon rate as presented by the proprietor of the goods. Since this crate, here, has no established rate, and quite frankly, no owner, it's my judgement to send it off for the established rate at auction- ninety doubloons."

"Th-This is-!" Genji fumed, his scheme thwarted.

Jack's gait slowed as he continued toward his daughter, the crowd behind him now growing louder at such a development, leaving the Captain to force his voice louder as he aimed a glance toward the Shimada man, "Perhaps you should read up on the laws around here. Tell your brother, the sun sets here."

Genji's face contorted into a vicious frown, though he ultimately composed himself, turning on his heel and stomping off back toward his brother, leaving Jack to make it over to his daughter, the two soldiers just as baffled as most of the crowd. He reached down and helped her to her feet, shaking his head in disapproval.

"Never have I wanted to punish you more than at this very moment," he spoke up with a hollow voice, "That being said, I've never seen more of your mother in you than just a moment ago."

Confusedly, Angela decided on wearing something of a light smile, unsure of how she should take her father's words, though he still managed to quickly examine her bruised knees, signaling that there wasn't an ounce of love lost between the two of them. He waved for one of the dock attendants to come over and explained where to send the crate, sighing at the man ran off, leaving him with Angela as the two stepped down off the platform as the auctioneer sputtered out words in an attempt at regaining some semblance of normalcy.

"Sorry; that was all I could think of," Angela spoke up with a muted frown, "Especially after what that man said, I- I know that look in your eye. You'd have sold everything for mother's honor. I just figured I'd try something to keep you from losing the last thing you have in the way of a connection to her."

"Something stupid," Jack assured, though a smile peeked our from his face, "Let's get one thing straight, right here and now. The only thing I need to remind me of your mother is the daughter we had together, alright? I wouldn't ever let a memory keep me from loving you, or keeping you safe and prepared for the wild out there, understand?"

Angela nodded as her father directed her underneath the ropes batier where Hana was awaiting with a pensive look on her face now that the dust was settled, Jack following along as he continued, "I'll tell you the same thing I told my crew years ago. Your mother meant the world to me, but she would much rather my crew mean the same in her death. Until she and I meet again, you and my crew are everything to me, and since you're both, now, Angela, that just means I get to consolidate a bit more when it comes to my priorities."

Even Hana's lips fell inward, miffed by the thought of her Captain speaking so reverently of his crewmen, though as the air went still, she managed to speak up quietly, "Y'know, she kinda looked like her for a moment there."

Jack groaned, speaking slightly annoyedly while Angela cracked a grin, "I'm aware of that. Don't encourage her. We made out fine, but there's no telling when such stunts will set you back farther than you'd hoped. In another time, you might be in prison right now."

"But I'm not," Angela assured with an innocent smile, "I told you I'd make a damn good sailor."

Hana eyed her peevishly, "…you sure she isn't the same person..?"

"I can assure you, my officer. I'm just thankful she took after her mother so affluently; I'd have hated for my daughter to be saddled with the old and ragged looks of a father," he sighed, more so in relief than anything else, "Though that means I'm sure to be given the same number of headaches as well…"

Angela only snickered as she threw the bag of candies and other assortments of supplies overtop her shoulder, proudly smiling at, as far as she was concerned, a job well done. a full day of accomplishment.