As Colaart and some of his cronies lay in pools of their own blood and brains from Ren's sniper fire, the dock workers readied what seemed to be large harpoon cannons. They fired the cannons at the ship. The harpoons got lodged in the ship's hull, and the ship was pulled in manually. When the ship reached the dock, the dock workers forcefully boarded it. Within minutes, the surviving members of Colaart's crew were being brought out in chains, while the remaining bodies were hauled away on a cart like they were nothing.

"It seems like those dreadful pirates have been done in," said Lulupo.

Ren descended from the watchtower to the cheers of a grateful populace. The people of the port town of Przystan gathered at the shipyard to cheer for their heroes. They chanted the names of the workers.

"Call Marines," Kowalski said to one of the workers before turning to face the cheering people with a captured pirate in tow.

"What's going on, exactly?" Andy asked one of the townspeople.

"Dock workers are heroes! Time and again they save us from pirates!" the townsperson said.

"Ren is coolest!" said a child, imitating her sniper skills.

"She's so cute too!" said a teenage boy.

"And Kowalski is such silver fox," said an older woman.

"Hm. I'm starting to think maybe recruiting her might not be the best idea. She seems really popular here," said Roxanne, sipping from her hip flask.

"But Shaska did say to recruit the best in town," Andy replied.

Samudra and Puerco stood at the edge of the crowd as Shaska began cutting her way through. She used her tentacles to casually push people aside, much to their disgust.

"Eugh! Is fish-"

"I'm an octopus, choke on it," Shaska chided.

She made her way up to where the shipyard workers were accepting the townspeople's adulation. Ren had positioned herself front and center in front of the workers. She watched as Shaska turned her tentacles into legs.

Ren whistled as she stood right next to the ten foot tall Shaska. "Ain't you a tall drinka water?"

"Good afternoon," said Shaska, pulling out a business card. "The name's Shaska, business and bounty hunter extraordinaire! I saw your sniping skills there, and I'm just dying to get you on my crew. Worldwide Smoke needs a long-range figh-"

"Lemme guess, yer the boss of those people ah talked to earlier and also told no?" Ren interrupted. "Fer one, talent lahk mahn don't come cheap."

Shaska pulled out a huge wad of cash.

"But more importantly," Ren continued, slightly incensed.

Shaska put the money away.

"Ah can't just up'n leave, go be a shipwraht on some kinda business venture. Ah gotta protect this town! And lahk ah told yer associates there, ah lahk not havin' a boss!"

"Geez, kid, your accent's thicker than peanut butter," Shaska replied, puffing on her cigar.

"Besahds, ain't you that business lady ah saw in the paper a whahle back who cheated the government outta a whole lotta money? Ah kahnda respect that, but ah don't wanna be dealin' with any Marines unless ah'm collectin' a bounty."

"Maybe."

"Yer friends there said ya got a ship fer me to fix?"

"It's docked on the other side of the port. Big ship. Got me as a figurehead, so you can't miss it."

The crowd began to disperse, and with it, Ren and her workers. Ren started making her way to the other side of the docks to go check out the Robinson. Shaska was left standing there as the rest of her crew approached her.

"Well, now what?" Puerco asked, nonchalantly trying to look up Shaska's skirt. Andy, Roxanne, and Lulupo were visibly disgusted by this.

"Try not to make it too obvious, kid," Shaska said to him. "Anyway, come hell or high water, I'm getting that girl on my crew. I just need to figure out how…"

She thought for a minute.

"Mmmm… dammit! If she can't be bought… mrrr…" she pondered aloud.

She puffed her cigar and stomped her tenctacle-y foot in frustration.

"Aaaaaargh! Okay! Y'know what? New plan for now. I'm gonna find us a navigator."

"How're you going to do that?" Roxanne asked.

"sigh… I'm not sure, message in a bottle."

Roxanne looked confused.

"Surely there's gotta be some kinda adventurer's guild or something around here! Port towns should have all kinds of sailor shit. We shouldn't be able to swing a cat without hitting a navigator!"

"Why would you swing a cat?" Andy asked.

"Alright! Idea time!" She clapped her hands. "Let's split up again. Prince, you're coming with me. Everyone else… do what you will. Look around for places sailors gather. There can't not be a navigator waiting for us!"

The crew nodded and split into two groups similar to before, only this time Puerco was with Lulupo and the couple. Shaska and Samudra left.

"So, I think I saw a ferris wheel somewhere in this town when we were sailing in. You guys wanna goof off at the amusement park instead?" Puerco asked.

He was met with a unanimous "yes."

————

Shaska and Samudra walked through the streets of Przystan. Shaska had to do everything in her power to not try and hold his hand. Regardless, they were both met with stares not just due to their heights, but Samudra's ornate clothing; it wasn't often the townsfolk were in the presence of royalty.

"So, prince, tell me more about this 'prophecy' in your home kingdom."

"Many years ago, my ancestor, Ta'gup the First, consulted a wise seer. The seer told him of a dire fate that would befall the Panipuri Kingdom in the future:"

Hear my words well, your highness. Pass this message from generation to generation, so that hopefully the coming tragedy will be minimized.

In several centuries time, a civil war will come to pass. Many lives will be lost in a succession crisis in the wake of the death of one of your descendants.

Dark forces will be at play; one faction will have sinister influences behind its operations, beyond anything the kingdom has seen before or will ever see again.

In the kingdom's darkest moment, a hero will emerge who will vanquish the darkness and ascend to the throne, leading to an era of glorious prosperity.

May the gods have mercy on us all.

Shaska hung onto every word Samudra spoke.

"That hero, I believe, is me. Before I left, my uncle was already acting strangely. It is possible that he has succumbed to the forces of darkness as foretold in the prophecy. According to the papers, his revolutionaries are springing up in every major city after being inspired by our academic class for some time now."

"Fascinating…"

"But, that is enough about me. I would like to learn more about you, Lady Shaska."

Shaska blushed. "Oh, uh… I don't really like to talk about my past and stuff that much. I prefer to let my actions now speak for themselves."

"That is quite an admirable quality, Lady Shaska!"

"Yes, well… thank you… I can tell you more about Kemurchant Enterprises and Kemuri Marts if you want."

"Please do!"

As Shaska explained the business of her former business, Ren arrived at the Humo Robinson, making a mental note of the gash in the side. Schwarz was on deck, minding his own business. He was strumming along on his guitar while singing a popular sea shanty.

"Gather up all of the crew, it's time to ship out Binks's Brew. Sea wind blows. To where, who knows? The waves will be our guide…"

Ren boarded the ship to get a look at everything else that might need fixing, and laid eyes on Schwarz, who looked up and met her gaze.

Ren blushed. "Good lord, he is prettiest man I've ever seen," she thought, transfixed by him.

"Hey," he said.

"Oh! Hey!" she replied, snapping out of it.

"So, what're you here for?" Schwarz asked, moving a hand from his guitar to his sword. "Those guns you got there say you might not be friendly."

"Oh! Uh, no, ah'm friendly! Name's Ren, ah'm a local shipwraht. Yer boss asked me to come check you, er, ah mean the ship, out."

Schwarz relaxed his sword arm. "I'm Schwarz. You could call me the first mate of this vessel, as well as de facto navigator."

"Well… ya mahnd if ah take a look-see at yer ship?"

"Go right ahead."

————

The crew arrived at the boardwalk amusement park. Out front was a person in a large potato costume with eyes and limbs. Overhead was an arch with the name of the park in big, bold letters: ZABA WORLD.

For people like the crew, none of whom except Lulupo had seen an amusement park before, Zaba World was a paradise on earth. There were all sorts of potato-themed rides and games for them to check out that would make a fun montage if this were a visual medium.

Among all the attractions that the crew had fun with was a fabulous big top advertising the one and only Mrs. Kite for an afternoon of wild acrobatic entertainment. The crew filed into the seats, and the show began.

At the top of a huge staircase, the spotlights focused on a woman around six and a half feet tall. She had a shapely figure, clad in a skintight red and blue jumpsuit. Her beautiful face was framed by dark, shoulder-length hair, with a fringe over her right eye. She jumped from the top and grabbed a wire.

The audience marveled as Mrs. Kite flew through the air, doing flips from trapeze to trapeze and through rings of fire. She was met with thunderous applause as she stuck her final landing.

The show ended with a big fanfare from the band, and slowly the audience filed out of the tent. Mrs. Kite waved with a strained smile on her face.

"That was incredible!!" Andy cheered.

"Oh, that Mrs. Kite was just lovely, I have to get make-up tips from her," said Lulupo, adjusting his glasses. "You darlings go ahead without me. I'll meet you all back at the ship."

"See ya," Puerco responded, walking off with Andy and Roxanne.

Lulupo attempted to get Mrs. Kite's attention, but she headed backstage without noticing him. He cut through the stage and the crowd of people to follow her, but he was stopped by two large, burly men as soon as he made it out of view of everyone else. Not as tall as Lulupo, but definitely wider.

"Where do you think you're going, stretch?" one of them asked.

"Cast and crew only," said the other.

"Oh, dreadfully sorry, darlings," Lulupo began. "I'm a traveling performer, you see, and I would just love to talk with Mrs. Kite there and your makeup people about how she became so stunning!"

"What are ya, one of those queers?" asked the first security guard.

Lulupo's expression changed from a genuine smile to a forced one through gritted teeth.

"Yes, actually."

"Get outta here, baldy," the second one stated. "Show's over, go be queer somewhere else."

"No son of mine is gonna be one of those damn queens!!" shouted an imposing, dark skinned man to a frightened teenage Lulupo.

Lulupo simply sighed, pushed up his glasses, and said "yup."

In a single, swift motion, he jumped and kicked them both with one foot, knocking one into the other and through the huge tent wall.

"Sashay away, darlings. Perhaps that kick was enough to knock some manners into you both."

Lulupo fixed his tie and proceeded forward. Come hell or high water, he was going to see how Mrs. Kite became so stunning so he could improve his own drag routine. He briefly wondered if physically assaulting people for making fun of him was ethical, but as a man working for a wanted criminal, ethics wasn't his primary concern.

He was not expecting what he found.

Andy, Roxanne, and Puerco made their way around the rest of Zaba World, checking out all the rides and games. Andy won a giant, stuffed cartoon potato for Roxanne from a carnival game, while Puerco was busy throwing up after a ride on a roller coaster.

In the distance, hiding in the big top, was one of the clowns from Mrs. Kite's big show smoking a cigarette. He was looking through a pair of binoculars at Andy and Roxanne as they made their way to the Tunnel of Love ride.

"That lady's pretty cute. She'd make a decent wife for a Celestial Dragon," he said.

He pulled out a baby transponder snail.

"Look alive, guys, we got good pair coming in. Try not to rough her up too much."

"What about guy?" said the voice on the other line.

"Eh."

Andy and Roxanne sat down in the swan boat and it started moving. She leaned into him, and he put his arm around her.

They were treated to many heart shaped lights and loving sounds.

"This is nice…" she said, nuzzling into his chest.

"Yeah…" he said with a smile.

"Y'know… we're going pretty slow, and the ride looked pretty long from the outside… maybe we could, y'know…"

"Nahaha… absolutely."

As they looked at each other for a kiss, almost transparent red gas started pouring into the ride. Roxanne backed up a bit.

"Oh, honey, that smell… is that… your breath?" she asked before passing out.

"Roxie!" he exclaimed before passing out too.

As they fell into each other's arms, unconscious, the swan boat stopped, and two large men in gas masks came out from doors off to the side labeled "maintenance". They attached large metal collars and chains around the couple's necks and hauled them off. So as to not arouse suspicion, a male and a female goon sat in the swan boat in their place.

The boat exited the tunnel, and the pair of goons got off and went elsewhere. Puerco, who saw Andy and Roxanne go in, was waiting on the other side for them to come out, all while munching on some ice cream.

He waited several more minutes for them to come out, but they never did.

"Hm. They must have finished while I was getting my ice cream," he said, taking his last bite of the cone. "Or…"

He asked a random bystander.

"Hey, did you see a happy couple exit the Tunnel of Love? About yea high? Woman with hair the color of whiskey?"

"Lots of couples exit Love Tunnel. I cannot be expected to keep track of all of them."

"Hm."

Puerco looked around the park a bit more, yet saw neither hide nor hair of Andy or Roxanne.

"Geez," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Where could they have wandered off to? Oh well, I guess I could wait for them back at the ship."

Puerco boarded the Humo Robinson again, finding Shaska, Samudra, Schwarz, and Ren, but could find no sign of the couple or Lulupo.

"Argh," Shaska began, blowing some smoke. "We checked every damn tavern in this town and no one wants to work for me because I'm 'abrasive' and 'a wanted criminal'. Blech." She said the last parts in the most mocking tone she could.

"Yeah, who'da thought employees wouldn't wanna get tangled up with tha Marines?" Ren replied, to which Shaska glared at her.

"Hey, so, I was just at the amusement park and Andy and Roxanne just up and disappeared," said Puerco.

Shaska puffed on her cigar.

"Well, you guys are getting your pay docked for the day, for starters. Told you to look for a navigator and you decided to goof off instead. But, I suppose we should go look for them considering they're my main money makers these days."

She looked around, but didn't see Lulupo on the ship or at the port either.

"And the bald guy?"

"He went off on his own. But Lulupo can actually defend himself, so I'm not as worried about him."

"Hey! Pretty boy!" Shaska ordered. Schwarz stopped playing his guitar and looked up. "Go look for the happy couple and the bald pretty boy. I still got business to take care of with shipwright girl here."

Ren rolled her eyes. "Unless that 'business' involves payin' me fer fixin' yer ship, no you don't, lady."

"Everyone has a price, little girl," Shaska replied, blowing smoke.

Schwarz put his guitar up and departed for the amusement park, not wanting any part in any ensuing drama.

Lulupo was shocked by what he found: slaves. And lots of them. They were waiting on the performers hand and foot. All of them were wearing heavy metal collars and chains with abject looks of terror on their faces.

"I can't do this anymore!! I can't be wife for Celestial Dragon!! I have three kids at home!!" cried a young woman, desperately trying to tear the collar off.

The performer she was attending to hit a switch, and the collar exploded, killing her instantly. Lulupo's eyes widened in horror at the sight, and he raised a hand to his mouth, unable to even speak.

"Hey! Who's bald guy?!" shouted one of the performers. They drew swords and guns and had them trained on Lulupo.

"Oh dear… it seems I've wandered into a messy situation," he muttered, extending his hair to prepare for combat.

In the back was Mrs. Kite, tending to what looked like a very large snake stuck in a cage that was way too small for it. She looked up and locked eyes with Lulupo. She moved forward toward him and assumed a fighting stance.

"Please, sir, I must ask you to leave," she said calmly.

"I'm not going to sit back and watch people be enslaved! Mrs. Kite, from one performer to another, I have to stop this!"

"Sir, please do not call me that. That is not my name," the woman replied with a single tear streaming down her face.

"Oh? Then what should I call you?"

"Please… My name is Zinnia."

TO BE CONTINUED

Author's note: Sorry for the wait, everyone. I had a LOT of writer's block to deal with. Extra special thanks to my beta readers for the ideas they gave me!