Ren laid in her bed in the dormitory. After the news of her hometown being destroyed at the hands of Rear Admiral Izmena, she rarely got out of bed, even to eat with the crew. She knew she had work to do in fixing the gash in the Humo Robinson's hull… but she could barely move, wrecked with the thoughts of how Kowalski and her other former employees were feeling in their last moments.

"I barely escaped with life… I… I don't deserve to be here…" she thought.

Zinnia and Ruth came in, and they sat down at the foot of her bed.

"How are you feeling, Miss Ren?" Zinnia asked.

"I…" Ren began. "Ah'm fahne… Ah just…" She sat up.

"You miss your hometown."

Ren started sobbing with her face in her hands. Zinnia just sat there with a blank stare, unsure of what to do. Ruth, on the other hand, slithered off of Zinnia and wrapped herself around Ren with a calming hiss. That's what she always did when Zinnia broke down crying.

"I… Ah…" Ren stammered, sobering up a bit. Ruth nuzzled into her cheek.

"Miss Ren, why do you have two different accents?" Zinnia wondered.

Ren stopped crying. "Can't ya read a room, woman?" she asked angrily. She gave Zinnia a death glare, but Zinnia averted her gaze.

Ren sighed. "If ya must know… Ah'm a really big fan o'comic books. Specifically Pandaman comics."

Zinnia tilted her head in confusion. "What is a 'comic book'?" she asked.

"Ya really are sheltered, ain't ya?"

Ren reached under her bed and pulled out the most recent newspaper and flipped to the comics page. "This is a comic strip. Put enough o'these together and you can make an entire book. Mah favorite is Pandaman, a panda-faced superhero who travels the world fahtin' crahm."

She put the newspaper down.

"Some people have said they've seen Pandaman in real lahf in lotsa different places, but Ah'm not sure how accurate that is. Probably just people dressed as Pandaman. Anyway, mah favorite character in these comics is th'genius inventor an' engineer Beauregard Pandason, one of Pandaman's trusted allies. He's so cool!"

Zinnia nodded. "I see."

"I… I decided to talk like him because I was embarrassed of my natural accent back in Przystan. I wanted to be like him any way I could. It… makes me feel special," Ren said, talking normally.

"Anyway… what tahm is it? Ah'm gettin' pretty hungry."

Ruth unwrapped herself from Ren and slithered back to Zinnia. "It was 4:17 p.m. when I checked last," Zinnia said.

"Oh mah! Ah've been in bed all day! Ah really should get somethin' t'eat!" Ren exclaimed, throwing off her covers. "Thanks, Zinnia. You an' yer snake friend helped me feel a bit better. Haven' really had a good crah since this happened."

Zinnia smiled and Ruth let out a hiss as Ren got up and headed for the galley.

—

Puerco sat in the crow's nest reading a medical book. Or, that's what he wanted everyone else to think. He was actually looking at a magazine of women in swimsuits, disguising his actions with the textbook. Every half hour or so, he'd look through a telescope to see if Tikka Island was in sight. Eventually, at around 6:30 p.m, Tikka Island came into view. He called out to the crew via a transponder snail.

"Look alive, everyone! The Panipuri Kingdom is close!"

Zinnia headed for the helm, as did Shaska and Samudra.

"I'll let you decide, prince. We're going to see your brother, right?" Shaska said. "So, we fighting our way through the forest or up a mountain? We gotta dress appropriately."

"Both are teeming with dangerous wildlife… but I much prefer the heat over the cold, so let us dock at the forest closest to Shahar."

"You heard him, snake girl!" Shaska declared, pointing forward.

—-

The Humo Robinson docked at nightfall on the northeastern end of Tikka Island. The crew gathered around a table in the galley to look at the map one last time before they disembarked.

"Alright, everyone, here is the plan as it stands now," said Samudra. "We will cross through the Eastern Van Forest to the village of Gaanv. There, we will spend the night and procure disguises for our trek north up the Talahatee Hills to Shahar. Once there, I will use my Steam Steam powers to sneak into the palace so I can attempt to talk to my brother in person before his coronation.

"As for the rest of you, you will join the Shahar Regulars to attempt to stall my uncle's forces when they attack. We need to capture as many of his soldiers as we can so we can potentially get his transponder snail number, that way we can negotiate a peace deal that works for everyone."

"And that will make the Unclean 'clean'?" Lulupo asked.

"We will worry about that when the time comes," Samudra replied. "Right now, we need to make sure the prophecy is fulfilled and the Panipuri Kingdom is saved."

"Who's gonna watch the ship?" Schwarz asked.

"And what will us non-combatants do?" Roxanne followed up.

"Puerco can tend to the wounded, but what about me and Roxie?" Andy asked. "I'd sure love to get some authentic Panipuri recipes!" He said, mouth watering.

"We will need as much help as we can get in the battle, so all who can fight must come to Shahar," Samudra said. "We have dropped anchor in a secluded area. I pray to the gods that our ship is not spotted."

"As for steak guy and every breath you take…" Shaska added. "Take these."

She pulled out two flintlocks she acquired from the ship's armory.

"You guys are gonna help us fight monsters on the way to the capital. I don't expect you to actually help on the battlefield, so do what you can to keep your heads down. And learn some Panipuri food and drink recipes so we can at least have some variety in our food in the future. Not like we can start a new business with your bounties."

"That sounds unbelievably dangerous and could end with both of us dead," said Roxanne.

"It's an adventure, Roxie!" Andy replied cheerfully, taking one of the pistols and spinning it around his finger. The gun went off and shot into the ceiling.

Shaska puffed on her cigar. "That's coming outta your pay," she said.

Ren cringed at the lack of trigger discipline.

—-

Worldwide Smoke left the Humo Robinson, dressed for an expedition into an incredibly humid forest. Everyone was wearing short sleeves and shorts of some variety. Lulupo had grown his hair out and was dressed in women's clothing, while Schwarz was wearing his shirt open, revealing his muscles, to Ren's delight. The chirping of insects could be heard.

"Are we sure it's a good idea to go through a dangerous forest at night?" Roxanne asked, tying her hair back. "Sounds borderline suicidal if you ask me."

"The wildlife is mostly asleep at this time," Samudra said. "And my brother's coronation is tomorrow at 2 p.m.. We must hurry."

"Well, if the monsters are asleep, I guess all we have to deal with is some bugs biting us," said Shaska. "Shame, I was kinda hoping we'd get to warm up for the war on some monsters."

"You're insane!" Roxanne thought.

"I suppose it's good we have these guns, just in case," said Andy. "I brought snacks in case anyone gets hungry!"

"Where's my gun?" Puerco complained.

The crew set forward into the forest. Shaska and Samudra led the way, each holding a torch. By and large, the crew looked down at the forest floor to make sure they didn't trip over any tree roots.

"Not gonna lie, this is pretty boring," Schwarz said. "I'm with the boss. I was expecting some more action when the prince said this place was full of monsters."

"Don't jinx it!" Roxanne chided.

"Hey, prince, you got folk remedies for your native bug bites, right?" Puerco asked.

"Of course," Samudra replied. "Why do you-"

Samudra turned around to face Puerco and saw him completely covered in bugs.

"No reason," Puerco responded sarcastically, attempting to swat at the bugs. Samudra reacted with great shock, but then promptly blasted him with steam to drive the bugs off.

"Machchar mosquitoes. Quite the pest. Their bites are extremely itchy and-"

Puerco quickly collapsed from blood loss.

"…and they drain copious amounts of blood if they attack in a swarm," Samudra finished. "But they only do that to creatures with type S blood."

"H-help…" Puerco choked out.

"Come here," said Lulupo, picking Puerco up in his hair.

—

About halfway through the forest, Zinnia's attention was drawn to a light off to the side. "Ooh…"

The crew heard her step away from the group and turned to face the light.

"Pretty…" Zinnia said, going toward the light. As she got closer, she noticed it resembled a rabbit.

"Are there other people here in the forest?" Ren asked.

"It is not a person! It is an adorable bunny rabbit!" Zinnia called out.

"Snake girl! We don't have time to be distracted by rabbits!" Shaska responded.

"R-rabbit?" Samudra stammered, looking nervously in that direction.

Samudra focused his eyes as best he could and saw something. "Zinnia! That is no rabbit! Be careful!"

Zinnia looked back at the crew, then back at the light rabbit. She then looked up and saw what it really was. The rabbit was attached like a lure to a fleshy tendril, which was in turn attached to the forehead of a massive, pitch-black tiger-like creature.

Everyone's (including Ruth's) eyes popped out of their heads at the sight of it, except Zinnia, who was a bit slow on the uptake. Zinnia just cocked her head to the side, only to be smacked through a tree by a mighty swipe of the monster's paw. It was then that her eyes popped out of her head like everyone else. Ruth rolled her eyes at her partner's slowness.

"It's an angler tiger!" Samudra shouted.

"Tiger?" Schwarz asked.

"Big bro!" Noire said, showing Schwarz a book. "You'll take me to see the tigers, right?"

"Of course, Noire," a teenage Schwarz responded with a smile.

Schwarz flashed back to a happy memory with his family, which was naturally followed with…

"Big bro… it hurts…" said Noire, covered in blood.

Schwarz shook his head and drew his sword.

"Dammit, not now," he thought.

"Any strategies, prince?" Shaska asked, taking advantage of the humidity and pulling water vapor out of the air.

"It would be best if we ran," said Samudra.

"Nonsense!" Shaska responded, charging forward toward the rabbit lure. She touched her fingers on both hands to her forehead (while still holding the torch), and the water vapor began to swirl around them. She thrust out her arms and called out "Double Cerulean Cannon!"

The water pierced through the angler tiger… which only served to make it mad. It howled in pain, then swatted Shaska through another tree. The torch fell out of her hand and caused a small plant to catch fire. Shaska quickly got up and stomped the fire out with her tentacle foot, then picked up the still lit torch.

She stroked her chin. "Hmm, this thing's pretty tough if it just shrugged off a Double Cerulean Cannon."

"Lady Shaska! I am serious! We must flee! No good will come if we stay here. We might wake up more animals!" Samudra called out.

Schwarz spawned a hole under his feet and one hovering above the tiger. He dropped through and plunged his sword into the tiger's back, which certainly hurt it, but not fatally. The monster started bucking like a bull, and knocked Schwarz with his sword still in its back. Like everyone else, Schwarz got knocked through a tree, which collapsed on top of a family of elephant-like creatures. The elephants' trumpeting soon rang out throughout the forest.

The monsters of the forest stirred, much to Samudra's dismay. "Lady Shaska! Lady Zinnia! Sir Schwarz! We must depart at once before we are swarmed!"

"Ow… ow…" Schwarz moaned as he picked himself up. "I'm not leaving until I get my sword back!"

He teleported onto the angler tiger's back again to retrieve his sword, which was a struggle.

"This is Tizona. It's a family heirloom. It's a Supreme Grade Sword, one of only twelve like it in the world," said Johann Chernit, Schwarz's father. "When you marry and have a child of your own, it shall be yours."

Schwarz finally managed to pull Tizona out of the monster's back, which caused it to roar in pain again. "Alright, prince! We can go now!" Schwarz called, teleporting over to the prince's location.

"Lady Shaska! Lady Zinnia!"

Shaska and Zinnia faced the monster from either side. Ruth assumed her staff form.

"Sorry, prince! This thing pissed me off!" Shaska called out. "I got an idea, though."

She snuffed her torch, charged the monster again and managed to find its tail in the darkness. She grabbed onto it and started spinning. "Stupid cat! I'll show you what happens when you mess with Shaska!" she shouted while swinging it around.

"You… you're the one who started it…" Roxanne thought, face in her hand.

"Heads up, snake girl!" Shaska said to Zinnia, who braced herself for the tiger coming her way. Shaska let go, and Zinnia swung Ruth as the tiger flew at her. There was a satisfying CRACK as Ruth's helmet hit the creature's skull, and it went flying out of the forest.

"That was awesome!" Andy shouted, stars in his eyes.

"Zinnia is so sheltered. I refuse to believe she knows what baseball is," Roxanne thought.

Sure enough though, the rest of the crew was surrounded by monsters, who were woken up by the noise and drawn to the one remaining torch.

Shaska held out her hand for Zinnia to give her a high five, but Zinnia's attention was drawn to the monsters surrounding the rest of Worldwide Smoke.

"Miss Shaska, ma'am, we need to help them."

Shaska puffed on her cigar, then started running over to help them. But, help was unnecessary.

Samudra sighed and turned into steam, handing the torch over to Lulupo. He billowed into all the monsters' nostrils, and they howled in pain and ran away as they were burned from the inside by steam. Samudra quickly reformed himself and took the torch back from Lulupo.

"Let us proceed forward," he said, quite annoyed at the crew's actions.

—

At around 11:00 p.m., Worldwide Smoke reached a clearing, and saw a village in the distance.

"That is the village of Gaanv," said Samudra. "We should be able to find shelter for the night, as well as a place to buy clothes so we can better disguise ourselves."

"Would longleg clothes fit us? You're over twice as tall as most of us, prince," Roxanne asked.

"Longlegs come in a variety of heights, just like normal humans," he explained. "We should be able to find clothes that fit you."

He turned to Shaska.

"Lady Shaska, I am most displeased with your actions in the forest. I thought I made it quite clear that we should run before more animals woke up."

Shaska blew some smoke. "Prince, I love ya and all, but-"

She caught herself and turned bright red. "I mean! You're a friend and all, but sometimes the action calls me. It's part of being an adventure capitalist."

Samudra sighed. "I suppose, Lady Shaska. But please, many of the creatures that inhabit this island are extremely rare and only exist here. You must not be so hasty to destroy the local ecosystem."

"Duly noted, prince, duly noted."

The crew drew closer to Gaanv, where a small group of longlegs ran out to greet them. They were carrying guns.

"Stop! Who goes there?" The leader shouted.

"It is okay!" Samudra responded. "We are friendly! It is I, Prince Samudra, brother of Prince Ta'Gup XIV, here to stop the war! We have come to seek shelter for the night before we head to Shahar."

The villagers raised their guns.

TO BE CONTINUED