Chapter 5 - Remainders of the Past

Kai watched as the island of Ninjago grew smaller before him. The constant worry for his sister hadn't lessened, but there was now a certain twinge of excitement accompanying it all. This was the very first time he'd ever left the island. The world before him was massive and, for once in his routine constricted life, he couldn't begin to imagine what would occur next.

"I hope you truly are ready for this."

Kai turned, coming face to face with the Admiral. The man looked tired, with shadows hanging beneath his eyes. Kai had no doubt his own looked very much the same. Sleep had become a near impossible feat since his sister had gone missing.

"Are you?" Kai replied, trying to sound as polite at he could. He was more than grateful to the Admiral for his help, but he hated the slight doubt in the old man's eyes. Of course Kai was ready. There wasn't anything he wasn't willing to do for his sister, and there wasn't anyone who would be capable of stopping him.

"I fear I'm not quite sure." The Admiral replied with more honesty than Kai had expected. He faced away from Ninjago, looking at the ocean before them. "I've been hoping to stop my brother from causing further harm for years, but now that the battle approaches, I can't afford to grow overconfident. Garmadon is a worthy opponent. We will surely have our hands full."

"Well he made his final mistake when he took my sister," Kai muttered, refusing to admit any sort of doubt into his mind. Kai knew Garmadon would pose a challenge, but he had never doubted his own ability to overcome anything. "Speaking of which. . . Are you going to tell me why he took her? You said something about my father?"

"Ah, yes. That's quite the long tale, Kai, but the point is, Garmadon needs a certain map found upon your sister's skin in order to find an island. But what rests on that island isn't of importance, for we are not going to allow him to get that far."

Kai thought about the strange markings upon his sister's arm. He didn't remember how Nya had wound up with the map there. In Kai's mind it was simply something that had always been there, something he'd ceased questioning long ago.

"I think I deserve to know the whole story," Kai demanded. What exactly wasn't the Admiral telling him? And why wouldn't he tell him?

"Of course," Wu nodded. "In due time. For now, I think a better use of our time would be to sharpen your skills. Pirates spend most of their lives fighting. Their skills with the sword are not to be taken lightly. How good are you in battle?"

"I can hold my own," Kai responded without a second of hesitation. Since they were young, Kai and Nya had always sharpened each other's skills. He was sure a couple of pirates wouldn't be too much of a problem.

Wu unsheathed his own sword. A dull ache traveled through Kai's chest at the sight of his sister's work. The sword really was well crafted. "Mind showing me what you know then?"

"I would love to," Kai replied, pulling his own, slightly less impressive sword from its sheath. He watched the Admiral carefully, determined to prove his worth.

Wu swung his sword from the side, aiming to hit Kai's shoulder. With reflexes he'd grown quite proud of, Kai blocked the attack, allowing himself a second to smile, but that second was all the Admiral needed. Instead of moving back and attacking from a different angle as Kai and Nya would have done in their practice, Wu twisted his sword around Kai's, then pressed down, forcing Kai to release his weapon.

Once the sword had clattered uselessly onto the deck, Wu pressed the tip of his own blade against Kai's chest. "Hmm. Not very impressive."

Kai felt heat spread across his cheeks. His pride cringed at his poor performance, and he struggled to keep his anger in check. After taking a small breath, he bent down to recover the sword.

"Practice is very different from a real fight," Wu continued. "Your opponent isn't going to stop once you've blocked his attack. Fighting continues seamlessly until one of you is dead. There's a lot more for you to learn."

"I noticed," Kai growled, raising his sword once more. This time, he would be ready. "Let's go again then."

"Change your grip," Wu said, taking a step forward to reshape Kai's grip around the hilt of his sword. "You are far too stiff. You need to be able to twist the sword easily, as if it were an extension of your arm."

Kai instantly felt the difference. The sword now responded to even the smallest movements of his wrist. Wu stepped back, then raised his own sword. "Ready?"

"Ready." Kai nodded, swinging with an attack of his own. The Admiral blocked it with ease, stepping backwards as he did so. With the distance between them, Kai found it impossible to try out the trick the Admiral had used on him seconds before.

Wu then pressed forward, swinging his sword nearly faster than what Kai could block. Kai tried to step back, knowing that if the Admiral got too close, his sword would once again be twisted out of his grasp.

But the ship's swaying was nothing like the hard ground Kai had grown accustomed to. A step quickly turned into a stumble, and within moments Kai found himself on the ground with the Admiral holding a sword to his chest.

"Your footing also needs plenty of work." Wu reached down, offering Kai his hand. "There's much I must teach you if you are to fight for your sister."

With slight reluctance, Kai took his new mentor's hand.

"Oh I think I had too many oranges." Jay curled into himself, leaning against a crate that now stood open. Dozens of oranges were strewn around him, and even more orange peels were cast along the ground. "I never thought you could have too many oranges. Aren't oranges supposed to be healthy?"

"They are," Lloyd said, popping a piece of orange into his mouth. "But I don't think you're supposed to eat ten in one go."

"I was hungry. How much longer do you think it'll be? You know, when you imagine a daring rescue you usually cut to the actual rescue. Not the moments in between with terrible stomachaches and even worse boredom."

"I'll agree to the boredom," Lloyd nodded. "It should be night soon. Then most people will settle down, and we can continue to phase two of our plan."

"Phase two?" Jay sat up slowly, still clutching at his stomach. "I didn't know we had a phase two."

"I just thought of it."

"And what is it?"

"Sabotage!"

"Shh." Jay pressed the palm of his hand against Lloyd's mouth. "That's not a word I'm too keen on shouting. Much less when we're stowaways in the ship of the most powerful man in Ninjago."

"Sorry." Lloyd moved Jay's hand away.

"But. . . Sabotage?"

"Yeah." Lloyd nodded excitedly. "I mean think about it. . . When we reach my dad's ship, what's my uncle going to do?"

"Politely ask for Nya back?"

"He's going to try to sink it. The ship we're on has a lot of cannons. There's no way a pirate ship can beat it in a fight."

"Why not? I thought pirate ships were like. . . weapons of mass destruction. You know? Pirates are scary."

"Pirate ships are usually smaller. It's a hassle to have a lot of cannons, and pirates don't usually have that many people per ship. So the ship is too small to even have that many cannons, and there's not enough people to keep track of a lot of cannons."

"Oh," Jay responded, kicking a rolling orange away from him. "Okay, but, if the ship is faster, how will we ever catch up?"

"Oars," Lloyd said, pointing above him. "In case there's not enough wind to move, my uncle decided to build a ship where oars could be used to keep moving forward. Pirate ships wouldn't have that. So we'll catch up sooner or later."

"How do you even know these things?"

"We live on an island," Lloyd shrugged. "And my uncle happens to be in control of the navy. I grew up around all of this."

"I'm sure your uncle didn't teach you anything about pirates."

Lloyd smiled. "Nope. I learned about that all on my own. My mom's library has everything."

"Wow." Jay shook his head. "At your age I wasn't nearly as impressive as you. How's that fair?"

"That's beside the point," Lloyd muttered. "We were talking about sabotage."

"Right, right."

"If my uncle's ship attacks my dad's, who's to say a stray cannonball won't wind up harming your friend?"

"It. . . I mean. . . Hasn't the Admiral been in plenty of battles? I trust he'd know where to aim."

"Accidents do happen."

Jay began to fidget with his clothes. He didn't know nearly as much about ships as the kid did, and the mere thought of Nya possibly getting wounded was unbearable. But if he sabotaged the ship alongside the child, he'd be in even more trouble.

After a few more seconds of fear for himself and fear for Nya chasing each other within his mind, Jay finally gave a small nod. "Okay. Sabotage. What kind of sabotage?"

Lloyd beamed with a sense of victory, reaching for one of the rusted nails that had once held the crate of oranges shut. "Ever heard of a loose cannon?"

Cole stepped out onto the deck, enjoying the cool atmosphere. The sky had grown dark, and stars were beginning to make themselves known.

Since his conversation with Nya, Cole had opted to avoid her as much as he could. He still felt guilty, but he didn't know if he was ready to hear her voice again. Not when she'd so easily opened wide the box that held all of his doubts.

Do you even want to be what you are?

No. Not exactly. Being a pirate had never been what he'd imagined himself as. Although he'd slowly grown accustomed to the crimes that would surround him on a daily basis, Cole's guilt never stopped eating away at his mind.

But he'd never done much to step away from the life he was in. He'd made up excuses for himself easily, knowing that pretending he didn't have a choice was far easier than owning up to the consequences.

He wanted to stop, but the thought of meeting his father again left him frozen in the arms of piracy.

"Oh," Cole's eyes widened, momentarily startled. What he had first taken as a shadow, was actually the captain, leaning nonchalantly against one of the masts. "Captain."

"Can't sleep either?" Garmadon smiled, lowering the spyglass that had been pressed against his eye.

"Not really, no."

"My brother will reach us soon," Garmadon said, still facing the sea instead of Cole. "It's been quite a while since I saw him. Staying one step ahead has always seemed preferable to facing him."

Cole nodded, thinking of his own father and the convoluted emotions that kept him from a family reunion "If I may ask. . . Why fight so hard to avoid him? Aside from, you know, us being pirates and all."

"Well. . . He's my brother. We grew up together, fought together, and I always imagined he'd have my back no matter what. I never thought I'd wind up despising him as much as I do." Garmadon shook his head, memories flooding his mind. "I wasn't born into piracy, of course. There was once a time where I fought for Ninjago, instead of against it."

"There is a woman in Ninjago, the only one I've ever loved. But, unfortunately, my brother loved her too."

Garmadon stopped, wondering why exactly he was sharing the story. Cole had been with him since the beginning, but there wasn't a reason for Garmadon to trust him with the one thing he'd never shared.

But it felt good. It felt good that finally someone else would know Wu wasn't as perfect as he pretended to be. It felt good to finally put into words the thoughts that had plagued him for years.

"I thought she loved me, and I thought my brother would respect that. I never feared I would lose her when I was away. Although I spent more time on the sea than the island, I never thought she would belong to anyone other than me."

"We had a child. He should be ten, eleven years old now. I didn't see much of him, but I knew I wanted to be there as he grew. I wanted to be a good father. I wanted that more than anything I've ever wanted before." Garmadon chuckled. "So I decided to quit the navy. To remain on the island, with my family."

Garmadon's voice slowly dropped into silence. Cole waited patiently, knowing better than to press the captain for more. After a few seconds, Garmadon continued.

"My brother had been on another trip, he'd been sent to search for the Teapot of Tyran, to make sure none of Ninjago's enemies would stumble upon it. He arrived back in Ninjago just before I did. I spotted his ship when my own reached the docks. I didn't think twice about it. If anything, it would only mean my brother would hear of the news about me staying on the island even sooner than I'd anticipated."

"We'd barely missed each other, actually. When I was getting close to our house, he'd only just knocked."

Again, there was a brief moment of silence. Garmadon took a slow breath. "And when my wife opened. . . Her eyes brightened. They brightened the way they did when she would look at me. A look I had always taken to be for me, and me alone. It was unexpected. I was rooted to the spot, in the perfect position to spy the kiss they shared seconds later."

"I was so angry. How could she betray me? How could he? He was my brother. And here he was, stealing everything I had. I wanted answers. I wanted to swing my sword at them both, but I didn't. Instead, I ran."

"And that's when we met. Both running away for our own reasons. Both without anywhere to go." Garmadon sighed. "That's the last time I saw either of them. And that's why I fear what I'll do when I finally see him again."

The captain moved forward, reaching the side of the ship. "The only thing I know is. . . He'll deserve every single bit of my wrath."

"It's happening!"

Lloyd's shout was loud, but Jay didn't bother to cover his mouth. The ship itself was full of life now. With orders being shouted and footsteps scrambling to and fro, Lloyd's voice wasn't going to make much of a difference.

They had spent the night rubbing nails against the ropes that held the cannons in place, weakening them without fully forcing the rope to snap. The moment any of the sailors shot the cannon, the rope would break, sending it rolling wildly around the ship.

"A loose cannon is really dangerous on a ship." Lloyd had explained earlier. "The ship is always moving, so the cannon will roll and roll, wreaking plenty of havoc! Once, one of my uncle's soldiers lost both of his legs because of one. It rolled right over him."

It didn't sound pleasant, and Jay hated to know he would be the cause of someone else's pain, but this would render the cannons useless. Nya would be safe. So he'd helped, although rather reluctantly.

And now Jay could hear the panicked shouts above him as the cannon rolled in its newfound freedom.

"We need to go!" Lloyd felt energized, knowing his father was the closest he'd ever been. He had his grappling hook; all he needed was to swing onto the opposite ship. "Come on!"

Without waiting for Jay, the kid ran forward. Jay followed, shaking his head endlessly. "No, no we can't just go up there!"

"I really don't think stowaways are going to be noticed too much in the midst of battle."

"The midst of battle, kid! We're going to get shot, or sliced to pieces!"

"You want to get to your friend, don't you?"

Jay muttered something under his breath, but he continued to follow.

They passed the gun deck quickly, not wanting to stay in the same room as the cannons they'd set loose. When they finally climbed out into the open, Jay felt fear rooting him to the spot. The pirate ship beside him had a group of cannons itself, and they were doing a quick job of tearing the Admiral's ship to pieces.

A couple of pirates had already swung onto the ship, mercilessly swinging their swords at their enemies. The clash of steel and the sharp smell of blood was overwhelming, and Jay found it very difficult to focus on anything.

He turned his head, trying to spot the small child that had led him into so much trouble, but Lloyd was nowhere to be seen. For a brief second, Jay spotted Kai, looking even more terrifying than usual with his sword at hand.

Jay shivered, willing himself to focus on finding the kid. The pirates wouldn't stop and ask Lloyd if he was their captain's son, and Jay didn't want him to come to any harm.

"Lloyd!"

Lloyd heard Jay's shout, but he didn't bother to stop. The man would find him later.

Right now Lloyd had a purpose.

Moving through the battle was easier than he imagined it would be. Most of the fighting went on above his head, with no one bothering to look down at the child weaving throughout the clashing of swords.

And still, it didn't seem as if he were moving fast enough.

The moment Lloyd and Jay had reached the deck, Lloyd had quickly spotted his uncle, standing by the steering wheel, a gun in hand.

He'd followed his uncle's sight, his heart skipping a beat when his eyes fell upon what could be none other than his father. He was shouting orders wildly, pointing and urging the pirates around him to win. He had no idea a bullet would soon be heading towards him.

Lloyd didn't think his uncle would aim to kill, but he didn't care. He wasn't going to let any harm come to his father.

So he ran, hoping to reach the steering wheel before his uncle pulled the trigger.

Without a plan that would safely rid his uncle of the gun, Lloyd decided to go for the next best thing he could think of. Even when his uncle was before him, finger slowly searching for the trigger, Lloyd continued to run, throwing his body, full force, against his uncle's back.

"What-"

Lloyd was met with no resistance, as his uncle had been solely focused on aiming his weapon. Wu fell forward, toppling over the side of the ship. A loud splash announced his safe landing in the ocean, and Lloyd found himself overcome by laughter.

"Kid!" Jay skidded into place beside him, eyeing him with horror. "That was the. . . And you just. . ."

"He'll be fine," Lloyd shrugged, pulling the makeshift grappling hook from his small bag. "Now come on. We need to get to my dad's ship."

"That does not look safe."

"It's either that, or staying on a sinking ship." Lloyd shrugged.

"You make a good argument."