"There is one way to control Monkey King. I was loathe to use it, but he has given us little choice... the Crown of Command." Shunzang the Wise said. "You must travel to the Shadow Fortress and put the Crown of Command into Monkey King's golden helmet. Conceal it well!"

"When he reclaims his armor, and do not think any force can stop him from doing so, Monkey King will be ours to control! To get to the armor, you must defeat Kirigi, lord of the Shadow Fortress, a powerful and terrifying ninja pig. I will alert your loved ones."

"Gee, that's real encouraging." Emma deadpanned, and I chuckled softly as I turned to leave for the Santo Oro. It was midnight by the time we dropped anchor at the Shadow Fortress northwest of Subata, and using a grappling hook, we climbed over the walls only to find...

"Ninjas again... Why couldn't another wizard have the armor?" Nikolai asked with a sigh. The ninja pigs said nothing as they leapt to attack us with ninjato, their short swords. Three gunshots and a loud THWACK later, all of them were lying on the ground unconscious.

"Are ninja pigs weaker in numbers? I feel I could defeat hundreds, but fear facing one alone!" I asked, and Nikolai explained. "It's the Conservation of Ninjutsu. In any given fight, there's only so much power available to each side, so as a result, one ninja's a deadly threat, but an army of them? Cannon fodder. And look, there's a cave!"

As we entered the cave, crystals on the walls began to glow, lighting up the path to a chasm, which was too far apart for us to leap across. Suddenly, Emma perked up. "Wait, did you hear that?"

Many ninja pigs then dropped down from the ceiling to throw shuriken at us, and as we ducked, Nikolai took out a piece of chalk to draw a magic circle on the ground that crackled with blue electricity as he touched it. Suddenly, the ninja pigs were thrown off their feet as small pillars of earth quickly rose beneath their feet, and Nikolai shouted, "Come on!"

Dashing out of the cave as quickly as we could, we raced to the upper courtyard, where more ninjas awaited us, and some of their shurikens managed to tear through our clothing before we slammed the butts of our weapons into their guts.

We burst through the doors to find a ninja pig, most likely Kirigi, wearing silver armor while meditating on a cushion. He picked up the ninjato lying at his side, and stood to face us, or rather, just me as Emma and Nikolai backed away. "Y-you guys are leaving me!?"

"It is one ninja pig, Matt. We wouldn't want to split up the power. And besides, who's going to play the awesome boss battle music?" Nikolai said, and then he turned to Kirigi. "If that's alright with you?"

Kirigi nodded, and Nikolai grinned, tapping his staff on the ground to summon two speakers (not that I have any idea what they were called, obviously) that landed with heavy thumps on the wooden floor as a dance rock type of song came on.

Kirigi then lunged at me with his sword, and I was barely able to bring up my sword in time to block it. Blunting my sword with blue energy, it left a glowing blue arc in its path as I swung it, but Kirigi managed to block it.

We went on like that for what must've been a full five minutes before we heard a gunshot, and Kirigi fell to the floor, Emma with a smoking sniper rifle behind him. "When you watch guys duke it out with swords for awhile, you tend to get a sense of deja vu."

"Thanks." I said as I sheathed my cutlass. "Kirigi was a lot tougher than his henchmen, though. I doubt I could've beaten him without your help."

"You can thank me later. We have to find Monkey King's golden armor!" Emma said as she began searching Kirigi's body, and I nodded as Nikolai said, "If I know anything about secret hideouts, there will be a secret door somewhere nearby... maybe underneath that statue?"

All three of us began pushing the base of the stone ninja pig statue, and we soon uncovered a sturdy trapdoor made of ironwood. It was locked, so Nikolai waved his staff, and a second later, the two speakers crashed through with their weight.

"Ah ha! I bet this leads straight to the treasure vault... where the golden armor's kept!" Emma said with a grin. She led the climb down to the treasure vault, where her eyes reflected the gleam of the coins on the floor as the uncertain light of the lanterns shone on them.

"Look at all this gold! It'd be enough to wreck several economies!" Nikolai exclaimed, and I frowned as I gazed at it. "It's blood money - wages taken for killing people. Oh well, fill your pockets with everything but the coins so their value goes up when we reach port!"

After having filled our pockets with trinkets, Emma handed me the Crown of Command, a simple golden band that fit snugly inside the helmet. "Now Monkey King won't be able to notice the Crown of Command, but will it really control him?"

Emma put a hand on my shoulder. "Even if it doesn't, I'm sure we can take him on. Let's get back to Subata."

"Excellent! You are right on time." Shunzang said as we returned to the Temple of Eternal Serenity in Subata. "Let me teach you the phrase that activates the Crown of Command. The words will make the crown constrict, squeezing Monkey King's head and forcing him to submit. Unfortunate, but sadly necessary. These are the words: Sun Wukong."

"Sun Wukong." I repeated, and then Monkey King burst through the door of the temple."What's this? We were friends, Shunzang, and now you conspire against me? Oh well... time to put these pirates out of my misery!"

"Monkey King, you disappoint me. The Crown of Command prevents you from harming this pirate." Shunzang said calmly as he gestured to me, and Monkey King blinked in surprise. "The crown? I'm not putting that thing on!"

"Too late, monkey boy. Take off your helmet." Nikolai said, and he grinned as Monkey King gawked at the crown on his head. "How do you like them apples?"

"What? Well, I may not be able to hurt him, but what about this little boy?" Monkey King growled as he put on his helmet, and as he pointed his staff at an unconcerned Nikolai, Shunzang said quickly to me, "Say the words!"

"Sun Wukong!" I said in my best captain's voice, and Monkey King clutched at his head, dropping his staff in the process."Ow! Stop it - stop it! Oh, that hurts! Alright, alright! I surrender! I'll do whatever you say!"