Three chapters posted in one day. I hope the next time I post chapters I'm hoping it can be just one a day or week. And of course I thank Albertthe21stGenius for helping me write this chapter.

XXX

"Commander!"

Braggart raised his eyes to glare daggers at his unfortunate subordinate. Was there really any need for all that yelling?

Gulping, said subordinate continued in a much quieter voice, saying, "We're just about to come alongside the ship, sir. What would you like us to do now?"

Braggart got to his feet. "We shall greet them, of course." he said, leading the way on deck.

Both ships finally intersected with both stopping at the same time. Both planks were raised; it was Dorobou greeting the marines and Braggart greeting the Pirates. The two men stared at each other for a long time without blinking.

It was obvious their encounter wasn't a friendly one but there was no decision on whether they would fight one another. Braggart spoke first.

"Good day." he said, a forced smile on his face, "What brings you to these waters?"

Dorobou raised an eyebrow, and replied with a question if his own. "Why do you ask?"

" Just curious. It would be careless also if you are sailing through these waters without weapons or repairs for any damages this ship might sustain."

" . . . Thank you for your concern, but we're fine." Dorobou said stiffly.

Braggart narrowed his eyes. As the ship and its crew had yet to be declared criminals, the commander couldn't legitimately sink them, no matter how desperate he may have been to get a hold of the dragon. He needed some other way to be rid of them . . .

"What is your destination, if I may ask?"

Yokai, being the navigator, answered this time.

"What's it to you?" he said suspiciously.

"Really," Braggart replied, "I simply asked a question. Why all the hostility?"

No one answered him, and Braggart racked his mind for the name of the nearest island in the area.

"Hm . . . you wouldn't happen to be heading for Ratchet Island, would you?"

Yokai raised an eyebrow, but didn't say a word. Braggart sighed, putting on an aggrieved act.

"I sure feel sorry for you if you are." the commander said, "I've heard terrible rumors about the place."

He was lying. Apart from the island's name, he knew next to nothing about the place. Odds were that this crew wouldn't know anything either. It should be easy to trick them and convince them to change their course.

" Really? Tell us all about the next island!" A boy with a very high voice said in excitement.

Dorobou and Braggart looked in the air. Dorobou saw Fletcher again but the young captain was still in the same dumb situation where he was holding the dragon's legs. Braggart rubbed his eyes to make sure what he was seeing was real; there was really a dragon at sea.

The beast had doubled back to the boat because Fletcher had created a strong headwind to keep it from going further away from his crew.

Dorobou was happy Fletcher was back on the ship but his timing would be better if a Marine ship and a Marine officer weren't staring at him and the rest of the crew in the face.

"Who's that?" Fletcher asked, taking notice of Braggart.

Dorobou didn't feel like explaining to the idiot who the marine was and what he was doing on a plank going to their ship. He was a little angry honestly. For the past few years, the young man had been forced to pay off Raver weekly to keep him from destroying the island while the government sat on its hands doing nothing. It had only ended thanks to Fletcher. And then here was this marine looking all high and mighty . . . Dorobou clenched his fists.

Fletcher, upon receiving no answer, dismissed the marine as being of no consequence, though even he knew to keep half an eye open. The young captain watched Braggart out of the corner of his eye as he yelled up at Christopher "Can we eat the dragon?"

For a moment everything was still. Then everyone, including the marines, screeched "You can't eat the dragon!"

Fletcher pouted, and wondered why the marine officer was so pale.

Suddenly, there was a loud whump!

He looked to see that the dragon had landed . . . on the pirates' deck. It had pinned down the strange boy, and appeared to be looking deep into his eyes . . .

"Are you sure we can't eat it?" Fletcher said, without breaking eye contact. The dragon bared its teeth, and made as if to bite him.

"I didn't mean it!" Fletcher yelped, suddenly worried. The dragon growled at him.

XXX

Sherry had found a newsboy-style cap and an over-sized coat to disguise herself with. She put these on and went out on deck, figuring that it was better to see the enemy than to wait for them to come to her.

She stopped dead in the doorway, and just stared.

There was a marine warship, its commander eyeing a winged lizard greedily. Said winged lizard had Fletcher pinned beneath it, and was eyeing the captain as if the captain was lunch. Yokai, hidden from the marines by the dragon's bulk, was reaching out to poke it with his staff, frowning and murmuring to himself as he did. Dorobou looked like he wanted to punch something.

Christopher was up in the crows nest, looking boredly down at the spectacle. His eyes met Sherry's, and he raised an eyebrow. She glared back.

Poke.

The staff pressed hard into the dragon's side. Several things happened at once.

The dragon threw itself into the air with a yelp, Yokai leapt forward as if to catch it, and the marines shot a net at Fletcher.

" Wind Swirling Circle Whip!"

Fletcher blew from his hand an invisible pressure of air. The air went to the sea and came back to the ship in a thorn looking circle of spinning air. The circle came rushing to the net and by its power pushed the next back where it went flying to a cabin boy that wasn't Sherry. After doing that the circle rose overhead Yokai and the dragon...suddenly, they were floating. Because dragons have wings giving them flight it only seemed like it was floating but the stunned look on its face was the same as the ship's navigator Yokai.

The strength of Fletcher's updraft surprised everyone, and no one moved as he blew air into the sails to speed his ship away from the marines.

The dragon snatched Yokai out of the air and took off after the pirates, leaving Braggart to stand and roar "After them, men!"

But without Fletcher's artificial breeze, they didn't stand a chance in the Blues of catching up today.

XXX

Christopher held tight to the mast for dear life to avoid being blown off the ship as it surged forward. His long tongue had whipped out to rescue Dorobou, who had been unprepared for Fletcher's move and had almost tumbled off the ship.

Christopher was resigned by now to his tongue being used as rope. But it still hurt when a terrified Dorobou squeezed it to get a grip to climb back aboard.

Sherry was fine, having grabbed onto the doorway, and she was glaring at the laughing face of Fletcher.

XXX

A couple of hours later, after the ship has slowed down . . .

"Lunch is ready!" Christopher called.

Christopher had made sliced sandwiches with headless fish and smoked green peppers.

Yokai slipped the peppers to Fletcher when the cook wasn't looking. Yokai wasn't really a fan of vegetables.

"Grrk?"

Yokai jumped violently at a noise right beside his ear, turning to see the dragon sticking its head and long neck through the door. It was staring around, looking hungry.

Christopher threw a sandwich at it.

"Get out of my kitchen!" the cook said crossly, glaring as the sandwich disappeared down the dragon's gullet.

" Isn't feeding the dragon going to make it want to keep coming to your kitchen?" Dorobou asked.

" As long as I get to make it behave I don't care how much of my food it eats, but if it ruins how good my food tastes I will chop it into tiny pieces and make a stir fry with its meat."

The dragon gulped, and hurriedly retreated.

XXX

"Land ho- OOF!"

Yokai squirmed as the dragon stood on him. Spots appeared in his vision-

"Get off the damn monk." Christopher ordered. The dragon, having already learned to fear the cook, immediately did as it was told.

Wheezing, Yokai sat up, glaring at the dragon, not just because it had just squashed him. It was that the dragon reminded him of something, but he couldn't quite figure out what.

The lizard stretched in the sun, rainbow scales flashing in a manner similar to how Anetha's treasure had when Yokai had last saw it . . .

XXX

The ship nosed up to the dock, and Dorobou was quick to tie it up.

The whole crew looked out at Ratchet Island, and wondered if that marine was psychic or something. The town before them appeared deserted. Which wasn't really a bad thing in their eyes, since less people meant less obstacles they had to go through. Assuming, of course, that whatever had caused the town to be abandoned wasn't still lurking-

Ka-Boom!

-around.

The whole crew, including dragon, stared as a distant building collapsed. If the crew entered that building just a short while ago they would have been died beneath the rubble. Yokai shook his head, and focused back on the dragon.

Fletcher jumped overboard with glee, closely followed by Christopher. Sherry trailed behind at a more sedate pace, looking a little unsure of herself.

Dorobou kept an eye on the smoke for a moment longer, face grim. Then he sighed, and asked "So, what are we doing."

"Restocking." Christopher replied, "Do you want to come, or do you want to stay with the ship?"

The ship's new treasurer jumped off the ship, and the whole crew minus Yokai went into town for supplies.

Yokai, on Christopher's suggestion, was staying on the ship with the dragon.