Luz and her friends had as promised helped Jerbo carry the bags of coal to the ship. Morton had mantained his word and had given them exactly the type of coal that Jerbo had wanted; as soon as they reached the ship the boy immediately tried to burn some of them, and to everyone's surprise the steam engine activated at the first shot. "Yay! It works!" Jerbo exclaimed jubilantly.

"In my opinion it's just luck. It won't start on the next try" Barcus teased him. He was happy for his friend, but that certainly didn't stop him from having a laugh at his friend's expense.

Jerbo looked at him triumphantly. "Laugh, laugh! You'll see, this engine will always work from now! With this our ship will become the fastest in the ocean and we will plunder everything we find! We will become very rich and I will build an entire fleet..."

"And maybe you'll use it to take over a town or maybe the world? I'd like to see that" Viney chuckled.

Jerbo clenched his fists. "Well, I don't know what I'll do yet... but I will!"

Luz couldn't help but smile. Even though she had only known him for a short time, she was happy that Jerbo had gotten what he wanted so much. And now that his invention also worked for Barcus, Viney and all the other pirates life would have become much easier. She didn't know how morally acceptable it was to be happy about something like that since those people were dangerous pirates, but she didn't really care. She was about to say a few words of encouragement when a familiar shadow passed over her and a cloaked individual with a golden mask on his face, a staff in his hand and a red cardinal-shaped Palisman in his shoulder landed on the ship. Viney, Barcus and Jerbo immediately jumped to attention, expecting him to be an intruder, but Luz, Masha and Vee widened their eyes in surprise, so much so that Vee even partially lost control of the transformation and large fins and white spots they sprouted all over the body. "HUNTER!?" the three of them exclaimed in unison.

"Hey, guys! Look who we found!" Gus exclaimed as he stepped out from under the boy's white cloak, followed by Willow.

Hunter seemed momentarily hesitant about what to do and glanced unnervingly at Viney, Jerbo, and Barcus, but then he shrugged and took off his golden mask. Evidently he didn't consider them dangerous enough to keep his identity hidden, or he had already assumed that they knew him since they were in the company of people who had already seen him. As soon as his face was exposed again, he gave a small (very small) smile to Masha, Vee and Luz. "It's good to see you guys again"

"I can't believe this! Why are you here in Bonesborough?" Luz asked, then a little fear sparked in her eyes. "Wait... there isn't a greater basilisk or some other monster hidden here too, is there?"

"No! Why do you all always ask me the same thing!?" Hunter snapped in annoyance.

Luz rolled her eyes. "Ah, I don't know, maybe because you hunt monsters for job, and so it's logical to think that where you are there's also a monster?"

Hunter opened his mouth to reply, but couldn't find any valid arguments so he closed it immediately, despite this it made Luz smile victoriously and this caused a spasm of anger in him that made the puppet giggle even more. But Hunter didn't have time to threaten her because Viney interjected: "Wait a minute, is this half-ass the famous monster hunter that cricket was talking about?"

Willow nearly choked on her own saliva and looked for a moment like she was about to pass out, and she prayed to every deity in heaven and earth and sea that Hunter wouldn't ask for details, and luckily the boy was focused on other things. "How dare you call me a half-ass? I can knock you out with one punch, ponytail!"

"Hunter, you shouldn't go against her. She jumped into the sea in the middle of a storm onto a giant shark" Gus whispered in his ear.

Hunter raised an eyebrow. From his point of view, diving headfirst into a giant shark was something only a madman or a creature of unimaginable power could do, but the girl in front of him certainly didn't meet the requirements of the second option; Hunter had spent his entire life in the company of magical creatures and had learned to recognize them by now, so he could say with absolute certainty that Viney was an ordinary human. Which only left open the option that she was completely crazy; however, if she was still alive after committing such an act, she must not be without resources, so it was more convenient to avoid confrontation for the time being.

Too bad Viney didn't think the same. "Tsk! As if I could let you beat me, blondie! If you're that strong, prove it in combat!"

"What are you… hey!" Hunter moved suddenly and dodged two daggers that the girl had just thrown at him. "Are you serious!?"

"I have a strange deja-vu" Masha commented looking at that scene.

Viney stretched. "Of course I'm serious! If you're really a monster hunter, I'm a pigeon... even Puddles could beat you! In fact, do it now! Come on, Puddles!"

"What are you… urgh!" Hunter barely managed to slur a few words before a fat pigeon flew at his face and filled his mouth with feathers, then began pecking and clawing at him furiously. A normal person faced with such an attack would have at least backed away, but Hunter was certainly not a pushover and without too many hesitations he grabbed Puddles by the neck and threw him at the feet of his owner, who managed to catch him just in time before he slammed his head against the solid wood of the ship and suffer a cerebral hemorrhage.

Viney didn't like the boy's treatment of Puddles at all. After securing the pigeon she looked at Hunter with furious eyes. "Okay… now this is personal!" and having said this she rushed at him with a war cry.

"Stay back! I don't want to hur... uh!?" Hunter easily dodged Viney's punch, which passed by his cheek without doing anything to him, but the girl with her other hand pulled a knife from behind her back and aimed at his abdomen; Hunter managed to block it thanks to his extraordinary reflexes, but that single movement told him a lot about his opponent. Viney had managed to move quickly enough to take him by surprise, she had worked out a pretty good tactic, and Hunter also knew for sure that the knife had been aimed at a non-vital point, a sign that she knew exactly which parts of the body to hit.

He was suddenly more interested in the duel. He had only met Luz for five minutes, but he already understood that she seemed to have surrounded herself with new friends; and since his goal was now to capture her, he absolutely had to use that opportunity to obtain information on his potential adversaries. He already knew that Luz had Vee on her side, a basilisk who, although not at the level of the greater basilisk they had already defeated, was certainly very dangerous, and Masha, who despite being a simple human had been the leader of a resistance and possessed great physical abilities. If there had only been the two of them to defend Luz he wouldn't have hesitated to take a risk and face them, but if their three new friends (or four? He didn't know if the pigeon should be counted too) were strong too, then he would have to act with caution. After all, even if he surpassed all of them in terms of strength and power, a group of numerous people had the advantage of being able to use many tricks that could make him difficult. Hunter also wasn't sure if he would be able to fight at his full power due to... silly moral and empathic issues. So he could use that duel to learn something more about Viney at least.

Without complaining anymore, Hunter's gaze became serious and his body moved fluidly; however, Viney was faster than him and definitely more aggressive. Hunter concluded that the girl's fighting style was based on a direct attack, which however left little room for defense. With a simple movement of his hand he grabbed Flapjack, which transformed into a magic wand in his hand, and then he suddenly waved it; his body became lightning fast and instantly moved behind Viney, who was taken completely by surprise and almost let herself be hit, but at the last second she managed to turn and blocked Hunter's punch, who it was still powerful enough to make her take three steps back.

"Wow! He managed to control it!" Luz exclaimed in ecstasy. She remembered when Hunter first used Flapjack's power, and he wasn't able to use it well at the time; he must have been training since then. And in fact the boy was fighting exclusively with the Palisman, without using his staff, a sign that he had acquired a certain familiarity with it.

Viney let out a small growl; it was the first time in many years that someone had managed to get so close to her. However, she didn't let herself be intimidated and took a leap towards her opponent, who again moved behind her, but this time Viney had foreseen it and didn't let herself be caught unprepared; she grabbed Hunter's hand and held it despite his extraordinary strength, and with her free hand she tried to hit him in the eye, but the boy was quicker and quickly dodged it. "You've already adapted to this fighting style. You're not bad at all" Hunter commented.

Viney gritted her teeth; even though Hunter had technically paid her a compliment, his calm tone of voice suggested that he didn't consider her a worthy opponent in the slightest, and that his was just a casual consideration, not a real sign of appreciation. Furthermore, the fact that he still hadn't used his staff, which was clearly his most powerful weapon, made her realize that the boy was in fact holding back. Well, she was intent on making him understand that she wasn't an easy prey. With a quick dash she threw her knife at him and Hunter dodged it easily, and soon after Viney ran towards him with fists raised; but behind the boy the knife struck the ship's boiler and bounced off it, and it swung at Hunter behind him. The boy managed to notice it only at the last second and teleported away using Flapjack, but Viney attacked him again without giving him any respite. That succession of attacks continued for a few minutes, and for a moment Hunter seemed to be in serious difficulty, but at a certain point he appeared in front of Viney and pointed two fingers at her throat, pausing for an instant before hitting her. "You're dead. I won"

Viney swallowed; for a fraction of a second she felt the blast hit her neck and her survival instinct was activated, warning her of mortal danger. "Seriously? For two fingers pointed at the throat?"

"If I hadn't stopped, I would have paralyzed your trachea with these two fingers. Are you good at fighting even while you're dying of suffocation, or are you simply a zombie?" Hunter asked her rhetorically. "You are skilled, I admit it. But you completely lack precision. You are clearly used to facing opponents not at your level, or monsters that are too large. It is easy to hit a giant shark in the right place to stop its attack; doing it with a person is very harder". Finally he abandoned his position and Viney no longer had his fingers pointed at his throat. "If it's any consolation, you're one of the few humans I've met in my life who could stand up to me; for a moment, I was almost forced to use my magic staff. There aren't many who have managed to push me so far, and you came very close; you can be proud of it"

Viney looked down angrily. She had lost... for the first time in years, she had lost a duel. The defeat burned inside her like a fire. But suddenly she heard something that distracted her: a continuous 'cri-cri' coming from Hunter's throat; he noticed it too and looked down, and they both saw that Willow was hanging there, pointing her paw at the boy's windpipe, the same way he'd pointed his fingers at Viney's. "Technically, you're the one who died first, Hunter. I've been here for at least five minutes"

Hunter was confused. "What? It was a duel between me and that hothead girl..."

"So what? I don't remember you had any problems accepting help against the greater basilisk. In a real battle there are no rules!" Willow scolded him. "Viney is friends with Luz, so she's also my friend, and I help her"

"Wow! Thanks, little cricket!" Viney exclaimed. Even though she still felt the shame of defeat, she was amused to see Hunter become so angry.

"Tsk! So now who would you be, the captain of a fighting team?" Hunter grumbled, then he grabbed Willow with one hand and pointed a finger at her chest. If he had exerted any force there, she would surely have been crushed into a pulp. "Now you're dead too"

"I know. Alone, none of us can fight you. But during the duel with Viney you didn't notice my presence. It wasn't easy, but I managed to slip into your cloak and reach your neck. I could kill you at any moment. So be more humble and don't look down on anyone here" Willow replied, then she moved quickly and slipped out of Hunter's grasp, and jumped on his face and raised a fist above his eyes. "And yes... call me 'captain' from now on... I like it" she said with a cheeky smile.

For a moment there was silence between the two, and they stared intensely into each other's eyes without blinking, almost as if it were a staring contest... and then such silence was broken by Luz's disgusted voice: "If now you two kiss, I'm gonna puke"

"What!? Of course not!" Willow exclaimed flying away from Hunter's face, who, despite not understanding the reason behind the puppet's words, still turned more or less the color of a ripe tomato. Gus shook his head: Luz had ruined a very beautiful moment...

However, the puppet didn't seem to care... or maybe she hadn't even noticed. "Anyway, are you done fighting by now? I don't like that it is the first thing we do after meeting a friend again, even if it's a snooty guy with an annoying and high-pitched voice"

From the look Hunter was giving her it was pretty obvious that he was considering cutting Luz up into little pieces and making a puzzle out of it. "The two of us are not friends! You are just an annoying individual who I had the misfortune of meeting and with whom I once made the mistake of allying myself!"

"Tsk! I still beat you with insults! You haven't improved, cabbage head!" the puppet mocked him, making Viney and partly Barcus burst out laughing, despite Jerbo staring at them with a disappointed look.

"I'll…!" Hunter was about to lose control, and Willow thought maybe she needed to intervene, but a booming voice stopped him: "Hey, blondie! The rules of the ship are that you fight either while you're boarding or while you're drunk! You're not doing any of these things, so lower your crest, or get off my boat!"

Hunter turned and saw that a large individual who looked like a cross between a man and a lobster had appeared on the deck of the ship, followed by a large crew of sailors who looked very fit and ready to fight. "Captain Salty, are you already returned?" Viney greeted him.

"Yes. That Odalia Blight was quite a haughty woman, but she paid us well" Salty said, dropping a sack full of gold coins onto the ship's deck. "Who is that blond guy?"

"He's a friend of ours" Luz said, then looked at Hunter with a smile. "Right?"

Hunter's eyelids trembled with anger. He could almost see Luz's intentions in her eyes: she wanted him to admit that he was her friend! That damn impertinent puppet! She was so satisfied that she was already giggling under her breath! Hunter considered saying no and keeping his pride, but then he remembered that he had a mission and so, albeit with a lot of irritation, he answered: "Yes... I'm their friend"

"Oh, well, in this case you are welcome" Captain Salty said with a smirk. "Please take your time to talk, we don't set sail before sunset"

As soon as the other pirates had retreated to the hold to share the profits, Luz burst out laughing. "Ah! You admitted it, we're friends!" she exclaimed, and Hunter had to summon all his self-control not to slam Flapjack on her head, or grab her body and hurl her into the sea. "Now that we've confirmed our unbreakable friendship, how about you tell us why you're here? I admit I'm curious"

Hunter rolled his eyes. "I'm hunting, obviously. I'm currently looking for information on my prey, but don't worry, it's not in this town. I'm just following its tracks" he said, remaining deliberately vague and giving a short and concise answer.

"What is it this time?" Luz seemed pretty excited. "Another basilisk? A vampire? A witch? Maybe a dragon?"

"Stop asking me questions, I don't mean to talk about it, especially in front of strangers" Hunter said glancing at Viney, Jerbo and Barcus. However, despite these words, to Luz this seemed more like an excuse than the truth; but before he could investigate further Hunter spoke up: "What about you? Last time I checked, you all were on the other side of the ocean"

A slight dark veil passed over Luz's face. "We're... looking for my mother. She had gone out to sea to look for me. She's here... or at least, she should be here. I'm starting to think we're in the wrong place"

Hunter looked a little sorry for her, but suddenly his eyes lit up: "Wait… is your mother by any chance a tanned woman with black hair, she sails a very small boat, and her name is Camila?"

Silence reigned for an instant, so much so that time seemed to freeze on the ship; then Luz exclaimed: "Yes... yes, that's right! Have you seen her?"

"Yes! I met her as I was crossing the sea. Flapjack and I were flying with my staff while a storm was raging around us, and he noticed a little boat floating in the waves, and there was a woman on it who was miraculously managing not to fall into the water" Hunter explained, then he pointed to the staff on his shoulder. "I jumped into her little boat and I used some of my magic to protect her and allow her to get through the storm unscathed... and to avoid all the dangers that it contained, as at one point I even found myself fighting against a hydra. She was very grateful for my help; when the winds finally calmed down I offered to give her a ride to the coast, but she refused, telling me that she wanted to explore every single piece of her journey. She said to me that she was looking for her daughter and wanted to make sure she left no place uncharted... but I didn't imagine that daughter was you"

"So she's fine!" Luz exclaimed triumphantly. She was over the moon: for a moment she seriously thought the worst had happened. "Thank you for helping her, Hunter! You have my eternal gratitude! Is… is she still coming here?"

Hunter seemed somewhat uncomfortable at being thanked in that way by the puppet who until then he had only found very annoying. "Yes, she was always headed towards Bonesborough, and I doubt that she will encounter any more dangers before she arrives, because there are no more storms on the horizon and before I left I lined the hull of her boat with the teeth of the hydra so that the smell of its poison would remain constantly around to her, so the sea monsters will think twice before attacking her. Given the speed with which she was sailing... I'd say she'll arrive here by this exactly hour tomorrow"

Luz raised an eyebrow. How was it possible that her mother was arriving after them, if they had left after and had also wasted time fighting the demon hunters? "Um… maybe I figured out what happened" Jerbo said. "Since my engine ran continuously for four days, we went much faster than normal ships... and since we had deviated slightly in order to attack the demon hunters, our trajectory was a bit erratic... we could having passed your mother without realizing it. Maybe we passed her one or two kilometers away or even less"

Luz wanted to curse; so the fact that she still hadn't hugged her mother again was only due to a mere mistake of the fate? Luckily Hunter offered her a solution: "As I told you, she'll be here within a day at most, you just have to wait. But if you don't want..." and a strange light passed in his eyes, "... I can take you to her. I can fly, you know"

Luz smiled. "Really? Would you be so kind as to help me?"

"Of course, it's not a long flight, it won't cost me much magical energy. I can't carry too many passengers, but only you won't be a problem. Your friends can wait for you here" Hunter replied, and his tone became strangely more sinister. Luz didn't know why, but she felt a little intimidated when he held out his hand. "We could reach her in not even four or five hours and..."

"And we can reach her in three!" Viney exclaimed, suddenly intervening. "Now that the steam engine is working it will be a joke to get to you! Right, Jerbo?"

The boy was a little confused at being called upon so suddenly, but he replied anyway: "Um, yes... actually we could do it in just three hours"

Hunter looked somewhat displeased. "Seriously, you don't need to bother an entire ship. I can carry her and..."

"No one bothers! We would have set sail soon anyway!" Viney said again, and as she spoke she grabbed Luz by the shoulders and dragged her behind her. "And you have more important things to do! You're looking for a monster, aren't you? You should hurry before he hurts anyone! Go ahead, we'll take care of things here!"

Hunter was about to retort, but he noticed that the other pirates were returning and all of them seemed quite nervous, especially their captain. Evidently Viney must have had some way of communicating with them nonverbally and asking for their support; or perhaps they simply understood from his behavior and body language that something was wrong. In the end he decided on the less belligerent solution: "Okay, then good luck. If you still want to meet me when you return, I will stay at the Red Lobster Inn until tomorrow evening, after which I will leave town. I hope to see you again. Byeeee!" and having said this he jumped on his staff and left the ship without looking back.

Luz glared at Viney: "What's wrong with you? He just wanted to help me out!"

"You may trust him, but I don't. I feel like that guy is dangerous. Call it pirate instinct" Viney replied. "From my personal experience, if someone tries so hard to convince you to go with them, then they rarely get you where you really wanted to go"

Luz was somewhat surprised by Viney's statements. It wasn't the first time someone suspected Hunter, but she didn't expect even a pirate to fear him. And her friends seemed to think the same way too. "I'm sure Hunter had no bad intentions" Willow said. "He just has a bad way of dealing with people, but he's not evil. You shouldn't be so prejudiced just because he defeated you"

"And you shouldn't trust him so easily just because you have a little crush on him" Viney retorted, making the cricket blush. "And anyway, it's done now. So, do you want to continue complaining, or would you rather leave and go get your mother?"

Luz's eyes widened. "Do you really want to help me?"

"Sure, what did you expect?" Viney let out a laugh. "Jerbo, fuel that boiler properly. We'll set sail in ten minutes!"

"But... shouldn't you ask your captain first?" Luz rightly pointed out.

"Huh? Oh, you're right... hey, captain! Do you mind if we take the ship out to sea for a bit to pick up Luz's mom?" Viney asked.

Salty let out a snort. "They're serving good beer at the tavern tonight and I want to restock the hold before we set sail. Will we be back before then?"

"According to Jerbo, it will only take us three hours"

"Then feel free to do so. Everyone, prepare to set sail!"

Viney winked at Luz. "See? Come on, let's go get your mother!"

In case anyone wants to know, in terms of pure physical strength Viney is not very far from Hunter (also because the human body cannot improve infinitely), but he, as he himself said, vastly surpasses her in technique, precision and experience being an elite soldier. If Hunter had used his magic staff, the fight would have been even more in his favor. However, Hunter is also aware that a fight with him against the entire pirate crew plus Vee and Masha and also Willow who knows (thanks to her) how to paralyze nerves and has shown him that she can slip into his dress without him knowing realize that it would be very disadvantageous even if he fought at maximum power; after all, someone could always attack him from behind while he's facing someone else. Keep in mind that Hunter knows full well that he is not invincible and is not stupid, and therefore prefers to avoid battles if he is not absolutely sure of winning. We had already seen this strategic awareness in his first appearance, in which he had considered the possibility of capturing Luz and Vee, but then had given up on it since they had met resistance and he did not want to face them all together