The moon was full that night with a brilliant silverish hue as it lit up the darkness of the ocean. Iron Claw's ship sailed without pause through the calm waters, its next destination unknown to all but the captain himself. But despite the peaceful and quiet setting that was above deck, below was quite the opposite.

Loud voices and drunken laughter rang out into nearly all cabins below deck as all the pirates had gathered in the mess hall for food and drink. Iron Claw, despite his frustrations, had been kind enough to open one of the barrels for the pirates to enjoy as a reward for the treasure that was retrieved. Something rarely seen by any of them.

Despite the merry festivities though, Scrap was still left with little choice but to fish under the table for any leftovers that would fall onto the floor. Having to crawl on all fours, he still found himself forced to jump out of the way of an incoming kick from any of the pirates that either saw or heard him. You'd think that with the lack of sobriety, his task of finding food with little resistance would be easy, but tonight, unfortunately, was no different than any other.

Turns out though, he wasn't the only one having a terrible time. Sphynx, the first mate who sat at the end of the table, looked like he was ready to strangle someone as he watched the pirate crew in disgust and disdain. One of the cats nearest him accidentally spilt his mug and Sphynx jumped out of his seat with bared teeth as the liquid nearly touched his arm.

"Don't get that crap on me, I have sensitive skin!" he complained as he checked his arm. They all teased him with a unified 'aw.'

"Ye gonna go put moisturizer on your skin before heading to bed?" one of them mocked.

"Shut up!" he replied irritably. "Don't forget who yer talking to!" Sphynx warned them before picking up his plate to head elsewhere. "And don't drink so much tonight. You all still have yer duties tomorrow." He added.

"Aye, aye, not captain."

Sphynx rolled his eyes at that one, but then he remembered something.

"Hey, hey!" he called to attention. "Has anyone fed that bear yet? It's getting late."

"He's the prisoner, so… who cares?" one of them replied, but instantly regretted it as Sphynx got right up in his face and the pirate had to shrink away to avoid getting spat on.

"Do enlighten me of the use Iron Claw will have with a STARVED CORPSE! Someone take food down to him, now!"

All the pirates instantly pointed paws at one another and Sphynx rolled his eyes.

"You," He announced as he singled out the black cat. "Grab a plate and take it to the bear."

The black cat sighed, resentful of his new task.

"Fine."

In the brig, Barnacles was sitting in his cell—knees folded to his chest—with his hands and ankles clasped in steel cuffs and chained to the floor. His head was resting on his knees with his eyes closed as it was too dark to see much of anything. The only source of light he had was the moonlight from the two windows on the far end of the room and a sliver of candlelight that shone through from under the door.

He busied himself by listening to the laughter and hollering that echoed his way. Although none of it was comprehensible, it was something he could preoccupy his mind with as he could not fall asleep.

When he heard a pair of boots getting louder, however, he opened his eyes and looked to the door. As expected, it opened to reveal one of the pirates and in his paws was a plate of food. The cat left the door open as he walked down the stairs and over to Barnacles' cell door.

"Bon appétit." The pirate said inconsiderately as he dropped the plate of food down at his feet, not caring that half of it spilled all over the floor.

Barnacles looked down at the food as the pirate left. He grimaced at its' repulsive smell and buried his face back into his knees so as to ignore it. But after some time, the door to the brig suddenly flew open again and he looked up to find that skinny grey cat tumbling down the stairs before catching himself mid-way.

"Try to steal food again, and ye be losing that eye!" a voice threatened him from somewhere on the other side of the doorway.

"Gluttonous fools!" Scrap hissed out in anger as he lifted himself up. He held his stomach before letting out a sorrowful sigh, "I only wanted a bite."

"You can have my food."

His eyes flung open at that statement and he turned his head slowly to make eye contact with Barnacles who was watching him behind the cell bars. Then Scrap saw the plate of food Barnacles was referring to.

"Me? Eat your food?" He started salivating at the thought of a whole dish, but then shook his head, "I… would be killed for such a thing! No, no, no, no. I wish to live."

Scrap turned to climb the stairs—on all fours—but another statement from Barnacles caused him to pause when he grabbed the door.

"But you look like you're starving. They don't really feed you, do they?"

The malnourished cat closed the door and made his way back down the steps and over to Barnacles. He sat next to the plate of food and grabbed hold of the bars with both paws.

"Do you see this scar?" Scrap asked as he leaned into the cage, only able to do so because of how thin he was. "Do you see my belly? This is what happens when you are dumb like I was and cross Iron Claw. I am the example for the rest of them. Of course no one feeds me."

"I'm so sorry." Barnacles replied, feeling deeply sympathetic for him in is current state.

"Sorry?" Scrap looked astounded, as if he had never known the meaning of the word.

"Look, I can go awhile without eating. Just take my food, no one will know and I promise I won't say anything."

Scrap studied him, "Promises don't mean anything on this ship; we are pirates."

"I'm not a pirate, I'm an Octonaut, and as Octonauts we help those in need. No matter who they are. You have my word."

With one more glance, Scrap could not resist the temptation any longer and dove face first into the plate. Barnacles was a bit shocked by his ferocity as it didn't even take a minute before every crumb and splattered gunk was swallowed up and the floor completely cleaned.

When Scrap was done, he met Barnacles' gaze before darting off towards the stairs. As he was climbing the steps he stopped and turned back to look at him again as if to say something, but no words managed to escape his lips and so he instead just zipped up the remaining stairs and slipped out the door.

Looking down at the plate, Barnacles reached forward to pull it back to him; leaving it by his feet so as to make it look like he consumed the food before he laid back against the cage wall to get some sleep.

With a cry of anger, the sword was swung against the scratching post again and again before Kwazii jumped away, onto his bed, and back down on the floor now behind his opponent. He jump-kicked the post with another yell before tackling the object onto the floor and giving it every claw he had. He kicked it away and returned to his feet, visualizing the scratching post as if it were Iron Claw.

"I'll strip you of command." He hissed with a few pants, completely exhausted from his 'battle.' But during this moment of silence, he sighed—defeated—and dropped his stance. He carried himself over to his bed and flopped onto it, tail lazily hanging off the side of it as he laid on his back.

"Don't worry, captain. I know we'll get you out of there… somehow." He whispered before rolling over to stare at the wall.

Over in the HQ, Dashi remained siting at the console as the scanners picked up two new signatures that the creature index determined to be reef sharks. She readjusted the auto pilot to follow the one closest to them, and thankfully it was also the one follow the path of Iron Claw's ship.

In no time, the Octopod came upon the sight of an exhausted blacktip reef shark swimming along the seabed. Upon closer look, she could see the wound on its jaw and smiled.

"Peso, come in Peso." She called and Peso's face came through on the monitor. "I found that shark from earlier. It's just outside."

"Good work, Dashi. Tunip and I will head out right away." Peso replied and he and Tunip quickly made their way down to the Launch Bay.

Out of the Octo-hatch came the Gup-E as it drove over to the shark in question. From the looks of it, it was swimming a little sluggishly—which wasn't a good sign. When they came up behind it, Peso made sure to announce themselves so as to not scare the creature.

"Hello, I'm Peso." He greeted through the mic, "I'm a medic and I help every creature whose hurt or sick." The shark looked back at them wearily as Peso continued, "It looks like you have a terrible gash on your jaw. Do you mind if I take a closer look?"

The blacktip sighed and stopped for a bit, "Yeah, go ahead."

"Um, no biting… please?" Peso requested and the shark nodded.

"It's not like I can do much… ow! I haven't been able to eat since I got this cut. It just hurts so bad." The shark explained as Peso swam out of the Gup-E and over to examine the wound.

"Don't worry, I know just how to make it feel better. But I'll need more tools than what I have here." He said, gesturing to his medical bag. "Do you mind if we take you back to the Octopod for further treatment?"

"Eh, I don't know. I have to keep swimming in order to breath."

"Don't worry, we can provide the means for you. I promise, you'll feel right at home." Peso reasoned with a warm smile.

"Well… alright doc."