With their stolen goods in hand, the sloop stopped at Dagger Tooth Outpost. Blue and Z were both astonished by how much their thievery paid out, if for their own reasons. They considered spending some of their earnings there and decided against it, avoiding the outpost's kitchen and spending the night on the ship. Then they continued out of the Wilds.

Per Blue's request, they headed more northerly this time, avoiding K9 and instead reaching the skeletal stronghold of Kraken Watchtower. Despite it seemingly void of skellies, after Hidden Spring, they did a full sweep of the island just to be sure. Z even dug at a few spots where the dirt looked recently disturbed. Fortunately, the island appeared to be entirely abandoned, so they spent the rest of the day and night there.

After, they travelled further north to a small island. It was still morning when they reached it so they had plenty of time to sit and do just about nothing.

"This is Scurvy Isley, correct?" Blue asked at one point in the evening while she was sitting with a book.

"Scurvy Isle, yeah," he'd replied.

There was no way that Z could have predicted the argument that the little island would spawn. Blue insisted that the island was called Scurvy Isley, with another 'ee' noise at the end of the second word. He had never heard it called anything but what he had said, but she was so insistent that he yielded shortly after they went back and forth a few times. If she wanted to call an island something that no one else called it, she was welcome to make herself happy. It was not worth getting worked up about.

From the little island on the edge of the Wilds, they finally went in a proper westerly direction towards the Shores of Plenty. Picaroon Palms was their nighttime destination, another small island. Or it would have been, had they not been distracted while crossing the channel.

"Do you hear that?"

Laid back on the deck, Z lifted his head to better listen. It took a moment for him to figure it out.

"Aw, shit."

Before he could get to his feet, a gigantic purple shark breached the water's surface behind the sloop. He heard Blue swear as she leapt into action, grabbing cannonballs. She did not react with the violent alarm he expected out of her, so he didn't think that this was her first encounter with a megalodon. If it was, she was doing an incredible job of staying relatively calm.

"We should keep movin' in case it doesn't attack," he declared, fiddling with a cannon. "You take left, I got right," he added, already loading his determined cannon. Blue grunted an affirmation.

"There's a spare blunderbuss in the cabinet if you like," she said.

It took a moment, but Z decided that yes, he would like to have a second gun on his person right now. Shooting the beast when it was out of cannon range would do little to dissuade it, but it still seemed to do something and that was good enough for him.

"Have you fought one of these before?" Z asked for clarification. He needed to know what she knew.

"I had one follow me across the channel once, but never did it attack."

"But you understand the idea? Shoot it, shoot it more when it charges, and don't stop until it dies?"

"That seems reasonable," she conceded.

With an intent gaze, the megalodon circled the sloop. Whether it would follow them until they were out of its territory or attempt to defend it with violence was yet to be determined. Z hated that one could never be certain how these creatures would behave. At least the little ones were always hungry.

Once more the great animal circled them, then a deep growl came from it and it flicked its multi-pointed tail, twisting around directly at the sloop, maw gaping. It came at Z's side so there was no need to say anything, only fire the already loaded cannon. He managed a few shots and the beast faltered, shaking its head and diving beneath the ship.

It was gunfire that caught his attention. Without another cannon pointed at their adversary, Blue had shot it with her musket. It was better than nothing.

"Can you hit the eyes?"

"I am Trying to… It moves very quickly."

From the quarter-deck, Blue reloaded her gun and brought it up against her shoulder again. Z thought this was a good idea; perhaps she would be able to blind it and it would leave them alone. He didn't sit around to see if that would be the case and moved to the other cannon. The beast was circling them once again, moving in and out of cannon range. He took his shots when he could.

"Pull the sail," he called out when he could no longer aim once again. Blue seemed to consider his words for a moment but did as told. Z was thankful for that; now it would move more predictably.

With his aim improved, Z had no issues dissuading the megalodon from biting the sloop's other side. Despite knowing his aim was true, the sight of the it charging was heart-stopping. Consistent shots from Blue raised some questions.

"Havin' trouble landin' a shot in the eyes?"

She paused and took a breath in to steady herself. "I am sure I have not missed every shot. I think it is too big to care."

He twisted his lips. She was probably right; it was larger than the sloop was. Even if she landed a good shot in one eye, it still had three more to see with.

"Keep doin' what y're doin'," he told her as he grabbed more cannonballs. She grunted an affirmation.

They repeated this once more, the Goliath of a shark circling around the sloop, trying to charge into it and being beaten away by cannon fire. Z made a point to shoot it with one of the blunderbusses he held when he couldn't use a cannon and didn't need to refill his ammunition. It seemed ridiculous but the creature flinched every time.

It took longer for it to charge this time. It came at an angle, pointed more towards the prow of the ship. Z was vaguely aware of the ship turning at this point, only just barely able to stop the beast's charge. When it thrashed and dove under the sloop, he turned back to look at Blue, who now gripped the wheel. They exchanged nods.

Once again, the megalodon was circling them. It was easiest to shoot it when it tried to charge the ship, but now it seemed to understand to avoid the sides where the cannons could shoot it. It had tried to each side and an angle more towards the bow; Z was certain now that it would try for the stern end of the ship.

Shortly after that thought, he was proven right. With a mighty thrash of its tail, the megalodon redirected itself and came in directly behind the sloop. No amount of manoeuvring would help this time.

"Hang onto somethin'!"

It was regrettable that Blue had situated herself on the canvas. The position gave her a vantage point to shoot the beast while it was behind them, but there was no time for her to find a point of safety. With a great crash of its jaws, wood splintered, fabric tore, the rowboat broke in half, and the sloop lurched forward with force.

Latched onto a cannon, Z was immediately able to fire once he got his bearings. The megalodon had just finished its dive under the ship when he did. Two cannonballs later and he realised two things: one was that the animal looked as bad as they did and it thrashed mightily — he wondered if he had killed it or if it had dove back into the depths. Secondly, he realised that the splash he heard was Blue falling over, now aware of her paddling after the sloop as it drifted.

Twisting around to the other side of the ship, Z leaned over to confirm what he thought he heard. There was nothing for him to do but hope that she made it to the ladder before the sharks got to her. It was just as he was about to turn back towards the last place he sighted the megalodon that he realised she would just barely miss it. All at once, she gasped as a shark grabbed her by the side, pulling her under the water's surface. Z had drawn his cutlass and nearly threw himself over the port side to stab the shark's nose before it dove too far down. It released her and he grabbed her by the shirt with his free hand, pulling her from the water.

The two of them collapsed on the deck as Blue spat out a not insignificant amount of seawater. Z had his arms around her as soon as he could, applying as much pressure to the wounds as he felt safe to do while she cleared her lungs. It probably looked worse than it was with the blood mixing with water, but until he could confirm how bad the bite was, he wouldn't let it bleed freely. Blue, on the other hand, put an arm between them and attempt to push him away the moment she felt the slightest bit better.

"Christ, woman. Jus'…" He was at a loss for words.

"What are you doing?" She sounded offended and that offended him.

That made him raise a brow. "Pressin' down on the wound?"

She froze and he wondered why. Then she was looking down at her side, all the holes in the fabric and the area around it.

"The megalodon—"

"It's gone. Dunno how, but it is."

She coughed a few more times as she pondered his words. They sat there for a bit and Z wondered if she was relaxing or if the pain was coming to her.

"We need to make repairs."

He followed her line of sight to the mid-deck. The entire back of the sloop had seen much better days. A few planks would plug the leaks, but they needed calm waters to be able to better fix the raised section and steady the support beams of it. They needed a shipwright's hand for proper repairs. The rowboat was beyond salvaging.

"Yeah we do."

Z looked back to her and then got them both to their feet, deciding it was better to get it over with than tell her and unnecessarily drag the task out. She groaned as much as he expected. There was quite a bit of blood on both of them and the deck, but all things considered, it could have been worse.

Pulling slightly to the mid-deck, Z said, "C'mon. Let's get a look at—"

"I can manage on my own."

"Good gods, woman, why are you like this?"

Despite his words, he let her pull away a little. She didn't say anything in response and let him help her somewhat to the desk's chair. She used her own arms to apply pressure once she sat. After a moment, she inspected a hand. It was not coated in nearly as much blood as he expected.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"For you—"

"Besides for me to disappear."

She pouted a little at that. Then: "Get a pineapple started in the pan, would you?"

"Fine. Then I'm fixin' the holes so we don't eventually sink. Y'll just hafta deal with it."

She made a small noise of indignation but said nothing of the matter as he dipped down to the hold. As he did as asked, Z couldn't help wondering how she was so… so whatever that kept him from even inspecting a wound on her. Prudish? Vain? That didn't seem right. Or maybe it was, but there was something so off-putting about how intense she was about not letting him see her skin. That was beginning to raise questions.

A pineapple cut in half and both pieces placed in the pan, Z hoped he remembered the process right. Heat it up some, flip, then salt? It would be a bit before it was hot so he could ask. In the meantime, planks were pulled from the barrel and placed under his arm, hands holding nails and a hammer.

"How do I do that thing with the pineapple?" he asked as he passed Blue, taking care to not actually look at her. Still, he sensed that she was unnerved.

"It does not matter when you salt it, so long as you do." They were both quiet for a moment, then she clarified: "Heat, salt, flip."

"Thank you," Z said, nearly nailing his thumb into the ship. One leaky spot was sealed up. It wasn't the prettiest thing in the world, but any ship worth its salt had battle scars. These would just be the most prominent ones this sloop had. This sloop…

He mused on that thought as he went back down to the hold. There had been a box that he saw Blue withdraw salt from so he looked for that, finding it in the same spot at the bottom of a barrel. A generous pinch was applied to each piece of pineapple, courtesy of his thick gloves, before he flipped them. The ship rolled over a wave and he was able to grab a good bucket's worth of water out of the hold. He went to the stairs and tossed it out the window, glancing at Blue as he did. He dipped back down and found a large piece of an old sail in the chest that he now understood to have scrap cloth in it. She made an undignified noise when he tossed it and it covered her head, though surprisingly didn't scold him.

Back to work on the mid-deck's damage, the next leak was also easily patched. It wasn't a straightforward hole, but rather a crack in the wall. That especially would require a shipwright's touch or it would get worse. The final spot was a simple enough patch, a single hole in a board that he put a plank over and nailed securely. Back to the wood barrel, he put the tools and extra planks away. Another bucket of water was also bailed. The ship would just be damper than usual for a while.

With that done, he turned his attention to the pineapple cooking. Rather than find something to do in the meantime, he simply waited. Blue would probably appreciate that.

Eventually, the sizzling in the pan changed its tune and he waited no longer. He found a wooden plate and placed the pineapple halves on it and made his way up the stairs, making plenty of noise as he did so Blue would have nothing to complain about. Impressively, she had wrapped the sail cloth around her midsection as a bandage, underneath the torn shirt she still wore.

"Shame 'bout that bein' white."

She grumbled an agreement. Z sat on the side of the desk and set the plate down. They both took their respective halves and chewed quietly. It seemed her wound wasn't too bad indeed as it had yet to seep blood through the layers of cloth.

"How is it?"

"Good."

"Yer wound," he clarified.

"Good. It is sore and my only concern are the scars it may leave behind."

"That's it?" She nodded and Z wasn't sure what to think of that. "Alright then."

The two of them sat in mutual silence, focused on eating. After one close call and another, it was deeply soothing to sit and relax as they did. All things considered, Blue seemed in especially good spirits. A diet of fish had certainly saved her a trip to the Ferry.

His thoughts hadn't left him, however, and Z couldn't stay quiet any longer. "Hey, I got a question."

"If it is about the bite, it's fine."

He snickered. "No, I believe y' on that now. No, uh… does this sloop have a name?"

"Of course."

He leaned towards her slightly.

Blue paused in her chewing before definitely resisting the urge to roll her eyes at him. "It is the Forlorn Phoenix. That is what the old man that gave it to me said her name was."

"Y' didn't—" Well, obviously she hadn't come here on it. He asked a different question. "Old man?"

"When I arrived at Plunder Outpost, I needed a ship. He was there and all but forced it into my possession. He refused to keep it, saying that this ship is meant for those that need it and that he had no use of it as he was retiring."

"Meant for those that need it…? What does that mean?"

She shrugged, careful to not aggravate her injury. "He said it was meant for those that needed it, that it would bring greatness and luck to them, and that it was not for those who held onto it past their time of need."

Z stared at her for a moment. This was one hell of a little ship. "Do y' really think that?"

"Sailors are a superstitious lot; of course I do not. I only believe that he was retiring, that he had no more use for a ship, and that I was an easy way to rid himself of it."

It was bad luck for a ship to not have a name, but if that was how she felt… "Why bother tellin' me its name then?"

"No one will remember a nameless ship."

He paused, then made a thoughtful noise before returning to what remained of his pineapple. That was a very good reason indeed for a ship to have a name, a good one at that. Everyone on the Sea remembered the names of grand ships and the deeds they were used for — the Magpie's Wing, the Burning Blade, the Morningstar, the Blackwyche — everyone remembered them and their captains, and sometimes their crew, too, and names helped a lot with that.

They sat in silence as they finished their snack. Blue looked good enough that he needn't worry about her, but they needed to get going soon. He wondered if the megalodon had left anything behind.

"Stay here," he told her. He stood and made his way to the quarter-deck, glad she did as told.

From his vantage point, Z made sure the water around them was clear. It was free of megalodons and the remaining sharks were in the process of dispersing. Off to the side were a few items, certainly from the beast, though he still wasn't sure if it was because it'd had enough, vomited and left or if he had killed it. As he collected the lot with the harpoon, he found bits of flesh mingling with the treasure; that didn't clear anything up at all.

Blue sat more comfortably in the chair now, but passing her with an armful of meat caught her attention.

"What is that?"

"Meg meat. Never had it before?"

"I have never had the opportunity."

"It's dinner then," he decided, putting the meat away for later. He came and stopped before her. "Can y' manage down here on yer own?"

She wrinkled her nose and attempted to stand. Z immediately put a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't need you fallin' overboard again."

"What concern is that to you?"

"Ain't you the one that said somethin' about us only bein' as strong as the weakest one?"

That annoyed her. It was difficult to not laugh, but he allowed himself a haughty smirk.

"Play with yer books, take a nap, do somethin' besides comin' up to the deck."

"Fine." She sighed as he left her to her own devices.

The sun was beginning to set when they came upon Picaroon Palms. It was a small island with nothing remarkable about it, but it was as good a place as any to rest and finish making repairs.

As Z made his way downstairs to check on what he had done earlier, he passed Blue, still sat in the chair and working on something in a book just as he'd suggested. He wasn't surprised in the least when she ignored him, and that was fine by him — the ship came first right now.

The leaks of the mid-deck had been serviceably stopped up. His earlier work held up just fine in the unremarkable waters they had crossed. The canvas structure was in worse shape and threatened to give way at any moment. Rougher waters would certainly take it down. It could be patched up for the time being.

"How do you feel?" he asked, turning his attention to his shipmate now.

"Sore."

"Sounds 'bout right."

Fixing up the beams of the sloop's stern in the morning sounded dandy, but Blue slept on that. There was no way they were going to come to an agreement about the bed and he sighed, realising he would have to make more repairs right now. He was vaguely aware of her eyes on him as he went downstairs to gather supplies.

More planks and nails and the hammer were retrieved. One side had been hit especially hard and the wood needed support so that it did not snap. The megalodon's bite had done quite a lot of damage, but it was an imprecise creature and had rammed the ship more than bitten it.

"Do you need help?" Blue asked as he began standing on the sloped wall of the stern's mid-deck.

He knew just how nasty a shark bite could be; she was in no condition to be doing anything. Standing as he did was difficult, and it would be easier if someone else held everything for him. He motioned for her to come over.

"Hold this," he said as he handed her the planks. The nails were dumped into one of his pockets.

With his hands free, Z found it easier to keep his balance. Hammering planks into place was still a difficult job, but it was necessary. He wobbled once and Blue offered him an arm to steady himself on so he didn't grope for the sloop's damaged beams. They said nothing as the task was worked to completion.

Z inspected his work. Now that the stern was no longer in danger of collapsing at the slightest force, something else could be done with his time. Dinner sounded good.

"Hungry?"

Blue rose a brow at him just before turning to put the unused material away, but that hadn't been a no. He followed her down to the hold, giving her the nails he hadn't used so he could rifle through the food barrel.

"How 'bout a piece of meg?"

Blue gave him an unimpressed look. Despite that, she said, "Very well."

Z inspected the chunks of flesh. They were unwieldy in the hand, bigger than his head. It would be difficult to cook such a thing as it was so he employed his cutlass to cut a piece in half and then again. The half was placed back in the barrel, the fourths into the pan.

When he turned around, Blue was sat at the foot of the bed, looking more fatigued than she realised. 'Dealing' with it or not, she had still suffered one hell of an injury and he was still surprised by how well she was doing. He sat on the other side near the stove to watch the meat as it cooked — megalodon was gamy as it was, it didn't need to be overcooked — and to give her enough space.

"You doin' alright?"

Blue looked annoyed, holding her side. "Sore," she reiterated.

"I'm surprised it didn't take that chunk outta you."

"Whatever you did stopped it before it could shake me or bite down harder, I suppose. What did you do?"

"Stabbed it in the head and pulled you outta the water."

She made a noise of realisation. "Then I thank you."

You always gotta be so prim and proper? he wanted to ask. There was no point to it, it would only serve to start a fight and with Blue standing up already, he had other concerns.

"Where y' goin'?"

"To the island. it will be a while before that is done, correct?"

"Alright, but there ain't anythin' in'erestin' on this island."

"Good thing I am not looking for entertainment then."

He rose a brow at her words but decided against questioning it. It was so much easier when he didn't do that; she always had a reason for doing whatever she was doing, so he stayed where he was even when he heard the splashing of her wading to the beach. Perhaps, he realised, she was going to look for something to treat her wounds with. Z flipped the pieces of meat as he considered this.

Soon enough, he heard his shipmate come back. She didn't immediately come down to where he was when she was back aboard the ship. Rather than wait, he checked their dinner again, decided it was cooked enough, and grabbed a plate. The slabs of meat only just fit on it, and even then one was set atop the other slightly.

Unsurprisingly, he found her at the desk, book and aloe leaf before her. She seemed surprised to see him.

"Already?"

"Y' took yer time on the island."

"Did I?" She thought on that for a moment. "I suppose I am moving slower right now."

"That makes sense," he said. The plate was set on the table, but he couldn't shake on thought from his mind. "Hey… how bad was it?"

She glared slightly at him, pausing and refraining from grabbing her part of the meal. Then she motioned with the opposite side's hand from just under her shoulder to her hip. He must have made a face for she quickly said, "It is not so bad. It only held me for a moment, correct?" He nodded. "Then you acted swiftly enough to spare me any real harm. My prior lack of knowledge does not mean this place's magic has had any less effect on me."

"Y're bein' kinda curt, though. Y' know, more than usual." Immediately, he regretted saying that. Thankfully, Blue only gave him a look of disapproval.

"Am I not supposed to feel pain?"

He bit the inside of his cheek. The time he took to feel dumb gave her plenty to grab her piece of meat and start on it.

"So y're fine?"

"Fine and dandy," she said, grimacing and failing to take a bite out of her piece. "… This is tough."

"Uh, yeah." He looked between the meat and her. Z still wasn't sure if he believed that she was alright, especially now that he understood just how large the shark had been, but if she insisted…

"Y' should prob'ly just cut it up with that fancy knife'a yers," he added.

Blue sighed but retrieved it from her hip. Despite the toughness, the meat fell apart under her blade as she cut both slabs into bite-sized chunks.

"Simply frying this does not seem to be the way to cook it," she said before eating a piece. Then she paused, wrinkled her nose and made a thoughtful noise.

"Maybe, but it's all we got, innit?"

She cleared her throat. "This is better than I expected. Tough, but…"

"Tough but tasty with just enough salt in it? Yeah."

"Something like that. There is… something else I cannot describe."

He chuckled. "Y' 'member what I said about meat? This is the best thing you can eat in or after a fight. Well, this and kraken bits."

"Kraken bits?"

"Ye—" He stopped.

Blue had a look on her face he had briefly seen before. Once again, he had done that thing where he hadn't thought about what he said. This time, however, she stared at him with that expression.

"… What?"

"Kraken bits?" she reiterated fiercely.

"Yeah. So… there's… kraken here…"

"Of course there are," she said incredulously. "There are skeletons that still walk and giant sharks larger than this ship and everything else — of course there's krakens here."

He snickered, then was unable to help laughing. "Well, if it makes y' feel any better, they usually go after the gallys."

Whether it did or not, she said nothing. Rather, Blue ate another piece of meat as she glared at him, her face frozen in that expression for the rest of the evening.