Blue jolted to alertness, staring up at a sea of green. Specifically, she was on the forecastle of the Ferry of the Damned, looking up past the torn sails at the otherworldly sky. She sat up and brought her view down upon the ship. It took another moment for her to recall what had brought her here this time. She had been ready for things to go south in the inn, but not like that…

Now she contemplated events. No one would hear a ship pull up to the outpost and she hadn't been allowed an opportunity to properly check the horizons, but somehow, the experience still felt off.

Getting to her feet, the cabin door creaked open and Blue realised she had no idea what to expect when she went through. She hesitated, fearing the worst. Yet, the only way she was going to find out was by going through the threshold, so after lingering another moment, she did just that.

Visiting the Ferry of the Damned was something that Blue was never going to get used to, nor was she sure that would be a good thing to do. Or was it the dying part that she wasn't used to? She knew enough to know that it was dark and that she had come back to the hold of the Forlorn Phoenix, facing its bow.

Stepping backwards, Blue let herself fall onto the bed. All was not well. Instead of landing on the relatively soft mattress, it was the firmness of a body she collided with. There was a brief struggle — she yanked her left wrist out of their grasp and in the time it took her to attempt to retrieve her dagger, she ended up pinned down on her opposite side.

There was a moment when all was still while they stared at each other.

"Why are you here?"

"Do ya really think y're in a position t' be askin' me that?"

Only applying minimal pressure to her limbs now but not yet relinquishing them, Z let her twist around onto her back.

"It is my ship."

"Be that as it may, I am in need of a ship, and you—"

"Oh, no, not this again," Blue interjected, shaking her head. This was like a bad dream all over again.

As the ship rolled especially hard over a wave, the last thing that she had done at the outpost came to the forefront of her mind. She had been shot. Again.

"It was you in the tavern!"

He laughed. "Yeah, me an' Jack had some business in there."

"And where did you— fuckin', let me go already," she complained, squirming.

That got another amused noise out of him. "Fine, fine." He did exactly that, not moving off from straddling her at the hip. Blue sat up on her elbows.

"You and Jackson— where did you come from?"

"Well, you guys had yer sloops at the main dock and we came from Cannon Cove."

Blue had looked in that direction before going to bed; they must have been on the other side of it or still been far off.

"And…?"

"And we had some business in the tavern that we didn't want any comp'ny for."

"And of course you could not simply ask us to leave?"

"I'm not in the business of riskin' my loot."

"Of course not."

What in the world he had to do at the inn, she couldn't fathom. She didn't particularly care at the moment, either.

"And you are here because…?"

"Well, Jack had some business."

"… he left you here."

"Yeah."

"… and you just assumed…"

"Well, if y' really don't want me here, I s'pose I could jump off and swim back t' the outpost."

He didn't sound genuine with that offer so she gave him an incredulous look. She also wondered what he meant by swimming back to the outpost when the ship rocked as a wave passed.

"Where are we?"

"Y' know that big rock between Golden Sands and Wanderer's?"

She thought for a moment. Why were they… "Yes?"

"There."

"Why?"

"Well, we had that scrap at the outpost but it'd been three days since I slept—"

"What do you mean three days?"

"—so I moved the ship just enough to get it out of sight in case they came back."

Blue stared at him for a long moment.

"What?"

"And you just… assumed that you could rejoin the ship…?"

"Yeah. Why not?"

Blue blinked, shaking her head at him, at a loss for words. That was not the question! In fact, he hadn't answered any to a satisfactory level.

"All right. Shall we start again?"

He gave her a quizzical look.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

He sat back on her ankles and made a mockingly thoughtful expression. "Well then, y' see, Jack had some business that needed tendin' to that I don't need t' be gettin' my hands dirty with and then we stumbled up on you and yer friends and I jus' assumed y'd be happy t' see me."

Blue couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not. Whatever the case, she supposed she was stuck with him for a while.

The first order of business was to crawl out from under him and get back to her feet, holstering her blade. She felt a little dizzy as she stood and that raised a new question.

"How long has it been since—"

"'Bout a day. I moved the ship, got some sleep, checked everythin' was good and had a bite t' eat and then laid back down, as y' noticed."

So that wasn't so bad. Blue was getting used to being so tired after these trips, though she couldn't figure out if she needed sleep or food more. One of those took much less time to satisfy so she stepped over to the food barrel and retrieved a mango. Sitting more comfortably on the edge of the bed now, Z watched her closely.

"I suppose I can put up with you again," she finally said after a few small bites. He seemed to relax some, then grinned. He shifted his position and looked as though he was going to say something, probably something stupid. She rose a hand before he could.

"I expect the same set of rules to be followed again and for you to be on your best behaviour."

His grin widened. "Understood."

"Good." Blue took another few bites out of her snack, hardly believing that she was in this situation again. "You said you have slept already?"

He nodded to her.

"Then it is my turn to sleep. Get us somewhere calm in the meantime."

Waking up in the bed to the sound of gulls confirmed to Blue that no, everything she recalled was not a bad dream. She had indeed run into a couple of pirates that insisted on her company and then been run up on by another crew, now finding herself stuck with Z once again. The irony was cruel.

Sailing with a partner was a mixed bag. While Blue deeply valued her privacy and the authority to act upon her own will, the aid of another could be priceless, such as in the case of the megalodon attack. They had also proven the ability to earn more gold than she did alone, though that also included performances that she wasn't necessarily the biggest fan of.

Blue lay there for a time, contemplating the situation she found herself in. She still wasn't over Z simply assuming that he would be welcome — had Jackson played a part in that? She was going to kill him if that was the case. Ultimately, though, she supposed it wasn't the worst thing in the world to happen to her.

More awake now, Blue took note of the calm island waters she felt the ship rocking on. She listened more closely and heard the songs of island birds as well. They weren't at the rock anymore so that was good. Now curious, she got out of bed and changed into day clothes before making her way topside.

Z was not present on the ship and that was somewhat annoying as she couldn't ask him what they were doing at the unmarked island made up of three landmasses. There was nothing really at all on this island, save for a mast poking out of the water between the two main landmasses. All she could figure was that it was far away from any occupied islands and that made it a good place to stop before going somewhere else.

Exasperated, Blue let her head fall back to view the sky, allowing her to spot Z up in the crow's nest. That was not expected. He waved at her before sliding down the ladder.

"Glad t' see y're up; y' spent all day—"

"I had a rough— wait, all day?"

"Yeah, y' slept all day."

Blue stared at him before taking note of the sun being rather far to the west. No, she had definitely slept through the day, just as he had said.

"… huh."

"Anyway, I haven't seen a ship all day and now that y're up, we can get goin' somewhere."

"I suppose." She had her hand against the side of her head, still flabbergasted that she had slept so long. She gave him a look. "What did you have in mind?"

"The Isles. It ain't the Wilds."

Blue made a thoughtful noise. "I know there to be a galleon lurking about the Isles. On my way up to the Shores of Plenty, I spotted another entering the area from the north."

He made a small, "Ehh," whining noise.

She gave him a stern look. "I am not interested in being a galleon's plaything."

"Fine. We'll keep headin' 'cross the channel t' the Wilds."

"Why not stay in the western region?"

"There ain't anythin' goin' on here."

"And that is a problem?"

They stared at each other, both unwilling to back down. Blue refused to entertain the game for very long, however.

"We will go to the Wilds, alternating decisions just as before, as is reasonable."

"Wha, what's that mean?"

"It means that we will not be harassing any fleets of galleons."

He snickered. "Fine then."

Blue sighed, not entirely convinced.

"You hungry?"

She paused, considering his words. "Starved," to put it lightly.

Though supplies were lower than both would have liked with the two of them now, Blue still kept a good stock of food aboard the sloop. They shared a particularly large splashtail for dinner and Blue cursed her curiosity.

"Did you and Jackson pick up a third crewmate after you dropped Rylund off?"

"Nah."

She looked at him, more curious. "You two seem… like-minded. You took on other ships undermanned?"

"Yea, we do it all the time," he said after swallowing a mouthful of fish. He seemed curious of her curiosity if his expression was anything to go off of. "We didn't come back on our ship, if that's what y're wonderin'."

Blue stared at him.

"What?"

"That is not something I was wondering…" In fact, that raised more questions than it had answered. She shook her head. "Let me clarify this: you are… hunters… and you went undermanned and were successful? How?"

"Well, we attacked another brigantine, rammed 'em, boarded 'em, killed 'em, and took their ship and shit t' the nearest outpost."

What a… crude method. Despite that, Blue could not deny that their strategy had been effective thanks to their abilities. She made a thoughtful noise and looked away from him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him shift, looking rather smug.

"I will have none of that. Understood?"

He snorted. "Fine."

"Now then…" She thought for a moment. "Shipwreck Bay is the nearest island?"

He nodded. "Besides that giant arch."

"Well, we are both up… Unless you need to sleep?"

"Nah, I'm good from sleepin' 'til you came back from the Ferry."

"I am trying to forget about that."

He laughed as she stepped away to get the ship moving.

It was deep into the night when they arrived at Shipwreck Bay. Travelling had been difficult, fighting both wind and waves to avoid slamming into the uncharted island between them — was that wreck of an island even worth being called that? — and to stay on course. Such a task would have had Blue ready to go back to bed, but the two of them being able to share the workload had made it that much easier. No, she was definitely coming around to the idea of having a shipmate, she just wasn't thrilled that it was Z she was stuck with.

When they arrived and got the ship stopped at a spot that seemed good, Z made his way back to the rowboat, shifted it towards the island a little and disembarked. She took note of this, assessing the positioning of the rowboat, and then decided to join him on the island, jumping from the canopy onto the rowboat and then to the beach. Neither of them said anything as they retraced their old steps through the Blackwyche and onto the peak of the island.

It took no time for Z to make himself comfortable up there, sitting with his legs hanging off the side of the rock. Blue was less content and closely examined the observable horizon. To the north was Dagger Tooth Outpost and as was expected, a ship — a brigantine — was comfortably stopped at its dock. Besides that, she spotted nothing of interest and the area was otherwise clear of ships.

Satisfied with what she could and didn't see, Blue started making her way down.

"You headin' back down already?"

She stopped and took a breath in as she felt a familiar urge to strike him.

"Yes, I am heading back down. Is there a problem with that?"

"Ehh, jus'— I don't see why y' would. Got somethin' t' do?"

"I have plenty I could do."

"That y' could do."

"What are you implying? That I sit up here with you and do nothing?"

"Why not?"

Blue recoiled. Try as she might, she had no good rebuttal. She made a small, aggravated noise before making her way over and sitting down beside him for a while.

The sun had been up a small while when she roused from her slumber. With her sleep schedule ruined by her latest trip to the Ferry, Blue wanted to amend that as quickly as possible and so had forced herself to get some sleep when it was still dark. That had proved to be easier than she expected; she figured she was still tired from being dead. What an odd thought that had been.

Whatever Z had done during that time wasn't her concern but she was surprised to find him sitting on the bowsprit. He looked excited to see her awake, jumping to his feet.

"Hey, ready t' get goin'?"

Blue rubbed her face with both hands. "Fuck, what now?"

"You ready t' go?" he asked again. A moment later he asked, "Oorrrrr do y' wanna eat?"

She sighed. "That may be an idea…" She looked more closely at him. "What are you so excited about?"

"That ship at Dagger Tooth left a little while ago. We can go get supplied up."

"Ye—" They could also get food, Blue's thought had started. But if they were going to Dagger Tooth Outpost of all places… "We should eat first."

Z looked a little confused but nodded nonetheless before going downstairs. It was only a moment later that she heard him hiss in pain.

"This fish's spiky! What the hell?"

Blue was quite happy to stay up there while she gathered her blanket, a small grin upon her face, and then make her way downstairs.

"You should be mindful of the spines," she commented.

He gave her a discontented look before moving past her and thankfully leaving her alone. Though a fish had been retrieved from the barrel, Blue had to place it on the stove. Unlike him, she avoided being poked. She also took this time to change her clothes, the routine helping to wake her some more. All ready was she looking forward to going to bed tonight.

The plump little fish took hardly any time to cook and when it was done, Blue placed it on a plate. She took the fish topside and sat beside Z on the canopy. He looked at it again, expression souring when he saw the fish. She picked it up and demonstrated how easily the spines separated from the flesh.

"See?" With that comment, she peeled it into separate pieces.

Z made a small noise at her as he accepted his half, cringing slightly. With his gloves on, there was no way the fish poked at him just by laying in his hand, but that didn't stop him from displaying annoyance at the mere prospect of being poked. He got over it when he pulled all of the spines out of his half and bit into it.

"This is good. N-not like the other one, but still pretty good."

"They go very well with pineapple."

He gave her a disapproving look before indulging in his breakfast.

After eating, they got the ship going north to Dagger Tooth Outpost. It wasn't the best outpost in the Sea of Thieves, far from it, quite possibly the worst in all ways, but it was still a good place to scavenge for supplies. It didn't hurt that there was a Merchant Alliance representative there, too. Given Z's penchant for trouble, she didn't mind being given the opportunity to sweet-talk the representative into selling them some supplies. Between all of that, they ensured that they had a sturdy increase in planks and cannonballs from this visit.

They had briefly considered getting food at the tavern again. While it was a welcome idea at any other outpost, they decided against it and split another fish.

With the day ahead of them, Z had started moving the ship. No one had said anything about it for a while until Blue couldn't help but wonder where they were going.

"Wherever looks in'erestin'."

Leave it to him to have such a simple answer. Though it was a little annoying, Blue decided that it wasn't a problem. They had spotted nothing of note from Shipwreck Bay's peak and so determining a beginning point for their journey was a little more difficult than normal. Blue wasn't opposed to island jumping, though she wondered just how long that would keep her shipmate occupied.

Rather than wander aimlessly, a thought occurred to Blue.

"Take us west."

He gave her an uncertain look. "Towards… Kraken Watchtower?"

"It is the nearest island before crossing the channel, is it not?" she explained.

Once there, Blue spoke again: "We saw nothing in the Wilds from atop Shipwreck Bay, correct?"

He seemed surprised when she started talking while they tied the ropes tight. He nodded. "Then it would benefit us to find a place where there has been activity, correct?" He nodded again. "I know there is activity in the northern Shores." After turning around and leaning back against the sloop's railing, he nodded a third time. "Whatever our exact goals are, it benefits us to find other crews."

Z smirked. "Finally comin' 'round to—"

"I am thinking more in line with scavenging. Or perhaps… delicately… relieving others of their goods, should the opportunity present itself."

"So it'd benefit us to find that fleet again."

Blue sighed. "Yes, perhaps," she said, rolling her eyes; "Though I highly doubt that we will be so lucky once more."

"Then why don't we go find 'em and figure out what their voyage plans are?"

She looked at him for a moment before leaning against the opposite railing, considering his words. "That is not a bad idea. We should consider that for any crews we find, aye?" He nodded, grinning. "In addition to those who took a fight they could not handle." Less enthused, Z took a moment before nodding.

Finally, Blue nodded back to him. "Then we agree to go into the Shores of Plenty to begin our search and if we are unsuccessful, we go to Sanctuary Outpost and see if anyone there has anything to tell us?"

"That's the plan. We still tradin' off who decides what we do with what ships?"

"Within reason."

"'Course."

"As for now, we will stay here until the morning—"

"Yeah, that's fine."

Blue nodded, slightly taken aback by his quickness but appreciative that she didn't need to spell out the revised plan. With nothing going on, she decided to spend some time on the island. Like the other forts they had visited, there was a building on the tallest point of it that reach up into the sky, and just like before, it was Blue's goal to climb that building. This one was no different, conquered in minutes.

Blue was content to spend quite a while up there. At one point, Z noticed her while gathering supplies off the island and awkwardly waved at her — she was beginning to suspect that he didn't like heights. Or was it small platforms high up that he didn't like? Beyond that, nothing piqued her interest; the horizon was just as clear as it had been at Shipwreck Bay, even considering the new view into the northern side of the Shores of Plenty. She only came down when she was hungry.

That evening, the two of them finished off what remained of another prickly fish Blue had caught, split a coconut, and had a bit of grog between the two of them. There was nothing to celebrate, but Z seemed to be in a particularly good mood and Blue could not come up with a good excuse to refrain. He couldn't seem to shake the grin off his face as he paced about the deck and talked about the fish while she sat in the middle of the canopy, holding onto a nearly empty tankard with both hands as though her life depended on it, her mind and body a little slow.

"They're islehoppers."

"Why are they called that, though?"

"Hell if I know. No one ever sees 'em between islands an' they all come in the same colour at the same island — they're weird. Y' think they all taste different, too?"

Blue snorted. "That's ridiculous."

"Is it? I mean, splashtails and stormfish don't taste the same."

"Yes, but all every breed of fish tastes the same no matter the colour."

Z stopped in his pacing to squint his eyes at her, annoyed by her logic. She laughed.

"Speakin'a which, we oughta stop in the way'a the next storm we see—"

"Absolutely not!"

"—so we can get some more'a those fish."

"You mean so I may catch some more?"

"Yeah, that works. Thanks."

Without missing a beat, Blue lifted her tankard and threw it at him. "You could help for once!" The noise he made was pleasing to her ear.

"What— I help in other ways! Like with all that fruit!"

Blue shook her head. "You would 'ave done that anyway."

"So?"

"… I am not out of things to throw at you…"

They squinted their eyes at each other.

"… fine. I'll give it a try next time."

"That is sufficient."

He made a mocking noise that she found amusing. Then he paused, looking at her with a curiosity she wasn't sure what to make of.

"What's yer deal?"

Blue recoiled some, unsure what he wanted out of that question, evident on her face.

"Like… ye'll scavenge and trade and steal from other ships but not fight 'em?"

"Correct."

"Why?"

She tilted her head at him, perplexed. "Why would I? No— why do you?"

"Because it's fun. Why trade stuff when I can jus' take it all and get a fight out of it?"

Blue stared at him for a long moment. "I think… we are simply different in th—"

"No, answer me: Why shouldn't I? Isn't that what this place is about? Bein' free t' be pirates?"

As far as she knew, he wasn't wrong. That wasn't why she was here, though.

"Is it?" Now Z looked confused as she spoke. "Because while you may be here for that reason, I am not."

"That… hmn. Why are y' here then?"

She rolled her eyes. "I will tell you the same thing I told your friend: I am here to make myself a fortune that will last me my lifetime, maybe more."

He made a thoughtful noise. A moment later, she realised that he had stayed quiet, and he was staring past her.

"What?" she asked, unable to turn around enough to look without moving more than she was comfortable with.

"There's a gally out there."

"Of course there is," she groaned, getting to her feet. That was a mistake.

Indeed, far across the channel and to the northwest within the Shores of Plenty, a galleon could be spotted.

"How did you see that?"

"Their lanterns are on."

"Still…"

"Think they're checkin' out that wreck?"

It took an obnoxiously long moment for Blue to realise what island they were likely at. "Perhaps. Why else would they be there?"

He shrugged. "Skellies, treasure… no riddles, though, too little an island. Well, maybe. Nothing's ever cer'ain here."

She made a noise of agreement.

"We sleepin' in shifts?"

Blue looked at him, surprised. They were on the opposite side of Kraken Watchtower — the Forlorn Phoenix's mast could easily be mistaken for part of the fortress, she thought.

"You think they will be a problem?"

"Maybe. If we can see 'em, they can see us."

She agreed with that sentiment. "Then I suppose we do."

"Get some sleep; I'll keep an eye out."

Blue had just turned back to him to discuss who would sleep first when he said that, pleasantly surprised. "All right then."

She stopped on the stairs, the two of them looking at each other. Z spoke first.

"You look a little—"

"Shut up."

He stifled a snort and shrugged, turning around and then catching himself and going up the stairs to the canopy. A moment later he caught himself again, made a small noise as though he wondered why he went up there and then climbed up to the crow's nest. Blue thought that was funny and had to keep herself from laughing the entire time she changed her clothes in the hold.

As thoughtful as Z had been in the moment, she didn't immediately go back to the deck. Instead, she sat herself down at the table and opened up the current logbook. There was little worth recording in the last day, but with all the sailing they had done and her trip to the Ferry, she was falling behind. The encounter with the two Adams needed noting, as well as how she ended up sharing the ship with Z again, though they required her to fill in the blanks in her understanding more than anything else. Writing it all down, it once again shocked her just how ridiculous the situation was.

When she finally went back up to the deck and got settled on the canopy, Blue took a moment to look up at her shipmate. He was stood in the crow's nest, leaning against the mast with his head turned in the direction of the galleon he had spotted. Why he was so concerned with it, she wasn't sure, but maybe it was that she was overly unconcerned with it.

Whatever the case might have been, Blue made herself stop thinking so hard about it and lay down to get some sleep.