How Shipwrights Like to Party

As the rain poured down on Dineberg Island, it would have been easy for someone to mistake the city's destruction as a sign of loss. Entire blocks had been burnt to ash, some houses were crushed before the fire was able to get to them, and several streets had been torn up and split into slabs of rock and debris. But that couldn't be further from the truth. Despite the hard-fought battle, the Schiff Company had already begun making restoration efforts to the island's infrastructure. Once the smoke cleared, it became apparent that most of the citizens were able to flee in time to avoid the worst of the damages. With the casualties at an absolute low, only the city repairs stood in the way of the Grizzly Pirates being nothing more than a bad memory.

And, according to the shipwrights of the Schiff Company, the best way to get rid of bad memories was a night of celebration.

Isaac had taken it upon himself to right the wrongs caused by the marauders. Outside of the Schiff family's mansion – something that shocked Lynn and co – the head shipwright had aid stations set up in order to supply food and other necessities to those who had lost their homes. Although, as it turned out, most of the homes that were damaged had belonged to company workers. Isaac was more than happy to host his coworkers and their families. So, after getting their loved ones settled for the night, the men and women of the Schiff Company made good use of the basement cellar. Kegs and barrels flowed freely that night, and it wasn't long until the more musically inclined took up instruments. And even though the impromptu event was mainly for the company, no one who walked through the doors of the house went without drink. That included the island's esteemed guests and saviors.

This time around, it was Julia's turn to try and impede Bede's good time. The first time she saw him after his battle with Fisk, she nearly fainted at the sight of him. But then, she recovered in an instant and began railing at him, wondering in all her fury why he hadn't shown her how bad his condition was. Once she was out of breath, she flipped like a switch and went to tend to his injuries as best she could. Now, Bede was wrapped in bandages from the neck down, wearing loose clothing over it all.

Despite the state he was in, he still wanted to participate in the festivities. Or, at least, join in long enough to perform a medical examination on any and all of the shipwrights who had fought against the Grizzly Pirates. Hearing this, Julia sighed. It was always others first with him. In the end, she agreed to let him, but only as long as he would actually act like he was partying. Which meant Bede had to drink while doing so.

"You know, a doctor shouldn't let their patients drink while under care," Bede chuckled, taking a sip from a foaming tankard.

"Oh, I'm not too worried," Julia replied coolly.

Bede was out after his third drink.

On the other end of the spectrum was Lynn and Ichiro. With the slashes in Lynn's arm, Julia would have been much more worried had it been any other person. Since it was Lynn, she sped through the stitches and slapped alcohol, gauze, and bandages over the wound. Good as new for hers and Lynn's standards. Bede would probably have something to say about it in the morning, but that was tomorrow-Julia's problem. For Ichiro, his injuries were minor relative to her other two patients. Bede would most definitely have been able to give a better analysis, but the fish-boy seemed fine to her. And judging by what he did next, she was confident in that conclusion.

"Hey Lynn!"

At the sound of his name, Lynn perked up and turned to see who had called him. At the start of the celebration, he had separated himself from the crowd and sat down in a relatively quiet corner. What surprised Julia more than that, though, was his expression. Staring into the mass of party-goers, Lynn's face was screwed up in a look of... melancholy? Regret? She couldn't quite describe it, but Lynn had been wearing it almost all night, even when she was sewing him back together. Not only that, but his banter had been half-assed at best. It was like someone had slipped a rod down Lynn's spine. And that someone had been Barboso. Or at least Julia thought it was Barboso. Lynn had been like this since the end of his fight. Whatever the Grizzly captain had done, it couldn't have been good. For now, it seemed like Ichiro was unknowingly taking up the responsibility of lifting Lynn's spirits.

The young shipwright looked like a kid on holiday. He was absolutely beaming as he carried one keg over his shoulder and rolled another using his feet. Ichiro came to a grinding halt right in front of Lynn, who now wore a mixture of confusion and amusement. With a heave, Ichiro hoisted the barrel from his shoulder and into Lynn's lap, who now looked even more bewildered.

"Alright, Lynn, I think we should have a race," Ichiro said, slapping his own keg, "First one to the bottom gets all the glory!"

Lynn let out a chuckle. "Sorry, kid, I'm not really into that kind of thing. You should try asking Julia, she'd probably be game."

With a scoff, Ichiro turned away from him, saying, "Wow, didn't think someone who would punch a bear in the face couldn't handle something like this." He let out a sigh. "Well, I guess we all have our limits."

Before Ichiro could say or do anything else, Lynn jumped from the chair. He held the barrel under one arm and raised an eyebrow to the fish-man. Ichiro was grinning from ear to ear. Even from where Julia was standing, she could see that the fire was back in his eyes. In a silent agreement, the two smashed the lids of their respective kegs at the same time. Lynn let a small grin slip as both he and Ichiro pressed the containers to their lips. An audience snapped into existence, cheering on the young men who helped save their island as they downed their barrels. Julia smiled and turned away. Now it was her turn to join in the fun.

Or it would have been had she not run into Ichime.

"Oi, missy! Having fun?" the old man guffawed.

Julia looked up into the goliath of a fish-man's face. Because of his one eye, his smile lines scrunched in an odd way. Despite this, Julia could still feel the warmth radiating off of him. It was impressive for someone who had been brutalized less than twelve hours ago. She offered up her own smile to the old man, saying that she was trying her best.

"Taking care of the other three has been taking up my time, so I'm a little exhausted," she said, letting out a small laugh.

Hearing this, Ichime shook his head. A look of 'that won't do at all' was written in his expression. With one hand he motioned for an empty spot at a table to sit. With the other, he patted her on the back, calling her a good person. Julia couldn't help but glow a little at the compliment, and she happily took the offer to sit down. Maybe she could get those questions she had earlier answered, finally.

"It sure has been a crazy couple of days, hasn't it?" Ichime sighed, letting himself sink into the stool. There were a couple of creaks, but the seat managed to hold his remarkable weight.

Julia let out another snort. "You could say that again."

Together, the two stared out into the party. They let their eyes flit around the room, landing on each and every point of interest the basement cellar had to offer. Out near the end of the room, the makeshift band was still going strong, and they had even begun playing a couple of classics. Julia had a vague impression of what some of them were, but only because of her grandfather and the bar's piano man. Thinking back to her island's piano, she remembered Lynn having some kind of problem with it. She turned back to where he and Ichiro had been drinking. Julia was shocked to see Ichiro stumbling back and forth, trying to find the rhythm of the music, but she was even more surprised to see that Lynn had vanished. She was about to ask Ichime if he had seen where he had gone, but her answer came in an even more unexpected way.

"Man! It's been so long since I've been this drunk," Lynn laughed out. He threw his arm around Julia as he staggered into her. On instinct, Julia threw his arm off of her, causing him to tumble into Ichime, who caught the chortling captain.

"Did you really finish that keg already?" Julia asked, her voice almost incredulous.

Letting out another guffaw, he threw up a sloppy three-fingered peace sign. "Sure did!" He slipped from Ichime's grip and slid down to the table, letting his head rest on his arms. It was almost like his mood had dropped with him, too, as his eyes regained their sadness. Before Julia could try and appease him, he began speaking again.

"Julia, I'm sorry I've been such an ass to you and your brother. It's... it's just that you guys have been some of the best people I've met and I don't know what I'd do if something bad happened... probably something stupid knowing my track record..."

It was like the world had been put on pause. Julia almost couldn't believe her ears. Of all the things she had expected Lynn to say, 'sorry' was not one of them. She didn't know what to say. She swallowed a couple of times, but the words wouldn't come out. She looked back down at Lynn to try and get some inspiration, but was only met with the most comedic sight. Lynn had fallen asleep.

Julia threw her head back in laughter. Of course Lynn was asleep. He had already shown himself not to be much of a drinker. And after the several gallons-worth of beer, she was surprised he had lasted long enough to give what sounded like a heartfelt apology. Julia shook her head. So, this is why Lynn didn't like to drink, she thought to herself. It made him emotionally vulnerable. She turned back to Ichime. He had watched the entire encounter with that same warm smile. It must have been funny to see the man who had the World Government running rampant trying to catch him passed out and drooling. The pirate the World Government was trying to catch. A new question shot through Julia's mind.

"Why didn't you kill us when we first showed up at your island?"

The fish-man went wide-eyed and nearly fell out of his chair. The question had been so far out of left field that it was like it was coming from a completely different sport. Seeing Ichime's change in expression, Julia immediately regretted asking. But after a short coughing fit, Ichime was able to recover. He exchanged his astounded look for one of concern. He asked her what she meant by that. After a short pause, she let out an exhale and dove into her train of thought.

Ichiro had risked his own life to save Barboso, the Grizzly Pirates' captain. Doing so ended in him getting half his arm torn off. And how did Barboso show his gratitude? By forcing Ichime to work on fixing their ship for the better part of a year. All the while, he and his crew would sit back and relax while jeering at him for taking so long. Not once did they ever lift a finger to help. And, at the end of every day, he would trudge home after a hard day's work to the sight of his disfigured grandson. The amount of restraint it must have taken to endure all of this was impressive in and of itself.

"But then, three new people wash up on your shore, and they're pirates," Julia said, taking another shaky breath, "You may not have known about me and Bede yet, but you totally knew about Lynn. You even called us pirates when we first met you! So, why? Why didn't you... tie us up or... do anything?"

She looked back up at Ichime. There was a pleading look in her eyes. No matter how well she had asserted herself in her own battle, a tiny speck of that doubt still remained, festering while she talked. Looking into the fish-man's eye, though, she could see the flood gates form to hold back his tears.

"I will admit that, when I first saw you three, all that rage that had building up nearly boiled over. All I could think was, 'Why me?' I was this close to throwing the lot of you back into the sea." He held up his fingers to emphasize. "But then you started waking up. Tacken was probably the worst first impression I've ever gotten, but then the way you lashed out at him was one of the funniest things I'd seen in months." Ichime let out a sigh at the not-so-distant memory. "That's when it really hit me. The lot of you are just kids. Kids who like to punch up at the world, sure, but still kids. I had to give you at least the chance to prove yourselves and, well, you damn nearly blew my expectations out of the water!"

Giving yet another warm smile, Ichime said, "So, thank you for being you. And tell that to them when they wake up!"

Julia let her own smile grow at the gratitude. That warm fuzzy feeling was back. It didn't quite put to rest all of her doubts, but it was as close as it was going to get. Right now, though, she wanted to try out a different warm and fuzzy feeling.

"Someone, get me some booze!" she shouted, "I've been sober for too long tonight and I gotta catch up with my boys!"

With night having fallen some time ago on Dineberg, an oily calm had settled over the island. Not only had the rain vanished, but almost all of the inhabitants had disappeared from the streets. The city was left dead quiet. It was so silent in fact that you would be too afraid to breathe, lest some unsavory character hear you and hunt you down. At least, that's what the shadowy trio that was sneaking through the desolate landscape felt. Every time one of them kicked a pebble aside or caused a piece of loose wood to crack underfoot, they came to a stilted halt. Their eyes danced around, nearly bugging out of their skulls. They struggled to swallow both from the stress and the collars around their throats. All they had to do was get intel and then get the hell out. There was nothing that should stop them. But, alas, fate was indeed a fickle mistress.

"Why are you here?" one of the men choked out, pointing wildly into the night sky.

Whoever it was, they were standing on air. The wind whipped around them, concealing their figure in the folds of a black coat. The only discernible feature they had was long, blood-red hair. That, and the twin blades strapped to their belt. Even with these few details, it was enough to strike fear into the hearts of the trio. They stumbled backwards, collectively falling onto their butts. Their teeth chattered and their eyes fluttered open and closed. This was the absolute worst.

"You boys and your captain don't have to worry - for now."

Even with how velvety their voice sounded, the grimace could still be heard with every word, like they were swallowing something horrible just saying that. It didn't help alleviate the trio's fear. Just then, the wind was whipped up, revealing a scowl through waves of hair. They gulped once more.

"I'm hunting a more important quarry right now, and he's quite the ravenous dog."