Before them was Sanctuary Outpost, an island situated in the beautiful Shores of Plenty. It was one of the easiest outposts to navigate and after dealing with Dagger Tooth, it was a welcome sight. Anything that wasn't in the Wilds was a welcome sight. On the other hand, it was also the ending point for this voyage.

There were two ships there: a brigantine and a galleon. The latter was at the main pier in prime docking position while the brig was at the lesser-used dock, out of the way of anyone coming in for a visit. With the sloop's shallow draft, Blue was able to pull their ship in alongside the main dock, near the Merchant Alliance's post. Z took the hint and got the ropes ready to complete the docking process. This way they avoided having any reason to deal with the galleon crew.

"Well, here we are," Blue announced.

"Here we are."

He pulled hard on the ropes, nestling the sloop's stern close to the dock. As soon as he stepped off the ship to secure the rope to a post, Blue followed him, checking his work. The expression on her face made him uneasy.

"Here we are," he repeated. The moment felt rather final. When Blue didn't say anything right away, he asked, "What now?"

She stepped close to him, looking over his face; he had no idea what she could have possibly been doing. Then she stepped away, saying, "Now I have fulfilled my end of the bargain and I wash my hands of you."

Well, that was rude. He didn't say or show that thought, however. Instead, he placed his hands on his hips, a smirk crossing his face. "What, no kiss goodbye?"

"Should anyone ask, I will deny knowing you and claim you a stowaway." He was surprised to receive even a polite bow before she turned away from him and headed up the pier.

Z huffed at that, unable to keep up his playful demeanour. A thought crossed his mind and he called out, "Remember my offer!" At least Blue responded with that callous wave she so often gave him so he knew she had heard him.

He gave the sloop one last look. There were a few more of his belongings that he could grab, but he decided against it. He had a good set of clothes on his back, his weapons, and his pockets were full of good supplies. There was nothing more than he needed from this ship.

Now… he had choices. He could go to the brig directly — his friend was known for liking them. That and he didn't recognise anything about the dressed-up galleon.

Rather, Z chose to walk the island's length and head to the tavern. There were many pirates here if the sounds he picked up were anything to go by. He could hear inside the clothing store that the shopkeeper was talking someone's ear off. Besides that, everyone else seemed to be inside the tavern or on their ships.

He took his time to finally get to the tavern. Blue almost ran into him as she left in a hurry. No, she definitely didn't want anything to do with him. Still, he couldn't help being curious, wondering what the hell that was about. He stepped through the threshold and scanned the rowdy pirates inside. It looked as though the entire galleon crew and then some were present, but there was only one person in the corner he cared for.

"Jack!"

"Hey, Z!"

The two embraced for a moment, Z earning a hearty slap on the back from the wider man.

"I was beginnin' to think you weren't going to show," his friend said as the two of them sat down.

Z laughed. "I ran into some trouble."

"Trouble?"

"Of the galleon kind. It's all good, they got what was comin' to 'em. I got their Chest of Legends and sunk 'em."

"Wow." Jackson was impressed and he'd damn well be. Z was impressed with himself, too. "How'd you manage that?"

Well… "Ehh, I… had a little help," he admitted, ducking his head a little. "A distraction."

"Really? Was it that fine woman that was just in here? She bought us all a round of grog."

"She did?" He shook his head. "But uh, yeah. Blue brought me here, too. My sloop didn't fair so good against a gally."

Jackson couldn't help a toothy grin. "Really? You got somebody t' put up with you?"

Z rolled his eyes. "We made a deal. Her side was to bring me here. Now she doesn't want anythin' to do with me."

"Jesus, what'd you do to her?"

"Nothing! She's got a stick so far up her ass you couldn't get it back no matter how hard y' pull."

The both of them shared a laugh.

"Well, this Blue lady is fine by me," Jackson said, happy to nurse his free drink.

"Yeah, I bet she is." Z was a tad disappointed to have missed a free round of drinks. His purse was still quite heavy, but that wasn't the point. And… "Did no one else show up?"

"No. I was startin' to think even you weren't gonna show. We're all always late, but this… it's late."

"Yeah. Sorry. Uh…"

"What?"

Z drummed his fingers against the table. "If it's just the two of us… should I see if I can convince Blue to join us?"

"I thought you said—"

"I told her I'd introduce her t' you and anyone else here."

Jackson paused to stare down at his quickly disappearing grog. "It would be nice to have a full crew…" He nodded and Z nodded back in affirmation.

"I'll be back then."

"I'll meet you at the brig."

"Sounds good."

The two nodded to each other again and stood, exiting the tavern and going their separate ways. Z was astonished that no one else had shown up, but that wasn't entirely unexpected of their extended crew. Z wondered how he was the most reliable of them all. He shook his head of those thoughts.

He glanced to the sloop at the dock: it was still there, so where had Blue gone? The first thought he had was to check the little ship itself, to see if she had disappeared to its lower decks. She had not. That meant she was still on the island somewhere.

Z would find his curiosity quickly sated. Before he could investigate the still noisy clothing shop, Blue stepped out of the weaponsmith's building. In her arms was a crate and on top of it were two plain swords. She looked annoyed when he came up alongside her on the way back to the sloop.

"Hey, whatcha doin'?"

"Minding my own business."

"Alright." He really should have expected something like that. Still, Z was not deterred and only thought more carefully about what he was going to say as they reached the sloop.

"Look, my offer still stands if y' wanna meet my friends. Friend. Only one showed." He let those words settle in as she stepped from the pier onto the mid-deck. "So we have room for another crewmember on the brig."

Blue was in the middle of inspecting one of the newly obtained swords when he finished speaking. It was another moment before she said, "Ah, so the galleon is not yours? What a pity. That and your undermanned ship."

He sighed. She was being… less difficult than she could have been, he supposed. At least she was tolerating him.

"We won't be leavin' for a while still, so think about it. Bigger crews on bigger ships can make more money if they're good at what they're doin'. It's no gally, but the brig is fast. Jus'… just think about it."

He knew she wasn't going to humour him so Z just made his way back up the pier.

"My money's missin'!"

That cleared things up. Jackson had been irritated all afternoon since the two met up at the brigantine and Z was right: it wasn't about him. He was glad for that, if less glad about his friend having apparently been robbed.

"Alright, so… which one of the galleon crew do y' think it was?"

"How you so sure it wasn't your lady friend?"

The mere idea of Blue taking someone's purse seemed out of character. "It's not her style."

Jackson thought for a moment. "You invited someone to join us who wouldn't take somebody's money if they could?"

"… maybe. What of it? She's a good sailor and ev'ryone likes t' make more coin."

Jackson made a noncommittal noise as he fruitlessly searched the captain's area some more for his purse, overturning the mattress and checking further under the bed again.

"So, who from the galleon do y' think it was?"

"Ehh, I dunno. I haven't had any problems with them before today and I've been here almost a fortnight now."

Z blinked. "Why have they been here?"

The other shrugged. "They just don't want to sail. Taking a break, spendin' their money, I guess."

There was no way that Blue was to blame for this. If the other crew was a decent lot, then his friend must have misplaced his coins. It wouldn't have been the first time something like that had happened, but it usually required that the night before to be rich in alcohol. That wasn't the case this time.

"Let's go take a look and see if y' dropped it in the tavern?"

Z didn't wait for the other's response before heading up to the deck. He was surprised to see someone coming down their dock and then realised that it was Blue. No longer did brightly coloured fabric adorn her as he had become so used to seeing, replaced by the loose-fitting black garb that he expected of the crew. On her waist was a sword and her dagger, an Eye of Reach slung over her back. She had made her way to the end of the dock before he regained his composure.

"What?"

"I… I didn't think you were comin' with."

"I changed my mind."

He couldn't come up with any sort of sarcastic remark for that and only grinned.

Jackson groaned as he brought himself upstairs, perking up slightly when he saw that they had a guest. "Hey!" he greeted.

On the other hand, Blue seemed to deflate when she saw him. She looked away for a long moment, head tilted under her hat, then sighed. Both men had looked at each other, curious, and then were surprised when she tossed a purse at Jackson, glee and then displeasure spread across his face.

"I suppose you can have back what remains."

Z must have looked like as much of a fool as he felt. "Did you…?"

"You two should keep a better eye on your coin."

The two of them glanced at each other, wondering her exact meaning. Z still had his, a light touch reaffirmed that. Perhaps it was best to not ask.

"Now," Blue started, hands on her hips; "Do you two want another crew member or not?"

They looked at her and nodded, giving their own confirmations.

Blue stepped on deck. "Good. Now then…" She made her way downstairs, leaving them to stare at each other.

"You sure about this?"

Z shook his head. "I don't wanna hear it."

For the rest of the afternoon, the crew spent it separated from each other, each one preparing for departure in their own ways. Jackson had kept to the ship, making sure everything was in place and that anything more brought aboard was organised as best as he could. This proved quite necessary as Blue brought quite a lot of supplies over from the sloop; it was overstocked anyway, so why not? Z added more to the manifest by habit by pillaging from the island.

Blue had not been shy about showing her disdain for the ship's configuration. Though she spoke no words regarding it, both men could tell that she did not like it. Having spotted her hammock near the map table, Z thought he might know why. And despite its extra length, the brig was hardly any wider than a sloop was, making the hold difficult to live in with a jail cell in the centre taking up so much space, the walls lined with this and that. He was beginning to wish that they made a habit of replacing the jail with something else, anything, to make the hold nicer for living.

Not that he would openly complain about how things were. Though he had been wrong about the suspect, Blue's thievery had earned her some respect, albeit at a cost. Jackson often doubted anything and everything to some degree, it was his nature to be apprehensive, but now Z could feel it, too. He was going to learn some new things about her, he was sure of it.

"Are we ready to get goin'?"

Z tapped his chin thoughtfully. "How's our stock?"

"Better than usual."

Blue glanced at the men, dagger between her teeth as she carried a crate of rum aboard. They looked back and she paused, her expression's meaning clear: You're welcome. The two of them looked to each other before they followed her to the hold and assembled around the voting table.

"All right, first thing's first," Z started; he gestured between the other two. "Jack, Blue. Blue, Jack. I think you two've meet before."

Jackson grumbled, adding fuel to Blue's little smirk as she gave him a polite salute. Z refrained from commenting, simply grinning.

"Now then, are we ready to take off?"

Jackson tapped the table. "I'd say so. Supplies look good. Unless you two have anythin' you want to grab before we leave, we're ready."

"I have brought over everything that I think will be of any use to us," Blue added.

Z nodded. "Then all we have to talk about are plans."

Both of his shipmates gave him a curious look.

"We'll go after anythin' that we stand to make coin off of. We can stay nearby and hit up Hidden Springs when it goes active. We'll be the first there and avoid any competition. Easy. In th—"

"Wait, what do you mean 'when it goes active'?" Jackson interjected. "How do you know?"

"Ehh, we, uh…"

"We know," Blue answered sternly.

"Yeah. We know. Jus' trust me on that one. In the meantime, I spotted a sloop south'a us that might be worth takin' in the night."

Jackson nervously side-eyed their new crew member. It seemed that both of them expected her to have something to say about that. When she looked at them expectantly, Z faltered.

"Is that agreeable?"

Jackson looked at him as though he was insane.

Blue asked, "Why would it not be?"

Z wasn't sure what to say to that and his words suffered for it. "Because you… y' seemed…"

"Seemed what?" Her hands went to her hips, an equally unimpressed expression crossing over her face. "I am fairly certain that I know what I am getting myself into if that is your concern. You said it yourself: larger crews make more money. Or was that incorrect?"

"No…"

Jackson gave him a subtle accusatory eye.

"Well, what are we waiting for then?" Blue asked.

The group looked at each other, all expecting… something. Z took a breath and nodded.

"Alright. Usual crew rules: we put everythin' to a vote, but y'll prob'ly be outvoted two t' one—"

"I expect nothing less."

"Good. Let's get goin' then."

Sailing was easy when everyone aboard the ship participated and knew what the hell they were doing. Despite the shared knowledge, Blue looked awkward on the brigantine. When Jackson called for the sails to be moved, she double-checked what she did, made sure that she adjusted the correct rigging or that she was stood in the right place to not get thrown overboard by the slim ship's incredible speed. She never asked where anything was or for help, though.

They ended up back at Lonely Isle at sundown. They could keep an eye on both the fort and the sloop at Cannon Cove from there. Once the ship was nearly stopped, Jackson could hold his tongue no more.

"All right, but how do you know this fort's the next one?"

Z sighed. He just wanted to be trusted on the matter. Blue had more to say.

"This incorrigible idiot thought it wise to stop there the other night. We were not alone."

Z sheepishly shrugged when he was looked at by both parties. "So that happens every once in a while…!"

Blue shook her head and ducked down into the hold.

Jackson watched her disappear before turning his attention to Z. All afternoon he had a vague look of uncertainty in his eyes, like he wasn't sure what they were doing for once. Z knew it was because of Blue, and despite the trust he had with his longtime friend, it couldn't help the doubt. Z felt it, too. He made his way downstairs.

"Hey."

Blue paused in rummaging through her bag, then began again.

Z cleared his throat. It was time to stop beating around the bush. "Why are you here?"

"Was I not clear before?"

"No, y' were, but y' also said y' couldn't stand me and didn't like how I handled the gally at Ancient Spire and all else, so… so why are you here if that's how it is?"

She sighed. "Larger crews make more money—"

"That's not what this is about, is it? Y' can't possibly need that much."

"You would be surprised."

"Try me."

"I was not offering to share."

Z just about threw his hands up in frustration.

"You are looking for something you are not privy to. Now—"

"Alright, alright, fine, keep yer secrets." Z knew he wasn't going to learn those things quite yet. Still, he was curious about why she was here. Perhaps asking the question differently…

"How are you here?"

She rose a brow. "How?"

"How? With everythin' y' can't stand, how're you managin'?"

"It is a simple desire to make a little more coin and try something new. Much of what you told me is applicable to combat, correct?"

"Yes…" Now it was his turn to be difficult. There was no easy way to tell someone like her, someone who apparently didn't like to fight, that this ship was one that fought anyone and everyone. Or maybe… "So y're not surprised that we're goin' to attack anyone we see?"

He watched with some amused curiosity as Blue adorned a gold bandanna around her face and let him soak it in.

"I see. Is—" He paused, wondering if he should ask. His curiosity was insatiable. "Is there anyone we should go look for?"

She gave him a thoughtful noise. "Perhaps. For now, however, I will let you two show me what you do. I hardly think we will ran into any… friends of mine."

"And if we do?"

"I will speak up and let you know where to hit them."

Z blinked, then chuckled with an air of uncertainty. He had no idea what she meant. He pushed past that subject.

"How much combat have y' seen?"

"Seen or participated in?"

What the hell kind of question was that? "Both?"

Blue finally pulled her mask down, letting it rest around her neck while she stared at him. "Too much. You saw one of my battles. Before that one, I was forced to sink another sloop on my own and it cost me my sail."

"Did it?"

"The one you saw on my ship was theirs. I had to pull it from the water immediately after."

"Resourceful, aren'tcha?"

"Are you not? Or do you let pure luck take you from one point to another?"

He made a mocking noise. "Fine. But I still don't know how you fight."

She tilted her head. "However I need to. I can work the cannons, use a sword or shoot—"

"I've never even seen you hold a sword right."

Blue took a breath and held it. She let it out as a sigh just before standing with proper posture and then tilted her head down, letting the brim of her hat cover her face. Z wasn't sure what to think of this until he shifted his weight to one side and she leaned the other way. That made him pause before doing the opposite and getting the same response. That time he had heard the wood creak underfoot and it made him wonder.

"Is yer hearin' that good?"

"Better than yours."

Blue stepped back against the map table, then she made a motion for him to come to her. He always liked sparring, yet she made it so much more interesting than a straight scuffle.

Blue's hearing couldn't be so good that she could hear him crouching low, he reasoned. Yet, when he did just that and tried to lunge for her legs, having made no noise that he could hear, she sidestepped him; he didn't like that part so much. Then she was over the map table and it was between them. If he went over, she would go under. There was no way he could go under instead — he was too big to do that fast enough. As far as Z could tell, his only option was to make her move before trying to catch her again.

"You guys good down here?"

Or he would have had Jackson not come down at that point.

"Just dandy."

"Y' know what? You try," Z said, backing up. When Blue lifted her head, he motioned for her to return to where she had been before.

"Try what?"

"Catching me," Blue explained from her position behind the table still.

Jackson gave them both a quizzical look.

"It is fine; I believe I have made my point," she added.

"Uh, sure. See, I was just comin' down to see if you two were ready to get goin'. I know we haven't been stopped long but that sloop's been there all day and they're either goin' to leave in the night or just sleep through it."

"So we should go." Both men nodded to her. "A fine idea."

Jackson motioned for them to move so he could get to the map. "We'll go through here," he started, pointing out a specific area of open water between the islands the ships were at. "There's some rocks that should give us some cover when we go in."

"Fair. The sooner we go, the better," Blue reasoned.

Z considered how they had slept every night on the sloop and wondered if that had something to do with her eagerness. He didn't wonder enough to ask right then and there, though. "Good idea."

Everyone nodded to each other and returned to the main-deck.

As Jackson took the wheel and angled the ship so it was ready to leave, he spoke up. "Hey, can I ask you somethin'?"

Blue seemed taken aback. "What is it?"

"How're your fightin' skills? I still can't figure out how you got my money, but this is different than a sleight of hand." He wanted to hear it himself, it seemed.

"I am perfectly capable. What would you have me do?"

"I'll tell you when we get there, but I think I want you boardin' with Z, though."

Blue rose a brow at that and he spoke again before she could.

"Here's the plan: we go past 'em if they move at all, shoot what we can, and then you two will jump off. If they don't respond to us, then we'll just pull up alongside 'em."

She nodded. "Very well."

Jackson glanced over at Z and he nodded as well. It was a standard full-crew plan that sounded as good as any right now.

"All right, good! Any questions before we go?"

Blue shook her head and so did Z after another moment's thought.

"Then lower my sails, please."