Z spent the evening atop the shipwright's building. He could have gotten a room at The George and Kraken, but that would have made it so much easier to miss Blue in the morning. It had been rude of her to wave him off the way she did; they weren't friends, but he still expected better. Getting to Galleon's Grave via her sloop would require another clever deal or some very honeyed words.

Sleeping had been an easy task with his sleep deprivation. He still woke early and after he rubbed his eyes clean, he was pleased to see that the sloop was still there. After that, his mind raced: Blue was always up early so he had little time to consider how to sell his ideas to her about keeping him aboard. They didn't like each other, but he didn't hate her and that was good enough in his book. Besides, she might just appreciate his plans in the Wilds.

"Hey. Hey!"

Coming down the dock, Blue paused, whipping around to look in his direction. It took another moment for her to look up, bewildered.

"What the hell are you doing up there?"

"Gettin' some mornin' sun. Hey, y' headin' out t' the Wilds next?" he asked as he worked his way down.

"I am heading anywhere you are not."

"Alright, but y' should head t' the Wilds."

"If you think for even a moment that you are setting foot on my sloop again—"

"Y' don't like that John guy too much, do ya?"

Blue paused, giving him yet another astonished look. She cleaned her face up and then asked, "What of him?"

"He and his ships came from up here, right? So after goin' through the Ancient Isles, they're gonna be headin' back up t' the Wilds. We—"

"Morrow's Peak is closer than the Wilds."

"Y're not wrong but those ships were way too clean; there's no way they go t' the Roar."

Blue stared at him for a moment before she crossed her arms, staying silent.

"So, we head out there, meet 'em there—"

"You are not suggesting that we take on a fleet of three galleons."

"I am. It'd be easy. We grab some gunpowder barrels from a fort on our way over—"

"Absolutely not," Blue said so sternly that he knew she would not be persuaded. Still…

"It's a fine plan."

"I like my ship floating, thank you very much."

"Sure… but y' like gold more, don't you?"

She narrowed her eyes at him; he couldn't help a whisper of a smirk.

"Come on, you saw how much money we made off that fort. Now imagine only splittin' it in half. Don't tell me y' really want t' go back t' shippin' cargo 'round for the Merchant Alliance for a few measly little coins."

"It is safe, steady income."

"It's a little income."

She scoffed. "Make your point."

"Two is better than one."

She made such an offensively offended noise that he was surprised she didn't just spit on him.

"No, really, think about it," he said, hands up to motion for her to relax. "One minds the ship, one boards the galleons and causes a little mischief while the other keeps the ship good and outta danger and fires the cannons. Even one of those gallies would be a big payout. And if y' really don't want t' go attack that alliance, we're still better off workin' together at anythin' else. Y' can move double the loot, do it half the time, do twice the things, watch two angles on the horizon—"

"You have made your point."

"So?"

She took some time to think and in that time Z wasn't totally convinced that she wasn't considering spitting on him. Then she sighed and he could hardly believe his ears.

"Get on the sloop."

"Wha— really?"

"Do not think for a moment that this means I will tolerate your 'mischief' like I did before."

"Alright, fine. De—"

"No deal this time. We act like civilised people and ask questions, split the chores aboard the ship, and respect one another." She leaned forward slightly, eyeing him harshly. "Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"On the ship then."

He nodded, taking great care to restrain himself from letting a toothy grin shine through his calm demeanour. His hop onto the ship's mid-deck had a little more height than it needed and he was quite happy to be back on this quaint little ship. Blue wasn't his first choice of shipmate, but he'd rather have her than be stuck on an outpost waiting for another ship to stow away on.

Z was learning that his shipmate was just about as fussy as he had thought initially, but there was a method to her madness.

"You and I have very different opinions of what potentials another ship may offer us," she had announced shortly after they left Sanctuary Outpost. "You will decide what we do about the first ship we come across, then I will decide what we do with the ship after, then you the next, and so on. Within reason, of course. We will not be attacking any fleets of galleons, for example. Neither will we be attacking anyone's friends."

That seemed fair. It was more than Z had hoped for considering how battle-shy she was. There was always a reason to anything she did, even if he didn't think it was a good one. If they were going to sail together for any period of time, they would both have to compromise.

Besides that, it was agreed upon that they would be stopping at any island with a known source of fresh water while they made their way to the Wilds and always. Drinking something besides grog and rum was nice and Blue apparently liked to keep everything clean, including the crew. They made a habit of running supplies wherever they could, including from flotsams, but especially at these islands, keeping the fruit fresh and the planks free of holes. Blue seemed to enjoy this new routine.

They spent part of a day and the following night at Lone Cove, then found themselves at Hidden Spring Keep once again. Their rattled nerves were something that neither of them vocalised and they slept in shifts that night. Come morning, Z had fallen back to sleep on the quarter-deck of the sloop, nestled in a corner where the canvas back began. It was the sound of light splashing that woke him and he was glad to see Blue pulling a splashtail from the water.

"Breakfast?"

"Breakfast."

He stayed where he was, stretching and rubbing at the soreness of his neck.

"Have you made it a habit to fall asleep anywhere?" he heard her ask from downstairs.

"It's a gift."

He sat there and listened to the fish fry. It was nice to not be awoken by skellies this time around, even if he was still somewhat nervous.

"There is something on my mind," he heard Blue ask from the mid-deck. He made a noise to show that he was listening. "How will you know where to meet your friends next time?"

He grit his teeth. It would've been smart to talk about that before Jackson had sailed off.

"We'll figure it out, meet up by chance somewhere or maybe on the Ferry."

"Hm." It seemed his answer had given her something to think about. Then: "What fruit do you want?"

"Got any of those solid coconuts?"

She made a soft snorting noise. While she got their food ready, he sat himself up on the canvas properly. Shortly after, Blue appeared, plate in hand; it held the fish she had just caught, now fried to a crisp, a tankard of grog for each of them, and the requested coconut. She sat somewhat near him and picked the nearly burnt fins off the fish.

"That is the last one," she stated as he greedily chewed at the sphere. "We will have to search other islands that pirates do not frequent to find more."

He mumbled an agreement, gulping down grog.

"We will also need to properly clean the food barrels out properly. All that fruit is beginning to get old."

"Better t' have it and not need it than t' need it and not have it."

"Fair. However, it is still threatening to turn into moonshine and take the fish with it."

He snickered at that one.

Breakfast was a habit that Z was happy to learn from his shipmate, as was regular sleep. Blue was overly fussy and he would never stop thinking that she needed to loosen up some, but her need to keep everything clean and organised did make the ship a breeze to be on. It didn't hurt that their supplies were easily accessed, that there was always fish and good fruit to eat. Now if only he could get her to laugh every once in a while, and not at him.

From Hidden Spring Keep, they went east and stayed at the island within the K9 coordinate. Once again they made some idle chit-chat about the island, as well as two other uncharted islands to the south. All three of them were in the centre of the Sea of Thieves and Blue could not believe that no organisation hadn't claimed them.

"If I ran a business, I would settle it on one of these islands so it would be a fair distance from the entire Sea," Blue had said. That got stuck in his head.

From K9, they went to Dagger Tooth Outpost. It seemed to Z that they would do the same thing there: rest, freshen up the supplies, clean the barrels while they were at it, and then leave the next morning. Instead, while they sat and ate yet another disappointing breakfast from the kitchen, Blue asked him a question.

"Why are you so insistent about the fleet?"

Z could hardly believe that she was asking that. He picked his fork back up and shook his head.

"I already told ya. They must have a ridiculous amount of treasure aboard. Even if it's all jus' deliveries, we could take 'em and get paid instead."

"You have shown no love for the Merchant Alliance's deliveries."

"They go from outpost t' outpost, right? So if we—"

"Not always."

"—catch 'em before they reach Galleon's Grave then we wouldn't have t' go hardly anywhere t' make those deliveries. Eh?"

Blue rolled her eyes and decided the ceiling was interesting to look at. "You would have to be lucky enough to take any of the ships out, recover undamaged goods, and need to deliver them somewhere nearby. It is an uncertain plan. It is also absolutely mad."

"I took out that gally at Thieves' Haven on my own. What's two more?"

"I do not think that running from a galleon counts. When you had to fight them, you got me involved."

"Alright, perfect. We can definitely take on three of them then."

"No," she growled.

It was very hard to not laugh. Yes, a sloop taking on a fleet was a ridiculous idea, but he had taken worse odds and come out the victor.

"'Sides, I took that gally's treasure and sold it myself. That's a win."

"Is it?"

Before she could say more, he held his hand up to present the original purse he had traded that chest for back at Plunder Outpost.

"I still haven't spent all this and it ain't fer lack'a tryin'. One chest gave me all this gold."

Blue placed a hand on the side of her face and leaned into it lazily. "Impressive, but… was it really worth losing your sloop like that?"

"Absolutely."

"Hm."

"Now, what about all yer not wantin' to fight thing? Why are we both decidin' what to do 'bout other ships?"

"Because it is fair. You pirates like your democracies, do you not?"

He leaned back.

"You like to vote on matters at hand and include the whole crew in that vote."

"I guess that's how most ships are ran."

"Hm." Blue pushed a piece of scrambled egg around and he got the feeling that she was thinking very hard about something.

"What's on yer mind?"

"Most crews take their votes seriously and everyone matters, correct?" He nodded. "That is not how that fleet is ran. If… if a reasonable opportunity presented itself, I would not mind seeing those galleons sink to the seafloor. But they are three ships to our little one."

Z was surprised to hear the viciousness in her tone. He didn't disagree with it — everyone was supposed to be equal to one another. That was the whole point of these waters, that everyone could do whatever they wanted and be whatever they wanted. Mostly. A ship dynamic like that just wasn't right.

"What about makin' life difficult for 'em?"

"What do you mean?"

"Fleets move slow, right? If I'm right and they do go t' Galleon's Grave, we'll meet 'em there. At night, we'll sneak aboard the ships and take whatever we can while they offload everythin'."

It was subtle, but he saw her eyes light up.

"… hmm. We would inflict no direct harm upon anyone while simultaneously reducing the fleet's earnings and increasing our own."

"Exactly."

"It is a good idea."

"Thought you might like that one."

"Shall we get going then?"

That had been an easy agreement. It was early in the day when they left and the wind was in the favour so they made good time to Galleon's Grave Outpost. Why the two outposts of the Wilds were so close to each other, he would never know.

As they closed in on the outpost, they agreed to go around the northern side of the island. From there, they would use one of the two massive peaks to hide the sloop from view at the main dock. Once the ship was properly stopped, they climbed those peaks for a vantage point to search for the fleet.

"So it is a galleon," Blue said after a time.

He turned to her, quizzical. "It's Galleon's Grave."

"Yes, but how did a ship that large get here?"

He paused. Never before had he thought about it. How did a galleon get stuck up here? He forced the thought away with a shrug.

"Anyway, I see the fleet t' the south. I was right: they haven't got here yet. They're nowhere close."

"Fleets do move slowly…"

He motioned to the very distant ships. "When do you think they'll get here?"

She pulled her spyglass from her pocket and observed the ships for herself. "We have perhaps a day. These Merchants do not like to sail at night. Though, if they are running behind schedule…"

"Y're sure?"

"Fairly. It would not be a bad idea to take shifts tonight to track them and make sure we are awake before they arrive should they gain a fairer wind."

He nodded. For once, his shipmate was thinking like a pirate and he was glad for it. They stood to make a lot of money off this heist and his excitement threatened to get the better of him.

"Let's get somethin' t' eat while we can."

Blue made a noise of agreement. "You can pay this time."

He gave an exaggerated groan. "Fine."

While Blue excelled at staying awake, sleep came easily to Z so he slept while she took first watch. When she woke him, it was at the precise time they had agreed upon.

"They look to have furled most of their sails for the night," she reported before getting her own rest.

A galleon had more sails than a brigantine and thus move that much faster in the right conditions. Those conditions had not been met and the ships instead moved at a slow but steady pace. When they would arrive, Z could not say. He trusted Blue's estimation of upward to a day but knowing it could be that long just made the anticipation worse.

The sun rose and once it was bright, that was his cue to wake Blue if she didn't rouse on her own. She didn't, and he wasn't quite sure how to wake her without making her grouchy, but that was probably going to be the case no matter what he did. He shook her shoulder and was unsurprised by her groaning, shuffling to hide her face in the canvas, and the weak acknowledgement a moment later.

"You should get up; I'm gonna get some more sleep."

She groaned further and adjusted her position. Z wasn't convinced that she would actually get up but he had done his part. He got a few more hours of sleep before waking on his own, having slept through Blue getting up and whatever else. When he got up and inspected the ship, he found her missing from it. A quick glance at the island from there did not reveal her. A coconut was quickly devoured to silence his stomach before he disembarked to search the island.

Despite his concern, it was easy enough to find Blue. She had sat herself down on the main dock of the island, book and pen in her lap. He stopped beside her, waiting to be acknowledged as he usually did when she was buried in her writings. After she wrote another full page, she finally acknowledged him, looking up for a moment and then back to her book.

"You were snoring. Loudly."

"Oh."

"I have never heard anything like it before."

Z made a face. "Anyway…"

"They will be here by nightfall. That is perfect for us, correct?"

"Correct. If y' change into yer black clothes."

"Of course. In the meantime, shall we consider what it is that we are stealing?"

"Uh, anythin' y' can get yer hands on?"

"No," she said, disappointed. "Some of the goods that the fleet transports are worth far more than others. Crates of spices and silks are always worth more than the pleasantries they may carry. Crates of plants, rum, and plain cloth are the most oftenly ran goods and all will be paid the same rate for as it is the timely transport that the Merchants pay for. They should sell those first to be assured the highest rate so they will not be worth risking ourselves for. We will search for items that are not time-sensitive while they are busy with those."

"Got it." It seemed Blue's expertise was going to be useful here. "Spices and silks?"

"Primarily, yes. As trusted trading vessels, they may also have cargo that you have not seen before. I could not tell you what those raw materials could be worth, here or anywhere else."

"Here or anywhere else?"

"Yes. The value of the raw materials differs at every outpost. They will be in unremarkable brown crates so they will be easy to tell apart from the usual goods. I would not bother with them unless we can make use of the material itself."

"Got it. So we're focusin' on spices, silks, and anythin' useful?"

"Precisely."

He nodded in agreement, then asked, "What do we do in the meantime?"

Blue gave him a small shrug. "I have plenty to do. That is your problem."

He gave her an over-exaggerated sigh before turning and heading back to the ship.

Most of the day passed before the fleet was close enough for the duo to begin readying themselves for their nighttime excursion. Blue exchanged her floofy dress for the sleek black shirt and leggings of the brigantine voyage and carried nothing but her cutlass and dagger. Z required little more than for the ships to arrive, deciding to stick to his usual cutlass-blunderbuss combination.

In the evening light, they lurked in the shadow of the east side of the island and watched the ships come to the dock. Just as before at Ancient Spire Outpost, they took their time as the first ship pressed its side flush against the pier, and then the other two ships lined up alongside it so that cargo could be ferried across the decks. The sound of Johnathan yelling for the manifest to be double-checked confirmed that the fleet would be going over everything before selling them. Once more, Z stood by Merchant ships and watched them move their goods around. At least this time he would be taking some.

Turning to Blue, he looked to make sure she was ready. When she acknowledged him, he started off to the ships, quietly entering the water and slowly swimming just below the surface. The ship furthest in the water was the least busy; when they climbed aboard, they discovered that there was in fact no one tending to it at all. The goods of the closest ship seemed to have the entire fleet crew busy. Free to move about the ship, the two made their way downstairs to the lowest deck, moving low and quietly.

Knowing exactly what she was after, Blue quickly found something worthwhile. Z inspected the goods alongside her. There were many crates of silks and cloths in the stack to choose from; the problem was figuring out what to take. Blue had already picked out a crate of red and yellow silks. She stepped aside so he could grab one himself. The colour blue was uncommon and one crate was an especially striking shade. His shipmate didn't seem opposed to his selection, not that he expected her to be.

They started back up the stairs, moving carefully. There was still no one on the first-deck and when he poked his head out of the open hatch, Z spotted no one on the main-deck, nor anyone from any of the other ships paying any mind to their direction. Staying low, he made his way to the ladder on the ship's free side and slipped back into the water. A moment later, Blue joined him and they made their way back to the eastern shore, their tiny splashing covered by the chatter on deck. From there, they went around the island to the sloop and stashed their goods before turning back for more.

When they went back to the galleon, Blue investigated another pile of goods. This one was not cloths, instead emanating a pleasant scent he could not identify without closer inspection. He was certain that the crates with green labelling were tea based on their smell; the white ones were sugar, a commodity that wasn't nearly as valuable as he thought it ought to be. Then again, all of it was imported from outside the Sea of Thieves where labour was cheap, or worse.

Blue pointed out a few crates that were adorned with dark colours. An assortment of scents came from these crates, the primary one that he could determine to be peppercorns. When he bent his knees to pick one up with her, he had to stifle a sneeze. These crates were taken in a similar manner to those before them.

A few more times did the two of them do this, finding crates that seemed valuable and ferrying them away. There were not many crates of spices and taking them all would have alerted the crew too soon to their misdeeds, so they focused on the silks and some fine cloth. Blue favoured the brightest colours when she chose her crates and he wasn't entirely convinced that it was because they were more valuable.

Soon enough, the hold of the sloop was crowded with Merchant goods. Rather than go back again, they looked at each other, apparently having come to the same conclusion at the same time: this was enough.

"Shall we leave now?"

"Before they spot anythin' missin'? Sounds good t' me."

They nodded and Blue made her way to the map table, looking over the islands to their north and gaining an annoyed expression.

"We have quite a lot of travelling to do," she said.

"We can start back towards Dagger Tooth then."

"The wind and waves would be against us."

"That works better for us than the galleons."

"Hm." She considered those words, then nodded. "A long sail through the night to The Sunken Grove it is, then."

Z withheld a laugh for the sake of stealth. "Y're not gettin' sleepy on me yet, are ya?"

"Not yet. But when we—"

"I know, when we get out t' sea and there ain't anythin' to do but sail, then ye'll want to sleep."

She glowered but nodded nonetheless. "Shall we get moving then?"

Under the cover of darkness, the sloop left Galleon's Grave undetected. The two of them were quiet until they got what felt like a relatively safe distance away from the fleet before celebrating properly. Blue seemed alarmed when he grabbed her and picked her up for a spin, but she didn't scold him so it couldn't have been that bad. They had made out with such a great selection of stolen loot that neither's mood could be soured. As expected, however, Blue's fatigue set in once their excitement ran down.

"I need to sleep. Once we are both rested, we'll go through everything," she had said. That had been just fine by Z; she had a better idea of what they had taken. His purse was still very full from his previous two excursions; he could wait a bit longer to fill it further.

Morning came and they still had not reached their destination. At this point, Z's exhaustion was becoming impossible to fight against; he was very pleased to see his shipmate back on deck soon after. A cold, dry splashtail was split between them before they traded places and he rested for what remained of the morning. The ship had just stopped at The Sunken Grove when he was back up, rubbing his face free of sleep.

"Good afternoon."

He didn't even bother looking up at Blue on the quarter-deck, groaning some. A tankard of grog sounded good at that moment.

"Are you ready to go through—"

"Jesus, woman, gimmie some time t' wake up right."

"—Or that." She made a noise that he was certain was her withholding a laugh if her hands were anything to go by. "Coconut or grog?"

"How 'bout both?" he muttered with some amount of annoyance. Despite that, Z was not surprised — quite thankful in fact — when both were offered to him a few minutes later. He had sat down against a cannon and Blue sat across from him against the other one, poking at the dry half of the coconut with a metal spoon.

The two ate their launch in quiet company. All the liquid he had been given had refreshed his mind and body quite readily, so waiting until his shipmate was finished was aggravating.

"Have you looked over anything yet?" he asked.

"Not yet. We have been here only a little longer than you have been awake. I thought you might like to learn how to gauge the prices of trade goods."

"Ehh, not that much."

She chuckled. "It is enough to know to grab silks and spices then, is it?"

"Yeah."

"Fair enough." A pause as she looked him over, then: "Are you finished?"

Z had been chewing at his coconut, silently appreciating not having to crack it open with his teeth. Sure, it would then heal any damage he suffered, but avoiding it in the first place was nice.

"Ready enough," he said, woofing down the remains.

Blue tossed her empty husk off the ship as she stood and led the way down to the hold. True to her word, she hadn't touched anything and the minor disturbances of the crates had come from sailing against rough water.

"So what have we got?" he asked.

"The two spice crates alone should fetch a fair amount of coin. All the silk will be even more." She pulled one crate away from the others, one of the red and yellow ones. "This will be useful."

"Why?"

"As I told you before, that tatty old thing attached to the mast is not this ship's sail. That was torn in a battle some weeks ago and I have only now found enough appropriately coloured silk to mend it with."

"With silk?"

"It is a very fine sail."

He stared at her for a moment before shrugging. "Alright then. So we'll get some fat pouches of coin out of this and ye'll be able t' fix yer sail."

"Yes. Raiding that hold will be quite the boon to my sail and our pockets. In the meantime…" She crossed her arms and considered her words. "We should continue to put distance between us and the fleet."

"Back to Sanctuary then?"

"How about Dagger Tooth? Then we sail more northerly?"

He chuckled. "Fine. Are we leaving right away?"

"I see no reason to linger here. Do you?"

He shook his head.

"Then we will use this fair weather to travel."