Hello everyone and welcome to the start of chapter 37 of the story! Waking up in the morning to start writing this.

Now with that said, let's start it!


The pirate woman, revealed to be the famous Francis Drake, got up from her chair and walked torwards her subordinate. It was noticeble by the way she walked that the captain had also been drinking too much lately. "You f-fool*hic*!" She let out a hiccup, letting her body lean onto the pirate's shoulder. "W-Who in this hellish sea would have a pirate crew of just teens and kids?" She asked him, looking at the Chaldea group in front of her. "Plus you just interrupted me from breaking my personal record of rum drinking!"

"S-Sorry cap!" The pirate laughed drunkly. "It's just the way they dress is funny to me. I thought the captain would like to see it too. Also, I started my career when I was about that boy's age." He pointed to Ritsuka.

"Well, we really do not look like we fit in a setting like this." Peko said as he looked to his own clothes, seeing how his and the rest of the group clothes were very modern for the time they were in.

"We should have thought about doing a Mystic Code to match this pirate era way before we entered this Singularity." Mash lamented. "A shame that we only had that idea now."

"Wait a moment!" Nala said, grabbing a random black cloath that was lying around the tent and tying it around her head, covering her right eye. "A-Argh? Is like this isn't it?" Nala tried to immitate a pirate. "Way more fitting for this time period, don't you think?"

Ritsuka smiled at seeing Nala's attempt. "I can't really say you didn't tried hard on doing that disguise. A 6/10."

"Only a 6?!" Nala exclaimed.

"It was a bit generous." Peko speaked. "I would have give it a 4."

"That's because you have a pea brain." Nala replied back. "I even tried to do the accent and everything."

"Damn. Are we pirates becoming parodies or somethin'?" Drake questioned to herself. "Don't get me wrong kid but I've seen shortier pirates that used to scare me way more."

"No consolation prize I guess." Nala sighed as she took out the improvised eye patch from her head.

"So this is the famous Francis Drake?" Ritsuka said as he looked to the pirate woman's body from up and down. "Hey Mash."

"I'm as surprised and confused as you master." Mash responded.

"It kinda makes me wonder if everything I learned in school was just a lie." Ritsuka said, thinking about the fact of Drake being a woman.

"Why? Is something wrong with her?" Peko asked to the two, not knwoing who the famous pirate in front of him was.

Both Ritsuka and Mash scratched their head, trying to explain who Francis Drake was to Peko and by extent Nala.

"Hum...Francis Drake was a famous pirate known to be the pioneer of the Age of Exploration by circumnavigating our world, being the first person to complete it." Mash says as she watched Drake drinking another bottle of rum. "Just like Nero and Seneca, Drake must be a living person due to the fact this Singularity is happening on the time she was still alive. That leads me to suspect she might as well be a key aspect to the Singularity itself like Nero was."

"Okay. So she's a big deal here." Nala said. "But what exactly bothers you about her?"

"Hum..." Ritsuka ignored Nala's question, instead looking at Drake again. When he thought he at least knew something about a single historic figure, this journey would again prove him wrong. "Just like Da Vinci said, some mysteries are meant to remain as that, don't you think?" He smile sheepishly at the two kids.

"Y-Yeah. Let's focus on the more important things." Mash said, doing the same smile as Ritsuka.

"You're acting kinda weird." Peko told them. Thankfully, he and Nala didn't try to insist. "But I think we can do a research on Francis Drake by ourselves when we finish this Singularity."

"Yeah. It probably isn't that much of a deal." Nala added.

As they were done talking, the hologram of Doctor Romani appeard behind them, establishing contact. "And it's done! So Mash, what is the status of the current situation?" He asked to the shielder.

"We have explored the entire island that the doctor had dropped us in. Unfortunately, the grail most likely isn't in this place. We weren't able to find it." Mash reported to Romani. "However we did find this small pirate hideout."

"Oh that explains this tent." Romani said as he hologram looked around, spotting the amount of rum bottles and Drake in front of him. "And she is..?"

"Francis Drake, the pirate." Ritsuka told to the doctor.

"Hey! More respect to the captain here! She ain't no ordinary freshwater pirate! She's the GREAT pirate!" Drake's lackey said, demanding more respect of the group for his captain.

"So that is the famous Francis Drake, huh?" Romani said, staring at the woman with an analyzing glare.

"Yep. That's her." Ritsuka said.

"I see." Romani speaked, stopping his focus on Drake and about to bring other topic. "Anyways..."

"That's your reaction on discovering that she was a woman all along?!" Ritsuka screamed mentally.

"...we must talk to her about this Singularity." Romani continued. "I'm sure she can be of great help to us."

"Having a famous navigator on our side will help us a lot on wandering through this seas indeed." Peko commented before looking at Drake. "Hum...Miss...or perhaps captain?...Would you-"

"Just call me Drake kid." She said, smiling to Peko and the rest of the Chaldea group. "Miss ain't suitting me and captain are only for the people of my crew."

"Ok then Drake." Peko said. "Would you like to-"

"Now wait a second there." Drake changed her mood slightly. "You want to ask something out of me, ain't ya?"

"I mean, we suspect that you may know something about this ocean." Nala told to the pirate woman. "Like, an ocean of only islands in it? Doesn't that sound strange to you?"

"Hmmm. True indeed mate." Drake commented before drinking from another bottle of rum. "This seas have been unusual for a while now." She then placed the empty bottle on the top of the wodden table. "But don't think I am willing to spill all that information for free." She smiled with pride to the people of Chaldea. "If there's one thing you people must know about us pirates..."

The Chaldea group entered into their battle positions, seeing how the general mood had changed as Drake speaked.

"...is that we aren't the most generous or benevolent of people out there." Drake's smile widened slightly. "How 'bout this? I challenge you to a duel!" She pronounced. "Win and I tell you more about this place. Lose..." The alchoolic Drake stared at the ceilling, thinking of something. "...and I'll think of something else in the meantime."

"Really now?! We just want some answers!" Nala complained.

"We didn't came here to fight you. Causing problem right now with you and your whole crew is something we don't want!" Peko protested as well.

"Fou fuc!" Fou also appeard to be somewhat irritated by Drake's decision.

"There's no chance to convince her I'm afraid." Mash told them. "Pirates are just like that."

"Charley!" Ritsuka shouted all of a sudden.

"I think you meant 'parley' Fujimaru." Romani rubbed his forhead from shame.

"It's still close." Ritsuka responded.

"Also, you can't use parley to just cancel out a duel dumbass." The red bandana pirate called Ritsuka out. "Captain as just offered ya a duel with her. I know you lot are just a group of teens and kids, but if y'all really want to be big grown ass men and women, then don't be coward yerselves and fight Captain right here and now!" He exclaimed to the group, goading them to fight Drake.

"Alright then!" Nala exclaimed as well, stomping her foot on the top of a barrel to look into Drake's blue eyes, seeing now how big the scar across the pirate's face was. "We accept the duel, O Captain Drake!" She looked to the rest of the group behind her, smiling at them. "And what do you say?"

"Same here!" Ritsuka said, walking until he stood face to face with Drake. "If you want a duel, then we will give it to you Drake!"

"Heh!" Drake cackled. "That attitude of yours, I like it!" She told them. "There's still fierce teens out there who want to venture on this wild seas." She walked past Ritsuka and Nala. "However, we ain't dueling here. Let's do it on the outside." Drake said as she grabbed her pirate subordinate. "How drunk are you Bombe? The ship is called the Golden Hind, not Wild hunt you seaweed head!"

"Man! Then I must be quite drunk already Cap." Drake's crewmate, Bombe, told her while the two would walk out of the tent.

"How many bottles of rum have you drinked today? Serious question." Drake asked him.

"Hum, well, what comes after six? Twenty? Somewhere around that number Captain." Bombe said as he tried to remember the exact number.

Drake just sighed despite her smile. "You really are a lost cause Bombe." She told him before the two burst in laughter as they exited the tent and went outside, leaving the Chaldea group behind.

"It could be worse guys." Romani told them. "Better having to fight one person than a hundred."

"Still, I'd prefer we didn't had to fight at all." Ritsuka said.

"I think Drake wants to see if we are worthy enough to receive any information she might have about this Singularity." Peko speaked.

"Then let's go already before she decides to go away!" Nala told them, running torwards the tent's exit.

"Right behind you sis!" Peko said, following his sister.

"We should be joining them as well Senpai!" Mash told Ritsuka.

"To the outside!" Ritsuka exclaimed.


Once in the open area and exterior, a full crowd of pirates gathered around the trio of Mash, Peko and Nala that were about go up against Drake. Ritsuka was sitting on a wooden bench in the sidelines alongside the hologram of Romani.

In the middle, Mash was preparing her shield as well as the twins were preparing their swords. Mash caught Drake on the other side drinking another bottle.

"Woh! This sun is feeling good!" Drake said while stretching her arms and moving her neck. "Perfectly in mix with the cold refreshing sea." She turned around to look at her whole crew. "Don't you think so men?"

"Aye aye captain!"

"Crush 'em!"

"You got this captain!"

"Make them eat sand!"

Encouragement noises from Drake's crew erupted wildly. Despite the duel that was about to begin, the pirates were still drinking and partying, seeing the duel as nothing more but an attraction to their festival. The music was still playing as well.

"She has a lot of supporters." Peko looked to the huge public around them.

"As long as they don't interfere it's fine by me." Nala said to her brother before stretching her own arms. "It's still three against one."

"Nala's right." Mash speaked. "Remember to don't go too hard. She is a living person and not a servant as well as fundamental for us."

"Roger that." Nala replied back.

"C'mon guys! You can do it!" Ritsuka cheered them on while stayin in the middle of Drake's pirates. Hearing the sound of eating, the master of humanity looked to the side to see Romani eating popcorn. Thinking that asking the why for such thing wouldn't be worth it, Ritsuka just stared back to the battle that was about to happen in front of him.

"Y-yeah! I believe in you!" Romani shouted with his mouth full. "Hmm, these popcorns could have been better by spending one more minute in the microwave."

"Hey! You there!" A couple of pirates approached Ritsuka. "Why ain't ya fighting alongside your mateys? Are you a spinless freshwater coward?"

Ritsuka raised his arms, trying to avoid conflict. "No no! It's not that. I just happened to...hum...broke my leg a little while ago before arriving here." Ritsuka lied with the excuse he had come with. "That's why I can fight now, do you understand?"

Despite the skepticism of it, the drunken pirates decided to buy it and instead look at the hologram of Romani now. "How 'bout there? He broked his leg too?" The pirates asked before laughing in mockery.

"I could actually tell you the reason why but I think that would fry the little amout of brain that you still have inside there." Romani replied agressively.

"Keep calm doc." Ritsuka advised him. "We don't need to have the whole island after us."

In the arena, Drake had just took out her two handguns. "Square up rookies! You're about to see what the queen of pirates can do!"

Assuming battle position, Nala jumped to the front. "Come then!" She yelled, going for a slash on Drake's body.

The pirate woman, dodgerolled out of the way and proceeded to aim the gun to Nala's head. With the shot fired, Nala avoided the bullet, that ended up hitting a cocconut at the top of a palm tree, letting it's liquid fall down to a group of pirates that were beneath the tree and happily took the chance to take a drink of the cocconut's water. The pirate crowd was euphoric by such early performence of their captain.

"What the hell was that?! You didn't said this would be a battle to the death!" Nala exclaimed, seeing the power of Drake's bullet.

"I also did not say this wouldn't be a battle to the death, did I?" Drake smirked.

"So you plan to kill us here if we lose?" Mash asked to the captain of the pirate crew.

"It ain't exactly my intention. My whole crew is watching however, and a captain can't look weak in front of its own men ya know?" Drake told her. "But hey, don't worry. If I wanted to have you dead, I would have my whole crew join in."

"So let's respond with the same weapons!" Peko exclaimed as he pointed a finger gun to Drake, wanting to hit non-vital points of the woman's body since killing her wasn't in their plans.

"!" Drake was fast to react and fired from her gun, with the two bullets hitting each other. The two went to fire at one another until Peko decided to do a little trick.

"Watch this!" Peko pointed his finger gun to the left, making the bullet to alter its course and out of the way of Drake's bullet route.

"Hm?! Wha-!" Drake was caught by surprise as Peko redirected the bullet that went and perfurated Drake's leg, causing the pirate to crouch down in an instant. "Keh! Not bad kid!"

Mash sprinted torwards the opponent, about to bash her with the shield. Drake recovered her posture just in time and dodged the attack. The shielder still rised up her leg to kick the pirate woman who blocked it with her own arms. Feeling that she was way to exposed, Drake quickly shot torwards Mash to make the demi-servant retreat and giver herself space to swap her handguns for hatchets as Nala charged torwards her and clashed her sword with Drake's hatchet.

The white haired girl in return also dodged Drake's attacks while taking the small openings to either try to kick or slash the pirate woman, altough unsuccessful. "Okay! If normal attacks won't result...!" Preparing to land her right foot on the sand while Drake was in the middle of doing another attack, Nala as quick as light dodged the attack and at the same moment sliced Drake in the abdomen the instant the foot had touched the sand on the ground. "Then this will!"

"D-Damn! You kids ain't that bad haha!" Despite the injury, Drake was still showing her smile and genuinely enjoying the battle. "But don't let that make you think this will be a bed of roses!" Drake exclaimed as she blocked an attack from Peko's sword that had appeard behind her. She pushed the boy away, making Peko stay side by side with Nala.

"That was a good blow you delivered back there Peko!" Nala praised her brother for the trick he had done with the bullet back there.

"I tell you the same sis!" Peko praised Nala back.

"Air Step" Nala said to Peko.

"Huh?" Peko reacted confused to what his sister was saying.

"The name I decided to give it. Air Step." Nala clarified.

"You...name your attacks?" Peko asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No idiot! It's the name of my skill, not attack!" Nala replied in annoyance.

Peko got surprised. "Skill?! But aren't servants the only ones who posess such thing?"

"If we have mana and magic circuits I bet we can also do the same thing, don't you think?" Nala pondered to Peko.

"Hmmm, now that you talk about i-"

"Peko! Nala! Watch out!" Mash yelled to the twins as she put herself in the middle and protected them from Drake's bullet with her shield.

"Nice safe Mash!" Nala said.

"Yeah, that was close!" Peko added.

"Now hear me close you two! I have an idea!" Mash told them as she planted the shield on the ground and utilized her force to raise a large amount of sand that headed torwards Drake, damaging her vision.

"Not a bad idea." Drake said as she protected her eyes from the sand and let the dust to slowly settle on its own. Feeling something, Drake quickly swapped her hatchets to the handguns and turn around to shot at the opponent that had came from behind the sandy dust. What she wasn't counting for however, was that it was the one who exited from the dust with her shield protecting her from the bullets as well as Peko and Nala that were behind the shielder.

Taking the opportunity, Mash bashed her shield against Drake's body and then step behind, allowing Peko and Nala to slash the pirate woman together. The pirate woman spit a bit of blood from her mouth. She had to recognize their potential.

"Yeah! That's how you do it!" Romani cheered the trio. "Keep it like that!"

"Well done guys! You're doing great!" Ritsuka also cheered his friends.

"Fou fou!" Fou jumped happily on Ritsuka's shoulder.

However, the rest of the crowd got bothered by the three's celebration. They weren't liking seeing their captain having a hard time in a fight against a teen and two kids, and hearing the cheers of their friends only rubbed salt to the wound. It was indeed kinda of a mistake to celebrate next to the opponent's supporters.

"Pipe it down you lot!" Bombe yelled to Ritsuka and the other two, warning them.

"Yeah! Captain Drake won't be defeated that easily! Your friends are just on a wave of luck!" Another pirate said, staring angrily at them alongside the rest of the crew.

"What? Only you get the right to support now?" Romani replied back to them.

"What did you said punk?!" A pirate walked torwards the hologram.

"H-Hey, just ignore it!" Ritsuka tried to deescalate the situation. "This doesn't hav-"

The pirate shoved Ritsuka abruptly to the ground. "Move out clown!"He said while looking at Romani in the eyes.

"You want to punch me? Do you? Then come on big guy! Do it!" Romani provoked the pirate, knowing that he wouldn't actually be hit.

"You have quite the big mouth do ya?" The pirate said as he prepared his fists. "Then be prepared fo-argh!" The pirate screamed in pain as Fou had sneaked behind him and bite the pirate in the ankle.

"Good one Fou!" Ritsuka told the animal as he got up from the ground.

"Stupid rat!" The pirate shouted as he tried to kick Fou who by now had runned away.

Romani laughed at the scene. "Wow! A rat? Really? From all the animals you could think he was you thought of a rat?"

"Shut up!" The pirate yelled as he grabbed a bottle of another pirate in order to crash it on Romani's head. But, not knowing what an hologram was, the bottle instead passed through the transparent image of Romani and the pirate instead hit the bottle on the head of another pirate that was sitting on a nearby table enjoying himself.

"What the hell was that jackass?!" The pirate that got hit furiously got up from the table to confront the other pirate who had sent the bottle to his head.

"I-it was an accident bruv." The pirate tried to apologize. "I didn't mea-" He was cut short by a fist to the face of the other pirate.

"I ain't hearing excuses wanker!" The pirate said as his punch sent the other pirate fall into another table, breaking it and the drinks of the pirates that were in that table. It didn't lasted long for the pirates of that table start bleaming each other and went on to a fist fight.

"BRAWL FIGHT! FREE FOR ALL MATEYS!" A pirate yelled in euphoria as he started to shot torwards the sky.

That lead to a series of events where in few seconds, the whole beach transformed into a fighting arena where now every single pirate of Drake's crew were punching each other and throwing bottles, barrels, chairs and other objects in the air.

Being in the middle of the chaos, Ritsuka avoided all the blows and objects that were being thrown out of nowhere and went to hide below a table alongside Fou in the middle of the turmoil. "Things have just got wild!" He said while watching the several fights happening around him.

"Do you think we caused this?" Romani's hologram asked Ritsuka while also staying below the table.

"They were already drunk so I'd say it was only a matter of time." Ritsuka responded as he made sure that no pirate spotted him hiding.

Meanwhile, Mash, Peko and Nala's fight with Drake was still occuring but it only took some seconds for them to realize that something was wrong around them.

"Are they fighting each other?" Peko said as he watched the pirates of Drake's crew happily delivering ounches to one another.

"I say that's more on the effect of being drunk." Mash replied. "The beach has now turned into total chaos!"

"Guess they decided to start their own battles after seing ours." Nala commented. "Wonder if Ritsuka had something to do with it."

"True! We must see if he's alright!" Peko exclaimed.

Mash wanted to say the same, however they were still in the middle of a fight. "But Drake-"

Suddenly, shots were heard as Drake pur her handguns in the air and started to fire to the sky. "Hey morons!" Drake yelled out, calling the attention of every single pirate in the beach, putting an end to the brawl. "Am I the one figthing here or you instead?" She questioned the crew with an imperative voice.

The pirates all stopped and lowered their heads in shame.

"Apologies captain." Bombe told her. "We got a little too carried."

Drake lowered her guns. "Fine, I let it pass." She then stared at her opponents in front of her. "Now let's go back to where we were." She smiled confidently.

"Thinking the same here." Nala responded, going back to her battle position alongside Peko and Mash.

Drake looked piercingly at her opponents, who responded in the same way. With the huge brawl over, the beach was now quiet. So quiet and silent that the only sound would come from the waves. Everyone had now calmed down and returned to their seats, watching with huge attention the battle that was about to restart. Who would do the first move now? Would it be Drake? Or one of the three fighters from Chaldea? The tension was enough to let a person at the edge of their seat. What would be the end of this battle?

"Heh." Drake let out a dry laugh. "Pay attention now." She said to her adversaries, who got all more ready and on defense, waiting for what Drake was about to do in her next attack. The pirate woman, feeling that it had past already enough time for suspense, took a step forward...and proceeded to fall flat on the ground.

"...Eh?" Peko let out a confused sound from his mouth as he saw Drake's body lying on the ground.

"Did...we defeat her?" Nala tilted her head, not knowing what exactly happened just now.

Mash stared closely to Drake's face. "Hum...I think she..."

Ritsuka, Romani and Fou had also see what happen to Drake and where as speachless as the rest of the pirates who had just saw their captain pass out seemingly out of nowhere.

"SHE PASSED OUT FROM THE DRINKING!?"


An hour had passed after the fight. During that, the Chaldea group helped Drake's pirate crew store back the tables and barrels back to the ship, showing the pirates that they meant no harm or seek conflict with them. As the last barrels were put in the Golden Hind, the Chaldea group now awaited for Drake to return back from her unconscious state after being taken to the tent in order to recover.

"Do you think she has woke up already?" Nala asked them, using her feet to toy with the sand as a way to prevent from getting bored.

"It has been some time after the fight, so it's possible." Ritsuka responded to the girl.

"You two did a good perfromence back there." Mash told to the twins. "Those new tricks came in handy."

"Thank you Mash. The trainings we did after our previous Singularity were surely helpful." Peko explained to her and Ritsuka.

Ritsuka patted Peko in the back. "Glad to see you are becoming stronger." He smiled to the boy.

"But I'd still beat you in a fight." Nala taunted her brother.

"And who said this was a competiton?" Peko asked her.

"The moment you lost to me in the Simulation Room." Nala smugged.

"H-Hey! They don't need to know alright!" Peko gagged a bit from embaressment.

"Hmm, how's the score?" Ritsuka asked with curiosity.

"5-0 to me." Nala smiled happily.

"Don't start making things up now! It's definetly lower than that!" Peko protested, accusing Nala of being a liar.

"Perhaps. But it's a fact that you still haven't beaten me a single time yet." Nala smirked with a giggle.

Peko lowly grunted. "Can't say that is wrong unfortunately..."

"Don't worry Peko. I believe you will beat Nala one day eventually." Mash cheered him up.

"Yeah, I believe in that too." Ritsuka said to Peko.

"I didn't knew we were picking sides now." Nala said with mild annoyance while looking to the side.

Interrupting the group's conversation, the pirate Bombe approach them. "Ahoy lads! Thank ya for helping us reorganize the things back on the deck. Also, captain is awake now." That new caught the whole group's intrest who immediatly got up from the ground to see Drake herself waling up to them. Even the hologram of Romani had reappered.

"Hmm, this popcorns were soo good." The doctor murmured to himself while still feeling the taste in his mouth.

"I think it wouldn't be wise to show your face here again so quickly after what happened doctor." Mash told him, knowing that whole brawl started inadvertently by Romani in the first place.

"Ah, no problem." Drake told them. "I lost in the end, wich means you get the info from me. And since you won, me and my crew are now at your disposal and serve under you." She announces to them.

"Really? We weren't expecting such thing." Peko responded in surprise.

"That's what happens when a crew loses a battle against another crew. They either start serving the winning crew or are killed off." Romani explained the concept that the pirate crews had to Peko.

"But we aren't actually a crew or plan to kill them." Nala said to the doctor.

"True. I think to call them our subordinates wouldn't fit very well." Mash added.

"Yeah." Ritsuka turned around to stare at Drake at Bombe. "Instead, let us join your crew for having won the duel. What does Captain Drake think about that?"

Drake got herself thinking for a while. "Aye, I can allow you lot to join my crew. You sure have the potential and will in there." The pirate woman said as she shook hands with Ritsuka.

"Captain Drake-san is also very strong. Strange considering that she isn't a servant but a normal human to begin with." Mash said, remembering how Drake hold her ground while fighting against her, Peko and Nala.

"Hmm, now that you mention it...my sensors detected an emission of high mana coming from her." Romani revealed to the Chaldea group. "Could it be..."

"Wait! Did you just said servants?" Drake asked to Mash, swearing that she hadn't heard it wrong.

"Yes. Do you know what it is Drake-san?" Mash asked back.

"Hell if I do. Me and my men runned past some of those servants during this...what do you call it?"

"Singularity." Peko told Drake.

"Yeah that. And it ain't the only unnatural thing on this seas." Drake said.

"What's the other weird aspects of this place?" Ritsuka asked her.

"To start, compasses have become rather useless. So right now me and my crew don't know exactly were we are." Drake told them. "And apart from that, continets ceased to exist, with the only pieces of land here being tiny islands like the one where we are now. We where planning to sail away from here tomorrow. Guess you had luck to show up here just in time."

"So you are just as clueless as us by the looks of it" Romani concluded.

"If compasses don't work, then we might have a real hard time in finding the grail." Mash said in dismay.

"True. Who knows how many islands there are out there inside this Singularity?" Peko pointed out. "It can last us months until we find it."

"Are you guys on a treasure hunt or somethin?" Drake asked them, wondering what they were dreading over.

"Humm, kinda." Ritsuka responded. "We are looking for a golden cup of sorts."

"A magical one to be more specific." Nala followed up. "We searched up for it on this island, trying to find it but with no avail. And only god knows where it actually may be."

Seeing the sad mood the group was in, Drake had an idea. "Cheer up mateys! No need to be such downers now haha! How about we make a toast to higher up the spirits eh?" She proposed while grabbing a bottle nearby and taking out a cup behind her.

"Hum, didn't you just woke up from a literal hangover?" Romani said, his doctor insticts seeing clearly that how hurtful that drinking more alchool would be for Drake's body.

"Ah! Nonsense I tell ya. We pirates are free to drink at any hour we want." Drake told him as she offered another cup to Ritsuka.

"S-Sorry but I have to refuse it." Ritsuka tried to be polite. "I don't drink."

Nala smiled. "Then give it to-"

"No!" Mash rebuked the younger girl immediatly. "And don't even try to argue."

"Then let's just only touch our cups into one another instead, savvy?" Drake asked to Ritsuka, putting her cup in the air.

"Yeah, I guess we-..." Ritsuka stopped talking the moment he saw what was on Drake's hand. It was surely a cup, but also not a random ordinary one. Even the rest of the group behind him was speechless as they all stared at Drake's cup.

Only she wasn't understanding the why for such reaction. "Hm? Why those faces? Is a shark walking on the sand behind me?"

"Drake-san..." Mash tried to explain to the pirate woman. "That cup on your hand...is the Holy Grail. The 'treasure' that we are looking for."

"That explains the magical reading." Romani said, seeing now the motive for his sensores to capture those signals earlier.

"Ooooooh." Drake reacted as she lowered her hand and looked at the grail in her grasp. "So this is the grail huh?" She then looked back at the people from Chaldea and took a step back.

"W-W-Wait! We don't plan to take it away from you!" Ritsuka tried to explain. "I mean, not in a ruthless and typical pirate way."

"Still, we don't plan to hurt you." Peko told to Drake. "We can discuss and negotiate this if you want to."

"Also, how did you find it? Was it really on this island or on another one?" Nala wanted to know like everyone else from her group how Drake and her crew got their hands on the Holy Grail.

"Oh that thing? It was quite the adventure I tell ya." Bombe, who was right next to his captain, remembered the journey that was to get the artifact. "We had to defeat some god kinda guy to get that damn thing...Poseidon was it?"

"Oh yeah, I also remember it now." Drake laughed. "It was in the middle of a whirlpool were there was a city called Atlantis or somethin. Man, that Poseidon guy wouldn't stop mumbling about flooding the whole world and that we were mere humans and other types of weird non sense. Some good cannon balls to the face shut him up and the city sinked deep down into the whirlpool." She telled the whole adventure to the Chaldea group who at this point didn't know what to say. "We fled of course, but not before looting the whole place. So we must have picked this up as well as the rest of other amounts of treasures."

"That's...a lot of thing to process." Ritsuka said, not knowing what else to say.

"Drake-san defeated a god." Mash said in astonishment.

"And it was Poseidon from all gods that there could be in this place." Romani added. "Definetly not a small feat."

"From all that reaction, gods must be a big deal then." Nala wondered.

"So does that mean...that's it? This Singularity is resolved?" Peko put that question in the air as he realized they had just found their main goal in a space of a couple hours. None of them were expecting to be that fast even if they decided to be optimistic.

"Well...I guess so." Romani said before chuckling a bit. "I-I must say, this was easier than expected."

"But just to be sure." Nala stared at Drake. "You don't plan to do something evil with it, right? Like, destroy, conquer the world or anything similar?" The girl asked, wanting to be sure they weren't in another similar case that was with Nero back in the previous Singularity.

"Meh. That kind of things aren't my style." Drake told her. "What I truly want is good amounts of rum and treasure packed up with some adventure. That's what I want as a pirate for as long as I sail the seas." She smiled happily to them.

"So there is no problem if we take the grail from you? Nicely and all?" Ritsuka asked, approaching a little bit torwards Drake.

"Nah. Apart from that meaning the end to the infinite supply of rum and food, there's no problem. I can give it to ya." Drake told them, being okay with letting the grail go with Chaldea.

"Alright! This Singularity has been resolved! Well done guys! We didn't even had to break a sweat haha!" Romani exclaimed in joy.

"Wait! I want to do something before we go." Nala announced to them, gaining their attention.

"Hm? What do you want to do here Nala?" Peko asked to his sister with a muddled look. "There is nothing much that we-"

"C'mere instead silly." Nala pulled her brother closer, much to Peko's and others puzzlement. But when she whispered something to her brother's ears, Peko became as excited as Nala with the twins fastly approaching Ritsuka with big innocent smiles.

"Hum...is it something about the beach?" The master of humanity tried to guess it.

"Correct! We want to swim in the ocean a little bit before we go. Please!" Nala revealed to him.

"Can you imagine going to a nice island like this but not taking such chance to take a swim? I'd say we should do it Ritsuka before returning back to Chaldea." Peko tried to convince Ritsuka alongside his sister.

"Hmmm, that wouldn't be a bad idea at all." Ritsuka thought. "It surely feels like a great time to go for a good swim."

"Focus Senpai, please. You are the leader." Mash reminded him before changing her gaze to Peko and Nala. "I understand your excitment but now that we have the grail, our priority should be returning to Chaldea." Mash said, not wanting to sound mean or rude to both kids.

"But...not even for some minutes?" Nala asked to the shielder sorrowfuly.

Mash felt a bit of pain on her chest. She didn't had the intention of ruinning their possible fun but her duty was telling her otherwise. "I...sorry but we have to go. The faster we resolve this the better."

Instead of giving up, both kids turned around to Ritsuka.

"C'mon now. Not even a dive?"

"Y-Yeah. At least that Ritsuka, please."

Just like Mash, Ritsuka felt a little pain in the chest. From one side, he knew that would be kinda cruel to both siblings, but from another side he also understood Mash's view. "W-well...I-"

"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!"

"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!"

The twins were now striking a begging pose on the ground, still trying to convince Ritsuka otherwise. They really wanted to go for a swim before leaving this Singularity.

Even Drake was starting to have pity for them. "Look guys, there's no worries. Me and my crew won't be leaving until tomorrow and we will make sure that grail doesn't go anywhere besides the place you came from. You have my word on that."

"See?! Even Drake agrees with us!" Nala said, trying to force tears on her eyes.

Ritsuka, being a leader, had to decide. "Hey, it pains me to sa-"

"Please big bro Ritsuka!" Peko implored.

In that moment, Ritsuka felt something in his heart. "...W-What did you said?"

Noticing the slight effect on Ritsuka, Nala decided to join Peko on the name calling. "Please big bro Ritsuka! We never asked you anything!"

"We have always been fighting and doing important stuff. Just let us have fun this time big bro!" Peko continued.

"Yes! Just once big bro!"

"Please big bro!"

The words started to echo inside Ritsuka's head as he put a hand in his chest like he was having an heart attack. "T-That's a low blow..."

"Big Bro!"

"Big Bro Ritsuka!"

"Please, stop trying to instigate master you two." Mash told to the two kids.

"M-Mash..." Ritsuka called the shielder out, his head slowly turning around to stare at her.

"What is it mas-"

"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!"

"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!"

"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!"

Ritsuka joined Peko and Nala, now with the three of them begging to Mash.

"Even you Senpai?" Mash said while droplets of sweat would appear in her head. "But...there's no problem to enjoy a bit of time for ourselves if we already finished the mission, right?" The demi-servant thought to herself. Perhaps she should let them have the fun they wanted. Yet, Mash was still hesitant. "I-"

"You have my permission to go for a swim." Romani speaked out. "You all deserve it."

"Doctor?" Mash looked at him, surprised for the decision. She didn't think Romani would allow them to stay here a little longer.

"You never went to swim in a place like this, did you Mash?" Romani told to the shielder. "I guess it would be a good opportunity for the first experience." He smiled to Mash.

Hearing that, Mash realized that she was focusing too much on the mission when they now had a good reason to just slow down a bit and enjoy the moment. "Guess they're right. There's no problem in just relaxing a bit and have fun with the people I like." Putting her duties to the side, Mash smiled to Romani and the rest of the group. "Then let's enjoy our stay in the bitch for a couple more hours!"

"Hell yeah! Thank you Mash!" Nala told to the shielder.

"You're going to like it!" Peko said.

"And if you have some trouble swimming, I'll help you." Ritsuka said, willing to offer help to Mash in case she got difficulties while on the sea.

Mash blushed a bit at hearing that. "T-Thanks but that won't be necessary master. I do know how someone swims."

"Then I guess it's time to take a dive!" Ritsuka said happily. "Hey Drake, you dont midn if we-"

"Used the plank of my ship to jump and dive into the water? Not at all, as long as my ship stays intact." Drake gave them the authorizathion.

"Now all that is missing out is...the swimsuits..." Peko said, his mood decreasing.

"Oh crap! That's right! We didn't bringed any swimsuit with us here didn't we?" Nala asked to any of them.

"I'm afraid not." Ritsuka commented, much to Nala and Peko's dismay.

Nala put both her hands below her own jaw and curved down her body. "Great...all that begging for nothing."

"A little surprise for you then." The voice of Da Vinci sounded as the genious inventor herself appeard on the hologram next to Romani. "Knowing that you wouldn't be able to resist to the feeling of wetting yourself in cold sea water, I antecipated myself by deciding to develop and fabricate swimsuit Mysic Codes for the four of you." She explained to them.

"Wow! You're the best Da Vinci! Thank you!" Ritsuka told to the italian inventor who just giggled.

"I already knew that." She said in a playful way. "But you will all have to wait a bit longer for the arrival of the Mystic Codes. I'm giving it the final touches."

"Send them here whenever it's ready." Ritsuka said, feeling joyful for as he now awaited alongside the rest for the arrival of the swimsuits.


"GERONIMOOOOOOOOO!"

Nala yelled happily as she went diving bomb on the water below after jumping from the plank of Drake's ship. The water was fresh and nice and after emerging her head out of it, she looked to Peko who was on the plank, yet to dive into the water. "Come in bro! The water is nice!"

"Already going." Peko said as he was mentally preparing himself to jump. But staring down below, it seemed the water was way more distant than it looked like, making the impression on Peko's head that he was way higher from the water level. He sweated a bit from the fear. "I can do it, can I?"

More on the shore, Ritsuka and Mash were also in their swimsuits and playing around the water.

"Oh, the water looks so clean and nice." Mash said as she gently waved her hand against the water. It felt new and fresh to her. It was indeed something she never experienced before in her life. "So this is what it feels like."

"Hey Mash!" Ritsuka called her.

"Hm? Do you need something sen-GYAH!" Mash yelped as Ritsuka threw water at her.

"Gotcha!" Ritsuka laughed as he had caught her by surprise.

"S-Senpai, that was cold!" Mash told him.

"But didn't it felt nice?" Ritsuka asked her with a smile.

Mash was surprised by those words. It indeed felt nice. Despite the unnanouncing splash of cold water on her body, Mash was enjoying the moment. So she smiled back to Ritsuka. "Yes it was." She responded before putting both her hands on the water. "But don't expect me to not reply back!" She declared as her hands also threw water torwards Ritsuka who put his arms in front of his face.

"H-Hey! Now I'm not going easy on you!" Ritsuka replied, happy to see Mash entering the fun. "Prepare for my next attack Mash!"

"Bring it master!" Mash said as the two were now throwing water at each other while laughing and playing around.

"It's kinda weird seeing people having this type of fun on the sea. Normaly I just see some guys fishing on the beaches and that's it. Do they know the sea is also a dangerous place?" Drake commented, watching with intrigue and certain amusement to the people from Chaldea looking so happy and calm in the waters. That type of behaviour was more appropriate in a pool rather than the large vast sea.

"Well, the sea is indeed a dangerous place, but if we stick to the coast then it's nothing to be so scared about." Romani told to Drake. "It actually becomes quite the fun place."

"Do people from the land ya came from do this regularly?" Drake asked to the doctor.

Now that he thought about it, Romani and the rest still haven't told her where they exactly came from or what was their real main goal. "I guess I should tell you where we really came from."

"C'mon Peko! Are you going to jump or not?" Nala was getting a bit tired of watching her brother get indecisive in wether he would dive or not have the courage to do it. "You can just climb down the ladder you know? I won't mind it."

"I-I know. But I will jump, no worries." Peko tried to sound calm while still being paralyzed and staring at what looked like a deep giant watery abyss below him. He felt the anxiety slowly grow inside his body. "Am I really scared of this? I already have been on more pressuring situations and yet..." The boy went back to look at the sea, still seeing it as far below him. The fact that he also couldn't see its bottom was only making him more nervous.

"Chicken! My brother is a chicken!" Nala proclaimed in a singing tone, taunting Peko.

"S-Shut up! I'm not!" Peko replied to his sister, trying to hide his nervousism.

"Jump then!" Nala challenged.

"Hmmm..." Peko closes his eyes, rises his head and takes a deep breath. After telling himself he could do it, Peko opens the eyes and returns to gaze at the sea below. "It's just a jump. Easy as that. There's nothing below the water here. We are near the coast so anything that can be dangerous is impossible to appear here."

As Peko was mustering the strenght and courage to jump while his chest felt the beatings of the heart, the boy decided to count to three.

"Alright. Let's do this! One...Two...Thre-"

Like a sockwave passing through the body, Peko in that moment felt his entire muscles go limp and numb. The nerves had completely shut down and so, Peko completely lost his balance.

"P-Peko?" Nala saw the weird movement her brother's body had just done.

Now, everything in his eyes were in slow motion. The sound of the waves, it's movement when they hit the coast. Even Nala and everyone else on the shore looked so slow and dilatory in his vision.

"What's...happening...?"

Peko could only wonder to himself as his body was falling into the deep ocean below. As his vision started to fail and get dark, his ears could only hear a deep unnatural sound that came from the sea. Something of unknown origin was calling him. It echoed and grumbled softly as he would get closer from the water.

"Peko...Peko...Peko..."


Chrono Cross OST- Departed Soul

"What's wrong Peko? Are you scared?"

Standing at the top of a a rock in a shore, Peko looked to the sea in fright. It was vast, scary, deep and unknown. The boy was hesitant to dive. What if something attcked him or pulled him to the dark depths? What if he opened his eyes underwater to stare at the large emptiness of the ocean? What if in his dreaded state, he ended up forgetting how to swim?

A hand in the boy's shoulder made him exit those scary thoughts for a moment.

"Easy there. Relax. I'm here now." A smooth woman's voice said as a female figure appeard right next to Peko, making the boy calm down. Seeing the strands of purple hair made the boy's heart more serene.

"I...I'm scared mom." Peko's voice trembled a bit.

"Figures." The woman giggled a bit. "But don't worry. Mom will dive alongside you if want to."

"M-Mom?"

"Really? You will?" Peko's eyes lightened up, staring to the woman.

"Yep! I'm here for you after all. If that makes you happier of course I'll do it." The woman smiled to Peko. "You will see how the sea is also a beautiful place full of intresting and appealing things."

"T-Thanks mom." Peko said, forming a little smile and giving his hand to the woman.

"Yo, what's up? Is the kiddo scared?" A voice, this time belonging to a man appeard. It didn't sound nothing like the voice from his dad.

"Whose voice is it?"

"A little bit. You know, normal stuff for kids his age to be." The woman, presumably Peko's mother, told to the arriving man.

"Ah, the famous fear of the sea. How common." The voice of the man sounded ironic, almost sarcastic and mocking. "But hey, I don't blame the little guy. The ocean in general is truly fearful y'know?" The man approached the two. "Sharks are scary and all, so just imagine other deep, monstrous and large creatures residing in the dark bottom that can kill anyone that might enter their territory by mistake eh?"

Peko trembled a bit at imagining that.

"Could you stop please? You're scaring him." Peko's mother told to the man, reprimanding him.

"Sorry girl, just jabbling about some realistic possibilities." The man cackled.

"Don't mind him Peko. You already know he likes to say that stuff." Peko's mom told him, trying to put her kid at tranquility. "Let's just count to three and jump together, alright?" She told Peko, giving him a comforting smile.

He in retrun nodded. "S-Sure."

"Okay then. Let's do it." The woman gave Peko her hand as they now faced the water below. "Count with me. One...Two.."

"Three!" The man exclaimed as out of nowhere he pushed Peko alone into the sea.

"WHA-!" Peko screamed from the sudden action, his body now in a free fall torwards the water without the comapny of his mother.

"Mo-"

SPLASH!


"Peko...Peko..."

The sound of Nala's voice resonates inside his mind. Peko's dark vision slowly starts to fade away.

"He's starting to wake up..." Ritsuka's voice could also be heard.

"Fou...fou..."

Peko felt some light touches on his cheek, much probably being from Fou.

"Hmghm...Nala...guys..." Peko said weakly as his vision was getting clearer.

"Thank goodness that we took you out of the water in time..." Mash's voice said.

"That's why the sea is dangerous and challenging...Get too comfrotable with it and it might hit you back..." Drake told them.

Peko's eyes got fully adjusted to the light and he was now staring at his group plus Drake all surrounding him, checking if he was okay. "W-What happened?"

"You lost consciousness and fell to the water." Ritsuka explained.

"Lucklily we were quick to take you out the water before you could drown." Mash added to the explanation.

"You gave us quite the scare Peko." The hologram of Romani said. "Next time just enter the water normally if you feel uncomfortable with heights."

"Yeah. That dive was very nasty and terrible." Nala said, trying to lighten up the situation. "But serious now, don't ever pull that again!" Nala, said being a little bit pissed at him altough relieved for seeing her brother okay.

"What matters is that he's okay." Ritsuka said. "And I thought this Singularity wouldn't give us any scare. Glad that we didn't lose you though." He smiled to Peko.

Everyone else agreed, happy that nothing ended up in tragedy.

"Oh, and I have to say somethin to ya two." Bombe who was also nearby, spoked to Peko and Nala. "Those tattoos on your back are quite amazing. It almost makes me jealous."

In that moment, everyone from Chaldea just stared at the pirate in confusion.

"Tattoos?" Peko asked oblivious.

"What tattoos?" Nala also asked in the same tone.

"The ones on your back of course." Drake told them. "Altough I must say it's kinda of sad seeing kids like you having tattoos already. Is this younger generation getting that rebellious already?"

Ritsuka, being utterly confused to what was happening and wanting to check what the hell Drake and Bombe were talking about, touched Peko's shoulder, getting the boy's attention. "Peko, can you please show us your back?" He requested.

"Um, s-sure." Peko said and lifted his back from the sand, revealing the tattoo that was in it.

Romani's eyes widened in shock. "T-That is the tattoo?"

Even Mash went to see. "I never saw one like that before..." She said, perplexed.

Even if covered by bits of sand, they all could see the clear dark outlines of the tattoo. And as they saw more of it, they realized the tattoo had the appearence and shape of a round circular crest.

Mash thought to herself that if Peko had it, then... "Nala, can you also show me your back please?"

"O-okay." Nala responded as she turned around and let Mash see her back. There was also a tattoo there. And as it wasn't covered by the sand, they saw clearly that inside and in the middle of the thin circle of dark outline, there was three straight vertical and pointy dark lines that together formed a crown, alongside a single horizontal dark line that was located below the other three.

"W-What the hell is this?"

To be continued...


And that's it for chapter 37! Wow, what an ending this chapter was.

So yep, as you read it, Peko and Nala have tattoos/crests of a crown on their backs. Better yet, I even made the design of the crest but unfortunately to our dismay, this site doesn't let people post images at the end of the chapter. But it also isn't very hard to vizualise the tattoo/crest. Just imagine a thin dark circle with a dark crown on the inside formed by three vertical dark and pointy lines accompained by an horizontal one. It's a very simplistic design.

Also, Peko (and by the logical thinking) and Nala's mom appears or Peko was just smoking some sea mushrooms? We will get to know more of it down the line.

And Nala now has the skill 'Air Step', wich in game terms would be an Active Quick Up Skill that gives a 20% boost on her Quick performance and would have the side effect of also attributing the Defensive Skill of Evasion. Wich means that if Nala was in the game, she would be a Quick servant. So yeah, 'Air Step' is Nala's own Passive Skill.

And that's all I wanted to say, and see you next time on chapter 38 of the story! Peace!

P.S: So I was rewatching some old shows of my childhood, one of them being Beyblade (The one where Moses divides the Red Sea with a beyblade. Yeah, that one). And I was wondering to myself...why the hell cartoons of toys aimed at children have the need to do a lore about being ancient weapons that can destroy the whole universe? Like can you imagine the whole Fate series if they swapped magic and mystic weapons with freaking beyblades? Ea? Excalibur? What's that? I'm going to win this Holy Grail War with the power of the beyblade and its spinning destruction.

Knights of the Roundtable? Twelve Gods of Olympus? They all now battle with beyblades, screw the actual weapons and magic when you can use a small metalic kids toy to destroy and conquer the whole cosmos! Man, wasn't that wacky lol.