As the day slowly descended into night, and the sunset glistened beautifully across the horizon, Arko's crew quickly discovered the news of their Captain's death, and they left the island atop his ship with no plans of ever returning. Unfortunately, this left Madison and her crew without any valid way to sail, and they were landlocked for many days.
Not all of their days were bad though. In fact, most days were quite enjoyable since the town's people treated them like saviours. Hours of unlimited food and gifts of items that before they could only ever imagine owning. It was an island paradise after all, a place built and owned by Haylee's father for the sole purpose of providing a getaway from any sort of life.
After four days of comforting relaxation though, with Pip enjoying his unlimited access to the library and its surrounding gardens, the crew was finally approached by Haylee and her young caretaker Louel.
"I would like to join your crew." Haylee smiled, looking towards Madison with a soft and joyous grin. "I've thought about it long and hard, and if I am to find my father's treasure, I mind as well begin experiencing the sort of life he led to bury it."
"Great!" Madison giggled, waving her over towards the group. "Elez was just showing us his plans for a new ship if your people wouldn't mind helping us build it." She explained, presenting Elez's well drawn sketches of a potential future ship.
"Oh no," Haylee laughed. "We won't be needing those." She said, walking slowly towards the door and urging the crew to follow after her. Naturally, they stood up in an instant, and after Zenith had picked up Pip and Elez had rolled up his plans, the crew followed Haylee towards the dockyard.
"Oh, fishing ships." Elez mumbled, looking around at the many small but well kept vessels that the town's people used on a daily basis to gather food. Unfortunately though, a fishing ship was not at all suitable for pirate encounters. "I guess that could work." He said, saddened that his plans would go to waste.
"I'm not giving you a fishing ship," Haylee confirmed, leading them happily along the docks until they stood out the front of a massive warehouse in which huge army vessels were once built. "I've been observing you all for the past few days, and I do think I have created the perfect ship for our crew." She smiled, snapping her fingers as a large group of workmen pushed open the massive cargo bay doors, practically opening up the entire front wall of the warehouse as a ship was rolled out over slick oiled guidelines and pushed into the deep water of the dock.
It rocked about for many moments, splashing fresh water up into the air before floating perfectly upright and shimmering in the daylight. With a gorgeous dark cherry red exterior, golden safety rails and a beautifully carved frontal head piece in the shape of a Dragon, the ship stood at a grand and magnificent hundred feet tall, from the bottom of the hull to the tip of the tallest mast, as well as being a hundred and fifty feet long, from one end to the other.
"Wow!" Madison gasped, allowing the others to react in similar ways, all while Haylee carefully pulled the ship towards the dock and climbed up onto the deck with a nearby plank.
"The ship has 4 layers," Haylee began, laying out a sheet of plans with designs similar to Elez's original sketches. "I got the idea for most things from Elez, your drawings were spectacular." She hummed, earning a happy smile and a soft blush from the Angel boy in response. "The first layer includes all of our rooms, as well as a large area full of blankets and pillows for sir Zenith's Dragon," she smiled, still unaware that Madison was in fact the Dragon who Zenith had supposedly tamed.
"Awesome." Madison grinned, happy to have her own massive room of pure comfort.
"The floor below that is the armoury, library, garden, kitchen, living area and scrap room, in case anyone feels like getting inventive with all of the scrap we find." Haylee hummed, peaking everyone's interest for a multitude of reasons. "Below that is the store rooms for food, weapons, cannon balls and anything else we plan to keep, as well as an area of jail cells for prisoners."
"The only prisoners we plan to take are other pirates," Zenith cut in, making sure that she knew the kind of people she was joining. The Nightshade Pirates were good people, and they would never take an innocent hostage.
"Of course," Haylee replied, before pointing to the last and lowest layer of the ship. "And finally the alcohol store rooms, they will be kept cold by the water outside and safe from cannons under the waterline." She explained, staring up at the crew with a wide and adorable smile. "And that's pretty much it." She said, looking around at the deck one last time. "Up here there is only the crows nest, a few fresh fruit trees and planting beds for Pip, oh, and of course the Captain's quarters and our main strategy room." She hummed, before turning back and receiving a sudden and powerful hug from most of the crew, Zenith of course was too lost in awe to even move.
"It's amazing! I'm so glad we have you to join our crew!" Madison smiled, hugging Haylee and the others tightly while Pip happily nuzzled into the snow haired woman's arm.
"I love my trees! Thank you." He smiled, an adorable and happy grin that caused the entire crew to awe at his pureness.
"So where to, Captain?" Haylee giggled, excited to set out on their grand journey through the seas.
"To the Red Circle!" Madison announced, letting her navigator go as Haylee happily nodded and ran off to steer the ship. The entire vessel had been stockpiled with all of Haylee's belongings, as well as the massive hoard of gold which Arko had left behind. After a few more hours of gathering food and gifts from the town's people though, the crew finally set sail atop their new ship, waving goodbye to their friends and promising to return.
"So what shall we call them, Captain?" Zenith asked, referring to the ship itself.
"Shellshock." Madison grinned, laying her hand atop the silver headpiece and staring out at the ocean with a happy and prosperous hope for their future.