As the glorious sun began to rise over the ocean filled horizon, tropical birds chirped happily across the entire island, filling the air with a calm and relaxed atmosphere. While the animals celebrated the dawn of a new day though, the Nightshade Pirates were packing up and preparing to leave.
"I want you to take this," Alison announced, holding out an old leather book towards Zenith and the others. "As a thank you for saving me and my father." She explained.
"Oh," Zenith questioned, reaching out to accept the gift. "What is it?" He asked.
"It's a guide to the Red Circle. You can use it to navigate and avoid dangerous islands." She explained, bowing her head slightly as one last show of gratitude.
"Thank you so much!" Madison smiled, jumping forwards to hug her and gently pet Piku. "I can't wait to come back and visit you." She smiled, causing Alison to freeze up for a moment before instantly hugging her back.
"I really hope you do," she smiled, pulling away from the embrace as soon as it became too much.
"And I know that the Dancing Pirates will come back for you as well," Zenith said, lightly patting Alison's shoulder before turning away to board their ship.
"See you soon!" Madison grinned, leaping up onto the deck of the ship as Alison smiled and waved them off, standing alone on the beach for many moments until their ship had faded fully into the vast blue horizon. The moment that she could see them no longer, she walked off home to write about her findings and document the wonders of the Nightshade Pirates' Captain.
Meanwhile, Elez and Zenith were busy cooking and cleaning the ship, allowing Madison and Haylee to stay close to Kaylo and monitor his recovery. But things were not looking good. His chest was severely damaged, and his breathing had become heavy over the last few hours. What was predicted to be a week of survival, had just become a mere few days.
"There's an island only an hour away from here," Haylee announced to Madison, sitting down at her Captain's side while the latter was gently petting Kaylo's hair. "We should be able to find a suitable doctor there." She explained. "Kaylo doesn't have a bounty, so they will have no suspicions while treating him."
"Actually, that's not true." Zenith sighed, stepping into the room with a handful of new bounty posters. "We hospitalised a Colonel and Madison revealed her Dragon form. My bounty has stayed the same, but Madison is at thirty million. And Kaylo received a five million bounty." He explained, holding up the daunting newly printed posters.
"Maybe we can still get him help. Like… A pirate doctor." Haylee suggested, knowing that she was the only one left who could search without trouble, since she was the only one left without a known bounty.
"Maybe," Madison nodded. "Let's dock at the island to search for a doctor either way. Haylee and I will gather some supplies and try to find them, while you and Elez guard Pip and Kaylo." She said to Zenith, immediately receiving a nod in understanding.
"Sounds like a plan. I'll keep us on course." Haylee agreed, stepping quickly out of the room in order to sail them towards the closest island as quickly as possible. Her quickly announced absence caused Zenith and Madison to stand alone in silence, waiting for the right words to say.
"It's… It's not your fault. You know that, right?" Zenith sighed, looking up at Madison with a questioning stare.
"I could have protected him. It's my job to look after my crew… and I failed." She muttered, sitting down beside Kaylo's bed as she carefully assessed his worsening wounds. "I just… I wish I could go back and change things." She cried, wiping her eyes and shakily holding Kaylo's hand.
"Captain…" Zenith mumbled, crouching down to embrace her in his arms. "You did not fail us. You're perfect. And Kaylo would want you to stay strong and help him get better." He explained, rubbing her hair while she softly cried into his arms. "The past is unchangeable, but we can shape the future with the present."
"What if we don't find a doctor in time?" She asked, wiping her tears before slowly looking up at him.
"We will," Zenith assured her. "Nothing in this world can ever stop me from protecting my family." He smiled, leaning down to gently kiss her forehead before he continued to just stay there and comfort Madison's mood.
After an hour of gentle hums and warm embraces though, the crew finally arrived at a large coastal city. Then, after docking and packing up some items like usual, Haylee and Madison turned to leave, trusting Zenith and Elez to guard the ship. Tension was high as Madison and Haylee disappeared into the crowded streets of the city, but the boys were never once worried about their wellbeing, instead, both of their minds were stuck on how long Kaylo could hold out.
"I see a pharmacy over there," Haylee called out, signalling for her Captain to follow as Madison turned and walked after her, keeping her own head low and covered by a hood. She had a higher bounty now, there was no point risking her life and getting the others hurt.
As they walked towards the building ahead of them, Madison spotted a large notice board out of the corner of her eyes. It was hung up outside of a local inn, and covered completely in a wide range of active bounties. One of them seemed all too familiar though, as she stepped towards the wall of papers and glanced up at a hearty bounty of fifty million gold coins.
"Red Star Kaizo…" She muttered, seemingly remembering the name in one way or another. But as she stared more at the picture of the overly happy boy, she noticed other bounties that surrounded him, including one which depicted a ruthless Pirate Captain who claimed to own one of the most potent healing sources in the world.
"Are you coming, Captain?" Haylee asked, noticing that Madison was falling behind.
"Yes, of course." Madison nodded, pulling two of the posters down and stuffing them into her pockets, before turning to race after Haylee, getting back into the steady rhythm of walking through the crowded city streets.
Back at the docks, Zenith and Elez were growing bored of picking berries with Pip, eventually leading them to small and insignificant competitions being held between each other. One of which was a fist fight that Zenith barely escaped from, leaving Elez to laugh happily at his triumph.
"You can't beat me in a fist fight dude," he laughed, patting Zenith's shoulder with a smug smile.
"You couldn't beat me in a sword fight. We're evenly matched." He growled, pushing Elez's hand away as he turned to watch the docks, glancing back for a moment at the Angel who had already laughed it off and walked back to help Pip with a high branch. Zenith prepared to follow after him and assist his child as well, but his movements were halted by the loud crashing sound of a nearby ship.
Zenith whipped his head around to watch as a large pirate vessel sunk effortlessly down into the depths below, all done within a mere moment, and completed by a single cut that had been cast all the way through the ship. Screams of anger and rage from the ship's inhabitants were quickly silenced by a silent and swift motion, leaving many to wonder if the event had ever even occurred at all. But Zenith knew otherwise.
Quickly, he grabbed his sword from nearby and leaped down onto the hard wooden docks, composing himself for a moment before he glanced up at the figure ahead of himself. With deeply shaded green hair, a strong and indestructible body build, two legendary swords and piercing stoic eyes, Zenith knew exactly who he was facing.
"Zorin!" Zenith yelled, taking a step back into a battle stance as his opponent turned uncaringly to face him. "I challenge you to a duel!"