Paolo and Shinzo pulled out of the way as the cannon ball swerved in their direction, but Aline unsheathed one of her swords, the ball slicing in half like a sandwich. The two halves destroyed the wall behind her, her sheathing back her swords.
"S-she sliced that in half like it was nothing," one of the pirates mumbled.
She pushed up her glasses. "Your puny ass cannons have nothing on my family's sword style." She turned to Paolo and Shinzo. "You guys better not run away or I'll cut you down myself."
The two boys stepped beside her, Shinzo pulling up his hair with a scowl. "Ha, touch me if you can, I dare you."
The pirates grabbed their different shaped swords, charging forward to attack the three of them, including Kirk's swordsmen and vice-captain. Tables around the room begun to float, speeding in Paolo's direction. Before they could touch him, Shinzo blasted them away while Aline cut through them.
The two then pressed forward, slicing and punching through the herd of men. They couldn't even touch them, their strength too much for them to handle. Aline's blade clashed with Shirks' sword while Shinzo's fists made contact with a table that had appeared in front of Bam.
The table crumbled into pieces, Bam taking his chances and moving backwards. Shinzo sighed,
Shinzo and Aline moved backwards, staring the two men down. Paolo stared at their backs, a small smile on his lips,
"I thought you were all talk, but you're actually pretty tough," Aline said.
"I guess I can understand Paolo's fascination with you," Shinzo said, the words tasting like paper in his mouth. "But I won't lose to you."
Aline smirked, removing her second blade from her waist. "Right back at you."
Kirk couldn't believe the sight in front of him. All the members of his high quality crew had been thoroughly destroyed by two teenagers who hadn't even tasted the harsh reality of the world. "Shirks, Bam, end their misery right now, you're my strongest men."
His subordinates smirked, moving in for their attack. Kirk jumped in the air to slice Aline from above alongside Bam who called an iron pole from somewhere nearby into his hands to attack Shinzo.
As their weapons almost hit their shoulder blades, both vanished from their line of sight. Before their reflexes could kick in, Aline had sliced Shirks and Shinzo had kicked Bam into the ground with his heels.
Both men fell to the ground, Aline sheathing her sword and Shinzo pulling off his head tie with their backs turned to their unconscious bodies.
Aline tilted her head mockingly, clearly looking down on Kirk. "What was that about being your strongest men?"
Shinzo scoffed. "They were so weak I didn't even need to use my anima."
Paolo snickered from the end of the room. "You guys are actually pretty alike."
"No we're not," they both denied instantly.
Blood rushed through Kirk's head, steaming, hot flames engulfing the restaurant. The heat burnt through their skins without having to touch them. Shinzo, Aline and Vivienne coughed violently, Paolo being the only one standing.
"Shinzo, stand back, I'll handle him. I got fire resistance so I should be able to fight him easily."
"Got?" Aline coughed. "What do you mean by that?"
"My power is adaptation. To put it simply, I can combat any power my opponent has. Unfortunately, I don't have any control over it right now."
Aline drove her body to move forward. "You don't need to do anything, I'll protect the Bisset dream with my own hands even if I have to die here." Shinzo stretched his hand out, halting her. "Let me pass, idiot."
"Didn't you say you had a debt to pay?" he turned to her, his brown eyes reflecting the fire in her own eyes. "If you want to repay your debt then live, idiot."
Aline eyes widened, the words hitting her in her feels. She stepped back unconsciously, deciding to rely on these strange boys who just wouldn't leave her alone.
Kirk's eyes blazed red, his fiery fists ready to send Paolo to the underworld, but Paolo grabbed his hot fists with his own hands and flipped him on his back. To completely halt his movements, Paolo punched him into the ground, the wood breaking beneath him.
Blood spilled from his lips, Paolo glaring down at the pirate's body. "I've been holding it since, but you're really annoying. Aline, your sword." Aline handed Paolo her sword and Paolo stabbed Kirk's hands, his screams not bothering the boy in front of him. "Someone who can't see past his status is bound to failure, so die with your failures."
"Wait Paolo."
The sword in Paolo's fingers froze, hovering over Kirk's back. He faced his vice-captain who pulled out a bounty poster from his bag. "Don't kill him, we should take the bounty on his head since they want him alive."
"Um… not to interrupt, but there's still a fire," Vivienne said.
Aline turned to Paolo. "Can you use some sort of water magic?"
"I can't change my power for at least five minutes," Paolo replied.
"I don't think we can wait that long," Aline mumbled. "If we don't do something, the fire will destroy the restaurant."
"We need to leave for now," Shinzo responded.
"I'm not…" she yelped, Shinzo lifting her off the ground. Her blood cells met with her face, plunging her into a state of embarrassment. "Put me down, you idiot."
"Shut up for once and let us handle the situation, stupid."
They bickered as they walked out of the restaurant, the fire piecing through the wood of the restaurant. Planks from above fell to the ground, the flames increasing. Luckily, the four escaped the now fire engulfed restaurant, Paolo dragging Kirk like a bag of rice.
The four of them stared as the fire ate away at the restaurant, tears forming in Aline's eyes as the sign at the front of the door fell apart.
"It's falling apart," Aline whispered.
"Aline, Vivienne…" Suzie paused in front of the restaurant, the Adventurer's Guild right behind her. "What happened?"
While Vivienne recounted the story to Suzie, members of the Adventurers guild tied to the Mizu Clan, used their water magic to completely stop the fire so it wouldn't spread.
By the time urgent situation had been dealt with, Shinzo and Suzie followed the head of the guild to handle their payment from Kirk's bounty while Vivienne, Paolo and Aline examined the burnt down restaurant.
"What was the point of everything if we ended up losing the restaurant?" Aline asked. "We might as well just sold it to the damn pirate."
Vivienne shook her head. "What burnt down was the building which we can rebuild any time, but as long as we're still standing right here carrying our dreams on our shoulder, the restaurant still lives on."
"Dreams huh," Aline mumbled, cleaning the tears in her eyes. "That word sounds so foreign to me. After all, I threw mine away just so I could preserve the Bisset Dream, it's the only way I knew I could repay my debt."
Vivienne placed her hand on Aline's head, slowly stroking at her brown locks. "You did well Aline, enduring all these years, but you don't have to do this anymore. You may not be a real Bisset, but we always saw you as our family, you don't owe us anything, you never have."
As if part of her life burden's had been lifted, tears came in torrents down her face. She sobbed violently, clenching her hands around her heart. "Thank you, mom, thank you."
Aline calling her mom caught her off guard, tears of appreciation filling the woman's eyes as she pulled Aline into a hug. "No thank you, for staying with this poor old widow for so long."
Paolo watched silently as the two cried in each other's arms, relishing in the warmth the other gave. Paolo understood clearly from the encounter that blood wasn't all it took to be bound by the blessing called family.
Aline let go of Vivienne, turning around to face Paolo. "Paolo was it, I'd like to become a fellow human who you can share mutual benefits."
Paolo smiled at her use of words. "Of course welcome to our crew."
.....
"I say we take sixty," Shinzo argued in the small kitchen of the Bisset cottage. "My captain basically eradicated the root of the problem."
"We need fees to repair the restaurant, so I say we get eighty percent," Suzie retorted. "Without our bimbo cook causing problems, you wouldn't have gotten to fight him in the first place."
"Well your bimbo cook is our bimbo now hence we're getting more of the profit."
The two argued back and forth on who deserved more of the bounty from Kirk.
"Most of our luggage got caught in the fire," Shinzo snapped. "We should sue you for damages."
"Your property is at your own risk you stingy twat."
Vivienne rubbed her head slowly, headache brewing slowly at their nonsensical argument. "Suzie, let's split it equally. This is a million egon we're talking about, we have enough to rebuild the restaurant and to help them."
"Five hundred thousand will only help the building fees not the fees for the appliances and other things," Suzie complained.
"We can take out of our savings, we'll be fine," Vivienne retorted. "These poor kids lost their money as well as their clothing and other articles. Plus, they need money for their transport fees."
Paolo nodded in agreement. "We need as much funding as we can for our adventure ship."
Suzie sighed. "Fine let's split it fifty-fifty."
"But…"
The three looked at Shinzo expectantly and the money hungry child sighed, reluctantly giving in to their demands.
"Fine we'll split it."
.....
"Did you pack everything, your knives, pots, pans?" Vivienne asked, hands on her hips as they stood in front of the harbor.
Aline nodded. "All my kitchen utensils and pretty boy magazines are intact."
Vivienne smiled. "I know."
"Pretty boy magazine?" Shinzo questioned Paolo as they stood a few meters away from Aline.
"I didn't tell you, Aline has a thing for men with pretty faces," Paolo explained. "She mistakenly let it slip on a interview piece in the cooking magazine I mentioned."
Shinzo paused. "Wait, so you didn't only allow a brute onto our ship, but a pervert. Paolo are you sure you're okay."
"I hope you know I can hear you, you loudmouthed arrogant prick," Aline snapped, storming towards him.
Shinzo stared her down, not managing to intimidate her since he happened to only be a few inches taller than her. "I said what I said, Miss Pervert. Were you fantasizing about me when you met me… oh God I hope not. I now also have to protect my chastity after my life."
"You would have been gorgeous if you kept your mouth shut."
"I could say the same for you."
It took the two a minute to realize the double meaning behind their words before they started mumbling incoherently how they don't really care for each others facial features and how they weren't each other's type.
"They're so going to end up together," Suzie whispered to Vivienne.
The elderly woman snickered. "I can't wait to see my grandkids then."
"Aline, Shinzo," Paolo called from the ship. "Hurry up or the ship will leave."
The two stopped their bickering, dragging their newly acquired luggage to the ship. They both stood at the side of the ship, waving at Vivienne and Suzie.
"What exactly was your dream anyways?" Paolo asked Aline.
She smiled. "I want to cook different dishes from around the world."
"I expected something horrendous like steal all the undergarments of every pretty boy in the world," Shinzo said.
"Ha, you're only saying that because you want me to steal yours. Don't worry, I don't want it."
The two squabbled, Paolo caught in the middle. He didn't mind, the liveliness they offered something he lived for. The ship suddenly darted to life, pulling away from the harbor below. Aline stared at Vivienne who waved happily.
As Alimas Island began to fade into the distance, Aline's dream slowly, but surely became all too real.
.....
In the Alimas Adventurers Guild, a boy about nineteen with blue hair to his shoulders walked down their dungeons. The head of the guild led him to a cell where an aggrieved Kirk sat breathing heavily.
Kirk lifted his head to look at the boy, his scowl growing even deeper. "Is there a reason you're here, Luca."
The blue haired boy didn't flinch, just stared him down. "My father asked me to come see you, Uncle Kirk."
Kirk clicked his tongue. "Is it to scold me... because if it is, I don't want to hear."
"My father is very particular about anyone disgracing the Pyro Clan name and as an affiliate you've really hurt his pride, but I'm only a messenger, so I'll deliver his message now."
"Why didn't he come himself?" Kirk hissed.
"My father is a very busy man. He doesn't have time to deal with every troublemaker, but he just decided to deal with you because he's known you for years." Luca cleared his throat. "Now for his message, he warned you not to become a pirate, but you didn't listen, so he hopes you use this chance to think about your actions."
"I knew it, he only wants to lecture me. Typical," Kirk said bitterly.
"I've delivered the message and will take my leave."
Luca retreated before Kirk could open his mouth, the guild head following him quietly.
"I'm surprised someone caught him. He has been causing so much trouble on the ocean that my father was worried he wouldn't be caught," Luca commented.
"Some kid named Paolo and two others took on him and his crew," the head commented. "I didn't learn much, but I heard from Vivienne that he is a member of the God Clan aiming to become an adventurer."
Luca paused, his voice frosting over. "Did you say God Clan?"
The head nodded. "If I remember correctly, he recently stopped a coup in Lutas Island nearby. I foresee him becoming an asset in the nearest future."
Luca clenched his fists, the name of the God Clan sending warning signals through his brain. "Sir." A chill went down the heads spine as the boy glared at him venomously. "I'd advise you to stop talking about that cursed clan."
He gulped, bowing hurriedly. "I'm so sorry sir, I-I forgot your clan's history with them."
Luca marched away, veins in his neck popping,