Hero and Norman was startled by the soft knocking on the door. He rub his eyes and sit up, looking at Norman, both confused, it was already morning, but who is out there? "Mr? " It was Tommy, his voice is soft, as if someone has waxed his throat. "Breakfast is served at the kitchen. Better join before the time passes."
"Breakfast?" Hero asked. "We are leaving today, so no thank you." He felt quite weird about this. "But the girls had already headed down." Tommy added. "It would be a shame if you didn't join them on their brunch of sea specialty." He insisted.
"Fine Hero, a breakfast wouldn't be that bad." Norman stood up from his bed and let out a yawn before stretching his back. "Alright! We will be heading down soon!" He replied before Hero could even say a word. Hero stood up and gave him a "I didn't agree expression", but Norman was already starting to get dressed, so Hero has no choice but to stick with the rest.
After that, they headed down to the kitchen and met with the rest. The journey to the kitchen was surprisingly pleasant. No more mocking, arguing or even a slight disrespect towards them like the day before. In fact people were friendly here, oddly friendly, maybe a little bit over friendly. It was a complete contrast of what they are yesterday, people were smiling, waving and even greeting them morning, It seems way to friendly, but Hero thought they must've been shocked by what happened yesterday, so he didn't put that in mind.
"Hey Brine, morning Rose." Hero and Norman greeted as they pull down one of the chair and sat beside the rectangle table in the kitchen. There were rows of pickle on top of the table, as well as salted fish, hanging above them, attracting hordes of flies and giving an unpleasant fishy smell. Both Rose and Brine wave their hands shortly as reply.
"First up some refreshing drink to start your day." Tommy popped open one of the bottle rowed on the cupboard behind them before pouring some sort of clear liquid into small separate cups. He filled all of them till the top before finally handing them down, one for each. Everyone in the kitchen stop what they are doing and stared at them, even Tommy let out a nervous chuckle as he signal them to drink it. Hero look at the liquid carefully and take a quick sip. It is just water, tasteless, colourless, with no weird smell, taste or whatsoever. With that he didn't think much and the rest drank it with one gulp. Tommy and the rest let out a breath of relieve, as they proceed to wait patiently, trying not to act happy as it need some time for the potion to work.
Upon minutes of drinking, the group felt dizzy, nauseous as their head spun. Their eyes were soar, and their muscles started to feel numb, like a lump of jelly. Hero take one good look at Tommy, who is now breaking down into laughter, before finally went out cold.
"We did it?"
"We did it."
"We did it boys!!!" everyone cheered as, clapping and shouting. "Now send them to the harbor!!" Trojan ordered. Some of the men started to carry them one by one towards the backdoor of the Inn, heading towards the harbor, where the sharks are already waiting their arrival. "Let them feel the wrath of the sea!!" Trojan roared as the rest cheered and followed them, anticipating a brutal scene to unroll.
What they didn't realize, is that one of them, is still unconscious.
Rose try to stay hidden as the men carry her up on his shoulder like a sack of rice. As a witch, she is able to detect any kind of drugs, poison or even dangerous substance, not to mention her stay with Evanora has led her to discover more of these deadly beauties, including the blood of siren, in which she poured it away when they weren't looking. Even if she drank it, her years and decades of staying with dangerous substances and brewing potions has made Rose immune to almost any kind of drugs or effects. Her skin is immune to all sort of corrosive acid while her body is able to withstand all sort of deadly or even fatal drugs that would be an immediate death sentence to anyone.
She reach towards the backpack pocket of the man carrying her carefully, hoping to find something handy. All she could savage is a pocket knife and a bottle of whiskey, in which she took it and stuff it into her pocket as quietly and quickly as possible. Just when she was about to reach to the other pockets, the men suddenly stop moving. She is forced to abandon her plan and stay low.
"Tie them up! Nice and tidy!!" Trojan ordered as the men started to tie them with the strongest rope they could get, in twist and knots to avoid them from escaping or even escape and fight the sharks. Tying them from head to toe like a cocoon. "Now wait for the drug to pass over! I wanted them to feel the pain!!" The rest sat beside them and waited, as Trojan threw a few salmon into the water to attract the sharks, inviting them for their main course.
"Nice." Rose exclaimed in her mind, happy that they didn't find out her items or even realize that she is still awake. And best of all, those idiots even forget to tie her wrist, enabling her to reach for her pocket and take out the pocket knife, before starting to cut through the ropes. The knife is quite blunt and she couldn't act out to avoid further attention, so the process was kind of agonizing. After nearly twenty minutes, she is able to finally cut through one of the ropes, but she has to hold the ropes together with her hand to avoid it from loosening and exposing them. Just then, the effect ran off and the trio started to awake one by one.
"Well, well" Trojan let out a cough before booming. "Look who's awake! The killer of Jack Black!" Hero shook her head for a while before finally realizing what is happening. "He is a Hero, and this is the way you and the sea repay to him!?" Trojan roared and glare at Hero. "I do nothing towards him." Hero replied sternly and glare back. "He die saving your ungrateful head, some brat he just recognized weeks ago!" Tommy added, and the rest of the crew booed. "Who are you again? What's your business about Captain Black?" Norman questioned. "We are his family!" Gob shouted. "Wait a second." Brine cut off. "You are Trojan Black?"
"I am." He let out a chuckle. "And you must've know how close we are. I found him, take care of him, fed him, train him, fight with him, watch him grow to be a true hero, and die in your hands!" The crowd booed once more. "I still remember the day, I found him, a kid, pure as a pearly, washed away from a storm, losing his love ones. The days we spent, big men like us, trying our best to take care of a kid…" He turn around and began his speech.
Seizing the moment, Rose leaned towards Norman, who is just beside her and hand over the knife. The moment Norman's finger touch the cold, hard tip, he knew what to do and start cutting right away. And within moments, he was bust free, just in time Trojan finish his lengthy stories. "Captain Black may be dead, but he die the way any Captain wanted" Hero snapped. "I know you are like a father figure towards him, but it is over. Killing us as revenge won't bring him back"
"I didn't hoped him to be back." He chipped "I do it for nothing." With that he kick him straight into the sea with a splash. "Hero!" Brine shouted but before she could react, she was thrown into the sea as well, alongside with Norman and Rose. As they dive into the cold icy sea, Norman and Rose immediately kick off and get rid of the loose ropes and hurried their way to help Hero and Brine. Between the two friend, they choose to help Brine first, while Norman was busy with the ropes, Rose pop open the cork of the whiskey and began shaking off the liquor around them. She knew that sharks are heavily relied on their sense of smell to detect their prey, and she hope that these could distract them, at least for a while.
Norman finally finish untying Brine as he signal both Rose and Brine to swim towards the one of the half sunken shipwreck for safety. They agreed and just when he turn his head around and was about to help Hero, a harpoon was shot towards him, knocking the knife out of his hand before falling into the crack between the seabed. "Get him! Don't let him cut him loose!" Trojan commanded and the rest started to throw their harpoons, as the harpoons rains down, the liquor has faded along the current, revealing their spot right for the sharks, as they began to zoom towards them, mouth open wide. "There is no time!" Hero mouthed his words and shake his head. "Go!!" With that, he kick Norman back to safety and turn around to face the sharks. The sharks shoal swarm towards him in no time as he close his eye.
This is it, say your prayers
He closes his eyes and awaited the pain to rain on him, but instead of ripping off his hands and biting off pieces of his meat, the shark remains friendly, just swimming around him, bumping their head lightly against him, while some chew off the ropes for him, enabling him to swim his way towards safety.
"Impossible! Impossible!!" Tommy shouted as he rises the harpoon in his hand and was about to strike him once more, but was stopped by Trojan. He stares at Hero and signals the men to cease his fire. "The boy's got the captain's blessing." He mumbled. "Fish him and the rest up. I need to talk with them" He spoke. "Huh, why?" The rest seemed confused. "Ain't he should be shark food for killing Jack?"
"No. Jack gave him the blessing, he didn't kill him. "He turn around to take one of the ropes and throw it down towards them. The rest of his men is confused as ever but didn't dare to ask more as they help him to bring Hero and the rest back to safety.