"Bye Aunty!" Jozu said to his aunt, who had been his only parental figure most of his life. With tears in her eyes, she wished him well on his journey, the journey to become the greatest pirate. He waved back and walked away from her with a grin.

"Well, we best be off," he muttered as he started walking towards the beach. He was alone right now, but he had plans to gather crewmates along his journey. Jozu left the town behind without looking back and headed for the docks to find his small, but manageable ship.

Jozu walked onto the dock that would take him out to sea. As he made his way around the docks, he spotted an odd ship sitting there. It looked like it was waiting for someone or something. "Woah, whose ship is this!" Jozu said in awe of the wonderful-looking ship.

The ship sat on its side, with a big hole where it had taken damage during battle. The ship was painted black all over with a golden skull hanging above the bow and sterns. There were two cannons mounted on either side of the ship, and one at the front of the ship facing forward. In the middle of the deck stood what seemed to be a large wooden chair.

As Jozu approached the ship, he noticed there was no captain, nor any sign of anyone aboard. "Where are you?" he called out into the darkness of the night. No reply came. Jozu stepped onto the deck and felt the cold wood beneath his feet. He walked across the deck until he reached the chair in the center, noticing it was empty. "I guess I'm not finding a crewmate today." He sighed and turned to head back to shore. As he walked back, he heard a voice call out to him.

"Kid!" Jozu spun around and saw a man standing near the railing on the other side of the ship. They both stared at each other for a moment before they smiled. "What brings you here?" the older man asked.

"I am Jozu, son of Kami," Jozu replied proudly. "And I want to become a great pirate! Like my father."

"Son of Kami eh?" said the strange man, now with a stern look on his face. "My name is Captain Ruxin, my crew got wiped out on our way to this island." Jozu looked at this ship again, at noticed the detrimental damage that had been done. There were holes from cannonballs, slices from swords, and bulletholes from pistols. "Wow, you must have encountered quite the crew for there to be this much damage." Jozu said.

"That's correct," said Ruxin as he walked closer and sat down in the chair. "We were in the midst of a bloody battle when their captain suddenly boarded our ship. Just the peer pressure of his presence knocked me whole crew, out." Ruxin muttered looking into the distance.

"Aye, his name is Valor. He had already killed hundreds of people since we met him." Jozu chuckled at the thought of this pirate.

Ruxin put his head in his hands and breathed deeply. "It was the first time I had ever fought him. We both took a few hits, but then it became obvious that it was going to come down to me or him. So I did the smartest thing I could think of. I surrendered."

"Surrendered?" Jozu said in shock. "Why would you do such a thing? You're a pirate after all!"

"Piracy is not about killing others, it's about survival. That's all it's about. I knew if I went toe to toe with him, I'd die. And so I decided to surrender. But he had already delivered a fatal blow to me by then." Ruxin paused for a moment and looked up at Jozu, who was still looking at him in disbelief.

"What will happen to you now? You know with your injury." Jozu said, concerened"

"I will die soon." Ruxin said, with a straight face. Jozu stared at him for a minute, trying to understand what he meant. His eyes widened, and he looked at Ruxin in confusion. "Wait, you mean you're dying?!"

"Yeah, kid. I am. I've got less than a week left," Ruxin said simply.

"Are you sure? How can you be so certain?" Jozu asked.

"Because of the blood loss. My body is getting weak, and I don't have enough strength to keep fighting anymore. I've tried everything I can, but I just can't seem to get better," Ruxin replied calmly.

"You seem like a good kid, Jozu. Do you have any Gold coin?" Ruxbin asked. Jozu looked down at his bare feet and shook his head. "Then I'll give you this. Use it wisely, and you may live longer than I did." Ruxin handed Jozu a bag full of at least 900 gold coins, and Jozu took it with tears in his eyes.

"As you know, i can't pilot this ship anymore, you can have it if you like, and spend that coin on repairing this ship," Ruxin said, rocking in his chair. Jozu nodded, thanked Ruxin, and rushed off to find someone to help repair the ship. Once he found a carpenter, Jozu explained the situation and an old man offered to repair the ship. After two weeks of hard work, the ship was completely repaired.

Once Jozu returned to the ship, he found Ruxin sitting in his same spot on the deck. The only difference was that Ruxin had a huge bandage wrapped around his head and neck, covering most of his right shoulder. "How are you feeling?" Jozu asked cheerfully.

no answer.

"Hey, how ya doing?"

still nothing.

Jozu nudged his shoulder "Hey old man?". Ruxin's body fell to the floor. He ran over to him and shook Ruxin's shoulder. Still no response. Jozu lifted Ruxin's head and saw that his face was pale and dry. Jozu panicked and started shaking Ruxin's shoulders frantically. "Hey! Wake up!" Jozu said while tears began running down his face.

Still no response. Jozu looked around to see if anyone else was nearby. He saw the carpenter staring at them. "I'll bury him and give him a proper farewell boy, you should get on your way, it would be best if you set sail right now." said the carpenter. Jozu nodded and stood up. He grabbed Ruxins' hand and kissed his finger. Then Jozu turned to the carpenter and said, "Thank you, sir." The carpenter's head hung low and he disappeared with Ruxin's body into the night.

Jozu was now alone on board the ship. He wiped away the tears from his face and looked up to the sky. The stars were shining brightly in the dark blue skies above. Jozu smiled and whispered, "I'm sorry Ruxin, I will get your revenge."

The ship moved steadily through the open ocean. It was early morning when Jozu finally woke up, and he immediately felt something was wrong. He looked around and noticed that the sun was already high in the sky. Jozu sat up and looked around. There wasn't anybody there.

Jozu stood up and looked out at the horizon. The sea was calm, and the waves were gentle as they gently rolled against the ship. Jozu sighed and let go of the railing. He walked to the front of the ship and stared at the horizon for some time. Suddenly a loud boom echoed throughout the distance.

Another ship?

End of Chapter 1