Laughter rang out across the sea, followed by the clink of glasses being clinked together; my eyes scanned the surroundings and I saw men who, on average, were twice my size.
"Hey! Come on, have another drink!" shouted one of the men, who had a thick beard wrapped round the neck of a mate beside him, forcing the poor chap to gulp the beer down his throat. "That's more like it!"
I'd never imagined I'd see a scene like this in my life; I've often seen groups of drunk people, but they were usually far more disorderly and chaotic—as I stood there lost in thought, a man leaned against the wall beside me. "Are you all right?" asked the ginger-haired man.
My blue eyes glanced in his direction; the corners of his lips were turned up, and it was clear from his expression that he was enjoying the moment. "What makes you think I won't be all right?" I asked, and the man took a swig from the beer in his hand.
As the glass came back down, he finally replied. "I mean... this atmosphere is so... How should I put it?" His eyes darted around, as he tried to find the right words to describe what he was thinking. "Not as elegant as you…?" The sentence came out as if full of hesitation.
"Are you trying to hit on me?" I took a step to the side, creating some distance between us, whilst the man, hearing my reply, simply chuckled.
"No way, my heart belongs to only one woman," he replied, resting the back of his head against the cold wooden wall. "Besides, you're still just a kid—I'm not interested in underage girls." Hearing that really offended me.
But before I could fire off a snide retort or a physical attack, suddenly a girl's voice made me nearly jump out of my skin. "Hey, welcome to the Jolly Roger!" That sudden greeting immediately distracted me—a girl with fair, tanned skin and short black hair that didn't even reach her shoulders. "You're the temporary crew everyone's been buzzing about, aren't you?"
Robin and I exchanged glances—we hadn't expected someone so overly friendly to approach us out of the blue. "Yeah… My name's Alice and this is Robin," I said, nodding towards the ginger-haired man beside me.
"My name's Elizabeth—just call me Liz," the girl introduced herself, just as a man approached and handed her a wooden cup filled with beer, which she accepted with a smile on her face. "Thank you!"
The man then left, and the girl immediately downed the beer—finishing half of it in one gulp. She let out a satisfied sigh and turned towards me. "Aren't you having a drink?" she asked. I was the one who should have asked why she was drinking—she looked to be about the same age as me.
I'm still sixteen and, according to the law, I'm not allowed to drink a single drop of beer just yet. "How old are you?" My curiosity got the better of me. Liz tilted her head—she looked puzzled as to why I'd suddenly asked that.
Her purple eyes glanced at the glass in her hand and she realised the meaning behind my question. "Oh! I just turned eighteen yesterday—so I'm allowed to drink beer now," she chuckled, flashing a peace sign.
As we were chatting, suddenly there was the sound of someone's body slamming onto the floor and the shouts of men trying to help—the atmosphere, which had been full of laughter and banter, now turned to anxiety. "What's going on?!" Liz's brows furrowed and she ran towards the source of the commotion.
"This is when the conflict begins," Robin muttered before following Liz from behind. Captain Hook, who was sitting on a barrel, did not seem disturbed in the slightest; from the way he looked, it was as if he had already known this would happen.
He walked closer, immediately parting the crowd and clearing a path for himself; he handed his glass to a crew member beside him—his left hand grasping a sword and plunging it straight into the throat of the crew member lying on the floor. "He's a spy," he declared, instantly putting everyone on high alert.
As I stood there lost in thought, I looked ahead and one of the things I noticed was—Captain Hook was pouring a beer himself for the man foaming at the mouth on the floor. I thought it was simply the captain's kindness towards his crew, but it seemed he wasn't that sort of captain.
Captain Hook casually grabbed the back of the man's collar with the iron hook attached to his right prosthetic hand; he dragged the body towards the side of the ship—lifting the man until his feet no longer touched the floor. "The most trusted person—is the one most likely to betray you," he said as the man plummeted into the deep ocean.
"Alice—" Robin called out, only to find me at the ship's rail—I could no longer hold back the nausea in my stomach, and everything in my stomach came rushing out.
A sense of relief washed over me; the nausea had vanished, but now I felt weak. I lifted my head and turned towards Robin, who was smiling amusedly. "What's so funny?!" I snapped. He immediately turned away, as though he hadn't just been laughing at me a moment before.
As I walked closer, I grabbed the fabric of his shirt to steady myself—he was more considerate than I'd expected, because he immediately handed me a glass of water; I took it and began to drink it. "Hey, you know, from what I've heard—Captain Hook has been poisoning the man he calls his right-hand man."
That immediately grabbed my attention again; my blue eyes returned to the man we'd been gossiping about—he looked very serious, making the atmosphere far less lively and joyful than before—or so I thought. "Since one traitor has disappeared—let's celebrate!" His left hand raised his glass high, which was immediately followed by cheers from the crew.
I was absolutely shocked to see that; not even five minutes had passed since someone had been thrown overboard, yet they were partying again as if a human life were merely an object that could be easily discarded and replaced afterwards. "No wonder they're often called merciless," Robin whispered—whilst I was already too exhausted to think clearly.
"Greenie, duck down," I signalled to Robin, whispering to him whilst glancing at the crowd before he finally stood up straight again.
"...I need a rest before I throw up my guts," I turned and walked down to the lower deck; whilst whispering to Robin, I'd realised one thing—Liz was staring at us with suspicion that I could clearly read on her face.
When I arrived, I lay straight down on the hammock, letting my body rest—my eyes were already so heavy and I could fall asleep at any moment now. But I couldn't help thinking back to just how lively the party had been; even though one unexpected incident had occurred, everything had gone back to normal without giving me a chance to think about it.
"...Red would definitely love this place," the words hung in the air; I was alone, surrounded by countless hammocks all around me. "This place really is… just like her." I didn't know how to describe it—chaotic, messy, and all that sort of thing.
If only she were here, I gazed up at the wooden ceiling, which was vibrating from the footsteps of a dozen people having a great time right above me. "What was I thinking, anyway? Pondering it won't make her come back any sooner—as if she could sense my thoughts from dozens of kilometres away..."
"...Or can she?"
The wooden ceiling slowly transformed into raw timber, with thick leaves still clinging to it. "Alice," I was called by name; I turned my head to the right and saw the girl I'd just been thinking about.
Red poured tea into the cup in my hand, a gentle breeze blowing across my face—green grass stretched far into the distance and trees loomed behind us. "Why are you daydreaming, eh?" Red asked before letting out a little chuckle.
"Doesn't she always daydream?" Robin's voice sounded to my right; that was when I realised—all the members of Team Pyxis were sitting in a circle on the chequered rug. "They say that's a habit of intelligent people."
"Really? But Holmes isn't like that," replied Romeo before popping a piece of bread into his mouth; beside him sat a detective sipping tea.
"Look at the age gap between us," he said, and everyone laughed at something that wasn't actually that funny—my eyes fell back onto Red, who immediately caught my gaze.
My hand reached out of its own accord, taking her hand and clasping it tightly. "Why? Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere—because you once said I'm too stupid to go too far," she said, flashing that rare smile; this moment was far more delightful than the party thrown by those barbaric pirates.
The instant I remembered that, I was yanked right out of that world—I woke up and looked around me; I saw the men still asleep in their hammocks, some of them even snoring loudly.