Chapter 6 "And so it Begins"

And with our duties complete and our crew buffed, we went on to the pirate's den. However, Jiro couldn't go; his skills are better used outside of combat. He's a tamer. Once a beast is tamed, we don't need to have the tamer to give them direct orders, as long as the ownership of that beast/creature is transferred to another individual using a tamer-only spell. The tamer is best kept on the ship on guard duty.

But before we left, we dropped by the local smith to collect our gear. Unfortunately, she declined our offer to join since the village needed her, and with the amount of Mythril we provided her, she could provide ample defense for the village. So, we didn't have to pay for our gear, and she owed us a pretty big favor. Her name was Mari, pretty hard to forget her. And so, with our new gear, we had just a few more things to take care of.

We got Jiro to revive a few slimes for us. Of course, Joy's purple slime and my yellow slime. I also found a green slime core, which he was able to restore and revive. And so came the adorable little fighters. My slimes stayed on my shoulders for the most part, but Joy's slime took a liking to the top of her head. Now it's like she has a little slime hat, kinda cute if ya ask me.

And the last thing we had to do was take pictures, solo and group, of course. We knew this mission was practically a death wish, so we decided we'd get our pictures taken before we left. And my dear children, your father looked fine. If you want to see me as a young, robust captain, you can check the St. Matthew Picture book.

And so, in a matter of minutes, the air thickened as everyone faced the pirate's den. We took our first step in, and "fling!" an arrow came hurtling towards Kinny. It seemed he was too shocked to even react, but like I said, my sister is practically a goddess when it comes to being on one's toes. She cut that arrow in half, and I swear I could see smoke come out of her helmet as she took a breath. That archer made a big mistake angering Zeth because she ran at him and his partner, and using the dull blade of her sword, knocked them on their bums. With the capture of the first two pirates in the den, a group of no less than 15 former knights surrounded us, and a further 20 more surrounded Zeth. Instinctively, I ran towards one of the pirate guards and pierced through his armor. To say he was shocked and the air went still would be an understatement. The surroundings became silent for a moment, and when that guard fell, the remaining guards screamed their hearts out, immediately attacking us.

And as I crossed blades with one of the enemy guards, I looked to my right to see your uncle shooting up a storm with his new auto-reloading Mythril Revolvers, with what could only be described as an evil yet unsatisfied grin on his face. To my left, I saw Max pushing back guards, and Joy finishing them off only to the point of fainting using her new spear. She's quite the skilled spearwoman. I tried to focus on the guard I was facing, but I got distracted by a shot. When I looked up, I saw Kinny on a ledge, aiming and once more shooting his rubber bullets with such accuracy that he hadn't missed a single target yet. I laughed, which visibly scared my enemy. I told the poor fear-stricken boy, "I CAN'T LET THEM BEAT ME NOW, CAN I!?" You see, in our blood, there's a power that gives us berserker-like traits and enhancements, like Zeth. Anyway, where were we? Ah! The poor guard was on the verge of tears as he tried to make a run for it. I threw a rock so hard it made a scarily big dent in his armor. I ran off and went back-to-back with Zeth. Her armor was beaten up, cheek scratched from a guard with a spear, and her eye was red from the blood, yet she smiled as I did. At that moment, we felt all-powerful. I could only imagine what the crew thought when we dropped our weapons and unchained our armor, but I wouldn't imagine me and Zeth moving so quickly. Even the spearman couldn't keep up, and with a few right hooks and a few high kicks, we beat the bloody guards. Though we were a bloody mess, right as the last guard fell, so did we. By the time we came to, Joy was catering to our wounds, Max patched up a scar on your uncle's eyebrow, and everyone rested.

Your uncle, Austria, reported to me that they went a little further and captured a few more of the pirate leader's goons, and they were in the ship's brig right now. After I praised them for doing that, it went silent, with the silence only being broken by Max asking, "What the hell was that?" I looked at her just as Zeth did, and I guess we owed them an explanation. Your father explained everything to the crew. Jiro was listening on a call orb Joy had with her, and your uncle laughed quite loudly, followed by everyone else. Jey spoke up, "Not gunna lie, Zeth did look really cool. I guess you're cool, cap." I laughed along with the crew as we formulated a plan to beat the leader of this lard squad. We estimated, well, your uncle estimated that we'd meet the big boss in about 2 days based on Joy's scouting work. After that, Joy spoke up, saying, "And you two battle-hungry siblings need to save up berserk mode for day 3 when we're finally fighting the big boss. After all, that skill would come in real handy when we fight that breathing tub of lard." Zeth laughs and jokingly replies, "Only if you buy me all the meat I can eat when we win." Joy agrees, to her shock. I just spaced out, left to my thoughts. I thought about so many things: "Were we really prepared?" "What would happen if we get captured?" "Was this a good idea?" Jey snapped me out of it by handing me a barbecue they had cooking. I smile and eat it. I look up at the night sky where thousands of stars lit up the world where we resided, and just then, I found my peace. I was home after all. Home isn't a building; it's the people you share your emotions with freely and treat like family—except Zeth; she's literally family. What awaits us tomorrow, I wonder, as I dozed off and eventually succumbed to my sleepiness.

(Story Fact: The captain's, or your father, the man telling the story's real name with title, is Doxilion Maddox Ishikawa, the "Know-it-all Captain.")

(Real-life personal touch: Some people in this story represent a real-life person who's impacted me greatly—not my parents, of course.)