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Monday, July 9th
Early morning, unknown location…

It started off as a headache… and for the duration, Opal could only see darkness and hear ringing in her ears.

‘Where… where am I?’ the Ca-chi thought, trying to open her eyes through the painful sensation in her head. As she was coming to, she was starting to realize that the ‘headache’ was really a rather serious blow to the head. But she was still too dazed to really make sense of anything with vision or hearing. So for the duration, she focused mainly on just getting her body to focus again by breathing deeply. Just huff in… and out. She should break out of the dark depths of her mind soon enough.

...By soon enough, it turned out to be several minutes, but in time, her consciousness was joined by her hearing returning, as the deafening noise in her mind was washed away in favor of voices… She didn’t recognize any of them, nor did they sound very friendly. Though the grim reality was quickly catching up to her as she listened to what was the only thing her brain was capable of processing at that very moment.

“What should we do with her?” One voice asked with a disgruntled voice.

“Break her legs, for the love of all that is holy....” Another replied “This one was a hard one to catch up to. It was only by grace that she was about to head to sleep that we caught up to her.”

That jogged her memory… she had swum up to some random island near Metensia without exactly checking her map, hoping to find places to explore… Through her map went missing along the swim… thankfully she had already gone back to her home at the Colony and dropped her stuff off. So her pack was light and she didn’t have anything else but some food. But… aside from reaching the shore, parkouring a bit on the island, and finding a perch on a branch high in the jungle, she didn’t really think too much about it. Or even get the chance once that sharp pain in her head emerged after she started to get some rest in the dead of the night and send her brain into an inoperable state.

Pushing that aside… she continued to listen to the next bit of information that had emerged in the conversation from another chi “Ohhh I know a better way we can sort her out! Let's sell her off to slavery! I promise you! She looks VALUABLE!” She seemed to giggle at this “Expensive, I say, if nothing else. And I will admit, I LOVE expensive things.”

“That’s all your concerned about Cao-Cao?!” A fourth voice called out as Opal’s vision began to return along with her sense of feeling around her body… save her crystal arm and torso. As usual… “She was wandering around the place! Who knows what she could have found?!”

“I don’t think she was looking for anything…” The first one replied, a clunking sound of a hand against bamboo being heard as the Ca-chi shook her head and gained full vision… and found herself in a bamboo cage with 4 bub-chi right at it’s gate, the one talking knocking on the frame of the prison. “When I looked in her bag, I found only some preserved food, a compass, a writing quill, and two waterproof books… one of whom seems just to be a hobbyist writer book, and another her personal diary. No map…”

“What does that prove?” The second chi asked, sharpening a cutlass sword on a whetstone “I don’t see how that says she was not looking.”

“We watched her move… she didn’t go to ANY of our digging spots!” The first one replied before pulling out a sodden piece of paper from off the table… it was falling apart and the ink on it was smudged beyond readability “I found this a while away from where she surfaced, and there’s no chance she could have even read it considering it’s not waterproofed… I don’t think she even knew where she was.”

There was a chuckle from the third chi “Bet she didn’t see this coming… Heheheh… at all!” He let out a laugh as he rubbed his hands together “I betcha she could line our wallets and purses quiet nicely!”

‘Wait wait… what?!’ Opal quickly thought as she fully regained use of her senses and looked around, and began to look around frantically… and she came to the realization; she was captured somewhere! She was hanging from the top of a bamboo cage, both of her arms restrained with rope that held her at that topmost level of the confinement, and her ears were weighted down so she could not use them effectively. It was early morning now… so at least she can say she got some rest… even if she was really knocked out for much of that time, and she was in some kind of camp. Where exactly… she could not really answer. Her mouth was not gagged however, but not that it would matter too much… She was glaring at the third chi, who was still very confident in the end result of selling the tied up Opal.

“Or be a good candidate for being one of us?” A fifth voice called out as another chi entered the scene… his hat, more prim and proper outfit, and his attitude indicated that he was the leader. “We saw how she moved… and I’ll give it to her, if it took us that long to catch up to her and have me knock her lights out without being aware of us or where she was, she could be worth more then money could ever amount to.”

“Are you kidding?!” The fourth one yelled out “How could we even trust her?! We’ve seen nothing from her!”

“Yeah!” The third one moped “We need money to be successful!”

“And how were you three recruited, if I may ask?” The leader pointed to the two who spoke out as well as the first bub-chi… and there was a long pause before they looked Opal’s way without a response “That’s what I thought.” He then chuckled for a moment as he continued to address the others. “All of you were in her position at some point. So I find little reason to say otherwise on even considering her.”

There was some feud clearly boiling in the fourth chi’s mind, but the leader padded the inside of his skull and crossbones painted and pinned up hat before putting it back on. “Now now, let me tell you all something… except you there, Cao-Cao.” He then pointed at the third chi while the second chi sheathed his cutlass. “I want you to watch her. No point in leaving a prisoner unattended during the day.”

The money hoggling chi giggled while doing a happy dance in place “Oh-ohohohohoh! You got it, Captain!” before giving a salute and swooping right beside the gate like a soldier who’s morale was shooting through the roof.

“Don’t get your hopes up for your wallet right away.” The now confirmed Captain… of something… caught him “We still don’t know what to do with her… but for now.” He then made a smile that revealed one of his top front teeth was missing before giving all of his present crew a pat on the back and then leaning into the cage as though to address it’s inhabitant “Surprise… Opal. Let's see if you’re how you write yourself to be in that diary of yours. Eheheh…” He then backpedaled and snapped his fingers to call the three who he noted to come with him, and the four left as they began to discuss the matter of what they were going to do with Opal… Leaving the girl and the greedy guy alone at the cage for what felt like a few minutes as the group walked away…

A moment or so passed… and Opal, for a brief moment, was confused… how did he know her name… it took her a moment to realize that he had gone through her diary… and likely both found her name and her documentation of all of her travels since she left the colony as a traveler. So she should not be surprised. She mentally slapped herself for a moment before looking up at her binding, clearly thinking before she looked back at the guard...

...Then greed took the guy over again, and he right away spun back around and clapped his hands together as dollar signs appear in his eyes “Ohhhh boy! Is Opal your name? Sounds like a SUPER VALUABLE name to me! If you get what I mean.” He then gestured like he was counting libbles.

“That’s all you're interested in?” Opal chuckled as she tugged at her restraint that held her up above the ground “The sweet dough?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” He laughed for a moment as he paced around the cage as though admiring his brand new golden jewel adorned trophy that found more value then the gods themselves “You have a remarkably lustrous and healthy coat… you're all lean and tough looking… That hair of yours looks so shiny and well kept! You moved super fast and with no flaw whatsoever!” He then grabbed Opal’s leg from behind the cage and pulled her lower body toward him to see how well she responded and saw her body adjust to it quite easily before letting her go to let her swing back and forth like a pendulum “You’re super limber… you recovered so fast from that knockout, shows that you heal remarkably fast… and you got a rather remarkable pattern for a curse over a very large portion of your body! I’m sure some may be repulsed by your curse, but considering how fashionable it looks, I’m sure we can make it work!... I say you’re worth at the very LEAST about 25000 libbles! At the very least.” He then made another giggle and happy dance as he reached the main gate again, not paying much mind to the fact that Opal was still slinging on her restraint… which seemed to start bobbing. “I betcha you’d be a very remarkable sale to someone who wanted someone of your abilities and body!” He then spun around, basically leaning on the cage as he let his fantasy run loose “Ohhhh boy! I can’t remember the last time we got a Chi we could sell like you, and I could never convince the boss to sell anyone!” He then laughed out for a bit as he threw imaginary money around “You’re a dream come true, just the one we needed!” He then rubbed his hands together as he started to slowly turn around “I hope you will enjoy your new life as a slave, beca--!!”

He failed to notice what was going on after he had Opal start slinging… She saw that her captors completely failed to realize that she was a Ca-chi… and that she had, the whole time she was able to think again, turned her hands into claws and started to cut away at the rope hiding her up. So when he turned around, Opal had just broken free and slung herself forward and landed, and needing no time due to how she landed so close to him she grabbed him by the head through the gaps in the bamboo frame before ramming it into the frame a few times, stunning him before she used one of her claws to clutch tightly around his neck, latching on a death grip that aimed to strangle him until he was passed out… and with her other claw over his mouth, he was unable to let out anything but a muffled grunt with each slam and the entire duration of him being choked to unconsciousness, muting any sound he may have made to call for help.

“Sell me off to slavery, why don’t you.” Opal hissed as she lowered him down gently before digging through his pockets, finding the keyring that was in his pocket and trying each of the keys it had on the cage until she found the one that fit and unlocked the door without fuss… and just for good measure, she dragged his body into the cage before locking out… and kicking it closed with a click, trapping the wannabe bub-chi trafficker in the confinement before she began to look around and better access the situation “Now… where the heck am I?”

She was clearly in a more coastal area… as hinted by the construction of the cages and the nearby buildings she was at… So at least she knows the beach is close. But there was also quite a lot of cutlass swords and gear lying around the cage, including her bag from when they took it off and gone through it. She took it back and, after looking through to see it was undamaged and just emptied it, put the nearby pen and compass of her’s in the backpack before replacing it on her body, abandoning the destroyed map due to its useless state. She did take a cutlass and tie it to the side of her belt as well, not seeing any reason why she should not have it until she starts running again (In which case she may have to drop it of it’s too heavy.) but other then that and the keys she acquired, she didn’t take anything else… instead, she focused on the environment around her… Palm and Mazonut trees, the occasional banana tree… so that’s a decent sign… and voices that all seemed to have a confident tone in them… and a strange accent. But she could not see much in the wood fence enclosed space she was in, so she crept to the door where she saw the other 4 leave…

...Outside was some type of village alright. But it seemed unusual… everyone was wearing attire that was somehow fancy and yet somehow not… some of them dressed like pilgrims, and others had more rugged outfits with the leather braces of equipment, some even boasting beards made out of intentionally grown out fur, eyepatches, and the occasional prosthetic limb in place of an arm or leg… But what stuck out to Opal the most was the 3 ships and the main flag post… which all sported the tale tale sign of pirate property…

...A black flag… with a white skull and crossbones.

Thankfully, where Opal was hiding at the prisoner stockyards, she found a barrel right outside the doorway that had a fresh map on it… it was worn away but was still in a readable state. She quickly took it while no one was looking and brought it into the light in the enclosed space, and studied it… on it, to the northeast of Metensia, was an isle where a heart was drawn on it… Oula Isle… and where the heart was, as though to mark someone’s home… some kind of Lair…

“Well…” Opal chuckled to herself as she folded the map up and put it in her pack “Guess I found a pirate hotspot, huh?” She then cracked her knuckles before stretching herself out for the day, as though the danger was not there… the Pirate Captain's challenge for her to escape in her mind “Admittedly this wasn’t what I was looking for, but hey! This life is never uneventful!... Now how do I get out of here without one of those ol’ maties noticing me?” She then did a mock version of the classic pirate ‘Arrr!’ in a quiet tone before looking out the doorway again…

...While she was comfortable and cool under pressure, there were a few things that were on her mind and caught her eye, however… First of all, her two notebooks were missing. They were enchanted with magic, so even if they were caught in some turbulent waters, they were immune to water. So she didn’t have to worry about that causing trouble anytime soon. The question was… where did they go?

The second up was… What was going on? She noticed that there was a fourth dock with an absent ship. And this caught her eye for a moment… Perhaps it was out?... Somehow, it was striking her to not be the case anymore, due to some of the pirates heading over to where the fourth ship should be and acting as though in mourning. Did one of the captains die out there?... Opal didn’t really have time to think this over. At least it was getting most of the pirates out of the area right in front of her…

The third item of interest was… where did that pirate captain and his crew walk off to? She knew he took them to have a talk about something… possibly regarding her. But the question was; what? And where? It was something of a hurdle she was trying to overcome in her head… Something didn’t seem right.

That thought was quickly pushed aside as she swooped back into cover upon detection of another pirate who was passing by… thankfully, she didn’t take much notice of the Traceur's presence or escape, nor did she seem to care enough to look in and notice that a comrade was out cold in one of the cages… After Opal peaked out again, she saw that now all that remained was one extremely drunk pirate… who was so intoxicated, he was effectively incapacitated, the only other notable feature is his ownership of a pinned up hat... So Opal took this as a sign and made a run for it out of the stockyards and toward a few boxes that would provide enough of a boost to, with the aid of another jump on her bubble, let her get onto the rooftops.

On the way, she did end up passing right in front of the drunk… but in his drunken state, he instead toasted to her with a mug raised up “Aye matie, me favorite drinking buddy! Let's get a few pints!”

“I… think you had enough…” Opal slowed down for a second to comment, her face showing a mixture of disgust and concern before she resumed her sprint “I’m… busy anyway. So I’ll catch-ya later!”

“I never have enough, but if ye’re busy… I wish ye luck!” He then raised the mug to her before drinking away yet another round of liquory goodness.

‘What was with that guy?’ Opal could not help but think to herself… somehow, that hat seemed familiar to her, but she dismissed it as common attire. Pirates often ware those, right? It didn’t really matter… right now, what was on her mind was getting her notebooks back… And now she was in a high up spot where, unless there was someone goofing off at the crows nest of a docked ship, no one should see her…. And even then, they will have to chase her up there. Which she didn’t see any of the pirates doing even if they were physically adept. So instead, she focused more on scanning the windows of the cabins around the area…

This took a few minutes, sadly for her… the first house’s windows didn’t reveal anything useful, save for a pirate who had a hook for a hand trying to manipulate something that required dexterity… and lacking that dexterity, he instead tore the cloth that was involved apart. He then discarded the fabric before realizing… his ears are perfectly intact. So he ended up spending the next few minutes in a berserk rage at himself… Nope… can’t be this one.

The second was far less interesting… it was not even a real home. It seemed to really just be repurposed to be a storage building for all the rum they have been lugging around… she can search that later.

The third one and fourth one were nothing to write home about… for the former had a chi was asleep. Likely someone who works nights… and the latter had about 3 chi in it clearly doing a ritual between them to bring forth new life in the world… and failing miserably, as one of the three keeps going out of sync in the ritual, and it throws everything off…. So if that had her notebooks, she’ll have to look in there later…

The fifth, however… Opal saw them. On the third floor window on a desk, there were 2 notebooks, with the left corners decorated with a rainbow-like sheeting that gave off a similar shimmer to the crystals Opal had on her… there was no denying it. She could see those from a mile away and tell they were her’s. She nodded to this, and jumped down right away…

...Failing to check around her. And a surprised “What the?!” prompted her to turn around and see a pirate standing right there! It only took him a second to realize she was not one of theirs, and he prepared to call out, but he found himself winded by a sucker punch as Opal used that second to identify her before the attack was followed up by a backhand that threw him off balance… and at last a running start to a dropkick that sent him through a window into a house and knocked him out cold. Quickly, she looked around to see if anyone saw that, both outside and inside the house. Seeing that was not the case, she looked in to double check and be sure he was out cold, and seeing he was, in fact, down for the count, she nodded and resumed her trip to her intended destination, using a running start to scale the wall and jump onto a good enough ledge so she can hop up and cat climb up the open window.

Once inside, Opal took a quick look around, not wishing for any surprises to hit her. No one was home, seemingly, so that was good. Though it did seem as though she was in a bedroom. On the west side of the room (North being where the window was and where Opal entered) was the bed… It did look cozy at least, with its cotton stuffed mattress, the rope netting under it to support it comfortably atop its mahogany wood frame, and the quality fur comforter… that all looked as though it was begging for Opal to pull a Goldilocks and sleep in it until the Captian busted her and sent her back to that cage… she was not up to that, and she was rested enough from her session of lights out… Though right beside it was a rather fancy looking wardrobe made of some kind of dark wood and finished with a golden trim… though Opal had no interest in helping herself with one of the pirate's goodies. To the south was just the stairs down, so nothing of interest there, and Opal had little interest in seeing how the rest of the house was decorated… So she ignored that path. Instead, she looked to the eastern wall, where her goal was… the notebooks of hers! Though a far fresher map was also right there, with signs of enchantment to be waterproofed as well.

Somehow, the map made her feel uneasy… why was it right here along with her notebooks? She could easily dismiss it as a convenience, as anyone else could just have placed a map here to read on a routine basis especially when they go seafaring often. But something still felt off… Was it the waterproof enchantment? How it had the notebooks stacked on top of them in such a deliberate looking fashion? She could not put a finger on it…

But… some kind of feeling made her stop briefly… and look behind her at the wardrobe… Something seemed wrong. Like someone was in there… Was it how the wardrobe was angled like there was more weight in the front than the rear? How it seemed to creek open slowly at first and then shut slowly and lock there? Or just some odd feeling in there?

She didn’t want to know… as it suddenly hit her she may have walked right into a trap, so she suddenly drew the cutlass she had acquired and ramed her body into the doors before they could have a chance to open… and was rewarded with a loud “Oof!” that confirmed her suspicions, leading her to slide the sword between the handles of the wardrobe, jamming it shut.

“...Well. I guess the roles have been switched then.” The voice hummed from behind the doors… It belonged to the Pirate Captain from earlier!

“You again.” Was snarled by the Ca-chi as she went to pick her notebooks back up… Though a smile suddenly came over her face as she suddenly flipped around, pointing her crystal index finger at the wardrobe “Let me guess. You’re going to say ‘You were predictable up until just now.’, right?”

“You were predictable up until just now.” Was said in reply… followed by a gasp and some motion that made the furniture rock. There was a brief delay afterward, giving Opal time to resume her walk to the table before he resumed “Holy… How did you know what I was going to say?!”

“It’s a gift.” Opal chuckled as she reached for her books and picked them up “I used to do it to my family all the tim--!”

She was cut off by something…. A chiming sound as something fell out of the Diary out of the two notebooks of Opal’s and onto the table. It was some type of coin, made out of ruby with a pirate skull on it and a emerald trim. There was a second coin, which was effectively a gold coin with a pirate skull of its own, but the ruby outright caught her attention… and it struck her as odd… she looked back to the wardrobe, and the occupant did nothing, as though he expected her to take them.

Seeing this made the Ca-chi hesitate… what was he planning? What did the coins mean? Why… would he leave 2 coins in one of HER books rather than somewhere far safer… it took a moment to click on her, and she looked the wardrobe’s way.

“Is this yet another challenge?” Opal hummed with a smirk, leaning on the table casually for a moment “First you dare me to get out of captivity, then you predict that’ll come for these and slip these in the books, expecting me to take them, huh?”

There was a chuckle, as though to confirm this… then he spoke “I see you’re a smart girl then. Then I have one last dare for you…”

The daredevil tilted her head, upkeeping her smile with interest “I’m listening.”

“...Find my Silver Crown, and escape with it.” He then let out a laugh for a few moments, before a squeak suggested he was now leaning on the wardrobe “Do that, and I may just have a surprise for you... You have until I get out of this wardrobe or before one of the other pirates comes to check on me.”

Opal eyed him for a moment… before jumping off the table and collecting the books and coins, bagging her notebooks and pocketing the coins as well before walking up to the wardrobe and giving it a light tap with her finger “I think I’ll accept your challenge. I’d give you a handshake… but this is the closest I can give through this door.”

There was another tap from the other side “Then you best hurry. Because I will have you know… I don’t stay caged for long.”

Opal was quick to rush over and jump off the railing of the stairwell and to the first floor as she parted with “Neither am I, old man.”

Now that she was at the first floor, she did a quick scan of the rooms… the living room was rather uninteresting, save for a few chairs, the fireplace, the pirate flag above it, and some glass that Opal nearly stepped on and slashed her foot on from when someone broke open a bottle of wine with force rather than just taking or popping the cork off like a normal person. The Kitchen… clearly needed some work. But then again, it didn’t look like it was used for the main source of food in the first place, as hinted by how much the range has fallen into disuse and decay… to the point that on her way out of the kitchen, Opal could have sworn she saw a bird roosting in the area where the wood is normally placed to light and heat the thing.

The third room was the bathroom… no need to go into that. Aside from the fact that Opal now needs some brain bleach.

The fourth however was a display room… And after Opal spent a moment gazing over the various treasures in there, from the golden swords to the staves that seemed magical, to the chests of gold and libbles that lined the sides of the walls with bountiful riches, she gazed at the item at the center far end wall of the room…

...A silver crown, adorned with emeralds and sapphires and a single ruby in the center, with a gold trim all around it. Clearly polished and well taken care of. The little light that shone from the candles in the room reflected brightly off of the symbol like a holy aura that lacked flaw, and its construction and craftsmanship was beyond measure. It made Opal stop for a minute to gaze upon it’s beauty and forget everything that was going on around her… though after a moment, she was snapped back into reality by a voice…

“Boss… Boss!” Someone called out, clearly one of the other pirates from earlier “It’s Opal! She’s escaped from her cage! And she’s got the damn key!”

Wasting no time, Opal took the crown and ran upstairs, though the floorboards on the stairs squeaked, alerting everyone outside to someone running.

“Captain, shouldn’t you be running DOWN the stairs?”

The Ca-chi simply ran to the window on the top floor where she came in from… and noticed that the cutlass she used to jam the wardrobe was starting to give, showing heavy signs of cracking from the pressure as the occupant of the makeshift trap turned prison. She gave the outside world one last look, to see that for now, only 2 of the 5 pirates were there… it was then that Opal realized that the one she dropkicked from earlier was one of the other of the pirating party.

“Well then…” Opal hummed as she put the crown in her bag “Guess this is the adrenaline rush of the day, isn’t it?”

A loud snapping metal sound emitted behind her… and the Ca-chi quickly turned around and saw the captain kicking his wardrobe doors open, the now broken sword halves flying across the room, one of which nearly hit Opal and found it’s open on the wall next to her. “Yes… it IS your adrenaline rush of the day.”

Out of pure instinct, Opal jumped, making a leap of faith out of the window, right away catching the attention of the 2 other pirates on the ground, and one of them pointed at her “HEY! THAT’S THE PRISONER! GET HER!”

The Traceur huffed as she made the double jump on her bubble to clear the gap ove the street “So much for stealth…” and she began to run, letting her legs carry her on the rooftops as fast as she could go while putting on a smile on her face again as she smirked at the pirates who looked around on the ground level in confusion, looking for what the call out was referring to… though many of them already had their swords out, ready to put Opal’s head on a platter.

Clearing another jump over the street with the aid of her bubble onto the bar and then onto the jungle behind it, the Ca-chi ran backward for a few moments, yelling a taunt while throwing her voice so that it seemed like she was elsewhere “Nah nah! Run run run as fast as you can! You’ll never catch me! And don’t ask for my name! Because I’m not here for the recognition or fame!” She then turned back around and let out a cheer for herself as she continued to run down the coast.

The pirates found themselves running the wrong way, as they were all confused by the thrown voice that Opal used. During this time, the Ca-chi looked around the beach for anything she could use to get away… or a sign of another landform she could get to. Though… it didn’t take long for her to realize she was on the southwest side of the island with a glance at her compass… and with that, she noticed a rowboat parked there…

Opal studied it for a moment, looking for signs of a trap… nope… a left behind note instead revealed that this belonged to one of the pirates that were tracking Opal in the first place. This left the escapee with a smirk on her face “How ironic that the very boat they beached to find me…” She then pushed the boat out and jumped in, and started to row back for the main Metensia island “Would also be how I get out of here!”

A few moments later, the pirates realized their error and ran south along the coast to catch up. But by the time they found her, she was already out of range, just a brief shadow in the distance as she waved back “Cya all of you! It was fun having you all!” before rowing again, and a few seconds later, she was gone…

One of the pirates threw his cutlass into the sea, hoping to spear her somehow… though her throwing arm didn’t have the force necessary to reach anywhere near her, and it made a splash into the seas “For the love of… I swear… we’ll catch that darn girl, I swear upon the gods, I wil--”

“Enough with it!” The pirate captain caught up and put his ear on the fellow pirate’s shoulder. “Let her go. She won this round…” he then looked the way of Opal in the distant sea “And besides, I doubt we’ll catch up in time to find her from here.”

Every single one of the fellow pirates let out a huff… and obeyed his orders, returning to the Pirate’s Lair. He did have a little bit of explaining to do once he got back… but for now, he simply said a whisper into the seas “You’re one tough and fast girl… You broke out of a cage under the subject of being sold off slavery, you broke into my own house, stole one of my prized treasures, and escaped with your freedom and your life.” He chuckled for a moment as he revealed a coin from his pocket… the exact same ruby and emerald coin Opal had acquired “I can respect that… Which is why……”

---

Meanwhile, Opal had now reached the shores just northeast of the Swamp of Lost Memories. She jumped off the rowboat to pant for a moment, needing to catch her breath someplace that was not flooded with the sting of the sea that she was yet to adapt to. “I… I did it!” She then pulled her diary out of her bag along with her quill “I got out! I really should write about this and let…”

...As soon as she opened the diary of her’s, a letter fell out of the book as well. “...Olli… know. What’s this?” She took up the letter… and read it to herself…

‘Dear Opal

If you’re reading this, You’re one tough and fast girl… You broke out of a cage under the subject of being sold off slavery, you broke into my own house, stole one of my prized treasures, and escaped with your freedom and your life. I can respect that… Which is why I am granting you your freedom now. You should still have the Ruby and Emerald Coin on you. Do whatever you like with my Crown and the gold coin. But keep the ruby coin with you and hold it close.

Hopefully, we will meet again… and if so, I do hope that you’ll consider joining us.’

The last name was smudged out… Opal had to guess it was an attempt to protect the pirate captain’s identity. But still, she had to chuckle at that while she put the diary and letter in her bag again. “Well then. Guess I have one heck of a tale to tell Olli, huh? Plus he’s going to love these things I bring in!”

...Except for the ruby coin… she’s keeping that… and the part about the letter… Olli doesn’t need to know that, regardless of her choice.

Description
Monday, July 9th
Early morning, unknown location…

It started off as a headache… and for the duration, Opal could only see darkness and hear ringing in her ears.

‘Where… where am I?’ the Ca-chi thought, trying to open her eyes through the painful sensation in her head. As she was coming to, she was starting to realize that the ‘headache’ was really a rather serious blow to the head. But she was still too dazed to really make sense of anything with vision or hearing. So for the duration, she focused mainly on just getting her body to focus again by breathing deeply. Just huff in… and out. She should break out of the dark depths of her mind soon enough.

...By soon enough, it turned out to be several minutes, but in time, her consciousness was joined by her hearing returning, as the deafening noise in her mind was washed away in favor of voices… She didn’t recognize any of them, nor did they sound very friendly. Though the grim reality was quickly catching up to her as she listened to what was the only thing her brain was capable of processing at that very moment.

“What should we do with her?” One voice asked with a disgruntled voice.

“Break her legs, for the love of all that is holy....” Another replied “This one was a hard one to catch up to. It was only by grace that she was about to head to sleep that we caught up to her.”

That jogged her memory… she had swum up to some random island near Metensia without exactly checking her map, hoping to find places to explore… Through her map went missing along the swim… thankfully she had already gone back to her home at the Colony and dropped her stuff off. So her pack was light and she didn’t have anything else but some food. But… aside from reaching the shore, parkouring a bit on the island, and finding a perch on a branch high in the jungle, she didn’t really think too much about it. Or even get the chance once that sharp pain in her head emerged after she started to get some rest in the dead of the night and send her brain into an inoperable state.

Pushing that aside… she continued to listen to the next bit of information that had emerged in the conversation from another chi “Ohhh I know a better way we can sort her out! Let's sell her off to slavery! I promise you! She looks VALUABLE!” She seemed to giggle at this “Expensive, I say, if nothing else. And I will admit, I LOVE expensive things.”

“That’s all your concerned about Cao-Cao?!” A fourth voice called out as Opal’s vision began to return along with her sense of feeling around her body… save her crystal arm and torso. As usual… “She was wandering around the place! Who knows what she could have found?!”

“I don’t think she was looking for anything…” The first one replied, a clunking sound of a hand against bamboo being heard as the Ca-chi shook her head and gained full vision… and found herself in a bamboo cage with 4 bub-chi right at it’s gate, the one talking knocking on the frame of the prison. “When I looked in her bag, I found only some preserved food, a compass, a writing quill, and two waterproof books… one of whom seems just to be a hobbyist writer book, and another her personal diary. No map…”

“What does that prove?” The second chi asked, sharpening a cutlass sword on a whetstone “I don’t see how that says she was not looking.”

“We watched her move… she didn’t go to ANY of our digging spots!” The first one replied before pulling out a sodden piece of paper from off the table… it was falling apart and the ink on it was smudged beyond readability “I found this a while away from where she surfaced, and there’s no chance she could have even read it considering it’s not waterproofed… I don’t think she even knew where she was.”

There was a chuckle from the third chi “Bet she didn’t see this coming… Heheheh… at all!” He let out a laugh as he rubbed his hands together “I betcha she could line our wallets and purses quiet nicely!”

‘Wait wait… what?!’ Opal quickly thought as she fully regained use of her senses and looked around, and began to look around frantically… and she came to the realization; she was captured somewhere! She was hanging from the top of a bamboo cage, both of her arms restrained with rope that held her at that topmost level of the confinement, and her ears were weighted down so she could not use them effectively. It was early morning now… so at least she can say she got some rest… even if she was really knocked out for much of that time, and she was in some kind of camp. Where exactly… she could not really answer. Her mouth was not gagged however, but not that it would matter too much… She was glaring at the third chi, who was still very confident in the end result of selling the tied up Opal.

“Or be a good candidate for being one of us?” A fifth voice called out as another chi entered the scene… his hat, more prim and proper outfit, and his attitude indicated that he was the leader. “We saw how she moved… and I’ll give it to her, if it took us that long to catch up to her and have me knock her lights out without being aware of us or where she was, she could be worth more then money could ever amount to.”

“Are you kidding?!” The fourth one yelled out “How could we even trust her?! We’ve seen nothing from her!”

“Yeah!” The third one moped “We need money to be successful!”

“And how were you three recruited, if I may ask?” The leader pointed to the two who spoke out as well as the first bub-chi… and there was a long pause before they looked Opal’s way without a response “That’s what I thought.” He then chuckled for a moment as he continued to address the others. “All of you were in her position at some point. So I find little reason to say otherwise on even considering her.”

There was some feud clearly boiling in the fourth chi’s mind, but the leader padded the inside of his skull and crossbones painted and pinned up hat before putting it back on. “Now now, let me tell you all something… except you there, Cao-Cao.” He then pointed at the third chi while the second chi sheathed his cutlass. “I want you to watch her. No point in leaving a prisoner unattended during the day.”

The money hoggling chi giggled while doing a happy dance in place “Oh-ohohohohoh! You got it, Captain!” before giving a salute and swooping right beside the gate like a soldier who’s morale was shooting through the roof.

“Don’t get your hopes up for your wallet right away.” The now confirmed Captain… of something… caught him “We still don’t know what to do with her… but for now.” He then made a smile that revealed one of his top front teeth was missing before giving all of his present crew a pat on the back and then leaning into the cage as though to address it’s inhabitant “Surprise… Opal. Let's see if you’re how you write yourself to be in that diary of yours. Eheheh…” He then backpedaled and snapped his fingers to call the three who he noted to come with him, and the four left as they began to discuss the matter of what they were going to do with Opal… Leaving the girl and the greedy guy alone at the cage for what felt like a few minutes as the group walked away…

A moment or so passed… and Opal, for a brief moment, was confused… how did he know her name… it took her a moment to realize that he had gone through her diary… and likely both found her name and her documentation of all of her travels since she left the colony as a traveler. So she should not be surprised. She mentally slapped herself for a moment before looking up at her binding, clearly thinking before she looked back at the guard...

...Then greed took the guy over again, and he right away spun back around and clapped his hands together as dollar signs appear in his eyes “Ohhhh boy! Is Opal your name? Sounds like a SUPER VALUABLE name to me! If you get what I mean.” He then gestured like he was counting libbles.

“That’s all you're interested in?” Opal chuckled as she tugged at her restraint that held her up above the ground “The sweet dough?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” He laughed for a moment as he paced around the cage as though admiring his brand new golden jewel adorned trophy that found more value then the gods themselves “You have a remarkably lustrous and healthy coat… you're all lean and tough looking… That hair of yours looks so shiny and well kept! You moved super fast and with no flaw whatsoever!” He then grabbed Opal’s leg from behind the cage and pulled her lower body toward him to see how well she responded and saw her body adjust to it quite easily before letting her go to let her swing back and forth like a pendulum “You’re super limber… you recovered so fast from that knockout, shows that you heal remarkably fast… and you got a rather remarkable pattern for a curse over a very large portion of your body! I’m sure some may be repulsed by your curse, but considering how fashionable it looks, I’m sure we can make it work!... I say you’re worth at the very LEAST about 25000 libbles! At the very least.” He then made another giggle and happy dance as he reached the main gate again, not paying much mind to the fact that Opal was still slinging on her restraint… which seemed to start bobbing. “I betcha you’d be a very remarkable sale to someone who wanted someone of your abilities and body!” He then spun around, basically leaning on the cage as he let his fantasy run loose “Ohhhh boy! I can’t remember the last time we got a Chi we could sell like you, and I could never convince the boss to sell anyone!” He then laughed out for a bit as he threw imaginary money around “You’re a dream come true, just the one we needed!” He then rubbed his hands together as he started to slowly turn around “I hope you will enjoy your new life as a slave, beca--!!”

He failed to notice what was going on after he had Opal start slinging… She saw that her captors completely failed to realize that she was a Ca-chi… and that she had, the whole time she was able to think again, turned her hands into claws and started to cut away at the rope hiding her up. So when he turned around, Opal had just broken free and slung herself forward and landed, and needing no time due to how she landed so close to him she grabbed him by the head through the gaps in the bamboo frame before ramming it into the frame a few times, stunning him before she used one of her claws to clutch tightly around his neck, latching on a death grip that aimed to strangle him until he was passed out… and with her other claw over his mouth, he was unable to let out anything but a muffled grunt with each slam and the entire duration of him being choked to unconsciousness, muting any sound he may have made to call for help.

“Sell me off to slavery, why don’t you.” Opal hissed as she lowered him down gently before digging through his pockets, finding the keyring that was in his pocket and trying each of the keys it had on the cage until she found the one that fit and unlocked the door without fuss… and just for good measure, she dragged his body into the cage before locking out… and kicking it closed with a click, trapping the wannabe bub-chi trafficker in the confinement before she began to look around and better access the situation “Now… where the heck am I?”

She was clearly in a more coastal area… as hinted by the construction of the cages and the nearby buildings she was at… So at least she knows the beach is close. But there was also quite a lot of cutlass swords and gear lying around the cage, including her bag from when they took it off and gone through it. She took it back and, after looking through to see it was undamaged and just emptied it, put the nearby pen and compass of her’s in the backpack before replacing it on her body, abandoning the destroyed map due to its useless state. She did take a cutlass and tie it to the side of her belt as well, not seeing any reason why she should not have it until she starts running again (In which case she may have to drop it of it’s too heavy.) but other then that and the keys she acquired, she didn’t take anything else… instead, she focused on the environment around her… Palm and Mazonut trees, the occasional banana tree… so that’s a decent sign… and voices that all seemed to have a confident tone in them… and a strange accent. But she could not see much in the wood fence enclosed space she was in, so she crept to the door where she saw the other 4 leave…

...Outside was some type of village alright. But it seemed unusual… everyone was wearing attire that was somehow fancy and yet somehow not… some of them dressed like pilgrims, and others had more rugged outfits with the leather braces of equipment, some even boasting beards made out of intentionally grown out fur, eyepatches, and the occasional prosthetic limb in place of an arm or leg… But what stuck out to Opal the most was the 3 ships and the main flag post… which all sported the tale tale sign of pirate property…

...A black flag… with a white skull and crossbones.

Thankfully, where Opal was hiding at the prisoner stockyards, she found a barrel right outside the doorway that had a fresh map on it… it was worn away but was still in a readable state. She quickly took it while no one was looking and brought it into the light in the enclosed space, and studied it… on it, to the northeast of Metensia, was an isle where a heart was drawn on it… Oula Isle… and where the heart was, as though to mark someone’s home… some kind of Lair…

“Well…” Opal chuckled to herself as she folded the map up and put it in her pack “Guess I found a pirate hotspot, huh?” She then cracked her knuckles before stretching herself out for the day, as though the danger was not there… the Pirate Captain's challenge for her to escape in her mind “Admittedly this wasn’t what I was looking for, but hey! This life is never uneventful!... Now how do I get out of here without one of those ol’ maties noticing me?” She then did a mock version of the classic pirate ‘Arrr!’ in a quiet tone before looking out the doorway again…

...While she was comfortable and cool under pressure, there were a few things that were on her mind and caught her eye, however… First of all, her two notebooks were missing. They were enchanted with magic, so even if they were caught in some turbulent waters, they were immune to water. So she didn’t have to worry about that causing trouble anytime soon. The question was… where did they go?

The second up was… What was going on? She noticed that there was a fourth dock with an absent ship. And this caught her eye for a moment… Perhaps it was out?... Somehow, it was striking her to not be the case anymore, due to some of the pirates heading over to where the fourth ship should be and acting as though in mourning. Did one of the captains die out there?... Opal didn’t really have time to think this over. At least it was getting most of the pirates out of the area right in front of her…

The third item of interest was… where did that pirate captain and his crew walk off to? She knew he took them to have a talk about something… possibly regarding her. But the question was; what? And where? It was something of a hurdle she was trying to overcome in her head… Something didn’t seem right.

That thought was quickly pushed aside as she swooped back into cover upon detection of another pirate who was passing by… thankfully, she didn’t take much notice of the Traceur's presence or escape, nor did she seem to care enough to look in and notice that a comrade was out cold in one of the cages… After Opal peaked out again, she saw that now all that remained was one extremely drunk pirate… who was so intoxicated, he was effectively incapacitated, the only other notable feature is his ownership of a pinned up hat... So Opal took this as a sign and made a run for it out of the stockyards and toward a few boxes that would provide enough of a boost to, with the aid of another jump on her bubble, let her get onto the rooftops.

On the way, she did end up passing right in front of the drunk… but in his drunken state, he instead toasted to her with a mug raised up “Aye matie, me favorite drinking buddy! Let's get a few pints!”

“I… think you had enough…” Opal slowed down for a second to comment, her face showing a mixture of disgust and concern before she resumed her sprint “I’m… busy anyway. So I’ll catch-ya later!”

“I never have enough, but if ye’re busy… I wish ye luck!” He then raised the mug to her before drinking away yet another round of liquory goodness.

‘What was with that guy?’ Opal could not help but think to herself… somehow, that hat seemed familiar to her, but she dismissed it as common attire. Pirates often ware those, right? It didn’t really matter… right now, what was on her mind was getting her notebooks back… And now she was in a high up spot where, unless there was someone goofing off at the crows nest of a docked ship, no one should see her…. And even then, they will have to chase her up there. Which she didn’t see any of the pirates doing even if they were physically adept. So instead, she focused more on scanning the windows of the cabins around the area…

This took a few minutes, sadly for her… the first house’s windows didn’t reveal anything useful, save for a pirate who had a hook for a hand trying to manipulate something that required dexterity… and lacking that dexterity, he instead tore the cloth that was involved apart. He then discarded the fabric before realizing… his ears are perfectly intact. So he ended up spending the next few minutes in a berserk rage at himself… Nope… can’t be this one.

The second was far less interesting… it was not even a real home. It seemed to really just be repurposed to be a storage building for all the rum they have been lugging around… she can search that later.

The third one and fourth one were nothing to write home about… for the former had a chi was asleep. Likely someone who works nights… and the latter had about 3 chi in it clearly doing a ritual between them to bring forth new life in the world… and failing miserably, as one of the three keeps going out of sync in the ritual, and it throws everything off…. So if that had her notebooks, she’ll have to look in there later…

The fifth, however… Opal saw them. On the third floor window on a desk, there were 2 notebooks, with the left corners decorated with a rainbow-like sheeting that gave off a similar shimmer to the crystals Opal had on her… there was no denying it. She could see those from a mile away and tell they were her’s. She nodded to this, and jumped down right away…

...Failing to check around her. And a surprised “What the?!” prompted her to turn around and see a pirate standing right there! It only took him a second to realize she was not one of theirs, and he prepared to call out, but he found himself winded by a sucker punch as Opal used that second to identify her before the attack was followed up by a backhand that threw him off balance… and at last a running start to a dropkick that sent him through a window into a house and knocked him out cold. Quickly, she looked around to see if anyone saw that, both outside and inside the house. Seeing that was not the case, she looked in to double check and be sure he was out cold, and seeing he was, in fact, down for the count, she nodded and resumed her trip to her intended destination, using a running start to scale the wall and jump onto a good enough ledge so she can hop up and cat climb up the open window.

Once inside, Opal took a quick look around, not wishing for any surprises to hit her. No one was home, seemingly, so that was good. Though it did seem as though she was in a bedroom. On the west side of the room (North being where the window was and where Opal entered) was the bed… It did look cozy at least, with its cotton stuffed mattress, the rope netting under it to support it comfortably atop its mahogany wood frame, and the quality fur comforter… that all looked as though it was begging for Opal to pull a Goldilocks and sleep in it until the Captian busted her and sent her back to that cage… she was not up to that, and she was rested enough from her session of lights out… Though right beside it was a rather fancy looking wardrobe made of some kind of dark wood and finished with a golden trim… though Opal had no interest in helping herself with one of the pirate's goodies. To the south was just the stairs down, so nothing of interest there, and Opal had little interest in seeing how the rest of the house was decorated… So she ignored that path. Instead, she looked to the eastern wall, where her goal was… the notebooks of hers! Though a far fresher map was also right there, with signs of enchantment to be waterproofed as well.

Somehow, the map made her feel uneasy… why was it right here along with her notebooks? She could easily dismiss it as a convenience, as anyone else could just have placed a map here to read on a routine basis especially when they go seafaring often. But something still felt off… Was it the waterproof enchantment? How it had the notebooks stacked on top of them in such a deliberate looking fashion? She could not put a finger on it…

But… some kind of feeling made her stop briefly… and look behind her at the wardrobe… Something seemed wrong. Like someone was in there… Was it how the wardrobe was angled like there was more weight in the front than the rear? How it seemed to creek open slowly at first and then shut slowly and lock there? Or just some odd feeling in there?

She didn’t want to know… as it suddenly hit her she may have walked right into a trap, so she suddenly drew the cutlass she had acquired and ramed her body into the doors before they could have a chance to open… and was rewarded with a loud “Oof!” that confirmed her suspicions, leading her to slide the sword between the handles of the wardrobe, jamming it shut.

“...Well. I guess the roles have been switched then.” The voice hummed from behind the doors… It belonged to the Pirate Captain from earlier!

“You again.” Was snarled by the Ca-chi as she went to pick her notebooks back up… Though a smile suddenly came over her face as she suddenly flipped around, pointing her crystal index finger at the wardrobe “Let me guess. You’re going to say ‘You were predictable up until just now.’, right?”

“You were predictable up until just now.” Was said in reply… followed by a gasp and some motion that made the furniture rock. There was a brief delay afterward, giving Opal time to resume her walk to the table before he resumed “Holy… How did you know what I was going to say?!”

“It’s a gift.” Opal chuckled as she reached for her books and picked them up “I used to do it to my family all the tim--!”

She was cut off by something…. A chiming sound as something fell out of the Diary out of the two notebooks of Opal’s and onto the table. It was some type of coin, made out of ruby with a pirate skull on it and a emerald trim. There was a second coin, which was effectively a gold coin with a pirate skull of its own, but the ruby outright caught her attention… and it struck her as odd… she looked back to the wardrobe, and the occupant did nothing, as though he expected her to take them.

Seeing this made the Ca-chi hesitate… what was he planning? What did the coins mean? Why… would he leave 2 coins in one of HER books rather than somewhere far safer… it took a moment to click on her, and she looked the wardrobe’s way.

“Is this yet another challenge?” Opal hummed with a smirk, leaning on the table casually for a moment “First you dare me to get out of captivity, then you predict that’ll come for these and slip these in the books, expecting me to take them, huh?”

There was a chuckle, as though to confirm this… then he spoke “I see you’re a smart girl then. Then I have one last dare for you…”

The daredevil tilted her head, upkeeping her smile with interest “I’m listening.”

“...Find my Silver Crown, and escape with it.” He then let out a laugh for a few moments, before a squeak suggested he was now leaning on the wardrobe “Do that, and I may just have a surprise for you... You have until I get out of this wardrobe or before one of the other pirates comes to check on me.”

Opal eyed him for a moment… before jumping off the table and collecting the books and coins, bagging her notebooks and pocketing the coins as well before walking up to the wardrobe and giving it a light tap with her finger “I think I’ll accept your challenge. I’d give you a handshake… but this is the closest I can give through this door.”

There was another tap from the other side “Then you best hurry. Because I will have you know… I don’t stay caged for long.”

Opal was quick to rush over and jump off the railing of the stairwell and to the first floor as she parted with “Neither am I, old man.”

Now that she was at the first floor, she did a quick scan of the rooms… the living room was rather uninteresting, save for a few chairs, the fireplace, the pirate flag above it, and some glass that Opal nearly stepped on and slashed her foot on from when someone broke open a bottle of wine with force rather than just taking or popping the cork off like a normal person. The Kitchen… clearly needed some work. But then again, it didn’t look like it was used for the main source of food in the first place, as hinted by how much the range has fallen into disuse and decay… to the point that on her way out of the kitchen, Opal could have sworn she saw a bird roosting in the area where the wood is normally placed to light and heat the thing.

The third room was the bathroom… no need to go into that. Aside from the fact that Opal now needs some brain bleach.

The fourth however was a display room… And after Opal spent a moment gazing over the various treasures in there, from the golden swords to the staves that seemed magical, to the chests of gold and libbles that lined the sides of the walls with bountiful riches, she gazed at the item at the center far end wall of the room…

...A silver crown, adorned with emeralds and sapphires and a single ruby in the center, with a gold trim all around it. Clearly polished and well taken care of. The little light that shone from the candles in the room reflected brightly off of the symbol like a holy aura that lacked flaw, and its construction and craftsmanship was beyond measure. It made Opal stop for a minute to gaze upon it’s beauty and forget everything that was going on around her… though after a moment, she was snapped back into reality by a voice…

“Boss… Boss!” Someone called out, clearly one of the other pirates from earlier “It’s Opal! She’s escaped from her cage! And she’s got the damn key!”

Wasting no time, Opal took the crown and ran upstairs, though the floorboards on the stairs squeaked, alerting everyone outside to someone running.

“Captain, shouldn’t you be running DOWN the stairs?”

The Ca-chi simply ran to the window on the top floor where she came in from… and noticed that the cutlass she used to jam the wardrobe was starting to give, showing heavy signs of cracking from the pressure as the occupant of the makeshift trap turned prison. She gave the outside world one last look, to see that for now, only 2 of the 5 pirates were there… it was then that Opal realized that the one she dropkicked from earlier was one of the other of the pirating party.

“Well then…” Opal hummed as she put the crown in her bag “Guess this is the adrenaline rush of the day, isn’t it?”

A loud snapping metal sound emitted behind her… and the Ca-chi quickly turned around and saw the captain kicking his wardrobe doors open, the now broken sword halves flying across the room, one of which nearly hit Opal and found it’s open on the wall next to her. “Yes… it IS your adrenaline rush of the day.”

Out of pure instinct, Opal jumped, making a leap of faith out of the window, right away catching the attention of the 2 other pirates on the ground, and one of them pointed at her “HEY! THAT’S THE PRISONER! GET HER!”

The Traceur huffed as she made the double jump on her bubble to clear the gap ove the street “So much for stealth…” and she began to run, letting her legs carry her on the rooftops as fast as she could go while putting on a smile on her face again as she smirked at the pirates who looked around on the ground level in confusion, looking for what the call out was referring to… though many of them already had their swords out, ready to put Opal’s head on a platter.

Clearing another jump over the street with the aid of her bubble onto the bar and then onto the jungle behind it, the Ca-chi ran backward for a few moments, yelling a taunt while throwing her voice so that it seemed like she was elsewhere “Nah nah! Run run run as fast as you can! You’ll never catch me! And don’t ask for my name! Because I’m not here for the recognition or fame!” She then turned back around and let out a cheer for herself as she continued to run down the coast.

The pirates found themselves running the wrong way, as they were all confused by the thrown voice that Opal used. During this time, the Ca-chi looked around the beach for anything she could use to get away… or a sign of another landform she could get to. Though… it didn’t take long for her to realize she was on the southwest side of the island with a glance at her compass… and with that, she noticed a rowboat parked there…

Opal studied it for a moment, looking for signs of a trap… nope… a left behind note instead revealed that this belonged to one of the pirates that were tracking Opal in the first place. This left the escapee with a smirk on her face “How ironic that the very boat they beached to find me…” She then pushed the boat out and jumped in, and started to row back for the main Metensia island “Would also be how I get out of here!”

A few moments later, the pirates realized their error and ran south along the coast to catch up. But by the time they found her, she was already out of range, just a brief shadow in the distance as she waved back “Cya all of you! It was fun having you all!” before rowing again, and a few seconds later, she was gone…

One of the pirates threw his cutlass into the sea, hoping to spear her somehow… though her throwing arm didn’t have the force necessary to reach anywhere near her, and it made a splash into the seas “For the love of… I swear… we’ll catch that darn girl, I swear upon the gods, I wil--”

“Enough with it!” The pirate captain caught up and put his ear on the fellow pirate’s shoulder. “Let her go. She won this round…” he then looked the way of Opal in the distant sea “And besides, I doubt we’ll catch up in time to find her from here.”

Every single one of the fellow pirates let out a huff… and obeyed his orders, returning to the Pirate’s Lair. He did have a little bit of explaining to do once he got back… but for now, he simply said a whisper into the seas “You’re one tough and fast girl… You broke out of a cage under the subject of being sold off slavery, you broke into my own house, stole one of my prized treasures, and escaped with your freedom and your life.” He chuckled for a moment as he revealed a coin from his pocket… the exact same ruby and emerald coin Opal had acquired “I can respect that… Which is why……”

---

Meanwhile, Opal had now reached the shores just northeast of the Swamp of Lost Memories. She jumped off the rowboat to pant for a moment, needing to catch her breath someplace that was not flooded with the sting of the sea that she was yet to adapt to. “I… I did it!” She then pulled her diary out of her bag along with her quill “I got out! I really should write about this and let…”

...As soon as she opened the diary of her’s, a letter fell out of the book as well. “...Olli… know. What’s this?” She took up the letter… and read it to herself…

‘Dear Opal

If you’re reading this, You’re one tough and fast girl… You broke out of a cage under the subject of being sold off slavery, you broke into my own house, stole one of my prized treasures, and escaped with your freedom and your life. I can respect that… Which is why I am granting you your freedom now. You should still have the Ruby and Emerald Coin on you. Do whatever you like with my Crown and the gold coin. But keep the ruby coin with you and hold it close.

Hopefully, we will meet again… and if so, I do hope that you’ll consider joining us.’

The last name was smudged out… Opal had to guess it was an attempt to protect the pirate captain’s identity. But still, she had to chuckle at that while she put the diary and letter in her bag again. “Well then. Guess I have one heck of a tale to tell Olli, huh? Plus he’s going to love these things I bring in!”

...Except for the ruby coin… she’s keeping that… and the part about the letter… Olli doesn’t need to know that, regardless of her choice.