L’Roux was forgotten about in his celebration for not being forgotten in the bounty updates. The crew was finishing the last of the rum they were allowed for the day when L’Roux arrived.

“Um… what’s going on?” The timid sniper asked. He woke up from nap to the sound of gunshots and the sound a barrel of rum dropped onto the deck.

“It’s a celebration for L’Roux not being forgotten on his bounty update. Got a new bounty and picturing. He wasn’t forgotten this time around.”

“Um… but I wasn’t invited.” L’Roux pointed out. The deck became silent as everyone recounted the events, there was no way they could have actually forgotten about the person they were celebrating.

“Hey Cap, we actually forgot about him.”

“Have a drink L’Roux.” Baise handed his sniper his mug before stealing the one that Yuto was drinking. “Continue the music!”

Then the Sundance Crew celebrated until dawn broke in the horizon and this time with the person of honour.

Use your arms to protect your face. Always stay on the balls of your feet. Don’t stop moving. Watch your opponent. Swing with your full body but don’t forget to block. Victorian went over all the steps she could remember as she waited to make a move. While sparring with Maes wasn’t as hard as sparring with Lane, it was still painful.

She faked with her right and attacked with her left. The faint was easily seen by Thomas and he stepped back to avoid her hit. While he leaned back, he used his left foot to kick her and while Victorian stumbled back, he kicked over from his back bend.

“Hey no kicks.”

“Sorry Tora, all’s fair in a spar. Don’t forget to block.” Victorian quickly went back to ready position and waited for his next move.

Teasing the older girl, Thomas simply did some air punches which covered half of the distance in between them. Still unable to tell distances, Victorian dodged all those fakes but not the real punch that shortly followed.

“Okay, we’ll end the lesson here.”

“What lesson? All you did was beat me up.” Victorian complained with a smile. Even though she was essentially Thomas’ punching bag for the spar, she did manage make a new record and land two punches.

“But you’re getting stronger. Look you only got a bruise this time, not cuts Tora.”

Victorian looked at her arms and legs. It was true, she didn’t bleed in this spar, sustained a few bruises as usual but there was no blood gushing out of her arm this time around.

“Come on, let’s go.” Thomas swung his arm around Victorian’s shoulder and leaded her inside the ship.

“Where are we going?”

“To your lesson with Zono. I heard it involved breaking into Jules’ kitchen and stealing food. Made a bet with Yu and I want to eat something. Can you steal some of the sandwiches?”

“Wait,” Victorian halted, “I need to steal from Julius’ kitchen? The only place guarded better than that is Lane’s room. Even the treasury is easier to get into.”

“Well good luck. Don’t worry if you fail, I’ll split you 3:7 my winnings from Yu.”

“You betted against me.”

“You’re breaking into Jules’ kitchen. You think I’m going to bet on you? You couldn’t even break into my room the other day.”

“You noticed?”

“Tora, you didn’t even bother fixing the place up.”

Leaving Thomas with a satisfying kick in the gut, Victorian headed to library to meet Alzono. On the way she passed by the kitchen, just the thought of trying to steal from it was sent shivers down her spine.

When the ship finally landed Gladiolus, Victorian became the happiest person in the world. After spending the past week trying to break into Julius’ kitchen during her lessons with Alzono then suffering the consequences during her spars with Julius, the runaway was finally free.

“What’s the plan Elena?”

The usual members got off of the ship, Elena, Thomas, and Alzono went to finish the job while Baise, Victorian, and Julius went shopping for ingredients, clues, and a new job.

“How come Yuto’s not coming?”

“Yuto and Julius alternate between who leaves the ship. Julius only comes off when he needs to shop a lot and it looks like we’re his extra set of hands. Isn’t that right Julius?”

“Yes captain and I would leave the ship less if you didn’t drink so much.”

“It’s alright, I like spending time with you.” Baise wrapped his arms around Julius and Victorian’s neck and started walking to the market.

With no luck in the request search, the trio made their way back to the ship with the latest set of groceries. Luckily Julius found a sale, which was his specialty after fighting and cooking, which resulted in Baise carrying two extra-large barrels of rum with three more trips on the way.

“Can we switch yet?” The captain complained to Julius. As much as he loved rum, he would much rather carry all the meat that Julius had.

“No.”

“You’re turning into Elena.” Baise pouted and picked up his pace.

“How do the older members put him with him talking to them like that?”

“Because we can turn in Mr. Captain anytime we’re tight on money Miss Tori and he knows that.” With a wink, Julius sped up his pace and kicked his captain in the butt before pretending nothing happened.

A young boy was passing out flyers to anyone who would notice him. Most people didn’t, walking past him without a glance. Those who did take his flyer threw it away less than a meter away from him.

“Please take this. Please, my sister is missing. Excuse me. Will you please help me find my sister? Thank you. Please take a good look. She is been missing for a few days, she is not the type to run away from home.”

A group of older boys, a few years younger than Thomas, took the young boy’s flyers and threw them back at him.

“Aren’t you going to pick it up?” One of the older boys taunted.

“If I had a brother like you, I’d runaway too.”

“Are you going to cry?” A third one asked.

The young boy held back his tears as he picked the crumpled flyers. He tried to flatten the paper back to its original form when he was pushed down. The poor boy was lying in fetal position waiting for someone to save him. The only thing he could do was hold back his tears as it would ruin the flyers.

Baise was the first to notice the group. He stopped in his tracks and wondered what he should do. He could interfere but someone might steal his rum if he did so he waited for Julius and Victorian to catch up to him. As he waited, he gave a blank stare to the three older boys, the older boys simply stared back.

“Mr. Captain!” Julius said, kicking Baise in the butt. “Put the rum down and go save him.”

“Was he actually thinking about it the whole time?” Victorian asked, shocked that she was shocked at her captain’s priorities.

The boys didn’t seemed fazed as Baise walked towards them. They were a bit startled when he pulled his sabre out. As Baise made his way closer, the trio scattered into different directions. The young captain threw his sword and pinned one down. Julius threw the meat to Victorian and gave the one running their way a nice kick. As Baise picked his sword up to search for the last one, footsteps came from the direction he ran in to show the poor boy beaten up and held by the collar thanks to Elena.

“Stupid brat pushed me.”

“Kids these days don’t have respect,” Baise added.

“Oi, didn’t you just have an internal debate regarding rum and the boy’s life?”

“Ah!” Baise shouted. “My rum.”

After confirming nothing was wrong with his rum, Baise sent Thomas and Alzono to retrieve the other barrels before checking up on the kid.

“You okay kid?” Baise asked as he helped the boy stand up on his feet.

“Yes sir.”

“What’s this?” Baise asked. He picked up one of the crumpled flyers the boy was handing out.

“It’s my sister Lia,” he said, “she went missing.”

“Do your parents know?”

“We are living with my aunt at the moment but she left for business and is not set to return for some time.”

Baise took another look at the young girl in the flyer before turning to his crew, “Elena. Did you find another job?”

“Yes but it’s in the island.”

“Hey kid, what’s your name?”

“Johan.”

“How old are you?”

“I just passed my fourteenth summer.”

“You got a good cook Johan?”

“Yes sir.”

“And a nice place to stay?”

“Yes sir.”

“Crew.”

“Yes Baise?”

“No, no, no. You need to make it cool in front of the kid. Call me Captain.”

“Yes Captain?”

“I got us another job.”