Chester came back, bottle in hand. Looking at Lina. "You want some?" He asked, before turning his attention to what she said. "Oh. So, you and, I assume your brother, kidnapped me while I was sleeping onto a boat, that you don't know how to sail?" The rhetorical question was sarcastic as ever. Chester shrugged. "Have you met me? What makes you think I can navigate one of these things? I washed up on your shores!" He exclaimed.

Then he laughed. "Jokes on you. I know a thing or two about navigating." He said, flipping up a compass from his pocket. "... Not that it helps when the compass is broken." The needle missing.

Chester sat down next to the railing, leaning against it. "So, I guess we're back to drifting, then.."

Lina let out a sigh of relief. Luckily, he wasn't mad...as long as she didn't touch his booze it'd be fine.

Still it wasn't as though their situation had improved.

---

As the late morning went past noon, Lina cracked open a melonberry with her spork, adding a dash of salt before beginning her lunch. Images of dishes she could prepare floated through her mind, but pretty much all of their stores were in already prepared meals leftover, and they weren't stocked with much in the way of cookware or spices. Lina was good in the kitchen but she was no genius: she could only work with what she had. The melonberry tasted so sweet it almost hurt.

A shadow fell over the blue boat. Lina's eyes widened as she looked up, seeing the blue and gray hull of a Marine vessel. Though she couldn't recall the last time she saw one in person, the seagull emblem was unmistakable.

One the deck, a duo rested on the railing, lazy eyes peering down.

"It's a ship."

"Little ship.

"Lifeboat?"

"Maybe."

"Smugglers?"

"Too small."

"..Hey, there's a girl on there waving at us."

"She cute?"

A fist bopped his head to the railing, his nose bouncing off the wood and the Marine clattering to the deck. "Who cares!?"

Caressing his head, he grumbled, "That's just doesn't happen to me, asshole!"

"...Not waving like that you sad idiot!" Picking him up, he pointed to the boat, where both of her arms were waving in the universal call for SOS.

"Oh, she's in trouble. Should we help?"

"..."

The two looked at each other, before scampering away, rallying the crew.

---

Blue boat towed behind the marine vessel, Lina stood alongside Chester on the larger deck, head bowed, eyes hidden under her peach colored sun hat. She whispered, "I-I panicked! We were lost and..."

Coming up to the deck, a Marine in a Justice coat approached the two pirates. On his head was a white bicorne with the marine symbol, and his tank top shirt was striped blue and black, while he wore gray shorts and boots. There seemed to be a rag hanging on his shoulder, a seagull standing on it. As the man scratched his sparse, light brown beard, he began, "A couple of travelers on a too small boat in the middle of nowhere, hmm? You wouldn't be pirates, now, would you?"

Lina waved her hands, insisting, "Huh? Pirates? Do I look like a pirate to you?"

The Marine nodded, brushing his beard, before continuing, "Because if you were pirates..."

Chester looked on, amused, carefree, as the Marine ship docked next to them. The Marine stood on his own ship, holding off on bording till he could confirm their identity. He mentioned them being pirates, and Lina kind of panicked. Chester shrugged. "Pirates? Us. No way. If we were pirates, we'd have already attacked you guys and kicked you off your ship." He said, a swig from his bottle as the Marine officer wrinkled his nose "Was that a threat, young man?" he asked, and Chester shrugged.

"No, Captain, it wasn't. A joke, really. We're traders. Trading in Melonberries, from Melonberry Island. We're supposed to head towards Kappanai Island to trade Melonberry seeds. Our boss kind of shafted us on cargo space and supplies. We barely have any drinking water, and we're also, like, hella lost." Chester said, his voice serious - a tone Lina hadn't heard before, he spoke with purpose and intellect, a side of him he didn't show very often.

"But, the booze we got on board is good, but a ferry towards our destination would be most helpful" Chester said with a shrug.

As one of the younger Marines behind the Captain started rustling "Hey, didn't that guy go to the Academy with us".

"Oh yeah, wasn't he a Petty Officer in 104th Division? He kept pissing off Lieutenant Brown, right?" Another one chimmed in, and Chester smiled sheepishly.

"What was his name? Krest?"

"That's not right"

"Uh, Chad?"

"Nah, don'tt hink so either"

".. Chesto?"

"That might've been it"

And Chester himself had to chime in, annoyed at the two Marines chatting. "It's Chester, you idiots!" He shouted, compromising his identity. "But, I was discharged, and I have now become a, uh, trader.." He said, taking another mouthful of alcohol from his bottle.

"Marine before, trader now, eh?" The commander said, hand seeming to have little desire to leave the beard. Nodding along, he noted, "Usually, people join the Marines looking for the sort of adventure you wouldn't find as a simple trader, let alone one on so small a boat."

Lina held her arms out, as she shrugged. To her surprise, the commander slid in closer. Reaching in to his bicorne, he pulled out a roll of paper. He then dropped it on the deck, and it blew into Lina's feet. "Oops."

The small world of Melonberry Island was so simple compared to the strange land that was the ocean several miles away. Rather than let the paper fly away, Lina grabbed it, and her curious eyes couldn't avoid it. That blot of landmass, a dotted path, a few ominous scribbles, and a helpful red cross.

"A treasure map?" Lina said.

"AHA!" the commander cried, snatching the map away. Chortling, "Of course a pirate would recognize a treasure map! And the fact that you're heading to Kappanai Island, which we just left, is only proof of your trends to piracy."

Lina's mouth hung open for a moment, before she noted, "You look way more like a pirate than we do." Lina blinked, before wondering, "Why were you on Kappanai then?"

The commander froze, before shouting, "I am Commander Grif of the Marines! I'm no pirate!" The seagull on his shoulder squawked.

"He's just a pirate fanboy," laughed one of his men.

"Quiet!" Grif cried, only receiving more laughter. He sighed, before stating, "We'll gladly alter our course, and forgive your transgressions if you put your efforts into finding the treasure on this map!"

Chester raised an eyebrow at this proposal - a treasure hunt, from Marines, to boot? That wasn't what he expected to be doing today. But, at the same time, if any of them would bother checking back with the 104th Base, they would realize that Chester left the Marines after punching an officer in the face, and should be apprehended and put on trial for assault on sight. Luckily for him, none of these were 104 Guys, but from some other Division, they just happened to have been trained at the same place he had.

Chester sighed. "So, you want us to find, and retrieve this treasure? How are we gonna do that?" Chester asked, playing coy as one of the Marines yelled "You're supposed to be pretty strong! Sure you can do it!" He yelled, cackling of laughter ensued from his crewmates.

A grin on his face, he looked at the Captain "You want us to get, and bring a treasure to you guys, and in turn you'll lead us to our destination? And if we refuse, you'll leave us lost at see - or maybe even attack and arrest us on the charge of suspecter Piracy, even if we're just traders?" The drinking man asked, taking another swig.

Grif smirked. "That's the gist of it, yes."

"That's extortion."

"Please, a marine can't extort a pirate. And, besides, you'll get a fair share out of the treasure."

Gritting his teeth, Chester agreed, and the Marines would turn their ship around, heading back towards the town of Kappani

"You want us to get, and bring a treasure to you guys, and in turn you'll lead us to our destination? And if we refuse, you'll leave us lost at sea - or maybe even attack and arrest us on the charge of suspected Piracy, even if we're just traders?"

Why are you giving them ideas!? Lina balked inwardly, resisting urges to smack him on the shoulder. It seemed they didn't have much choice but to give in to the demands either, and the ship was rerouted.

---

Sailing against the wind, the Marine ship would not simply be arriving on Kappanai. Luckily, the Marines were rather relaxed, keeping the 'pirates' more than comfortable. Lina's found herself in demand when it came to kitchen duties, and the unfamiliar territory was new to her, while Chester just got drunk. As the evening began, the winds shifted, and the excited Commander Grif ordered them to sail through the night. Lina was merely thankful the few women sailors of the ship had their own quarters.

It was only next morning, when Lina found herself in the kitchens helping the crew prepared breakfast when she realized how easily she was settling in. The irony came quick and fast, leaving a slight confusion. Hopefully this treasure nonsense wouldn't take too long.

Chester had been taking it easy, relaxing. He was laying in his and Lina's ship, that was getting pulled after the Marine vessel. He had been sleeping since afternoon, only waking up to pee, eat and get more drinks. He was awake about an hour before everyone else went to bed, sitting up and telling stories of his adventures since leaving the Marines, nobody ever questioning weather he was truly a trader, or a pirate - maybe for fear of getting hit in the face.

Come Morning, Chester woke up groggily, leaning against the railing of his own ship, before crawling onto the Marine boat, getting handed breakfast - scrambled eggs.
They soon arrived at the Kappanoi Island, where the ship docked outside of the very small village, only a handful of houses in the village, their 'harbor' was a small wooden pier, barely a third as big as the Marine ship. Commander Grif smiled as he nodded for Chester and Lina to get off of the ship. "Come back with the treasure." Was his only words, as Chester and Lina headed onto the Island, there was no one out on the street, and the village seemed like it was a ghost town.

"Yello? Anyone here?" Chester asked, the silence deafening.

"All right, Lina. Let's see here. We'll need supplies for the ship, too." He said as Lina nodded, she would need pots for the Melonberry seeds, they would need food and water. But most importantly was of course the booze.

Chester then looked at the map. "All right, we should head out of the village, onto a path, uh.. that sort of looks like a seven, that leads into the forest.." Chester said, heading towards the path - leaving the worry for supplies on their way back after they had dug up the treasure.

He slung the shovel the Marines had tossed after them over his back, as he trekked forward.

Sword at her side and rifle over her back...this was really happening, wasn't it. Still, Lina had to admit, she was a pirate now. A treasure hunt wasn't going to be the worst thing in the world. It'd be more fun if they were doing it themselves though.

As they rounded the bend, making the sharp turn into the forest from the point of the 'seven', Lina wondered, "You know, if we find it, couldn't we just tell them we didn't? Wait, no, they'd arrest us..." Reality of the situation sinking in, Lina winced, "Th-there better be treasure, I'm too young to go to jail!"

---

Elsewhere in the woods, a man ran through, his garb a bit ratty, his facial hair unkempt. He muttered, "What the hell are the Marines doing back here!? They just left!" He had to tell the others so they didn't get undue attention...

---

Heading into the woods, it was rather quiet, both the people of the town and the animals: neither seemed particularly chatty.

Leaning over Chester's shoulder to get a look at the map, Lina's eyes traced the 'S' shaped river running through the woods. Seeing a scrawl near the entrance to the woods, Lina read, "The stump that smiles, and the stump that...biles? What?" Frowning, Lina continued, "And the stump that biles. One tells the truth and the other lies. Face forward and get closer to the prize."

Eyes lidded, she looked up at Chester with an expression that cried, 'this is stupid'.

Chester chukled at Lina's sense of panic, over the situation. What if there was no treasure? He grinned as she mentioned going to jail. "I've seen prison, put a few people in it. You wouldn't last a day in jail." He teased, her eyes filling with dread.

---

The two stopped, reading the hint and looking at the map. Chester rubbed his head, heading further in, looking at his map again - the S-shaped river didn't help nothing, there were three paths , a four way crossing, all of which could lead towards the red X on the map. Seeing a stump, Chester looked at it, then he turned his head, seeing another one at his side. "... This makes no sense" He said, rolling the map up. He scratched his head, before looking at Lina. She probably expects you to be all Piracy-Savy.. He thought to himself, before looking on ahead, hotting his fist into his open palm, signaling that he had figured it out. "Oh, it's a riddle!" He exclaimed, before heading forward - ignoring the stumps completely.

Once the two had passed - despite Lina's quiet protest. They arrived at a big mountain cliff side, not marked on the map, yet, it was about half-way to where the treasure would be, Chester looked at the map, then behind him, then at the map again, the river ran under the cliff. He looked to the side, seeing a plaque engraved into the stone cliff. Plaque too small to be read from where he stood, he leapt over the cliff, his hand vibrating as he penetrated the cliff, anchoring him to the wall. "He who reaches for the sun will always end up getting burnt Hell does that mean?" He read out loud.

"He who reaches..." Lina repeated, thinking for a second. Looking up the cliff face, they were on the right path at least. Even though Chester didn't seem to know the answer to the riddle at all...or maybe he just didn't bother to tell Lina the answer.

Looking up the cliff, she tried to make out anything of note, but all she could see was a large patch of moss. Stooping down, she took the map off the ground near where the shovel had been left, trying to find some other clues. There was another scribble near where the cliff would have been saying, The geography is to be combined. The path, the river, the cliff, all crossed.

Unfurling the map a bit more, she saw something she hadn't really paid attention to before: in the margins, there were lines for a grid, though they didn't crisscross over the entire map. There was one that was clearly marked however. Tracing it down the page, it went from somewhere further north, through an area north of the cliff they were at, then back down the island. There was another set of margins on the other axis, but there was no mark.

Since the cliff wasn't even on the map, Lina called, "Climb up and check that moss patch! And, um, burn it away? Just get rid of it!" Looking back down at the map, she recalled what he had said the other day, chiding, "And don't fall into the water! Hammer."

Chester listened to what Lina said, and he leapt higher, finding the moss-covered plaque he was looking for. He tried to nudge it away with his free elbow, but to no avail. He couldn't hit it, for fear of breaking it. Instead, he dug into his pocket, finding a lighter, he lit the moss on fire and much to his surprise, the plaque only had one faded symbol on it. "Four!" He shouted at Lina, before leaping down, making a flip as he landed on his knuckles, a bent knee, standing up once he had regained his composure, he dusted himself off. "Hell does that mean?"

He asked, scratching his head as Lina did the same. "I don't know.." She said, puzzled, looking at the map, then up on the cliff. Chester did the same, taking the map from her, looking at it, then back at the cliff, then at the river, and like a lightbulb above his head, it clicked. "We're holding the map wrong." he simply stated, like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, he figured it out.

"What if.." He said, turning the map. "I thought we were going east, but we actually headed north after the crossing.." He said, looking at the Map, Lina nodded. "Yeah, that's definately a seven!" She said, pointing at the path they had taken out of the village.

"Think the River's a 2?"

"I guess so"

"So, 7 x 2 x 6?" She asked, her finger circling around the 'X' where they had seen the crossing. "Oh hey, there's a number on the map" Chester chimed in, "42"

Chester tried to do the math, counting on his fingers. 7 times two is fourteen... Fourteen times six is, uh. 84" Chester replied, a bit of pride in his voice for being able to do that.

"All right, 84 Longitude, 42 latitude. That's... a few kilometers that way. Seems about right." Chester said, picking up the shovel, slinging it over his shoulder again.

Longitude? Latitude? Lina decided to keep quiet rather than further reveal her navigational ignorance.

Running down the river, crossing a rickety bridge one at a time, and trekking through some woods, the two found themselves going up the incline of the previous cliff before taking a turn, though not before seeing a pair of cross shaped rock formations about where the cross was on the map. They were also surrounded by potholes and loose dirt, yet that was not where the coordinates pointed. It looked like Grif didn't even try. Lina gave a chuckle at his expense as she returned to the map.

As they got closer to a bend in the stream, the pair found an open spot in the trees, but the clearing was otherwise featureless. Checking around, Lina said, "It has to be around here." Glancing at the shovel, Lana patted Chester on the back, suggesting, "Get diggin'."

Chester made his way over to where the treasure must be, he started digging once Lina patted him on the back, shoveling away enough dirt to make a heap as large as himself - still not finding anything. He jumped up from the hole and turned to Lina. "Your turn." He said, giving her the shovel, as she looked confused, almost a little insulted. "Hey, just because I'm the strongest doesn't mean I should do all the work." He stated, bluntly. Lina reluctantly agreed, there was no arguing with her captain.

Chester sat down and dug into his pocket, where he had a small bottle of whiskey. He uncorked and let out a satisfied sigh. Until he heard footsteps behind him. They were loud - heavy. He turned around, to see a medium-built man come walking, he was a little shorter than Chester, about as wide over the shoulders. He stopped once he saw the sitting-drinker and Chester whistled at Lina. "We've got company. Villagers, may-" He cut himself off, once he saw the sword at the man's hip, and the four other men following him, all a lot more rugged looking than him. They sort of looked like pirates, but more so like local bandits, since there were no other ships in the 'port'.

"You the ones who arrived with the Marines?" one of the men asked, and Chester nodded. "Sadly, yes." He got up. "We're.. Traders, blackmailed into digging for treasure." He explained, and the rough man grinned. "You find it?" The man asked, and Chester looked back at Lina, whom was still digging. "Nope."

"Hey, Chester! I found the, uh, chest!" Lina said, her shovel hitting the hard wood.

"I guess we did." Chester said, holding up his finger to the presumed bandit, to indicate he needed one moment. "You okay with lifting that?" He asked Lina, whom yelled in protest "Jeez!" the pirate exclaimed, jumping down next to the girl, tossing up the chest, the chest landing on the grass with a loud thud. He also grabbed Lina before he leapt back up from the 8 foot hole he had made, placing Lina safely on the ground. She looked around and was a little worried, the men had now started moving towards them.

"You see, we're bandits..." One of the guys - not the first one Chester had seen, said.

"You wanna fight over this treasure?" Chester asked, and the bandit shrugged. "That's for the boss to decide." He said, as loud thuds were heard from behind the small crowd of bandits, they parted, letting the four-legged being pass. Huffing and puffing with each step, the creature - their boss, was unmistakably a bear, brown fur with gray accents, much larger than the average bear, a North Blue breed, if Chester recalled his Bestiary study correctly - which he very well might not.

The bear had a scar over his right eye, and wore a black vest on his torso, as he stopped walking, he stood on his back legs, grinning a nasty smile at the two pirates - the Bear certainly 10 feet tall. "Holy shit a bear!" Chester exclaimed, amazed. "DUDE!" He shouted, turning to Lina, a gleeful smile on his face. "A freaking Bear!" Lina was horrified.

And it only got worse when the Bear opened it's mouth, and spoke, in a semi-high pitched voice. "Hello." The bear articulated very well, like a noble.

Chester completely lost it. He started laughing hysterically, Lina, still horrified at the large animal. "Chester, stop it!" She shouted as the pirate snorted, holding his stomach. "I'm sorry Mr.Bear. What's your name" Chester asked, between fits of laughter.

"Tedbjorn Ursaring the Third." Bjorn the Bear said, his eyes narrowing as Chester started laughing manically again. "THE THIRD, LINA. THE THIRD!"

Bjorn looked at him and snorted. The first man, the one Chester had seen first spoke up, his voice deeper than Bjorn's "Tedbjorn is our leader, and I am Bjork, his translator and Co-Leader. We're bandits, as you can tell, normally, we would take your treasure. But, you came with the Marines. So, for exchange of you not mentioning us to the Marines, we will let you leave this island, unharmed, and with the treasure in tow." Bjork promised, as Chester was drying the tears that had sprouted from his eyes from all the laughing.

"All right." was all he could say. "That sounds fair" He said, looking up, at the Vest-clad Bear, a Cutlas hanging from his waist in a leather strap, and then he started chuckling again. Bjorn looked at him and waved his fingers that were crossed against his arms, then he spoke. "Deal?"

Chester nodded. "Deal. Wanna shake on it?" He asked, and Lina looked at him horrified, mouthing "No!"

The Bear shook his head, raising his right palm. "High-Five." He said and Chester smiled. "Even better!" As he walked towards the bear, leaving the treasure behind, drink in his left hand, he had to jump a few feet into the air to reach the bear's palm, their palm's collided with a fairly loud clash -for a handshake, and then another, much louder clap happened when the left Bear Paw swiped Chester from the side, the palm bigger than his head collided with his face, sending the pirate flying at incredibly speeds, tearing through four trees as he vanished out of sight, down towards the river that Lina and Chester had crossed.

"KUHAHA OF COURSE WE'RE GONNA TAKE THE TREASURE FROM SOME IDIOT TRADERS!" The bear laughed as his bandits charged at Lina.

Puckering her lips as she watched the rustling branches, Chester well out of sight, Lina turned back to see the bandits watching her. Feet starting to stepped, she turned and fled.

Some laughter burned at her back, but it stopped as Lina stopped down by the chest, grabbing it by a handle on the side. She made surprising headway, dragging it forward about a meter before starting to slow down, the laughter stopping. Her run came to a stop as the bandits began to pile onto the the treasure chest.

Glancing to see the bandits quite literally stacked onto each other, Lina let go, drawing her blade with a malicious smile on her face. Panicking, the four bandits scrambled away as Lina held her sword in two hands, stabbing it down, the tip jabbing into the wood. As they crawled away before standing up, drawing their weapons. Stepping up onto the chest, Lina kept her stance low, snarling, "It's mine!" Blinking, she corrected halfheartedly, "Ours." Lina growled, "Chester you better not have died!"

Lina jumped, back straight as the ground shook, the bear taking a step forwards. Lina paled, but she had more immediate problems. Thankful she wasn't very tall, she fended off the first sword strike, before dancing to parry another. Surrounded by four, it was almost like a game of whack-a-mole as she repelled their attacks. After a good few seconds of this, one thing was clear. Compared to the Azure Company...

"You guys suck," Lina spat. She wasn't even mad. The bandits growled, having clearly underestimated her. Before they could retaliate, Tedbjorn advanced another step, making Lina sweat a bit.

Each tree branch had left it's mark, that was for sure. Chester had been sent into the even denser forest, down next to the bridge, his flight had been haulted by a sturdy oak, that he fell down, each branch prompting an "Ow" or "Damn" from him, until he finally landed on the ground with a heavy thud, his face bleeding, his shoulder bleeding, yet, through all of the impact he had been through in the last minute, his fingers still clutched the glass of the still intact whiskey bottle, half of it's contents still remaining, as the bottle was held against his chest.

"Got my ass kicked, by a bear.." He mumbled to himself, taking a swig. "A real, honest to god talking bear." Chester said, his hand going into his hair, only to get pulled out of the hair when he felt warm, sticky liquid coming out of his forehead, he also felt it on his shoulder. "Great, bleeding, too." Chester mentioned, sitting up, taking a few leaves and holding them against his forehead, he stood up, peered up to where he had been thrown from.

"That's one hell of a strong bear.." He mumbled, walking towards the bridge again. "Ass kicked by a bear, ain't even on the grand line yet." He mumbled, kicking away a couple of rocks that were under his feet. Till he heard the roar of Tedbjorn, up from where Lina was, and it reminded him that he wasn't actually alone anymore - he had Lina.

And she was up shit's creek with no paddle.

Finishing his bottle, he still held it in his hand, as he started sprinting up the bridge and the slope, passing the X-marked rocks, arriving up the hill where the treasure had been.

"YOU THINK TRADERS CAN STAND AGAINST ME, THE MIGHTY TEDBJORN THE BEAR BANDIT?!" The Bear roared, The glass bottle came from behind, hitting one of the four bandits in the back of the head, knocking him out like a light. Tedbjorn felt a sudden weight from his side - the foot of Chester pushed him several meters.
"We're Pirates!" Chester shouted as he landed, blood dripping down his face.

"You're still alive?!" The words escaped Torbjorn's mouth, and for a second, they had a different pitch to it.

Not to mention the fact that nothing he said actually matched the words coming out of his mouth, come to think of it.

He looked at Lina, whom was fighting the other three guys, and grinned. "Got my ass kicked by a bear, can't believe it."

Then he looked at Torbjorn. "But I'll get back at you."

Lina sighed in relief; she should have known Chester was more durable that that. Still, he was pretty messed up though.

Suddenly, one of the three remaining bandits feel away, bleeding. As he dropped to the ground, Lina retracting her sword, another cried, "What the hell kinda cheap shot was that!?" Lina stabbed him too. The last remaining one watched Lina in shock, before she turned and glared at him. He made the wise move to turn tail and run.

Stepping down from the treasure chest, the fight was a more fair two on two. Glancing at Tedbjorn and Chester, Bjork growled, "You two wait right there." Drawing his sword, he faced down Lina. As he made to charge, Lina raised her sword to block. As she parried his first few strikes, she wasn't surprised to see that he was better, but Lina still wasn't too-

"Grah!" Came a cry from behind her. Throwing an eye over her shoulder, she made to block, but there was nothing there. Instead, she reflexively dodged to the side, Bjork's blade nicking her ear and head. Lina drove the but of her hilt into his ribs, attempting to drive him back. It didn't phase him too much, but he backed off anyway, just enough to get room to strike but not enough for Lina to do the same.

Teetering off the the side, Lina blocked a few more blows, but Bjork was incessant. She flinched as she heard a whistling noise in one ear, than again in the other. At the same time, Bjork had made some stronger strikes, keeping Lina more on edge. Watching her footing, the whistling noises kept her checking her flank, while repelling Bjork was beginning to become more of a rhythm.

Blocking another strike, Lina stuck out her tongue as she back-stepped over the chest, landing neatly on the other side. Bjork growled, charging after, using the chest as a stepping stone, raising his sword to plunge it down on her. As another yell came from behind her, she didn't flinch, simply stepping to the side.

Bjork's eyes widened. The hole. Landing at its side, he hastily stopped his momentum, feet just barely keeping from tipping over. As his arms stretched out to the side to keep from falling, Lina gave an innocent giggle before poking him lightly in the back. Bjork cried out in pain, sword falling from his hands to the grass as he slipped into the pit, landing with a crash.

Crouching down at the side of the pit, Lina had a smug look as she watched Bjork try to recover. "Ted, Ted! I gotta watch Ted fight! It won't work otherwise!"

Lina grinned slyly. "Want me to narrate?"

Chester and Tedbjorn were trading blows, Tedbjorn's body language showed that he was impressed with the Pirates ability to fight. "YOU'RE STRONG!" Bjorn shouted, his voice was fatigued, panting, yet, the way he moved showed no exhaustion as well. "And you're a bear!" Chester retorted, still not able to get over the fact that he had gotten kidnapped, hustled by the Marines, and beaten up by a bear, all in the same 24 hours. The Bear Paw collided with his open palm, and so did the other one, locking the two in for a strength battle, each of them pushing against the other, Vein's in Chester's forehead popping up, and so did Bjorn's.

Lina had tricked the bandit into the hole, The bear roared. "YOU DARE STAND UP TO THE MIGHT OF TEDBJORN AND THE BEAR BANDITS?!"

"Yeah!" Chester yelled, pushing the bear backwards, sliding on the ground before charging again. "WRATH OF THE URSA!" The bear shouted, as he stood still, awaiting Chester's attack, his eyes going blank for a second - like someone who's realized they missed their line in a high school play, then came the karate-chop down towards Chester, whom was heading straight for him. The bear continued chopping-towards Chester, while shouting. "FEEL THE WRATH OF MY CLAWS" - attacking only with his hand, not his claws, this took Chester completely out of the fight. "You using your fist, not your cla - " He began, as the paw came towards him, him dodging out of the way. The bear rushed Chester, Chester rushed back, once again they were back in their armlock, pushing their strength against one another. "SUPER BEAR SUPLEX! The Bear shouted, his mouth closed, while he was desperately trying to get out of the armlock between him and Chester, before roaring towards Lina and the hole in the ground, turning back to Chester.

The bear roared, and so did the pirate, with equal ferocity. Chester pushed backwards, taking a step backwards, his weight on his back leg as he fell backwards - towards the chest, Bjorn on top of Chester's leg, as the pirate pushed him backwards, the bear came flying into the same hole as his partner, landing with a loud crash.

Chester panted, as he looked back, before laying himself down flat in the grass, the blood had started to dry around his face.

"Got my shit smacked by a god damn talking bear.." He repeated, his voice still full of disbelief.

Waving a hand in front of her face, Lina insisted, "No way, that bear wasn't talking. It was a ruse."

Grinning, Lina hopped over to the chest, giggling, "But this isn't a ruse! It's so heavy." Jangling the rusted lock, Lina backed off before stabbing it with her sword, breaking it open. Grin wide, she almost squealed as she opened it.

Under the hood, she blinked as she saw a good number of tin and iron tools, ranging from tools to cooking supplies, all fairly beat up or broken. Eyes glossed over, Lina stared at the contents, blinking vapidly, her mind still working to process it. Reaching in, she began to dig through, tossing out a number of baubles. "I-It's gotta be under here! O-or there's a fake bottom!"

Chest emptied, Lina almost exploded in glee as the base popped up with a push in the right place. Throwing the wooden plank aside, she found... a rolled up piece of paper. Opening it...it was another treasure map. Of a different island. With more stupid riddles.

Don'tcrydon'tcrydon'tcrydon'tcry

Checking the chest again, she picked out an admittedly nice gold bracelet that was there in the bottom with some neat line patterns. Slipping it under her hat, she accepted her consolation prize mournfully.

---

"Where's the chest? You had one job!" Grif snarled as Lina stomped down the dock. His anger quickly paled as he saw hers though.

Reaching him, Lina practically shoved the new map into his mouth. As he spat it out, she hissed, "We found your stupid treasure, asshole, and guess what, it was another map. What kind of big stupid asshole doessomethinglikethat!?" While her voice cracked as her sanity seemed to wane, Grif gawked, having no idea how to respond to the teen girl in her sun hat.

"At least you got the greatest treasure of all: a friendship with...damn, Cheese, what happened to your face?"

Ignoring the Marine Lina stomped a bit further down the deck, spotting their ship, but it seemed smaller somehow. Taking a closer look, she saw that it was sinking. Most of the deck was underwater. "What happened to our boat!?"

Seeing a gash in the back of the Marine ship, she pieced together what had happened: when the Marine ship stopped, their smaller boat smacked into the back, getting a crack in it, which likely led to the flooding. She growled at the Marines, "Get our stuff off of there NOW!" While Lina cracked the whip, sending the Marines into a tizzy, Grif rubbed the bridge of his nose. What a mess...

Chester's eyes opened again, once Lina had figured out the deal with the knocked out bear and bandit. "Wait, the Bear couldn't even talk, the dude was a ventriloquist?" He asked, the girl had nodded in response, and Chester burst out laughing, hard enough for his wounds on his face and shoulder to start bleeding again. Lina had opened the treasure, Chester crawled onto his feet, leaning over her shoulder as she opened the chest - inside there was only rusted iron tools. Chester shrugged. "Unlucky." Was all he said, before he headed back towards the ship, only for Lina to find a map.

"Less unlucky." He corrected himself - the two heading back towards the ship.

---

The Girl wasn't too pleased with the mission they had been sent on - she was expecting there to be money involved, but there was not. The Commander, Griff shrugged. "Deal was that we split the reward.. You want half of the map?" He asked and Chester laughed. "Half a map, really? We'll trade you our half of the map for food, water and booze." Chester demanded as the Marine commander wrinkled his nose. "You dare try and haggle with an Officer of the Navy?" and Chester nodded.

"You know it."

Then Lina pointed out that their boat was sinking, and Chester dashed towards the boat. "MY RUM!" He shouted, kneeling on the bridge next to the sinking boat, finding a floating bottle of rum that he held with the same kind of tender care one would hold their first born. The Marines collected the rest of their belongings, floating in the water, Lina's Melonberry plants and seeds surviving, luckily, but any other bottles of Chester's booze did not.

He leaned towards the Marines, whom were unpacking food and drink for them onto the harbor. "How are we gonna take off from this island, then?" He asked rhetorically, kind of angling for a ride from the Marines.

That's when a small voice from behind him spoke up. "W-We have a ship." The voice said, it was an old lady, a head and a half shorter than Lina, three heads shorter than Chester. "Oh? I don't think a fisherboat will work for us.." He said, trying not to offend the lady. "No, stupid! It's a ship. Pirates came on it one day, many years ago, they were taken by Marines, their ship was left behind."

"Why would you give a ship to us?" Chester asked, and the woman smiled. "Our hunter, Jorgen, saw that you and the young lady here fought off the Bear Bandits, and we want to show our gratitude." Chester smiled. "Sweet!"

"B-But, there's famine going around in the village, our people are starving, due to the Bandits taking a lot of our harvest.." She said her eyes darting to the crates of food that the Marines had left on the shore.

"Surely, you can't mean that we'll give you all that foo-" Lina was going to ask, as Chester smiled. "OK. You can have all of the food we can't carry to the boat." He promised and the old lady smiled.

Was the pirate planning something foul?

Chester picked the crate with the drink inside off, slinging it over his shoulder, the crate was larger than his torso, but it didn't seem to bother him at all to lift. "Lina, grab a little food, and your plants." He said, as he uncorked the bottle of rum he had in his hand, heading towards the other shore of the island, where the old pirate ship was docked - the villagers coming to pick out food from the crates Chester had left.

Quickly grabbing her things: clothes, plant pots, some food, Lian was a bit excited. A new ship could mean her very own room!

Seeing the villagers go after the food, she realized something. "One second," she said, putting her stuff down. Going up to one of the villagers, she took the melonberry he was struggling with and cracked it open with her melonberry spork. "These are from Melonberry Island: it's not very far from here...though you don't have many ships here, do you?"

Taking a bite, the villager froze, before tears began to well up in his eyes. Holding the fruit aloft, he cried to the heavens, "It's so goooood!" Smiling, Lina took one last look at the spork she'd had since childhood, and left it behind. She would not try melonberries again unless she returned home, or her trees matured, provided she could care for them.

Before going to get her things, Lina marched back to up Grif, her expression surly once again. "What are you doing!? Hunting around for treasure? Go arrest those bandits why don't you!" Grabbing the old map, she jabbed at one spot, growling, "They should be stuck here if you're fast enough!" Grif opened his mouth to retort, but his seagull nibbled his ear, silencing him, allowing Lina to go free. Picking up her salvaged stuff, she concluded, "Let's go."

---

Leaving the Marines with their freedom intact, the old lady led them around the coast, taking them to a smaller dock in another section of town, where the buildings seemed to be a bit worn down. However, there was indeed a ship, but it wasn't exactly grand. Seeming to stare into the distance was a bear shaped headpiece, one of its ears chipped off. While the bear headpiece was a more full, woody color, despite its damage, this was in contrast to the gray wood of the deck and the rest of the ship, which was splintery in some parts and uneven in others. A triangular sail was rigged to the headpiece and the main mast, two square sails folded on its front. The raised deck towards the rear of the ship had a smaller mast with yet another square sail and the steering wheel, two of its spokes missing. In faded carving on the side of the hull, the odd name 'Hinnon Breeze' could barely be read,

The were two entrances to the lower decks. One was a door on the main deck, leading to a dining room with one table and a few mismatched chairs in a layer of dust. The staircase there and the hatch both led the the main hallway, which branched into several rooms, including a kitchen near the stern. One large room was strung with hammocks, many with snapped strings, while another had a few plain, musty beds, but were otherwise serviceable.

There were a couple other spare rooms as well, and another stairwell which led down to the last deck, which had a storeroom (where Chester and Lina put what supplies they had, bathroom (complete with a firewood and pump operated bath! Except the pump was broken), and the rotary to raise and lower the anchor. There was also a small cannon deck, but it was poorly stocked, with one rusty cannon.

After giving it a look, the truth was the two had little choice. Giving them the thanks of Kappanai Island once again, she let the to their reward.

Taking off her hat and slipping on her new bracelet, Lina rested her hands on the Breeze's railing, looking out to sea. "Well?"