The waves lapped against the hull of the dark-wooded ship. The surf splashed up onto the deck and sprayed into the face of the infamous Pirate Lord Zachary Flint, captain of the Flint Pirates. The captain stood at the bow looking out over the vast blue ocean and the dark shadow loomed beneath the ship, following the vessel wherever it went.

His crimson red hair whipped in the wind, his usually cheerful face solemn and unsettled. His thoughts trapped deep in his mind, his thumb unconsciously rubbed the honey gold locket grasped in his hand, tracing the bee engraved into the rare ore.

He looked down at the locket in his hand and continuously clicked it open and shut it again, repeating the process until he finally left it open and looked at the two pictures. A small smile formed on his lips as his thumb traced over the image of the ten-year-old girl with crimson red hair just like his own and a cheerful grin on her bright face.

He missed his daughter a lot. He hadn't seen her in over seven years. She was a lot like him except for her eyes; she had what he presumed to be her mother's eyes.

He looked over the other picture, his thumb tracing over the beautiful woman with long, raven hair, honey-gold eyes, and bronze skin, a soft smile on her delicate features. He guessed she was the mother of his child, but for the life of him, he could not remember her.

His brows knitted together, confused by the deep feeling of heaviness in his heart. He felt guilty that he couldn't remember this woman.

Who was she?

What was her name?

Why couldn't he remember her but could remember his daughter?

There was no doubt about it when looking at her features: the woman was from the Honey Tribe Kingdom, so she would have to have been named after a flower or a plant, just like his daughter, who was called Azalea. It was a tradition in their culture to be named after a flower, he had chosen the name Azalea for his daughter. He wondered what beautiful name the woman had.

He clamped the locket shut and looked back out to sea. There was something wrong; he could feel it. He had felt it for a long time now, but he didn't know what it was that made him - dare he say it - nervous.

Maybe it was the recent events throughout Aqua that made him feel like this. With Mad Man Levon's victory against the now ex-Pirate Lord Madame Cheng and the Pirate King's errand boy Logan the Nomad on the run from King Mordred's Sea Dog Sir Francis Drake, it made the seas feel uneasy. It wasn't just him; everyone in his crew could feel the calm before the storm.

War was coming, and the outcome of that war would change the world for better or for worse, but the results would still be the same: there would be a shift in power amongst the seas, and it was his duty as a father to make sure his family was out of harm's way.

That had to be the nervous feeling he felt. He was scared his family would get harmed. Maybe it was time to give them another visit and make sure they were safe.

"A joule for your thoughts."

A gold coin flicked in front of the captain's bronze eyes, and he caught it with a smile. He looked over his shoulder behind him, his gaze meeting that of his first mate, Bart Roberts, who sat on the wooden railing of the deck with an unopened bottle of rum in one hand and a cigar in the other.

Bart was an older gentleman with long, greying brown hair and kind grey eyes. Freckles covered his pale skin from too many hours spent sitting out in the sun, and a never-ending smile was plastered across his face. He always wore the same outfit every day: a pair of brown leggings, leather boots, and a flowery shirt that changed colour each day. He wore a green sash around his middle with a flask of rum tucked into it, as well as a small dagger. He was Zachary's most trusted friend, and he valued his opinion.

"You're missing the party." Bart placed the cigar back between his lips and puffed out a cloud of smoke.

"The party never ends." Zachary looked over at his half-drunk crew as they were dancing, drinking, and having fun, just how he liked to see them: free from the clutches of the United Islands.

King Mordred, known as the Immortal King, or more infamously known as the Tyrant, ruled the United Islands with his corrupt government. He had been governing his monarchy for three long centuries on the biggest island in the world, Meridian Island. Meridian Island was where the rich and spoilt nobles lived in luxury with their fine dining, silk clothes, expensive jewels, and human slaves. Such a disgraceful act was still allowed.

However, the king did not rule all of Aqua. A few lucky islands were still independent sovereign kingdoms, and therefore the government and the navy had no jurisdiction on islands such as Halfway Point, Hive Island, Atlantis City, and Fairy Land to name a few.

"Still, the party is not the same without our captain joining in." Bart threw the unopened bottle of rum to his captain.

Zachary caught the bottle but placed it down next to him on the wooden railing of his ship. "Not tonight. Too much is on my mind."

"This behaviour is unlike you."

Zachary sighed and passed him his honey gold locket as he walked past him. He watched his crew party and leaned against the foremast, his hand playing with the hilt of his red-bladed cutlass that his daughter had helped him name Jessica Red.

Zachary heard the click of his locket open and sensed the smile on Bart's face.

"It's been a while since we saw that rascal of yours. She was just like you in every way and had the same cheeky grin. How old would Azalea be now?"

"She'll be seventeen years old now, a young lady," Zachary replied. "I remember the day she was born. I was still a teenager myself; I was only nineteen. Gosh, I was a carefree fool back then."

"You still are," Bart chuckled. "Who's the woman with the raven hair? She's gorgeous; is she the mother?"

Zachary's chest tightened; that heaviness in his heart had returned. "I don't know who she is, and what's worse, I don't remember who Azalea's mother is. Therefore, I can only presume that the woman in my locket is the mother of my daughter. Why else would she be in there? But that's only speculation. She could be anyone."

Zachary took back his locket.

Bart frowned as his captain faced him with an unnerving look. "What do you mean you don't remember?"

"I know for a fact that Azalea is my biological daughter, but I don't remember her mother. I don't remember being with a woman around the time Azalea would have been conceived, and I certainly don't remember the woman in my locket. It's like someone has gone into my head and taken away any memories I ever had of Azalea's mother." Zachary frowned, rubbing his head with his hand. "I have this gut feeling that something is wrong and that something bad has happened."

"But Azalea is safe on Hive Island with her people, right?"

Zachary didn't answer. Instead, all Bart saw was a look of uneasiness in his captain's eyes. It was never a good sign, seeing a look like that on his captain's face it never ended well, and the captain's gut feelings were always right. Something terrible must have happened.

Zachary's attention was soon caught by the glint of honey gold in his eye. He faced away from Bart and faced his crew, Dick Hawkins, a slight fellow around twenty years old with sunburnt skin, matted brown hair, and a drunk look in his sea-green eyes. He wore loose-fitting blue shorts, sandals, and an open cream coloured shirt, showing off his selection of pistols tucked into his blue sash across his waist.

With him was Samantha Bellamy, a tall black woman also in her twenties with long, ice-white hair; captivating, ice-blue eyes; and a beautiful, curvaceous body. She wore a blue tie-dyed blouse tucked into a pair of denim shorts and brown leather boots on her feet. She held no weapons, for she was a cursed soul with the ability to manipulate ice.

The pair of them were always seen together, best friends in the making, and were always gambling with one another. Hawkins and Sam sat around a crate playing a hand of poker, their stakes high as their money and jewels were piling up in the centre of their barrel they'd used as a makeshift table.

Zachary's heart stammered as he looked at the honey gold plate on the crate with their gambling money on it. Without a second thought, the captain strode over to their game and picked up the plate in his hands, sending their money and jewels flying everywhere.

"What's up, Cap'n?" Hawkins looked up at him, not bothered that their captain had ruined their game.

Zachary froze, he inspected the honey gold plate, it wasn't a fake. Every passing second, his heart beat faster, and that gut feeling became worse. He almost felt like he was going to be sick.

"Where did you get this?" Zachary asked.

Hawkins and Sam exchanged a concerned glance. They clearly knew something was upsetting their captain.

"I stole it from a merchant at Woodstock Island. He bought it on the black market at Halfway Point. Quite the haul, don't you think?" Sam's cheeky grin instantly faded when her captain ignored her.

"What is it, Cap'n?" Bart inquired as he approached Zachary from behind, noticing something was bothering his captain.

Bart frowned, looking down at the honey gold plate in his hands. "This ain't good."

"What's going on?" Hawkins chimed, looking between his captain and first mate. "Why does the Cap'n look so pale?"

Bart swallowed, noticing the frozen state his captain was in, his hands clutching the plate.

"This is no ordinary gold," Bart started to explain. "It's honey gold; you can tell from the honey hues it gives off."

"What about it?" Sam asked.

"The pair of you weren't a part of the crew, so you wouldn't know." Bart continued. "It's an extremely rare ore and can only be found on Hive Island, where the Honey Tribe Kingdom and the captain's daughter resides. It's a kingdom independent from the government.

"The Honey Tribe worship the ore like its a god to them; it's precious, and they don't allow any outsiders to leave with it unless under special circumstances, and even then it's in minimal quantities, like the Cap'n's locket. Which begs the question, what is a large amount of honey gold doing outside of Hive Island?"

Zachary flipped the plate over, and he immediately dropped it the second he saw the emblem of the United Islands branded onto the back of it. His throat tightened, his hand curled into a fist, and angry tears started to form.

His precious Azalea Flint was in trouble, and he had been partying while she had been suffering. It was clear from the stamp of the government's logo on the plate that they had come across the Honey Tribe Kingdom's secret. Who knew what they had done to the kingdom to get their hands on the rare ore. Knowing the government's corruptness and the noble's greediness, it wouldn't be anything good.

"The party's over," he mumbled.

Everyone on deck froze from their activities, disbelief written on their faces. Had they heard their captain right?

His head shot up, his eyes darting around him. "The party is over!" he shouted. "Set sail, we're heading to Hive Island!" he ordered.

The crew scrambled onto their feet at once and started running around the deck to prepare themselves to set sail.

Zachary turned on his feet, ordering Sam to get the plate out of his sight and walked back to the front of the ship, his eyes wandering out over the endless ocean, his thumb once again stroking the engraving of the bee on his golden locket.

He should have listened to his gut the second it felt off all those years ago, but he had ignored it, waving it off like it was nothing. Now he would have to live with the consequences of his actions. He hoped, he prayed that his Azalea was still alive. He would never forgive himself if anything terrible had happened to her.

"Be safe, baby girl." Tears blurred his vision. "Daddy's coming."

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