The Legacy of the White Walein

     "I hate the ocean, I hate the ocean, I hate the ocean, I HATE the ocean..." Sirocco shuddered, trying to keep as far away from the sides of the boat as possible.

     "What's wrong, mate?" the Krawk shouted down at the Skunk Zafara. "Scared o' swimmin'?"

     "I'm not SCARED of swimming!" Sirocco was still shuddering. "I just don't know HOW, since I come from the Lost Desert!"

     "Could the two of you please leave each other alone?" Hunter pinched his forehead in exasperation. "I know you're new to the team, Bones, but you should probably ease off on everyone else."

     Miraja rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like a stinkin' pirate'd do what you ask-"

     "Excuse me!" Bones was offended. "I'm a privateer, not a pirate! They're two entirely different things!"

     Ashlynne was calmly reading one of her books, attempting to ignore the bickering her three friends were engaged in.

     Hunter, on the other hand, had had enough. "Would everyone just STOP ARGUING?!" Everyone else turned around, startled by Hunter's rather out-of-character outburst. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't take it anymore. I think it's about time we find the nearest port."

     "Aye aye, captain!" Bones saluted, and turned towards a landmass on the horizon.

     "Please don't call me 'captain', Bones," Hunter sighed "I'm just a knight. Nothing more, nothing less."

     "Do ye seriously think I was tryin' ta insult ye, mate?" Bones shrugged before scratching his head. "I've got nothin' but respect for ye. Ever since ye helped me fend off that oversized Elephante last time I was in the Golden Dubloon, I'm in yer debt, mate."

     "Thanks, I guess." Hunter grinned. "I'd appreciate it if you would please be a little more friendly to my crew – I mean friends."

     "Arr, bein' out at sea's gotten ye to pick up some of our vernacular!" Bones laughed a bit, holding the steering wheel steady with his right hand and his oversized hook on his left arm. "Now, if my calculations are correct, we're at just the right spot on the seas to stop at good ol' Krawk Island."

     "Great, now I'm going to an island FULL of pirates." Miraja huffed and crossed her arms.

     "Well, I'll fit right in." Sirocco smirked a bit. "I'm just glad we're getting off this blast-"

     "AHEM!" Bones glared at Sirocco, obviously insulted by Sirocco disrespecting his boat. "The White Walein deserves yer respect! She's stuck with me through hundreds o' storms and three Krawken attacks!" He pulled into Warf Wharf, and effortlessly guided his ship to a dock. "Here we are, mates!" Bones stepped down from from the helm, and tied his boat to the dock. "Now, if ye ask me, I vote we go to the Golden Dubloon. This ol' Krawk could use a good meal, aye?"

     "Sorry, I was too busy being grateful that I'm on dry land." Sirocco breathed a sigh of relief. "What'd you say?"

     "I was sayin' we should get some food." Bones looked at his reflection in his compass. "Maybe I'll tell ye how where I got my spear, aye?"

     "I guess that would be alright..." Hunter pondered for a moment. "Either way, I think it's time we got something to eat." The five Neopians walked over to the Golden Dubloon.

     "I REALLY wish those pirates would stop staring at me." Miraja's fur was standing on end in anger. "I hate pirates."

     "I'll never get the whole 'pirates versus ninjas' thing, lass." Bones knocked on the door to the Guldeon Dubloon.

     "WHAT DO YE WANT?! YE BETTER HAVE SOME DUBLOONS!" A Blue Lupe looked through a sliding panel on the door. "Well, if it isn't Davey Bones. Arr, ye and yer mates can come inside free o' charge. Now I suggest ye find a table. If yer lucky, the Fontaine Sisters'll be yer waitresses."

     As the five sat down at a table, Bones reclined a bit. "Remember how I said I'd tell ye about how I lost my hand?"

     "Yes. I'm quite sure it will be riveting." Ashlynne smiled, opening one of her books. She summoned a magical quill that could write down the story as fast as Bones could tell it.

      "Well, back when I was a navigator on the White Walein – the ship good old Admiral Finnegan Teach used to command before he snapped and became Scarblade-"

     "Wait, you worked for Scarblade?!" Miraja stood and slammed her hands on the table. "I KNEW you were a pirate!"

     "Hear me out, lass." Bones reclined back in his chair. "Back before he went mad, he used to be one of the best Admirals Krawk Island's Navy ever had. He'd defend our little island from all sorts o' trouble-makers, especially those brutes from Scurvy Island, and I was one of his best crewmates. If we ever got lost in the Five Seas, he could always count on yours truly to find land!" Bones laughed a bit before scratching the scar on his forehead. "Of course, as ye know, he had a run-in with Captain Dread that ended with Scarblade going mad and taking Dread's position as the Revenge's captain. I didn't quite like the idea of becoming an actual, genuine pirate, so I rebelled. Naturally, they threw me overboard."

     "Harsh." Sirocco took a drink of an ErgyFruit Grog."

     "Aye, it was. And things just kept getting' worse!" Bones sat upright and moved back in towards the table. "First off, most pirates don't learn to swim – it ain't like another ship would rescue them if they were goin' under - so they thought I was good as dead. O' course, bein' a Krawk, I found it rather easy to swim. Of course, things kept getting uglier when this giant White Gulper appeared outta nowhere! Aye, it was a nasty fight, and the blasted sea beast almost dragged me under, but I fought it off with a cutlass. Unfortunately, it managed to get away with a 'souvenir'. I looked down at me good hand, and it was gone!" Bones slammed his hook hand down on the table. "I'd never been so angry in my life! I swam back up to the surface, and found myself near a deserted island with strange, rusted Maractite ruins." Bones then took a swig of Bombberry Grog. "So, I went in there, an' there was this glowing water. Since I was thirsty from all the stuff that I just went through, I decided to take a drink." He took another swig." "It made me glow, almost like the time I ate some o' that magical fungus on Krawk Island. Turns out it gave me the ability to control water." He took another swig of his drink. "As for the hand I lost, I replaced it with my hook," to punctuate his sentence, he slammed the end of his giant hook into the table. "which has been with me ever since."

      "That story is actually pretty interesting coming from a pir – erm, privateer." Miraja seemed to have warmed up to the old Krawk.

     "Yeah, I always wondered why your hook was covered in Maraquan runes," Sirocco was just about done with his ErgyFruit Grog. "Guess they aren't just for show." Sirocco smiled and took one last sip.

     Ashlynne's quill stopped writing, and she snapped her fingers to make it vanish as she closed her book. "That was a fascinating story – I'm glad I'll be able to keep it in my lexicon." She smiled and laughed. "What do you think, Hunter?"

     "Well," Hunter pondered, "I already explained to the rest of you that we've needed someone to help us navigate the Five Seas." Hunter smiled and shook Bones' hook hand. "We're glad to have you on board – no pun intended."

     "HAHAHAHA!" Bones was cracking up at Hunter's unexpected joke. "I don't even care IF the pun was intended, it was still funny!" He patted the White Lupe on his back with his remaining hand, knocking him onto the floor. "...Sorry, mate."

     Hunter picked himself up. "No, it's fine.' He walked towards the Golden Dubloon's doors. "I think it's time we sailed off somewhere else. What do you think, Bones?"

     "Captain, I'm willin' to guide ye to wherever ye want to go!" Bones saluted using his hook hand. "Let's take our leave, lads and lasses! To the high seas we go!"

The End