"Oy! Now that we are far enough from the island would you tell us what happened?" said Captain Nameless while turning the helm. "I can smell a lie from a mile away, but I went along with it," he continued. Marcel started telling them everything that happened and how it happened. Gus already knew part of the story but the rest were shocked to hear that there was a talking dragon. "Ah... We missed our chance, ey," said Captain Nameless. "They would have made a good trophy," he continued. Gus slapped him in the head. "Not everything is meant to be killed," Gus said. "Oy! I was joking," said Captain Nameless. "Where to now?" asked Gus. "We need to resupply and then we can return to your island," said Captain Nameless. Marcel on the other hand had other things in mind. After a couple of hours, Marcel saw an opportunity when Gus was alone and asked him, "Would you take me and my crew as apprentices?". "Hmm... Where did that come from?" asked Gus while lying down. "We heard from Captain Nameless that you used to teach him things, and we thought that we were still inexperienced," said Marcel. "He might have forgotten to mention that I was harsh while I was training him," said Gus thinking that he could shake Marcel off. "It does not matter. We are prepared to face whatever challenges and trials you have for us," said Marcel. "Argh... You are not going to change your mind, are you?" said Gus and looked Marcel straight into his eyes. "No!" answered Marcel. "Fine... But first let us get back to Flakin Sea. You are not yet prepared to face the dangers from Kronen Sea," said Gus and went to sleep. It took him a couple of seconds and he started snoring. Marcel was happy to hear his answer and went to tell his crew about it. Before they even realized it, they already arrived at a port. Captain Nameless and his crew went ahead and brought supplies. "Oy!" yelled Captain Nameless. "You want to stay the night here?" he asked Marcel. "It is up to you," answered Marcel. After consulting with his crew members Captain Nameless decided to remain the night there. Gus remained on the ship while the others spent the night in the tavern. In the morning Captain Nameless talked with Marcel and they were returning to the Black Lagoon where Marcel's ship was waiting for them. Captain Nameless used the paths he learned from Gus and avoided a lot of beasts. After a couple of days on the sea they finally left Kronen Sea. "Oy! How are the supplies?" asked Captain Nameless. "We have enough to reach Black Lagoon," said Marcel. They sailed through the night and arrived at the Black Lagoon very early in the morning. Everyone was tired from the nights spent on the sea and they went straight to bed. Marcel hid the golden horn in the same place where he hid the multi-colored sphere. In the evening everyone woke up and spent some time together before Captain Nameless and his crew were leaving back to the Kronen Sea. "It was nice spending time with you all, ey," said Captain Nameless and drank from the cup. "As well," said Marcel and raised his cup. "When do you think we will see each other again?" asked Marcel. "Hmm... You are always welcome to pay a visit to Kronen Sea, just let me know when you come by, ey," said Captain Nameless. "I will sure do," said Marcel and smiled. "That will take some time, since tomorrow we will begin his training," said Gus. "Oy! Good luck!" said Captain Nameless to Marcel. "You will need it," he continued. "Thank you!" said Marcel. In the morning Captain Nameless was loading some more supplies for their journey and Marcel came to the docks. "Mornin'," said Captain Nameless. "I have something for you," said Marcel and gave him a package. "You must open it before you enter Kronen Sea, not earlier or later," said Marcel. "You sure like to make me curious about it, ey?" said Captain Nameless. He grabbed Marcel's package and left the Balck Lagoon docks. Later that day when they were getting near the Kronen Sea border Captain Nameless opened the package. "You little..." said Captain Nameless staring at the sphere artifact. "Oy! I can not believe this kid," he said and started laughing.

"Your ship is a wreck, you can not go anywhere with it," said Gus while looking at Marcel's ship. "What happened with it?" asked Gus. Marcel told him everything. "Interesting," said Gus while scratching his head. "How about this? Repair your ship and we will go and take back what you have lost," he continued. "How?" asked Marcel. "How what?" said Gus. "How will we take it back?" clarified Marcel. "I will let you know when your ship is repaired," said Gus and went to the tavern. Marcel talked with Bia and asked her what they needed to repair the ship. She said that working with this wood is hard even for her and they had to go to her grandparents. Marcel and his crew went to Mermaid Cove to try and solve the ship's issues. When they arrived at the port it was empty. "What happened?" asked Marcel. "I have no idea, this port should be filled with ships," said Bia. They got off the ship and went into the town. The town only had a couple of houses and one tavern. "This is strange," said Marcel. They entered the tavern and asked the tavern master about Bia's grandparents. When the tavern master heard about them he started crying. "Why are you crying?" asked Bia. "They are the reason why this island is like this," said the tavern master. "What do you mean?" asked Marcel. "Even since they accepted working on that ship everyone else on this island left and never came back," said the tavern master. "What ship?" asked Bia. "I can not remember his name, but his crew was terrifying. I was hiding in that corner while they stayed here," said the tavern keeper pointing at the corner. "Thank you for telling us," said Marcel and left along with his crew. "We should find them and see what this was about," he continued after he left the tavern. They were heading towards their shop and as they were passing by the area was vandalized and wrecked. Their shop was damaged and painted in all kinds of colors. "Well... Here we are," said Greg. "What now?" asked Greg. Marcel went ahead in their shop. "Excuse me, anyone here?" said Marcel while knocking on the broken door. "What do you want?!" said a male voice. "I would like to hear your part of the story," said Marcel and took a seat. "There is nothing to hear. Get out of here while you can!" said a female voice. Marcel did not move. "I am not leaving until I do not hear your part of the story," he said once again and crossed his arms. His crew was watching him from behind. The woman threw a piece of wood at Marcel and scratched his left cheek. "Get out!" she said once again. Bia went and helped Marcel stop the bleeding. "Take him out lady," said the man. Marcel got up and said, "Fine... If you do not want to tell us your part of the story then we will tell you ours," and Marcel started explaining everything. After a couple of minutes, the couple mumbled something and then came out. "Is... Is that true?" asked the woman looking at Bia. "Yes!" Bia answered. "I can not believe it!" said the man. "Look at you, all grown up. Last time we saw you... you were this small," he continued. They spent the rest of the day talking and they heard the other part of the story. What happened was that everyone was envious of the amount of resources, the quality, and the amount of payment they received for working on the ship. Many carpenters choose to leave because they think it is pointless having their shop next to someone talented like them. The captain that had the order was no other than Captain Frown. They were happy to hear what happened and how it happened even if they already heard parts of it. In the evening they split up and some remained at the tavern while some stayed at the shop. The next morning Bia's grandparents went to see what happened to their ship. After a couple of hours of meticulously checking the ship, they made a list of materials to repair it. Marcel took the list and looked at it. Surprisingly many materials were cheap or not hard to find, but the special wood used for their ship was still hard to find which is why the couple opted for a different approach for repairs. Marcel's crew still had to sail to other islands to gather the materials. They borrowed another ship from Bia's grandparents to safely bring the resources.

After a couple of days, and a lot of haggling with traders Marcel and his crew brought the resources to Bia's grandparents. "This will take a couple of days, working with ebony wood is a bit harder," said the man. "No worries," said Marcel. Marcel asked if they could go back to Black Lagoon in the meantime with the ship they borrowed. "Go ahead," said the woman. Marcel had something in mind to help Mermaid Cove. They went back to Black Lagoon and made some posters and spread them throughout the town. "Lonely town looking for talented carpenters to join the ship crafting competition. The winner gets all the coins!". At first, people were not interested, but after a couple more days of insisting the people going through Black Lagoon seemed interested and Night's Vow agreed to support and even sweetened the deal by adding to the pot. Night's Vow will provide the top three winners with a free stay for a year at the tavern. More and more captains and people were interested. Marcel and his crew were happy to see that their plan worked. One week had already passed and they returned to the Mermaid Cove. As they were approaching the island the sea was crowded. "Would you look at that?" said Greg. "It worked!" said Marcel with a big smile on his face. Bia was also happy to see what they achieved. They left the ship at the docks and went to Bia grandparent's shop. On their way, a lot of carpenters were working on their ships, and even more traders were looking to sell their merchandise. "What happened?" asked the man in front of the shop. "This was your doing wasn't it?" said the woman. "Yes! We thought of ways to revive this town, and it worked surprisingly well," said Marcel. "But what is this about?" asked the man. "A competition of building ships, winner takes it all," said Marcel. The man's eyes started to widen. "Did I hear that right?" he asked. "Yes!" said Marcel. "Then we will better get to work!" said the man. "My crew will be the judges, so we wish you luck!" said Marcel. They spent the rest of the day constructing the stage. The next day in the morning Marcel and his crew organized the opening ceremony where they announced how much time they had left and the rules. Everyone gathered at the stage and it was crowded. A lot of people could not hear well what Marcel said, but the information got passed on later. Bia's grandparents were visited by people who had previously left. "Well... well, look who decided to participate," said Bia's grandfather. "I hate it as much as I hate you, but there is a big prize and I could not just let it slide," said the man. "Despite what happened I wish you luck," said Bia's grandfather. "Let the better carpenter win," said the man and left. The same day Bia's grandparent's shop was visited by everyone who left the island, some were sorry and some were still angry. But they all decided to settle it with this competition. The night has come and Marcel with his crew went to see the progress of Bia's grandparents. "How is it going?" asked Marcel. "Good, but we can not show you yet, it will spoil the contest," said the man. "Of course, of course," said Marcel and smiled. "I can not wait to see it," he continued. "Is our ship ready?" asked Greg. "It has been ready for a while now," said the woman. "Although having so many people around made it harder for us to work," she continued. "They do not like to work under pressure," whispered Bia to Marcel. The next day most of the carpenters were making the last adjustments to their ships. Some of them were finished and showed their ships at the docks. There was one day left until the end of the contest. The town changed a lot during this contest. There were a lot more taverns, the port expanded and some people even moved in building their own house. Marcel was happy to see the change he was able to bring to Mermaid Cove. "I wonder what would have happened if we did not come," said Greg. "I do not know either. The Mermaid Cove we knew was in pretty good shape in the future, known as the best island to get ships," said Marcel. "You are right, perhaps something would have happened anyway," said Greg.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

As the moon was rising from the sea, the blue light was making the ships in port shine. "Ah... A blue moon, how beautiful," said Bia's grandmother. After a couple of hours in the port, a thick white mist covered all the ships displayed. Marcel and his crew were staying at the tavern enjoying their evening. Someone rushed into the tavern and broke the silence. "They are coming!" the man yelled. "Who? Who is coming?" asked the tavern master. "The cursed ones!" said the man and hid. Everyone started panicking but Marcel and his crew did not. "Who are the cursed ones?" Marcel asked the tavern master who hid under his counter. "They are the ones who made everyone leave!" said the panicked tavern master. Marcel saw there was no point trying to get information from anyone and went outside along with his crew. The mist outside was so thick that they could not see in front of them. As soon as they left the tavern a familiar pirate song reached their ears. "Oh... I know who this is!" said Marcel and started smiling. "No wonder why they are so scared," said Greg. They went towards the port and saw the Black Ship of Captain Frown. "Hey!" said Marcel. "Oh... Hello there," said Captain Frown while climbing down the ladder. "I did not expect you to meet here," he continued and shook Marcel's hand. "What brings you here?" asked Marcel. "I happened to stumble upon this," said Captain Frown and showed Marcel the poster. "Ah... We made this," said Marcel. "You made it?" said Captain Frown and laughed. "We thought that we would come and see how is the island going, after all, we built our ship here," said Captain Frown. "Abot that..." said Marcel and looked down. "What?" asked Captain Frown. "Let us get inside and talk," said Marcel, and they went to a tavern. As soon as Captain Frown entered the tavern everyone left. "See... This is what happened," said Marcel. He told everything they heard since he got his ship built and he was not pleased to hear it. They spent the rest of the night in the tavern. In the morning Marcel had an idea. "Would you mind staying a bit longer?" said Marcel. "No, why?" said Captain Frown. "What if you and your crew will join us today to review the ships of this competition? Maybe the people will loosen up a bit more," said Marcel. "Interesting idea, but do you think it will work?" asked Captain Frown. "There is only one way to find out," said Marcel. Captain Frown told his crew about Marcel's idea and they agreed. The people in the town were scared by Captain Frown and his crew. Marcel gathered everyone in the town and announced that they would be part of the reviewing committee. The crowd was unhappy with this decision and they started yelling at Marcel. Captain Frown sat down and said, "You have no reason to be scared of me or my crew. We are people like you, we also have feelings, and we do not judge people by their appearance,". "You are not like us! You are monsters!" said a man from the crowd. Captain Frown pulled out his sword and everyone backed off. He slit his palm and started bleeding. "See? I am bleeding as well. There is nothing to be afraid of," he said and put his sword back. Anna and Bia helped Captain Frown take care of his wound, and some people from the crowd stepped closer to the stage. They were looking at the captain and one of them said, "Most of us are scared by your appearance as you said, but you were right, we should not judge each other by such trivial things,". Marcel was happy to hear those words and more and more people from the crowd started to agree with Captain Frown's crew being part of this contest. The criteria for judging the ships were picked unanimously by Marcel and his crew and were later passed to Captain Frown. Due to the large amount of competitors, it took them until the evening. One of the criteria that many failed at was resistance or usability. The resistance criteria were to withstand a cannon shot, and many were not able to do so. Obviously, some of the participants were against it and they failed those criteria by default. The other one was usability, meaning how good would be to sail it. Some of the ships were too heavy or the steering was too hard, but they still got plenty of points for the aspect and the materials used. Using cheap materials would bring you more points, but would lower your chances for the other categories of criteria. Bia's grandparents were the last ones judged. "Wait! Wait!" said Bia's grandmother. "We are finished as well," she continued. "Just in time, we were prepared to say the scores,' said Marcel. Everyone gathered in front of their shop. "Time for the reveal," said Marcel. "May I?" asked Captain Frown. "Of course!" said Bia's grandfather. When Captain Frown revealed the ship everyone remained with their mouth open. It was truly a piece of art. The types of wood they used were mainly sakura and cherry giving the ship a pinkish color. They complemented each other and made everyone like the design. After judging all the aspects they got a perfect score. The materials were pretty common which made them cheap and they were very durable which made the ship withstand a cannonball shot. "How did I not think that," one of the people said from the crowd. And many others were sad that they missed such a detail. The steering and usability were perfect and made the sailing smooth. The crowd also agreed with Marcel and Captain Frown's decision. Bia's grandparents were the winners. "We will donate all the winnings towards Mermaid Cove construction and well-being," they announced. Everyone started clapping and then celebrated. Marcel was happy to see everyone celebrating.

Captain Frown approached Marcel from behind and grabbed his shoulder, "I am proud of what you did here, but it is time for us to keep going,". "I am happy that we managed to do all this in just a couple of days," said Marcel. "Before we go, I will tell you how to properly use the Sea of Time," said Captain Frown and took a seat. "I am all ears," said Marcel. Captain Frown explained to Marcel what he had to do to travel in different periods of time. It was at the same time simple and hard. To manipulate the space hole they had to go at the edge of one of the Seven Seas and wait for a storm. Captain Frown was usually using the border of Land of Storms since they were more frequent. "How do you control it?" asked Marcel fascinated by Captain Frown's explanations. "There are a couple of artifacts that can help you with that, one of them is the one I sent you after," said Captain Frown. "Oh... About that," said Marcel and nervously started laughing. "What happened?" asked Captain Frown. "I might have given it away as a gift," said Marcel. "To whom?" said Captain Frown. "Captain Nameless," said Marcel and looked down. "Hmm... No worries I can get it back. Take this one," said Captain Frown and gave Marcel a pendant. "Is this an artifact?" asked Marcel. "Yes, take care of it," said Captain Frown. "But how will you travel now?" asked Marcel. "Do not worry about me, I have plenty of artifacts," said Captain Frown and smiled. "It is your time to collect them," he continued and sat up. Marcel and Captain Frown spent the rest of the night talking about artifacts and the challenges they faced to get them.