The small piece of land became bigger and bigger and the ships were coming and going out from the Black Lagoon docks. Black Lagoon was an island and although not very big it was one of the center points for every ship on the Seven Seas. There were traders from all around the world each with more interesting merchandise and there were also many people looking for a crew or a captain. As in many other places here you could come and get everything you need from supplies, a ship, and a couple of people for your crew. Marcel and his friends were looking forward to meeting new people, new captains, and maybe even getting a new ship. But it was a bit too early for them, as they docked the ship an old man greeted them and asked for permission paper. "What is that?" Marcel jumped out of the ship and asked the old man. "To keep your ship here you need a permission paper or pay a fee for the duration", "This is strange" Greg whispered to everyone else. "How much is the fee for three days?" Marcel said in a slightly disappointed tone searching his pockets. "It will be 2000 coins" the old man answered rubbing his hands. Everyone's face turned pale and Hulio fell to his knees. "How much will this do?" Marcel gave the old man his purse with coins. "Hmm..." scratching his head the old man looked at the boys and continued, "This will do for seven days, with the condition that you will have a pass next time". They all looked at each other clueless of what happened. "Thank you, thank you very much" Marcel bowed before the old man and left the dock along with his friends. "How much was in that purse you gave him?" Rob asked. "There might have been less than 1000, but I don't know why he let us stay for more days" Marcel whispered. "The more important question is how expensive is a permission pass," Greg said without a second thought. "Let's find a place to stay and then plan what to do," with a sparkle in his eye Marcel said going towards the town. "But we have no coins left" Fred's words flew by everyone's ears, but no one heard them properly because of the noise coming from the town and the excitement. The town was surprisingly big for such a small island. There were plenty of taverns and places to stay, each one more exquisite than the other.

Marcel and Hulio went to search for a place to stay while the others were walking around the crowded town in search of a job to earn some coins. The taverns that they searched were too expensive and they could not convince the tavern keepers to let them stay for even one night. Wealthy pirates were throwing coins left and right at any piece of information, food, or woman they found attractive. While other not-so-wealthy pirates were using the coins for treasure maps and crew members. During the day the town was busy and noisy, but when the sun set the streets were empty, and only a few taverns were active late at night. Marcel and the others met at their ship at dusk. "How did it go?" Greg asked Marcel and Hulio. "Not great, we did not find any suitable tavern for the amount of coins we have" said Marcel with a disappointed tone. "We didn't have much luck either, the jobs we found mostly required us to go to other islands to deliver goods," Rob said. They went inside the ship and spent the night there. It was hard for them to fall asleep due to the ships coming and going out of the docks. The waves were hitting their ship making a terrible noise. All the creeks and squeaks kept Marcel up all night. In the middle of the night, Fred woke up to take a sip of water. "You can't sleep?" he asked Marcel who was leaning to the mast. "No. I feel awful that I was not able to find a place for us to stay the night" said Marcel facing down. "When we were searching for a job we heard a couple of captains talking about a tavern on the remote part of the island," said Fred after taking a sip from the goblet. "Remote part of the island? Where would that be?" raising his face from the ground. "How about we all go there tomorrow?" Fred said and covered his mouth while yawning. "Sure" and then they both went to sleep.

The next day at dawn they all went around the town asking where the remote part of the island was, and where is that tavern. But many of the people were avoiding answering those questions and they also were avoiding eye contact when Marcel was mentioning it. An old man grabbed Marcel's hand and took him to a tavern nearby. The others followed him and sat at a table in the corner where it was dark and no one could hear them. "You want to know where that tavern is?" the old man said while coughing. "Yes, we do not have enough coins to stay at any of the town taverns" Marcel answered the old man. "There is no need for coins where you are going, but you might not live enough to regret it" With a hoarse voice the old man whispered scaring everyone at the table. After a couple of stutters, Rob was able to ask why, while the others were silent. "This tavern is avoided like a plague by every pirate but one" continued the old man. "Which one?" Marcel asked with a curious look. The old man slammed his hand on the table and said "Have you youngsters heard the legend of the black ship?". "Yes, we heard about it, isn't that just a legend like any other?" Hulio asked with a trembling voice. "Ha, ha, ha" the old man's laugh resounded through the whole tavern getting everyone's attention to him, "Just a legend? Just a legend you say?" he raised his voice and continued laughing. After a couple of moments, he calmed down and explained to them that this legend is as real as the air they breathe. The captain of the black ship and his crew are the only ones to ever stay at that tavern, and for the same reason the tavern master there does not need any coins. It is rumored that the tavern master himself is one of the black ship crew members and that there are other taverns out there that they own. Hearing everything the old man said, Marcel and his friends were put in a difficult place. They had no coins to stay at a proper tavern and the jobs were out of the question for the time being. Their supplies were also quite scarce due to their long days of journey. After the old man left the tavern they remained at the tavern and discussed a bit more about this tavern he talked about.

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"Do you think we should go?" Greg asked the group. "We do not have many options" Hulio added. "Let us think a bit more about it and decide tomorrow," said Marcel, "Aye captain!" they said and then left the tavern. They spent the rest of the day looking for small easy jobs to earn some coins but were nowhere near enough to afford anything. They were helping other crews load supplies, or help taverns serve people. When the night came they headed back to their ship, on their way they met at the dock the person they paid the fee to. "How is it going?" he asked. "Not good, we are having a hard time earning coins, and we didn't yet have the chance to look for the permission paper" Marcel answered. "Well, I wish you good luck, because the clock is ticking and after the seven days I can no longer provide you the spot for your ship," he said. "What will happen with our ship then?" Greg asked the person. "We usually ask the owner of the ship to move it out of the way, or in the more special cases where they refuse to do so we plunder it and then sink it," he said with a grin on his face. Marcel and the others were shocked to hear the words coming from his mouth, and only then did they realize the urgency of finding a method to earn coins. They went back to the ship and spent the night thinking. This night was longer than any other until now, all of them were thinking about what they could do about the coin situation and the tavern. When the sun started to wake up Marcel shook up Greg and told him he was going alone at the tavern. Greg insisted on going as well, but the others were not yet awake and Marcel asked him to wait for them and then come. The town was slowly waking up with all the traders setting up their stalls. While walking down the empty streets Marcel remembered what the Fley Harbor tavern master told him. "Follow the dirt path to the edge of the world, there you will find your place to stay". But this did not help him much, although, from the old man's description, this tavern would fit the riddle. A couple of minutes later, the scenery started to slowly change, it was more open, there were not as many stalls and traders, and the buildings started to disappear. Marcel arrived at a rocky path and in the distance he saw a building. "That must be it," he said to himself.

Everything around it was strange, the air, the terrain, and even the grass. It was otherwordly. The tavern was situated on the edge of a cliff and the water was wildly splashing against the white rocks. When Marcel arrived at the front door of the tavern he felt a gust of wind pushing him sideways, as if something was telling him to go away. But he stood his ground and knocked at the door. The door was massive and made of ebony wood. With its dark appearance no wonder why others were avoiding it. He waited and waited but no one was coming. He knocked once again and heard a sneeze inside. The sneeze was so powerful that it made the whole tavern shake. "Who is there?" a loud thick voice resounded from inside through all the cracks. "I am Marcel, a pirate and I am looking for a place to stay". "Get out of here, this is no place for you or anyone else to stay," the voice inside said and coughed. "But my crew is short on coins and we can't afford to stay in the other taverns". The ground started shaking and the pressure at the door was so heavy that made Marcel kneel. The door knob started turning and the door slowly opened. Despite the thick voice and the intimidating presence, the tavern master was quite small in stature. His bald head, thick white long beard, and long dark monobrow made him less menacing. "Who told you to come here?" he asked while scratching his head. "There was an old man who told us how to get here and the stories about the tavern. Is it true?" Marcel answered. "Of course it is true, that is the reason why no one is allowed to take shelter under this roof other than the captain of the black ship," he said revealing his golden teeth. "What should we do to be allowed to stay here?" Marcel asked kneeling and begging before the tavern master. "Hmm..." he once again scratched his head, "How about this. If you manage to find this treasure" he handed Marcel a map, "I shall let you stay at my tavern" he finished the sentence and leaned against the door. Marcel grabbed the map and looked at it. This map was unusual, it had a couple of circles and a riddle. "We will find this treasure," Marcel told the tavern master and left. On his way back to the town he met up with his friends and told them about the tavern. The way Marcel was talking was like a story, it was unbelievable. They went back to their ship and everyone was thinking about what could the riddle mean, and how they could find the treasure faster.