As she left her friends, Chloe's heart beat uncomfortably in her chest. She knew this was all or nothing. Beat Big Joe or leave friends to languish in their jail cell.

As they walked across the shantytown bridges, Big Joe laughed to Chloe. "You're lucky that brawn is a top commodity when you're a pirate. That is why we don't take these challenges so lightly."

"Where are we going?" Chloe asked with her eyes widened.

"To my pirate king palace!" the big man laughed.

At the first edge of the town, was a filthy, smelly building. It was several stories high. Dingy windows were cracked and green, there were a pair of swinging entrance doors with one hanging halfway off its hinges A broken sign above the doors read, "Scoundrel Saloon"

A thuggish man covered in bruises and sporting a black eye flew out the swinging doors and groaned.

Chloe's eyes grew big and shiny, "Now way," she said. "A real life dirty pirate bar!

Big Joe bowed. "This be my humble palace, matey.

The Scoundrel Saloon didn't look much different on the inside. In fact, it was darker, grungier and more hazardous to one's health. Floorboards and nails stuck out at odd angles. Chleo carefully avoided tripping over them. She gracefully caught herself. "Woooow," she gushed. "This place even has squeaky floors!"

The inhabitants were as torn up as the floorboards. Many of them were missing eyes or even arms. Muscular masses of salty sailors and pirates sipped dark drinks with more alcohol than cleaning products. Chloe grinned brightly as a particularly big bruiser growled at her from behind the bar table.

"You know why we're here," Big Joe said as everyone cheered for him. "Somebody challenged me to a show of brawn! An arm wrestling contest!"

"Ay," said one man with a hooked nose. "Is it that tiny lassy?"

Chloe jutted out her lips and growled at him. "What arrrrrr you looking at?" she cried. "I'm a pirate just like you!"

The whole bar burst into a hearty round of yar har hars. The bartender couldn't help but cackle. "Are yee kidding me? Yer the most tiny guppy in this whole bar!"

Chloe shaded red, but puffed out her thin chest. "Wipe that grin of yer face!" she cried. "Because, I Chloe Cutlass, shall dethrone your current king and replace him with me. Mark my words!"

Another round of laughter followed, along with some footstomping and knee slapping.

"Child," Rosemary said, causing her demon eye to turn around nervously. "I hope you know what you're doing."

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Chloe winked. "I hope you know what you're doing, Rose. Otherwise, I'm up crapper's creek."

Big Joe Rodgers triumphantly marched to an empty booth. There was a table for two with a chair across from the booth. He held out his hands to the booth. "After you, ma'am" he said, surprisingly sophisticated in his baritone voice

"Why are you being so polite?" Chloe asked, feeling suspicious suddenly. "Aren't you going to best me?"

Big Joe crossed his arms. "My mom, Big Jo Mama, always said, 'be polite and courteous to a woman before you beat them and humiliate them!'"

"Well well," Rosemary hissed in Chloe's ear. "Seems even this hooligan has standards."

"He's definitely more than a standard hooligan," Chloe replied inside her mind. "Especially if he earned the respect of all these knaves!"

"Seems pretty easy to me," Rosemary chuckled. "Just buy them booze everyday."

Rosemary's voice faded into the ether of her brain, leaving Chloe to grimace. There was a good chance she had set herself up to fail.

People gathered around the table. "I pity that child," one of the patrons in the crowd said. "She's in for a world of hurt."

"He put my arm down in seconds flat," a muscular man said back, causing Chloe to grimace, "and I've been slinging anchors since I was a lad."

"You think that's bad?!" Another man added with a bandaged hand. "Big Joe put my arm through the table."

"Oh yeah?" an old man rasped between them. "Big Joe Rodgers beat me at arm wrestling so bad that it straightened my back!"

"That's a bad thing?!" Chloe asked, turning to the old man's face.

The old man gave a haggard, snaggle toothed smile. "It was bad for my chiropractor! He was out of a job!"

"I doesn't have a bad back," Chloe responded. "I'm only twelve."

The old man cackled in a wispy falsetto. "You might after this match, and in that case, I know a chiropractor in need of work!"

Chloe tried to ignore the senseless babbling of the patrons. As Big Joe greased his palms, she was working hard to coax the demon out of her head.

"Come on…" Chloe muttered to herself. "Rosemary, where are you?! You love terrorizing me so much, so why won't you help me?"

"Awhite kid," Big Joe said in his deep voice. "Let's get this over with. I don't like causing small things pain, but I've gots a proud reputation in this bar to uphold."

"And when I win," Chloe frowned. "I'll be the most feared pirate in this bar. You'll set my friends free and most importantly, you all will bow down to me as your mistress of the sea!"

"Kid," Big Joe remarked. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. You're not going to win. Go back to pre-school."

"I've never been to school!" Chloe admitted in a boastful voice, discounting her time with the private tutor. "The queen of the pirates doesn't need any education! She learns from the waves themselves!"

Big Joe put his bulky arm on the table and Chloe put her pale, pipe-cleaner arm next to it. It would take twenty of her arms to match a singular one of his, she observed.

Time elapsed very slowly around the young girl because for all she knew, this arm-wrestling match would be over in a matter of seconds. Everyone watched closely. It wasn't often they got to see the biggest man in the bar beat up on a little girl.

Chloe put her arm in Big Joe's and he clasped it tightly. He could easily squeeze the jelly out of it like a tiny tangerine, but it remained firm in her hand. The mean looking bartender ran over to count off the arm-wrestling match of the century.

"3…"

"2…"

"1…"

And the match was over.