It was as if the glum, drab city suddenly found life and purpose as the sun disappeared from the skies and the moon shone through the black curtain over the island.

Jackie, Eddie, Elma and Rosa were all exploring the city (though there really weren't many tourist attractions around) until the bar opened at half past eight. Surrounding the fairly decent-looking two storey building was a small crowd of people, most of them wearing strange, colourful masks. Some seemed to depict demons while others had skulls with colourful red hair attached to the top.

"This is a weird as hell place to go out to eat at, Elma. The food here better be good, or I'm getting right outta this creepy place." Jackie muttered sourly as they drifted inside with the crowd. He should've known something was off the second he saw the name of the bar. "The Masked Man" was what the bar was called, certainly a rather exotic name for a bar.

Despite the weird crowd, the bar itself was actually quite nice. Other than it's unique rule of offering food to guests along with drinks, it had another unique aspect in infrastructure. The entire building was cylindrical, which allowed a beautifully crafted circular marble table to take the space right at the center of the bar. The center of the massive table was hollow, to allow space for the bartender to enter and whip up drinks for customers.

A tiny part of the hollow table could open to allow him to walk out and hand over drinks to other customers sitting at the smaller tables. The drinks were always delivered before the food, which would be made in the kitchen.

A small group of violinists huddled together at a small platform near the entrance to the bar, playing a bright and merry tune that echoed through the room. While listening to the music and enjoying himself, Jackie noticed something about the bartender. His mask and skin were both far more different from the others in the bar.

When Jackie, Elma and Eddie had first met Morgan, they didn't really pay too much attention to Morgan's skin. They found it natural, even. But Morgan told stories about the slaves. About how they were treated. They were tales of horror, despair and no hero to stop the story from collapsing to darkness.

In the two years he had spent with Morgan, Jackie had learned to be perceptive when it came to a person of colour. Chances were, in this age of slavery and severe punishment, they had gone through a lot.

The bartender was wearing a rather different type of mask from the others. It looked as though it was made from tree bark, and had circular eyes with red circles painted around them. Instead of the devilish smile or grimace that most people's masks had, his one had a rather unthreatening red-lipped smile that showed off pointy teeth. His outfit was quite ordinary...a simple black coat over a white long-sleeved plaid shirt.

"What will you be having?" He asked as he walked up to them. Jackie thought about it, and decided on having some Sacá, a strong white wine popular in Southern Spain.

He looked over at the others, and found Rosa hitting Eddie over stealing her new purple bonnet, while Elma laughed and spurred them on. "Guys, for the love of god, what the hell do you want to drink?"

Rosa paused. "I think I'll, um, just have some orange juice? I'm not really a big drinker." Eddie raised his hand slightly. "I'll have a glass of Sacá. It's been a while since I had some."

Elma shrugged. "Then I guess I'll have a Tent." The bartender shook his head. "I'm afraid we don't have any red berries to make Tent with. I'll make it up for you with a bottle of brandy, though. Free of charge." She instantly agreed. Anything free was good, what with the financial situation of the Jackie Pirates.

In a moment, the bartender had brought over a fair-sized bottle of rum for Elma, a glass of orange juice for Rosa, and two glasses of Sacá for Jackie and Eddie.

"It's almost as if you're trying to copy me, eh, Eddie?" Eddie only snorted with amusement. "Whatever floats your boat, captain." He sipped his glass of Sacá, and winced at the strongness of the wine.

"This stuff really hits you, doesn't it?" He took the glass and twirled it in his hand, watching the liquid slosh around inside. Elma laughed as she chugged the bottle of rum. "You ain't seen nothing. Tent is way stronger than that. Me and Jackie had some back when we landed in San Felipe, Valencia. Even Rosa tried a glass. Too bad you were suffering from the flu that time, otherwise we could've all gone on a drinking party!"

As they continued talking and ordering more drinks, the bartender sent one of the female waitresses to serve them, his eyes firmly on the boy with blonde hair falling over his left eye.

The girl who approached them was not the most well-endowed woman Eddie had ever seen, but after living with the likes of Elma's food insanity and Rosa's unbearable innocence, this blonde haired beauty in the black dress and frilled apron was beyond appealing.

When the waitress walked away, Eddie peered on after her. Maybe I can get away from Jackie and hit it up with her ton-

Then, realisation hit him. Elma never, ever got drunk. Not from actual drinking. She only ever got drunk on food, and that was occasionally, not all the time. Rosa didn't drink, and didn't get high on food either, so he didn't stand a chance. Fuck. Whatever happened to a pirate's freedom? He thought as he glanced at Jackie merrily drinking away.

"...yeah, I've heard of him. They call him Black Morgan, don't they?"

"That's right! That's him!"

Everyone at the table was startled to hear this coming from the group of men sitting at a long, rectangular table behind them. They were clearly scum, even to a pirate's eye. There were six of them in total, and all of them had knives or pistols on hand. "That's the guy who was at war against the Dealers? What a pathetic blackie!" The man at the center stage was a short, slightly drunk man with several teeth knocked out of his jaw. The others all laughed with him, jeering and pounding the table.

"And I thought that guy was a real tough one too. Who would've thought he'd just die in the ocean with the rest of that ridiculous crew? The 'Jackie Pirates', my ass!" He smashed the bottle of Rum he was holding against the table and tossed the remains to the ground.

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"Hey."

He spun around, blinking rapidly to get his eyes focused on the man behind him. "Yeah? Whaddaya want?!"

The next instant, he had been tossed off his seat by Jackie's fist. The others gasped as he fell on the ground with a loud THUD. "Owwww! Fucker punched me in the jaw!" He squealed as he rolled back and forth on the ground with hands over his face.

The others stood up to throw themselves at Jackie, only for Elma and Eddie to step up behind him. Even Rosa had stood up from her seat with an angry expression on her face.

"What did you say about Morgan, trash?" Elma asked, her cold eyes trained on the cowering man on the floor. He scowled through his bloody hands at her, and screamed, "Get them, boys!"

The bartender dove behind his table, and the other customers roared and shrieked in delight. Jackie grabbed the tiny man by the scruff of his neck and tossed him at the three men sitting across the table. The other two launched themselves at Elma and Eddie.

"Oh, this will be fun." She said, cracking her knuckles. As one of the men swung his fist at her, she caught it with ease. Tightening her grip on his knuckles, she smiled at his shocked expression. "Who do you think I am?" She grabbed his arm and threw him straight at their table, where Rosa was standing.

"Catch, honey bunny!" She yelled at her, who didn't even get time to scream before the burly man slammed into her. Two men, one skinny and the other built like a pumpkin, jumped right on top of Elma as she was laughing at Rosa, knocking her to the ground.

Eddie saw this, but was preoccupied with an approaching fist from one of the goons. THWACK. THUMP. He was knocked into the table before the guy threw his whole body at him, sending the entire table flying into the air. It flipped over and hit Jackie and his muscular opponent, knocking them both to the floor.

"You SHITS! FUCK OFF!" The man, who was built like a goddamn castle, lifted the table up and tried to slam it on Jackie's head. He just barely rolled out of the way in time as it wrecked the floorboards of the bar.

Before he could stand, the short guy he had tossed kicked him in the nose before throwing himself right on top of Jackie. "You cheap little mother-"

The biggest guy there walked out from behind the table he had just thrown, and grabbed both Jackie and the boss of the group. "No, no, don't throw me, TorraaaAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Torra did throw the two of them, and they both smashed right into the two men piling up on Elma to keep her down.

Elma stood up slowly, and cracked her neck. "These motherfuckers just won't fight fair." She turned around, and saw Torra looming over her. "You're next, bitch." He grunted, pointing at the stunned Jackie lying on the ground.

A big smile creeped across her face at this. "Joke's on you, big boy. I'm stronger than he is." She moved her fist back and rattled it into his chest, her fist sinking more than halfway into his gut. The sheer force of the blow made Torra stumble back a good three feet back, his stomach feeling as though it was on fire. Breathing hard, he looked at the woman, who was almost a foot shorter than him. What the hell is she?

"Aww, is big boy gonna cry?" She taunted, clearly not taking him seriously.

Torra roared in anger, and tried to score a hit right on her face. But just before his fist made contact, Elma spun away and grabbed his arm. He couldn't do anything as she gripped his arm with enough strength to crack the bone, and swung him right over her head like a piece of cotton. The customers, waitresses, violinists and bartender all watched in awe as he flew through the air soundlessly, right towards the disoriented Jackie, who was by now on his knees.

He looked up to see a massive humanoid figure falling towards him. "HOLY SHI-"

He just barely managed to dodge the massive man as he bounced off the floor and right on top of his two other unconscious friends.

As they tried to catch their breaths, Elma and Jackie heard a weird, piercing scream, like one you'd hear from a Banshee. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIII!!"

They turned around and saw Rosa of all people running after the poor guy who'd been thrown at her by Elma with a chair in hand. "Wait! Wait! Fucking WAIT!" He screamed, his voice cracking almost comically in terror.

Rosa didn't wait, and threw not only the chair, but herself with the chair right at him. The wooden chair shattered on his head with a wet THUD, causing blood to stream down his face and neck. As he collapsed, she elbowed him to the floor before fainting in terror with foam coming out of her mouth and tears rolling down her face.

Elma and Jackie, who saw the whole thing, immediately thought to themselves that they'd never try scaring her ever again.

At the same time, Eddie was wrestling around with the thin man who was trying to punch the lights out of him. Before Eddie could make a move, he pushed him to the ground and pulled out a dagger. "I'll fuck you up, mophead!" He rasped, and thrust it at Eddie.

He dodged and threw him off his body before pulling his metal scalpel out of his white doctor's coat in a firm, yet oddly loose grip.

The man looked at the small blade and started laughing. "Don't tell me that thing is supposed to kill me....it couldn't even scratch me! Aahahahahahaa!" He raised his right hand with the dagger. "Go ahead, just try an-"

The scalpel spun in Eddie's hand, and zipped through the air with frightening speed and killing intent as he bound past the man with extraordinary pace. However, at that moment, Eddie had chosen life and not death. If it were the opposite, the man would have lost much more than his right hand.

He looked at the blood flowing from the stump that once led to a hand, and started screaming. "MY HAND! AAAAAAGGGGHHHH! MY HAAAND! AAARRGHHH! FUCK! "

His shrieks of pain were the only sounds in the suddenly silent bar. The jeering and excitement the bystanders had at the start had now evaporated. Now, some stared at the scene in horror and concern. Some ignored the situation and returned to their drinks. A couple of men in particular, one being the bartender, stared at them with great interest in their eyes.

Tired of the man's continued wailing, Elma walked over and hit the back of his neck with the flat of her hand, causing him to pass out. "There. Problem solved." She muttered, and started casually collecting the unconscious men as though they were rag dolls. One after the other, they were thrown out of the bar onto the streets outside. When the disarmed man had been thrown out, Eddie ran after him to patch up the wound.

Elma took one last swig of rum and kept the empty bottle on the table. "Thanks for the drink." She told the bartender, and walked out of the bar. Jackie stayed to clean up the mess they had made by righting the chairs and pushing the tables back to where they were. He was so focused on cleaning that he didn't even notice the footsteps behind him.

"You know you don't need to do that, right? We've got waitresses and cleaners for that." The bartender's rough voice startled Jackie, who turned around to find the tall man standing behind him.

"I know. But I just feel a little bit bad for wrecking the place." He replied, holding the chair Rosa had ruined in his hand. Still can't believe Rosa would have the strength to shatter a wooden chair over someone's head.

The man laughed cheerfully, that strange design on his equally odd mask fitting the laughter perfectly. "Wrecking the place? Boy, this is Tierra Dorada. People come here to get drunk out of their wits. Of course people will fight and scuffle. The important thing is to break the fights up when they happen, and I'm good at that.

Jackie scratched his head. "But then...why didn't you interfere in that brawl?"

The bartender chuckled, and rubbed his hand over his head. "Heh. I didn't interfere because I wanted to see what you could do."

"What I could do?"

He nodded, and took the ruined chair from Jackie's hands and tossed it to one of the cooks standing by the hollow central table. "It's been a long time since I last saw you. You don't even remember me at all, do you?"

Jackie looked at him and thought hard. He thought all the way back to his earliest memories of being on his dad's ship.

Wait. There was someone. Someone who wore a black mask not too different from the one made of tree bark that this man wore. "See? You don't remember anything, do you?"

He gently placed his hand on Jackie's shoulder.

"It's been a while, Jackie Blackheart."