“Leave my crew out of this,” Humbol insisted. He pointedly avoided looking in Cyll’s direction.

“You’re the one that brought them into it in the first place,” Maya observed. “Why should we let any of you go? You’re convinced we’ve got some treasure, and it’s only going to cause us trouble if you go telling others about it.”

Humbol shifted. In a flash, Patty was standing behind him, her axe inches from his neck.

“Don’t move,” Patty warned him. “One wisp of wind and I ruin our deck.”

Humbol swallowed nervously, looking away from the axe and pretending as if it wasn’t there.

“We won’t tell anybody about you!” Humbol said. “Aside from us, nobody even thinks there’s any treasure on that island. Well, and you, I suppose.”

“There is no treasure on that island,” Maya said, sighing. “And what’s your obsession with this treasure, anyways? There are thousands of places full of treasures. Why choose some old rock in the middle of the ocean?”

“I saw it with my own eyes,” Humbol said fervently. “A huge pillar of water rose up from the sea, and a beam of glowing blue light erupted from it. It might have been years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. There is a powerful weapon on that island, and I need it.”

“Why do you need it? There are other weapons,” Patty said.

“Nothing like this one,” Humbol replied. “Nothing with this much power. Not that I could get, at least.”

“And why do you need something so powerful?” Maya asked. “Everyone wants to get stronger, but you probably could have gotten ten times stronger in the time it sounds like you spent waiting around.”

Humbol looked away, pressing his cheek to the deck and staring into the ocean.

“Just kill me and leave my crew alone,” Humbol said. “I’ll not be toyed with any further.”

Maya and Cyll exchanged a glance. The immortal pirate inclined his head towards Patty’s axe. Maya frowned in thought for a few moments. Finally, she shook her head.

“No. We’ve made enough enemies already. I don’t want to bother with his ship. Maybe it’s time we start building up some support.”

“With someone that tried to kill us?” Cyll asked with a doubtful expression.

“Everyone tries to kill us, and at least it didn’t look like it was personal with this fool. It’s not like he was much of a threat, so I say we toss him overboard and leave while his crew saves him.”

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“We can always kill him if he bothers us again,” Patty suggested.

Humbol’s eye twitched slightly, but he didn’t say anything. He kept his face pressed to the ground, ignoring them as best he could while they discussed his fate.

“You’re the Cap,” Cyll said, shrugging. “Just make sure he doesn’t forget what he owes us.”

The pirate strode away, climbing the stairs and returning to the wheel. Maya nodded to his back, then turned to Humbol’s prone form. The watery bindings slithered off him, returning to Maya’s cloak.

Maya grabbed Humbol by his collar and lifted the thin man to his feet.

“You heard Cyll. Count yourself lucky. I’m in a generous mood, and I don’t feel like killing you. Go take care of that crew that you care so much about,” Maya said.

She shoved him over the railing. He plummeted without a sound, but his body never hit the water. He rose back into the sky, white whips of air encircling him like a robe. He gave the Wavedance’s crew a complicated look.

Then he nodded slightly, inclining his head to Maya just enough to show an ounce of respect, and flew towards his ship, which was rapidly approaching them from the side. A moment later, their white sails abruptly went slack. A violent white gale erupted at one side of the ship.

A large wave ripped out as Humbol’s ship nearly spun from the wind, turning to point the other direction from the Wavedance. Their sails erupted outwards again and they jerked away, leaving as fast as they’d come.

“Huh. That Humbol fellow is an interesting one,” Cyll observed from behind the wheel.

“He certainly was,” Maya agreed. “He was so confident until we threatened his crew. What’s up with that? Surely they can at least defend themselves a little.”

“Not to mention his obsession with the island’s treasure. Which is currently inside you,” Patty said, chuckling. “I bet he’d be pissed if he knew that it was right in front of him that whole time.”

“That’s part of the reason I let him go, actually,” Maya said.

Cyll paused, glancing down at her and frowning. He stepped away from the wheel and walked down to join them.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“Well, Humbol said he’d been watching the island for a long time. If anyone at all knows him, and he suddenly stopped watching the island, they’d immidiately assume the treasure he was looking for wasn’t on the island either,” Maya explained. “And that means we now have everyone and their grandmother following after us.”

“So you let him go to make it seem as if we really don’t have the treasure,” Patty realized.

“That’s pretty clever,” Cyll said, raising his eyebrows and letting out a small huff. “I would have just killed him.”

“That’s probably why you got tossed underground,” Maya said, smirking.

“Don’t be too snippy, you were right down there with me,” Cyll replied. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but the pirate paused.

“Is his ship headed back towards us?”

They spun. Sure enough, the white sailed ship was making a beeline towards them. Maya’s eye twitched slightly.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she sighed. “You already wiped the floor with him, and he clearly doesn’t have much faith in his crew. What’s his problem?”

“Should I sink them?” Patty asked, glancing over at the barrel of cannonballs.

Maya chewed her lip. She watched as a dark form once again launched itself from the ship and Humbol flew towards them.

“Please don’t attack!” Humbol yelled once he was hovering in shouting distance.

“What do you want? We already let you go, and our patience doesn’t stretch forever!” Maya yelled back.

“Well, based on where you’re sailing, you’re headed to Greenhill. If that’s the case, I figured you might want an escort. They don’t take kindly to unknown ships there.”