The world was split with a blast of sound. Hot lead cut through the air, and the upper half of the drunk spun away into the air while his lower half fell to the deck in a shower of blood before slipping off the edge. Everyone stood stock still short of Lemon, who split her shotgun and pulled out the spent cartridges, only to fling them out into the open air. Once the weapon was reloaded, Lemon closed the breach and slung the weapon back onto her shoulder.
“What the hell was that all about, Lemon? They were about to fight.”
All eyes beheld the crewmember who dared to speak out before turning back to Lemon, who stood there passively as if no one had just died seconds ago. Upon her lack of reaction or comment, all eyes fell upon Gizmo, who stood there with his mouth open in surprise. When Gizmo had nothing to give to this melodrama playing out, the focus turned to Lorenzo, who kneeled with his arms still protectively covering his face.
“Kid, as much as I was going to lose. I had hoped you had the strength to win your spot with us. You had some serious spunk, and I am truly sorry about this.” Gizmo pulled a large bore hand gun out of a holster on his hip to point it at Lorenzo who was just now getting painfully to his feet. “Do you have anything to say before I shoot you? Come on, go out with some wise words or maybe something cool, okay?”
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Lorenzo met Gizmos gazed before zeroing his focus on the barrel of the gun the big man held. Squaring his shoulders, he refused to die without having a say in things, so he gave the big man a gaze that dared him to fire. Everyone watched Gizmo swallow hard before looking to Lemon for support.
“Tell me one thing. Why are you shooting me? What did I do wrong? So next time I might make this right.”
Gizmo gave Lorenzo an incredulous look. A chuckle rose deep from within his belly before being released to the world at large. As soon as the humor subsided, Gizmo replied.
“Look kid, to tell you the truth, I do not want to shoot you. But look around. You have no one to fight to show your worth. Unless anyone else wishes to fight you to show your metal against?”
Despite Gizmo looking around for any takers from the crew, Lorenzo kept his gaze locked on the portly man. The big man shrugged, finding no one to take on the challenge, and lowered his weapon to target Lorenzo once again. Using his thumb to cock the weapon, finger squeezing the trigger, Lorenzo refused to look away even in the last moments. A sound mightier than any gun, but as silent as a whisper on the wind, blew across the decking and everyone in the hold froze.
“Stay your hand, Gizmo. You would not kill our newest shipwright, would you?”