Luna stopped at the center of the deck, her leather boots scraping against the wet wood. Johny stood motionless before her, his sword wreathed in living flames that glowed with an ominous intensity. For a moment, their eyes met. There was something there—a strange sorrow, almost paternal.
"Why did you choose this path, girl?" His voice was steady but low, heavy with a melancholy that seemed to weigh more than the battle raging around them. "You don’t have to be like your parents."
"I’m not here to be anyone, Captain, i’m walking the path I choose" Luna replied, her gaze unwavering and defiant. "but I won’t let you take my friends."
Johny tilted his head slightly, a gesture hovering between regret and resignation. The flames on his blade crackled softly, as if echoing emotions he couldn’t find the words for.
"So that’s it? This is the choice you’ve made?" Johny murmured, his voice nearly a whisper, yet laden with something deeper—a mixture of disbelief and sorrow.
Luna squared her shoulders, as if trying to shrug off an invisible weight pressing down on her. The night wind whipped through her hair, while the flickering light of the flames cast harsh shadows across her face. Yet her eyes remained steady, resolute.
"I just want to be free," she said, her voice hard, though her words carried a fragile vulnerability hidden beneath the surface. "I’m still just that dream-filled little girl."
For a moment, silence fell between them, broken only by the sound of waves crashing against the hull and the faint crackling of flames.
"You don’t look it," Johny said dryly. He tilted his chin, his expression shadowed by the shifting light of his flaming sword. "I see a strong, determined woman... A pirate."
Luna’s gaze shifted to the dark horizon as if searching for something she knew she’d never find. A bitter smile flickered across her lips, fleeting and faint, like a star swallowed by clouds.
"I’m just playing the role I was given... for now," she said, her voice heavy with pain. She drew a deep breath, fighting against the tremor in her tone but letting the sorrow show in her eyes. "I won’t abandon them, Johny. Not after losing my father in such a stupid way."
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"So that’s why that fool isn’t here," Johny muttered, lowering his blade slightly, his voice barely more than a whisper. "I thought he’d just drunk himself under, like always... I’m sorry, Luna. But... I have my orders."
The two began circling each other on the deck. Luna was the first to act. In an instant, she lunged forward, her sword raised high, the blue glow of her blade slicing through the air toward Johny’s chest. He raised his flaming sword to block, and the impact rang out like a thunderclap. Sparks exploded around them, and the flames on Johny’s blade flickered, faltering for a brief moment.
Luna gave him no time to recover. She pressed forward again, fury etched into every movement. Spinning on her heels, her skirt flared like a whirlpool as her sword arced toward Johny’s torso. He sidestepped just in time, narrowly avoiding the steel that nearly found its mark.
But Johny wasn’t idle. His blazing sword swung in a wide horizontal sweep, the scorching heat passing mere inches from Luna’s head. The ends of her hair singed from the proximity, but she didn’t flinch. Her attacks remained as relentless as ever.
Sliding across the deck, Luna dropped low, the planks groaning beneath her weight. With one hand braced on the ground, she delivered a precise kick to Johny’s knee. The sharp impact made him stumble. As he regained his footing, he locked eyes with her, his gaze burning like embers. A low growl rumbled from his chest, and the flames of his sword roared higher, fueled by his rising intensity.
Luna didn’t relent. She charged again, a battle cry tearing through the air as she poured all her strength into a punch. A vortex of wind swirled around her fist, amplifying the force of the strike. The blow connected with Johny’s chest in a dull, resonating thud, and the air itself seemed to ripple from the impact. A flash of blue light erupted where her fist met his body, and the captain was hurled backward, gasping as he struggled to catch his breath.
When he looked up again, his eyes glowed fiercely.
"You’ll never win, girl," he said, his voice low and dripping with venom. "You’ve never killed anyone. You don’t have the guts for it..."
The atmosphere around them seemed to hum with raw energy, charged with something primal and threatening. The heat radiating from Johny’s flaming sword warped the air, the flames writhing as if alive. Rain began to pour in earnest, pounding against the deck in a frenzied rhythm, but the droplets sizzled and evaporated before they could touch Johny’s blazing blade.
"Come on, girl!" he snarled, his eyes gleaming with a twisted excitement as he faced off against someone from the O’Zazard line. "Show me what your father taught you in these ten years!"