The voices quietened as he began to walk toward the group. It got even quieter as the musician also stopped playing their lute. With each step, a creek from the floor board could be heard as he approached closer. As the creeks finally stopped, he was now right in front of them.

They all opened up a space between him and the arm wrestling crate. Bron had soon gotten up and merged into the crowd. Captain John then placed himself into his chair and looked over to Jetta. After a few seconds, she too stood up and walked off to the side of the ship.

Like usual, Captain John then took a large swig of alcohol from a bottle he was carrying. Kenzo wondered what was going on and why the captain had just randomly taken a seat.

But then, he felt a hand firmly place itself onto his shoulder.

“Excuse me.”

The voice was one he knew. It belonged to Captain William. 

Kenzo turned his head and noticed everyone had already moved out of the way. So he too—quickly sidestepped to allow the captain to walk through.

Captain William then took a seat in the chair Jetta was sitting in. The captains were now facing one another without saying a word. 

Their hands then clashed as they got into the arm wrestling position. The hunter who did the countdowns moved in, and held both of their hands. He slowly looked at both captains who seemed ready and started to countdown.

“Three.”

But it wasn’t the hunter that said this, it was Captain William. He had for some reason cut of the hunter before they could start the countdown themselves.

“Two,” Captain John said.

The hunter, who now looked rather intimidated let go of their hand before they had even finished the countdown.

“One,” both the captains said.

And without saying go, they both tightened their grip and put their full strength into their arms. The crate began to shake as they both struggled to gain an advantage. Captain William held a steady grip while Captain John alternated between moderate to full effort—clearly trying to catch his opponent of guard.

After a few seconds of this technique, Captain John had gained the upper hand against Captain William. Williams hand was moving closer and closer to his side of the crate as John continued to alternate his strength.

But overtime, things started to balance out as it seemed he could not maintain that level of sporadic energy for too long.

A few more seconds passed and Captain William had now gained the upper hand, as he continued to maintain a consistent pressure on Captain John.

Kenzo marvelled at the match. It was even more entertaining than he thought it would be. It was like the essence of who these two leaders were could be seen just from how they arm wrestled.

But the atmosphere soon began to change. A tension took over the ship, as the rival crews watched their respective captain. Lady Social’s crew looked like they were preparing for something as they too cautiously watched.

After some observation, it became clear to Kenzo what this match was about to lead too.

However, something soon came to diffuse the situation. It was music, being played at the front of the ship.

When Kenzo looked toward the ships front, he saw Lady Social playing a violin. She was playing a calm song that seemed to have soothed the mood of everyone nearby.

The ship was now focusing on her and her alone. Even the captains—who’s hands were still holding each other were paying attention to the song.

But after everyone's attention was fully on her, she stopped playing.

Lady Social then took a deep breath, and started to play her violin again. The next song however wasn’t a calm one, but was one much catchier in a rather captivating way. This song was one the hunters seemed to know as they looked at one another and slowly began to nod to the tune. 

She then began to sing and Captain Williams musician started to play along.

The song was about a female hunter gathering allies to join her on a quest to retake a distant land from an ‘enemy’. When the hunter went to different locations, she asked the people she met if they would join her in her journey. 

As the song went on, Lady Social began to sing the main chorus of this tale. This part of the song was where the female hunter would ask the hunters to join her.

“YES!”

Suddenly, Kenzo could hear the voices of the hunters from the other two ships. It seemed they could hear the song and were singing along to the main chorus. This had a ripple effect and caused all the hunters on Lady Social’s ship to also sing along.

With the crowd now singing and also dancing, the captains released their grip from one another. They then stood up and briefly looked at each other, but did not exchange any words. This situation Kenzo himself had experienced many times with his mother. He could tell they wanted to say something, but chose not to.

Captain John then began to also sing and joined the crowd. Captain William walked off toward the stairs and Jetta who was watching from the side joined him.

“Why’d she change the words. Wasn’t the hunter in that song a man?” Jetta asked.

“We both know she loves to make everything about her,” Captain William replied.

They both then went under deck.

As the party raved on with a new burst of energy, Kenzo was pulled to the side by Theo. 

“I’ve been thinking about how you got here,” he said.

Theo then pointed at the cabin doors. “The orphan girl said she first saw you in a room in there. Well that was Lady Social’s quarters, which is off limits to anyone but her. Don’t you think it’s strange that you woke up in there?”

This was something Kenzo hadn’t thought about. Randomly waking up on this ship was weird enough—but just like Theo was saying—awaking in that room was even weirder.

“Maybe Lady Social knows more than she’s letting on,” Theo said.

He then nodded at Kenzo and walked off. It wasn’t clear why he told him that, but now it had planted a new question in Kenzo’s head. Maybe there was something in that room that could answer how he got here.

Maybe, it would help him see his mother again.

After awhile, Kenzo noticed Vic didn’t seem to be paying much attention to him, so he retreated back to the corner he sat in earlier. But as he sat down, he was approached by Lady Social who had finished playing her song.

“Not enjoying the party?” she said with a smile.

She then sat next to him and looked at the crowd.

“Do you see it?” she asked. “It’s just like the children. For a moment, their more focused on having fun together than fighting one another.”

As Kenzo looked forward, he knew this was an interesting turn of events. The crews no longer looked like rivals but rather friends enjoying an occasion together.

“What do you think it would cost for the future to look like this?” Lady Social asked, as she stared off into the distance.

Kenzo didn’t respond.

This was something he had never thought about, not even in his own world. But his silence was followed by a silence of her own, so he looked at her to see why.

It happened once again.

There was a tear, however this time it came from Lady Social’s uncovered eye. But unlike before, this one freely flowed out as she didn’t attempt to hide it.

She looked over at Kenzo. “Look’s like a part of me still hadn’t made up it’s mind.”

Lady Social slowly wiped the tear from her face and stood up. But as she started to walk off she turned around.

A flask came flying at Kenzo from her hand. When he caught it, he realised it looked like the one Captain John had given him. After checking his pocket, he noticed the flask was gone.

“Captain John never shares his drinks Kenzo. Keep it safer or I’ll be tempted to drink it myself next time,” she said, as she smiled and walked away.

Kenzo took another look at the flask. He then looked up at the people having fun. Now in the crowd—was Lady Social—holding Bron’s hands as she danced with him. There were others dancing too, with their arms crossed around each others shoulders while they sang.

Soon, Kenzo had opened the flask and started to drink what was inside. It had a really unpleasant taste, but wasn’t bad enough for him to spit it back out. After drinking enough, he closed it and put it back in his pocket. 

A few moments later, Kenzo started to tap his feet to the music.