Walking into the main deck, William stumbled onto Leyla.
Her blond curls were folded into a messy bun, and she wasn't wearing one of her usual dresses. Instead, she was wearing a loose, black tank top and some black pants. A golden bell looped around her hips.
''Big bro!'' She smiled happily and wrapped her arms around his neck for a tight hug.
William stepped back from the force of her weight, but he caught her mid-embrace.
''What's gotten into you?'' He chuckled under his breath.
Leyla smiled and buried her face in his shoulder.
''I'm just happy to see my big bro after all this time!''
He laughed softly and patted her head.
After gently squeezing her, he smiled and guided her to some barrels nearby to sit on them. She smiled and snuggled up to his side. He gently leaned his head on top of hers and relaxed knowing that his little sister was safe and happy in his arms.
Then a thought crossed his mind.
''Say, Leyla… why did you say that I was spoiled the other day…?''
Leyla smiled sweetly, her eyebrows knitting together.
''William,'' she sighed softly. ''You know I love you, but you're slightly ungrateful towards our parents…''
His eye twitched, but he tried as hard as he could to keep his smile.
'Oh, Leyla, how ignorant you are…''
''What makes you say that?''
Leyla thought about it, humming softly in the process.
''Well, you said that mom and dad did nothing for you… meanwhile, they gave us affection, spoiled us and made sure we'd always be happy.''
'Yeah, except you're mixing 'us' with 'you'.'
William sighed heavily at the thought and leaned back, his head dropping onto the ship's thick, wooden railing.
''Just… to how many people have you said that about me?''
Leyla smiled brightly and chuckled.
''To our new friends!'' She said cheerily.
William felt anything but cheerful at those words. None of them were trustworthy yet except from maybe Silver and Jean-Jacques.
''Hey! You two need to help out if you want to stay on The Golden Temptress!''
William perked up at the new distraction and made his way to a female teenager with high buns. A small, black hat with golden edges sat between them. Her skin was dark and she was wearing a shorter tank top than Leyla's. She looked like a queen bee, but she looked unusually responsible for someone like that…
But the most striking detail about her were her pupils bathed with their dark yellow irises. Her pupils didn't you round, not even sharp like Moon's personalities. No, her pupils were arrows that pointed at the direction she was looking at that.
''The name's Miel, and I'm Capricorn's co-captain. If you want to keep staying under its roof, you need to make yourself useful.''
Then she whistled by pressing two fingers in her mouth. The crew came rushing to her while standing straight, their arms behind their backs.
''Already, The Rose Noire, we will mix some of your chores to match with Leyla and William's physical and magical abilities!''
She turned sharply to the siblings and scowled at them severely.
''So, how will you guys help around here?''
William looked down at Leyla and smiled fondly.
''I'm sure she could help around the kitchen.''
—————————————————————————————————————
Back in Capricorn's study, Adam was sitting at the same chair as William had.
Capricorn's eyes were narrowed at him as she crossed her fingers together.
''Will you finally tell me what happened when I wasn't active or shall I twirl my thumbs?''
He shrugged, his eyes tracing the length of her brown waves. The light seeping through the window gave that ethereal golden glow over the soft hair.
''One doesn't stop the other.''
She rolled her eyes so hard it almost hurt.
He laughed at the dramatics of it all and slowly leaned into her with his curved lips.
''Fine. I'll tell you.'' He cleared his throat and crossed his arms. ''Vanilla took Silver's place for some time. There was a whole epic fight with a robot, some people in a building died…'' he recalled, almost laughing at the thought. ''But most importantly,'' his gaze darkened. ''Myrtille found a way to free her soul from your mind temporarily, which is greatly concerning.''
Silence settled in the room as they stared into each other's eyes. Silence that was then broken by a huff from the Captain.
Capricorn rolled her eyes.
''No shit, Sherlock. I noticed her blessing on William.''
Adam laughed darkly and leaned in.
''Yes, but did you know that he was close to her?''
She nodded.
''Obviously. How would he know about her real name if it weren't the case. What I meant was where are we headed now.''
Adam stretched his sore muscles, flinching when reaching a particularly stubborn knot as he rose from his chair.
''Ah, well, Coco, Rico and Anne-Marie went to the circus for some reason. Only Berlin knows why.'' He cleared his throat and turned to leave, then stopped when stepping into the hallway. ''And one more thing, Angel…''
Capricorn raised an eyebrow and leaned back in her chair with crossed arms and silently nodded, urging him to go on. He turned his head, gazing at her over his shoulder and flashed her a grin.
''Mind keeping Silver in check for me? I wouldn't want to lay hands on her for her to understand her lesson.''
And with that, he left.
Leaving behind an underlying tension in the room and a thinking Capricorn.
—————————————————————————————————————
Stepping onto the main deck, Capricorn was back in her coat and hat while holding a book in her hand.
She noticed William filling the guns (cannons) with their round shot, sweating and shirtless.
The Captain couldn't help but snort at the sight, because wow, William was actually doing something to help the crew. Even though he didn't have the appropriate body do it.
Tossing the book that was in her hand onto a nearby table, she walked up to William and helped him fill the next gun with its round shot.
''Holy cow, you're stronger than what you look like.'' She chuckled, glancing at his slender arms.
William sighed at the words, blue eyes dropping to the ground.
''My parents used to say the same thing, except they blamed me for it as if it was my fault.''
Capricorn shrugged and eyed the horizon.
''From my experience? Muscles don't mean shit. Okay, it's a great show of dominance, but between a gorilla and a lion, the lion would win. Not because of how impressive it looks like, but because it has experience and a great mind, you know what I mean?''
William admired how the wind made her hair gently sway along with the salty breeze, her coat doing the same behind her.
After some time, William smiled and chuckled.
''Yeah, I see what you mean.''
He wiped some of the sweat clinging to his forehead and took a deep breath.
''I think I need a bath…''
Capricorn hummed and signaled for Gustave to come over.
''Hey, Gustave, take the new recruit to your bathroom.
-Alright, Captain!'' He shot a glare at William and forced on a smile. ''I'd be happy to take care of… your apprentice for you.''
William flinched at the bite in Gustave's words, it hurt to know that he was already getting hated by someone from the crew…
Arriving to the bathroom, William swept his eyes over the cozy atmosphere. The lightning was soft and the walls were dark. There was a shockingly small amount of humidity in the area with a bunch of folded towels sitting next to the sink. The shower had a golden edge with a slick and white head. The whole area was clean and quite luxurious for pirates…
Gustave slammed the door behind William and left.
Making his way back into the main deck of the ship, Gustave found The Captain doing William's work, silently filling the round shots with the guns.
Gustave shook his head and walked over to her.
''No, no, no, Captain! You shouldn't be the one doing that idiot's work!''
Capricorn shot a smirk at him and lightly threw at him one of the guns.
''Then you will be the one doing it!''
Gustave fell from the heavy gun and groaned.
''That's not what I meant and you know it…'' the slowly rose with the gun in hand and gently dropped the heavy gun at their feet. ''What I meant was that he should be the one doing it. You're spoiling him too much.''
Capricorn chuckled and crossed her arms with an annoyed grin.
''I ain't spoiling him, Gustave. I am only doing the work nobody else can do for him. Besides, I need him to be somewhat free later for me to teach him Blue Berry's course.
-You still shouldn't work for us, Cap, even less for him…''
Capricorn sighed and shrugged.
''You say that as if I had a choice.
-Oh, but you do~''
She instinctively took out her sword and pointed it at the person's throat. Turns out it was only Adam and his signature smirk, as always.
Her eyes rolled so hard it looked painful, and let out a scoff.
''You and your cryptic words.''
She turned back to Gustave and swiftly slid her sword back into her belt, while Gustave gritted his teeth at Adam and stepped between them, guiding Capricorn behind him.
''Stay away from her!''
Adam laughed delightfully and raised his hands in mock defense.
''Relax, pretty boy,'' Adam purred smoothly. ''Can't a man talk to his lover without getting hit?''
Capricorn stepped out from Gustave's makeshift protection and glared at Adam.
''We're still not dating, by the way.
-Whatever you say, angel~''
A strong but pleasant floral scent cut through the tension, making Capricorn's protests die in her throat. She looked back at the doors leading to the stairs that led to the hallway downstairs as her yellow eyes locked onto the figure walking in.
William stepped into the main deck, back into his white shirt, now's unbuttoned, and dark pants. Miel practicality teleported in front of him with how fast she ran to him.
''You know, you're kind of cute when you're clean~'' she giggled and stepped closer to him. ''Wanna hang out later? Or even date?''
William's brain court-circuited at the question, and before he could even answer, Capricorn shoved Miel off him.
''Back off my apprentice! He already has a busy schedule!
-But he's hot when he doesn't look like a homeless peasant!!!!'' Miel whined.
''A what now—?'' William stammered.
''Enough.'' Capricorn's voice cut through the tension. ''My student needs to learn how to use both his powers and agility.'' The pirate shrugged. ''But while we'll be doing that, feel free to pathetically drool all over him if that's what you wish to do.''
Miel ignored Capricorn's rolling eyes and started admiring William with those arrow-shaped pupils of hers.
Capricorn shook her head at Miel's theatrics and picked back up the book she had originally brought.
''This is a grimoire I found in my study.'' She handed it to William with a bored gaze. ''I took a look at the spells, and they should be at your level. Just know that astronomy-based magic is pretty hard, so I'll have to teach you the very basics of magic itself first.''
William hesitantly took the grimoire, stars exploding in those deep blue eyes of his.
''You should try studying some of these spells in your free time. It'll be easier for you to learn them and understand their concept that way.
———
The day had been long, William kept studying the grimoire Capricorn had given him after their multiple sword-fights that William kept losing.
At night, William kept studying the grimoire on his desk in the boys' shared bedroom while they were asleep.
He yawned over the book and kept taking notes, dark circles were forming under his eyes as exhaustion started taking hold of him.
Just as sleep was about to doze him off, he felt a hand drop on his shoulder.
He gasped and sat straight, his eyes wide as he helplessly looked around. He was about to scream before the silhouette clamped his mouth.
''Shut the fudge up, for Berlin's sake!'' The voice he recognized grumbled as it whisper-yelled.
Taking a better look at the figure, he noticed it was Silver, her usual ponytail was instead a cascade of messy grey hair falling over her covered shoulders. With a dark hoodie covering them.
William blinked up at her and stared into her red eyes with his own blue ones. Hers seemed to be glowing, making it easier for him to recognize her in the dark.
''What are you doing here?'' He whispered back and looked over at his sleeping roommates.
Silver shrugged and leaned back against his desk.
''I sensed that someone was awake in this room. So, I thought I'd take a look in case of emergencies.'' She shoots him a glare. ''Turns out it was only you, so I'm out.''
She stands back up properly and makes her way back to the door, her steps as quiet as a cat's even with the usually creaking boat.
''W-wait—!!!'' William shoots a hand out, as if he could reach for her even though her hand was already resting over the door handle.
She paused in her tracks, turning her head over a shoulder to look back at him, waiting for his request.
''Could you help me understand this grimoire?'' He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced back at it. ''The more I read it, the less I understand…''
Silver gazed at him for a moment longer before backing off the door with a sigh.
''You should ask Moon next time. She's the best at it along with your master.''
William whined and dropped his head onto the desk.
''I haven't even met her yet, and from what I've heard, nor Moonlight, nor Blue B— Myrtille, I mean, will come out any time soon.''
Silver silently stared at him for a moment longer from the side of the room.
It was pathetic to witness him like this, Silver had to admit. And she felt pathetic for what she was about to do…
''Move over.'' She grumbled.