memoir of a forgotten pirate

IV

I had gotten used to pirate life. It was surprising how quickly I could adapt to it. How good I could be at fighting. It got to the point where I would participate in raids myself– but I usually tried to keep away from killing people if I could help it. The Pirate King constantly reminded me that at some point, taking a human life would become a normal thing.

"You'll be good at it," I remember he would say. "I've raised you well."

I've killed three people in my life.

The first one was a royal guard. He had caught me alone while the Siren's crew were busy buying supplies from a known seller. As he had opened his mouth to call for reinforcements, I slashed open his throat before dumping his body into the river. I still remember how it felt to have my knife run through his throat, cut open his windpipe–

And feel the life leave his body.

My heart pounded in my chest, and I had half a thought to plunge the knife through my own traitorous throat, for daring to kill someone else.

The second person was a rival pirate. He had pulled a knife on me, threatened vengeance against me and the Pirate King, and before he could even finish his sentence, I'd placed a bullet through his brain. I had done it without much thought at all, and that was what scared me at that time.

Sometimes, when I close my eyes, I see the hole in his head, right between his eyes.

The third person was completely an accident.

If taking a life can be considered an 'accident'.

She was a woman. She fell to her knees at the dock, begging me to please spare her children, she'd do anything, just don't hurt them, please—

And when the Pirate King had shoved her out of the way to get her hands off me, she slipped and fell through the dock and into the water. I had turned away, but her screams and pleas for help as she sank into the water wouldn't leave my mind. They still won't, even now.

And yet I still participated in raids. The Pirate King demanded it thus— and he praised me when I did well, which some part of me took pleasure in knowing that I was doing some form of 'well', regardless of the fact that he was teaching me to disregard human life.

My feet hit the ground running as I crashed through the door of an inn.

"This island is being commandeered by the Siren and the Pirate King," my voice hardly sounded like my own. It was perfectly cruel and indifferent. "Surrender yourselves to him and you might live. Any resistors will die."

Most of the patrons of the inn, including the barkeep, rushed hurriedly out of the inn without any questions. Save for one.

A girl was sitting at the bar, toying with a golden coin. In the light, her black hair almost appeared bluish as she swiveled to look at me.

"Suppose I'm one of those 'resistors'," the girl said with a teasing lilt to her voice as she makes air quotes. "So what will you do with me, Mo Qiangxiang?"

My blood ran cold.

"How do you know my name?" I blurted out.

"I have my ways," the girl said. "There's plenty who will pay a pretty penny to have your head dead or alive."

"Tell me who," I said as I raised my sword at her. "Now."

"Sooo demanding," the girl said dramatically as she raises her hand to her forehead. "Is this how you're really going to treat someone who can report you to the king?"

She was right, of course. I lowered my blade uneasily, glaring at her.

"That's better," she said. "If I may ask though, Xiangxiang— why are you doing this? You don't even seem to like it."

"I like it fine enough," I snapped. "You don't know me."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," the girl said. She flipped the coin in her palm toward me, and I caught it in my hand. "I'm good at reading people, you see. That coin I just gave you? A gift from me." She leans forward. "Sometime soon, I bet you'll be needing a big favor. And when that happens... just cash the coin in for a favor."

"Who are you?" I asked, a note of suspicion in my voice. I fumbled with the coin in my palm– the insignia of a golden telescope was inlaid upon it. "Why are you doing this?"

"My name?" The girl raised a hand to her lips. "Oh, well... if it were for anyone else, that'd be a pricey, pricey thing to ask for. But... oh, well. Since I'm giving you a favor anyway, I might as well tell you. My name's Tianyi. And... well... I'd like to be friends!" She smiled brightly, almost the perfect picture of innocence. My polar opposite in some ways– and yet there was something dark behind that cheerful smile.

"Friends?" I asked.

"Oh, yes. Friends," she said with a smile. "You seem like the type to not have any. No offense, of course."

"... None taken," I said uneasily.

Tianyi swung her legs, hopping away from the bar.

"Of course not," she said easily, her voice lilting. "But think about my offer. It's always open."

As she flounced out of the door without a care, she lifted her hood over her head. She turned to give me one last look, and winked.

"See you later, Qiangxiang."