The Rookie Pirates (Parts 1-6)

17. A Secret

Jessica laughed at his response, though she would soon regret later on that day for offering to pay for his food as the bacon kept on coming. However, she was too happy in the moment to care; she had made a friend.

They continued to talk, and Jessica showed him her locket and a picture of Zachary inside of it. The grin on Levi's face when he saw Zachary made her day. He looked so happy to see his old friend.

Levi went on to tell her all of his adventures with his crew, and they sounded amazing from his point of view rather than reading the made up stories about him in the newspaper. The papers made him come across as a vicious, bloodthirsty pirate when he was anything but that.

He gobbled down a whole piece of meat in one bite. His neck stretched, revealing the shape of the bone, and his face started to turn purple. He slammed his throat and gulped, burping in the process, and called the waitress over to order more food.

"I noticed earlier that you're a cursed soul. What exactly is your ability?" Jessica asked, fascinated by the way his arms quickly moved in a blur around the table.

"I have three cursed souls." He lifted three fingers into the air, and Jessica gasped. "Locomotion, super strength, and super speed." He then pulled a sour face. "But I don't like using my speed too often; it tires me out really quickly, makes me hungry all the time, and takes forever for me to regain my energy."

Jessica was amazed. She'd heard of people having two cursed souls, but three was unheard of. This boy was unique, and she started to understand how he became such an infamous pirate.

"Locomotion?"

Before answering Jessica's question, Levi shoved more food down his throat. "That's what Penny calls it," he said in a muffled tone. "I can jump really far."

Jessica parted her mouth, about to ask more questions when she was interrupted.

"Jessica, stage now!" Elena pointed to her purple silk ropes.

Already a crowd of men had surrounded the stage. Jessica groaned, but she couldn't complain. Elena paid her well, and it was good for tips.

"Could you look after my locket and sword for me?" She placed the items down onto the table.

Levi nodded his head as he shovelled more food into his mouth. Jessica made her way up on to the stage and started her routine.

Still sat at the bar, Alex watched on, intrigued with the girl as she jumped up onto the stage. She threw her boots and socks off and started to climb up the purple silk ropes like a monkey climbing a tree.

He paused before taking another sip of his whiskey, mesmerised by her routine as she danced with the silk ropes up in the air like she was flying. He had never seen anything like it before. The sequence was elegant. The way her body moved up and down the ropes, the way the silk twisted around her waist and emphasised her curves.

"She's beautiful isn't she?"

"Yeah," he breathed out.

A smile still evident on his face as he continued to watch, it was like he was under her spell.

Alex blinked a couple of times, realising he had admitted out loud to admiring the girl. His facial muscles slackened, and a red hue appeared on his cheeks as he faced the barmaid. She was leaning against the bar, her head propped in her hands as she gazed at him with fascination. She wore a revealing black dress and a pearl the size of a marble encrusted onto a gold pendant around her neck. Altogether she was beautiful but oddly familiar to Alex. It was the eyes: dark, yellow, and haunting.

"Do I know you?" He slipped his white dagger, Washiro, out from her white sheath, ready in case the barmaid was an enemy.

He could have sworn he had met her before. He shook his head. It could have been a different but similar looking woman from his past. His memory of his childhood was hazy. It always had been, yet her presence felt familiar. But not in a good way.