When the sun started to disappear behind the horizon the fruit had finally stopped flying across the island of the iguanas. Orange and yellow strokes blended into a beautiful mess in the sky, eerily similar to the smashed mangos and papayas that were scattered over the beach. Exhausted and exhilarated the pirates collapsed in the impossible soft sand. Drunk on life, rather than rum.

During the fruit fight, the lizards had dutifully collected wood for a bonfire, carrying sticks with their mouths, and Grace, who steadfastly refused to engage in the childish shenanigans, had prepared food. Grilled fish and fresh, slightly smashed, fruit, were served to the humans. Delicious crisp turnips, fetched from the Estrella, were devoured by the animals. Well, by all animals except the cat. Oliviero happily chose to partake in the grilled fish instead.

Capybaras and turtles from the nearby islands had joined the party as well, and could now tell their tales in their own words. Apparently, they swam across the bay all the time to socialize with the iguanas, since the island was always possible for animals to visit. It was only humans who needed to be vetted first. Although their jellyfish neighbors weren't of the social kind so they usually stayed on their own secluded island.

The crew snuggled up around the gentle flames of the bonfire. The captain's arm rested around Grace's shoulder. Joe and Pedro sat suspiciously close together. Lucien sleepily inched close to Alba and leaned against her shoulder.

Meanwhile, the animals were wrapped up in their own social intrigues. Alba couldn't help but listen in on them. Because who wouldn't eavesdrop on talking animals?

Oliviero ran up to a small capybara who stood and looked at the hypnotic flames of the fire. "Play?" the cat asked in an expectant tone and did a little side jump.

"Nah," the capybara said and laid down with its little legs folded underneath.

The cat looked confused. "Play?" he asked again.

The capybara shook its head. "Nah," it repeated and closed its eyes to immediately drift off into slumber.

With a puzzled look the cat pawed the capybara on the back, claws not extended. He got no reaction. The capybara was too relaxed to care.

"Play!" Rodrigo suddenly yelled. The iguana came running across the beach with sand cascading around him. Oliviero looked up and excitedly followed suit. "Play!" the cat yelled as well before he crouched down in position to pounce on the lizard, wiggling his fluffy tail in the air. Soon a giant cloud of sand enveloped the animals as they rolled around in playful banter.

Iguana-Ignacio, because that's apparently what he needs to be called now, was wrapped up in an argument with the same giant sea turtle that he had squabbled with earlier while on their island. It seemed to be part of a long neighborly conflict about the rights to the delicious seaweed that could be found on the reef between their islands.

"You're only supposed to harvest on the western side!" the iguana argued.

"We were on the western side!" the turtle, who Alba had learned was called Thomas, countered.

"Let's consult the map again," the iguana replied with a sigh and changed his scales to show an accurate portrayal of the bay. "My mane shows where the border should lay. You were clearly to the east of it!"

Another iguana, with scales that shimmered in fashionable scarlet red, skittered up to them. "Are you at this again, Ignacio?" she asked in an annoyed tone.

"I just have to settle this once and for all, Carmen," Ignacio retorted.

"You say that every time..." Carmen, which was apparently a perfectly normal name for an iguana, replied. If an iguana could roll its eyes this one definitely did before leaving Ignacio and the turtle to their own devices. It was apparently no use arguing with him.

Alba turned back to her fellow pirates around the fire. The animals would have to solve their own conflicts. Lucien had by now fallen asleep with his head rested in her lap. Her fingers played a bit with the blonde curls that splayed out over her legs. She wondered if he would let her color it for him, the light strands would take to plant dye so well. Then he would look like a proper fashionable pirate.

In the corner of her eye, she saw Joe pick something up from his bag. A black hat with a skull and crossbones embroidered on it.

The captain's hat. The hat that had been worn by both Captain Ignacio's. Both the human and the lizard. It had a few holes in it from the iguana's spikes and it looked like the lizard might have chewed on it at some point. But still, it was a powerful symbol for the crew.

"I fetched this from the ship, captain," Joe said and held the hat up toward Captain Ignacio. "We found it on deck after you disappeared. I figured you wanted it back."

Alba felt a sting in her heart as Joe flung the hat toward Captain Ignacio. Of course, she was happy to have the captain back. But his return also meant that the hat would never be hers. No one would listen to her anymore.

Captain Ignacio gracefully caught the hat with one hand. But as he held it a sorrowful and conflicted look fell over his face. The captain shared a look with Grace and then looked up toward his crew.

"This isn't mine anymore," he said in a serious tone. "I'm not going to be captain of the Estrella again."

The pirates looked at their captain, well former captain, in astonishment. They had all assumed that things would go back to how it used to be before he disappeared.

"Why?" Pedro stuttered.

"The captain's role drove me to drink before, and it might do so again," Captain Ignacio, because they would still always call him that, replied. "Even if we don't keep rum around it on the ship will be plentiful at the ports. I can't have that temptation."

"So where will you go?" Joe asked.

"Grace and I talked, and... we've decided to stay here," Captain Ignacio said and interlaced his fingers with Grace's. Tan freckled skin against dark smooth skin. "Because the world is not a kind place. There are very few places in the world where a man who looks like me can walk hand in hand with a woman who looks like Grace without being thrown looks, or worse... But here, we can be free. We'll help the iguanas guard this place and welcome the guests that arrive."

It was an understandable decision, but yet a hard decision for the crew to accept. They all adored their captain.

"But.. who is going to be our captain then?" Pedro wondered in a confused tone.

Alba braced herself for the inevitable fight that was to come when Joe and Pedro both volunteered for the job.

But neither of the men did. Their time of bickering was over. Through the flames, she thought she could hint at their hands being interlaced in the sand.

No one else volunteered either. The whole crew was silent for a moment.

Alba didn't dare speak either, afraid that her volunteering would be met by boos or even worse, laughter.

"Lizard-Ignacio has told me everything that happened on your journey here," Captain Ignacio finally said. "It sounds like Alba has been doing a good job as captain."

His kind eyes met hers. Of course, Captain Ignacio would see her. He would understand that it had been her all along. He had always seen her. Ever since that day when she tried to pickpocket him in San Carlos. He had caught her in the act, but instead of scolding her or turning her to the authorities, he had offered her another life. A life on the ocean. A life of meaning.

"What do you say, Alba?" he asked. "Do you want to be captain of the Estrella?

Of course, she did. But could she do it? Would the men actually listen to her?

"I do," she said, her eyes and voice not wavering. "But only if the crew wants me. A leader is only a leader if people listen to them."

Captain Ignacio smiled and nodded. "That's what a captain would say," he said. "A captain doesn't force their authority, they earn it. So let's put it to a vote."

The sleeping Lucien in Alba's lap raised his hand in the air right away. Apparently, he wasn't completely asleep after all.

Time stood still while Alba waited for someone else to raise their hand. Seconds felt like hours.

Then Joe raised his hand. "I vote for Alba," he said in a convinced tone.

Pedro followed suit right thereafter, untangling his right hand from Joe's to raise it in the air. "I vote for Alba as well;" he said.

One after the other the rest of the crew raised the hands in the air as well. "I vote for Alba," they all said.

Soon every single pirate held their hand in the air.

Alba heard a familiar wheeze behind her. "I also vote for Alba, if I get a vote," Ignacio, the iguana, said. "Because I was never the captain. She always was."

The next moment Captain Ignacio stood in front of Alba with the frayed captain's hat in his hands. He brushed some sand off it before placing it on top of her purple braids. It fit better on her than on the iguana. It fit perfectly.

"Hooray for Captain Alba!" the former captain bellowed and the whole pirate crew chanted with him. "Hooray for Captain Alba!"