Zach's heart stopped when he heard the screeching whistle he had made earlier over the waves of the ocean. This whistle was ten times louder and more dominant than his, which wasn't possible. Only a member of his family could make such a powerful noise.

"Captain, did they just-?" Bart was speechless.

Everyone on deck had frozen in fear, having heard the whistle, and waited for the captain's response.

"They did!" Zach's teeth clenched, and he drew out his red-bladed cutlass when the snake came hurtling back towards the ship.

He effortlessly climbed up the rigging and prepared himself for an attack. However, none came, and the snake stayed below the surface of the water.

"You need to start treating Linda with more care."

Zach swung around. "Death trap!" He sent his spirit attack hurtling through the air and towards the newcomer, who easily deflected it with his metal board and sent it flying towards the foremast.

The mast sparked with a deadly red energy, followed by a loud, agonising creak. It started to splinter and toppled over, crashing onto the deck below with a loud thud.

"That's no way to greet your little brother."

Zach looked up, frowning, only for a big grin to form on his lips when he finally worked out it was his little brother stood upside down on a hovering metal board with his arms folded across his chest.

"Ruben?"

"Hey, Zach," Kirk greeted with the same grin.

His little brother's crimson red hair was sticking out in all directions, and the steampunk goggles Zach once gave to him as a gift were about to slide off his head. Zach hardly recognised him. The last time they saw each other, Kirk was still a child, and now he was a fully grown adult in his mid-twenties.

"It's been a while, huh?" Zach sheathed his red-bladed cutlass in the black sash tied around his waist.

Kirk frowned, offended, and turned himself the right way up and sat cross-legged on his floating metal board.

"Is that all you have to say? 'It's been a while, huh?'" he mocked, impersonating his brother, right down to the shoulder shrug and the airy look in his amber eyes. "I haven't seen you since I was nine, seventeen years ago!"

It was reasons like this that made Kirk hate his older brother, but no matter how much he envied and hated his brother or wanted to surpass him one day, he was still his family, and he would always love him - not that he would ever admit it.

Zach had completely ignored him and continued to grin like the big idiot he was at heart.

"You can't sneak up on me like that, Ruben. My death trap could have killed you in an instant. You were lucky you had something reflective on you!"

Zach patted the hilt of his cutlass, is bronze eyes finally landing on his floating brother. He blinked a couple of times before realising that he was indeed floating mid-air on a metal surfboard.

"When did you become a cursed soul?" Zach spat in surprise, his eyes wide open with awe as his mouth gaped open.

It was Kirk's turn to grin as he landed on the deck and stood his surfboard upright against the mainmast.

"I was about ten years old. It just happened." He shrugged like it was no big deal. "I can move non-living objects."

Kirk demonstrated by making a cannonball fly up from the deck and explode mid-air. The sudden bang had all of Zach's crew on their feet and their pistols aimed at Kirk.

"If anyone harms a single hair on my little brother's head, they'll wish they never met me!" Zach shot a menacing glare towards his crew, and they all cowered back from a terrifying wrath that they had never felt from him before. Their captain was usually cheerful and happy.

Kirk smirked. His brother hadn't changed, being only surly when it came to protecting his family. Otherwise, his older brother was always laid back without a care in the world.

"So, what do you think of my cursed soul? It's a good one, ain't it?" Kirk showed off, knowing full well his brother didn't have a unique ability.

Zach grinned and nodded in agreement with his young and sometimes naive brother. Kirk half-reminded him of his daughter. Although Zach didn't show it, he was not happy knowing his younger brother was a cursed soul. Zach knew how one became a cursed soul, and it was not something he could ever do to himself, understanding the full consequences of such a decision.

Only two people in the entire world of Aqua knew how one became a cursed soul, those two being Zachary Flint and Mad Man Levon. Quite a contrast, for one did not have a cursed soul and would never in his lifetime have one, and the other had his soul cursed three times, and if he wanted to, could do it again, though he knew the consequences.

From the cheerful gleam in his brother's amber eyes, Zach did not want to dampen his brother's mood and tell him such consequences of a cursed soul.

"Sit. Come and join us, and bring the rest of your crew. We have a lot to catch up on." Zach flung an arm around his brother's shoulder. "Now that you're old enough to drink, let's see if you have the Flint gene and can hold your liquor back."

Kirk grinned competitively. "I don't think you can stand a chance against me, old man!"

"Old man?!" Zach burst out. "I'm only thirty-six!"

"Still ten years my senior," Kirk teased.

The two brothers continued to tease with each other, and Kirk's crew eventually caught up with the Flint Pirates. The two unacquainted crews watched on awkwardly as the two brothers competed with one another.

Eventually, the crews warmed up to each other, and before they knew it, the storm passed, they fixed the broken foremast, and a party erupted up on deck.

Some were gambling with each other, others drinking rum, some were singing sea shanties while sloshing alcohol all over themselves. Someone had started playing a bountiful tune on the violin, and others were dancing up on deck linked arm-in-arm. The pirates were happy and free without a care or worry in the world. Nothing could stop their fun but an exchange of a few simple words that changed the tides and the course of their lives forever.

It happened all at once. The two brothers were in the midst of a drinking competition. Neither one was going to be backing down anytime soon, slow, drunken smiles plastered on their lips.

The moment reminded Kirk's first mate, Cain Reed, of a certain red-haired girl back on Harvest Island who'd taken a draw against Kirk in a similar drinking contest. She too could hold down her liquor, much like the two brothers. The girl had befriended Kirk, who now when Cain thought about it had the same shade of crimson hair as the two brothers.

"I wish Little Red was here to see this." Cain laughed, and Kirk nodded in agreement as he downed his pint in a single second.

Zach finished off his pint too. "Who is Little Red? Your girlfriend?" he teased.

Kirk shivered from such a thought.

"No, gross! She's a girl we met on our travels. She has red hair like us. We exchanged a cup of rum together and declared ourselves siblings." Kirk smiled fondly to himself at the memory.

"What is this Little Red's name?" Zach placed a fresh pint of ale to his lips.

"Jessica Red!" Kirk cheered, and his crew cheered alongside him.

Zach's pint slipped from his fingers and clattered against the decking of his ship. Everyone fell silent, and all the captain could hear was the thudding of his own heart as it beat violently against his ribs.

That name.

It was the name given to his sword by his daughter. Nobody but him knew that. It was something between him and his daughter from back when he taught Azalea how to fight. He knew it was no coincidence; he didn't believe in coincidences.

His eyes hooded over with darkness, and he swiftly grabbed the hilt of his cutlass, and as fast as lightning, he was behind his brother, the sharpness of the red blade cutting against Kirk's throat.

"How do you know that name?" Flint growled.

Kirk froze. The sword was coated with a varnish of sea crystals, weakening him by the second. His crew had grabbed for their weapons, as did Flint's. Despite the confusion of the sudden change in atmosphere, the two pirate crews were now ready for battle, like their newly-formed friendships had never happened.

"You forget that Linda loves me more." Kirk smirked menacingly.

The colossal snake shadowed over the two red-haired captains and hissed down at Zachary and his crew. Venom dripped from her sharp fangs and sizzled as it burnt through the wooden deck of his ship.

"Now put your weapon away before Linda destroys the ship and kills us all."

Zach released the grip on his younger brother, and the snake backed off, as instructed by Kirk.

"I hate how much that snake adores you," Zach growled in annoyance as he sat back down on the deck with a childish pout on his lips.

"Now then." Kirk sat back down opposite his older brother and poured himself another drink. "Why does the name Jessica Red have you on the defencive?"

The two Flint brother's stared each other down, waiting for the other to blink first until finally, Zach gave in.

"It's the name of my sword." Zach raised his cutlass into the air, the sharp red blade glinting into Kirk's amber eyes.

As Kirk stared at the blade, he was not sure whether its true colour was red or if the blood from its victims had stained it red, but nonetheless, the blade scared him. He could sense her spirit, and she was a powerful and angry sword.

"So what if they have the same name?" Kirk shrugged and sipped on his drink.

"My daughter named her so."

"Eh?!" Kirk choked on his drink and spat it back out. "You have a kid?"

"Sure do. Azalea Flint, she's called." Zach smiled fondly to himself. "She must be about seventeen years old by now, long hair, the same shade as red as us, honey gold eyes. She's from Hive Island. It's where I'm heading now... to... meet..." Zach's speech trailed off as he watched his younger brother turn as white as a sheet, his amber eyes distant until they locked onto his first mate, who had the same worried expression as his captain.

"You just described Jessica." Kirk's eyes wandered somberly down to the deck. "She never said where she was from, but I presumed she was from Hive Island because of the honey gold bracelet she wore."

Zach's heart strained. Azalea always wore a honey gold bracelet, a sign of her status of nobility on the island.

His heart started to thud loudly once again as that pit feeling in his gut returned whenever he felt something was wrong. He knew what his gut was telling him, but he didn't want to believe it. Neither wanted to say what they both knew, for if it were said out loud, then it would become true.

Sat casually on the yard of the mainmast, Flint's first mate, Bart Roberts, watched the brothers with a curious eye, a bottle of rum in one hand and a lit cigar in the other. He was starting to piece together what was going on as he puffed out a cloud of smoke from his mouth.

He could tell neither wanted to reveal what they both knew, for if they did, then both of them would have consequently broken the Flint family promise.

Never leave a Flint in danger.

Bart jumped elegantly down from the yard without spilling even a drop of his rum and stood between the two crimson-haired brothers.

"Captain, may I speak on behalf of both of you?" Bart looked seriously into Zach's eyes.

"Y-you may," Zach stammered eventually.

"I believe, the one Kirk calls Little Red, who calls herself Jessica Red, is your daughter Azalea Flint." The truth had finally been spoken.

All colour drained from Zach's face. Why was his daughter so far away from her home island? It didn't make any sense. She was safe with her people, unless she wasn't safe. What if he broke his promise and left her in danger?

"Jessica is Azalea, which makes her..." Kirk could not finish the sentence as his voice choked up.

Zach looked softly at his brother. "She's your niece."

And so, Zachary Flint explained his tale to Ruben Kirk Flint, and the younger brother slowly turned a pastel white colour when he soon realised that the girl he had met, befriended, and become siblings with on Harvest Island was, in fact, his blood relative, his niece, Azalea Flint.

Everyone on Kirk's crew gasped, and Kirk slammed his clenched fist against the deck. He knew he was connected to that girl in some way. He knew he should have forced her onto his ship that day he left Harvest Island. Instead, he ignored the gut feeling in his stomach that something was wrong. Now he would have to live with the consequences of his actions. He had left his Little Red alone and most likely in danger.

Both Flint brothers would live to regret their decision to leave a Flint in danger.