The captain's eyes wandered over the many civilians of Hive Island as he jumped from the docks onto the mud street of what was the port town of Honey Pot Port. The Islanders ran over to thank their hero, and some even started to cry when they realised who it was. Their King-Regent had finally returned to protect them.

Hive Island was a tropical island filled with a thick rainforest. At its centre was a mountain the shape of a beehive, hence how it got its name, as well as from the rare species of honey bees that lived there. The islanders themselves were accustomed to the modernising cultures of the outside world but stuck with their traditions, still opting to wear their Aztec style of clothing and live in small stone houses, and they had water aqueducts that ran throughout the different towns across the island. However, their simple life had been destroyed to make way for mining shafts to find their precious honey gold.

Everything had been destroyed. How and when did this happen?

The breath was taken out of him when a girl around the same age as his daughter engulfed him in a hug. Her raven hair sprawled across his jacket as she dug her head into his chest and silently cried tears of joy. Flint immediately knew who it was: a kind-natured girl who was Azalea's childhood friend.

"Daisy?" Zach croaked and stroked her raven hair. "Look at you. You've grown up so much. You were just a child the last time I saw you. Now you're a beautiful young lady."

The girl slowly raised her head. A deep sadness shone in her honey gold eyes, and a faint smile graced her lips, but she didn't utter a word. The silence confused Zach. Daisy was usually cheerful and upbeat; it was hard to speak a word between her ramblings.

"Daisy has been cursed. She had her voice taken from her by King Mordred," an older lady spoke out in her native language.

Zach looked behind him. The older woman had dark raven hair with wisps of grey showing through. She looked about forty years old with hardly a wrinkle in sight, but her looks were deceiving. She was almost eighty years of age. Hivian's tended to age gracefully and live longer than average. The woman wore a mound of beads and honey gold around her neck and extravagant clothing which left little to the imagination.

She was the high priestess and the royal family's most trusted advocate.

"Gardenia, what happened here?" Zach spoke back in their language.

She seemed to have come from out of nowhere, and due to what she was wearing and the little to no scars on her body compared to the rest of the Honey Tribe, she clearly had not been made a slave, unlike the rest with their tattered rags and bruised bodies.

"We are glad for your return, Your Highness, but you must come with me," Gardenia instructed, a stern sharpness to her voice. She seemed unhappy with him, which was not a good sign.

Zach nodded, understanding the seriousness of the situation, and looked back to his crew.

"Hawkins, help the rest of the tribe throughout the island. Free them, feed them, clothe them, help rebuild their homes, destroy all the mines, and bring smiles back to their faces, understood?"

"Aye, Captain!" Hawkins saluted.

Zach turned on his heel and followed after Gardenia, Daisy walking by his side and holding tightly to his hand like her life depended on it. He could only imagine the horrors Daisy had gone through, and so he squeezed her delicate hand, letting her know she was safe. Soon enough, her soft smile started to pick up.

The three of them trekked through the dense forest for quite some time until they finally made it to the base of Hive Mountain. Zach watched on curiously as Gardenia rhythmically knocked against the hard rock at the bottom of the mountain. A second later, a large boulder rolled out of the way to reveal a secret passageway into the mountain. Zach immediately recognised the Feline who had opened it from within the candlelit hall.

"Tabby?"

Tabby was tall and broad with pale skin and brownish fur with mottled stripes, cat ears that flopped over his shaggy hair, and a fluffy brown tail that swished around him. He wore a honey gold breastplate across his muscular chest and was holding a honey gold tipped spear in his left hand.

"Your Highness." Tabby seemed shocked to see Zach, his brown cat-like eyes widening in surprise as he bowed his head out of respect.

"What is this?" Zach's bronze eyes looked sharply towards Gardenia. "Why wasn't I aware of a secret entrance to the mountain?"

The older woman gave him a stern look. "And where were you when our island was attacked by King Mordred?"

Zach's stomach tightened as he felt a pit of guilt brewing within him. He had made a promise the day he left Hive Island seven years ago that he would always protect them. He would always be there whenever they were in trouble.

"I didn't know. No word was sent out to me, and there was nothing in the newspapers of your attack. The whole world is unaware of what happened here." He wiped the tears from his face. "You have to believe me. If I had known what was happening, I would have been here in an instant. This is my daughter's home."

It was Gardenia's turn to look away with a guilty conscience.

"Prince Ash will not be happy he is here," Tabby interrupted.

Zach's heart picked up. Ash was still alive, a cousin of his daughters and one of the nobles. Almost instantly he frowned. Why would Ash not be happy to see him?

"Zach needs to know what is going on." Gardenia pushed Tabby aside and continued her journey along the hidden passageway.

The corridors were endless, like a maze heading off in all sorts of different directions. Zach was starting to wonder if they were lost.

"A month after you left Hive Island, King Mordred attacked us," Gardenia began. "He appeared with a menacing look in those putrid yellow eyes of his. It was clear his intentions were our honey gold, but he found entertainment in killing us. However, he never anticipated the Felines to be as strong as they were. So he called for reinforcements, his seven sins to be precise. They were incredibly strong and wiped out the Felines in less than a day. Only a few survived."

Zach's stomach felt sick. He hoped the black kitten that once played with Azalea was still alive. The young feline was supposed to grow up to be her personal guard.

"The Queen had no choice but to surrender to save her people," Gardenia's eyes drifted to the floor.

For the life of him, Zach could not remember the Queen, maybe because Hive Island never had a Queen. He frowned as he dug into the back of his mind, but nothing came to him. It was just like every time he tried to remember Azalea's mother. He looked down at the gold wedding band on his ring finger and clutched his locket from around his neck.

"Just like everyone else, you have no recollection of the Queen, but I will come to that later. King Mordred did not care for her surrender and was about to kill the Queen when Azalea came in between them. Your daughter was just a child; her naive mind had no idea what was going on. All she wanted to do was protect her mother. However, her innocence and beauty captured the eye of King Mordred. He had never seen a member the Honey Tribe with red hair before, and she fascinated him more than the honey gold did.

"King Mordred struck a bargain. He would leave the island as long he could take the Princess with him, so he could one day marry her when she came of age. The Queen refused. She offered him all the honey gold he could ever want, but it didn't work, and he started to enslave us, making us work in the mines, selling us at auction houses and so on.

"Even though she was still only a child, it was clear to Azalea that something was upsetting her mother. I remember her words as clear as day. 'It's ok, mama. I will go with him if it means putting a smile on your face again.'"

Zach whimpered, unable to control the tears that escaped his eyes. His daughter sacrificed herself to save her people. His hand clenched into a fist, the red aura of his power returning, and he slammed his fist against the jagged rock. The entire mountain shook from his formidable strength, and Daisy jumped back, scared of his power.

If only he had been there to protect them from Mordred. But he was a selfish pirate. The sea called out to him in search of adventure instead of his duties to his family. It was all his fault.

"There is nothing you could have done." Gardenia placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "During your last visit, you told us that three years previously, you were on Sunrise Island when King Mordred attacked, and you barely escaped with your life."

Zach nodded. "But I managed to leave a scratch on his face, and now I have better control of my power." His eyes widened in horror. "Did he ever find out I was Azalea's father?"

"Not that I'm aware of." Gardenia shrugged.

At least there was some good news. If King Mordred were ever to find out she was a Flint, it would not end well for her.

"What happened after Azalea left the island with King Mordred?"

"Unbeknownst to the princess, Mordred did not keep his promise. He continued to enslave the island to gain profit from the honey gold he stole from us. All the time, he manipulated Azalea, warped her innocent mind, made himself look like the good guy. He showered her with gifts and affection. He treated her like a queen, and she adored him for it." Gardenia looked saddened. "That is all I know. I'm sorry."

"And the Queen, what happened to her?"

Gardenia frowned. "She escaped from Hive Island and made her way to Meridian Island in search of her daughter, but she never returned. It was around the same time everyone lost their memory of her or who she was. It was like she never existed, but there was still pictures of her existence."

"But you remember?"

"Yes, I'm the odd few people who do. I believe if you have ever taken an innocent life, you remember because you are just as bad as the King himself."

"Levi," Zach whispered to himself. "If I ever told you anything about the Queen, you will know."

"Who is this, Levi?"

"Just a friend of mine." Zach smiled.

They continued their journey until they reached a domed chamber within the centre of the mountain. Steps led up to a honey gold throne, where a man no older than twenty sat bare-chested, wearing brown suede leggings and holding a spear in his right hand. His head was leaning into his left. Like all the people from the honey tribe, he was good-looking with bronze skin, honey gold eyes, and dark raven hair. Behind the throne was a portrait of Queen Camellia, the same picture as the one in his locket. So she was his wife, but he could still not remember her.

The man stood up from his throne, a grim look on his handsome face as he looked upon Zach with a deep hatred.

"He is no longer welcome here!" He raised his spear. "He abandoned us when we needed him most."

Zach could not help but feel guilty. Ash was right; he did abandon them.

"You cannot speak in such a foul-mouthed manner to the King!" Gardenia snapped at Ash.

"He is not my King!" Ash stamped the butt of his spear sharply onto the floor. "He is an outsider who married the Queen. Our queen and princess are gone, so he therefore no longer has an obligation to the throne! As the queen's nephew, I am next in line, and I will sit in as King Regent until the Princess returns, if she ever does!"

"And what have you done since you've sat all high and mighty on your throne!" Zach looked sharply at him. "All you have done is sat cowering away in the mountain, hiding instead of releasing your people from slavery!"

"I have been protecting what little honey gold we have left and looking after those who have managed to escape by hiding them away in this mountain!" Ash growled. "Not only that, but I managed to preserve all of our history before Mordred burnt it all."

"I have been here less than an hour, and already I have freed everyone and rid the island of any government officials associated with King Mordred. You are no king until you realise that a country is its people!"

Before Ash had a chance to argue back, the entire mountain shook alive with energy. Zach frowned as he felt a familiar dark presence nearby. Lilith appeared next to him in a cloud of scarlet mist, a scared look in her ruby eyes. Her hand was placed over her stomach, where she had been stabbed and was bleeding out.

"Lilith!" Zach cried and ran to her side, catching her. "You need to go back to the spirit realm now."

"I... I... can't." She coughed, the tears trickled from her eyes as she looked down at her blood-covered hand. "I've b-been m-mutilated."

Flint shook his head. This couldn't be happening. It was hard for swords to be mutilated; it took an immense amount of power to be able to inflict such pain onto a spirit. The spirit realm was a harsh place with strict rules, and only the best and the most powerful were allowed to live there. Once mutilated, a spirit could no longer return to their realm until fully healed and would have no choice but to reside in limbo until they could return.

"Ash, you have healing powers. Please save her," Zach pleaded.

"I do not consort with her kind," Ash spat.

Zach clenched his teeth. Ash had changed a lot since he was a child.

A harsh laugh echoed throughout the mountain, and a man manifested from out of the shadows. The man had dark, soulless eyes and dark brown skin and was wearing all black. His hair was short and black, and on his neck was a tattoo of a frog's head.

"Greed!" Zach hissed through gritted teeth. He gently placed Lilith onto the ground and called Gardenia and Daisy over to tend to her wounds.

Zach clenched his fists, and his red aura formed around his wrists with Ash stood by his side, ready to help him.

"Zachary 'Red Devil' Flint." Greed casually paced around the room. "What are you doing here?"

The king and his seven sins did not know the connection Zach had with Hive Island, so his appearance would, of course, be suspicious to Greed. Zach knew he could still sense darkness on the island after defeating the Navy. Mordred must have had Greed secretly stationed on the island to keep an eye on the shipment of Honey Gold, and who better than the sin that craved wealth and power to keep an eye on the island.

"I saw that massacre of yours earlier," Greed laughed. "It was very entertaining. Your sword is powerful, but not as powerful as I."

He slithered his bloodied dagger between his fingers and licked the scarlet liquid, indulging in its taste. The seven sins were once humans, humans who had been corrupted with King Mordred's dark magic and made immortal, but at the cost of serving the king for eternity.

"Thanks for leading me to the Hivian's hideout. I couldn't have found it without you," he sniggered.

"You will not harm these people anymore!" Zach launched forward and fired a red aura blast towards him.

He was not as powerful without his sword by his side, but he was still plenty strong as he battled it out against Greed. The two were a red and black blur as they fought against one another and impossible to locate as they bounced off the walls of the dome.

Ash clenched his spear. For once in his life, he felt lost. He didn't know how he could help Zach against such a powerful foe. Then he remembered the King-Regent's words: a country is its people.

"Leave!" Ash ordered Tabby. "Get everyone out of the mountain; this place is no longer safe. Warn the villages and get them to safety!"

"But where are we to go?" Tabby implored.

Ash quickly scrambled out of the way as a large boulder fell from the ongoing fight. He clenched tightly onto his honey gold spear, and it came to him.

"Find Benjamin Bones. He'll lead us to the city of gold, it's the safest place!"

"The City of Gold is forbidden to all those except natives!" Tabby protested.

"What choice do we have?!" Ash pleaded with his guard. He could not bear to see his people enslaved again when they had just been saved. "Go, while Zach still has Greed distracted!"

Tabby bowed his head to his prince and ran off to do his duty.

Greed grabbed ahold of Zachary's throat, cutting off the pirate's airways, and shot his head in the direction of Ash, having heard him mention the word gold. Not just any gold, but the City of Gold, his once home before he was corrupted into a sin, a home he could no longer find. His hand gripped tighter onto Zach's neck out of excitement, his long black nails piercing his skin and drawing blood. He could finally go home and have all the gold he ever wanted.

"G-go..." Zach gasped. "Take Daisy and Gardenia and go!"

Ash grabbed the timid Daisy by the waist and threw her over his shoulder. Gardenia followed after him through the passageway. The prince looked back behind him, and with his healing powers, he cast an enchantment on Lilith, healing her wounds, and ran off to save his people while he had the chance.

Lilith's ruby eyes flashed open, a deep vengeance brewing within them as she watched her master fighting against Greed. She disappeared in a cloud of red smoke and reappeared before Greed and connected her fist with his face, snapping his jaw and sending him flying into the rocky wall.

Zach breathed in deeply and smiled towards his spirit, thankful for her help. He slowed his breathing and concentrated on his aura, letting the formidable power take over him.

"Let's take this bastard down!" His eyes glowed red, and he slyly smirked towards Lilith.

Lilith nodded and let her own red mystic power shroud around her, and the two of them shot forward towards Greed and attacked him before he even had a chance to stand back up again. They threw blow after blow at him, and the mountain shook and crumbled from their strength. They were at it for hours, giving enough time for the Flint pirates to help evacuate the island, but no matter how many deadly blows the pair sent towards Greed, he would not stay down.

Instead, a bloodied grin haunted the lips of Greed as he stood his ground. He easily caught Zach's fist in his bare hand and threw him over his shoulder and against the hard rocky ground.

If it weren't for Zach's power, such a blow would have easily killed him. Still, he was rendered useless; he was weak in comparison to one of the seven sins.

"You cannot defeat me. I am immortal." Greed pressed his foot down on to Zach's chest and sent a mighty blow in Lilith's direction, sending her flying backwards.

Zach breathed in deeply. He was out of energy and was no longer able to attack his opponent.

"Do you know what this is?" Greed took out a green, marble-sized object from his pocket and smirked deviously towards Zach.

"The Green Eye," Zach breathed in hoarsely. "One of the Five Eyes that supposedly lead towards the Golden Eye."

"Correct." Greed twirled the green marble in his hand with fascination. "What many do not know is that the Five Eyes all have powers. The White Eye heals, the Black Eye controls brings the dead, the Red Eye manipulates love, the Blue Eye controls spirits, and the Green Eye possesses souls." Greed lowered the green marble above Zach's heart, and it started to glow brightly, blinding the pirate. "Now imagine how powerful I will be with you in my possession."

Zach had no words. He was finally beaten. This was his end. He leaned his head to the side and softly smiled towards his favourite spirit, who had been through thick and thin with him. She was on her hands and knees, slowly lifting herself back onto her feet. Lilith was a powerful weapon, and if Greed took over him, he would be in control of his spirit as well. He could not allow that.

"Lilith..." Zach husked painfully. He could already feel the Green Eye grasping onto his soul and chaining him back into the dark depths of his mind. "Find Levi and Kurome; they're the only ones powerful enough to stop the sins."

Lilith gasped. "I can't leave you!"

"Don't disobey me!" Zach felt his heart prick from her defiance, then it came to him, the only way he could save his spirit. "You have forty-eight hours to find them!"

Lilith looked confused. "I don't understand."

"I am no longer your master!" The words burned his throat. "I disown you as my sword."

"No!" Lilith cried out in anguish as their links severed, and Zach felt a sharp stabbing sensation in his heart.

"Levi will know where Kurome is. Find him and you find your husband!" he shouted! "Now go!"

Tears streamed from her ruby eyes as she watched her master's free will bring taken from him. His bronze eyes turned green as the power of the Green Eye took over him, and he was in Greed's control. Zach started to laugh, an evil cackle that pierced right through her heart. Her master was gone, and in his place was a monster, but if she wanted to save him, she had to find Levi, who would lead her to Kurome. They were the only ones capable of defeating the sins.

"I promise, I'll find them."

Lilith had forty-eight hours. Two days to find the Mad Man and the famous black bladed sword or find herself trapped in Limbo. She disappeared in a cloud of red smoke, the tears never-ending from her eyes as she abandoned the best master she'd ever had....