Chapter 10. Betray.

 

Her hiyoku was ready and everyone seemed to hurry her up, but Arisa couldn’t move: she was too scared to go out of the safety of her tent, to marry a man she didn’t know just because his family decided it for her. She had to honor them, of course, but deep inside she wished they had chosen his lovely Key to marry: he was young, but an expert and promising pirate.

 

“How lovely you look, daughter. But don’t cry, you’ll ruin the face.”

 

“Father…. Please.”

 

“Enough! You’ll do as I command. I have so many enemies, Arisa, that I only wish you are safe and protected.”

 

Shirahama Kenki cleaned his daughter tears, and helped her to mount the palanquin that was about to guide her to the shrine, where she will officially change her family and serve her husband until her last breath. He was riding near Arisa’s palanquin, and could hear her sobbing. But, since her mother and brothers were killed by his enemies, he just couldn’t let her unprotected, and at that moment, the Pirates of Shirahama Kenki were the strongest fleet in Japan.

 

When they arrived to the shrine the groom’s family was already there, and, then, he understood his daughter feelings: the men she was about to marry was old, ugly and radiated the vibe of being a violent person. Thankfully, when her daughter descended from the palanquin she was calmed and relaxed, her full face covered by the hiyoku.

 

“Let’s enter; the Shinto Priest must be waiting.”

 

Arisa nodded and followed his father in silence, keeping her serenity all the time, without hesitation. “That’s my daughter: filial until the end” Shirahama Kenki thought. And then he remembered Arisa wasn’t a filial daughter…

 

“Everyone! Alert!”

 

Shirahama Kenki unsheathed his sword and attacked his daughter with strength, only to find a sharp and thin sword stopping his attack with mastery. Her supposed daughter took off her hiyoku, only to find the famous Black Pearl fighting against him. Nomura charged as soon as he realized what was happening: they Silver Dragons were trying to stop the wedding, to let his disloyal daughter marry a no-one. “I should have killed that stupid Key when I had the chance” he thought while trying to dodge the skillful the woman was giving.

 

She was a fierce opponent: in only two she was able to learn that the left was his strongest side, and she was focusing all her efforts on attacking it. He deflected and blocked a rapid succession of jabs and s, combined with pirouettes and jumps. The girl was trying to find a space to break him, and with her marvelous abilities it was only a matter of time she could defeat him. Kenki knew it: he was getting old. The only thing he could do was waiting for an opportunity to break through the solid defense of his rival, but it seemed impossible, so he decided to play dirty and punched Black Pearl in the face, leaving the girl blocked and unable to continue. “That’s my moment, charge, Kenki!” he thought. Suddenly, a precise arrow hit him with so much strength he flied through the shrine and got stuck on the wall by his wrist, full traversed and bleeding.

 

“Don’t ever dear to punch my boss, mister!”

 

The infamous boy his daughter loved, Key, was standing in front of them, with his arrow tensed. And, only for a second, since he was also a warrior, he admired the abilities of the young man. The defense Key provided to the Black Pearl gave her enough time to recover from the initial shock and stabbed Namura on the floor, unable to move. Just then, after seeing the living legend defeated, the others decided to attack at the same time the girl. Her nose was aching from the previous punch, but they weren’t rivals for Yuri, who disarmed them in seconds.

 

“Let’s go, Yuri!” Key said, whilst mounting one of the horses who led Arisa to the shrine.

 

“It was too easy...” she mentioned once she took one of the horses, Arisa holding strongly on her waist.

 

And as if what Yuri said was premonitory, they could hear a herd of fast horses approaching and screams of angry pirates, led by a deep an intimidating voice they knew very well: the voice of Nomura Shuhei. At first sight, he didn’t seem an intimidating man, but, if you look deeply in his eyes, you could see he had so many demons inside and he was someone you shouldn’t mess with. And his eyebrows could easily compete with the ones of King Seung-hyun, so they helped him to get a fierce glaze.

 

“Damn it! They’re here!” Key yelled. “Go, Yuri, run, I’ll stop them!”

 

“Key, no!” Arisa complained.

 

“Don’t worry, Arisa, I have an idea! Run and get safe!”

 

Without hesitation, Yuri kicked the horse chest to make him run faster, and decided to run through the forest: that way, they’ll arrive directly to the Silver Dragon and will get some extra distraction: it started raining, so they steps will get lost.

 

“They shouldn’t have known we were coming! Who has told them?!” Yuri screamed. “Be careful, Key! The Dragon is arriving!”

 

And with his arch tensed, Key took advantage of his privileged position in his horse to strike some enemies horses’ legs. That way, the animals fell on the floor and the formation of fast pirates had to slow down because they were losing men. Thanks to some extra seconds, Key followed Yuri strategy steps and went inside the forest, cursing because the rain was getting too heavy to see properly.

 

“And we have to leave with the Silver Dragon with such a terrible weather.”

 

After a few minutes riding alone, he heard the scream of the Dragon and Taeyang, who had joined him. Princess Taeyeon was wrapped around Jiyong’s waist, fearing to fall from the horse.

 

“You’re late!” Key complained in screams.

 

“I know! I couldn’t do my fabulous speech!”

 

The three horses run as fast as possible through the forest, dodging all the obstacles. The floor was getting too wet, and the mud was becoming a problem: they were losing speed. So, since they were already arriving to their final destination, they left the horses, and Jiyong took Taeyeon as a sack of potatoes once more. Key could see the complaint in the princess face, but, luckily was covered.

 

“Your sister almost got defeated by Shirahama Kenki.”

 

“Next time I see him, he’s dead.”

 

“What the hell were you doing?! You were supposed to be with us at the shrine.” Key complained.

 

“You’ll see and thank us later!” Taeyang said, and he took Key’s hand, to make him hurry up. “Let’s run!”

 

Key had to keep holding Taeyang’s hand because he was the fastest among them, the true athlete in their crew: he was neither the best archer nor the best swordfighter, but he was the most constant and resistant.

 

“Hold the princess, YoungBae, I can’t with her any longer. Too much weight.”

 

And Taeyeon kicked him with her tied feet, at once, to the waist. Jiyong screamed in pain.

 

“Asssh, you, princess, stop!”

 

“Don’t get angry, Jiyong. We have kidnapped her, after all.”

 

Taeyeon nodded and was happy to be held by Taeyang: at least he tried to make her feel comfortable. And also, they were able to run faster. “What a girlish pirate, Jiyong… I think you should be the princess, not me” Taeyeon thought while watching the forest behind them: sounds of screams and men approaching, but, luckily, not yet seen.

 

“Who has betrayed us?!” Taeyang asked. “They shouldn’t have known we wanted to rescue Arisa. Not even Kiko knew.”

 

“No idea!” Key screamed. “And the others?”

 

“At the ship, don’t worry. Keep running!”

 

After a few more minutes, they arrived to a cliff, and under it, the Silver Dragon, ready to go, was waiting for them. The waves were starting to get rougher and the wind was blowing strongly: a big storm was about to come. They hesitated, but their only option was to leap and pray that any rooks will kill them. Their other option wasn’t…

 

“STOP!”

 

Nomura Shuhei’s deep voice froze Jiyong, as the voice of his former friend, King Seung-hyun, used to do. But the Korean wasn’t going to give him the pleasure to show his weakness: he was better than him, although Nomura Shuhei was surrounded by 40 pirates and Jiyong, well… he had his charms.

 

“Nice to meet you again, Nomura. How’s your wife?”

 

“Death. She betrayed me.”

 

Jiyong felt pain on his chest: Kiko had sworn him so many times she was a loyal friend, but it seemed he had trusted the wrong person.

 

 “And I suppose she betrayed me too, so thank you for your help.”

 

Taeyeon felt pity for the poor Kiko Mizuhara: she seemed a clever woman and she knew how to use her abilities. If she had lived at the Joseon Court, she would have achieved so many things with her witty talents. “But she was playing with fire: it was a matter of time for her to die.”

 

“It doesn’t matter now, Dragon. Give me the princess!”

 

“Why are women always the reason we can’t be friends, Nomura? I want we become besties!” Jiyong joked.

 

“I don’t think it’s the best moment to joke, Jiyong” Taeyang suggested.

 

“Give me the princess! I won’t repeat that again.”

 

“I was really thinking about your offer, but you’ve been rude, so…”

 

And without hesitating, the three Silver Dragons jump over the cliff, Taeyeon screaming and in absolute fear. Once they touched the cold water, her lungs felt as if they were traversed by tones of sharp swords, and she couldn’t breathe. She tried to open her eyes wide, searching for the others, but, since the clouds were so dark, she couldn’t almost see anything, and her agony increased. “How am I going to survive now? I can’t swim!” she thought while trying to reach the surface, desperate. The more she tried, the more she went down, and her head started to hurt due to the lack of oxygen. But, the firm and skinny hand of Jiyong hold hers, and with a calming expression, he guided her to the surface. Although it rained even more than before, Taeyeon couldn’t be happier to inhale air once more. Never something as simple as the air seemed so lovely for her.

 

“Take the rope!” Jiyong ordered.

 

“I can’t swim!” Taeyeon screamed.

 

The pirate’s eyes went wide in surprise, but he didn’t hesitate: with one arm, he held Taeyeon tightly, while with the other, he tried to reach the rope with all his strength. Since he couldn’t reach it properly, Minho, the swimmer of the group, who was looking at their struggle at the ship, jump into the water to help them. With expert , he arrived where they were, and helped them to reach the ship. With all the strength she could, Taeyeon climbed through the rope, and when she reached the surface, she kissed it deeply.

 

“Never thought I would love this ship.”

 

“But how is it possible you can’t swim?! Are you stupid or what?!” Jiyong screamed, trying to recover from the huge physical effort he had just made.

 

“I have been inside a palace for more than twenty years! Have you ever seen someone swimming there? Eh?! Bastard?!”

 

“That tongue, princess.” Jiyong complained.

 

“You should have asked before doing what you wanted. Do you know how scared I was?” and she kicked his chest with all her strength. “I thought I was going to die! You stupid arrogant and deformed pirate!”

 

Jiyong let Taeyeon hit him, without complains, because, although he just wanted to get rid of her and return the princess to her family (with a fortune on his pockets), the leader of the Silver Dragons knew he hasn’t been gentle to the girl. Kidnapping, murdering people, fever, running from a bunch of bandits, almost drown… and everything in just a week. If for him that has been an intense week, he couldn’t imagine for a princess who has been trapped inside a palace all her life.

 

“Where is Arisa? ARISA?!” Key screamed, looking through the crew.

 

The Japanese girl, stuffed in a white kimono full of mud appeared between the pirates, smiling radiantly. Although it was heavily raining, her smile brightened the Silver Dragon, and all the stress and tension preparing their scape seemed worth.

 

“Key!”

And the two lovers shared a warm embrace. They weren’t even surpassing the limits of decency, but it was so intimate, so intense and so full of love all the Silver Dragons turned around to leave them some space.

 

“Let’s leave this place! Everyone, in position!”

 

Jiyong screamed while opening the door to enter into the covered decks, and all the staff followed their captain.

 

“Chaerin!”

 

“Princess!”

 

Chaerin seemed right: she had bags under her eyes, but, apart from that, everything was alright about her. Maybe a bit tanner, but Taeyeon didn’t know how that was possible if she was supposed to be locked on the deepest deck. “Maybe there’s a nice window in her cell. It’s impossible she was able to stay at the exterior deck without supervision.” Taeyeon reflected.

 

“I thought I would never saw you again, Taeng!”

 

The two girls embraced tightly, carefully watched by the sailor, Seungri.

 

“You might untie the baddest female, we can’t risk our security.”

 

Chaerin fumed and looked angrily at Seungri, who just stood there, pretending to focus on the helm.

 

“Chaerin! You just can’t imagine how badly they treated me these days without you! But… we stopped a wedding and saved a girl from a terrible marriage!”

 

Chaerin looked at Taeyeon surprised: always the perfect princess, reserved, witty, with a bizarre love for formal words (like her oldest brother) and her eyes empty of emotions. But, that day, she seemed a woman of her age: full of passion for life. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but, she seemed genuinely happy. “Well, at least there’s something positive in this situation” she thought.

 

“And the other two girls, dongsaeng?” Jiyong said once he changed to dry clothes.

 

“Well… we had a probl…”

 

But Seungri couldn’t finish his sentence: a strong beat made all of them lose their balance.

 

“What the hell is happening now?!”

 

“THE THUNDER, MY CAPTAIN!” Nam TaeHyun, aka the weird eyebrows, alerted.

 

“WHAT’S WRONG TODAY?! SERIOUSLY!!!!” Jiyong complained.

 

If they survived that day, Jiyong promised himself to write it down so he could explain it with all details to the future generations and they could appreciate how amazing the Silver Dragons were. Stopping a wedding, defeating a living legend of piracy, escaping a group of Japanese pirates in the middle of the storm and jumping a dangerous cliff. Now… the most dangerous officer from the Korean Navy attacking them. “I think yesterday I presented my respects to the Gods… it seems I didn’t do it properly”.

 

“Okay… Jong-Hyun, take care of the damage; Taemin and Key, to the exterior deck; Onew and SeungHoon, prepare the gunpowder; the MinHo’s, get ready with the cannons. And SeungYoon, Yuri and pretty boy, with me, NOW! YoungBae, you’re in charge of the ship.”

 

The three followed Jiyong to the exterior deck. The sun had finally set and the moon started to rise. Here wasn’t enough visibility, but thanks to the cannons their enemies had just fired, they could see their position easily. They had the intention to board them, and since the wind and the waves were favorable for the Korean Navy, Jiyong knew they couldn’t avoid the collision: unluckily, they were faster.

 

“Pretty boy, prepare a boat and take the princess with you, just in case you need to scape.”

 

“But…”

 

“Do as I command.”

 

“And tell Choi MinHo to prepare the chains.”

 

“Aren’t we going to kill them as usual?” pretty boy asked with surprise, but his captain didn’t answer.

 

In some minutes, the Korean Navy was in line with them, and Jiyong stood in front of the ship, threatening them with his gaze. Cannons weren’t fired because it would cause the sinking of both ships. And, after seven years without seeing each other, finally, the Thunder met once more with his master, Kwon Jiyong, the Dragon.

 

“Give me the princess and nothing will happen to your crew, Jiyong!” the Thunder screamed.

 

“I think I know were the princess has learnt such terrible manners, it’s Jiyong-nim for you, Park Sang-hyun!” Jiyong replied.

 

Park Sang-hyun laughed, but followed his game: he knew Jiyong and how he worked, so he ordered to one of his wards.

 

“Go into the water and protect our helm, they’ll try to block it.”

 

“Yes, my captain.”

 

Once his subordinate left, he started walking, reaching the side of the exterior deck, not a second without keeping eye contact in the dark. Even though nobody could see his eyes, the presence of the Thunder made the pirates nervous.

 

“Attack.” Park Sang-hyun whispered.

 

And the clash between the Silver Dragons and the Royal Navy started. Key and Taemin throw mortal shots to their enemies, while the others tried to counterattack. Jiyong was exhausted, but had to use his final strength to defeat his enemies, who were highly inferior in skills.

 

After a few minutes watching his enemies’ flaws and seeing how incompetent they men were against the pirates, the Thunder draw his sword and everyone went silent.

 

He walked slowly towards Jiyong, who had just killed one of the soldiers by cutting his throat. And stood in front of him, with a slight bow of respect.

 

“Sorry if my manners altered you, Kwon Jiyong-nim. I am deeply sorry.”

 

“That’s better.”

 

And Jiyong attacked the Thunder, who dodged him easily with a speed he hadn’t seen in years. Angry, Jiyong screamed and attacked once more, only to get the same result.

 

“I went to China one year to train with the best swordsmen in the world, master.” the Thunder stopped their fight for some seconds, to give Jiyong some time to rest.

 

“I’m proud of you, apprentice.”

 

“Give me the princess, master, and you can leave.”

 

“MMMM… let me think about it…” Jiyong joked. “No.”

 

And once more, Jiyong attacked, this time, to his feet. Unlucky, the Thunder advanced his movements, and, with a simple , he took off Jiyong’s sword. With a smirk in his face, he pointed him with two swords, once in each hand.

 

“Orabeoni!”

 

Yuri attacked the Thunder, and, with a rival worth of him, both swordfighters focused in their own duel, whilst the others continued fighting, leaving the two experts on their own.

 

Yuri jumped from one ship to another, with extremely agility: the Thunder was stronger than her, so she had to use her abilities and avoid direct confrontation. But Park Sang-hyun was an extraordinary rival, the better she had ever had. Jumping, , attacking… he didn’t fail, not even once, and Yuri was starting to get desperate.

 

“You have improved a lot, Sang-hyun.” and she stopped one of his attacks, facing each other with anger, only the swords between them.

 

“It’s been difficult without a proper rival.”

 

“I’m the best; sorry you couldn’t find a proper replacement.”

 

When they were children, both Kwon Yuri and Park Sang-hyun used to train together, so, it was natural they improved more than the rest: they were natural swordfighters. And, for years, Yuri used to be better than him, and both knew. But the lack of proper instruction and rivals for years, had changed their positions, and, clearly, Yuri was in disadvantage.

 

“Haven’t you learnt anything new in all those years, Yuri? How disappointing!”

 

Suddenly, she remembered something about his duel with Chaerin… and…

 

“That’s new!”

 

And Yuri kissed Park Sang-hyun deeply on the lips, not expecting the admiral would return the kiss back, with the same intensity. He wanted to do it for so many years that when Yuri kissed him, he couldn’t hold himself back. It was even better than in his dreams. Meanwhile, Yuri was confused and scared, really scared, because that kiss was making feel things she thought she couldn’t feel. But, she had to keep control: if she was defeated, they won’t be able to escape. Suddenly…

 

“I have blocked their sailing system!” Choi MinHo screamed in triumph.

 

They broke the kiss and Yuri used his moment of confusion to return to the Silver Dragon, as agile as a gazelle. There, she helped the others to sail definitely.

 

In the meantime, Taeyeon was on a boat with pretty boy, who looked excited about the possibility to escape. He was so absorbed looking at the Silver Dragon and trying to find a way to climb back that he had forgotten about Taeyeon. And she, for once, saw her change to escape. She could throw herself into the water: the Korean navy wasn’t far and she thought after surviving a cliff she could arrive without difficulties, even without knowing how to swim. But, once she rose from the seat to jump… she just blocked. She saw the Thunder encouraging her to take the risk, but, she just couldn’t jump. Her doubts were long enough to make pretty boy realize he wasn’t taking care of her, so he took her as a sack of potatoes once more and climbed. Taeyeon looking with empty eyes and tears in her eyes to the ship she had just voluntarily didn’t reach. 

 

 

 

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

 

 

 

The winds blew harshly and favored the Silver Dragon, which sailed softly above the dark sea. The moon was at its highest point, and lightened the soft waves created by the ship’s path. The salty smell impregnated everyone, and made them sleepy.

 

After they were sure nobody followed them, Jiyong reunited everyone, even his prisoners, for some minutes at the main deck. All sat on the floor, waiting for the captain words.

 

“Someone betrayed us, and I want to know who.”

 

“I know.”

 

Everyone turned around, to a girl with cute features and big eyes, holding Taemin’s hand with strength. It was Son Na-eun, another of the girls who escaped with the Silver Dragons.

 

“Speak. We listen.” And Jiyong sit on the floor.

 

Na-eun was nervous and didn’t know how the Silver Dragons were about to get the information: they had been betrayed.

 

“Lee Sung-Kyung, the oirian has betrayed us.”

 

“IMPOSSIBLE!”

 

Kang SeungYoon, Lee Sung-Kyung’s lover spoke in defense of his beloved, but nobody seemed to care about him: they were only listening to Na-eun’s words.

 

“The idea was that while you rescued Arisa and there was commotion in all Karatsu, Sung-Kyung and I will escape and reunite at the beach with pretty boy, to board in the Silver Dragon and leave Japan. But…” she stopped, clearly hurt. “But Sung-Kyung betrayed us. When I went to search for her at the brothel, the madam told me she was sleeping with Nomura Shuhei.”

 

“No… It can’t be.” SeungYoon added.

 

“Let her speak!” Taeyang said, holding SeungYoon’s shoulder with strength: the young boy needed someone to console him.

 

“I couldn’t believe it, so I climbed to her room and when Nomura Shuhei left the room because he was going to chase you, I entered, and she told me everything.”

 

 

-Flashback-

 

 

“What are you doing?! We must leave, please!” Na-eun begged to her friend, who lay on her bed, without showing intentions to move.

 

 “You should go.” Sung-Kyung said with sad eyes. “Nomura Shuhei has chosen me as his new wife.”

 

Na-eun looked at her friend, unable to believe her words: her? The wife of a married pirate? It was impossible.

 

“What have you done?” Na-eun asked resented.

 

Sung-Kyung, without losing the sad expression in her eyes, started to speak:

 

“Yesterday night I convinced Kiko Mizuhara to have a private encounter with the Korean ambassador, to exchange information: the promise the Korean Navy won’t attack her crew for the position of the Joseon princess. While she was entertaining him, I told her husband what she was doing, and, the Japanese killed both his wife and the ambassador.”

“Why would you do that?”

 

“Because I’m tired of being a e! I’m getting old and I want to leave peacefully with children and delicious food every day.”

 

“Kang SeungYoon promised you that future…” Na-eun reminded her, with resentment.

 

“What future if he’s going to be chased by Nomura Shuhei crew and the Korean Navy?”

 

“But Nomura doesn’t know we are going to rescue Arisa! Wait… YOU!”

 

 

-End Flashback-

 

 

“And then I left the room and tried to find you. Thankfully, I’d found the Dragon and Taeyang, who helped me to block Nomura Shuhei’s fleet without asking me lots of questions, if not, we won’t be here talking.”

 

Everything went silent, only the sound of the waves crashing could be listened. All eyes went to SeungYoon, who was holding Taeyang’s hand with strength. The eyes of the young boy were full of tears, but he tried to hold them: it was shameful to cry in front of his colleagues.

 

“Come with me, Kang SeungYoon.” Jiyong ordered. “I want to tell you a story of a man who lost everything.”