"Almost done." Kyungwon says pleasantly, humming to herself as she pricks the needle through the satin fabric. "I feel a little bad cutting up this dress, it's so nice."

Eunwoo sits patiently in her nightgown, fiddling with her fingers as she watches Kyungwon sew. She had lent a dress to be reconfigured for more appropriate maritime wear—as Kyungwon had suggested. Eunwoo already felt somewhat of a fondness for the navigator—there was something so warm and welcoming about her.

"All done!" Kyungwon holds up a satin shirt, and on her lap lies a pair of pants. Eunwoo rarely wore pants—her mother preferred the elegance of dresses, but Kyungwon had made a strong case for the importance of wearing something easy to move around in on the ship.

"I do believe we are getting close to our destination. You stay here and change, I have to go work." Kyungwon says, with a warm smile. 

Eunwoo smiles back. This ship is starting to feel like home. 

Minkyung took in a deep breath as she stood outside of the captains study, straightening her back and trying to fill herself with confidence.

It was odd, really, she had known Nayoung for so long, yet talking to her still made her anxious.

She raps on the door. "Captain?"

"Mhm? Come in." 

She gently pushes the door open. Nayoung is sitting at her desk, maps spread everywhere—covered in scribbled notations.

"You still haven't told anyone but Kyungwon where we're going."

Nayoung looks up. "I'm sorry. I've been busy."

Minkyung swipes hair behind her ear. "But where are we going?"

"Well," Nayoung sets down her pen, "you remember how a month ago i had a meeting with the King?"

"King Taeyeon?" 

King Taeyeon and her crew were some of the most legendary pirates out there—and perhaps seeing potential in Nayoung, she had requested a meeting with their crew over a month ago.

"As a gift, she gave me this treasure map. I figured it might be a good mission to warm Eunwoo and Yewon up to pirate life. I'm not sure that they're prepared for combat just yet."

"Great idea, captain."

Nayoung gestures outside the door. "Why don't you go brief everyone."

"On it, captain!" 

Minkyung leaves Nayoung's study with a bright smile on her face.

"Buried treasure? Sounds lame." Siyeon complains.

"We're doing it for our new kids." says Minkyung with a gesture to Eunwoo and Yewon. "Something simple, to get in the handle of things."

Eunwoo looks ahead, and begins to see the silhouetted form of a small island appear in the distance. 

"I like it!" says Jieqiong cheerily. "Haven't been on a good ol' treasure hunt in forever."

"I love treasure hunts!" Sungyeon says. "This will be so fun!" 

One of the trap doors swings open, and out comes Nayoung. "Is everyone ready? We shouldn't be here for more than two hours."

"I'll get the shovel." says Kyla.

"Good girl. Now the island is small, but I'm giving you all flares in case of emergency, alright?"

Everyone nods. Eunwoo feels anxiety pool in her stomach—nervous for her first actual activity as a pirate.

Jieqiong seems impossibly thrilled. "I've always loved treasure hunts. We rarely do them, but they're so much fun!" 

Eunwoo pushes aside a few branches and peaks through. 

"What are we looking for exactly?" 

Jieqiong unrolls her hastily made map—copied directly from Nayoung's around fifteen minutes ago. 

"Whatever this is." she says, finger pointing to a large "x". "If we can manage to find that and dig up whatever's buried there, we're set."

"What if it's like... a coffin or something nasty?"

"The King wouldn't play us like that... I think." 

Eunwoo gives an uncomfortable laugh, feeling some sort of ominous hunch. 

"This rock formation! It looks almost exactly the same!" Yewon says with a thrill in her voice. 

Kyla bursts through the trees. 

"Did you find it?" 

"I think..." Sungyeon says, glancing back and forth at the map and the ground underneath. "Pretty sure."

"Nice work, Yewon." Nayoung says, with just a hint of pride in her voice.

Minkyung kicks a rock. "I hate guard duty." 

Yebin hums to herself, using a large stick to attempt to knock a coconut down from a tree. "Someone's gotta do it." 

"Why not you?" Minkyung complains, rolling her head back.

"Because I'm supposed to be searching for food." 

"What am I even guarding against! I'm pretty sure there's not even a ing bug on this island alive."

"You're cute when you're whiny."

"What?"

"Nothing." Yebin coughs.

Minkyung gazes out at the lapping teal waves, when suddenly something catches her eyes.

"Hold on a second." 

"What?" Yebin asks as she finally whacks the tree hard enough that a coconut splits from the branches, and onto the ground.

Minkyung reaches into her bag and pulls out a telescope, eyebrows creased as she places it against her eye.

"There's something out there."

"What do you mean?"

Minkyung twists the lens a bit. "!" she exclaims. It's a ship, headed straight for the tiny island. It isn't the ship that's as threatening, however, it's the bright pink and orange flag wavering in the wind she spots as she squints. "We're in ing trouble." she groans, and her fingers grip her gun. 

Clang!

The shovel hits something hard and metal. 

"Found it!" Kyla exclaims. Siyeon begins to brush sand out of the way as Kyla keeps digging, revealing an opulent treasure chest, glinting with the sunlight. 

"Jackpot." Siyeon says, with a wide grin.

"I thought you found this lame." Kyungwon says with a light chuckle. 

"Any amount of money large enough can change my mind."

Yewon and Sungyeon begin pulling the treasure chest out of its well concealed hole. 

Suddenly, three loud banging noises ring in the air from the direction of the beach. 

"Did Minkyung use her ing flare? How's she going to get lost when she's literally standing right by the ship." 

Nayoung shades her eyes with a hand, gazing at the sky. 

"There's no smoke." she says. "That wasn't a flare. Those were gunshots." 

Nayoung pauses, hands instinctively reaching for her weapon at her side. 

"We're under attack."

Minkyung prays to the gods that Nayoung heard her warning shots—a special signal they had developed in their early days together. 

The ship is just about to dock, and Minkyung draws her sword as she sees a familiar face—one she only knows from wanted posters, but she knows for sure—Captain Jihyo of the Traveling Tyrants, an up and coming crew that's been dominating the pirate scene lately. 

"Get the away!" Minkyung demands, as ropes begin to cascade down the side of the ship and crew members begin to climb down. "We got here first!" 

Hopping down a rope, Jihyo grins. "My, my. Roa the Devil. Pleasure to meet you." 

"Taeyeon gave us the permission to come here." 

"That's odd," says Jihyo, unfurling a piece of paper in her hand, "because she gave it to us too."

Minkyung gazes at the map in her hands—it's the exact same as the one she saw Nayoung with earlier. Of course. Just like Taeyeon to pit two separate crews against each other for entertainment. 

"We have that same map!" Yebin, who's standing slightly behind Minkyung, gasps. 

"Well then, I suppose it's a race for the treasure, isn't it?" She gestures to her crew. "Ladies, charge!" 

Yewon's heart is thumping. She's never run so fast in her entire life. It had been just a minute ago when Nayoung had turned to her and Sungyeon with a fiery look in her eyes and said "Sungyeon, Yewon, take the treasure and run!" 

They knew they couldn't run back to the beach, as that was where the other pirates had docked—and so they had sunk deeper into the jungle. 

Suddenly, Yewon sees a cave, just hidden enough by ferns that it wouldn't be noticed at a brief glance. 

"There!" she whispers to Sungyeon, and lugging the heavy treasure chest, they quickly sink into the darkness. 

No combat, no trouble, Nayoung had said. Just a preparation mission, to ease her in. Eunwoo was starting to doubt her words.

"Can you fight at all?" whispers Jieqiong as they move quickly through the trees. 

"I can sword fight."

"Good enough." says Jieqiong, pulling mysterious satchels and black orbs from her bag. 

"What are those?"

"Bombs. Of my own design." 

"Oh." They didn't call Jieqiong the weapons expert for nothing, she supposed. 

Eunwoo draws her sword, and charges onto the beach. 

Minkyung does not enjoy the feeling of nine guns pointed square at her face. 

"Where is the treasure?" demands Jihyo, cocking her head to the side. 

"I'm telling you, we don't know!" Yebin exclaims. "We were just supposed to keep watch while they found it!" 

Suddenly, a figure dressed in a long black coat and tall boots bursts through the shrubbery. 

"There she is! The Terror of the High Seas." 

Nayoung is slightly panting—she's obviously run fast to get here. 

One of the pirates, Jeongyeon is her name, turns around and trains her gun on Nayoung. 

"Jihyo," the Terror herself says, growling, "We got here first. I don't care what the Taeyeon told you, the treasure is ours." 

Minkyung tries to step forward, but Jihyo notices and her gun. "Don't move or I will shoot." 

"Now!" Nayoung suddenly shouts, and there's a loud explosion, and a cloud of smoke fills the air, sand and dust rising. Minkyung grabs her sword and ducks in between two opposing crew members as the smoke begins to dissipate.

Other members of Nayoung's crew have appeared from the forest, and Jihyo yells "You're on!"

Sungyeon and Yewon shiver inside the cave, holding tight onto the treasure chest. 

"I'm scared." whispers Sungyeon.

Yewon grabs her hand. "I am too. But let's not let fear conquer us. When I get scared, I like to think of things that make me happy."

"Can I think of you?" Sungyeon asks.

"Why?"

"Because you make me happy."

If it hadn't been so dark, Sungyeon would have seen Yewon blushing.

Eunwoo barely ducks when the first shiny blade comes jabbing at her. It's Jihyo's first mate—Nayeon, and she looks very confident with her blade.

Eunwoo feels a odd boost of confidence, and suddenly counters with a swipe of her sword, vaguely falling into the rhythm she can remember from her sword practice with Jongin. 

Nayeon hisses back at her. "Better than I expected, princess." 

"I've had a lot of practice." she replies, quickly slashing at Nayeon, and almost striking, but is blocked last minute by Nayeon's blade. 

There's more clanging, and darting back and forth—her opponent is quick and determined. Eunwoo feels her brand new shirt rip with another sword slash, just barely grazing her arm. There's a definite difference from this and sword fighting class—Jongin was paitent, kindly, but Nayeon is speedy and unforgiving. 

Suddenly, there's a boom. Jieqiong has managed to get up on the ship and start revving up the canons, and the noise is enough distraction for Nayeon to lose focus for a split second. At that moment, Eunwoo stabs—straight into her stomach.

"!" Nayeon stumbles back, gripping hard onto the wound, attempting to stand back up, but struggling—her legs are shaking and she can't seem to move. 

"Man down!" one girl, Momo is it? shouts, running over, and drawing her weapon with a glare. "You'll pay for this!" 

Jihyo glares down Nayoung, and Nayoung glares back. 

"Where is my ing treasure!" Jihyo yells over the noise. There's a crash as another cannonball falls and Nayoung would sigh if her nerves weren't so tense—this is an utter disaster.

"I'm not telling." 

"How about this?" Jihyo says with a smirk, and suddenly points her weapon.

Nayoung responds, but it's a second too late. 

Jihyo fires.

Nayoung falls to the ground.