Before Didi can pay enough attention to know she was just insulted, Jackie reclaims the spotlight. “And to think, I’m the pirate of the group. If it consoles you at all, blonde one—”
“Kammy.”
“Kammy. If it consoles you at all, Kammy, these two have calmed down tremendously since they met me. I’m no saint myself, but being the governor of my own ship requires me to have some sense of maturity, and it seems that Richie has grown impressively since we met at the start of this voyage. We weren’t exactly enemies then though. I accidentally told him about the great reward for rescuing the diplomats, so we ended up being friendly rivals as we tried to save them to claim the goods for our own respective crews. Of course, love does funny things, so we plan on buying one big ship for us all to live on. We might even let those other two ships following Rich join in on the cash.”
Up till now, Elf and Owan have been quietly whispering to each other, ranking the members of Jackie’s beautiful crew on a grading scale of whom they’d most likely want to return for and take back to the future when they’re older. When they hear about two more boats following, Owan’s girl-minded attention is seized. “Who are on the other boats?”
Cat Rug shoots these dreams to pieces. “Well, Mr. Meyers, that one ship is mainly run by the prince of a country we haven’t talked about yet and his bride, both of whom have agreed to help Jackie’s quest. The other ship used to have a crew of four guys and two girls, but the numbers have severely dropped to only one guy and girl.”
“Uh-oh,” Faye says, “what happened?”
Jo shows off her history skills. “Well Faye, one of the girls was, unfortunately, killed by enemy pirates. As for the guys, they are a beautiful example of System physics and were recreated as one super-powerful character. These folks don’t yet understand everything about the System, so let’s not complicate it for them.” Jo finishes the rest of conversation using the group’s nano-chat technology so that only they can hear it. “They don’t know they’re fictional beings, or at least not all of them do. We know the author can remake his characters as he feels like, but let’s not give the pirates a mental breakdown thinking about it.”
Gigi hugs her mom’s arm, rubbing her nose on her mother’s shoulder. “Ey, you didn’t tell us the name of that new country. Is there a reason, or are you getting rusty? Hehe!”
“Who told you it was okay to sit on that barrel? Did you ask first?”
Elf points at his sister and almost laughs himself into hyperventilation. “Gigi, you hopeless girl, that thing says ‘cheer keg.’ Who even taught you to read?”
Duplica appears. “I did.”
“Oh.”
Realizing her mistake, Gigi complains, “Whaaaaa?! How did I totally miss thaaaaat?! This wibbly wobbly water world motion is throwing off my everything, okay?!”
“Don’t worry, Grace,” Paul says, trying to relieve her spirits, “I believe in you.”
“Sure, yeah.” Grace rolls her eyes, then looks up to the skies. “Rule of the day is ‘Ask for permission before just sittin’ your cushion any ol’ where.’”
“And,” Duplica adds, “the name of the country is Elzron. The couple are Prince Kylok and Princess Matina. I guess we should get to talking about the adventure now.”
Kammy is very dissatisfied with Gigi’s choice of furniture. “I’d rather discuss the appalling suggestions of that keg label. I know you guys are rebellious pirates, but…. No, never mind. I’m sorry, Captain. I won’t further insult you, as I am still your guest. This is your ship.”
Jackie is highly confused. “What’s wrong with the cheer keg? Had you no childhood? So, I like childish sweets. Is that a crime in your country?”
Inner Man Theatre 
Cheer keg! Sweets! Ha ha.
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