Elemental Cats

Stitches continued healing Toz's injury. It was a serious wound, but not something that would take more than one session. While they waited, Wulf and Hayar kept watch over Dristel, just in case, and Frank and Vaner decided to scour through the ship and tie up all the crewmembers they found. Frank and Vaner also went on a treasure hunt as they searched through the entire ship.

Frank and Vaner's trip had bountiful results, but it wasn't noteworthy when compared to the haul Toz brought back from the Blue Lounge League's treasury. The two Bunglehoppers realized that they had missed the greatest treasure when they came back to the deck and found Wulf and Hayar rummaging through Dristel's storage rings and bags.

Dristel could only look on with a vacant gaze as Wulf and Hayar pulled his most prized possessions out of his storage rings. A spear he was planning to fuse with his inclination to strengthen his own spear. Wulf took his backup clothes that were even better than the officially administered Starsling Naval Admiral Uniform and stuffed them into a spatial ring of his own.

Wulf also took currency, mana crystals, and anything else of value in order to add it to the Bunglehopper treasury. There were also a few spear type martial manuals, including the one for the Dragon's Tail Sweep technique that had blown Toz into the mast. There was also an almost empty manual for the Piercing Gale technique that Dristel used frequently. In total, there were three spear type manuals, but Toz had only seen Dristel use two techniques.

Toz and the others were naturally worried that Dristel had hidden a trump card up his sleeve, but they quickly realized that the last technique, Tornado Thrust wasn't suitable for small-scale and direct combat.

However, they were still surprised that Dristel only had three techniques and manuals when his brother, who wasn't even an admiral, had at least four. Not only that, Dristel didn't have very many other possessions that were something one would expect of one of the people in one of the highest positions in the kingdom.

Toz and the others looked at Dristel's unexpected poverty with some confusion and pity, but Dristel's mind was on the verge of breaking down due to the pain of his missing arm and the despair of losing everything, including his life. The last thing he cared about was what the people who defeated him thought about the contents of storage items that were now completely meaningless to him.

Dristel's state of mind wasn't a concern of any of the people around him, so after not getting any kind of response, they just got back to going through his items. Not unexpectedly, they didn't find anything more of significant value, so they just stored away everything and ensured that Dristel wasn't hiding anything.

By the time the Bunglehoppers finished patting Dristel down, Stitches had healed enough of Toz's injury to let him stand up.

Toz walked over to Dristel, still with Stitches attached to his side. Stitches was a little annoyed that Toz didn't sit still until the wound completely recovered, but he was understanding in that Toz wanted to deal with the one who inflicted the wound personally.

However, Stitches and the others had their expectations subverted when Toz didn't pull out his sword to lop Dristel's head off. Toz sat down in front of Dristel and patted his cheek in order to get his attention.

Dristel's vacant eyes trembled a bit, but he didn't move his eyes nor show any signs of being willing to interact with the world around him.

Toz turned to Lucy.

"Do you think you can do anything?"

"I can do lots of things!"

Lucy happily answered, but when he realized what Toz meant, he quickly followed up.

"But not the right things."

Lucy looked a little sad that he couldn't help Toz. All the cats were a little sensitive to those feelings since they all felt like they hadn't been of any help to Toz recently. Toz comforted Lucy a little, but it wasn't the greatest time to sit down and make sure all the cats felt validated and loved, so Toz turned back to Dristel.

"Don't you wanna save your brother?"

Dristel's eyes twitched, and he turned to face Toz. He still didn't say anything, but this time it was more out of stubbornness and unwillingness to submit completely. Toz didn't care and kept talking.

"If you tell me what I want to know, you and your brother might survive. As simple as that. Give and take."

Dristel's empty gaze cleared a little, and it looked like he sank into deep thought. Eventually, he sighed and opened his mouth.

"As long as you guarantee mine and my brother's survival, I'll tell you anything you want to know?"

"Anything?"

"Anything."

"Even state secrets?"

"Even state secrets."

"Why?"

"Isn't it obvious? The kingdom is nothing compared to my brother."

Dristel had seemed a little unsure when he first opened his mouth, but his resolve got stronger with each word. His only remaining worry was if Toz could still keep his life intact against the other pirates.

Toz smiled in response to Dristel's readiness to abandon the Starsling Kingdom. It was a little unexpected since an Admiral ought to have some loyalty to the kingdom they served. But it didn't seem like Dristel hesitated because of loyalty. He was only worried that Toz wouldn't keep his promise.

Toz didn't mind Dristel's attitude since it only made things easier for him. As a sign of goodwill to make sure Dristel could at least hold a smidgen of trust in his promise, Toz asked Stitches to help Dristel.

Stitches wasn't quite done with Toz's injury, but Toz could handle what was left of it with his own ability.

Stitches begrudgingly went over to Dristel and knelt down next to him so he could get a better angle to inspect the gruesome wound Toz had left him on his left shoulder. Stitches wouldn't be able to regenerate or recover the last arm, but he could get rid of the worst of the burn scars and the pain.

Dristel closed his eyes and involuntarily sighed in relief as the pain of his singed nerve endings melted away like snow in spring.

Toz didn't mind waiting while Stitches did some minimalistic treatment of Dristel's injury. It was the bare minimum, but to Dristel, it felt incredible since he could finally think straight again. He hadn't spent too long with the pain, but he already felt like it had become part of him.

Stitches had to concentrate and move slowly due to the nature of the wound, but even after Stitches finished, Dristel left his eyes closed and reveled in the feeling of relief.

Toz wasn't impatient by nature, but he had things to do since the rest of the fleet was still surrounding Pirate Haven, and without Pirate Haven, there wouldn't be any way for him to become Pirate King. There's no such thing as a King of Pirates without any actual pirates to be king over.

However, right as Toz was about to encourage Dristel to talk, Dristel opened his eyes and looked at Toz again.

"So, what do you want to know?"