The noise above kept getting louder.
Cannons roared one after another, followed by men yelling at the top of their lungs. The whole ship shook beneath our feet, but the blond boy didn't seem bothered in the slightest.
Instead, he looked excited.
He grabbed my wrist and started running.
"Come on!"
As we passed the other cells, dozens of hands reached through the iron bars.
"Hey! Don't leave us here!"
"Open this one too!"
"For God's sake, kid!"
Some cursed at us. Others begged.
The blond boy didn't even spare them a glance.
Neither did I.
By the time we climbed onto the upper deck, the battle was already in full swing.
Smoke drifted through the air, making it hard to breathe. Cannonballs tore through the sides of the ships, sending splinters flying everywhere. Pirates swung across ropes, swords clashed, and bodies fell into the sea without anyone stopping to look back.
The smell of gunpowder mixed with saltwater.
I looked around quietly.
"What is this?"
The blond boy laughed, almost like he'd been waiting for me to ask.
"A pirate battle!"
"...Oh."
That was it.
He stared at me.
"'Oh?' That's all you've got?"
I shrugged.
I'd seen villages burn.
I'd seen people kill each other over less.
This... wasn't anything new.
The blond boy stepped forward, watching the chaos with a smile.
"Look at them," he said. "Every single one of them knows they could die today... and they're still fighting like tomorrow doesn't matter."
I frowned.
"I don't get what's so special."
He looked at me, then back at the battle.
"Life and death are standing on the same deck."
Before I could answer, a pirate rushed toward us with his sword raised.
"There you are!"
He swung.
Without thinking, I caught his wrist, twisted it, and drove my blade straight through his chest.
He dropped.
Just like that.
The blond boy looked down at the body, then back at me.
"You didn't even hesitate."
"He was in the way."
For a second, neither of us spoke.
Then I looked at him.
"But.. are you trying to get yourself killed?"
He smiled.
"If that's what today has planned, sure."
"You don't fear death?"
He let out a quiet laugh.
"No."
His smile faded just a little.
"I've always been more afraid of living."
A vision of a burning ship crossed blondie's thoughts, a woman holding a little baby.
I looked at him for a moment.
"...Neither am I."
The grin returned to his face.
"Good."
He started walking straight into the middle of the fight.
"...Why?" I asked.
He glanced over his shoulder.
"Why what?"
"Why aren't you afraid of me? I just killed someone."
He scratched the back of his head.
"Oh... that."
He smiled again.
"I stopped trying to understand everything a long time ago."
Another cannon fired, shaking the ship.
"People die. People live. Things happen."
He looked ahead as pirates continued to fight around us.
"I just let them."
For some reason...
I found myself following him...
The battle dragged on.
A man fell over the railing before anyone could catch him. Another crawled across the deck, leaving a trail of blood behind him as he reached for a sword that was no longer there.
Some fought harder.
Some cried for their mothers.
Some simply stopped.
The sea didn't care. It swallowed every body the same way.
Lue watched it all in silence.
The screams didn't bother him anymore.
If anything, they were familiar. They reminded him of home... of the day everything disappeared.
His grip around the sword loosened.
"...I don't want this."
The blond boy looked at him.
"The fighting?"
Lue nodded once.
For a second, the boy didn't say anything. Then, to Lue's surprise, he laughed.
Not because he found it funny.
Because the answer seemed so simple.
He cupped both hands around his mouth.
"HEY!"
His voice echoed across the two ships.
The fighting slowed just enough for people to glance his way.
"If you're still planning on seeing tomorrow, you should probably stop trying to kill each other!"
Someone burst out laughing.
Another pirate pointed his sword at the blond boy.
"Who put the kid in charge?"
A few more laughed.
Then one of them rushed forward.
Lue stepped between them almost absentmindedly.
The pirate's sword came down.
Lue moved.
There wasn't anything flashy about it. One step to the side, a single swing, and the pirate crumpled onto the deck before anyone really understood what had happened.
For a heartbeat, nobody moved.
Then another man charged.
He lasted even less time.
A third tried.
Then a fourth.
The deck grew quieter with every body that hit the floor.
The laughter was gone now.
People who had been shouting a moment ago suddenly found the horizon very interesting.
The blond boy rested an elbow on Lue's shoulder like they weren't standing in the middle of a battlefield.
"So..."
He smiled at the crews.
"Anyone else?"
Nobody answered.
"You've got two choices."
His voice wasn't loud anymore, but somehow everyone heard it.
"Keep fighting him..."
He lightly tapped Lue's shoulder.
"...or get back on your ships and pretend today never happened."
A pirate with a scar across his face tightened his grip on his cutlass.
"You think we're scared?"
"No," the blond boy replied.
"I know you are."
The words hung in the air.
Nobody argued.
The scarred pirate looked at the men behind him.
None of them stepped forward.
One by one, swords were lowered.
Someone muttered, "Forget it."
Another spat onto the deck and turned away.
Within minutes, both crews were retreating. The cannons fell silent. The shouting faded until all that remained was the creaking of wood and the waves hitting the hull.
It ended so suddenly that it almost didn't feel real.
Lue stared after the departing ships.
"...How?"
The blond boy leaned against the railing, watching the sea as if he'd expected this from the beginning.
"How? hmmm... People aren't as complicated as they pretend to be."
He picked up a loose coin from the deck, flipped it into the air, then caught it again.
"They'll risk everything as long as they believe they can win."
He flicked the coin into the ocean.
"But the moment they believe they'll die for nothing..."
"...they stop."
Lue looked at him.
"So you controlled them?"
The blond boy shook his head.
"No."
"I just reminded them they were afraid, as they have something to lose"
The wind picked up, carrying away the smoke from the battle.
For the first time, the deck felt strangely empty.
Lue kept looking at the blond boy.
There was something odd about him.
He smiled too much for someone who spoke so casually about death.
"...Come with me."
The blond boy blinked.
"That's random."
"It is."
"...Where are we going?"
Lue looked toward the endless ocean.
"you will know."
It was the first honest answer he'd given in a long time.