The captains of the sunset wind.

Chips Pov

I could see our boat from the port. We were still a ways away from the doc, but still that jolly roger was as visible as ever. We, being me, Arianna, Rea, Jay, Gillion, and a quiet, fidgety guy scribbling in a notebook. I tried to read what he was writing but got dizzy watching the pencil write so fast. Not to mention he lurched away when he noticed me peeking. We walked back toward our ship, which is still better than theirs, even with their giant bird on the front. It's cool, I'll admit. But our ship is legendary! We were about to reach our boat when Earl stopped us on the gangway, a single wrinkled hand held up like a stop sign.
"Where's my dang fruit, you hooligan?" He huffed. I snapped my fingers. "Earl! Listen, buddy, I had it juust a second ago. But you'll never guess-"
"You wanna go, pretty boy?" He raised a thick white eyebrow at me.
"What? No- Pretty boy?"
"Yeah you're right, it sounds wrong. Wanna go, ugly boy?"
"I have your fruit, Earl!" Gil said suddenly, opening his briefcase and pouring out the fruit I almost left behind. I felt both hurt and shocked but quickly got over it. I've been called worse.
"Ah! See, this is why Gillion is my favorite fish." Earl said, picking up a few apples and returning to his regular grumpy self. I gave Gil a look. What the heck man? He shrugged back at me, which gave me absolutely no context on if he understood me at all.
"Hey, I helped too," I said, ushering the others around him like he was a frozen puddle.
"Wait. Who are these people? Spies? Navy?! Are they here to replace me? You bozos won't last a day out there without me! I'm not going down without a fight!" Earl tried to take a swing at Ari, who grabbed his frail hand with hers and set it at his side. She had an amused look on her face as if she thought he could actually give a good fight.
"No, Earl, these are friends. New friends, we just met. We were going to set sail with them til' we hit another island." Jay explained, setting herself between the two groups. Earl huffed. "Hmph. Fine. But if they tie their ship to ours, I'm throwing myself overboard!" He took an armful of apples and oranges into the kitchen/crew's quarters.
"Uh, ignore the old man. He's a bit crazy." I shook my head, turning back to the group.
"Chip! Don't insult our juice-making old man like that!" Gil yelled. "He might actually leave! And he's right. We didn't last a week with our last ship." I seem to recall that being MY ship.
"He's no crazier than you," Jay added.
"That is so rude Jay-" I said, feigning hurt. "You and your insults. What if I left, huh?" I raised one eyebrow at her, to which she rolled her eyes. "Then we'd be a lot more productive."
"Uh-huh, you would still be the ones with Gillion. Mr. Charge-into-danger-at-any-given-moment." I motioned to Gil with my thumb. He menacingly folded his arms. "Chip, I save people. You call it reckless, I call it brave."
I interlaced my fingers and put my hands on the back of my head. "Sure, call it whatever you want."
"So this is your boat?" I only noticed Ari when she piped up. "Oh yeah, this is the Millennium Chi-"
"Albatross. This is the Albatross. It says so, right there." Jay whacked me upside the head, pointing at the golden letters on the side of our boat. "Ow. Why are you being so mean-"
"Chip! Ms. Jay! Sir Gillion!" Ollie shouted from John's boat. I turned and saw him jump between the boats and run up to us. "You brought friends! Hi!" He said, waving as he stood next to me and Jay. I ruffled my hand in his hair. "Hey Ollie, what's popping? Where's J-"
"GILLION!" I heard the familiar voice of John boom from the deck of his ship. I turned to see him also jump the distance between boats and run at Gil, who had immediately brightened upon seeing him. They locked arms in that aggressive handshake they always shared. "Come on you two, you've been apart a grand total of an hour, max." I tried pushing them apart, to which I heard heavy footsteps a second later. I looked around and saw a blur of black hair and muscle coming running behind a kid- Kaleb.
"Ari, what was that?" He panted, bending down slightly to catch his breath. "We heard a loud voice of someone yelling something and got worried. They sent me down since I'm the fastest." Kaleb said as he unfolded himself. Dang, this kid is quick. I also hadn't even noticed he'd left. Tall-man and Ghost-guy came jogging over, not quite as fast as Kaleb, but still a rush nonetheless. A dog came following behind them as well, its shaggy white coat gleaming in the afternoon sun.
"What's happening?" John's gravelly and gruff voice asked. I looked up and saw a stunned look on Tall-man's usually stern and disappointed face. They locked eyes for a moment, stunned. "Uhm, hello?" I waved a hand over John's face, to which he promptly shoved it aside.
"J-James?" John's usually strong voice faltered a bit as he said the name. What. The. Heck. "It's really you!" James's voice had lightened a bit, hope sparking in his green eyes. John nodded.