𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 (𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞!𝐚𝐮) 𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐙

CH. 34 ~ Reunited

"How do you think the crew will react to seeing me?" I don't know where this question came from exactly, but I felt the need to ask San after thinking about it for a while. We've been in this raft for about 4 days, giving me an endless amount of time to imagine what our reunion with the crew would look like. I feel the raft tilt a bit as San fixes himself to look at me.

"Honestly, it could go two ways. One, they could be happy to have you back and listen to your side of the story, gladly accepting you back to the crew. Or two, Captain will blow your head off as soon as you step foot onto the Aurora for betraying them, without giving you time to explain yourself." He predicts and then smiles at me. "But I think you'll be fine."

"Gee thanks," I remark sarcastically, continuing to get lost in the possibilities as I stare at my reflection in the still waters. We fall back into a short moment of silence before a loud rumble disrupts the stillness. I look over my shoulder at a pouty San, opening the lid of the food basket Nadia gave us to find it empty.

"I'm starving," he complains, clutching his stomach. I roll my eyes sitting up to face him.

"Well, if it wasn't for your greediness, we still might have food. You literally ate it all in the first two days." I remind him sourly and he scowls at me, his stomach rumbling again only louder this time. This man seriously has an insatiable appetite. I'm scared to think that he might even eat me if we don't find food soon. He opens his mouth to probably tell me off but he quickly shuts it, creasing his brow and squinting hard at something in the distance behind me. I find it a bit odd, asking him what he sees and then trailing off when I match his gaze.

Off in the distance, probably a couple of hundred yards away, a large dark shape is seen gradually getting closer to us, becoming clearer. Little by little, I begin to see the outline of what appears to be a ship, soon seeing that all too familiar white and black flag, billowing in the wind atop the crow's nest. San notices this too, gasping audibly when he sees it.

"Is that—,"

"The Aurora," I finish for him, feeling my heart elate at the sight of the large pirate ship slowly making its way towards us. San, already highly excited at the sight of his friends' boat, begins to attempt to stand in our raft, creating an unbalanced platform. I begin to panic, seeing the water slosh beside us as he struggles to stand up, knocking over the empty basket Nadia gave us. "Wait, San, stop! Look what you're doing to the raft. You're gonna make us flip over if you continue!" I exclaim, trying my best to calm him down when he successfully manages to stand on the raft without flipping us over.

"HEY!!" He begins to yell at the boat as loud as he can, waving his arms in a wide-waving motion to try to get their attention. "HEY!! GUYS OVER HERE!" He yells again, desperately trying to grab their attention. San looks over at me, ushering me to join him, so I do, yelling my heart out and flailing our arms together like madmen.

"CAPTAIN!!" I bellow with all the power I can muster at the moment. "HEYY CAPTAIN, ITS US!! SAN AND SUN-MI!"

"HELP! OVER HERE!" San continues for me and we finally get a reaction when they're only about a couple yards away. I hear some voices yelling at each other from the Aurora and see who I'm guessing is none other than our faithful purple-head lookout, Wooyoung, shouting back at us from the crow's nest. San laughs, overjoyed at the sight of his friend, safe and out of harm's way. Once the Aurora gets close enough to us that the members on it can do something to help us, they lower a small rowboat for us to transfer to. We wait expectantly, watching the rowboat get lowered until it splashes on the water next to us. San looks over at me, eyes wide with excitement, and a goofy smile plastered onto his face. "Ladies first." He motions for me, helping me get onto the rowboat with ease and then climbing in himself.