Alfred Jones has never known how to belong to quiet things. Not to his father's house, with its clean halls and colder silences. Not to the uniform pressed onto his shoulders. Not to the kingdom that taught him duty before it ever taught him truth. The sea has always been different. Out there, beyond the harbor walls, ships strain against their ropes and men speak of storms, wrecks, ghosts, and pirates as if danger is only another kind of weather. Alfred has spent his life looking toward it, certain that somewhere past the gray line of shore, there must be something more honest than home. But the tide does not only carry men away. Sometimes, it brings old sins back. And when Alfred begins to see the cracks beneath the life built around him, he will have to decide whether obedience is still worth the cost of staying safe. (This was originally a Hetalia pirate AU, but has now developed into a standalone original fantasy pirate saga. The Hetalia tag stays, due to relevance and original findings by readers.)