The Espada Brothers

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 12, Post Number 287

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Leona's Room, midnight-

It had been a week since Leona had tried to read through the entirety of Professor Henry Rosetta's doorstopper known as Ancient Desierto and had come up short by a few hundred pages. She had read through it up to the part where the sultans formed the Tri-Council Cities but had had to stop there since she was way too tired to continue reading. She had vowed to finish reading and taking notes on Ancient Desierto before reading another one of the purchased books to keep the momentum on learning about ancient history going. One week later Leona was looking for a reason to get back into the field and do what she did best, but what kind of job should she look to do next?

Leona lay on her bed staring at the ceiling and trying to figure out the right job for her to take when she got a knock on her door and a brown envelope was slid under her door, presumably by a staff member who wanted to avoid waking her up.

"A paper object has been slipped under your door." PG-13 announced to her. Leona sat up and walked over to the envelope, picking it up and taking it to her desk to open it. She sat at the desk and grabbed the knife her brother had forged for her to use as a letter opener, a task for which it was not designed but one it still performed fairly well in. Leona carefully took the letter out of the envelope and began to read it.

"Dear Wizard Saint of Courage:

I'm Captain Espada and there's a matter I need your help with. I won't tell you in this letter because I've got a lot of enemies and they're looking to make me sleep with the fishes. I've included a map of the island so that you can find me. Once we meet in person I'll tell you more." The letter said.

Leona was intrigued by this letter and was curious as to what "Captain Espada" wanted from her. She looked for the map that was supposed to have been included and found it still in the envelope. She opened it and found that it was a hand-drawn map of the Calm Sea region with an X on a tiny island in the far reaches of the area that leaned towards Divide Island. Leona immediately got up and got dressed in her blue, white, and gold outfit and slipped Ses Revanche into her right boot before grabbing her Silver Longsword. Since the captain had many enemies, she had better hurry before they caught up to him.

Fully dressed with the exception of her Argent Gloves, Leona slipped them on and slipped on her backpack, then grabbed the letter and the map and left the guild hall to go find the captain before his enemies got to him first. She was going to be in for a lengthy flight.

-Six hours later, Calm Sea, The Captain's Island-

Using Winged Lion for transportation, Leona had flown high above the clouds in order to avoid curious travelers following her or the captain's enemies following her straight to him, but she had to fly below the clouds on occasion to see where she was and to consult the map. Leona's backside and legs were hurting from sitting so long, but she was not sure if she was close to the destination. She dipped below the clouds and looked down on an island that roughly corresponded to where the X was marked on the map and noticed that there was a large wooden sailing vessel with three black sails sailing right for the island.

Leona commanded Winged Lion to land on the beach that faced the ocean and hoped that she would be able to land before the ship reached its destination. Winged Lion began to decrease altitude and headed for the beach as Leona mentally prepared herself for a fight. Leona was within 100 meters of the beach when muzzle flashes lit up on the deck of the ship and bullets whizzed by her. She had been spotted and the ship's crew were shooting to kill!

Winged Lion dodged the first five shots but was winged by a sixth and a seventh as he came in to land. He veered left and the unprepared Leona fell off about 25 meters from the target area, clutching the map until she hit the sand on her back and bounced once. The fall hurt less than she thought it would... she chalked it up to landing on sand instead of hard earth. Leona quickly got to her feet and hurriedly put away the map, drawing her Silver Longsword and facing the vessel as it slowed to a stop and the crew began to pile into longboats. She had a feeling that she was facing pirates because of the black sails on their ship, but she was not going to attack until she was absolutely sure that they were pirates and not just jittery authorities who mistook her for a pirate.

She ran along the beach where the boats were going to land and saw five longboats full of men dressed like stereotypical pirates rowing towards the beach with gleaming cutlasses and flintlock muskets plus a few more modern breech-loading rifles carried by men in slightly better outfits that included tricorner hats and bandoliers full of rifle bullets. Leona was at a disadvantage against that much firepower since most of her strongest spells were magically enhanced martial arts strikes and the only weapons she had were melee weapons. The Wizard Saint was wearing Argent Gloves, but they would not protect her from firearms, especially not the breech-loading rifles wielded by the leading pirates. She would need to find a way to get close enough to introduce the pirates to the business end of her sword without getting turned to Swiss cheese in the attempt.

Slowing down and drawing on her past experience, Leona knew just what to do.

[Post Word Count: 1,012]
[Total Word Count: 1,012/5,000]

Leona knew better than to try and close in with the gun-wielding men without a distraction occupying their attention. It was a good thing that she had Winged Lion already out and flying. She telepathically ordered him to swoop down on the men and distract them while she called in reinforcements.

"It will be done." Winged Lion said to her. Leona then dropped to a knee to avoid incoming musket fire and watched some of it kick up small puffs of sand around her position while a few musket balls whizzed by her head. Leona thought about who else she could summon and knew just the summons.

Tempest Avian and Griffin were perfect for this situation since they had attacks that could hit multiple targets.

Leona telepathically summoned Tempest Avian first.

"Tempest Avian Summon!" Leona thought as she raised her hands to the sky. Moments later the metallic owl descended in the middle of a tornado and landed a few meters to her right. Tempest Avian took wing and flew a few meters above the ground.

"Griffin Summon!" Leona thought. Moments later an eagle's screeching cry could be heard as the Griffon descended from the sky and flew low over Leona.

"What do you need us to do?" Tempest Avian asked Leona.

"See those rowboats full of men with guns? They're pirates and they're shooting at me. Go after them!" Leona instructed Tempest Avian and Griffon. A moment later she had to drop to the sand to avoid being hit by massed musket fire; almost as soon as she dropped a rifle bullet whizzed by where her head was just a moment ago.

"Understood." Tempest Avian said as he took off and flew towards the first boat full of pirates. Griffin wordlessly followed behind the metallic owl and split off left to attack another boat. Her three summons harassed the pirates, drawing their fire and retaliating with some techniques.

Griffin hovered a short distance from the boat farthest to the left of the five-boat "fleet" and flapped his wings, firing a Blade Storm of silver wind blades that cut into men and the boat alike. Several of the densely packed men yelled in pain and surprise as they were hit by the attack. Their leader stood up and aimed his rifle at the Griffin, but Winged Lion dove on him with his front paws extended and grabbed the man, hoisting him into the air and frightening the crew so badly they could not turn the boat fast enough to get away; they abandoned the attempt to reach the shore and turned back for the large pirate ship. That left four more boats of pirates to stop.

Griffin took a rifle bullet from a boat in the middle and Tempest Avian flew in front of the wounded summon to fire a burst of Steel Flechettes into the offending boat. The metal feathers rained down on the men, killing three and wounding several more in a single burst. Again the leader of that group aimed and fired at Tempest Avian and the shot bounced harmlessly off of him, much to the chagrin of the boat's crew. Winged Lion swooped down on the standing leader and grabbed him with his paws, hauling the man away and frightening another crew into turning around and heading for the safety of the main vessel. Three more were left, but they were only a short distance away from the shore and their crews were rowing hard to get to the beach before they could get picked off by Leona's flying summons.

Dodging more musket fire and the occasional rifle bullet, Leona began to close the distance to the landing area so that she could stop them before they could disembark. Her summons continued to harass the pirates the best they could, but Winged Lion and Griffin had taken some wounds from the massed gunfire and were slowing down. Tempest Avian barely had a scratch because his metallic body allowed him to ignore musket fire while he rained Steel Flechettes down on the pirates.

Leona watched as the three rowboats reached the beach and the men began to rapidly disembark while still under aerial attack from Leona's summons. Leona took advantage of the distraction to summon one of her few ground-based summons. She channeled magic into her hands and raised them into the air while calling upon her next summon.

"Guardian Lion Summon!" Leona called out. Moments later the metallic lion appeared.

"I long for battle!" The lion declared.

"Well, there are a bunch of pirates heading my way. They're all yours." Leona pointed towards them with her left index finger, telling the bellicose lion which way to go for the fight he wanted. Guardian Lion laughed and immediately charged towards the men while Leona followed close behind. Those pirates were about to get more trouble than they bargained for.

Guardian Lion charged into the middle of one group of men and began clawing through them, eliciting yells of pain and panic as he started engaging them. One man tried to stab Guardian Lion with his cutlass and panicked when his weapon glanced off of the beast's chest. The metallic lion replied by simply swiping at the offender's head with a heavy paw and crushing the man's skull with a single blow. That sight caused even more panic among the group and made a few of them run away while their leader shouted curses at them.

Leona saw a pirate from another group single her out and level his musket at her chest. He fired right as Leona sidestepped, missing the Wizard Saint by a comfortable margin. She quickly used a Zephyr Dash to close the distance between them and used her Silver Longsword to knock aside the barrel of the pirate's musket with a horizontal swing to the right, then stabbed him through the chest before he could draw his cutlass. The first pirate fell to the sand and a second with his cutlass drawn rushed towards her wielding a flintlock pistol in his right hand.

He ran towards Leona and fired the pistol while at a full run. She retrieved her sword just before the shot grazed her left shoulder and tore a hole in the fabric. The lightly wounded Leona met him in hand-to-hand combat, grabbing the wrist of his sword arm with her left hand to keep the cutlass from descending, then stabbed him through the chest with her sword. He dropped the empty pistol and his sword and fell to the sand as a third pirate decided to cross blades with the Wizard Saint.

Not having enough time to retrieve her sword, Leona picked up the fallen pirate's cutlass and wielded that instead. She used her free left hand to deliver a Mach Jab to the face just as the pirate closed with her and slashed him three times across the chest before he could recover. He yelled and fell backward onto the sand, but he was far from the last of the pirates looking to kill her. She counted at least eleven more pirates heading her way and a glance at the pirate vessel showed a rowboat being lowered with an imposing figure standing at the helm of the boat as if both sizing her up and daring her to fight him.

[Post Word Count: 1,220]
[Total Word Count: 2,232/5,000]

Leona did not have time to size up the approaching man because more pirates were bearing down on her and were looking for blood. One pirate fired a shot with his flintlock pistol that missed her right arm, then put it away and drew his cutlass as three more with their swords in hand ran by him to engage Leona. Guardian Lion was busy fighting the first group of pirates and the winged summons were busy fighting the third group, so Leona would just have to deal with this bunch herself. The Wizard Saint was a veteran of numerous skirmishes across Earthland, so she could handle herself in a fight if she was careful and played it smart. The most urgent priority was separating the group of eleven pirates into more manageable numbers before that big guy got here.

The three men rushing at Leona were soon joined by two more, but Leona was ready for them. She raised her empty left hand and cast a Wind Blast that knocked all five of them to the sand; another pirate with a sword jumped over his fallen brethren to engage her and Leona raised her cutlass to block the downward swing. While they clashed Leona saw the man reach for a flintlock pistol and reacted on instinct, thrusting up with her right knee to knock the barrel up and away before she got shot in the stomach. The weapon discharged and grazed her right hip, but Leona stood her ground and kicked the man between the legs, dropping him to his knees. She then decapitated him with a single horizontal slash before he could recover, leaving ten more pirates to oppose her.

Two more men surged towards her as she tried to fight the pain from the grazing shots to her left shoulder and right hip. Leona forced herself to recover and parried the sword thrusts of the two men, giving ground so that she would not be overwhelmed by them as the men she had knocked over with a Wind Blast got up from the sand and quickly resumed their attack. The seven men surrounded her, but again she had been in this situation before and knew exactly how to get out of it. First she punched the sand and used a Storm Impact to stagger the men, then she dropped her borrowed cutlass and hurriedly retrieved her Silver Longsword while the cloud of sand concealed her.

She then held out the Silver Longsword and channeled magic into it, then waited for the sand to settle down and for the men to charge her. Once they could see again they charged her and Leona used a special technique known as Silver Revolution to spin around for five complete rotations, cutting all seven men across the chest and downing them almost instantly. They wordlessly collapsed to the sand and Leona stopped her spin facing the remaining three pirates of the group. They looked at her and at the seven men she had killed in one move, then ran away from her, leaving her slightly wounded but in command of the immediate area.

However, the tall man on the boat was halfway here and there were still pirates on the beach. He was bringing with him a rowboat of more pirates spoiling for a fight. Leona needed to hurry up and clear the remaining pirates out before the tall man could arrive.

Then a question came to mind, one that Leona had not had time to ask herself.

Where was Captain Espada?

Leona did not know. She knew that she had to clear the beach to give herself a better chance of winning against the incoming man, who was dressed in an elaborate outfit with a tricorner hat and golden metal greaves protecting the lower part of his legs. In his hands were two swords, one slightly shorter than the other. They looked to be a matched pair of weapons intended for use together.

Guardian Lion roared in triumph as the surviving pirates he had engaged fled for their lives to regroup with the first three and rushed to engage the second group. The winged summons had whittled down the second group to eight survivors, but the pirates had taken out Griffin for the time being and were about to finish Winged Lion. Shots rang out from the approaching boat and Winged Lion went down in a hail of rifle fire. Only Tempest Avian and Guardian Lion were left to aid Leona.

Tempest Avian was still flying but had taken a few rifle bullets that had dented his torso. Guardian Lion was still active and harassing the pirates on the beach, giving Leona some breathing room to think about how she was going to fight the new arrivals who were fast approaching the beach. Leona got a better look at the man and felt his magic signature. It was about as strong as Theo Silversong's, but his magic signature was not the only thing imposing about him. He looked to be a full foot taller than Leona and had a good amount of muscle.

"The captain's coming!" A pirate told his colleagues. The pirates, either not wanting to fail their captain or fearful of what would happen to them should they not get back into the fight, rushed at Leona with desperate energy that she could feel. The gang of seven rushed at her and soon closed in, threatening to overwhelm the blonde with a rain of sword blows that she could barely block. Feeling herself close to being overwhelmed, Leona telepathically ordered Tempest Avian to fire a burst of Steel Flechettes in her direction.

"But you'll be hit!" Tempest Avian protested.

"DO IT!" Leona instructed. Tempest Avian reluctantly complied and fired a burst of Steel Flechettes in her direction. The rain of feathers hit most of the pirates and killed two of them with puncture wounds to the head, but two of them grazed Leona; one grazed her right shoulder and the other grazed her left forearm just below the Argent Glove. It was worth it to break up the gang that was attacking her all at once.

Taking advantage of the breathing space bought by the desperate tactic, Leona cut down the first man in front of her with two diagonal slashes across his chest and turned to one on her right, stabbing him through the torso and kicking him off of the blade. Leona turned to a third man when he retreated along with his colleagues, leaving Leona to face the imminent approach of the pirate captain. The lightly wounded blonde prepared herself to face a new wave of pirates led in person by their captain and took a deep breath.

The rowboat reached the shore and the captain jumped off of it without waiting for his substantial escort. Guardian Lion rushed to engage him and jumped towards him. The captain turned towards the metallic lion in mid-flight and swung the larger of the two swords down, sending out a wave of blue energy that sliced the lion down the middle. Guardian Lion roared in pain and vanished, leaving only Tempest Avian.

Leona involuntarily took a step back as the captain strode towards her with his two swords. Tempest Avian dove to the rescue and placed himself between the captain and his mistress before raising his arm-mounted weapon to fire at the man, but he lasted about as long as Guardian Lion. The man simply sliced through him with a forceful downward slash and Tempest Avian vanished. The tall man looked over Leona and then looked towards his dead and wounded men before turning his gaze back on her.

"I saw you and your beasts fighting my men. I am surprised that one mage could fight my brave crew to a standstill." The pirate captain said to Leona as if he was somewhat impressed with her. The captain turned to his men, who were nervous but had their weapons ready and were willing to charge back into the fray on his command.

"You did the best you could, so do not fear. I will take her on!" He declared. It was Leona's turn to be impressed. She had thought that he was just another run-of-the-mill pirate captain who threw his men into harm's way without a care, but he seemed to care for them, at least enough to forbid them from throwing their lives away against an opponent they could not beat. He strode forward and challenged her.

"I came here to settle some business with my brother, but you... you are a much more interesting opponent. Show me what you can do!" He challenged her to battle, raising his swords into a ready position.

The Pirate Captain:

[Post Word Count: 1,456]
[Total Word Count: 3,688/5,000]

Leona took a close look at the man and noticed that he had no pupils but he could still see her clearly. He also had white hair and a white mustache that lent him an undead appearance, but his most intimidating feature was his height. He towered a good foot over Leona and had a reach advantage. Still, she could not always get by by beating up easy opponents. Wizard Saints were renowned for their power, after all. Leona was also supposed to be the Wizard Saint of Courage and staying true to her title sometimes meant fighting though mismatches like this one.

Leona raised her Silver Longsword and faced the pirate captain, who spoke to her before the duel started.

"I am Captain Hector Espada. I am captain of the vessel known as the Ocean's Requiem." He introduced himself.

"I'm Leona Jarnefeldt." Leona introduced himself in return. He raised an eyebrow.

"I have heard that name a few times before. If you really are the Wizard Saint of Courage, it is small wonder that you could fight my men with such ease." Hector said to her.

The pair faced each other about two meters away and they each prepared to make their move. Leona was not going to charge in blindly but instead wait and play this smart. She was not sparring with Sol Detholusin. Hector Espada was a pirate captain and he would kill her if he got the chance to.

Hector made the first move and lunged towards her with surprising speed for a man of his musculature and height. He then swung downward with the larger of the two swords and Leona sidestepped it. He followed up with a short stab from the shorter sword that Leona parried with her sword. He backed away before Leona could retaliate and his outline began to glow ocean blue. He took one step forward and launched himself at her like a torpedo with both swords extended as he flew in her direction.

The startled Wizard Saint sidestepped the attack and thought she was safe, but a quick slash across her stomach told her otherwise. Leona stepped back and saw that there was a gash in the outfit but no blood had been drawn. She was glad that she had chosen to wear the version of the blue, white, and gold outfit that could repair itself because otherwise it would need a lot of fixing after this duel. She did not have time to muse about her clothing repair bills because Hector had recovered from his technique and was standing twelve meters away as his outline began to glow ocean blue again.

"Ocean Wave!" Hector announced before slashing upward with the larger sword and firing a vertical blue wave of energy at Leona. She sidestepped the attack and flung a Fast Ball at him that he sidestepped with ease. He followed up with the same technique that he had used to launch himself at her earlier, but this time Leona knew what he was doing and jumped back to avoid the flying pirate. He missed by a comfortable margin and paused thirty meters away... now was her chance to hit back!

Crouching down and disappearing in a flash step, Leona used Zephyr Charge to both close the distance and retaliate for being hit earlier. Hector was not expecting her to use such a move and was hit in the chest, staggering back for three meters and righting himself just in time for Leona to swing her sword in a downward two-handed chop. The captain blocked it with crossed swords and leaned into her during the blade lock.

"I am impressed. Not many of my opponents have lasted this long." Hector complimented her on surviving this long. He raised his right foot and tried to stomp on Leona's, but she moved her foot out of the way in time and used the chance to kick him in the stomach to break the blade lock. He staggered back and raised the smaller sword, holding it parallel to her. Why was he doing that?

Leona soon got her answer when he squeezed the weapon's handle and a pistol shot sounded. Leona felt the bullet only graze her right cheek and was relieved because if his aim had only been a few inches more to the left she might not be standing. Leona then used a Zephyr Dash to close in and slash at him, cutting him across the stomach as well. He stepped back and chopped down with the larger sword and Leona blocked the blow by holding her sword with a two-handed grip. He stepped in and punched her in the face to send her staggering back six steps, an opening he did not hesitate to exploit.

Hector closed the distance with her and then did alternating stabs with first the big sword, then the little one. Leona spun to the right to avoid both stabs and saw his outline glow ocean blue, which meant that another nautical spell was coming her way. It was not long in coming... his arms glowed blue and he rushed towards her.

"BLADE MAELSTROM!" He called out, stabbing repeatedly with both swords at a speed so fast that Leona could barely keep up. Leona had to step back to avoid multiple puncture wounds, but she was surprised when Hector moved forward to keep up with her. She had to keep stepping back and he kept moving forward at a brisk pace while stabbing repeatedly with both swords. The Wizard Saint was on the back foot and needed to find a way to stop the Blade Maelstrom before she got caught in it.

Leona took a risk and stuck out her left hand, firing a Wind Blast that caught him and knocked him back a meter before he recovered his footing. It disrupted the technique, but Hector soon went back on the offensive by running at Leona while glowing ocean blue. He soon vanished and reappeared right in front of her, leading with his right shoulder.

"CRASHING WAVE!" He called out. Leona stepped back just a fraction of a second too slow and was knocked back just by being brushed by the shoulder. She would have hated to have been hit squarely with the supercharged tackle. The Wizard Saint recovered and aimed her left index finger at the head of the pirate captain, firing a Wind Bullet that he dodged by ducking. He quickly began to close the distance with his arms glowing blue. Not willing to let him close in for a second time, she channeled magic into her left hand and followed up the Wind Bullet with a Silver Tempest.

"What?!" Hector asked just before being hit by the horizontal silver tornado. He was buffeted by the wind and emerged in a dizzy state. However, he was not going to let a small thing like disorientation stop him. He raised the smaller sword and squeezed the trigger of the pistol, firing a shot that hit Leona in her left shoulder. The Wizard Saint staggered back and waited for his next attack, wondering if he was really that good or if he had just gotten a lucky shot. Lucky shot or not, Leona was wounded from the pistol and that was all that counted.

"You have done well to push me this far, Leona. You have proven to be a better opponent than I expected. Were you a man I would invite you to join my crew." The captain complimented Leona for standing up to him so far. Leona thought that Hector was a pretty good fighter who used his weapons, magic, and stature to his advantage and did not let himself be drawn into trading hits. She was also impressed by how polite he was.

"You're a pretty good fighter yourself. I haven't dealt with anyone who could move so fast and hit so hard in quite some time." Leona returned the compliment. Hector stopped focusing on Leona to look to his left. Leona looked towards her right and saw a man dressed in a red hat and open red jacket with brown pants striding towards them. In his hands were swords that were almost the same as Hector's.

"Hello brother. I see that you've met the Wizard Saint of Courage." The man in red said calmly. Hector lowered his weapons. Leona obligingly lowered her own weapon.

"Indeed I have. But I must ask you... why is she here?" Hector asked the other man.

"I apologize that it took me so long to get here, Wizard Saint. I'm Captain Henry Espada. I see that you've met my older brother." The man in red introduced himself.

Captain Henry Espada:

[Post Word Count: 1,451]
[Total Word Count: 5,139/5,000]

"I brought her here because I knew you'd try to kill me again, brother." Henry explained to Hector. Leona was dumbfounded. Why would Hector want to kill Henry?

"That is true, but why did you get her to fight for you? What happened to my brother The Crimson Terror? The man that many pirates feared?" Hector asked his younger brother. The younger Espada sighed wearily.

"I wanted to leave that life behind, brother. I got tired of killing people, even those who really had it coming. I thought that you'd leave me alone if I left the navy, but here I am facing you down on this beach for the third time in as many years." Henry replied. Leona gathered that Hector was a pirate while Henry was a pirate hunter as part of some country's navy. Both brothers seemed to barely tolerate each other, but the conversation did not give way to a clash of arms... yet. Instead an uneasy peace prevailed.

"I didn't want to have to kill you, Hector." Henry continued. Hector appeared to be stunned for a moment.

"We'd been through too much together on the streets of Port Windham. We were the only family we had after our father went off to be a pirate and our mother died of tuberculosis. It was just you and me against the world, Hector." Henry continued. Hector frowned when the past was brought up.

"I admit that our "father" was the scum of the sea. He seduced our mother, had his way with her, and then left never to be seen again. But I suppose that one of us had to follow the old piece of trash." Hector said dryly with the last sentence having more than one possible meaning. Henry laughed.

"Did you ever catch up to the old goat?" Henry asked. Hector shook his head.

"I figured that you did, brother. But that does not matter any longer. He probably drank himself to death in some rundown tavern in some backwater even more backwater than Port Windham. That or someone shot him in the head." Hector finished. Henry laughed again.

"Yeah, that's probably what happened to him. Good riddance." Henry chimed in. Leona could tell that Henry had a good deal of animosity towards his father for what had happened to him and his older brother.

"I ask again... why did you involve the Wizard Saint? Why do you not want to fight me?" Hector asked Henry.

"I told you, brother. I'm tired of fighting. You were always the better fighter of us anyway. Remember when you beat the Hell out of those four kids who stole my sweetroll that day? I thought that you'd kill them if I didn't stop you before the port constables got there." Henry reminisced again. Hector gave a small smile at the memory.

"You defended me so many times when we were just street kids in Port Windham looking for a way out of that backwater pirate-infested hellhole. Now you want to kill me." Henry said wearily as if he were tempted to just let his older brother kill him. Hector seemed moved by the statement.

"I do not want to kill you, brother." Hector retorted. Henry's face hardened.

"Then why do you keep coming after me? Why do you bring your men here to die?" Henry asked pointedly. Hector approached his brother and embraced him. Leona winced and anticipated the red-coated man being run through with the swords, but Hector whispered something into his brother's ear that made Henry wish that he had been run through. Henry staggered back as if he had been hit by a cannonball to the midsection.

"You... you can't be serious!" Henry said. Hector nodded.

"I will leave you in peace, brother. But consider my request." Hector said. He turned to Leona and spoke.

"I was glad to have dueled you, Wizard Saint. We will meet again soon." Hector said before turning and walking to his rowboat. His retinue of bodyguards followed him to the boat and got on. It soon faded from view and more rowboats of pirates arrived. Leona anticipated another fight, but instead the men began to gather up their dead without giving Henry or Leona a second glance.

"My brother's a decent man despite what he does for a living. If he can retrieve his fallen men he retrieves their bodies so that they can be buried at sea. Discipline on board the Ocean's Requiem is tough, but he doesn't abuse his men and he pays them their fair share of the loot. His men will follow him anywhere. They'll even jump in front of guns if he asks them to." Henry told Leona, his face still showing strong emotion from the earlier conversation. The Wizard Saint gathered that from how bravely those frightened men entered the fray once they saw their captain approaching. They lost their fear of her and came at her with a determination that could have overwhelmed her were it not for her ordering Tempest Avian to use Steel Flechettes with her in the area.

"It might be too soon for me to ask this, but what did he ask you to do for him?" Leona asked Henry. He pointed towards a simple wooden shack about 200 meters from the beach.

"I'll tell you about it inside my house. I'll also help you with that bullet wound. You don't want to leave that untreated." He said to her. The wounded Leona nodded and the pair left Hector Espada's pirates to the task of retrieving their dead. Leona was curious as to what Hector had whispered to Henry that had upset him so badly. She would find out soon enough.

[Post Word Count: 953]
[Total Word Count: 6,092/5,000]