On the docks of Chaiker Island, Donnachie and his two companions waited for Odys where they would not be in the way.
They had finally found someone willing to help them, and they were all in good spirits. In low voices, they speculated about whether this captain could defeat the Deep Blue pirates.
Just then, they noticed a ship heading straight for a nearby pier and watched it crash into it.
People immediately went to inspect the ship. Donnachie and his companions craned their necks, eager to go over and see what had happened.
But waiting for Odys mattered more, so they stayed where they were.
Donnachie and the others saw eight dazed people appear on the ship's deck. After they were rescued, someone boarded the ship. The first people aboard took one look, turned around, and vomited into the sea.
"Bodies everywhere!" After retching several times, someone finally shouted to those below, "The whole ship is full of bodies! They're members of the Red Lion pirates!"
The dock erupted into chaos. People shouted questions over one another and hauled the eight dazed survivors, who had collapsed on the pier, to their feet to ask what had happened.
Soon, someone learned the truth from a survivor and yelled, "Red Lion Taylor is dead! A pirate crew nobody's ever seen before killed him!"
Another uproar followed. Donnachie asked someone nearby what all the fuss was about and learned that Red Lion was a Great Pirate. His crew was powerful too, with over three hundred members, or so people said.
Then someone else shouted, "By the Storm! If you aren't blind, look at the emblem on that sail!"
Donnachie noticed it too. Its centerpiece was an open eye, with an upright sword behind it and a hexagram behind the sword.
He whipped