So vast the universe’s size is that its total scale has yet to be documented or even properly estimated, as the exact size couldn’t be determined without being outdated near instantly due to its constant expansion. Even then, the observable universe is likely only a minor chunk of the full space, for it’s unknown exactly how many systems there are, how many worlds, how many other lifeforms may exist. Placing a single number or even an estimated range of the amount of planets in the universe would be absurd, in fact it may be useless to try. A few samples for planets have been observed, but beyond that there is little documentation for the extent of diversity a planet can be, the atmosphere it can hold, the climates that occur within them, and the life that experiences them.

One of the best samples we have in fact is the one we live on, the Earth which may be the most colorful planet known, the bright blue ocean wrapping around the whole globe with lands of brown and vibrant green spread about all underneath the umbrella of white swirls of clouds. In that one singular planet there is an expansive ecosystem, a collection of them even, all spread over a huge quantity of unique biomes. The biomes on this planet consist of raging winds in white mountains, lively marshes and swamps where water grazes land, and roaring lava within volcanoes. There are many sources of sound on the planet, from just movement of lifeless nature like the breezes of winds and splashes of lava, that not even grazing the catalog of sounds from life itself, huge elephants and miniscule ants, the range of sound in volume and pitch wider than what can even be registered by ear. On this singular planet there are so many species whose habitats range from land, air, and the depths of water that haven’t even been properly cataloged, all of which make their own sounds: roars, chirps, and hums. Even with just this sample planet alone there are great possibilities for the ecosystems other planets could harbor out in the cosmos, in each of those systems that center one of the numerous white glimmers amongst the clouds of purple and blue containing gasses in great concentration, the gasses that lead to the reactions that allow the system of life to thrive. Earth was never silent, for in many places on the planet concurrently there were sounds being made, and so if even a fraction of the planets amongst the stars were similar, they wouldn’t be silent either. Thus the universe itself shouldn’t be silent, as it’s filled with planets that are filled with sound. The universe should be abundant with the sound of many profiles.

However, just like all those white glimmers sit across a giant black plane, from an encompassing view of the universe out in space there is total silence. Even close to one of those planets, Earth, there is silence. Even surrounded by all the innumerable stars, there is silence. For as vast the universe was, for as many biomes and ecosystems existed in just one planet at a time multiplied to infinity all across space, there was no sound. Inside a universe where there lacks a proper term to describe its size, one harboring life that cannot be quantified in diversity or scale, a universe so greatly overloaded with complexity that even when focusing on minor details there seems to be a neverending depth, there is just silence.

Samely silent and trudging this dark universe past that Earth is a long beam drifting in the cosmos, moving in a straight line like space debris or manmade satellite technology.

Neighboring the Earth is its moon, a celestial body also massive, though it lacks many of those unique elements about the Earth. Instead of having a vibrant color palette, it’s simply gray. From what can be observed, there is not a single form of life on the surface. There is no sound even on the rocky floor, not from gusts of wind, splashing waters, roaming animals or otherwise. The moon is simply a globe of rocky craters all throughout, a harsh contrast to the colorful Earth not far. Also not far is that gliding beam, which upon closer inspection has a vaguely golden body.

Both the Earth and Moon are indeed moving, the Earth is orbiting its sun and the Moon is orbiting its Earth, and at the same time they’re rotating. Though their movements are at a rate that’s too slow to properly observe at real time, at least at a glance. Opposed to that, the movement of the golden beam is far more significant, soaring away from the two globes after passing them.

That golden beam at an intimate inspection is not a beam at all but rather a titanic train composed of box-shaped cars made with an exterior that vaguely resembles gold but is in fact golden-tinted wooden planks, though the truth is those wooden planks only resemble such but the material itself is metal. Each car has bronze panels on its roof and sides in various shapes like arches and long beams, though from the outside there aren’t any visible windows open. The cars are connected by short bronze bridges with a degree of flexibility, though in this instance the train moves straight and thus has the appearance of a simple rod.

Despite its blazing speeds, the train is entirely silent or rather it’s silent from the observer’s perspective in the outdoors of space. There are no roars from the engine that without a doubt has magnificent power to drive a vehicle of this scale, it is again like the rest of the universe: silent.

From a stationary observer, the train moves at such speed that it’s a mere blur, but without that difference of speed the train’s intricate details can be better appreciated. There’s an artistic nature to the design of the false wood, an antique aesthetic assimilated in an advanced appliance. Each unit of the wall, the planks, are rather small, at least small enough that an average person could pick up and hold it. Yet with the sheer quantity of these planks, the train itself made of them is gigantic, like a narrow insulated city. This insulation isn’t perfect though as there are a couple visible dents and bumps on the roof, some more prominent than others, with spots of chafing in the metal given what could be misinterpreted as erosion. Amongst these damages are even two breaches into the hull spread apart, interior rooms visible inside the holes with one being a sort of lounge but now completely emptied, sealed from the rest of the vehicle by a shut door. Further past this hole though there aren’t other significant damages other than subtle rusting, chinks and scratches, though at fast speeds these aren’t nearly as conspicuous.

This same design vaguely repeats all the way back up to the head car of the train, which inside past the subtle tubings layered between walls is an interior room with that similar metal wooden aesthetic, though with the wood a bit darker inside than out, or rather there’s less light present. Regardless, on the nearest wall is a closed door, although that door only seconds later opens up with a whoosh. A moment later, the edge of the open doorway is grabbed by a masculine hand, gripping it tightly, its nails clamping against the metal material.

After a couple seconds, that hand pulls forward the rest of its body, the forearm completely exposed but not the torso as there’s a red vest dressing it albeit that vest is open to reveal the cross scar over the chest. Under the yellow hat with the red band is the face of the man whose wide eyes glance back as he pants under his breath, his long black hair waving like the similarly colored coat hung off his shoulders. He wears dark gray half jeans and white sandals with red straps, a rather casual attire despite his true status. That status cannot be told easily though given a lack of confidence as he thrusts himself inside the room with a stumble before limping forward, seeming to be somewhere in his thirties given the maturity of his figure and the light beard, though he doesn’t carry himself with much respect as he instead ambles aimlessly forward as the door closes shut once again.

That room he’s limping inside is relatively small compared to the other rooms that the train has, as this one only has one exposed floor without too much abundance in open space as there are several wooden tables occupied by chairs scattered around the room. Yellow lighting gives the room a warm tone, though one counterbalanced by the lack of other activity as it’s completely barren of other people all the way down to the other end where there is an open door leading into a different room that has a wide window screen providing a view of the cosmic highway. While at first the man was stumbling down the open center aisle as if approaching that other room, he instead diverges to the left where there stands a long bar table with several hovering stools along it, and on the other side are cabinets next to shelves full of filled bottles as this entire room resembles a bar with an older aesthetic.

Pacing past a few stools, he finally reaches the table where he then slips into the closest one, all of them raised thus requiring him to slightly push himself up, but after scooting in he pivots to face the drinks. He places both of his hands on the table, his legs just barely too short to be grounded therefore his sandals dangle ever so subtly. He just gazes silently at the many bottles before him, but then he glances to his left and right, reminding himself of his solitude, for not even past that doorway at the end of the bar does there seem to be anyone.

He returns his gaze back to the bottles before releasing a burdened sigh before finally muttering to himself: “Come on Rezzo…where are you when I need your recommends? You knew I wasn’t good at actually remembering this stuff….”

Eventually after just blankly watching the bottles on the shelf, he sighs again before extending his right hand forward, reaching towards one of them with a tall box glass containing a golden liquid like whiskey, though his arm is far too short to reach as it’s well past the table.

It’s too far, that is, until the man’s arm begins to start abnormally stretching, letting him reach further than what is naturally limited until his hand is extended all the way to said bottle, able to grab its body firmly. The arm then slowly recoils, squashing into itself which pulls the hand back from the shelf and over the table until the arm fully reverts to its traditional length, now the bottle in hand.

He glances down at the bottle with a fatigued frown, lacking glint in his eyes, as he just determines with a shrug: “Well this looks close enough, eh they mostly taste the same by themselves anyways.” The bottle has a cork at the top, but from simply pressing his thumb against it and pushing with strength that hardly exerted him, he pops the cork off so tremendously that it flies straight into the ceiling before then falling a moment later beside him.

He brings the opening to his lips and raises the bottle, letting the liquid slip through the aperture and into his. He doesn’t just take a sip but instead chugs it, glugging consecutively as the liquid in the bottle slowly is drained, but he stops after about three seconds to then place the bottle back on the table beside him with a disappointed sigh before recalling, “Right, they usually mix stuff into this don’t they? Man there’s no flavor in here.”

He then drops his forehead against the table in an almost childlike manner, bumping it with a soft groan, though not one from physical pain. He mutters again quietly, “I don’t think the ship deck’s ever been this empty…usually the problem is that there are too many people.”

He lets out another sigh, his face to the surface, the rim of his hat touching the wooden table. Just sitting alone on the stool with his bottle next to him, only partially consumed, he faces away from the door as it opens again, and a dark silhouette emerges to which he instantly raises his face up, his gaze horrified before he promptly throws himself off the stool as he bends back his bottom two fingers in the gesture of a gun hand with both of the tips of the fingers pointing forward beneath the resting thumb transforming to connect together and form a gunmetal gray pistol barrel that is raised and aimed straight at the figure in the brown overcoat who instinctively raises his own hand holding a physical bulky handgun. The intruder’s yellow glare tightens under his bald, bony yet wrinkly head with swollen cheeks, the copper coils wrapped around his barrel flaring up as his coat parts down the center to reveal a black jumpsuit underneath, subtly stained dark purple.

In under half a second after the entrance, the two aim their weapons at each other’s faces, assuming standoff stances that freeze, and while it took a fraction of a second for them to assume those stances, they hold it without additional movement for several whole to pass, their weapon arms extended forward with their sights aligned. Their hands separated by about ten feet only, the only few obstructions between them are the tables which are at the height of their hips, as in truth neither of them can protect themselves without simply not being fired at. The bony finger rests inside on the mechanical trigger, the thumb already sitting on the hammer which has been pressed down, meaning all that’d be needed to launch the shot would be the trigger pull.Given the other man’s weapon not abiding by traditional mechanisms given a lack of a trigger at all or rather most of the semblances of a gun, its implied firing would simply just require a thought, as the transfigured barrel could likely expel a shot on command without needing any motions. Both had their weapons primed and ready, each aimed for a fatal shot, yet neither of them act, neither of them make the move after a longer pause.

Like a heartbeat, the intruder’s yellow eye expands promptly as his mouth subtly opens in a silent gasp of dread, and his arm slightly begins shaking though he manages to stop it in the next moment, keeping his aim straight despite being visibly uneased.

Similarly the man’s eyes first sharpen in intrigue, but then it widens and his jaw drops in shock, though this time instead of it being outright depressive, it’s instead in simple astonishment. Glints in his dark eyes pop up as his open mouth bends to a frown upon the realization, “Wait…so it really is you? I only got a glimpse before but…it’s you isn’t it Ekitai?”

In an act purely instinctual, the man drops his arm as his finger barrel reverts, disengaging from the standoff prematurely.

That act was rather careless too as the intruder’s arm is still up, his weapon still primed, and now he has an easy shot. He isn’t as quick to drop either, his arm still unwavering, but his facial expression morphs first to terror given his larger jaw drop in horror which then turns to an expression of anguish as his teeth clench and his eyebrows scrunch, confliction in his eyes which finally sharpens into a vicious glare as he tightly seals his mouth, trying to steel his resolve with a face similar to that of a cold killer.

Straight the intruder’s arm remains, and on that trigger his finger rests, able to fire far too soon for a transfiguration to even properly occur; especially with the barrel aimed for the head, a single shot would result in decisive victory.

That head wears a face completely astonished, just standing vulnerable in the line of sight of a lethal weapon, and yet all the man can do is step forward and mention with a subtle smile, “You really don’t look different in the slightest…huh. Well hey since we’re already here,” as he nudges his head to the bar table, “how about a drink? Friend to friend?” to which that gun still aiming at him begins to wobble as the arm holding it starts shaking again.

That ruthless glare the intruder puts on tries to sustain itself but cracks quickly emerge as he subtly squints and winces, trying desperately to hold himself together while his closed mouth moves. But gradually that glare crumbles as his eyes expand and his mouth opens again, this expression being one of defeat as he frowns and lowers his head same as his arm as Ekitai softly murmurs back, “I’d like that Gally.”

Still holding the gun in his hands, though it now points directly at the floor beneath him instead of his target, who could now likely strike in generally the same duration of time that it’d take to make a proper shot, Ekitai releases a hefty sigh embarrassed at himself.

In front of him, Gally nods his head and turns around, strolling back to the bar with his back exposed, leaving Ekitai with a perfect shot that wouldn’t be countered if he was fast enough.

Noticing this opening, Ekitai winces again at that terrible thought, shaking his head as he just huffs and follows Gally to the table.

Casually Gally strolls up to the stool in front of his bottle and climbs back into it, swiveling forward as Ekitai ambles to his side and seats himself in the stool to the left, not showing the same struggle as he simply slips in given that he doesn’t have an issue in stature. He does grunt and groan upon sitting in the way an elder would, as even after having fought multiple consecutive battles, it seems the one true struggle was simply adjusting his back.

He swivels forward after recovering, placing his handgun on the table beside him instead of simply holstering it, keeping it instead at his side.

At the same time, Gally examines the shelf ahead of him, specifically the bottles as there’s still a wide selection with many drinks in different shapes of bottles with different colors and even thicknesses, as the bar is well stocked despite having few visitors seemingly. While gazing at the different bottles, he calmly offers: “What do you want? I’m…not really sure what their names are so you sort of need to point and describe it but I can reach from here.”

The answer Ekitai provides is coupled with the act of reaching back into his overcoat’s inner pocket, not to equip his handgun given that it's already out but instead to pull out a small flask of his own that’s filled with his signature purple liquid. He raises the flask up and declines in a gentle voice that partially excuses the natural rasp, “I got my own with me, remember?”

Perplexed initially, Gally glances over to Ekitai beside him and notices the flask, his jaw dropping in astonished realization before then nodding his head, recalling: “Oh right I forgot, you hardly ever drank any of the liquor we had.”

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A subtly awkward chuckle exudes from Ekitai who nods his head before verbally confirming with a soft smile, “Yeah, nothing against your liquors, they just don’t hit my body the same,” before he then takes his first swig of his flask, nothing major like chugs but not a small sip either.

Chuckling back at the excuse, Gally nods slowly before facing forward and grabbing his bottle after which he asks somewhat sarcastically, “You think I could get my first sip of that, whatever that is? You never let me try, even though you know my body can handle anything!”

Another suppressed chuckle slips from Ekitai who takes another swig before rejecting bluntly, “No can do for that, you’re still a kid in my eyes, and trust me it can’t. Besides you don’t want it, it doesn’t taste any good.”

Moaning in exaggerated disappointment, Gally acknowledges defeat with a low head: “Worth a shot,” before ultimately raising his own bottle to his lips and taking a chug of it, drinking more than Ekitai in a single act though his bottle is far larger and the substance is far weaker. After the chug he places it back down on the table, though his hand remains on it. His smile stays as he stares forward blankly, though his chin slightly nudges down and that innocent smile slowly fades into a contemplative frown. He doesn’t make a followup immediately, and after patiently waiting, Ekitai takes another swig from his flask.

Right as he pulls the flask away from his chapped lips does Gally then ask in a voice slightly more mellow compared to before: “I don’t think you’ve been on this ship before, the Golden Dragon, right? You’ve probably seen a good chunk of it already but…it’s huge isn’t it? Like the largest pirate ship ever, we never even fought in a ship this large before. I honestly thought it was absurd to get something like this but here we are.”

Making another chuckle although this one calmer, Ekitai nods and acknowledges still with a relatively upbeat tone: “It really is a big ship, you outdid yourself. I mean personally the Flying Island will always be one of the weirdest ships I’ve seen out here but this is…something else. Not even just another ‘Emperor’s ship.’

Instead of chuckling, Gally instead huffs through his nose as a more suppressed reaction, his gaze not moving but his frown instead lightly deepening as he admits: “Yeah well, with everyone onboard it still feels small. And I don’t really enjoy most of the rooms like the lounges and stuff since I’m too busy for that. But even if I had the time, there are so many people down there anyways that I wouldn’t know where to go.”

Again a chuckle but this time with a closed mouth, making it quieter, Ekitai takes a swig from his flask and moots, “Yeah it’s hardly even a crew, you got a whole army now. I always knew you were going to accomplish your dreams but man I still can’t believe you’re the head of all this, from leading the four of us to being large enough you could probably rival the E.G if you tried.”

Rather than making a semblance of a chuckle, this time Gally just releases a soft sigh, his voice gradually mellowing more with which he recounts, “Yeah at this point I think we might be the largest one out in the Rim, started on a bike and now we’re here, it really is insane. There’s so many of them that I had to make a whole structure of officers and whatnot to keep everyone in check, heh we basically made our own form of government in here if you can believe it. I mean how else am I supposed to even attempt to manage all these people, at this point I don’t even know who’s joining.” He then takes a chug from his bottle again, letting the brown liquid pour into him, having drunk about half of the whole bottle already.

Huffing rather than chuckling, Ekitai moderately smiles with his gaze still ahead as he remarks sarcastically, “Gally as a government leader, now that’s one helluva story, most of the time we were the ones leading you if anything so I don’t know how you’ve managed all this. Maybe you did grow a bit.”

Again sighing but this time more heavily, Gally tilts his head down marginally before confessing in a weakly jestful voice: “Yeah that’s…kind of true…and to be honest it’s probably why I’m not really managing as well as I should. I mean we’re holding up and still growing, but at this point it’s kind of getting unbearable. All I do nowadays is just work and manage this place, and even then our managers have managers and even then I still don’t know what’s going on. People just choose to do whatever they want, which I mean that’s the pirate spirit so good for them but sometimes I’m not even sure what the ‘Sea Hats’ are doing now, I don’t feel like I really lead it anymore.”

Not making an audible sound in this response, Ekitai’s smile bends to a frown as he begins to see the inevitable direction of the conversation. He apprehensively emphasizes, “Yeah…there are definitely a lot of them…running around doing whatnot causing whatever kinda chaos. I uh…yeah…organizing that many people is…tough for certain.”

Not moving his head or gaze, Gally simply doesn’t react immediately, he just stares blankly ahead for several seconds. When he does finally move, it’s to grab the bottle and take another chug from it before then gently placing it beside him and letting out a sigh. Finally he confesses gloomily, “Yeah I…didn’t even know about the raid on those company people until after they were brought in. I spent the entire morning just talking to the officers and trying to manage issues the other bases were having with equipment shortages, and in between meetings I was just told that ‘hey Gally so we caught these people on a pod, I think they’re big government people from the Core.’ I…figured you came here to free them, along with those…others. So uh…I guess I should technically thank them for getting this reunion going…huh….”

Without a doubt it was clear to Ekitai where the current of the conversation is heading, the inevitable confrontation now just sentences ahead. He gazes to his handgun at his side, then turns around to glance back at the open door he entered through, but ultimately faces forward to take another swig of his drink. Placing the flask down on the table again, he follows through with his dialogue in a melancholic reveal, “Oh yeah…yeah that’s uh…yeah that’s why I’m here. It’s a bit complicated and I shouldn’t really be saying this but uh…the leader of that group that was captured, she’s sort of our friend. I sorta had a bad feeling about this but we figured it was any arbitrary pirate group who just snatched a shiny bone, but I guess luck really is a funny thing with us huh ....”

The weight of the reveal can be observed on Gally’s stunned face, but even then he doesn’t directly face Ekitai. Instead he glances down, then up to his drink which he grabs and brings to his mouth, but instead of chugging from it again or even taking a sip, he decides instead to place it back on the table prematurely and sighs. He nods his head and acknowledges, “I see…so we accidentally captured your own ally…I mean it’s crazy to me that you’re actually friends with someone like that but either way, that is…yeah that is an ouch. It was still sorta stupid, I wasn’t even sure what to do with her, I think people wanted to use her as leverage power but even now that’s still a…really bold idea. I don’t know who even knew they were out there, I don’t know who went on the ambush or how it was planned, if at all. Damn…and because of that you guys ambushed us…beat up I don’t even know how much of our army but man I don’t even think we’ve driven through that many at a time at least in a single fight alone.”

Frowning as at last the true confrontation has begun, Ekitai glances over to his flask and reaches for it as Gally lowers his head for a frown and silences. Ekitai wraps his skeletal fingers around the flask, but he doesn’t promptly pick it up. He instead blankly gazes in a frown forward, contemplating for a response, as now he couldn’t hope to tiptoe around the epicenter of this storm, he had to face it directly. He sighs and opens his mouth to speak, but before he can even Gally interjects with a more miserable mellow: “But you’ve already freed them all…and yet you guys are still here. Your friend Meditat, which I can’t even believe that’s actually your ally either since I have no clue how you landed any of this, either way he was trying to bring me into the Core, trying to destroy this entire crew. I guess he wanted full payback…and I’m guessing since all of you are still here…that means you all are doing that too. Is that…why you’re here…why you came for me? I mean I guess it’s unrealistic to think you just wanted to see your old mate and have a good time but…I mean I did have those nightmarish thoughts that the next time we’d meet it’d be on opposite ends of a fight but…is that what’s happening now?”

His mouth again closed, Ekitai is held on another pause this time longer, as he’s only been deeper thrusted into the confrontation before being able to emit a single word. He tilts his head in deeper meditation, the innocence of the conversation completely abandoned, the nostalgic past having ceased and now has been replaced with the depressive present. He drops his grip on the flask, letting his hand remain on the table with his fingers open as he lets out another sigh before finally explaining drearily, “Yeah I…guess he pretty much said it all anyways…. I did want to free them, they’re my friend after all and I get that you weren’t the one orchestrating the capture so I don’t blame you, I’m sorry I made a mess in your ship and beat a lot of your guys without remorse but…she does matter to me…. Like whenever any of you got captured and the rest of us had to break our way to break them out, it’s just…how it works.”

Frowning and lowering his head, Gally continues to face forward as he comments in a soft, almost defeated voice, at least one drowned in despair: “Huh…so this is really you now…you found a new crew and…to protect them you’ll even fight your old one. That’s…I mean I guess that’s how it works…well betrayal is like the core trait of most of these pirate crews so I guess it’s not unheard of but…huh…I guess I didn’t really think it’d happen to us. I guess Rezzo and Mary used to joke a lot about leaving us but that’s what it always was…jokes…so I guess I never really saw something like this actually happening….”

Promptly Ekitai turns his head towards Gally, but he suspends his turn before he can properly set his gaze. He instead just freezes his neck in a pause, frowning to a rather bleak conclusion, and the only response he can give is a somber: “Gally…I didn’t mean-..”

In interruption again though Gally raises his head up high above the shelves, forcing a smile and sarcastically remarking: “Well hey if it means anything, your new friend and I take it captain, Meditat, did give me a pretty fun fight, I mean it took me a little to get going but man I won’t lie that was definitely the most fun I’ve had in years, hands down. At this point I feel dumb for worrying about breaking a single door when I’ve trashed who knows how much of this train, but in the heat of the moment I didn’t even care if the entire train would crash, I think I’d still be fighting him smiling. I probably would have fought him for hours, days, forever, I don’t care, it was just so fun. I don’t know if maybe this drink actually got to me or if I am sober but I’ll just say it: I’m almost glad you guys beat up all those crewmates, nobody ever actually reaches me. I just hope nothing happened to my friends,” to which Ekitai grimaces awkwardly and lowers his head, unable to bear contact.

Gally doesn’t appear to notice that suspicious reaction, but instead just lowers his head to be more aligned straight, facing head on at the shelves of various glassy bottles, his blissful smile mellowing to a frown similar to his sobering voice that recenters, “And maybe if it really was just as simple as my crew accidentally picking a fight with yours, I’d have been fine fighting for way longer…but…something feels off. I mean something felt off from the beginning,” which raises Ekitai’s intrigue and head which wipes the grimace in favor of a curious expression as Gally continues, “As I said, we don’t even know who tracked down that pod, we have no clue where our intel came from and I mean…this wasn’t just some random junk floating around, this is bigger than anything we’ve ever had. So for our biggest catch to be tipped from nowhere just…felt weird even from the start…but like hours later and you all show up with Meditat of all people, plowing through my crew and all…I mean we’ve fought big for sure, we’ve went against all those Emperors of the Stars but he’s…he’s different…we’ve fought legends of the Rim but he’s a legend of the whole Superverse, he’s a different league from all of us. And I never authorized us to move this train but here we are flying off to our most distant base, it makes the most sense if my crew got too cold toed and made a rash choice but…it just…it’s all just this random storm of stuff happening all at once and I feel like it’s just happening to me in a way that just…isn’t natural. Like I’m not the one in control of my own crew anymore, and I don’t know who has that control.” Ekitai finally turns his gaze to Gally who maintains his straight stare, but now Ekitai’s expression has more shifted towards concern given his scrunched eyebrows and shut mouth, still clearly guilt ridden in those eyes but now growing more curious about this strange tangent that follows in a voice gradually more wavering: “I feel like nothing I’m seeing is making any sense…it’s just a bombardment of randomness, I swear I’m seeing ghosts now and-...it’s all happening so fast Ekitai….” He lowers his head again before then concluding in a near whisper: “I don’t…have control over anything anymore. I don’t have control over where I can go, what I can do, and who I have with me…. I feel like I’m being moved faster and faster and I can’t slow myself down and the only way I can stop is by crashing…and I feel like I’m going to crash soon. And unless this retreat was your guys' doing which I don’t even feel it is…I doubt you can answer most of my questions. But the only one I know you have to know and the one I want to know most of all is…Ekitai…why…why did you leave us? I can tell now you left on your own free will, you chose to leave and you chose not to come back, we’re only here together now because you didn’t realize we would be. But why…why did you go?”

After it seemed the conversation had tangented away from him and towards a stranger, alien place that was concerning but at least not emotionally targeting, the whiplash straight to the apex of the confrontation strikes Ekitai whose eyes and mouth expand, for the true money question has now been asked. There was some tiptoeing around the question earlier that seemed to cease, but now he’s been asked directly, and he couldn’t simply give a basic response to try keeping the discussion shallow. Ekitai faces forward again up at the bottles, then he lowers his gaze down to his purple flask, staring at it contemplatively for a few moments though not making an effort to pick it up. He takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out, preparing himself for the true inevitable clash he dreaded from the very start when he heard where Dana had been taken. But now that he’s here, he turns his gaze straight to Gally, not diverting contact but instead facing head on before softly answering, “I…guess there’s no cutting around it…it’s…kind of complicated…even to me. I won’t lie, I sort of had been planning it for a while before I left…I just kept giving excuses to stay, I’d wait until a new big adventure and then tell myself I couldn’t just leave in the middle of it and I did that for years thinking eventually I just wouldn’t want to leave but…that feeling never left. I didn’t have this feeling from the beginning, don’t worry, it’s not like I planned to leave from the start, actually from the start I was truly invested in all of you, I was prepared to see through all your lives. And for a while it stayed that way, it was fun just flying around, picking fights against bigger dogs, adventuring all over the Rim and doing all sorts of things. It was maybe the most fun I had in so long, and I liked the fast pace we moved, it made everything interesting.” He then frowns and turns away to lower his head, his tone dropping with it: “But…the pace kept moving, it hit a sweet spot but it didn’t slow down, and I was fine going against Emperors I mean the fight was never the issue but we just started…getting bigger in ways that…I guess I wasn’t as ready for. I always knew you had high ambitions and you wanted to be recognized, you wanted to be someone, so when you were becoming someone I should’ve been happy for you and I was but…all the fun small adventures started getting big even back then…it was never just us going on a quest it was always something more, more allies, more consequences, every next mission was bigger than the last. And I…I shouldn’t back down from that, I love more, I always wanted more…and it wasn’t that I was scared about not being able to handle it, it's just…at some point it didn’t…feel fun anymore.” Letting out a sigh, Ekitai then admits: “I know that sounds like a shitty excuse and it is but that’s the truth, the bigger we got the smaller we were, the less it was about us. I guess I could see how you ended up basically running your own structure because…things did start feeling a bit too official…and I was able to bear with most of it but…when we started doing things like raiding places just for ourselves whether it was equipment or just so people knew what we could do because we being told that was what we were supposed to do…the only reason I stayed behind wasn’t holding up…: you.” Gally’s eyes widen and he faces Ekitai head on now with a dropped jaw in astoundment, listening to Ekitai: “Even as the team ups got bigger and it was harder to even know where you were, at least I knew I was following your lead, that I was still doing what you wanted. Mary might’ve given you a hard time for all the dumb shit you pulled, and I’ll admit you pulled a lot of dumb shit but…I don’t know, I kind of liked it. Even if we got wrecked in a fight we didn’t even need to be in, I was fine with it because I knew it was a Gally mission and that was just how the Sea Hats flew but…at some point even that wasn’t really the truth. Even though we were the O.G Sea Hats, I didn’t even feel connected to any of you…and at that point I just couldn’t stay. It was entirely selfish and…really childish…I just abandoned all of you because I ‘wasn’t having fun’ which is so stupid I know but ....-”

“No,” interjects Gally in a firm voice, silencing Ekitai who turns back to face him in shocked perplexion, locking eye contact with the man who then declares, “I understand…I…don’t like it but…I get it…. I guess I didn’t think about it but my ambitions were always going to push me away from my close friends…I mean I haven’t really hung out with the others recently at all, I only met with Rezzo earlier since he was trying to manage the whole prisoner dilemma. I…I mean I have what I want so I’d never drop it but…sometimes I do wish I also wasn’t stuck in this position…I do sometimes wish I could just go back to where it was just us doing small little adventures without worrying about things like this because…now more than ever I’m starting to realize I’m not just an Emperor by name…we really are just becoming those armies we used to fight against. And I guess now…you guys are that smaller crew we once were, coming to dethrone us. Heh…I guess it’s kinda ironic in that way, isn’t it?”

Huffing from that light jest, Ekitai glances away and shakes his head, that one jest managing to temporarily put him at ease after having finally confessed his burdens. Though that alleviation does burn short, and his smile falls soon to a frown as he stares back at his drink, thinking in silence. He then confesses somberly with a hint of guilt still in his voice, “Actually I…I mean if you want me to be honest…yeah for a while we did feel like that, it was the way we started off as. Just a small group going around doing things, I mean from the start we kinda had some big ambitions so we weren’t really doing small time things but we started to find our tune and things started feeling right again, personal, I was really enjoying it, hell we even made a little name for ourselves, ‘The Bellators,’ fancy isn’t it? But…now I’m not so sure how things are headed…I mean I don’t know if he already said this but…Meditat doesn’t plan to just stop with you…he’s kinda made the crazy plan to go after all the pirates which I didn’t even think was possible. And like…I’m sorry I know this is shitty to say but it was kinda fun fighting the people who…are actually part of your crew at the start, like it was fine on the way to freeing the prisoners but…going further and doing something like this is just…a lot. So I don’t even know if we are still that…I mean you’re right, he is a legend of the whole Superverse…by that nature we can’t really be too small can we?”

Chuckling as his mood temporarily alleviates too, Gally flashes a subtle smile as he then shakes his head and faces forward, gazing at his own bottle before then grabbing it with his right hand which he raises as he faces forward and retorts, “I guess that’s fair. Your dreams weren’t really ever as concrete to be completely honest, so I’m not sure what you want in the end even though I guess I don’t even know if you have an end but…whatever it is…you’re going places. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, and I…won’t lie I still really wished you were with us but…if that was your reasoning then I won’t beg you to come back. I just want to congratulate you for getting this far because hell, you’ve built one hell of a life for yourself Ekitai the Bellator.”

A raspy but earnest chuckle emits from Ekitai this time as he then picks up his own flask and raises it while also facing forward similar to Gally whom he toasts to, “And you’ve become one hell of a pirate, Gally the King.”

Both of the former allies now found on opposite ends of a new war bring their glass to their lips and take a drink, seated in the bar deck as the man in the azure suit steps in through the open door.