The sword pierced through the water, held by a hand pale as snow.

The blade of the sword was long, with an edge on both sides. There was no point to the weapon, as the tip was flat, but still sharp. It was a black blade, with golden streaks running through it that glowed brightly. The handle was long enough for four hands to grab hold of.

As the Redflower Pirates watched the figure emerge from the water, they heard Blodwen chuckle slightly.

"It’s him," the primal man said. "Four-Armed Richie."

Four-Armed Richie?

Before Roseus could think about where he had heard the name before, a man climbed out from the water and stood on the dirt.

His body suited his name.

His naked body was pale as snow, as though no blood ran through him. He was scrawny and of average height. Half of his head was missing, giving sight to his pink brain peeking through the cracked skull. As for his facial features, he was ugly, and wore an emotionless expression.

The man had four arms. The extra pair emerged from his back, longer than the pair by his shoulders.

All four arms grabbed hold of the golden sword and lifted it into a readied stance. His lifeless eyes glared at Blodwen.

"Richie Four-Arms is one of the strongest pirates who happened to end up on my island. Back then, I wasn’t so kind. I wasted him and his whole crew and tossed their corpses into the lake... Richie here is what is known as a Returned. A dead man who was not fully corrupted by the seas and turned into a creature, but instead returned as a weaker version of himself, determined to take the life of whoever killed him."

Roseus looked at the four-armed ’man’, who almost seemed to be listening to the conversation. He didn’t move, and simply stood there, ready.

He found the story interesting, but Roseus couldn’t help glancing at the man’s sword.

It was clearly a treasure.

"That weapon gave me most of my scars. Hurt like fuck when he cut me up with it, but in the end, I caved his skull in," Blodwen added, making some of the others wince.

Roseus continued eyeing the man holding the weapon. He stood there, still.

"Why isn’t he attacking?" Roseus asked.

"Because Richie was an honourable pirate. He wouldn’t strike until his opponent was ready. That man wasn’t built for the ocean."

Roseus finally remembered where he had heard the name from.

Richie Four-Arms was once part of the political party whose goal was to legalise sailing the First Ocean, as long as sailors reported when their systems awakened. After making no progress, he decided to become a pirate.

Before he sailed, he was a normal man with two arms.

Could his mutation have been the result of a pact created with a sea god, or something else?

Roseus had a few questions, but eventually, he found that he couldn’t wait for the man to answer them.

He suddenly retrieved his revolver from Blodwen, lifted his blade, and faced off against the Returned man.

Blodwen raised a brow, and the eyes of the other crew members, such as Dawn and Kruger, went wide.

"You want a crack at him?" Blodwen said.

That wasn’t it. It was the Ring of Unfavourability on his finger that was filling him with the deep desire to fight this man.

Roseus was against it until he heard Blodwen’s tone.

The way he said it made it seem as though he believed Roseus had a chance.

Or, he just didn’t care if Roseus died, but the fact that the man had waited here on the island for him made Roseus believe it was the former.

Roseus lowered his stance, feeling the experience of his father’s blade flowing through him. He squinted his eyes and focused on Richie.

"You don’t mind if I take your kill?" he said to Blodwen.

The man shrugged his shoulders. "I’ve already killed him before. You can have him. Just give a shout if you need help."

Alright.

...

Roseus dashed forwards. His speed was greater than that of any member of the Redflower Pirates, thanks to his father’s cutlass and his ability, Goldrush, which granted him additional speed with every equipped treasure.

It seemed Richie’s speed was even greater.

Before Roseus could close the distance, Richie gripped the handle of his weapon tightly with all four hands and raised the blade above his head as though pointing it to the heavens. The blade glowed gold as he swung it down with incredible force.

A golden hum sounded through the air as the blade travelled downwards.

Roseus ducked and rolled to the left, feeling the wind of the blade whip past him.

The weapon crashed into the dirt, and at the same time, thunder crashed into the place where the blade met the ground.

Roseus, who was mid-roll, wanted to look and see exactly what effect the attack had caused on the floor, but there was no time. Before he could get to his feet, Richie had already dragged the blade horizontally, preparing to strike again.

This time, Roseus was forced to roll again, but towards his opponent. The blade flew over his head, swinging through empty air. This time there was no sound of thunder. He guessed that in order to cause that effect, impact needed to be made.

Now up close and personal with the Returned, Roseus swung his blade diagonally towards the man’s chest. He felt the blade tear through soft flesh, as a giant wound opened from shoulder to hip on Richie’s body.

However, he soon noticed that no blood spilled from the wound. It simply opened, having no effect on the man.

Following this, Roseus was hit in the forehead with the pommel of the longsword.

Dazed, he stumbled a few steps backwards. Pain surged through his head and red liquid dripped down into his eye.

Instinctively, he dashed backwards despite not being able to see. Seconds later, he heard thunder rumble across the floor once again.

Still blinded by his blood, he heard footsteps rushing towards him head-on. Richie was charging, and he had no way of seeing what sort of attack he was approaching with.

He almost called out to Blodwen to ask for the man’s help, but his stubbornness, alongside the effects the Ring of Unfavourability was having on his body, forced him not to.

Instead, he reacted differently.

Lifting his gloved hand to his face, he used its fingers to feed on his own blood. In a mere second, he felt Bloody Fingers filling with power as it drained the blood, giving him just enough vision to make out the blurry figure running towards him with its sword raised.

Roseus then reached for his waist and drew his revolver. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

He knew that it was loaded with the Monochrome .38 Special. The bullet would have enough force to stop Richie’s advance, however he didn’t have enough time to check the bullet’s position in the chamber.

If he fired the wrong bullet, the gun would explode due to its negative effect.

Still, Roseus lifted his weapon, aimed it at his opponent, and fired.