Tales of the Iron paw

AU-OCT Round 3: Tales of the Iron Paw

Logbook of a Crewmate: Day 1

“Hoist the sails! Ship to starboard!”

There came a cry atop of the mast, the Iron Paw himself. He goes by the name of Maverick. He always treats all crew members equally, and that is why every member of the crew adores him. He also has a reputation of wielding two swords in battle. I have witnessed this myself a lot of times, and no other can wield two weapons as good as he does.

As we are preparing to leave the docks in our newfound adventure, a castaway somehow finds their way onto the ship, and goes by the name of Moldy. The entire crew is holding their swords against them, however, Captain Maverick decides to give him a lighter punishment and work as the Captain’s cook. It was bold of him, but is a good decision, because none of the crew knows how to cook a good meal from fish. However, when the meal was served to the table, the fish grew out of mold. The entire crew was disgusted by this, but the Captain decided to talk to Moldy in private in hopes of preventing such things in the future. It was a rough day, but hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Logbook of a Crewmate: Day 2

As the Iron Paw does his daily rounds of inspection, he stumbled inside the kitchen. I could not help myself from eavesdropping the whole conversation. It went something like this:

“C-c-captain, I don’t think I’m able to control it… what if I messed it up again?”

“You can always try again, lad. Just focus on what you do best and you’ll be alright.”

“B-but what if I never did..?”

“Don’t worry, just give it your best shot.”

“A-alright then…”

Then I quickly returned to my post as the Iron Paw went out of the kitchen. I sure hope he does not realize that I was eavesdropping on them the whole time…

Logbook of a Crewmate: Day 7

The next few days have been going well. Somehow the Iron Paw encourages the cook a lot more, and is now preparing the best meals I’d ever have as part of his crew. It would have been smooth sailing until noon.

Oh god… what a fierce battle it was. Two ships sailing around a huge whirlpool as cannons are fired, making my ears ring. The Iron Paw is desperately trying to gain control of the battle as it goes on, but tragedy struck.

A cannon blew the mast of the ship where he was standing on, and he lost balance and fell into the sea. God forbid that I hope I will make it out alive, and if this logbook survives, I hope that anyone who reads this can share what happened to the Iron Paw. May God bless us all.

…

p..tain…

…

Cap…tain…

“Oh what should I do… the Captain shouldn’t know that I’m one of them..”

Moldy, who transformed into a mermaid, had saved Captain Maverick from danger. He carried the captain above the surface of the sea and rushed to an island nearby. Moldy can only hope he survives, since the captain helped him find encouragement that sets him towards the right direction.

Captain’s Logbook: Day 12

It’s been 12 days since I've been stuck on this island. I’ve made a makeshift house for myself and grew fruit for myself to survive, but I cannot shake the feeling that I’m being watched.

As I gazed into the sea however, I heard a splash, and I looked towards the direction of the sound. It seems that someone is trying to swim away, but I never saw anyone. I’m afraid of the water, but I had to swim under to find out who saved my life. So I rushed into the water without thought and dove under.

And then I sank. I realized it too late, but I cannot go back now. It felt like my days were over, but I saw a familiar figure swimming like fish, and had the tail of a fish. It had to be that cook I encouraged a few days before. But I lost consciousness and woke up back on this island.

Captain’s Logbook: Day 16

Day after day, I keep on sinking under the sea in hopes of meeting him again. I was desperate. But I know he’s different from us. A mermaid to be exact.

But why am I desperate towards such creature? Because I know he’s the one who saved my life.

The more I desperately tried, the more I failed to meet them. But today I just gave up my search and accepted my cruel fate. I went towards the opposite side of the island and let myself sink, hoping that the sea would devour my tired soul.

But when I opened my eyes, I was in a room under the water. And I can clearly breathe underwater by some unknown magic.

One of the mermaid guards noticed that I woke up and told me to follow them towards the king’s throne room. From there I was granted the permission to talk to the king about this matter. Alongside him, I saw Moldy in his mermaid form.

“For you who had such an unfortunate journey, has a kind heart after all. Why stop there?” The king asked me.

I was nervous at first, so I cleared my throat to speak.

“Um, your honor, I was never exactly the kind of person who was treated with honesty and truth. As the Captain of the Meowster Fishernyan, I’d rather treat others with those traits in heart, rather than seeking power to overthrow others. Why? Because I think it’s unfair that people would be abused by such power. If all of that power is used against humanity, it would crumble. But for someone like me who has no power over life, I’d rather end myself and let the world crumble down. Because I know that even I don’t have the power to change that.”

The mermaid king stroked his beard in thought. I was nervous as Moldy looked at me from a distance.

“Your honor, h-he’s the one who gave me that encouragement you asked me to s-s-seek. I saved him many times trying to find me, but in the end I- um.. have to lead him here. I know there is nothing to hide so uh, I led him here.”

“May I ask then, do you like him?” The king asked.

I was shocked when he said “yes” to that question in a nervous tone. Then I said nervously:

“Your honor, I do like him as well. Seeing that he has potential, excluding the fact he has, um, strange powers, I wish to stay by his side since he saved my life.”

“Then there is no further judgement needed. Moldy, you are allowed to stay alongside this captain. I can see he has a good heart towards anyone.”

From that day on, I lived alongside Moldy under the sea. It was tough trying to adapt to this new life, but I’m willing to spend the rest of my days here. As for this logbook? I made sure to encase it in a jar, where it would sail along the sea forever, until it meets the shore. And if anyone reads this logbook alongside one of my crew’s, then surely people must know that my life never ended in tragedy, but in peace.