Thalassophile: A Pirate’s Redemption at Sea

Captain Blaz stood alone in his weathered ship’s cabin, pale blue eyes fixed on the endless ocean beyond the pane. The waves crashed in the distance, wild and dark, yet familiar—like the storm that had upended his life so many years ago.

“Not much longer now, Taffy,” he murmured to the sea. “I promise you.”

A knock at the door disrupted his thoughts. He didn’t turn.

The uneven scuff of a limp confirmed the visitor—First Mate Perkin, whose leg injury from a skirmish five years prior made him unmistakable.

“The crew’s growing restless, Captain,” Perkin grumbled, “No fight, no food. Tempers are rising.”

Captain Blaz licked his dry lips and spoke without shifting his gaze. “The hurricane delayed every supply ship from port. It can’t be helped.”

Perkin scoffed, clearly unimpressed. “And what do I tell the lads? That we’re starving while chasing ghosts?”

Blaz ran a calloused hand through the bristled red beard on his chin, pretending to consider. He had foreseen this confrontation. “We’ll stop at an island. Organize a boar hunt. It’ll distract them—and feed them.”

Perkin’s grin turned wolfish. “Aye, Cap’n. I’ll ready the crew.”

Moments after Perkin exited, the cabin door burst open again—no knock this time. Captain Blaz turned slowly to meet the cold, hard stare of his Quartermaster, Azalea. Her dark arms were crossed, her posture rigid.

“A hunt?” she challenged. “Seriously?”

“Captain,” he corrected instinctively.

Azalea ignored him. “The crew needs gold, not a roast. We should be at Cape Point, raiding cargo with the other pirates.”

“We’re not equipped to take on seasoned pirate crews or merchant escorts,” Blaz replied, finally sitting and putting his boots on the desk. “We wouldn’t last ten minutes.”

“You’ve never let us try.”

A sly smile crept onto the Captain’s face, the first in days. Azalea noticed and stopped short.

“What are you hiding?”

“I found it,” he whispered. “The island. Gerik’s island. Where he hides his treasure.”

Azalea’s eyes widened, though she quickly masked it with a scowl. “You’ve said that before. You’ve always said that. The crew won’t follow you into another fool’s chase.”

“They won’t have to know. Let them hunt. You and I will search the cave.”

Azalea narrowed her eyes. “This is your obsession talking again.”

“If we don’t find it this time, I’ll stop. I swear on my title.”

She hesitated, then nodded. “Fine. But the crew votes on where we sail.”

“They’re already gathered,” said Blaz with a smirk, rising to his feet.

A New Island, A New Risk

On the main deck, the crew buzzed with anticipation. Nyasia, their boatswain, was knotting rope; the powder monkeys—young Jorn, Cecil, Keelan, and Loman—passed around a spyglass.

Perkin signaled to Nyasia, who dropped her rope and joined the others. Blaz stood before them all.

“Who’s up for a hunt?”

Cheers erupted.

By afternoon, the Bloody Hook’s crew stormed the jungle of Prather Island. Only Leeba, their dry-humored pilot, remained aboard.

“Why chase pigs when I can enjoy some peace from you idiots?” she asked, restringing her eyepatch.

“Leeba,” called Vito, the master gunner, grinning, “What happens when you cross a pirate pilot with a pig?”

Leeba rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to know.”

“Nothing. Even a pig won’t roll in that filth,” Vito cackled.

Leeba shook her head, hiding a smile.

As the crew dispersed, Captain Blaz and Azalea hung back, blending into the trees before veering off the path.

“He’s getting bold, Perkin,” Azalea said. “Testing the crew’s loyalty.”

“I’ll deal with him tonight,” Blaz replied. “But I made him First Mate for a reason—he keeps order. Until he steps out of line.”

Soon they arrived at the cave mouth.

“You really think it’s here?” Azalea asked.

“I know it is,” said Blaz.

Inside the dark cavern, the air was damp and still. As they descended deeper, Azalea lit a torch. Eventually, they found a narrow crawlspace. Blaz dropped to his knees, desperately knocking against the walls.

“It has to be here,” he murmured. “It has to be.”

“Why?” Azalea demanded. “Why is this so important to you?”

Blaz stopped. “Captain Gerik didn’t just kill my sister. He took her agate necklace. I want it back.”

Azalea’s anger faded. “You think it’s here, with the treasure?”

“I know it is.”

Before she could answer, the jungle erupted in noise.

A Chest, A Loss, and a Discovery

Jorn burst through the brush. “Captain! Mermaids! They have a treasure chest!”

Blaz and Azalea followed him to the cove, where the crew watched from the shadows. In the shallows, merfolk circled a large chest, distracted by play.

“Let’s blow them out of the water,” suggested Vito.

“No,” Azalea snapped. “The blast will scatter them—and the treasure.”

“We lure them away,” said Blaz. He nodded to Tavish, Vito’s twin and the ship’s inventor.

Later, hidden in the foliage, Blaz and a small crew waited as the Bloody Hook dumped chum into the sea.

The merfolk sniffed out the bait and swam toward it—except for two who guarded the chest.

Tavish fired a harpoon at the chest, reeling it in. But the mermaid bit through the rope. A fierce fight followed—cutlasses, pikes, blood in the water. In the chaos, Vito fell and was dragged under.

The crew was devastated.

Tavish, eyes burning, reloaded the harpoon and fired into the sea, striking down a merman. “I was aiming for the one who bit him,” he growled.

With the chest in hand, the crew returned to the ship. Captain Blaz gave a eulogy for Vito, then gestured for Tavish to open the chest.

Inside… floated a baby mermaid.

The Weight of a Choice

“She’s not treasure,” said Azalea softly. “She’s just a child.”

“She’s dangerous,” Tavish snarled. “Vito died because of her kind.”

Debate raged—kill her, sell her, or set her free. Captain Blaz watched her gurgle happily, innocent and unaware. A memory struck him—his baby sister, Taffy, cooing in his arms. Eyes the same pale blue.

“This is no monster,” he whispered. “She’s a child.”

“We could raise her,” said Perkin. “She’d be our secret weapon.”

“All in favor, say aye,” Blaz said.

“Aye!” the crew cried.

“She stays,” he confirmed.

The True Treasure

As they moved the mermaid into a sturdier trunk, Azalea and Jorn prepared to toss the old chest overboard—but noticed something below.

A glimmer.

An underwater cave.

Treasure sparkled from within—Gerik’s hoard, hidden and guarded by merfolk all along.

Cheers broke out. Azalea issued orders; the crew readied to recover it.

Blaz stood silently by the trunk, watching the baby mermaid—now theirs. He had found the treasure, avenged his sister, and stolen from the man who ruined his life.

But as he looked at the child’s webbed hands and innocent smile, he felt a different kind of responsibility bloom inside him.

“What will you name her?” Azalea asked.

Blaz looked to the sea.

“Tasi,” he said. “After the sea that took everything—and gave something back.”

🧭 Moral of the Story

True treasure lies not in gold or jewels but in redemption, second chances, and the family we choose. Captain Blaz set out for revenge and found purpose instead—in a child who needed him as much as he needed her.