Chihiro dashed and darted across the island, all in expectancy of some kind of sign as to where the Eternal Water Source was located, but with no luck. All she saw across the islands was grass, sand, seashells, more grass, more sand, the occasional crab… Where on Earth would that Eternal Water Source be?

"There's gotta be some kind of puzzle behind this whole thing," Chihiro said to herself as she tapped her foot. "Now, if I were Kaos, what kind of puzzle would I use in order to protect something that could very well bring about my downfall?"

As Chihiro contemplated, a gigantic wave of sand kicked up out of nowhere and slammed right in her face. "THE HECK?" Chihiro exclaimed as she coughed out gritty grains of sand. "What was that all about?"

Chihiro perked up as a shrill giggle resounded not that far away from her and looked ahead. The giggle's owner was none other than an imp with a black statue held tightly in its arms! It looked a lot like those imps she had seen back at Dark Water Cove, but its skin was tomato red as opposed to yellow and its eyes were completely blank! Kinda reminded her a bit of devils in cartoons, to be honest.

The imp cackled as it balled straight into Chihiro and knocked her face-first onto the sand, then stuck its tongue out at her before it ran into a giant blue vortex and disappeared. As she coughed out the sand once more, Chihiro squinted her eyes open right as a mob of pirates ran in that same direction.

"Get that imp!" shouted the mob's head, a squid dressed in raggedy striped shirts and a crimson bandanna.

"What for?" Chihiro asked as her eyes trailed across to the head of a mob with a smirk played on her face.

"It's got one of the statues guarding the Eternal Source!" The pirate kept his eyes focused on the road ahead with no mind paid to Chihiro. "We were specifically told to keep anyone who came here from getting those statues by Cap'n Kaos!"

"Okay, thanks, bye!"

Chihiro dashed off in front of the mob, and paused for a moment to wave at them before she jumped into the vortex. The moment she jumped in, she spun and swirled and stretched around like the laundry in the washer—she now completely empathized with how her clothes felt when she did the laundry! As she screamed and yelped in surprise, her eyes drew themselves towards a shining white light, and she found spat out of a small, red house placed on a bridge atop a steep cliff.

Chihiro grunted as she fell face-first onto the dirt, sat up, and brushed off her face before she looked down. There below her were the pirates she had talked to earlier, but they now seemed to be arguing among themselves?

"Hey Hookface, unless ye want to get fed to Cap'n Kaos's doomsharks, ye'd better get going!" shouted one of the other pirates from the mob front.

"But me could've sworn me knew that kid from somewhere!" said the squid who was presumably Hookface as he placed a hand to his chin.

Chihiro chuckled as she watched them argue, heard a snicker, and looked to her side to find that she wasn't alone! The imp she chased was now beside her, statue still in hand! The imp pulled down its eyelid and stuck its tongue out, but only cackled as Chihiro's face turned cherry rage with anger.

"Get back here, dude!" Chihiro exclaimed as she scrambled after the imp, only for it to jump out of the way! Chihiro slammed face-first onto the ground in a particularly undignified manner. But, it did little to deter her; she just shook her head, shot up, then leaped after the imp once more.

The imp gasped with wide eyes, tossed something in the house, and watched as a vortex appeared before it! It cackled once more and went to leap—but Chihiro managed to grab its leg before it did!

"Give me that statue, buddy!" Chihiro tightened her grasp on the imp's leg. "Or I won't let you go!"

As Chihiro pulled the imp closer to her, the imp grunted and tried to scramble away—but it was no use. The more it tugged, the tighter Chihiro held onto its leg, until they were both trapped in a fruitless game of tug-of-war! Finally, the imp yowled out as it kicked the back of Chihiro's arms and finally pushed itself out of her grip! The imp snickered for a few minutes as it jumped to freedom…

But when it did, the statue slipped out of its grasp and fell straight into the vortex! Both Chihiro and the imp watched with wide eyes and gaped mouths as the statue slid into the vortex and disappeared along with the vortex itself! The two of them turned to each other in fury, and Chihiro picked up the imp by the scruff of its neck.

"Look what you did!" Chihiro exclaimed as she glared down the imp who thrashed about in her grasp. "You lost the—"

Chihiro stopped short as she heard something that sounded like conversation? Yeah, definitely conversation in the distance—and it gave the imp enough time to wiggle free of her grip, create a new vortex, and escape!

"Hey, get back here!"

Chihiro turned to her side as the imp dove through the vortex, but by the time she jumped after it, she was far too late. All she could do was crash headfirst into the walls of the tiny house as the vortex became little more than a wisp of dullish blue smoke. As she groaned and held her head, Chihiro felt around the ground, and her hand landed on something kinda bumpy and leathery. She took a peek over at it, and found a small, brown leather sack filled well with a bunch of small, round things that gave the bottom a bumpy texture.

"Did that imp drop this?" Chihiro picked up the sack and examined it, but quickly stopped as footsteps rang in her ears.

"I swear on me world, me sure that's it, cap'n!" shouted an awfully familiar voice from the outside world. "That was the kid from the Cove!"

"The portal master kid?" replied another, deeper voice.

"Yep! Same looks 'n everythin', the kid had!"

They're talking about me! Chihiro sucked on her lip while beads of sweat dripped down her forehead. Crap, I need to get out of here, fast!

"C'mon, teleport!" Chihiro tried to focus. "Telepo—ACK!"

Chihiro's heart practically jumped out of her chest as she bumped her elbow against the walls of the house—geez, whose idea was it to make it so tiny, anyways?

"Cap'n, methinks me heard somethin'!" Hookface exclaimed from outside. "Think it's that no-good thieving imp?"

"Oh who knows, Hookface?" shouted back the captain.

Please don't come in here, Chihiro thought as she curled into a ball and made herself as small as possible, Please, please, please!

"Me heard it from this lil' house 'ere!" Hookface remarked as the sound of wet, slapping tentacles drew closer, and closer, and closer…

And a squiddy head peered through the open door of the house and straight at Chihiro. The two of them stared at each other in silence for all of five seconds, and Chihiro screamed and blasted Hookface away with a giant energy beam! Chihiro teleported out of the house as Hookface flew in the distance, and she landed right onto the ledge—which was now coated with a mob of pirates.

"Hookface was right fer once, it really is the kid!" shouted a gruff seadog in a red velvet pirate jacket as he reached for his cutlass. "Get 'em!"

"Not today you don't!" Chihiro exclaimed as she held up both hands that enveloped themselves in a blue glow. "I'm not goin' down without a fight!"

"Neither are we, laddie!"

The seadog withdrew his cutlass and dashed for Chihiro! Chihiro pepped in surprise as she dodged out of the way, and giant, magical blue gloves formed around her hands! With a wide smile, Chihiro skidded forward and punched the seadog right in the gut! Her smile only grew wider as rolled down the cliff with a cry of anguish. But the battle wasn't over yet!

The other pirates all jumped forward towards Chihiro, but Chihiro continued to punch them away. While the pirates flew into the distance, Chihiro created a barrier in front of her and hit the barrier with a mighty blow! The barrier slid forwards at max speed with all the pirates on its side, and next, slid straight off the island!

A loud THUNK rang out followed by groans, and Chihiro dusted her hands as the gloves disappeared. Her attention followed the leather sack she still held in her hands as she opened it with a curious hum—what could possibly be inside? Treasure? Magic artifacts? Or maybe…

"Marbles?" Chihiro remarked as she peered inside and fished one of the objects out.

Sure enough, it was a dull, bluish-purple colored marble decorated with ripples that shone against the afternoon sunlight. It was smooth and cool in Chihiro's hand, and within its confines was a dusty, swirling smoke cloud. Maybe it was a magic marble?

"What would that imp do with marbles?" Chihiro asked as she tossed the marble up and down in her hand for a few spells, then threw it in front of her person.

As it screeched across the cliff, the marble cracked and exploded in a puff of smoke which soon turned into a swirling, churning vortex about the size of her entire person! Chihiro stood with her mouth agape for a few moments, and tied the sack to her sweatpants with her eyes fixed on the vortex.

"Looks like I found my answer."

Chihiro ran forward and jumped into the vortex with a gulp.

§

"So, did you see where she ran off to?" Wham-Shell asked as he stretched his arms up above his head.

Gill Grunt frowned as he looked over the path before them, which was nothing but open fields and beaches decorated with palm trees but otherwise almost completely void of life. And no sign of Chihiro, either.

Wham-Shell's gripped his mace tighter, and the next words he spoke rang with a hint of concern. "I'll take that as a no."

Gill Grunt mused over the path before him once more; it diverged into twin pathways that lead to two different islands, and they were all covered by a canopy of tall, broad palm trees. But more importantly, the grass gave way to sandy paths that held…

"FOOTSTEPS!" Gill Grunt and Wham-Shell exclaimed in unison as they gazed over the twin trails of footsteps.

It was tricky—but of them had human-looking foot shapes, so Chihiro could've gone down either one. But which one was it?

"I think she went that way." Gill Grunt pointed a webbed finger at the righthand pathway.

"No, she went that way!" Wham-Shell pointed to the opposite side and glared down Gill Grunt.

Gill Grunt's face darkened a bit as he stared down Wham-Shell, and tension grew thick in the air like churned butter. "I'm sure of it, Wham, she went down this one!"

The two of them shot tense glares at each other for a few moments, and…

"You know what, Wham?" Gill Grunt took a deep breath and placed a fin on his forehead. "This isn't really worth arguing over. How about we just split up and regroup when we find her?"

Wham-Shell mused over this for a moment. "Yeah, that works." Wham-Shell nodded—or at least, did the best nod that he could've with his bodily structure.

And with that said, the two of them parted ways; Wham-Shell down the leftmost path, and Gill Grunt down the rightmost. Gill Grunt narrowed his eyes as he resumed his search for Chihiro, yet raised his harpoon gun up slightly just in case he ran into a few unfriendly faces.

"She's gotta be around here somewhere." Gill Grunt locked and loaded his cannon absentmindedly. "Now, if I were Chihiro, where would I—"

"See that imp anywhere, cap'n?"

Gill Grunt's fins perked up as the sound of a gruff voice that spoke in some kind of strange dialect. A strangely familiar dialect, at that.

"Not that I ken tell," replied another gruffy voice as something furry stepped between the trees. "Thing took off with the statue 'fore me could even catch a wee glimpse!"

Pirates! Gill Grunt realized as he gazed through the trees with a dour frown. Just the thing I need.

With his focus on avoiding their attention, Gill Grunt pushed past the palms to try and find a hiding place. As he did, something rolled off of a palm tree and bonked him on the head! Gill Grunt groaned as he fell on his rump, and his head spun as his vision turned shaky and blurry. When he came to his senses, he looked down to find a small, black statue with ruby eyes that was in the shape of some kind of strange canine creature's head right in his lap!

"Hey cap'n, we've found some'un!" shouted a gruff voice from ahead of Gill Grunt!

Gill Grunt yanked his head up and found the very last thing he wanted to see—a mob of pirates in all shapes and sizes! Each one was covered in bandannas, tattoos, and any other kind of piraty gear one can imagine, and none of them seemed particularly happy with Gill Grunt's sudden appearance.

"Hey, Hookface, don't we recognize this guy?" asked a feline-looking pirate draped in gold and jewels to a squid pirate covered from head to toe in striped clothing.

"I'd recognize him anywhere—it's one of them Skylandees!" Hookface replied as he made a narrowed glare. "Because of this Skylandee here, we lost those Golden Spouts!" Hookface stormed up to Gill Grunt's front and pushed his tentacle in Gill Grunt's face. "Do ye know what happened to the cap'n when that Kaos fella found out we failed?"

Hookface snarled at Gill Grunt, and his eyes trailed lower to take notice of the black statue in Gill Grunt's arms.

"And he's been stealin' our statues too!" Hookface's eyes widened before he drew out a blunderbuss. "Get'em, boys!"

The pirates all drew their weapons, whether they were hand-cannons or cutlasses, daggers or swords! There were so many of them that it would be hard to fight them off with sheer strength and will alone—Gill Grunt sure got himself into a heck of a pickle.

Great, Gill, just the kind of thing you wanted to avoid.

Gill Grunt instinctively reached for his harpoon gun—but it wasn't there, just grass! Had he dropped it when he was hit by that weird statue? Gill Grunt whipped his head around as the pirates cackled, but he heard the sound of a gun cocking and gulped! He quickly jiggled his jetpack and dashed off on a stream of hot water, a stream that wove his way into the forest as the pirates fired.

"HE'S TRYIN' TO ESCAPE, MATEYS! AFTER 'IM!"

The pirates all cried out as they shot off their guns, and Gill Grunt flew away faster. Ammunition crackled and blasted just underneath his feet as he ran, but he couldn't worry about that. He was more concerned about finding his harpoon gun and getting out of here.

Now, where did it fall? Gill Grunt thought as he scanned over the forestation. His eyes trained for any sight of a familiar blue, only to lose his train of thought as something whizzed right through his jetpack's water stream and nearly hit him in the foot!

Gill Grunt pulled his legs up just in time to avoid any harm, but his jetpack wasn't as lucky—the disruption caused by the ammo messed with his flight! As he started to veer away left, Gill Grunt frantically pulled on the straps of his jetpack and leaned the opposite way, but the attacks wouldn't stop! Their ammo slammed into the water and flew him every which way—it was like shooting fish in a barrel! Finally, something else slammed entirely into the barrels of his jetpack and he completely lost his balance. With a surprised cry, he shot away into the palm forest and tumbled down into the flora.

"OOF!" Gill Grunt exclaimed as he hit a giant rock with his head and finally came to a stop.

Gill Grunt lurched up and rubbed the newly-formed welt on his head, then sat down and looked around. There was nothing but dirt and vegetation wherever he looked—though thankfully, the vegetation was enough to shield him from everyone's view. The only ones that could see him in this humid forest were a couple of mosquitoes and dragonflies.

"Where'd he go, matey?" asked one pirate from leagues above Gill Grunt.

"Me don't know—he just flew into the forest over there 'n disappeared!" shouted back another.

"Split up and search for 'im, then!" The sound of footsteps grew louder as the first pirate spoke. "We can't 'ave 'im ruining Cap'n Kaos's plans!"

With a resounding chorus of "AYE AYE!", the footsteps pounded so loudly that one would be forgiven if they thought a herd of sky-elephants found their way into the island! Clearly they were on the hunt, and Gill Grunt was their target.

I'd better stay low, Gill Grunt thought as he laid down on his belly and tried to go as flat as he possibly could. I can't let them find me.

So, Gill Grunt army-crawled along the forest floor, and his eyes trained on the overgrowth as he shielded himself among the giant leaves.

"Ye find 'em yet?" asked a pirate that sounded oddly close by…

Gill Grunt gasped, jumped within a giant weed, and closed himself up in the leaves. His curiosity overtook him as he ever-so-slightly pushed away one leaf to see several tall seadog pirates dressed in stripes and bandannas who all talked away.

"Not yet, matey," replied another as they crossed their arms, "that Skylandee's a slippery lil' fella, and I ain't sayin' that because he's a fish!"

"Whatever, matey." The first pirate pushed past the others. "Just keep seachin', he's gotta be around here somewhere!"

"Aye aye!" The second pirate left with the others close behind.

As they all vacated the premises, Gill Grunt heaved a sigh of relief. Thank the Ancients, they hadn't spotted him at all! Once he was certain they were gone, Gill Grunt carefully crept out of the giant weed and looked ahead to spy… Something blue? Yes, something round and dark blue that was hidden a little further away in a giant patch of weeds! Could it be?

As he took sanctuary under the plantlife once more, Gill Grunt crawled over to the spot he saw the object at and stopped, because right before him was his harpoon gun!

"There you are!" Gill Grunt exclaimed as he cradled the harpoon gun in his grasp once more. "I've been looking all over for you!"

Gill Grunt toyed with the trigger just a little bit to see if it still worked. As he squirted out streams of hot water and sent a harpoon straight into the ocean floor, Gill Grunt smirked; she worked just like a charm! Now, it was time to have some fun.

With a jiggle of his jetpack, Gill Grunt soared above the forest canopy and carefully positioned himself on top of a palm tree. Down below, he spotted two pirates who talked in a conversation inaudible to Gill Grunt's ears, but not like it mattered—he wouldn't be paying them mind for long, anyways. Gill Grunt carefully positioned his harpoon gun, wrapped his finger around the trigger, then…

SPLASH!

A giant stream of hit water shot out from the barrel and doused one of the pirates! The pirate shook themself off, and yelled some kind of gibberish at their companion. The companion only stared in shock, but not before they were doused in water too! As the two sputtered out in shock, they shook themselves off and ran off in a clearly urgent panic—all paired with shouts that could be heard all over the isle.

"IT’S THE CURSE OF THE LEVIATHAN!"

Gill Grunt chuckled as he watched them run along like headless chickenfish, and looked across the floor.

There, a more decorated pirate and their crewmates talked to the pirates he had soaked. Their conversation couldn't be heard from as far up as Gill Grunt was, but it was clear that the more decorated pirate had no tolerance for their crew's shenanigans. But, the crewmates that surrounded them seemed more nervous as they twiddled their thumbs and whistled among themselves. Looks like it was time to make a splash!

Gill Grunt cast the other palms an aside glance, only to catch one that had reversed leaves? Gill Grunt hopped along to it and found that he was right; directly above the pirate crew was a palm tree whose leaves were rightside-up rather than upside-down, and it gave him the perfect idea! Gill Grunt cocked his harpoon gun and filled up the leaves with water, until the leaves were little more than the casing for a giant pool. He pushed down one of the leaves, and beamed as a giant waterfall splashed straight onto the pirate crew!

The pirates all screamed in horror as they ran about in sheer panic! The most decorated one of all was the sole voice of reason among the anarchy as they shouted out for the pirates to come back. However, it was of no use—the others were too terrified to listen!

"And now, the finishing touch."

Gill Grunt cocked the barrel of his harpoon gun and watched as a shiny harpoon popped out. The harpoon shimmered as he held his grip tightly around the trigger and slowly floated down, and its form grew brighter and larger until it was a harpoon no longer. Instead, it turned into a giant, silver anchor by the time Gill Grunt's feet hit the ground once more!

The decorated captain stopped ordering their crew to come back to their senses, but when they turned around and saw Gill Grunt, it was far too late—for he already had them all in his crosshairs.

"ANCHORS AWAY!" Gill Grunt exclaimed as he released the trigger and shot off the giant anchor!

The anchor soared like an eagle across the beach and caught every single pirate in its wake! All that could be heard was their cries of panic, and a mighty KER-SPLASH as the anchor fell into the ocean with the pirates still attached.

Gill Grunt smiled as he gently rubbed the barrel of his harpoon gun; looks like getting those upgrades from Persephone was a good idea. As he placed the gun to his side, he felt his fin rub against something hard and smooth, and looked down to find the obsidian statue! He hadn't noticed he had dropped it in all the chaos from earlier.

"Better get out of here before I cause any more angry mobs." Gill Grunt picked up the statue then nestled it tightly in his grasp. "I hope Wham's doing better than I am."