After his "initiation ceremony" in the cellars, James began to garner a reputation amongst the crew as a very eager young recruit in the following several months ahead of him.  He was seen to be a hard worker, who rarely bemoaned about his swabbing which he would keep at for the length of his duty, more or less excited by the fact that he was on a real pirate ship.  Not only that, but having become a very friendly crew member to pretty much everyone who came up to him with an offer, what with his lean unique raptor figure and such, it made him quite the busy boy on some nights.
James had never been this sexually active in his life, which surprised him when he realised that he had become like this so quickly.  He rarely had a chance to just become a horny teenager again, a more happy immature side of him reawakening that he'd not seen since before his departure from his own world.  He was actually happy again, in the truest sense.  With a group of friends, good food, an exciting change of scenery and of course, the sex.

It was a hedonistic life yes, but not without its work and toil.  He still had to maintain his work, and even though he was the lowest ranked member of the crew who was essentially everyone's bitch in both pecking order and sexuality, he could do little to protest on when he was made to do chores.  Some of them were not particularly pleasant such as dealing with the various effluents of the ship and proper disposal into the sea, one of several janitors of the ship as it were.
A part of him was starting to want to stay here.  But he had said this before to the Captain.  That he would only remain with the crew until their objective had been achieved in claiming Donkey Kong Island for their own.  Not that he really cared about the island or so, but he wanted to serve his duty as a crew member until he was no longer of any use, whereby he would try to find another way to return home.  Unless someone here had the power to do so.
Judging from the world's current level of technology, this did not seem possible, unless there was an incredibly powerful sorcerer upon one of the islands.  Nevertheless he stayed with the crew, and was soon upgraded to being a rigger, joining Kruz upon the high windy sails of the Gangplank Galleon.  Which he enjoyed immensely with his agility and reckless nature, even becoming somewhat useful thanks to Kruz teaching him how to tie knots finally, whenever he was free in the night.

	"I didn't think you had a head for heights," said Kruz on a fine windless day.
	"You kidding, I love this shit!  Always had the speed and reflexes, I mean this is some serious parkour shit yanno."
	"Par-koor?  Whassat?"
	"Oh it's a thing we call back home where you run across rooftops and jump like crazy across 'em."
	"Hah, sweet.  Sounds dangerous."
	"Not any more dangerous than climbing these friggin' sails man."
	"Haha, guess so.  Hey, that knot's lookin' a li'l loose there, can ya handle that Rex?"
	"No prob!"
He swung over to a piece of rope flapping away loosely on the other side of the main mast and tightened it, straddling the yardarm, the wooden length of the mast as he did so.  Not a problem to him, and even though he knew now to make knots before, he was just learning a new way to do so.
	"Kay I got it!"
	"Alrigh', good work Rex.  Hey you wanna go up to the crow's nest?"
	"Uhhh nest?"
	"The nest up there, Krow's the lookout fer us!"
	"Oooooh...sure!"
Clambering the rigging expertly so with the warm tropical breeze tickling their faces, they came to the very top of the ship within the crow's nest.  A strangely large half-barrel platform that took literally 10 steps to walk from one end to the other.  They could see the entire length of the sea itself from here.  The first obvious place they could see was Donkey Kong Island, closer than it had been before according to James' memory.
Another island was also upon the sea, but far away and in the opposite direction, hard to make out but certainly more rocky than the Kongs' isle.  In the nest was Krow himself, the oldest and most built of the rigging crew, possibly in his 40s.  The only other thing of note was the top of the mast towards the front of the ship having an actual bird's nest, a huge pile of matted straw with a few eggshell fragments scattered around.
	"Mornin' boys!" said their immediate superior.
He didn't even turn from his staring into a telescope towards Donkey Kong Island.
	"Mornin' sir!" they both replied with James adding:
	"Wow...I never been up here before, this is a pretty bitchin' view."
	"First toime fer everythin' Rex.  Wotcha want?"
	"Just admiring the view sir."
	"Not a lot to admire mate, unless ya loike watchin' yer mates over there scoutin' the island."
	"How they doing?" asked Kruz.
	"Not too great."  Krow sneered and closed his telescope with dissatisfaction.  "Factory work's a li'l behind, but we got a few hiccups more with the ol' mines than anythin' else."
	"How about those monkeys?"
	"Don' suspect a thing yet, it's all scoutin' work fer now, wanna lay a good offensive an' stop any resistance every step o' the way.  If we're lucky we moight even catch one."
	"Oooooh a hostage?"
	"Thas' roight."

James was slightly confused.
	"So...you're setting up a factory, and going into mines, and laying down a sort of...path of resistance full of our army, to stop any apes coming back and forth?"
	"Not exactly, this is just the scoutin' loik oi said, we don' interfere wif 'em yet, not until we foind their weakness."
	"...coool."
	"Captain's gonna 'ave 'imself sum monkey paw ashtrays real soon ah?!"
The three sniggered malevolently before James started wondering other things.
	"Hey, uh...I've not really understood the whole point of taking the island for ourselves, sir.  Can I ask why?"
	"You can ask away if you loike, bu' you won't get no answer from me, mate.  Don' worry though, it's allll part of the cap'n's plan."
	"Plan?"
	"You'll see."
	"Ah huh...hey, what's that island over there?"
James pointed towards a far darker isle in the opposite direction.
	"Huh?  Oh, that's our 'ome, Crocodile Isle."
	"...you all live on an island too?"
	"Base of operations more loike.  'ere, 'ave a gander."
Krow handed the telescope to James, the raptor gently clasping and extending it to gaze upon the far island.  From what he could make out, it was certainly not as colourful as the home of the Kongs, and far more rocky.  He could see a volcano, strange artificial lights glowing with a carnival banner he couldn't read out, and a tower high above it all with rocky crags instead of beaches.  It looked like a fortress more than anything else.
	"Huh...scary, I bet nobody'd even dare to attack that place."
	"Exactly."
James handed back the telescope as Krow stretched his arms wearily.
	"Unnnngh, think it's toime I made me report to the cap'n.  Come on, out me nest."
	"Yes sir!"
The two riggers climbed down ahead of their boss who followed from above, sliding down with practiced hands avoiding friction burns and scrabbling down the net-like shrouds that stretched all the way to the deck.  As Krow went to give his report, he ordered his two lackeys:
	"Yer relieved fer now, take a li'l break an' treat yerselves."
	"Thank you sir!"
With that, James decided that now would be a fine time to explore the galleon in earnest with Kruz, a stroll around the deck above and beneath.  Despite having been with the crew for perhaps three months at this point, he had rarely been given the time to truly explore the ship.  He noticed that K. Rool ran it tightly with an iron fist and very little time was given for relaxation unless it was for sleeping, eating or special celebrations.  At first, it was admittedly a chore.
But over time the raptor became used to it, his work ethic returning in earnest to serve the crew dutifully so as first a swabber then a rigger, which he slowly became better at once he managed to handle the winds daring to blast him off of the masts once in a while.  And even with the regular private interludes the crew had, it all seemed to be well-maintained and never clashed with one's duties, for laziness was quite brutally punished.

He remembered how a month back one young recruit had been sleeping off in the daytime and shirking from duty to enjoy regular nightly excursions of sex.  For failing to keep with his duties, his back was forever scarred with terribly thick welts that bled for days, when he was flogged brutally in front of the crew with a nine-tailed whip soaked in seawater.  Blood and salt was sprayed across the deck, which he was made to clean up himself.
Since then the young recruit became one of the most dutiful and hard-working members of the Kremlings.  But it made James realise how tight K. Rool ran his crew, understandable considering how important everything was to keep the ship running smoothly.  Eventually the two found a quiet place to be by themselves, somewhere in the mid-deck, the creaking of the ship becoming a rather soothing melody when accompanied by the muted rushing of waves.
	"Yanno this ship is pretty awesome," said James, "I can't believe I'm finally on one."
	"Hehe, glad ya like it.  Whatcha wanna do now that we got time?"
	"Ehhh...I dunno...any games?"
	"Hmmm...wanna play cards?"
	"Ehhh not in the mood for that, kinda tired."
	"Yeah I don't think I...yyyeaaah dammit I left 'em in my bunk anyway."
	"...oh you ACTUALLY meant cards!"
	"Yeah what you think I meant?"
	"Well...I thought...nevermind."
	"Pffffffthehehehe, you slut."
	"Hey!  I can't help the crew likes me so much!"
	"Well, can't blame 'em."
Kruz spanked the raptor's rear to make him yelp, the two giggling away as they decided to just sit down and chat.
	"So...Rex, I never asked, what's the deal with those scissors?"
	"Oh these?"
He gently fingered the handle of them at the back of his shoulder, having not had any opportunity to wield them since his induction into the Kremlings.
	"I got 'em from this mansion far away."
	"Ooooh a mansion?  Sounds fancy, you stole 'em?  Any jewels too?"
	"I...yeah that's about it."
	"Hah, so you used to be a thief then?"
	"Well, pretty much, on the streets and all as a kid, had to do it to survive and all."
	"Hey hey I ain' judgin' ya, just saying, lot of us started as thieves yanno."
	"Well you ARE pirates, I thought it'd kinda be in your resumes or something."
	"Heh, I guess."
	"How about you, where'd you get your sword?"
	"Oh they handed it out when I joined the crew."

Kruz patted his cutlass handle that dangled from his belt against the leg.
	"Said they needed a replacement to give it to.  Hehe..."
	"Ahh huh...so, what do you think of K. Rool?  Is he a good captain?  I mean in the time you've been here."
	"Well...depends on who ya ask.  Some aren't too happy with the way he runs things, but I just think they're greedy fer power they want themselves.  I think he's a good captain personally.  What about you?"
	"Uhhh...I dunno.  I get the feeling he's a little...not all there."
He tapped his head gently making Kruz smirk.
	"Yeah he's kind of an oddball I'll say."
	"And his eye, the fuck is up with that thing, isn't there like a doctor on the ship or something!?"
	"Oh course but...well he was born with it an' all so, can't really change it, nobody knows what it is."
	"Always freaks me the fuck out when I see it."
	"You get used to it.  So...how long you stayin' with the crew again?"
	"Until you guys take that Kong island or so, I mean it's not like the captain's gonna say no when his mission's done right?"
	"Good point.  So why ya wanna leave?  I mean, if we take the island we'll be livin' like kings!"
	"Well...I-i dunno...I'm trying to get back home."
	"Home?  To yer special girl?"
	"Yeah...things back home are probably real bad right now, maybe even a war zone.  I wanna be there to help."
	"Wow really?  Which port you hail from again?"
	"Chicago."
	"Never heard of it."
	"Ehhh it's really far away, way farther than I think you guys been sailing."
	"Well, I bet you'll get home one day, I mean you handled us pretty well when we first caught ya."
	"Haha yeah."
	"Especially the way you handled the swingin', like a monkey you were."
	"...is that a compliment or...?"
	"Depends on what you think of monkeys."
	"Hehehe..."
A few minutes passed by in silence, allowing themselves time to relax, the gentle caress of the creaking wood and the sea outside all around them somewhat soothing.  Soothing enough for James to start turning whimsical.
	"...I gotta tell ya Kruz, I fuckin' love this ship."
	"Hah, already!?"
	"Hell yeah!  I mean..."
He stood up to admire the hull around him, a romantic splendour arising within him of this free-sailing life.
	"When I was a kid, I always wanted to be a pirate.  That or be in races.  But...being out here, on the sea, on an actual ship...it's kind of my dream come true man."
	"Hah, we always got those li'l dreams of ours."
	"And well, I mean everyone said it was a stupid dream, course it is, to be a pirate is kid's fantasy stuff.  You think it's all about swashbucklin' and high tides and plunderin' and cannon battles!  I know it's not all that but...there's a part of me that's LOVING this.  I don't mind telling you since well, we're friends right?"
	"Course we are Rex, I might not have known ya as long as some of the others here but I like ya.  You seem an okay guy anyways, an' you got a cute ass."
	"Hehe...uhhh, thanks."

James blushed softly and rubbed the back of his neck with a soft smile while Kruz continued talking.
	"Since we're on dreams an' all, I'll tell ya that mine wasn't to be a pirate."
	"What was yours?"
	"Ehhh...wanted to be a dancer, like professional.  Li'l bit of the ol' floorstealin' an' such."
	"Wow, really?  I never seen ya dance though."
	"Well I don' get motivated to do it anymore, but if they ever have a show on for the crew I join in."
	"Show for the crew?  What kind of show?"
	"Ohhh a li'l cabaret, we don' get 'em on the ship much though, happens a lot more on land at Crocodile Isle.  Hope you can come over to Kremland and you can see me in action."
	"Oh yeah I got to see this."
	"Hehehe I can be pretty popular some nights that's fer sure."
	"In...what way?"
	"Well...I got fans, let's just say that."
	"Roadies?"
	"Maaaaybe."
	"And what sorta dancing you do?"
	"Ohhh a li'l this an' a li'l that, interpretive mainly, also tango and ballet."
The last word made James helplessly smirk at the terrible mental image of Kruz in a tutu.
	"Pfffft...b-ballet?  Seriously?"
	"Yeah...why what's wrong with that?"
	"N-n-nothing but...it's kinda...girly isn't it?"
	"Hey now, ballet's pretty fuckin' difficult, you gotta have a hell of a lotta strength in yer legs and upper arms or you get tired out REAL quick.  You gotta be real flexible AND you gotta look graceful.  Maybe people see it as a girly thing sure but it's NOT easy."
	"W-wow...uhh sorry if I hit a sore point there."
	"Hah, nah jus' saying."
Kruz shrugged it off, having heard it one too many times to the point he had no fight in him to argue about it anymore.
	"It may look frilly but it's hard work if you wanna get real into it.  Why else ya think I became a rigger, 'cuz I love the wind in mah face?"
	"Actually, yeah that's what I thought."
	"Well that an' to keep my limbs strong fer dancing."
	"You're actually serious huh?"
	"Yep."
	"Huh...well okay then, no problem man."
	"Hmmmm...yanno, you could be pretty good at that stuff too."
	"What?"
	"Ballet an' such, you gotta good figure fer it, lean an' good muscles in the limbs-"
	"Ohhhhh nononono, I don't dance that way.  I can't even breakdance that well, I'll stick to my parkour thanks."
	"Alrigh', just saying."
	"Besides I hate pink."
	"Uhhh we do have other colours you know."
	"But they're all...fabulous."
	"Hah, wow...fer someone who enjoys gettin' fucked in the ass, yer pretty scared of not lookin' straight with people."
	"W-well I...it's just not an image I'm comfortable with, I don't wanna be seen as one of those flamers yanno."
	"Ehhh...I don' mind, course there's not many of them even that I met, not even in the cabaret shows.  But fair enough, you wanna look all tough an' be a bad boy, that's yer thing."
	"Hehe yeah...hey I just realised, that Krow guy?"
	"Yyyyeah?"
	"Is he uh...named after the crow's nest or was it like a coincidence or...?"
	"Well actually we got two Krows.  He's the croc one who's our boss and keeps the lookout, we named him cuz he's always in the crow's nest.  The other Krow we never really see so we don't get that confused."
	"Ohhh..."
The two talked through the day, rarely managing to run out of topics despite their wildly different backgrounds, with James being more vague to avoid confusion.  He enjoyed Kruz's company, even if he refused to learn a few basic ballet steps "just in case you wanna impress someone".  Night soon came to usher in the next day.  A month later, they were soon given some rather exciting news from the island scouts, exciting enough that the crew was given a speech at lunch hour upon the main deck.

K. Rool stood at the steering wheel, above his crew with a proud posture.  There was something different however with him that unnerved James slightly.  While in all respects the captain was exactly the same, he was no longer wearing his pirate outfit, but a red billowing cape and a very sharp tall crown that glinted in the sun.  He was practically naked before his crew with a large yellow belly exposed towards all.
	"My loyal subjects!  I bring great news from our armies upon the island.  They have discovered the source of the apes' treasure, a glorious cornucopia of potassium-based riches!  Some of you who are wiser may understand what I mean.  But to those of you who do not...then we have captured their secret hoard!"
Mass cheers came from the entire crew, much to the raptor's confusion who murmured to Kruz beside him:
	"What the fuck is potassium?"
	"I dunno, but we got their secret treasure whatever it is!"
	"And not only that," continued their leader with even greater pomposity than when he was in his other clothes, "but we have even obtained one of those filthy little Kongs, a fine bargaining tool in our conquest of the island!"
More cheering came which James joined in with eagerly.
	"Indeed, this pathetic little monkey shall make a fine captive, so long as we keep him from his brethren, especially that wretched Donkey Kong!  He will soon taste the might of the Kremling army, and I as your king shall lead ye to a new era!"
The crew turned feverish with excitement at how well this plan seemed to be going, with further continuation from the king.  James was trying to figure out why the captain decided to have a different title, and became even more above himself than before with a crown on his head.  This guy definitely had some kind of complex, but he kept listening nevertheless.
	"Now that we have initiated phase one of our plan, I want you all to do your best.  Our troops upon the island have reported that Donkey Kong is not yet aware of our plans or what we have done.  But when he does, he will surely be on the warpath.  So long as his little monkey friend and any other companions they may have is kept out of his hands, he will surely struggle with only his own two thumbs to wield!"

As he said this, K. Rool pretended to stuff his thumbs into his nose and cause laughter among the crew, looking rather piggish with upwards nostrils.  He smiled at the support of his subjects before wrapping up his speech.
	"Our objective is this.  Continue with phase one as we have planned already.  With the time it takes for the ape to pass through our forces, IF he ever does, then we shall have a little surprise for him.  We will even have some of his hoard to be delivered upon this very ship too, should we ever need it.  HOWEVER...it is off limits.  And if I see anyone even LOOK at it, then I shall turn your insides into rigging for my ship.  Is that clear!?"
They all nodded a little fearfully, James moreso at the shudden shift in his tone from eager to deathly serious, before the king returned to smiling heartily.
	"Glorious!  We may even finish our plan by the end of this month, so let us all believe in our future.  What future is that, my subjects!?"
	"Your eternal perfect reign, your majesty!" said the entire crew as one.
They uniformly bowed with a hand on their hearts, which James was quick to do so himself with everyone else.
	"Perfect.  You may now return to your duties."
And with that, the king stepped back down into his cabin, the crew dispersing with James left rather confused about everything, needing to ask Kruz as they clambered back up to the yardarms.
	"Uhh Kruz?"
	"Whassup Rex?"
	"Did you notice...anything different about the captai-"
	"SHHH!"

Kruz quickly moved forwards with a hook to James' face to silence him.
	"Wh-what!?"
	"Don't call him that."
	"But...but isn't he the-"
	"Not when he's like this."
	"Like what!?"
	"The clothes man!  The clothes make the croc, rule number two on this damn ship, nobody tell ya!?"
	"Not like I ever needed to be told no!  I mean I saw him in that sometimes but I wasn't sure if it was him!"
	"Well, okay, I better tell you now.  He is both our king AND our captain, right?"
	"Ah huh."
	"He has duties and authority as both, so if he's wearing his crown, we call him king or your majesty or whatever.  When he's got the captain's hat on, we call him captain."
	"But...why?  Don't they both have the same authority over us?"
	"You wanna ask him yerself?"
	".......nooo?"
	"Then just lissen to me.  He's king OR captain depending on what he wears, and you do NOT wanna address him wrong."
	"Why?  What does he do?"
	"Depends on which outfit he's in.  Personally I think he's gonna punish you worse when he's king."
	"...o-okay."
Feeling rather terrified now, he continued to his work, now starting to wonder of the plans that K. Rool truly had for the island and what exactly was phase one.  The oddest thing was that despite his time with the crew, he had barely been given any details about the big operation.  Not even Kruz knew about it, but he told James that it was because only the higher elites knew about the operation truly.
His fellow rigger and bunkmate also explained that the reason for such was because that, should any of the crew be captured by their enemies, it was harder to break the elite Kremlings than the junior members, and as such, the lesser members of the crew were not privy to any information regarding plans for fear of any information leaking out.  This seemed rather reasonable to the raptor as he continued tightening knots upon the sails.
Over the next few days, the plan at first seemed to be going well judging from their leader's expression, his joyful smile wreaked with a maddening sense of triumph, before other days would soon settle in with worse news.
One particular incident that mystified James was when a scout went in to report news to the king.  He didn't see the scout leave at any point afterwards, but he hoped that perhaps he missed him running out to avoid K. Rool's latent fury afterwards.  One line that James caught wind of from the elite Kremlings, was:
	"Things may be going a LITTLE bit faster than we expected, but that only means our plan shall be sooner complete."
James could only wonder, and make his own plan to uncover theirs.  He could have just played it dumb.  But that was never his way.