After K. Rool's "defeat" at the hands of the Kongs, the Kremlings continued their chores unabated with a fresh-faced captain, now fully healed from his beatdown and resplendent in his tattered cloak and pirate hat for the next week or so.  The ship had floated away from the Kongs' island with the pretence of defeat, but everyone on board knew something was up, even if they did not know it.  Admittedly not even James knew the full plan of such, despite Kruz trying to ask him about it while they continued their rigging chores.
	"So you suddenly being in the elites an' all, how come they don't tell ya anything?"
	"Guess they wanna keep their real plans REAL secret.  I mean I'm not like a captain or something, I'm just a bodyguard to him, I think."
	"Well you do got those scissors, you make a pretty unique fighter."
	"Tell that to the fucking ape who nearly crushed my throat."
	"Hehe, hey you survived right?"
	"Sure, after I clawed at his hand enough, but god..."
	"You better I hope?"
	"Oh yeah that's no problem at all, I just...I'm just feeling something bad about this plan K. Rool has."
	"Watcha mean Rex?"
Kruz slid along the yardarm closer to his friend out of curiosity.
	"Well...that guy who got executed for trying to spill something about the plans, I can't ignore that."
	"He was trying to leave the crew bro, come on."
	"It was more than that, you gotta admit.  Why would he be calling out the captain as insane with his plan. if he didn't care since he was leaving?  He wasn't leaving because he was tired of this whole pirate schtick, he was leaving because he KNEW something.  Something dangerous."
	"Yeah I...guess so.  But listen, like I said, maybe he became a monkey-lover or something, maybe he sympathised with the apes, wanted to take their side, wanted to leave, maybe K. Rool knew and killed him so he'd make sure none of 'em knew about his plan."
	"Yyyyyyeaaaaah maybe-"
	"And why you worrying about it so much?  Didn't you say you were gonna leave after we take the island fer ourselves?"
	"Well yeah but...this all feels a bit odd."
	"You just not used to this kinda life bro.  Don' worry about it."
	"Uhhh...okay."

With his conspiratorial instincts quelled, James continued to focus on his duties, all through the week with little understanding of what was truly occurring within the higher ranks, employed as nothing more than a bodyguard like he said.  He was privy to some things, but he was nevertheless sworn to secrecy under pain of mutilation.  But the things he was told of wasn't enough for him.
He had to know more, he needed to know what he was getting into, for once he wanted to know what laid in store at the end of his duty.  And that wasn't all.  He also started to notice one or two of the elites actually debate against their captain on the plan, regardless of whether James was there or not.  Accusations flew back and forth as the week came to a close, until one meeting when James noticed that two elites had disappeared and were never seen since, only with the excuse that they were on a scouting mission.
He was not fooled.  Yet things would soon take quite the turn for the tumultuous for the crew of the Gangplank Galleon.
One day, James was called to another meeting, hastily so in order to receive some rather exciting news according to his captain.  He could already tell this was an unusual meeting for the fact that it wasn't taking place in the captain's cabin.  Instead it was taking place within the cargo hold.  The remaining elites and bodyguards stood firmly before their leader in a darkened separate room within the cargo hold, a sort of secret brig from the looks of it, designed to "store" prisoners as it were.  In the room was a single large barrel, weighed down by chains tethered to the floor.
	"My loyal guardians," began K. Rool, "no doubt you are all wondering why I have invited you here into the very bowels of our glorious frigate.  That is because I have a special surprise for you all.  The scouting party I had sent out a week ago has returned with a most formidable prize, within this very barrel.  Something that I am sure you will all enjoy the sight of in such a condition.  But..."
He placed a clawed hand on the top of the barrel with a stern gaze.
	"You must NEVER tell another of what you have seen here.  When all is ready I shall inform the rest of the crew myself.  Failure to obey this simple rule will ensure your remains are disposed of in your own barrel overboard.  Is that clear?"
They all nodded, and soon K. Rool pulled the top of the barrel off with a flourish, revealing quite the surprise for his crew with the flair of a magician.

The head of Donkey Kong lolled against the barrel rim, his body slumped, eyes closed and moving very slightly.  The elites gasped at the find, the captain loving their reaction.  The kremlings smiled eagerly, finally glad to see their greatest enemy in their claws at last.  Even James smiled at the sight of the hulking ape somehow restrained within the cask, as K. Rool slapped across the gorilla's lips with a strong backhand.
	"Rise and shine, my filthy little ape!"
DK awoke with a yelping start, and gazed at his enemies with at first surprise, then anger.  He furiously tried to shake the barrel from side to side, the chains making sure it did not move a single inch.
	"Do not try to barge your way out of this one, you are well-contained with restraints both outside AND inside your little oubliette.  How does it feel, to be helpless before us?"
The gorilla roared and grunted with rising fury, struggling to break out of his confines, the kremlings laughing at the sight of a gorilla rocking back and forth in a barrel.  Even the raptor got caught up with the emotion in the room, both of cheer and relief.  The elites happily started flexing their fists, ready to give a little special welcome while their captain continued.
	"What's the matter, ape?  You don't appreciate your little cabin?  We've had it specially fitted out for you to be nice and comfortable, all snuggled up tight so you won't be rolling everywhere with the ship."

DK merely snarled venomously, bearing his fierce primate teeth, a fine dangerous collection of both sharp fangs and blunt grinders.  The captain did not appreciate such a brazen attitude, responding by grabbing the ape's tufted hair painfully.
	"Typical.  The lesser species have no understanding of courtesy."
He tugged at the hair hard enough to make DK look upwards and slammed his fist downwards hard like a hammer, bruising some of the gorilla's lip.  He did the same over DK's eye, hard enough to blacken it with his own furious strength.  The ape grunted bestially in pain, before K. Rool gave one last little insult by spitting into his face, and taking his hand off his foe, wiping his hands clean with a tissue from his pocket and sneering with disgust.
	"That is merely a warning.  If you wish to keep whatever you apes have for dignity, then I advise you to be a good captive and obey us.  It will make a good example for the rest of your kind to follow."  He turned to his elites.  "The rest of you I entrust in keeping this beast captive.  You are to cycle between guards in pairs.  Krook has the rota already written up.  You are free to administer punishments upon him in whatever manner you deem fit, but DO NOT kill him."
	"Uhh sir?"
A hand came up from one of the blue brothers of K. Rool's most devoted bodyguards.
	"Why you want him alive?  He caused enough trouble already."
	"Ahhh my dear Krash, so strong yet so...rugged.  Let's just say that I have...plans, for our guest in future that require him alive.  So I order you all again.  You may punish him...but if you dare take his life, then I shall take ALL of your lives.  Every.  Single.  One of you."
He cast his gaze over each of his elites with every single last word he made, piercing their souls with the most powerful gaze he could muster.  A gaze that made a few of them shiver, except James who positively wilted from such.  With that warning, he left, and Krook made his rota list known upon his logbook, always with him, instructing:
	"Kapp and Keyes, yer up first to guard the monkey.  The next two I'll inform when yer rota's over an' so forth.  If he starts sumthin', beat his face in, but watch yer punches, that clear?"
	"Yes sir."
	"Good.  The rest of you, back to yer chores, you'll be informed when it's yer turn."

Despite the recent developments, James still felt uneasy.  And even worse, he wasn't sure WHY he felt uneasy other than that he did not completely trust his captain.  He knew he was clever, he knew he was powerful, but he also knew that he was crazy, to some extent.  He wasn't sure how crazy, but he was definitely unbalanced somehow.  The rotas changed for their captive throughout the following half-week, with the captain continuously making some sort of plan, updating his small trusted group with various details.
He knew that Donkey Kong's friends would note his absence and as such would hunt him down.  He had plans to steer his ship towards Crocodile Isle, in order to face them on his home turf.  Then he would begin with certain preparations for his captive, preparations that the raptor was never told of, yet the higher elites clearly knew with knowing nods at any mention of them.  Was it bait perhaps?  It wasn't even necessary if the ape's friends would be on their tail already, so what else could it be?
As the ship reached the halfway point between the islands of the Kongs and the Kremlings, K. Rool finally announced the fact that they had Donkey Kong in the cargo hold captive, much to the raucously cheerful surprise of the crew.  They had no reason to doubt their captain, who even had a scrap of the ape's hair as evidence of such from one of the several "talks" he had with him.  Or rather, one of the several gloating sessions he had with him.
	"As you already know," he began with his way of loving the sound of his own voice, "we are making our way home to Crocodile Isle.  Naturally the ape's allies will be converging upon our location and aim to rescue their leader.  I want to make certain that their task is made impossible!  Anything you see, hear or even smell unusual, report immediately to your superior.  We are so very close to our primary objective that duty and dilligence become more important than ever before.  None of you may approach the cargo hold where Kong is being held, under pain of torture.  Is that clear?"
	"Yes, Captain!" bellowed the crew obediently.
	"Good.  Now, attend to your duties."
James slipped away with Kruz to somewhere more private beneath deck, since he had many questions for his raptor friend.

	"So THAT'S the big secret then?"
	"Yep, we got the big gorilla in the cargo hold."
	"Damn...what you think he needs him for?"
	"I dunno, he hasn't said anything to me, apparently just because I get to meet with the rest of the superiors doesn't mean I get to know about it."
	"So...he wants you close with him, but he don't tell you anything about his real plans, that they all already know?"
	"Exactly.  Plus, two guys who used to be there, disappeared like a few days before K. Rool said we kidnapped Kong."
	"Did anyone ask what happened to 'em?"
	"Scouting party apparently.  But the only scouting party they mentioned was the one that went out for Kong, with Krook and Keen and some other guys.  Those other elite guys...they didn't go with them."
	"...you think they tried to do what Kross did?"
	"Totally."
	"So what you gonna do?"
	"Maybe I can find out something from K. Rool...he's gonna gloat the hell out of that ape at some point and I'm gonna be listening in."
	"Wh-what!?!  You crazy Rex, what if he finds ya!?"
	"He won't.  He's a fat bastard, he's not gonna be able to find me."
	"You stand out though.  Come on, yer like the only reptile here who ISN'T a croc."
	"Then I'm just gonna have to risk it.  I have to find out."
	"Come on, what if you just wastin' yer time on nothin'?"
	"Won't be wasting my time when I find out.  Cover for me okay?  Tell them I had some bad fish and I had to lie down from puking or something."
Eventually Kruz gave in and agreed to cover for James, the two climbing up to the rigging where they could get a good view of K. Rool's path to below deck.  Soon enough, about a few hours later, he emerged from his cabin in his pirate clothes for yet another "discussion" with his captive, ordering Krook about something towards the stern of the ship and making him leave his company.  James knew this was a better chance than ever before, for the fact that there would be one less very alert guard looking out.

The raptor slowly made his way down as soon as the captain went below deck, taking a longer roundabout pathway to avoid being seen by as many of the crew until he had traversed to the depths of the galleon.  The creaking of the ship within the ocean's caress did not make it particularly easy to sneak about, but he did his best, tenderly climbing from crate to crate in the darkest areas, avoiding anyone's gaze.  Naturally there were two guards, who kept a wary eye out for anything.  Krush and Krash also stood guard with them outside the room.
James admittedly was not a ninja.  But he knew one or two things about how to sneak well, both from his short time experiences as a thief, and Sarah's occasional advice.  Then again, this was not a street or an apartment building, but the inside of a ship.  He made every effort to not make a sound, softly putting his feet on the wood to avoid even the smallest scritch or clack from his claws.
He noted that the entrance of the room had crates piled up around and near it, and with some of his natural dexterity, he was able to hide within the shadow of one box close enough to overhear the captain.  For a while, nothing came from inside the room, until perhaps a minute or so later when he heard:
	"Feel that?  That is your destiny.  Imagine that pain, but burning within you a thousand times hotter until you are nothing but dust in the winds of my island's currents.  .....your stoicness is admirable, if it were not from the heart of a worthless hair-shedding fool such as you!  ...you don't even answer me!?!  ...what?"
Suddenly, there came the pained grunt of the captain, the bodyguards briefly looking in to check if all was well before they stood guard once again.  And the captain's voice grew slowly with rage.
	"YOU...SCUM!"

Violent blows came from within the room, with James unable to see the action but assuming that the ape was getting the brunt of the captain's furious fists amidst the pained grunts of their captive.  Soon the thudding stopped, and the captain regained his composure.
	"If you believe I would be foolish enough to end your life here and now so that your inferior little tribe will turn you into a martyr, then you are VERY mistaken, Kong.  I only even acknowledge you by name for the fact that as much as I find you a most loathsome creature...your power is worthy of my notice.  And you shall soon see why."
With those cryptic words, there were soon no more words exchanged between the two.  James remained waiting, unsure of why there was such a long pause, especially from the egocentric captain.  Then he saw something rather unusual.  K. Rool emerged from the room, wearing the crown and royal cloak.
He didn't leave his cabin in those clothes did he, thought the raptor.
Did K. Rool change clothes for some reason?  Was he that schizophrenic?  Was there something he missed?  James was afraid to follow, certain at having seen the captain enter below deck as a captain and not a king.  Hours seemed to pass, and he felt as if he'd trapped himself in the hold with no way of escaping from either his dilemma or being caught by the guards.
Then, much to his heart-stopping terror, he fell from the crate's shadow when the ship suddenly lurched with a violent force, a shuddering vibration that not only made him fall, but also several crates that he did everything in his power to roll out of the way of, for fear of being crushed.  He was sure that he'd been spotted, there was no way he wasn't seen even when he slipped back into the shadows of another crate.  Then another savage lurch came, making him falter and fall, with more crates falling down into horrendous splintering piles on top of each other.
At this point, he did his best to run through the wreckage, trying to find out what was going on.  He didn't even reach two decks upwards before he heard two things that made him panic even more.  The sound of rushing water, and the screams of his fellow kremlings.

As he scarpered up to the top deck, everyone he passed by was gripped within panic, barely able to get anything coherent from them other than three things.
	"ABANDON SHIP, WE'RE SINKING, EVERYONE GET ABOVE DECK!"
	"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
	"GET THE SUPPLIES AND HEAD FOR THE ROWBOATS!"
His dilemma of K. Rool was temporarily put to one side as the ship began lurching even harder from side to side, threatening to slam everyone into the bulkhead as kremlings ran back and forth desperately with supplies.  James was only concerned about one thing in such a crisis.  He scrabbled his way to the top of the ship, occasionally having to climb when the ship rose upwards in one direction from the violent shudders.  He soon reached above deck at last, despite having to claw his way through most of the crew.
The upper deck was in absolute chaos.  The sea roared upon both both sides of the ship with a tremendous rage, the deck itself turning treacherously wet adding to the danger of the ship's uneven motions.  Half of the crew ran aimlessly like headless chickens, whereas some of the more competent crewmembers were doing everything possible to steer and maintain the ship safely towards some sort of land.  He searched desperately for his friend in the chaos.
	"KRUZ!  KRUUUUUUUZ!"
He made his way towards the rigging, which swung erratically with the motions of the ship, clambering up with claws tightly dug into the wood, bracing himself tightly whenever the ship lurched again.  The waves turned even more dangerous, curving over the gunwales and straight onto the deck, carrying several of the crew overboard into its foamy clutches.  In the nearby distance, off towards the ship's right at starboard, was Crocodile Isle, its skies darkening over the ship, surrounded by a reef filled with rocks like obsidian daggers.

The raptor continued to climb upwards, screaming against the wind for his friend, trying to find a nearby rigger at the very least.  One muscularly lean senior rigger was doing everything he could to maintain the sails, tightly holding the ropes that lashed at the air.  James tried to ask him above the sound of the waves and crushing hull.
	"WHERE'S KRUZ!?!"
	"HE WENT BENEATH DECK ABOUT AN HOUR AGO!"
	"WHAT!?!?"
	"HE SAID HE WAS GONNA LOOK FOR YOU, SINCE YOU WERE SICK!"
	"WHA...SHIT!  DID YOU SEE HIM GET BACK UP!?!"
	"NO, HE MIGHT STILL BE DOWN THERE, HE WENT DOWN THE SAME WAY THE KING WENT!"
	"OKAY, THANKS!"
	"HEY!"
James was about to leave before turning back to be roared at with a question.
	"DIDYA SEE KROW AT ALL!?!?"
	"NO, WHY!?!"
	"HE LEFT AN HOUR AGO TOO, THINK HE FOLLOWED KRUZ AS WELL!"
James suddenly realised that his friend might be in even more danger than he first suspected, and not just from the sinking ship itself.  He hastily made his way back down, waiting for the opportunity to avoid being swept away by the tide as the ship sunk lower towards the sea.  Navigating his way back beneath deck, he quizzed everyone he could about where Kruz went, the rigger with a hook for a hand, and soon found himself halfway through the ship.  Unfortunately, in the time he had gone up and then back down, the ship had been filling steadily with seawater.
Foam sluiced against the walls furiously, the kitchen galley's oil spreading throughout one area of the ship to soon be ignited into flames by the dislodgement of swaying lanterns.  Screams and burning wood came from one direction as the cooks desperately tried to salvage and escape.  James was trapped within chaos, trying to help point confused and frightened crewmembers on where to go.  Bereavement for lost friends blinded their way, along with the violent throes of the dying galleon.
Cannons became lethal obstacles in the gunner areas, sliding back and forth, killing any unfortunate kremling by crushing them against walls, or breaking their legs and feet when heavy weighted wheels grinded them underneath.  James managed to avoid even passing near them by remembering his way down to the hold, making his way through less-important sections of the ship.

Reaching just below the middle deck, he was immediately up to his knees in the sea itself, wading through to try and find wherever his friend might have possibly gone.  Some of the stronger kremlings were already there, searching for survivors and unspoiled supplies to carry back upwards, amongst other able-bodied fleeing crewmembers trying to escape the flooding of the lower decks.  He approached several of the rescuers, trying to get answers out of them, but they either did not see Kruz or were too busy to reply.  Then James went up to one huge blue worker with a soaking green spring-legged kremling flopped over his shoulder.
	"Hey, did you see a guy go past you, light-brown, a rigger maybe, hook for a hand?"
	"Nope, sorry, you helpin' with the search for survivors?"
	"If I can yeah but I need to find my friend, I think he's in trouble!"
	"Plenny of us are in trouble kid, we all gotta help each other."
	"I know, but I NEED to find him!"
	"D-did you say a...hook fer a hand?"
The reply came from the shoulder-clasped green kremling, who was clearly weak from fatigue.
	"Y-yeah!  Sorta light brown, lean build like a rigger."
	"I-i saw him, when I was comin' up from...orlop deck.  He...he ran down below deck...towards cargo hold, practically swam in it.  Said he thought he...saw the captain."
	"Wh-what?!"
	"Must be delirious," added the blue kremling, "It was the king I saw going up top to his cabin befo-hey where you goin'!?"
James ran off towards the cargo hold without responding, knowing that it was practically suicidal to go swimming into a submerged cargo hold, but he had to find out.  He needed to find Kruz, and he needed to find out what was going on with K. Rool and his strange double act.
The ladder to the cargo hold was almost fully submerged in seawater, but James steeled himself and slowly dipped himself into the cold ocean, seeing that some of the crates had managed to stay intact during the initial crash to remain afloat as handy platforms.  He also noted that the water was far more turbulent here, making waves within the ship and crushing crates against the wall.
Realising this, he took a safer route and climbed up onto a sizeable crate, using his scissors like an oar to navigate through the hold.  He wasn't sure if this was even the same area where Donkey Kong was still captive, but he only cared about finding Kruz.
Despite his best efforts, the waves within the hold threatened to throw him from his makeshift raft, panicking as he could do nothing but brace himself, rowing himself onwards between mountains of crates.  Keeping away from any that seemed eager to fall on him, the ship was shaking from the fury of the ocean that seemed desperate to swallow the galleon itself.  As he managed to traverse halfway through the hold, he heard an argument from further down, his rowing turning quicker as soon as he heard one voice more familiar than the other.

	"I'm askin' again, where's the captain!?!"
	"Oi already told ya, 'e went back above deck, the cap'n's safe now!"
	"NO HE AIN'T!  That guy's an impostor, where's the REAL captain, and I don't mean the 'king'!"
	"Wot koind of idiot are you to argue abou' this when we're sinking!?!?"
	"The kind of idiot who don't like being lied to by his own superior!"
	"Kruz, you got other matters to deal with than sum semantics abou' where the cap'n really is."
	"I disagree sir."
James slowly turned a corner to see Kruz and Krow, facing each other from opposite crates, seemingly well-rooted among others, not seeming to move freely like the others, possibly tied down.  The two riggers argued, sneering at each other as the stronger orange Krow brandished his cutlass.
	"This is yer last warnin' Kruz.  You been a good worker an' oi'd hate to lose one as good as ya.  But if you don' get yer arse back topside...yer gonna be left unaccounted fer with the rest of this 'ere cargo."
	"No sir.  I'm not turning away from this, I know what the captain's been doing and he's not gonna get the chance to just run away without explainin' why he capsized this ship on purpose!"
	"LIES!  That's mutiny mate, an' wif that you just signed yer death warrant."
	"I don't fucking think so!"
James made his presence known and rowed towards the two, leaping up to another secure crate and standing his ground, scissors out.  Kruz brought out his cutlass.
	"So, you and yer li'l bunkbuddy are in cahoots are ya!?!  Foine by me, can always foind two more riggers."
	"I don't think you'll even have another ship after this, mate."
	"Who are you to talk, you ain' even a real kremling!"
	"I'm definitely more than you'll ever be, birdfucker!"
	"WHAT YOU CALL ME!?!"
Krow, surprised at such an insult, leapt towards James and readily swung down his blade onto the raptor's head, who eagerly blocked and threw him off to try and push him into the water.  The rigger managed to keep his footing and leapt towards another crate, bringing out a small flintlock pistol from his belt and firing steadily towards James, who tried to dodge and leap to another crate, but instead landed upon an unsecured platform.  Kruz took the opportunity to jump closer to Krow and readily attack him while he was reloading.
The superior rigger however had caught sight of his subordinate and, despite his surprisingly experienced quick reloading, tried to fire at him but was too late when Kruz had wallkicked from the hull for an extra push towards Krow and barged straight into him, knocking him to the ground.  He tried to cut him deep, but was pistol-whipped hard across the face, enough to stun him for a second slam across the face.  Krow readily aimed to shoot Kruz at point-blank range, but the hook-handed croc swung out with his cutlass hard enough to overbalance both of them.

Kruz fell into the water, with James readily trying to swim towards him before Krow reloaded and aimed his pistol at him in turn.  The raptor made a large arcing splash straight towards Krow, who was temporarily blinded by the seawater.  Just enough time to be kicked hard in the stomach and off of the crate for James to quickly grab Kruz's hand, and pull him back onto the crate.
Krow had managed to swim up to some more cargo floating free in the water and did his best to aim, the churning water hindering him well enough for the two riggers to dodge.
	"What's so important about where the captain is!?!" shouted James.
	"NONE OF YER BUSINESS, YA WORTHLESS CRIMP!"
He fired another shot, his aim way off but undaunted as he leapt back towards a more secure platform, only to face up against Kruz who had readily anticipated his move and clashed with his superior with cutlass raised.  Their blades struck violently together, daring to push the other off.  But Krow had his other hand ready to beat Kruz across the head with his pistol, only for Kruz to learn from last time and make his superior slide his cutlass off and along his own, before shoving and cutting him across the face with a double-slicing diagonal motion.
	"AAARGH!"
	"WHERE'S THE CAPTAIN!?!?"

Krow merely roared and swung insanely in Kruz's direction, forcing him to step back to eventually run out of room.  But as a result, he left himself wide open for a side attack from James, who leapt over to slam his superior against the bulkhead and place his scissors straight against his throat, closing them tenderly upon the throat.  The rigging leader realised that he was in real trouble, and put his weapons away slowly.  The ship slowly moved back and forth, stabilising somewhat but threatening to cause further damage to his neck against the sharp blades.
	"Now," began James as calmly as possible, "mind asking him again, Kruz?"
	"Gladly.  Where's the captain, Krow?"
	"Nnngh...you...fuckin' insubordination this is!"
	"Answer the question!"
James softly pulled the scissor blades closer, threatening to squeeze the throat.
	"A-AGH ALRIGH' ALRIGH'!  Cap'n stayed in the hold with that ape, said he wuz gonna make a diversion an' sink the ship so he could get the Kongs off his tail, buy 'im sum toime!"
	"Wait...he wrecked the ship on purpose!?!"
Kruz nodded to confirm James' revelation.
	"I'll explain this later, but right now we gotta find out what K. Rool's plan really is.  What is it?!"
	"Not tellin' YOU that's fer sure."
Krow sneered dutifully but James only grinned.
	"Really?"
He tightened the blades around Krow's neck to the point that he began to gasp in pain and start to bleed softly, streaking red down the scissors.
	"You wanna reconsider?"
	"N-never!  A-aagh!"
	"Wow you really love your captain.  And he loved you so much he decided you weren't worth bringing along, right?"
	"Oi got me orders-hhhnnngh...an' oi'll follow 'em to the end."
	"Well you got one thing right."

The raptor gripped his scissors tighter, ready to decapitate his former superior, but Kruz interjected.
	"Wait Rex!"
	"Wha?"
	"I know what you planning to do and I don' think you wanna do that."
James turned slighty with a flash of insult and disbelief across his eyes.
	"...you got to be fucking kidding me.  You're a pirate for fuck's sake."
	"Wha?"
	"You seriously want me to let him live?"
	"Hah, no."
Kruz moved James and his scissors away, before punching Krow square in the jaw to stun him and dragged him away, grabbing his head and shoving it under the water.  At first there was panic and spluttering, his superior flailing his arms, desperately trying to get up.  But from his current position it was impossible without any leverage to push himself back up, his hands splashing against seawater uselessly.  Kruz did not falter one bit in his grisly deed, keeping the head shoved underwater, easily resisting, his hook flat against the back of the head.
	"Wh-what are you doing?" asked James
	"Just...gotta...make it look...like he drowned.  Less suspicious."
	"Hah...not a bad idea."
	"You wanna help me maybe or somethi-"
He was disrupted in his mutinous act by the ship suddenly lurching with a horrendous creak that deafened their ears, the ship slamming hard against something stronger than before.  For a brief moment in time, the world seemed to turn silent around the raptor, the ship gently bracing itself for its final ruination.
The starboard bulkhead opposite of the three suddenly grew horrendous black spikes, giant rocks penetrating the ship and causing more water to rush in.  Without even thinking, James grabbed Kruz tightly against him before the ensuing wave consumed them, scooping them up within its briney maw as they screamed against it in panic.  With its lower decks soon entirely submerged within the sea, the Gangplank Galleon was no more.