As it gets closer to the beginning of the opening ceremony, more and more players and NPCs alike gather around the docks. There were a good few hundred near The Shoebill’s side of the docks an hour ago, but now there are thousands.

And that’s just at one small part of the docks. In total, throughout the city, Fenrir guesses that there are close to a million players here right now. For a game with over fifty million active players and Port Tugator being one of the game’s largest cities and the capital for one of its main factions, one million actually seems like a low turnout.

The actual piers are off limits to anybody not participating in the tournament. Even so, there are thousands gathered along them as a vast amount of players are set to participate.

With crews being anywhere from seven to twenty players in number, there are hundreds of vessels that will be competing.

“Sorry, Nell, but you need to get below deck now,” Fenrir says to Nehalennia.

“Nell? Is that your nickname for me?” Nehalennia asks.

“Yeah, I figured that it’s cuter and easier to say. I don’t think I’ve said your actual name right once yet, plus it’s not a name you chose in the first place.”

“Nell… I like it! My name shall be Nell from now on. No more Nehalennia,” Nell says.

“Glad to hear it. Anyways, you need to go hide now,” Fenrir says. The tone of his voice makes it clear that he doesn’t want her to have to hide, but she must.

“It is alright, my hero. I wish you the best of luck in the tournament.”

“It’ll be easy today, just some friendly fishing.”

“Regardless, I wish you luck!” Nell cheers before heading below deck.

Everybody else is standing above deck.

“So, what’s the opening ceremony like?” Fenrir asks Corwin. He and Oleander made it back only a few minutes ago, and they both look very messy.

“You will know soon,” Corwin answers.

Serra holds onto Fenrir’s hand and excitedly rocks back and forth on her heels.

“Excited?” Fenrir asks.

“Yeah. Heard that Blackstache’s ship will show up,” Serra answers.

Fenrir looks out over the water. If Blackstache’s legendary ship is going to arrive, Fenrir is excited.

“Hey, there’s that guy,” Cassiel says, pointing to a ship several spots down from them.

Fenrir looks over and sees Morven aboard The Yellow Minnow with the rest of his crew. Fenrir waves when Morven looks his way, and Morven waves back.

Aside from them, Fenrir only knows that Jax and Jin will be with their crew somewhere in the tournament. He hasn’t personally talked to anybody else whom will be participating.

The city falls eerily silent as the water in the center of the harbor begins bubbling.

“It’s starting,” Corwin says. Even he sounds excited.

All members of The Soaring Wolves stand near the bow of the ship to get a better look.

The intensity of the bubbling water gives it the appearance that it is boiling. Ripples are sent from the epicenter of the bubbles to the surrounding water. The ripples cause even The Shoebill to bob up and down as they pass by.

The top of a mast appears within the bubbling water.

Two more mast tops appear as what they can only assume is Blackstache’s ship rises up from the depths of the harbor.

They see its sails and netting next.

From what they can see, the masts are already twice as tall as most would be, yet their bases have yet to be revealed. None of the rest of the ship can be seen yet.

“Holy – how big is this thing?” Fenrir asks.

“Big,” Serra answers, her voice quick and excited. She’s practically jumping up and down from how excited she is!

Finally, the deck of the mighty ship can be seen. Fenrir is so impressed by the show that he’s not even going to question how Blackstache and the rest of the crew are already onboard it!

“How are they already on there?” Cassiel asks.

Fenrir and Serra both look at her with fingers in front of their lips.

“Sheesh, sorry,” Cassiel says with a huff.

Going by the windows throughout the galleon-styled ship, there are at least four levels and each level has sixteen cannons per side on it aside from the top level which only has eight on each side. By Fenrir’s quick mental math, that gives this behemoth of a ship a total of one hundred and twelve cannons! The only thing bigger than this ship that he has seen in-game is the harbor’s tower, but even then, the masts are almost as tall as it is!

The crewmembers of the mighty ship look like ants as they hurry about on it.

Aside from its monstrous size, the ship’s figurehead is a skull with a long and twirled mustache with a pair of owl-like wings sticking out from behind it. Blackstache’s mustachioed skull symbol is also visible on the ship’s sails and the flag at the top of the central mast, and on the side of the ship near its stern is painted letters that read “The Black Owl.”

“He really likes owls,” Fenrir says.

“Owls are pleasant creatures, so I cannot judge him for it,” Corwin says.

“Weak,” Bonekraka chimes in.

“I want it,” Serra says.

“Want what?” Fenrir asks.

“That ship.”

“I mean, I’ve stolen bigger ships than that before in other games, but… yeah, I don’t know if that’s going to happen, but it would be awesome.”

“Get it for me for my birthday.”

“We’ll see.”

A duo of owls fly over to the ship and perch themselves upon the shoulders of the man standing behind the ship’s wheel.

Blackstache is too far away, and too high up on The Black Owl, for Fenrir and company to see what he is doing. All they can make out is that he’s touching the owls, and then the two owls fly up into the air and begin flying in a large circle around the city.

“Welcome to the openin’ ceremony for tha fourth Grand Fishin’ Tournament! We’re joined this time ‘round by tha Forest King of Valhalla, leader of the Northern Wardens, Ull!” Blackstache announces, his voice coming from the owls and being amplified by magic to be loud enough for everybody in the city to hear.

Ull’s flagship sails out to float next to Blackstache’s. When side by side, even Ull’s ship looks small.

“I really want it,” Serra says.

Fenrir flicks the back of her head.

She pouts and looks up at him.

“Alright, alright, I’ll think about it,” he says.

“Now, ya all know I ain’t the biggest fan o’ grand speeches an’ all that, so how about we just go over some of ‘em basic rules before we get started!” Blackstaches resumes announcing. “Over the next four days – real days, mind ya, there’ll be a three-part tourney where only one crew will win! I’ll go over tha specifics for each part when tha time comes, but fer now, all ya need to know is that this day is all about comradery and fishin’! Let’s just enjoy a day out on tha water fishin’ together without any violence before the real tournament starts up. So, no boardin’, no killin’, and no cheatin’! Today’s just for fishin’ and nothin’ but. All fish caught will be handed over to the city’s best cooks for the tastiest seafood festival tonight and tomorrow that any o’ ya ‘ave ever seen!”

The city’s cheers are almost deafening!

Fenrir thought that this was supposed to be a nice and relaxing day for fishing. Instead, now he feels pressured as only a few thousand players are supposed to catch enough fish for over a million players and NPCs.

Now Fenrir knows why so many non-participants have gathered for a fishing tournament.

“Now then! You can go an’ fish wherever ya want as long as you’re back within the next eight hours, and attendants will be waitin’ on the piers to take your catches from ya! Any crew that can’t bring back at least ten times their amount of members won’t be participating in the first round of tha tourney!”

Ten times the amount of crew members? “That’s seventy fish, at least,” Fenrir tells the crew.

“We can do it,” Serra says.

“I hope so,” Cassiel says.

“I am sure we will be fine, captain. We have four rods and eight hours,” Corwin joins in.

“That still sounds like a pretty far reach, but I’m sure it’ll work out,” Oleander says.

“Now, let tha opening ceremony begin!” Blackstache shouts.

All along the piers, hundreds of ships unfurl their masts, untie their ships, and set sail!

“Olly,” Fenrir says.

“Got it!” Oleander runs back to the ship’s wheel.

“We usin’ the engine?” Tabitha asks.

“Nah, save it for the second round. Don’t want to let anybody know what we’re capable of yet,” Fenrir answers. “Bone, mind keeping a lookout and trying to gather whatever information you can for now?”

Bonekraka grunts and shrugs.

“Alright. Me, Corwin, Serra, and Cass Cass will be the fishers. Tabitha and Olly will be our backups. Everybody ready?” Fenrir asks them.

They all cheer and get to their stations.

"Wait, why am I the only one with my nickname getting used?" Cassiel asks.

"Because you're Cass Cass," Fenrir answers.

She wants to question that, but ends up getting distracted from asking more when she sees Serra's finger getting dangerously close to her side.