Pirate: Crew of Desire and Bonds

Inside a grand training hall of the noble family’s estate.

A young boy who seemed to be around ten years old, with striking crimson hair and the same sharp features as the current Julian, stood in the center of the blood-stained floor.

His small body was covered in bruises and burns.

His breathing was ragged, and his hands trembled as he clutched a training sword that was far too big for him.

PAK!

A powerful strike from his instructor sent him flying across the hall, crashing hard into the stone wall.

”Again!” the instructor barked coldly.

”Your flames are too weak and your control is garbage. At this rate, you’ll never catch up to the blessed children of the other houses.”

Young Julian slowly pushed himself up, blood dripping from his split lip.

His crimson eyes burned with a mix of pain, shame, and fierce determination.

”I... won’t lose...” he muttered through gritted teeth.

The brutal training continued for hours.

Strike after strike.

Flame after flame.

The instructor showed no mercy, beating the young boy down again and again.

Every time Julian fell, he forced himself back to his feet, his small frame shaking from exhaustion and pain.

Burns covered his arms, and his legs felt like they were made of lead, but he refused to stay down.

Sweat and blood mixed on his face as he desperately tried to refine his solar flames, pushing his underdeveloped core to its absolute limit.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the instructor lowered his weapon and spoke in a flat tone.

”...Enough. Rest for thirty minutes, then we continue.”

The instructor turned and left the hall without another word.

Young Julian collapsed to his knees, panting heavily.

For a moment, the pain and exhaustion threatened to overwhelm him... but then a small, tired smile slowly formed on his bruised lips.

’Elder brother... I’m working hard too’, he thought, clenching his fists.

’I’ll catch up to you one day. I’ll become strong enough to make Father proud... to make the entire family proud.’

Even though his body was screaming for rest, that small spark of hope and determination kept him going.

He dragged himself to the side of the hall, leaning against the cool stone wall as he allowed himself those precious thirty minutes of rest.

Just as he was about to close his eyes, he heard voices coming from the corridor outside the training hall.

Two familiar voices... his father and the instructor speaking in low tones.

Julian’s eyes brightened, thinking the instructor must have gone to praise his hard work to his father.

But the next words froze the young boy to his core.

”...The boy is not a Blessed Child,” the instructor said plainly.

”No matter how hard he trains, his talent is mediocre at best. His solar flame control is unstable, and his core capacity is far below average for someone of the Solaris bloodline.”

Julian’s small body stiffened.

He held his breath and stayed completely still, listening intently.

Then he heard a calm, deep voice... it was his father.

His father let out a heavy, disappointed sigh.

”I see... I expected as much. Compared to his elder brother at the same age... the difference is like night and day. That boy was already showing signs of a high-grade blessing at seven. He even awakened to Elite Class at twelve and evolved it further... But this one...”

The father’s voice turned soft... not cold, but almost gentle, as if he were stating a simple, unfortunate fact.

”This one is far inferior. It seem no matter how much he trains, he will never reach the same height.”

The instructor replied respectfully, ”Understood, my lord. Should I increase the intensity of his regimen?”

The father sighed and said, ”No need. Let the boy rest properly from now on. Forcing him will only bring more disappointment.”

To the father, it was spoken with a hint of reluctant kindness... a decision to stop pushing a hopeless case and save the family’s efforts for worthier talents.

But to young Julian, those words felt like a death sentence.

His eyes widened in horror.

The small, tired smile on his face froze and slowly crumbled.

His fists clenched so hard that fresh blood dripped from his palms.

’...No... Father... you’re giving up on me?’

The spark of hope that had kept him going through the brutal training shattered in an instant.

What he heard was not kindness... it was confirmation that he was worthless.

A failure.

An inferior.

A child who could never make his family proud no matter how hard he tried.

Tears streamed silently down his bruised cheeks as he bit his lip hard enough to draw more blood, but refusing to let out any sound.

_

_

_

That night, after the hall had gone quiet, young Julian dragged his exhausted body toward the private training grounds where his elder brother often practiced alone under the moonlight.

There... he saw a beautiful, almost otherworldly sight.

His elder brother... the first young master of the Solaris family, the undisputed blessed child said to have the potential to reach the height of the legendary Dawn Knight stood calmly in the center of the moonlit field.

Golden solar flames danced around him like living stars, elegant and perfectly controlled.

The flames seemed to whisper and move with a will of their own, illuminating the night in a soft, radiant glow.

There was something mysterious about him; an aura that felt both warm and distant, as if he existed on a completely different level from everyone else.

His long crimson hair swayed gently in the night breeze, and his eyes... a deeper, more brilliant shade than Julian’s reflected the golden flames with an almost divine serenity.

He moved with effortless grace, every gesture precise, every flame responding instantly to his thoughts.

There was no wasted movement, no visible strain... only pure, overwhelming talent.

To the young Julian, his brother looked like a figure from legend... untouchable, mysterious, and impossibly far away.

But that sight... instead of inspiring him, only deepened the wound in his heart.

”Brother...”

Julian’s voice cracked as he stepped forward, clutching his oversized training sword with trembling hands.

”I challenge you!” he shouted, his voice filled with pain and desperate defiance.

”Fight me! I... I will prove that I’m not inferior! I can become just as strong as you... even stronger!”

The elder brother slowly turned, his calm, enigmatic gaze landing on the battered boy.

Then a faint, almost unreadable smile touched his lips.

And that night... the whole mansion burned brilliantly.

For Julian, however, it became the worst night of his life.

...Until the day he first laid eyes on her.

_

_

_

Months later.

Inside the Solaris family’s grand receiving hall, a lavish banquet was currently underway.

Julian, now dressed in fine noble clothes carefully chosen to hide the bruises that still lingered on his body, stood quietly in the corner.

As the third young master of the rising Solaris family, he was expected to appear proper, elegant, and composed while greeting the guests.

He currently wore a polite smile on his face, just as he had been taught.

But if anyone had a sharp eye, they would have noticed that despite the young boy’s smile... his crimson eyes were dull.

The fire inside them had long been extinguished.... replaced by a deep, hollow darkness.

That was when she entered the hall.

A young girl around his age, with beautiful golden hair that shimmered like sunlight and warm golden eyes that seemed to radiate gentle light.

Her presence was soft yet undeniably eye-catching.

She currently wore an innocent smile as she held the hand of a mature woman who appeared to be her mother.

Just as Julian’s gaze locked onto her, a noble guest standing next to him leaned over and whispered with clear disdain,

”Hmph. So that’s the so-called Lightborn girl, what a joke. Born into that prestigious family yet she’s only Trash Class. Tch tch, no matter how pretty she looks, she’s still defective goods. The Lightborn bloodline has truly fallen if they have to parade around a failure like her.”

The words were spoken quietly, but they carried clear mockery.

And at those words, Julian’s dull eyes narrowed slightly.

Instead of disgust, a strange, twisted spark appeared in them.

’Trash Class...? Even she... is looked down on?’

For some reason, that information didn’t repel him.

If anything, it made the girl even more interesting in his broken mind.

At that moment, the young Grace turned her head and noticed him staring.

She offered him a small, kind, and innocent smile... completely unaware of the dark thoughts beginning to swirl inside the boy, nor of the harsh world she would soon experience.

Julian froze.

In that brief second their eyes met, he saw it.

Those warm, radiant golden eyes carried the same gentle yet overwhelming brilliance as his elder brother’s... that mysterious, almost divine light that made ordinary people feel small and insignificant.

A natural blessing.

A quiet superiority that didn’t need to be announced.

The same light he both envied and hated.

Yet unlike his brother’s calm, distant gaze, Grace’s eyes held a softness... a kindness that felt like it could warm even the coldest darkness.

Julian’s heart twisted violently.

’That light...’

’If I can possess it...’

’If I can make someone with eyes like that belong to me... before she could soar...’

His small hands clenched tightly at his sides as a dark, obsessive desire took root even deeper than before.

The polite smile on his face slowly widened into something far more unsettling.

’So this is... love.’

_

_

_

And yet...

Julian stared at the battered and beaten-up Jake as his handsome face contorted with pure rage and confusion.

”...WHY DO YOU HAVE THOSE EYES!?”