The shopkeeper's wife met them both at the counter with a glare as she immediately sensed what had transpired. After several minutes inspection of the shop's wares, however, the pirate captain angrily declared that there was nothing of value to him here, and the shopkeeper would have to find another way to settle his debt. Insistent that the pirate would find something of interest, he ushered the captain into the back storage room, and it was here that he discovered the life-size plushie Grarrl that had been painstakingly sewn by the shopkeeper's wife as a gift for their son.

"I'll take that! It will make a perfect gift for my lad. Maybe it will make up for leaving him behind on the ship this time," and he reached out for it.

"Wait!" cried out the wife. The shopkeeper warned her with his eyes to let it go. "It... it needs a few more stitches before it's done. I'll be right back with it." She grabbed the plushie and disappeared into a small room, slamming the door shut behind her. Through the beveled glass window of the room, they could hear her agitated voice murmuring quickly, and with a small flash of light, she threw the door open and shoved the plushie at the pirate.

"I'm sure your boy will love it."

***

Back on the pirate ship, the young captain's son stared blankly at the plushie.

"Umm... thanks, Dad..." he muttered as the captain gave him the Grarrl plushie and then went about preparing the ship for sail.

"Why does he still treat me like a child? Why can't he bring me back a sword to fight with? I can be a pirate too, ya know - I just need a chance to prove myself." He looked at the plushie again.

"You! You get to be my first prisoner!" And the boy set off to have his own pirate adventure around the ship.

Outside of the ship, however, the storm was still raging, but the boy was not afraid. He slung the plushie over his shoulder and climbed up the mast of the great ship until he felt he could grab the clouds right out of the sky. Then he set about tying his "prisoner" to the mast with a thick sturdy rope. As the wind and water violently pitched the ship, the boy heard a loud CLAP of thunder and suddenly a bolt of lightning shot out of the sky directly at the plushie. With one last surge of the ocean, the pirate ship went down on its side, and a wave washed all signs of life into the abyss.

Well... almost all...

***

The sun was bright and the breeze was warm on his face. But where was he..? He allowed his heavy lids to open slowly and let in the light. He lifted his plushie hands to his eyes to rub the salty water out of them... wait, his PLUSHIE hands?! The young boy's eyes flew wide open as he stared down at his hands. They were blue... and orange... and PLUSHIE!! He struggled to get up and suddenly realized he was tied to the mast of his father's ship. Exactly where he had tied the plushie Grarrl! His mind raced back to his last memory - the loud clap and the bolt of lightning striking the Grarrl, and the tingle of electricity spreading throughout his own body, and then... nothing but darkness.

He and the plushie must have somehow merged! Quickly he untied himself and climbed down the mast, slowly adjusting to his new body and changed center of gravity. Still in an incredulous haze, he explored the ship and concluded with a heavy heart that he was the sole survivor on the storm battered vessel.

He had dreamed of becoming a pirate, and now it seemed he had his chance. Alone and lost at sea, he was now master and commander of his own ship and his own life, such as it was now. In his new form, a pirate born of a tsunami, it seemed only fitting to give himself a new name. He would now be known as Tsunami Pirate, the great plushie Grarrl. He would be both revered and feared by all who met him, and above all, he would be known as a true pirate!