Chester looked on, amused, carefree, as the Marine ship docked next to them. The Marine stood on his own ship, holding off on bording till he could confirm their identity. He mentioned them being pirates, and Lina kind of panicked. Chester shrugged. "Pirates? Us. No way. If we were pirates, we'd have already attacked you guys and kicked you off your ship." He said, a swig from his bottle as the Marine officer wrinkled his nose "Was that a threat, young man?" he asked, and Chester shrugged.

"No, Captain, it wasn't. A joke, really. We're traders. Trading in Melonberries, from Melonberry Island. We're supposed to head towards Kappanai Island to trade Melonberry seeds. Our boss kind of shafted us on cargo space and supplies. We barely have any drinking water, and we're also, like, hella lost." Chester said, his voice serious - a tone Lina hadn't heard before, he spoke with purpose and intellect, a side of him he didn't show very often.

"But, the booze we got on board is good, but a ferry towards our destination would be most helpful" Chester said with a shrug.

As one of the younger Marines behind the Captain started rustling "Hey, didn't that guy go to the Academy with us". 

"Oh yeah, wasn't he a Petty Officer in 104th Division? He kept pissing off Lieutenant Brown, right?" Another one chimmed in, and Chester smiled sheepishly.

"What was his name? Krest?"

"That's not right"

"Uh, Chad?"

"Nah, don'tt hink so either"

".. Chesto?" 

"That might've been it"

And Chester himself had to chime in, annoyed at the two Marines chatting. "It's Chester, you idiots!" He shouted, compromising his identity. "But, I was discharged, and I have now become a, uh, trader.." He said, taking another mouthful of alcohol from his bottle.