Dragons of Yokai — Yokai Pirate
Yokai Pirate — The refugees behind the festival
Ai No Miko begins this voyage with a history of refuge. Centuries earlier, ships brought six princes, six princesses and hundreds of people fleeing the Wuji Empire to the Yokai Isles. The illustrated account describes Wuji as a silver garden ruled by the Champion of Metal over an immortal population. That apparent paradise has a cost: the Emperor and his court live in decadence while commoners toil and starve, condemned to serve forever.
The account presents the sacrifice of the Empress and Consorts as a rumor about the Emperor's pursuit of eternal rule. It then explains the royal children's departure through their grief for their mothers and distress at the treatment of ordinary people. They liberated as many subjects as they could and fled with them. The story distinguishes the rumored mechanism of the Emperor's longevity from the oppression that motivates the escape.
Miko identifies Emperor Seiwa as her ancestor and the ruler who welcomed the refugees and concealed their presence from Kitsune. The arriving princes and princesses relinquished their royal titles and joined Yokai's people. The cultures mingled: the legend of a koi climbing a waterfall to become a dragon, and the Lunar Festival, are described as inheritances from Wuji. The accompanying painted sequence moves from an audience before a Yokai ruler to mutual bows, giving the welcome a visible form.
The Hero connects this history to Yue Huang, whose descent from the Rabbit Princess became known during the Lunar Festival. Yue explains that the name does not mean her ancestor was an actual rabbit. The princess was the daughter of the Emperor of Steel and Rabbit Consort, and lived in the Rabbit Pavilion of the Emperor's private Silver Garden, weaving silk and casting spells inspired by her friend, the Moon. The animal names belong to the refugee families' history, rather than proving a simple animal identity.
Baoyu Lin descends from the Dragon Princess, although the serpent imagery of his armor initially suggests otherwise to the Hero. He wears it in honor of the Empress and as a member of her royal guard. Miko's maternal family descends from the Snake Prince. The original families have since joined with one another and with Greenguard families; the people she officially calls her subjects are also distant relatives. She refuses to let either them or herself become prisoners of the Wuji Emperor.
Yokai Pirate — A kidnapping arranged by the Empress
The joke that Miko has kidnapped her own passengers turns out to conceal a real emergency. An armed Wuji fleet has crossed the sea, and its advance letter demands the return of the Emperor of Steel's children. Miko cannot surrender her people, but Yokai is not ready for the war threatened if she refuses. Her solution is to make the royal descendants appear to have been abducted by pirates, leaving the Yokai court able to profess ignorance.
The costumes therefore serve a diplomatic deception. If the pursuers catch them, the passengers must maintain the fiction that they are pirates, fight, and keep moving. Miko describes the separation as temporary, while acknowledging how painful it is to uproot these families again. Baoyu answers that they owe her family their home and can at least help protect Yokai. Yue regrets having stayed hidden during the troubles surrounding Miko's father; Miko replies that a good emperor puts the people first.
Yue has designed their hurried pirate wardrobe. Miko styles herself P-AI-rate No Miko, while the Pie Rat joke and her muddled pirate commands briefly turn the crisis into a rehearsal. The Hero supplies a pirate voice but finds the performance still needs work. Their first destination is Takarajima, where strong currents complicate navigation. Miko says that deep in its caves they will meet the original princes and princesses. This is the promise that sets the next journey in motion, rather than a meeting already accomplished aboard ship.
Miko's further explanation places Wuji east across a vast ocean. She calls its ruler both Emperor and Champion of Steel and says its ageless people became immortal by unknown means. Their iron fortress stands in a lake of liquid mercury, and the Empire is already fighting another power. Her limited account does not identify that opponent or settle how immortality was obtained. It explains why a distant, poorly understood state can nevertheless threaten Yokai's present.
Baoyu explains the risk Miko accepted by coming herself. Remaining in Akiba would have felt like pushing her people out of sight and mind, so a body double occupies her place while she accompanies them. Her allies report that most observers, including Wuji emissaries and some visitors from Greenguard, have not noticed. The claim concerns the disguise's reported success, rather than proof that every enemy has been fooled.
Yokai Pirate — The people beneath the costumes
In Wokou, Miko asks the Hero to explore the ship and speak with Yue and Baoyu. The captured task requires one ship exploration and one conversation with each. Her completion speech explains that pirates, called Wokou in Yokai, were unheard of while Kitsune lived; the freedom won by the Hero has also allowed them to become active again. Shanty Sha-N-Ti then turns eight bouts of sparring and singing with disguised pirates into an exercise in morale. Once the crew is encouraged, Miko sends the Hero below deck to check on Yue.
Yue is not seasick: she is appalled by the clothes she had to produce at short notice. She promises future boutique coupons in return for help improving them. A designer rather than a warrior or adviser, she already makes many of Miko's kimonos and worries about dressing the Empress badly. Her relationship with Miko has become close enough that she may call her Ai in private. The ship carries family ties as well as a royal evacuation.
Yokai's Ark brings introductions to Ramona Perez-Tsai and Haruki Matsuoka, alongside a tussle with the Serpent Warriors. The captured native task asks for seven Serpent Badges, where the cached wiki asks for eight; the difference remains unresolved. Ramona says the Hero's defeat of Kitsune made it possible for her to meet her husband in Greenguard. She introduces their infant son as Zhihao and says his father is one of the disguised crew members with whom the Hero has sparred. Haruki, a fan since the Dragon Koi Tournament, descends from the Hound Prince and an Oni line. He has inherited strength without horns, but cracked ribs from a rickshaw accident keep him from joining the pirate performance.
Baoyu says both the Hero's presence and the Empress' reassure passengers and crew despite the choppy water. The Serpent Warriors were established after Miko's father's death. Their Gold Snake imagery honors her, while their oath answers their guilt about hiding during the losses she suffered. Baoyu's own affinity is metal; controlling it took long study because some metals cause poisoning. He contrasts this with Yue's accidental creation of creatures made from life-extending elixir during festival visits.
Fashion Fathoms obtains eight pirate costumes through further sparring, with Yue treating the resulting tears as improvements to the disguise. Hoo Wants a Cracker adds fifteen owl feathers for the tricorn hats on the masts. The joke grows ominous when Yue notices the strange owls flying in daylight and asks the Hero to warn Baoyu. The costume work has led to a possible sign that the ship is being watched.
Yokai Pirate — A register of the twelve lines
Baoyu's Papers Please asks for seven scattered scrolls after the waves toss the ship about. They are records of the crew and passengers, needed to identify anyone who does not belong. King and Coral Snakes follows by requiring the Hero to read the scroll and question six pirates and six Serpent Warriors against the records. The roster describes several thousand Yokai subjects descended from Wuji's refugees, while distinguishing the much smaller number directly descended from the twelve royals. Its concern is keeping track of those families and the possible consequences of renewed contact with Wuji.
The register identifies Yue as the Jade Rabbit descendant, an Akiba designer whose elixir creatures are minor incidents that should nevertheless prompt greater care. She has no wish to contact Wuji and has boarded the ship. Baoyu writes the Jade Dragon entry about himself: a former painter pushed toward more useful work by his parents, he stopped resisting when his paintings became dangerous. He says his innate magic is controlled and kept sealed through visits to the Asahina shrines. This private history explains a discipline not apparent from his guard's uniform.
For the Jade Serpent, Baoyu records Miko's rule and protection of Yokai, but says her family forbids discussion of her innate magic. Asked in his presence about contact with Wuji, she answers that it remains to be seen. The Jade Stallion descendant, Shi Wa Lam, was formerly a Serpent Warrior and has become a wealthy poet despite leaving most work unfinished. His declining health has confined him to bed aboard ship during another difficult emotional episode. He firmly rejects contact with Wuji; his controlled magic mainly warms his house in winter.
The register reports the Ram line extinguished during Emperor Daisho's reign, while leaving contrary clues under investigation. The Jade Monkey descendant, Li Granville, lives in Swordhaven with his parents and writes for a printing press. His magic causes minor pranks, and he opposes contact with Wuji. Although absent from the ship, he is promised protection by Queen Victoria despite the Granvilles having disowned his father for marrying a commoner. These entries make clear that the evacuation does not place every surviving descendant aboard one vessel.
Kana Shinohara, the Jade Rooster descendant, travels Yokai and Greenguard as a doctor. Her carefully controlled magic supports her medicine; she reluctantly suspends her outside work to care for seasick passengers. She rejects contact with Wuji but regrets leaving its subjects to their fate. Haruki's Jade Hound entry links his enhanced magic to Oni ancestry and says he actively suppresses traits such as horns. The register also attributes his broken ribs to a flipped rickshaw and records his promise to fight any Wuji emissaries he encounters.
Kong Phung Hung, the Jade Boar descendant, remains a student at Dragonrune Hall, studying both Greenguard magic and her own. The register says her magic's growth has been staggered to prevent economic damage; curiosity about Wuji is outweighed by fear. The Jade Mouse descendant is recorded as Chen, a disowned son who erased the given names Kung Shing and moves between the Shadowscythe, Nation and Legion. After his elder brother's death, Baoyu's effort to summon him home and ask about Wuji receives an abusive reply with a dead gecko. Neither account establishes their presence aboard the ship.
Like the Ram, the Ox line is reported extinguished under Emperor Daisho, with contrary evidence still sought. The Jade Tiger entry names the infant Zhehao Perez-Tsai, aboard with his parents and hoping to visit family in Greenguard after the crisis. Ramona's introduction spells her baby's name Zhihao; the register uses Zhehao. Its account of Miko's concern for the child ties his danger to her decision to let the descendants celebrate their origins openly. Safety and a reunion with his grandparents remain hopes, rather than outcomes already secured.
Yokai Pirate — The rescue that traps its passengers
The inspection finds the pirates and Serpent Warriors matching the records. A splash makes Baoyu suspect that a spy has jumped overboard, but it does not identify a culprit or establish what happened to them. Horizon's Green Flash then requires seven captured owls as ordered by Miko. The Hero climbs to scout the pursuing vessel, while Baoyu remains to warn the passengers. Its flags, armor and beasts point to Greenguard. The pirate disguise appears to have worked on an unexpected audience.
Miko is alarmed because Queen Victoria promised safe passage. In Highly Buoyant Metal Armor, the Hero captures eight Neverglades Knights who board the ship demanding the release of its supposed prisoners. They serve a lord from the Neverglades. On reaching Takarajima, Miko cannot yet tell whether that lord is colluding with Wuji or disobeying his queen. Salty Roots sends the Hero to defeat him in a duel on shore.
The confrontation's aftermath identifies the lord as Brentan. He still calls Miko's party pirates and believes the Hero is under their control. Miko teases him with threats of the brig until the Hero stops the joke and introduces her as Empress. Brentan apologizes for not recognizing her. The Hero explains that the kidnapping is staged to protect Wuji's refugee descendants from forced return, while Miko says the intervention of a Greenguard lord has made their deception too convincing.
Victoria, Miko reveals, was among the first to learn of the plan and offered safe passage. Only a select few knew. Brentan realizes this explains the Queen's order that the nobles stay out of Yokai's waters, which he mistook for indecision. He has not spoken to her for a couple of months, since he began a solitary journey, and admits he made no attempt to contact her. His rescue began with an assumption about both his queen and the supposed captives.
Brentan says he commandeered a ship with like-minded knights and nobles, met foreign emissaries and decided to help them. Their display of magic made him wonder whether they needed help at all. When the Hero asks about silver waves, Brentan explains that the Wuji Navy and its general are sailing on a tide of liquid mercury. Miko's later account says his help allowed the emissaries to track the passengers. The ruse bought time, but this well-intended intervention has exposed their hiding place.
The mercury now laps at Takarajima's beach and prevents another safe departure. Baoyu says the crew and passengers are unwell and expects Brentan's knights to be suffering too. Their healers could not keep up if they tried to sail, so he urges shelter in the cave and warns against the poisonous waves and coming vapors. Yue calls the island Treasure Island: the royal family's refuge for treasures has become a refuge for the descendants themselves. They gather their belongings for the cave as Miko prepares to rely on the Hero against the approaching admiral.
An optional Kabuki Rehearsal follows the main route in the cached quest arrangement. It rehearses the deception with Brentan, knights and disguised pirates, asking for one Gold Leaf Brooch, seven Knight Emblems and seven Yokai Pirate Pieces. In the captured native completion, Miko hopes that pushing the Wuji emissaries farther will reveal whether there is pride to be found in her Wuji lineage. She reports that Brentan met the centuries-serving Admiral Shen, 'The Radiant Mirage,' Zheng. The cached wiki places this speech under Salty Roots and puts the speech about Brentan disobeying Victoria under Kabuki Rehearsal; the captured native definitions reverse those assignments. The report names the coming adversary without showing the admiral's arrival or a victory over the fleet.