So after Aang had washed their proviants down the river they were forced to look for food in a nearby port they saw earlier.
It was as shady as it was shown in the series and Akira was really interested in the things they offered here.
He even found a shop that sold exquisite tealeaves and bought a big package and stored it inside his inventory before he rejoined the group.
"Where were you?" Katara asked.
"Ah sorry, I just found something on a stand down there so interesting..." Akira said to his defense and Katara just sighed.
"We only have three copper coins left from the money we got from king Bumi. We should spend them wisely" Sokka said.
"Actually only two now...I couldn't resist this wistle" Aang said and showed them a bison wistle and blowed it with no sound comming from it.
"It doesn't even work" Sokka said and Momo clutched his ears "see? Even Momo thinks it's a piece of junk"
"No offense Aang but I'll take the money from now on" Katara said and took the money.
They then wandered and looked around for cheap food when a man in front of a ship shouted and advertised their products inviting them to their ship.
Akiras eyes gleamed and he went ahead with Aang to steal...ähm explore the products.
So after they entered Akira waited until Katara found the waterbending scroll and distracted the pirates before he went on a spree, grabbing everything that looked valuable.
A box of gold and jewels behind the table, the weird statue with the red jewels, a bomerang collection, a few throwing knifes and a few high quality armour pieces including a breastplate, shoulder and armguards.
A bit later they made a run for it after the pirates had found out they are being robbed right now.
As soon as they stepped out of the ship the pirate behind them yelled "hey you, come back you bastards!"
Akira just smiled "oh yeah,what are you gonna do about it?" he provoked them and soon the whole pirate crew of the ship began to surround them.
Akira wasn't in the mood to wait or run so he charged at them and moved swiftly sending a roundhouse kick to the head of one of the pirates before he could react.
He heard his skull shratter from the force of the impact but he didn't care and moved to his next victim.
He effortlessly evated a saber that was swung at him and punched this idiot in the face making him fall into the water.
"Hey you, you will do what we tell you if you want to keep your friend here alive" one of the pirates said holding his saber at Kataras neck.
Akiras eyes turned cold but he didn't even need to do anything as Noir came and enlarged to his giant panter form and bit the pirates head off.
"Good job Noir, I'll grill you a steak later" Akira said and knocked down his next opponent.
The other three guys fled after seeing Noir in his elephant sized form.
"Alright, let's get out of here" Akira said as he picked up Noir who had reverted back to his normal form.
They returned to their little lake and Aang just said "I used to look up to pirates but those guys are terrible"
"That's why I took this" Katara said smugly and showed them the waterbending scroll.
"No way" Aang said.
"No woner they were attacking us" Sokka said.
"Oh well it wasn't entirely Kataras fault..." Akira said as he brought the jewels to light along with the bomerangs.
"What? You also stole from them?" Sokka exclaimed shocked.
"They are pirates Sokka, where do you think they got this stuff?" Akira said.
"Yeah, besides I call it high-risk traiding" Katara joked and Aang laughed "that was a good one Katara"
"Well now that we have it we might as well just use it" Aang said and the three of them looked at the scroll with Katara blushing bacause of how near Akira was to her.
"You are really...urg" Sokka complained and kicked away a stone into the lake before he walked away mumbling something to himself.
Akira also went with Aang and Katara and continued to practice basic control to get a feel for the water.
He didn't need to rush to advanced tecniques, he understood how important it was to understand the basics first.
So all three of them practiced till it was night and Akira had made considerable progress in the three basic movements shown by Katara but he was still struggling with them.
Anyways, he thought that was pretty solid for a days practice and then went to sleep.
He was woken by a faint rustle of leaves and saw how Katara went outside to sneakily practice waterbending.
Sighing he got up and followed her.
He watched as she tried to perform her waterbending but she didn't manage and grew incredibly frustrated.
Then Zuko arrived with his father suprisingly without the pirates.
Since Akira had killed a few of them they most likely decided it wasn't worth it.
He watched as Katara got captured and just walked into the clearing.
"Yo Zuko, how is it going?" he asked as if talking about the weather.
Zuko immediately turned around and hurled a fireball at him.
Akira doged without much difficulty.
"Can't you recognize your dear cousin just because his hair turned white?" he asked and Zuko's eyes widened.
"Akira?" he asked and Iroh stormed at him with tears in his eyes.
"Oh my son, I was so worried about you" Iroh said and hugged him.
"It's good to see you too dad but I need Zuko to stop cjasing the Avatar" Akira said looking at Zuko.
"Why? It's the only way for me to restore my honour" Zuko said.
"I really don't understand that you still are a puppet of your father even after he gave you that scar" Akira said "If someone did that to me I would hunt them till I get my revenge"
"You wouldn't understand it" Zuko said.
"Then I'm sorry, but I will do my best to stop you" Akira said and took the necklace of Katara out of his hand with a quick movement "The avatar is so much more important than your so called honour" he sneered.
"You fucking traitor!" Zuko screamed and charged at him with fire in his hands.
Akira just effortlessly evaded him and knocked him out with a punch to the back of his neck.
"It was nice to meet you again father but I have to keep going" Akira said and hugged Iroh again "take care of my dear coisin after he wakes up"
"Of course" Iroh said and watched how Akira dissapeared into the woods together with Katara.
"Zuko is your cousin?" Katara just asked baffled.
"I told you that I was royalty of the fire nation" Akira just said.
"Everyone wake up!" he shouted.
Aang jumped up and assumed combat position.
"We have to get going, Zuko is here" Katara said and they packed their stuff to make a run for it.
"Oh right, Katara close your eyes" Akira said and after Kazara closed her eyes he went behind her and put the necklace on her neck.
Katara opened her eyes and saw the necklace of her mother and immediately turned around and hugged him.
"You got it back...thak you" she said.