WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Fena: Pirate Princess Episode 7, "The Burning Sea," now streaming on Crunchyroll and Adult Swim.
From the start of Fena: Pirate Princess, it's been established that the key to the elusive paradise of Eden lies in Fena's memories. So far, she has had fleeting snippets of her past from the burning ship her father died on, her own escape, and the name La Pucelle. She can't remember who invaded the ship that night or why. But a major event in Episode 7 sparks Fena's memory, bringing back some painful trauma.
Episode 6 of Fena: Pirate Princess saw Yukimaru decide to go after Fena, unwilling to lose her a second time. His friends won't simply let him go alone and they prepare to follow -- all except for Shitan. It takes some convincing from Makaba who reminds him that ever since he took up the bow, his mission has been to protect Yukimaru. Now that Yukimaru is running headfirst into danger to save Fena, how can Shitan possibly turn away?
Meanwhile, Abel shows Fena a portrait of her mother, which he'd painted from his memories of her when he was a boy. Fena realizes Abel had been in love with her mother, but whether or not it was unrequited remains unanswered. At that moment, O'Malley's Rumble Rose crew has returned and opens fire on Abel's ship, in retaliation for how he treated O'Malley.
Abel won't allow that to happen and orders for the Wellington cannon to be loaded with an explosive round usually meant to breach walls. This is overkill, but it doesn't matter to Abel -- he wants the Rumble Rose destroyed. An explosive missile shoots out, crashing straight into the ship. The Rumble Rose groans as the missile sets the entire ship up in flames. It explodes in the next second, leaving the burning vessel the only pinprick of light in the dark night.
After witnessing what happened to O'Malley's ship, Fena is shell-shocked. She has seen this before -- it's the exact same thing that happened to her father's ship 10 years ago. Her memories rushing back, Fena remembers red demons slaughtering everyone on her father's crew. She also remembers seeing blue demons, who were wearing the same Navy uniform as the soldiers on Abel's ship right now.
By order of the captain, the soldiers try to take Fena to the brig but the Princess, frightened and frozen, screams out for Yukimaru. Right on cue, he lands on the ship and immediately knocks out two soldiers. There's a great transition from Fena's scream to the OST where it seamlessly switches into a more traditional Japanese OST with winds and drums when Yukimaru whips out his dual swords. The excitement rises when a variation of Fena: Pirate Princess' opening theme is played as Yukimaru declares he will protect her.
Unfortunately, Yukimaru's heroic moment gets cut short when Abel shoots him with a triple-barrel pistol, injuries suddenly blooming on his lower back and shoulder like red poppies. Before going unconscious, Yukimaru recognizes him: Abel was indeed there on the ship 10 years ago. Abel orders Yukimaru killed but thankfully, the Samurai Seven arrive right on time and manage to rescue him and Fena using Makaba's smoke screen.
The fact that Yukimaru was harmed while trying to protect Fena only serves to solidify Shitan's claim that she's a "witch." Fena still hasn't grown out of her damsel in distress role and has witnessed first-hand (again) how people get hurt for her sake. Back then, she was determined to learn how to protect herself but what will she do this time? Although Episode 7 of Fena: Pirate Princess makes it appear that O'Malley and the rest of the crew are dead, we most likely haven't seen the last of her. If she does indeed return, it'll be for Abel's head rather than his heart.
