Sea Winds and Rogue Waves

Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Oda not me.

Chapter One: In Which There is a Muchness of Rum and Sneaking

Barykos Isle resounded with noise from an epic party being held on the golden sands of the beach. Laughter rang out from clusters of men splashing in the ocean's water like children on a sugar-high. Crackling sparks erupted every now and then from bonfires big enough to roast Sea King steaks on. The sun was setting, glinting redly off the waters of the bay. Even the inhabitants of the island were involved, some passing out various forms of liquor or swatting at hungry hands reaching for food that wasn't done cooking. Others danced to a cacophony of music from a dozen different instruments. Under an enormous red-and-white umbrella stuck in the sand a handful of pirates lounged, tankards in hand, as they joked and laughed, their hangovers from the night before no where to be seen.

From the docks, a shadowed form watched the festivities with a wistful gaze. Joining in on the fun would be wonderful, but at that moment she had more concern for the Marine warship lurking just beyond the harbor. If they discovered her, they would cart her back to her father and that was something she would much rather avoid. This island was a large one, possessing a large and deep harbor that was protected from the ravages of the ocean by the curving arms of the rim of an extinct volcano's caldera. It was also the largest producer of the finest cocoa beans in the world, giving it a luxury export to provide to the rest of the world. All of this meant that it was frequented by pirates and Marines alike, and for similar reasons. So here she was, making use of the distraction of the party to slip onto one of the many ships on the public side of the harbor. Most of them were small ships meant for short-distance transport, owned by their captains or merchant-conglomerates, with a few larger Merchantman-cargo ships scattered among them. Her main interest was in the four pirate ships gracing the harbor. Two were unwieldy-looking galleons, which eliminated them from her list. Galleons were, by-and-large, slower and lacked maneuverability, and so usually unable to escape Marine pursuit. There was fluyt that was a possibility, given fluyt were built with exactly those things in mind, but it was smaller than the other three and would be much harder to hide on.

Which left the hybrid ship. While it was the largest of the four ships it was built more along the lines of the fluyt with a narrow front keel and a shallow draft. Truthfully, it looked like an oversized carrack with an extra mast and more sails. Curiously, there were palm trees waving in the sea breeze on the rear deck. And unlike the other three, the ship appeared to be deserted apart from a pair of watchmen in the crows nest. Those two were laughing at each other and slurping something out of enormous tankards and generally not seeming to pay much attention to their surroundings.

Slipping silently up to the dragon-headed prow, she made a quick leap for the anchor chain and froze as it gave a small, but noisy rattle. After a few minutes passed with no one coming to investigate the noise, she cautiously began climbing the heavy links, scrambling awkwardly over the decorative curve of wood just above the anchor hole. From there she slid along the narrow lip of wood until a cannon port lay just above her head. Reaching up to wrap her hands around the mouth of the cannon, she started swinging her body until she could catch her heels on the porthole and wiggle herself through it along the side of the cannon.

Dropping down, she found herself in what was obviously the powder storage area, judging by the securely tied down casks labeled with a skull, crossbones and explosion cloud. She had to stifle a giggle when she noticed more than a few of those skulls had been altered - some had tongues obviously blowing raspberries at people, a few had devil horns sticking out of the top, one or two even had the creepy crying eyes going on. It seemed like someone had a sense of humor on this crew. She carefully made her way over to the door and popped it open just an inch to look out onto the deck beyond. Save for a few piles of net covered crates it was clear so she would be a very visible target if she tried to cross it to the main doors to the spaces below deck. Closing it softly, she leaned against it and considered the options.

True, the crew of this vessel were mostly all down on the beach partying. The two in the crows nest were halfway to totally sloshed. The ship was more or less deserted. It may be risky to cross the deck but unlikely that anyone would notice her. On the other hand, there was still sun light streaking the sky in colors of red, orange, and violet and the moon would be nearly full tonight. One of this ship's neighbors had a full skeleton crew aboard for watch so it was possible that someone from that ship would see her.

Crawling on her belly along the gunwale might hide her from other ships, but she'd stand out badly to the crowsnest, and that won't get her across the deck. Maybe it would be best to act like a drunken reveler and try crossing the deck after full dark had come. Except that even in the dark she looked nothing like a pirate.

Blowing out a sigh, she cracked the door open again to look across the deck. Overhead, the watchmen were steadily slurring more and more of their words as they swapped stories in the deepening twilight. Decided, she slipped out the door and quickly dashed to the main mast, careful to put it between herself and the manned ship in the berth next to this one. Another rush had her pressed up against the door she had been aiming for and she twisted the knob while praying it had been oiled recently.

Thankfully it opened as silently as she could have hoped for and she slithered into the darkness beyond with none the wiser for her presence.