On The Horizon
A Distant Light
The Drunken Hermit; a crowded, dreary tavern in Kingston. The day was nearly over and the sun had nearly reached the water and vanished over the horizon. The bar quickly became filled with sailors and dockworkers who had gotten off of work and were looking to relax. No one noticed the two boys sitting at the table in the shadowed corner of the tavern, speaking in whispers.
"Come on, it's a good plan."
"It's not a plan, it's another one of your hair brained fantasies."
"Well excuse me for keeping my options open! I thought you wanted to actually make some decent money and get back out on the waves."
"Naruto... Do you have any idea how monumentally stupid it is to try something like that right now?"
"Hmph." Naruto replied indignantly, crossing his arms and slouching in his chair. "Well what do you propose we do then huh? Privateering is illegal, the navy isn't gonna take us, and merchant ships never pay a fair wage. I don't know about you Sasuke but I don't see to many options, ya know."
Sasuke groaned. Naruto was right, he hated it when Naruto was right. After the last war had ended there was no need for privateers and thousands of sailors were out of the job, most of whom immediately turned to piracy. After that the monarchs of Spain, England, France, and the Netherlands recruited the few sailors who hadn't gone rogue as pirate hunters and increased the size of their navies to crack down on the threat. Naruto and Sasuke saw the pattern and swore never to sail for a monarch again; they were people, not tools to be discarded when they were no longer needed.
The two had managed to keep their noses clean by doing odd jobs and working in ship yards but it wasn't enough. They were struggling to get by. Just like in the old days.
Sasuke sighed as the old memories drifted into his head.
"Listen Naruto; this idea of yours... a few years ago it may have been possible, but now? Have you heard how hard it is for pirates now?"
"Well..." Naruto scratched the back of his head as he thought about it. "I know that the last few years have been rough for them but-"
"The Gyuki was sunk last week."
"What?" Naruto gasped, his eyes widened and his body started to tremble slightly. "That means-"
"Killer Bee is dead. The Seven Beasts of the Caribbean are no more." Sasuke said solemnly.
"No way..." Naruto said softly. "Those guys were invincible."
"Were being the operative term."
"Are any of the old legends left? There's gotta be someone they haven't strung up yet."
"Just the Legendary Three, and no one knows what happened to them." Sasuke sighed. "Look Naruto... I understand that you want to get back out on the water, I do to, but becoming pirates right now is impossible." He paused and began looking around. "We have no ship, no crew, and there aren't many places that'll accept our presence. And that's without worrying about the navy and pirate hunters. Put it all together and we won't last more than two years."
"Well in the words of the great Jiraiya." Naruto smirked. "A merry life and a short one."
"Oh brother." Sasuke sighed. "The one line you remember from anything." He scanned the room again.
"So... you'll come?" Naruto asked slyly.
"Only because we promised to stick when we were kids." Sasuke growled.
"Just admit it, you'd be lost without me." Naruto chuckled.
"I hate you." Naruto just laughed and Sasuke smirked before checking the tavern again. "If she's not gone next time I check..." He let the thought trail off.
"Oh man that was funny, good one." Naruto had finally managed to stop laughing. "So here's what I'm thinking; we need a small ship, fifteen men at the most, that means we're going to have need to recruit a team of specialists."
"Why a small ship?"
"We'll draw less attention."
"Good thinking." Sasuke looked over again. "But we've got a problem."
Before Naruto could react Sasuke stood up and threw a knife across the room. The blade buried itself in the wall next to the head of a girl with pink hair and green eyes who immediately bolted out the door.
"She was listening!"
"Oh shit!" The two ex-privateers took off after her. They burst through the door and saw her running off down the street. "You go after her, I'll try to cut her off!"
"Wait Naruto! Gah, what's the point." Sasuke growled as Naruto took off in another direction. Sasuke ran after the girl. "That idiot has not idea where she's going, how is he supposed to cut her off?"
Catching her turned out to be tougher than he'd expected. The girl fast and she knew plenty of tricks: she turned close corners, knocked over crates, jumped through crowds, and even threw a rock at some drunks who assumed it was Sasuke and started shooting. And with each attempt Sasuke's desire to kill her steadily increased. Eventually woman's luck ran out when she ran down a street where a fight had broken out and a group of men formed larger circle around the combatants that blocked the street, forcing her to run down a dead end alley.
"Nowhere to run." Sasuke said as he drew his sword. "Next time you try eavesdropping on someone you should make sure your hair doesn't stick out like a sore thumb."
"Can't blame a girl for trying." She replied as she drew her own sword. Sasuke realized he must have been getting dull because he hadn't noticed she had a sword before. In fact there was a lot of stuff he hadn't noticed a lot of stuff about her: scars on her arms and legs, sharp eyes, tanned skin, strong grip, agility, quick thinking. The girl was a sailor.
"That doesn't make sense; the navy doesn't recruit women and pirates and privateers only keep them around for pleasure. She looks like she was doing deck work." Sasuke decided it wasn't important as he parried a slash aimed at his head. He quickly countered by swinging for her arm but she pulled back before lunging forward to slice him across the chest. Sasuke retreated just in time to avoid the blow and swung for her throat only to see his strike deflected.
"You're pretty good." He growled.
"Thanks." She replied before the two launched into another flurry of blows.
The two combatants quickly slashed, parried, countered, and used all manner of tricks as they fought. The girl eventually managed to unbalance Sasuke and knocked him to the ground by slamming her shoulder into into his chest. Sasuke quickly threw dirt at her face and leapt to his feet while she was stunned, he swung for her throat but she managed to deflect the blow as she rubbed the dirt off her face. The two pulled apart, panting, and began pacing back and forth as they readied themselves for the next clash.
"You're really starting to piss me off." Sasuke snarled.
"What did you expect me to do; roll over and die? Or maybe you thought I'd be easy to take down because I'm a girl?" She shot back. "Sorry pal, but Sakura Haruno doesn't go down that easy."
"Hmp." Sasuke replied. "I'll admit I wasn't expecting you to be this much trouble. But that doesn't matter." He lifted his sword in preparation for his next attack. "I can't risk letting you live after what you heard in there, Naruto and I would be hung for what we're planning."
"It wasn't much of a plan from what I heard." Sakura replied smugly. "In fact; it sounded like you two have only just started with this... I believe 'hair brained fantasy' was how you put it." She smirked.
"If you've got something to say then say it. I don't like wasting words and I don't like being played with." Sasuke stated.
"I wasn't planning on turning you guys in, I was going to introduce myself."
"Really?" Sasuke asked disbelievingly. "You expect me to believe you wanted in on our plan?"
"Actually I was going to make you an offer you couldn't refuse." She cautiously lowered her guard. "I know some people who-"
"GOTCHA!" Naruto shouted as he suddenly leaped off a roof top and tackled the girl to the ground.
"Get off me you dumb ass!" Sakura shouted as she flailed and thrashed under the blond.
"No way! I've been waiting for ten minutes for you to drop your guard. I'm not letting you go, believe it!"
"I could've used your help loser!" Sasuke shouted. "Why the hell didn't you help me?!"
"Why are you yelling at me?! I just helped you win the fight you ungrateful bastard!" Naruto shouted back.
"I had everything under control!"
"You were about to get your ass kicked!"
"Shut up loser!"
"Make me bastard!"
"I wasn't going to turn you morons in! I know some people who can help!" Sakura finally broke up the argument. Naruto, startled by the outburst, lost his balance and fell off her. Sakura got up and brushed herself off. "Interested in what I have to say now?"
Back at the Drunken Hermit
"So let me get this straight." Sasuke said as he looked at the girl who was now sitting across from himself and Naruto. "You expect us to believe that you know people who are in a position to provide us with both a ship and supplies. All you need is a crew?"
"That's what I said." Sakura replied.
"Sounds a bit to convenient to me, ya know." Naruto said. "How do we know these 'friends' of yours aren't going to blow us away or arrest us as soon as we meet them?"
"They don't have the experience to command a pirate ship; they've been out on the waves but often enough to be able to run a ship effectively."
"Hmp, sounds like a bunch of rookies with delusions of grandeur if you ask me." Sasuke snorted.
"They're not. They all have experience in handling a ship, rough weather, and combat. The only thing they need is a captain. I'd love to lead them myself but it's a bit unrealistic that anyone's going to follow a woman."
"Hmm..." Naruto hummed as he glanced at Sasuke. "We need to discuss this in private." He and his dark haired compatriot got up and moved to another corner, everyone else in the bar was to drunk to care.
"What do you think?" Naruto asked.
"It could be a trap." Sasuke replied as he glanced back at Sakura. "She could be with the authorities or the press gangs or she could be looking for easy money."
"I'm thinking the same thing but-"
"But what, you think we should risk it anyway?" Sasuke asked rhetorically.
"Well... yeah. I mean, it sounds like a good deal to me."
"Don't you remember what Captain Hatake always told us? 'Watch out for things that go to well'. This is just way to convenient to not be a trap."
"Then I'll go alone and if it is a trap you can say 'I told you so' when I'm in the gibbet." Naruto replied, knowing all to well what Sasuke's reply would be.
"Like hell you will." Sasuke shot back, well aware he'd walked into his friends trap. "We swore we'd stick together, and where I come from you honor your word. If we hang then we hang together."
"I figured you'd say that." Naruto grinned, not realizing that his friend had let him win. The two of them walked back over to the table where Sakura was waiting. "We're in."
"Great." Sakura replied as she downed the last of her drink. "Meet me at the Yamanaka Shipping warehouse tomorrow morning." She called back as she left the bar.
"I got a good feeling about this." Naruto replied as another grin spread across his face.
"Let's hear you say that when you get yourself tossed in the gallows." Sasuke replied. "Get some rest you idiot."
"See you tomorrow you bastard." Naruto called as his friend left the bar. One of the good things about the Drunken Hermit was that none of the staff cared if you slept at one of the tables as long as you were willing to move when they told you to.
Naruto set his head down and watched as the last few rays of sunlight vanished beneath the ocean. "I'll get back out there soon: I'll raid some ships, have some fun, drink like hell, maybe find a nice girl if I'm really lucky, and when it's all over I'll be just another tarred corpse hanging in a harbor. A merry life and a short one. Believe it."
A.N. And that's the first chapter done. Now I just want to get some stuff out of the way now:
1: This story will have no magic or pirate cliches. Any time a character does something that seems supernatural there's always going to be some type of logical explanation. Pirates did stuff like this all the time to make themselves look scary (Blackbeard).
2: There are going to be minimal Naruto elements in this story. Characters and references will be there but for the most part it's still the 18th century Caribbean.
3: All canon pairing will be present. If you have a non-canon pairing you'd like then let me know and I'll see if I can work it in.
4: Although I am going for high levels of realism there are still some things I'm going to stretch the truth on (medical care, the conditions on ships, and technology mainly)
5: The only citrus in this fic is being used to prevent scurvy. No lemons. Any sexual relations will be implied (I'm an asexual virgin so it's better for both of us if I don't even try)
And now for the only Jutsu you're going to see in this fic
Author Style: Flame Shield Jutsu!