Sasuke was at the wheel of his ship. They had been out at sea for weeks now and haven't been to the island yet. Then again he wasn't really expecting a short trip. He knew it was going to be long and he knew it was going to be dangerous. He made his men all take a second vote and they all agreed to continue the journey. Just like him, they would risk their life for eternal youth.
He's risked his life and killed for less. This would be the ultimate treasure, and the guardian would help him find the others whether she liked it or not.
"Land ho!" Neji yelled.
Sasuke looked towards where Neji had pointed. They were getting pretty close really fast.
" Avast! Slacken the reef sails, Ready the long boats." Sasuke ordered
The men scurried to do what they were told.
"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled.
"Aye captain?" Naruto looked up towards Sasuke, holding onto a rope he was just pulling.
"Get ready 3 of the men. As soon as we reach our destination we set for the island"
"Aye Aye captain" Naruto agreed and tied up the rope he held.
"Captain? A word?" A voice from behind Sasuke sounded.
"Aye" Sasuke answered
"How many men were you planning on taking?" Sai asked.
"Four, Any more than that will draw more attention to the beasts on the island. And that is not something we can afford."
"I see, Naruto is your first mate, I assume he is going with you?" Sai asked
Sasuke looked at him, "Aye, Neji will be in charge while we are gone. Now get back to work"
"Aye aye captain" Sai answered and left.
"Captain! We're all ready down here!" Naruto yelled out
Sasuke went to the long boat and climbed in it, standing towards the front as the other 3 climbed in.. Sailing off to the shore Sasuke was watching the treeline close to the edge of the beach.
"Captain? Do you see something?" Kiba asked
"No" He responded.
"What do you think the beasts that live on this island are?" Suigetsu asked.
"I'm not sure" Naruto answered.
"Must be pretty bad if people don't even venture here" Kiba mumbled.
"You don't say" Kakashi stated sarcastically
"Can it eye patch!" Kiba growled
Kakashi looked unimpressed. "Eyepatch? That's the best you got?"
Kiba growled "You know wha-"
"Enough! Lets go" Sasuke ordered and stepped of the boat. The water was about 6 inches deep where he stepped. The rest followed where he did. They walked onto the shore towards the trees. "Draw your weapons and be ready for anything that might attack us." Sasuke stated and continued on walking.
About a half hour on the island they haven't ran into any major danger. A few jaguars and other animals, but nothing they couldn't handle. A little while later Sasuke felt like they were being watched.
"Stand guard men, we aren't alone" Sasuke whispered loud enough for them to hear. They held their weapons up defensively watching everywhere, but still walking towards their destination. Suddenly a small gangly creature jumps out at Naruto. "Ahh!" He Yelled.
Sasuke shot the creature and it fell limply to the floor. Naruto looked at it, "What the fuck? Goblins? They exist?" Naruto yelled. Suddenly there were more goblins surrounding them.
Sasuke scoffed, "Idiot, you think Fairies exist, so why not goblins?"
Naruto quickly looked at Sasuke then back at the incoming goblins "Hey! I've seen those little bastards before! They do exist! They tried to kill me"
Sasuke rolled his eyes "Tell me about it later you idiot! These things look like they want to kill us"
Naruto growls, then shoots off his pistol and swings his sword at the goblins "Fine! Let's kill them and be on our way!"
All of them were fighting the goblins, it seemed like there were more goblins than they thought. They just kept coming. Sasuke hears a yell and turns to see Kiba on the floor with a piece of wood sticking out of his leg. "You fucker!" Kiba yelled and shot the goblin who stabbed him.
Another goblin attacked him and bit into his shoulder. Kiba shrieked. The goblin that attacked Kiba was stabbed by Kakashi's sword. He was fighting off the goblins so Kiba was able to stand up even if he was limping. Suigetsu was covering Kiba's other side making sure he doesn't get attacked again.
"You okay?" Suigetsu asked. Kiba nodded and pulled out his second pistol, shooting at whatever goblins that were in grabbing distance from him.
A giant goblin came out, wearing a crown on his head. He started to back up into the tree's, but Sasuke yelled out as soon as he saw him.
"Come out Goblin King and fight me!" Sasuke yelled angrily.
The goblin king glares at Sasuke, but then smiles. "Give me something of great value and we shall not fight. Some of my fellow goblins are dead and even more injured. Also, I see one of your humans are injured as well. Give me something of value and we shall leave you be."
Sasuke glared at him, "And why would I give you something when I could just kill you?" He asked
The goblin king glared but responded "Because I have many more goblins that are much bigger and stronger than the ones you were fighting just a moment ago. And they wouldn't take too kindly to their king being killed, especially by humans"
Sasuke looked towards Kiba who looked like he had a small chunk of flesh ripped off from his shoulder and a deep wound on his leg. His men have died on their journey's before, but this was the most important one they've had. He needed all the guys he could get. With a growl he nodded towards the goblin king and pulled out a small leather bag that was tied to his belt. It had a few gems and some gold in it. He tossed it to the goblin king who caught it eagerly. The huge creature opened the bag and looked at its contents. He smiled showing a mouth full of yellow and brown sharp teeth. The Goblin King made a huge growling noise and all the smaller goblins went back into the shadows.
"We made a deal human, we will go now" The King stated and followed his grotesque creatures back into the shadows of the forest.
Sasuke waited a couple minutes making sure the goblins didn't return, then walked over to an injured Kiba. "I will help you with your wounds when we get back onto the ship. I can't do it here because I don't know what watches us. Suigetsu is going to patch you up, but you need to hold out until then do you understand me?"
Kiba nodded. "Good" Sasuke said and stood up. "Patch him up Suigetsu. We need to hurry up and get what we came for, so we can leave this wretched island already"
"Hey captain?" Naruto called out
"What you idiot?" Sasuke responded, taking a drink out of his water container.
"Kiba isn't looking so good. Are we going to make it to the place we have to go to before sundown?" Naruto asked quiet enough so only Sasuke
"Do you trust your captain?" Sasuke asked
Naruto looked surprised at his sudden question but answered anyways "Aye! Of course, I do"
Sasuke looked towards Kiba then at the direction they were to head to. "Then don't question me" Sasuke stated and walked towards Kiba and Suigetsu. Naruto sighed but stayed quiet.
As soon as Kiba was patched up they headed off as fast as they could go. After a while Sasuke stopped.
"What-"
"SHH!" Sasuke shushed Suigetsu. They were all quiet, listening for whatever noise that had their captain on edge.
GRRRRRRRRR
Sasuke whipped his head around looking for whatever creature that was stalking them now. His eyes scanning the area he heard the growl.
"Captain?" Naruto whispered
Sasuke glared towards the noise "Wolves"
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Suigetsu yelled.
"Its just one thing after another isn't it?" Kiba mumbled painfully
Sasuke looked at Kiba then back towards the growling noises "Kiba?"
"Aye captain?" kiba responded
"How fast can you run?" Sasuke asked with a deathly serious tone
"Not as fast as you guys, but I can tolerate the pain long enough to try and escape these bastards."
'Not fast enough' Sasuke thought as a couple wolves slowly creeped out of the shadows.
"Suigetsu!"
"Aye!"
"Take Kiba and climb that tree as fast as you can. Climb high so these bastards don't get you guys. Stay hidden so nothing else finds you. Kiba isn't fast enough to outrun these bastards and we cant afford to use all our ammo trying to kill them" A wolf lunged towards Naruto and Sasuke shot it down. " especially when we don't know how many of them are here, and also we cant afford to lose any members of our crew on this journey!" Sasuke continued while firing his pistol at the other wolves. He glared at Suigetsu when he didn't move "Now climb goddammit!"
Suigetsu helped kiba climb the tree all the while every one was making sure they weren't attacked in doing so. As soon as Sasuke couldn't see the two in the tree he ran towards their destination. "Let's go!"
The other 2 followed Sasuke and ran as fast as they could turning their body slightly a few times to shoot at the wolves that were close enough to attack them. "Faster!" Sasuke yelled and they picked up their pace as much as they could.
"Bridge!" Naruto yelled. They ran as fast as they could.
As soon as they reached the edge of the bridge creatures almost half the size of Sasuke were standing in front of them forcing the guys to stop. Sasuke quickly looked behind them. The wolves had stopped a good 15 feet away from them pacing back and forth as if they weren't able to pass. "Naruto watch them" Sasuke ordered
"Aye Captain!"
Sasuke looked towards the creatures. "I ask that we pass safely across this bridge not once but twice"
The creatures looked at each other then smiled. "We will let you pass, but you have to pay cross our bridge"
Sasuke sighed heavily, he had just given the last of his gems and gold to the goblins. "Kakashi!"
"Captain?"
"Do you have any gold on you?"
"No, but I do have a ruby" Kakashi answered
"Are you willing to use it to cross this bridge?" Sasuke asked
"Aye Captain! If you can give your full currency bag to save us on this journey, then I can spare a ruby for it too." Kakashi stated and handed Sasuke the gem.
"Will this do?" Sasuke asked the creatures, while holding out the gem to it. The bigger creature grabbed it and started observing it. "Very well you may pass" it said and stepped out of the way
Sasuke and the other took a few steps onto the bridge when the creature spoke again "Though this gem only permits you to pass once" Sasuke glared at the creature but continued to walk "Very well"
"Hey, Captain?" Naruto asked
"What?"
"How are we crossing this bridge a second time?"
Sasuke smirked at him "By using the sapphire in your currency pouch"
Naruto gasped "what? No way! I love this gem!"
"There's no sentimental value to it" Sasuke said and rolled his eyes
"How do you know? It could've belonged to my mother for all you know" Naruto argued.
Sasuke sighed, "You won it in a card game you idiot. I was there"
Naruto chuckled nervously, "Yeah you're right, well, I guess I shouldn't complain. You guys gave your gems up, so I guess I can do the same" He continued to walk after them with his hands behind his head.
About 45 minutes later they came to a small cave. "Is this it?" Kakashi asked
"Yes." Sasuke answered.
They walked towards the cave. "Naruto" Sasuke called
"I got it, I got it" Naruto said lighting a small lantern that he always kept on him, then handing it to Sasuke "Here captain"
Sasuke grabbed the lantern and walked into the darkness of the cave. There wasn't anything at first, but then the cave lit up from the writings on the ceiling. Words he couldn't understand. He just followed them until they reached the end of the cave.
"Captain? I don't see it." Naruto stated in a low voice.
"There!" Kakashi said pointing towards a small hole in the center of the wall. It almost looked like a shelf or a cabinet without the doors.
Sasuke walked to it and picked up a medium sized chalice. It was gold with rubies, emeralds, and sapphires encrusted into it. There was celtic designs around the bottom of it where the jewels weren't studded on.
"That's amazing!" Naruto whispered staring at the golden cup.
"Well, this did belong to the gods right? It makes sense" Kakashi chuckled.
"Let's go back now, We've been on this island long enough"
"Aye Captain" Both Naruto and Kakashi said in unison.
As Naruto and Kakashi turned to leave Sasuke spotted a long rolled up rope next to where the chalice was. Sasuke grabbed it and put it in the bad where he put the chalice at, then started walking towards the opening of the cave.
After a while, They made it back to the bridge "Same deal goes as the first time you had passed" The two bridge creatures chuckled darkly.
"So be it" Sasuke answered "Naruto"
"Aye" Naruto pouted a bit, but handed the gem over to the creatures, who stepped aside once they examined it.
"Keep an eye out for the wolves or any other damned thins that might be lurking."
Both Kakashi and Naruto Nodded and kept their guard up.
'So far so good' Sasuke thought to himself. They made it to the tree where Suigetsu and Kiba were.
"Hey! What took you guys so long?" Suigetsu yelled out.
"Quiet you idiot. There might be something hiding out there." Sasuke growled
They continued and finally made It to the beach.
"That was odd, Why were we attacked more going into the damn island than getting off it?" Kakashi murmured loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Maybe it was a way to stop us from getting where we needed to go" Sasuke replied
After rowing back to the ship stood at the wheel and held up the chalice high. "We have what we came for men! We set sail for Man's last Voyage!"
The entire crew cheered. 'Finally' Sasuke thought.
An hour into their journey Sasuke went below deck where Kiba was resting.
"Kiba?"
Kiba sat up as fast as he could. "Captain?"
"I'm going to heal your wounds, after that you can get back to work" Sasuke stated
"Aye" Kiba removed the bandage from all his wounds. "Keep still" Sasuke ordered and Kiba nodded.
Sasuke grabbed the small vial that had the healing tonic. He put a drop into each wound and they started to heal. Kiba gasped.
"Just don't say anything and get back to work" Sasuke said sharply
"Aye Captain" Kiba answered and quickly jumped up. Sasuke stood up and went to his private quarters. He sighed heavily and walked to table in the middle of the room. He grabbed the chalice and placed it on the table along with the rope. Both with had a slight glow to it. He pulled out his small vial again and looked closer at it. He had done that several times
'This goddess had better know where the other sacred treasures are or I'll strangle her with that rope' Sasuke thought to himself. He pursed his lips thinking about what the other treasures were and how valuable they were. He sighed again.
"hopefully we make it through the damn mermaid infested waters" He mumbled.
Only a two day journey to Man's last voyage. Sasuke picked up his mug and drank from it. His men were strong, "they can handle those sirens" He said to himself and took another drink.