Chapter 3

I felt strong hands wrap around me. A few moments later I was put on hard wooden planks where I coughed out mouthfuls of saltwater.

„Cough cough, t-thanks, Alrin." I said, as she took her clothes off and wrung them out. She just grunted in response.

When I was sufficiently restored i grabbed Assail tightly and nodded at Alrin. She tok the spear and got into a dtance - my additional weight seemingly didn't bother her.

And then I was moving so suddenly that I nearly lost my grip. The water surface grew smaller and smaller beneath me.

When I reached the apex I slowed a wooden plank and stepped on it. I looked around. My crew was just a tiny dot in a wide blue expanse. I then looked at the horizon and there it was – a landmass. I could barely make it out, but that was undoubtedly a beach I was seeing there – I hoped. Then I fell for a moment before I felt wood again under my feet.

Anscom grinned. Meriel scowled at me and Alrin asked, curios: "Did you find something?"

"Yes, there's an island north-east of here. Now we just have to get there." I tried to pry a piece of wood out of the floor to use as a paddle, but stopped annoyed when Meriel sneered at me.

"No need, dickhead." Then she jumped in the ocean, grabbed the edge of our driftwood vessel and began to swim. We began to accelerate with amazing speed and only a short while later we arrived at the shore of the Island. Just as we stepped foot on the beach, Alrin drew her spear and pointed the tip at Anscom.

"I refuse to be on your pirate crew, Anscom.", she spat his name like it was an insult. "Release the seals you put on us now!" She smiled darkly. "Or I'd be happy to kill you, here and now."

I walked next to her, drew my cutlass and got into a stance. "Same with me." Meriel stood at the side and trembled; I would probably have to fight her since she appeared to be on really good terms with Anscom so I watched her every move. I couldn't see her face, it was shadowed by her smooth hair.

"Come on, mates.", Anscom smiled good-naturedly. "What are you dissatisfied with. As a pirate you are free to do whatever you want. Wealth, power, fa-" A spear strike almost got him at his neck; a line of blood dripped down which was immediately absorbed by the spear. Then Anscom got serious again. This change in atmosphere put a kind of intangible pressure on us.

"You are disobeying your captain!"

"You're not our captain." I spat out. "The only reason I, and Alrin probably too, accepted so easily was because a serious fight would have destroyed that piece of shipwreck we were on. Release your powers."

"No! I decided that you are part of my crew so you are. I need you to fulfill my ambition. We will strive to be the greatest pirates in the world. We will find the One Piece. We will be the freest people in the world."

Alrins face reflected pure fury. "That's what you call freedom? Forcing us to do your bidding because you have a devil fruit?"

"That's just in the beginning. You will come to understand eventually, just like Meriel has. A crew has to obey it's captain, after all.", Anscom said. Alrin attacked again.

Anscom blocked with a cutlass he got out of nowhere. I blinked when I realized that it was mine; I wasn't holding anything anymore.

"Like Meriel?", Alrin whispered so quietly I almost didn't understand her. "I don't know what you did to her. But I can feel it, the terror she has whenever she is with you. I have no desire to "understand"." And with that she put more power into her strike and flung Anscom in the air, the palms in his path snapping apart.

"Alrin! There would have been no conflict between us, if you just accepted." Anscom stood up and readied his cutlass. "What you're doing is committing mutiny!" They both ran towards each other with battle cries on their lips.

My attention snapped back to Meriel as they began to engage in a heated battle. She similarly observed me intently, but didn't move a single muscle. Her eyes were a beautiful red, hiding many complex and difficult to understand emotions, I realized in that moment. Emotions I hadn't bothered to notice until now. This time I truly looked at her, tried to understand her. She trembled and her gaze sneaked every so often a glance at the battle rampaging away from us while destroying the local plant life.

She bit her lips... and began to set an attack in motion.

I was prepared. I managed to block her punch, but was blown backwards due to the power of her strike, to the open sea. I saw the water getting nearer and nearer. I pointed with my hand.

"Noro noro beam." The water was slowed and I managed to land on my feet this time. I stood up as if I was on even ground and snapped back to the beach. Meriel had vanished.

I shot a constant stream of beams at the water to create a pathway to the shore and traversed it as fast as I could while also staying vigilant of my surroundings. I noticed the water getting turbulent. But before I got even halfway to the island, a literal water spear as thick as a tree trunk shot at me from behind me.

I quickly turned around and slowed it down, but had to jump out of the way when another one came from the side. A bad idea – there were two waves of pure sea water coming from opposite sides toward me now. I reached out with both my hands and tried to slow them down by shooting as many beams as I could. In the next instant I felt a terrible pain in my stomach, where Meriels fist was now buried.

I gasped and folded in on myself. She had shot out of the ocean like a torpedo and was now grabbing me as we fell in the sea. I couldn't move well, wasn't able to pry her delicate hands from my body as she threw me down.

Terrible weakness overcame me again. I couldn't breath, my vision swam and my head ached. I weakly tried to swim, but just wasn't strong enough. The last thing I saw was Meriel's face, contorted in despair and almost apologetic.