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They actually go to the third Pirate Lord this chapter!
He'd only have to aid Saburo in killing one person. One person out of billions, and in his world, whoever this person was, they'd still be alive.
But Fuyuki couldn't stop his hand from shaking. He'd been lucky enough that the first Pirate Lord who had opposed Saburo was dead, defeated easily. But he doubted he'd be so lucky with this one.
All he wanted to do was study aliens. Could he really say he would be the same person after his encounter with watching someone get killed?
No. He wouldn't be the same. He wouldn't have been the Fuyuki who had entered the portal. It would be a life changing experience.
He had to stop this. Maybe he'd be able to talk to the new Pirate Lord, ask him kindly to step down. Give him a friendly speech. In his world, that usually worked. Maybe he could do the same in this one.
"Ku, you feeling better?" Kululu sat in front of Fuyuki, eating some curry. Fuyuki had a bowl of soup. Saburo had insisted he fill his stomach back up and regain his strength. Currently, Saburo was just getting back from giving orders to the rest of the crew, who usually tried to avoid Kululu like the plague. Fuyuki hadn't seen many of them.
"A little," Fuyuki nodded. "Are... Are we all really going through with killing this last Pirate Lord?"
"Yep! It's not that big of a deal. Honestly, Saburo's been trying to become the best pirate in the seas for a while. But he's a pretty non-confrontational guy. He's finally become determined to strike after watching the enemy from the shadows," Kululu explained. "Ku, ku, ku."
Saburo walked over to them and ruffled Fuyuki's hair. "Feeling better?" He sat down with them.
Fuyuki gave a weak nod.
"I didn't know you couldn't swim, Fuyuki. Does this ship bother you at all?" he asked.
"If it does, we could shake it a bit. Ku, ku, ku," Kululu laughed.
Fuyuki frowned. "I'm dealing. It's not ships that scare me. It's just that I can't swim." Honestly, he cared more about the imminent murder.
"It's okay to be unused to the sea. When Kululu first came aboard, he hated being here. You could see him skitter all over the place, wondering if it was safe. But he made all sorts of things to increase our safety," Saburo shared.
"Hey!" Kululu whined.
"But he's better now. Still hasn't learned to swim, but if he can handle being here, you can." Saburo smiled at him.
Fuyuki did feel a little better. Kululu seemed so tough, so hearing of one of his fears was rare.
Fuyuki sipped his soup. "Saburo?" he asked.
"Hm?"
"What are the Pirate Lords like? Even the one who's now dead...?" He wanted to know what they were going to come across. Know if maybe it wasn't so bad to kill them, if they had been a bad person to start with. Or if he could attempt to befriend them.
" 'Pirate Lord' is a relatively new title, so I haven't met all of them. I only met one in person. I mean, we pirates have only roamed the seas for about five years." He shrugged. "Although there were the rare pirates or boats before that. They had some real history behind them, but there were only a few, unlike the hundreds of pirates that roam today and rule the seas," he lectured.
Fuyuki was confused. So Saburo hadn't been a Pirate Lord for that long? "Were you a pirate before the five years when they become popular?"
Saburo shook his head. "I tried, but... honestly, the seas weren't a safe place. They were dangerous."
"Ku, ku, ku. Says you." Kululu started hurriedly eating curry, tuning out the conversation.
"Why weren't they safe?" Fuyuki asked.
"They were ruled by something else... Not a pirate. And it was - well, it's not important." Saburo hurriedly shook his head. "It's in the past. And that sort of stuff is best left buried." He glanced at Kululu. "But anyway, you asked about the other Pirate Lords! I've only met one, and she was pretty tough. I managed to sneaked away from her, though. She was the more experienced one, the one that's now defeated and we won't have to face," Saburo told him. "All the better. She had a nasty temper - a real warrior."
"What about the one that we're going to face?"
"Never met 'em. They're relatively new, although I've heard rumors about them and how they've suddenly become a Pirate Lord. I'm about to show them how tough being a Pirate Lord is, though." He rubbed his hands together.
Fuyuki frowned. So the new Pirate Lord was pretty much unknown.
Saburo turned to Kululu. "Hey, Kululu. Use that genius you have to make something that can get us to find the ship. A cool compass or something!"
"Ku. I'm hired to do surgeon work. Not invent things," said Kululu.
"Well, I'll pay you extra if you do it. I know you can," he said. "Please?"
"Fine. But only cuz you begged. Ku, ku, ku." He sighed and left to do work.
"Do the Pirate Lords also have cool powers like you? Do they have talismans that make their ships invisible?" Fuyuki asked, his eyes sparkling.
"I don't know about the new one. I've never seen their ship, but the Pirate Lord I sometimes fought was average in every way. She didn't have any mystical ship. Just a boring ship called Summer. Didn't do much," Saburo explained. Fuyuki looked disappointed.
The ship changed directions.
"Kululu must have made something to find their location," Saburo grinned. "Quick, as always." He was going to go congratulate him.
Fuyuki sighed. Soon they'd attack this poor sucker.
Kululu discussed plans with Saburo about how to trap the Pirate Lord. They eventually decided it was best to use their invisibility to maneuver into a swarm of rocks in the area and then board and attack the ship, find the Pirate Lord, and kill, taking their head as proof of their achievement.
Fuyuki tried to plug his ears, trying not to listen to the gruesome talk.
"Ku! According to my maps..." Kululu looked down at some software. "...they should be here soon. Let's lie in wait."
"You heard him! We're going to lie in wait and then we'll beat that Pirate Lord!" Saburo announced. The crew cheered. It was the most Fuyuki had seen of the crew.
They waited an hour for the ship to appear. It got darker, but not from it nightfall. From fog.
"Good weather for a surprise attack... I think I see the shape of the ship in the distance." Their ship started approaching the one in the clouds.
Fuyuki's mouth opened when he saw it approaching. It didn't look hazy once it had gotten out of the initial fog, but it did look cold, chilly, and distant.
"It's... it's floating..." he finally realized, pointing to the cloud of fog it rode on. He had thought that it was sailing through the water, but instead it was riding on the fog.
"A ghost ship?!" Fuyuki smiled, unlike most of the crew, who was shaking. They had seen mystical ships - hell, they were riding on one! - but this was a whole another level of creepy. The only one who thought this ghost ship was cool was Fuyuki.
"Saburo..." Kululu tugged at his friend's arm, pointing at the ship. "You seeing what I'm seeing?"
"I-it's not possible." Saburo was frozen.
"I'm sure it's possible scientifically! I'm sure if I had my occult books on me, I could explain it!" Fuyuki grinned. "But I could give you some theories, if you want..." Saburo wasn't listening.
"Should... Should I steer closer, Captain?" The person at the wheel asked.
Saburo didn't speak. He was shaking. He grabbed the railing of the deck, gripping onto it. Kululu was just as frozen.
"Isn't it cool, guys? What a cool ship!" Fuyuki was ecstatic. He didn't know why they looked so frightened, like they'd seen a ghost or something.
"It's getting closer, captain. Should we fire cannonballs?" one of the crew asked.
Saburo gave a stiff nod. "Attack, before that bloody thing gets any closer."
"NO!" Kululu shouted, pulling Saburo away from the railing. "We can't attack! What if she's on it? That was her ship, Saburo." Fuyuki could hear Kululu shaking from the cold. Even his glasses were cracking.
"Then... sail far away. We have to leave this area. That thing is dangerous. Sail fast and far!" Saburo ordered. Kululu gripped onto Saburo's leg.
"Wh-what the hell are you doing?" Kululu asked, shaking. He looked like he was about to cry. "We have to board. What if she's there? We have to - "
"We're leaving, Kululu. She's not there," Saburo told him stiffly, trying to snap Kululu out of it. Kululu glared and turned away.
"It's her ship," he said quietly again. Kululu tossed his map onto the floor and climbed up the ropes of the ship, as if to jump off. "We have to see her, we have to g-go to the ship. You can't just leave." He was about to jump.
In tales of the seas, Fuyuki had heard of this behavior of bewitchment. It was similar to men who had experienced sirens. But Kululu hadn't experienced that. He got ready to jump.
Saburo ran over to him and grabbed his legs as he let go. He plummeted down to the ship, bonking his head on the outer deck as he hung.
"Let me go!" Kululu yelled.
"I can't let you go. You'll die. You can't swim, Kululu. I'm not losing you. You're my friend. Be smart about this, use common sense," Saburo tried to reason with him.
Kululu kept struggling. Fuyuki helped grab his leg and they pulled him back on board.
As Kululu got back on the ship, he just threw himself into Saburo's arms, his body shaking as he cried. Saburo awkwardly put his arms around Kululu and the ship sailed out of the fog as fast as they could away from the previous ship.
Once they were out of sight, Saburo finally got up. "Check the crew's injuries, Kululu. We don't know what witchcraft that ship had."
Kululu stared at him blankly, but nodded. He walked off, his body slumped and limp from tiredness and cold.
Saburo weaved his fingers through his hair and sighed. "I'm going to my chambers." He quickly left.
Fuyuki remained confused. Wasn't the plan to attack the Pirate Lord? What just happened?
Fuyuki knocked first, but then opened the door to Saburo's chambers. Saburo was journaling in his captain's log about how the day went.
"Wh-what... What happened back there? Why did you leave?" he asked.
Saburo sighed and put down his pen. He spun around to face Fuyuki. "Did I ever tell you how my family died?"
Fuyuki shook his head. He hadn't even been aware that Saburo's family was dead.
"My family died in a tsunami. A tsunami hit the town I was living in, killing most of the populace. Buildings were crushed and orphans lived all over the place after that. It was terrible."
"I'm sorry - "
"But despite that, despite having nothing, I was drawn to the sea, the water," Saburo continued. "Tsunamis frightened me so much, but the water didn't. I wanted to control it. I wanted to be on it. I wanted to be something - a famed pirate. Not just a little orphan." He paused, clenching his fist. "I knew a pirate's life... Well, it was meant for me."
Fuyuki sat down on the floor, listening patiently. He wasn't sure what this had to do with the ghost ship, but he'd be a good, patient friend. He wanted to understand Saburo's pain.
"But back then, being a pirate was something only fools did. The sea was dangerous, as I said. Not many pirates dared to go out there. Hell, not many ships even dared. It was risky, something only fools did."
"What changed?" Fuyuki asked. "I mean, you're on the sea now."
"The thing that was ruling the waters... disappeared," he spoke. "And I think you already know where this story is going, what it's coming back to. The reason we left, and that ghost ship." He sighed. "What ruled the seas, Fuyuki, was that ship. It was the thing that terrified everyone, including me." He looked at him in distress. "It was supposed to be gone. It disappeared for years. But it's back." He frowned. "We wouldn't have stood a chance against it."
Fuyuki could see Saburo shaking. He was frightened of the ship. "So... is it a ghost ship?" He tried not to let his eyes sparkle in excitement. This was the sort of cool pirate stuff that he had been waiting for!
Saburo laughed nervously for a moment. "I've heard rumors of such a thing. The ghosts of those killed by its owner possessing their own living corpses and being forced to serve on the ship to have a taste of life again. But I don't think it's really a ghost ship. It's just powerful. Kind of like my ship," he said.
"D-does... Does it have a name? An owner?" Fuyuki asked. "Sometimes it helps to humanize your fears."
Saburo smiled at him softly. "The ship's name is Winter... And its owner is..." He paused for a moment, dropping down to a whisper, for he was too afraid to even speak the name. "The Lord of Terror."
"Huh?" Fuyuki was taken aback. He knew instantly who Saburo was talking about. Or perhaps there was a second Lord of Terror.
"She was a terrifying being who ruled the seas. Not only did she have that ship, but she had the terrifying ability to create tsunamis through underwater earthquakes..."
Fuyuki frowned again. She sounded like she was just having fun pounding on the ocean ground and had accidentally ruined many people's lives. Oh, now he saw what tsunamis had to do with the story.
"She was powerful. Terrifying. But she was gone. Well... she's supposed to be gone." Saburo shivered.
"You're talking about Mois, right?" Fuyuki asked.
Saburo's eyes widened. "H-how do you know her?"
"In my world, she lives in my house," he answered. Saburo twitched for a moment. "And she's not really like anything you described. She's actually a pretty nice and simple girl. She's super kind!" Fuyuki tried to make Saburo less afraid.
Saburo frowned. "I did hear on a personal basis she was quite kind. But to me, she was terrifying." He shook his head. He had learned, of course, that people thought of her kindly after her disappearance... her death.
"Well, it's weird of you knowing yet another person who's a big name in this world, but you won't have the opportunity to meet her. She died five years ago and her ship disappeared with her... But now it's come back." Saburo frowned.
Fuyuki nodded. So it was likely someone had stolen her ship. Unless it only obeyed her command. "Did you see her die?"
"I'll... I'll tell you the story another day," said Saburo. "It's not important... But someday maybe I'll tell you the answer to that question." He shook his head.
Fuyuki smiled. Maybe that day when Saburo trusted him enough to tell him would be soon. "So... can I ask you another question?"
Saburo nodded. "Shoot."
"Why was Kululu acting so strangely? I mean, he looked possessed. He broke down in sobs... Were there sirens on the ship?"
"Sirens are only in storybooks," Saburo laughed, but soon his laughing soon stopped. "No... it was for a different reason. Y'see, Fuyuki, remember when I told you not to mention lovers with Kululu because his is dead and it makes him unhappy to remember?"
Fuyuki nodded.
"Well... she, the Lord of Terror, was his lover."
Fuyuki's eyes widened. What? Mois and Kululu? They had been lovers at one time?
Yup. Okay. This world isn't real. Now I know that. This is way too weird. Fuyuki cringed in disgust and shock. So that was what Kululu had meant when he said people didn't usually have the same relationship in every dimension. Or... was there something going on in his world...?
No. Ick. No reason to think too hard about that.
You all know this would get kurumois eventually. It's me.
Please review.
