Chapter 8
Her mouth fell open as her Captain neared the mark on the wall where he'd trapped her. His hand slowly caressed every bump and rise of the carved stone wall, every finger ran over the texture of the boat and the symbol. He feasted on the view in front of him. His hand stilled and knocked on the stone. It gave a strong respond.
"It's hollow." He backed away from it with a ridiculously large grin. She hadn't ever seen anyone grin as wide as he had, not even children on Christmas. "It's there. It's right there."
"But how are we supposed to get to it?" She had barely had the time to finish her sentence before he kneeled and fished an object from his sock. It was a tiny hammer perfect for being concealed.
She watched him near the symbol and without a doubt, he swung the hammer and a crack spread in the wall.
"Tell me something." Captain Eater stole her attention. "That necklace." Automatically her hand grasped her beloved necklace as if his pirate hands would rip it from her neck. "It's a very beautiful piece. Quite clumsy, but very beautiful." She didn't even know if she should thank him. "I've seen you wearing it every day. Is it special?"
"Yes." Her hand tightened on the golden circle. "It was actually given to me by my grandma." His hammer collided with the wall, rocks from the wall rattled on the floor.
"Your grandma seems to be someone precious to you."
She gazed at Captain Eater. She hadn't told him much about her grandma, simply the fact she was a farmer's girl and she lived with her grandma. Slowly she nodded. "Yes."
His hammer slammed harder into the wall and pieces rained down on the ground. "That's great." He hit the wall roughly with his hammer. "That's really great." He slammed it to the wall again and again, more cracks appeared until his hammer broke through the wall. Immediately he dived his hand inside of the dark hole exposed for him as if it was the large buffet upstairs.
She stared at him with curiosity. His entire arm searched in the unknown hole. His eyes lit up and he retrieved his hand from the hole. In his hand he held a piece of cloth.
"What is that?" She neared him, peering at the old dirtied cloth.
He unfolded the cloth and she snuck up beside him. There was nothing inside of it, there were simply unknown objects and smooth curves like waves and straight lines.
"It's the next clue." He paused. "It's telling us our next location."
She cocked her eyebrow and pointed toward the cloth in his hands. "And you can decipher what that means?"
"No. I've encountered this language before. It's the language of the mermaids. I've never been able to understand it." He turned his attention to her and grinned wide. "But I do know someone who does."
Her eyes fluttered as he put his hammer back into his sock. "You do?"
"Yeah." He straightened and swept the rocks from the broken wall behind a box of wine. "She lives on an island about two weeks sail from here. She's very willing to help, but it comes to a price."
Her eyebrow cocked as he turned toward her, stuffing the clue inside of his jacket before he picked up the torch from the ground. "Now let's get the hell out of here before more people stumble onto us."
She nodded. "Right."
The door creaked open and Captain Eater peeked out, making sure no one was around. As suspected, no one was around and quickly they slipped out of the room. They hurried down the corridor and Soul placed the torch where they'd taken it and ran up the stairs. The music produced from the string orchestra grew louder and so did the talking and dancing aristocrats.
Quickly they rounded the corner and she ran right into a wall of flesh. Her eyes bulged out from their sockets when she found herself standing in front of Stein. His mouth hung ajar and Marie gasped loudly. "M-Maka?"
She gulped and her mouth opened and closed like a fish. Coherent words tried to reach her mouth, trying to explain to them she was not Maka Albarn that they were looking for.
Luckily for her, her Captain was quick when it came to unexpected backfires. "Honey, we got to go." He gave a close mouthed smile toward the shocked pair. "Sorry, but we got to leave the party earlier. My fiancée isn't feeling well." His hand entwined with hers and quickly he pulled her passed them. She casted a glance over her shoulder at them and caught their shocked gazed. They ran out of the castle and dark clouds plagued the sky, rain splashing on the cobblestones. Captain Eater released her hand as they ran down the stairs and a moment later, he threw his suit jacket at her. "Cover yourself from the rain."
She draped it over her head. She wasn't going to reject him. She could take the rain, but when Marie and Stein snapped out of their trans, they would come after her in full-speed. Every second they were fixed with shock, they could use to escape unnoticed by the pair. If they found out what ship she was on, then her pirate life would be very short-lived.
They rushed through the garden and passed the two guards who looked surprised at them escaping the ball in full-speed.
"Coachman!" Captain Eater hollered as he ran faster than her toward the black and golden carriage of theirs. Their coachman opened the door to the carriage and quickly got out in the rain, returning to his seat.
"Maka!" She whipped her head around and her curls bounced on her shoulders.. "We've been looking for you!" Marie yelled loudly.
Captain Eater quickly pushed her inside of the carriage and closed it behind him. As soon as the door was closed, the coachman whipped the horses and they gave a loud cry and started running. Maka dared a glance out from the window and saw Marie and Stein get inside of a different carriage.
They were seriously going to chase her?!
"Are they for real?" Her Captain muttered. "They're going to chase us?"
Two great minds think alike. Only her mind wasn't abusive and toxic.
Captain Eater opened the door of the carriage and yelled to the coachman to go as fast as he possibly could and to try to shake off any incoming carriage behind them. He closed the door and she bounced in her seat as the carriage ran over the uneven ground.
Maka slumped back on the silk seat. What was she supposed to do? She knew she should've protested louder on doing this mission with her Captain. This was a far graver battlefield than her Captain could ever comprehend. This was about her freedom. Her freedom to fulfil her dream of a life of piracy, a life she could be proud of and to share her stories with her grandma. She wasn't ready to give her life up just yet.
She sighed loudly and uncovered her head from his jacket, giving it back. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it." He accepted it and held it to his transparent shirt, slicking to his perfectly sculptured muscles. While she'd stayed dried thanks to his jacket, he'd become drenched in the rain. She kind of felt bad for him. Kind of. Not completely.
They rode in silence. Maka leaned against the window, just waiting for her Captain to question who they were and how they knew her. Simply asking the questions she didn't have good answers for, but he didn't. Instead he'd his arms crossed over his chest, staring down at the floor or maybe his shoes, she didn't know.
The carriage rode in full speed through the rain. The coachman made sure to take a detour with plenty of nature and forest that covered them. Maka checked every once in a while in search for another carriage, but they were alone. They'd managed to shake them off.
"I meant it." Captain Eater said after minutes of silence. Her gaze snapped from the window in the back and toward his wet hair slick to his forehead. "Don't mention this to anyone."
"Why? You scared they would think you actually had a heart?"
He was silent, only ran his hand through his moisty hair and pulled it away from his eyes. He blatantly ignored her.
She couldn't understand him. One moment he was ruthlessly whipping his crew for a mere slip up, then he was offering his jacket as a cover from the rain while he got soaking wet. She couldn't wrap her mind around what made him into a cold-hearted beast and then the next an actual human-being with empathy.
Captain Eater opened the door once again as soon as they reached the small town at the port. It was still pouring when they arrived, this time he didn't hand her his jacket. Not that she needed it. She wasn't afraid of getting a little wet.
With confidence Maka stepped out in the rain right after her Captain and instantly started to head toward Shibusen. Her Captain went right by her side with his hands shoved deep in his pockets. Rain soaked him once again and droplets dripped from the tips of his hair. It didn't take long before her curls straightened and slick to her cheek and neck.
What felt like forever walking down the port in pouring rain, she finally spotted Shibusen. She hadn't realised just how cold it was when they ran toward the carriage. She hadn't gotten wet, but now, completely soaked to the bones, she was shivering and clutching her arms trying to regain some warmth. She was freezing. The moon was up and gazing down at her. She couldn't wait until she got out of the cursed dress, got into her comfortable dry clothes and seated in front of a fire.
She increased her pace. Her feet moved faster and her Captain strolled in the rain as if the cold didn't bother him. She ended up running. Holding up her dress her heels stepped into puddles but it wasn't as if it made her more soaked.
"Sprog." Captain Eater spoke.
She ignored him and kept on running. The mission was over. He got what he wanted. Now all she wanted was to return to the ship and get out of the cursed corset.
A smile stretched on her mouth when she noticed the bridge to the ship was already down. Black*Star must've left it down for them to quickly board the ship to flee from the rain. The corners of her lips twitched. Sometimes the idiot did have a brain.
"Sprog! Don't!"
Her heels clicked as she ran up the bridge and onto the ship when suddenly a tall figure landed in front of her. Before she had time to react, a knife was pressed to her throat.
"Sprog!" Her Captain screamed loudly and could he― was it a shred of concern she detected in his voice?
The tall man with pale hair grinned wide, showing rows of equally sharp teeth like her Captain. His brown gloved hand grabbed her and spun her around and locked her back to his chest, pressing his knife at her throat.
Captain Eater quickly drew a hidden gun from his pocket and pointed it toward the man keeping her hostage. "Let her go!" He snarled, baring his teeth.
"Isn't it lil' ol' Eater. Finally got some lasses to the team?" His teeth pressed against her ear as he grinned wide. "Never thought I would see the day when ye finally got some bitches to screw." His tongue darted out and licked slowly the shell of her ear. Her spine went stiff.
"Shut up!" He pulled the hammer and it clicked. "Release her!"
"I wouldn't do 'hat if I were ye."
A similar click sounded and her gaze moved toward the shadows. A silhouette stood within the darkness and pointed a gun toward Captain Eater. The silhouette moved out from the shadows casted by the main sail and stepped into the moonlight, revealing dark hair with white high light. Equally red eyes as her Captain stared at him with his gun pointed toward him.
"Asura." Captain Eater spat out his name. " Bilge rats. Get down from me mast."
Loud feminine laughter aroused in the air. "So ye found us?" A very feminine voice spoke. Quickly followed three thumps and right behind the man named Asura stood three proud and terrifying women.
Her eyes almost bulged out of their sockets and she was sure she'd passed out. Sure she was riding on the clouds of dreams because there was no way in front of her stood her idols, the three women she'd always dreamt of joining and the women she strived to be like. The three sisters she'd seen in pictures and heard so much in form of stories her grandma told her about. They were only a few yards away from her!
"I was surprised at yer new recruits. I never thought ye would actually hire women, Soul Eater." A very elegant and fierce woman dressed in black and brown said, curling a black hair strand around her black glove. She recognized her as Arachne. The spider queen, she would devour every man on the battlefield like a black widow. Simply roll them in and once they were caught in her web, consume them when their backs were turned.
"Don't call me that. Where's the rest of me crew?!" Captain Eater barked at Arachne.
"Ye've better things to think about than yer crew." Asura interjected and a large smirk grew on his face. "Ye should prepare yerself to die." He turned his face toward the man keeping Maka hostage. "Giriko."
"With pleasure." She felt his grip on her waist tighten and his knife broke her skin. She gasped loudly and hot blood ran down her cold neck, mixing with the rain.
"Ye wouldn't dare!" Captain Eater tightened his hold on his gun and narrowed his eyes. "I'll rip ye apart!"
Maka had never seen her Captain this passionate about his crew. Ever. Not even when Akane, Harvar and Clay bit the dust and fell in combat, she'd never seen him so determined and unfearful and like a true Captain.
"I wouldn't if I were ye." Asura smirked with satisfaction toward her Captain. "Ye're outnumbered. If ye shoot Giriko, I'll shoot ye before ye've released the trigger."
Captain Eater narrowed his eyes. His jaw visibly tightening.
The Gorgon Trio worked efficiently on retrieving the bridge from the port and raising the sails, determined to leave the port so no one would interfere with their plans. A glance at the sea she could see the figure of another large ship. It had to be Arachnophobia.
Maka couldn't simply let herself be used against her Captain. She couldn't play damsel in distress. It was five against one, they could've a better chance if it was two against five. They were both skilled with swords. The problem was they hadn't any other weapons than the hammer in Captain Eater's sock and his gun, did she forget to mention they stood in front of the legendary swordwoman trio of all time?!
But she had to give it a shot. She wouldn't surrender without a fight!
She tightened her hands and stomped hard on Giriko's foot. He hollered in pain and flopped over her back. Quickly she slapped away the knife and whirled around and thrusted her palm at his nose, a horrible crack and she knew she'd broken his nose. He doubled over in pain and released the knife.
"Bitch! Fucking slut!" He screamed, clutching his bloody nose.
She didn't pay him any attention, she leapt for the knife and pressed it against his throat.
Quickly her Captain pointed his gun toward Asura and at the same time, the trio drew their guns. Arachne and the woman with the long braid, Shaula, pointed their guns at her Captain while the third one, Medusa, pointed hers toward her.
"What a fierce little girl ye have." Medusa spoke up and her yellow snake eyes narrowed. "Too bad she'll end up at the bottom of the sea."
"It will be ye, ye biscuit eaters!"
"Don't ye see?" Asura tilted his head. "Ye're outnumbered. Ye know why we're here."
Captain Eater stayed silent, pointing his gun intensely at the man.
"Drop the weapons, or I'll shoot ye both."
"If you shoot!" Maka yelled, pressing the knife hard against his throat. "I'll kill him!"
Medusa broke out laughing heartily. "Ye don't have the guts. A young foolish girl like ye play pirate? Ye couldn't take a life even if yer life depended on it."
Her jaw tightened. It was true. She wasn't able to kill Free even after he'd killed Harvar, Akane and Clay. She knew, even if Giriko was a creepy pervert who liked licking strange girl's ears, she wouldn't be able to kill him. She didn't have it in her to ruthlessly take a life even if it meant she would save other people from dying on his swords, she still couldn't do it.
"Sprog." Captain Eater's voice missed the hostility he'd directed toward Asura. "Ye fought well." He redirected his barrel toward the sky visibly surrounding.
"Cap―"
"But sometimes ye got to know when to quit." He dropped his weapon and it banged on the floor, echoing in her mind of her Captain's defeat. He held his hands in the air and stared deeply into her eyes, waiting for her to do the same.
She sighed loudly and her heart fell to her stomach when she removed the knife from Giriko's throat, it slid from her hand and rattled when it hit the ground.
Asura gazed toward the Trio of sisters and nodded toward her Captain. Immediately they put their guns in their holsters and went calmly toward him.
"Ye fucking bitch!" Giriko stood up and his nose was visibly crooked and his jaw covered in his blood. "Ye'll pay for this." He punched her hard in the eye to the sound of her Captain's screams. Roughly she hit the ground, painfully she gritted her teeth and clutched her throbbing. Captain Eater stepped forward and Asura pressed the muzzle to his temple.
"One more step an' I'll blow yer head off." He spoke with such calm her hair on her arms rose. "Take off all of ye weapons."
"I don't have—"
"I've known ye for years an' both ye and I know it's a lie."
Medusa strolled over to her with a large smirk on her face, grabbing her arms and locking them behind her back. It was useless to fight.
Captain Eater rolled his eyes and complied. He began to discard the hammer he'd hid in his sock, dropping it in front of him. Asura cocked his eyebrow and Captain Eater sighed in response. He began to pull screwdrivers out of his waistband, a pocketknife from his pocket, matches from his other pocket and plenty more. He dumped the oddest things and the pile on the ground grew. She knew her Captain would be prepared, but he'd a ridiculous amount hidden on him and she'd no clue how she couldn't have felt his screwdrivers poke at her when they danced.
Lastly he pulled a spoon hidden under his tie, a spoon. Hidden under a tie! It tumbled down the large pile on the floor in front of him.
"That's the last one."
"An' where's the clue?"
"I have no clue what ye're talking 'bout—"
Asura slapped him with his gun and Captain Eater head whipped painfully toward the side.
"Captain!" Maka exclaimed and wiggled in Medusa's grip. Medusa's fingers grabbed a fistful of hair and yanked it roughly.
"Shut up an' let the Captains finish." She growled in her ear. "Ye will have plenty of time together before ye die." She chuckled sinisterly in her ear.
And this was one of the women she adored so much.
"Fine." Captain Eater dug into his suit and retrieved the cloth. "This's the clue." He held the clue toward him. "Don't ask me what it means because I don't know."
Maka's heart dropped at the view of Asura snatching the clue from his hands. They'd worked so hard at gaining the clue. They'd sailed day and night and Maka risked getting caught and brought back to her aristocrat lifestyle, and he was simply letting all of that hard work go?
"You can't give it to him!" Medusa yanked in her hair roughly. Her tooth bit down on her pale lip when pain exploded at her hair roots. "After all we've done, you're just going to give up?!"
"Shut up Sprog!" Captain Eater screamed at her. "Ye don't know anything!"
She grew silent. Her Captain didn't even dare to look her in her eyes. Maybe she'd been too hard on him. This must be even more painful to him than it was to her. He'd chased Oni's Treasure for years. Losing the clue to Shibusen's enemy must be tearing his heart into pieces.
"Gorgon, ye tie the two up in the cabin, Giriko, get the explosives." Asura commanded and Arachne and Shaula immediately neared her Captain. They roughly ripped his arms behind his back.
"Aye aye Captain!" Giriko had a large shit-eating grin on his face. "Finally time to blow the two shits into pieces."
Medusa hoisted Maka up on her feet and the Gorgon Trio led her and Captain Eater toward his cabin. The inside looked as if a hurricane had swept through. Furniture were tumbled over, books recklessly cast-off on the ground. From a chair's leg hung rope, waiting for them. Shaula grabbed the rope and first bind their hands together behind their backs before she bound her and her Captain back to back.
The two girls quickly left, leaving Medusa behind with them. She sighed with content as she crossed her arms over her chest. "There is no use escaping." She spoke with pride. "Everything sharp is gone. If ye don't die from the explosion, ye'll go down with the ship an' drown." A sigh escaped her lips. "I never thought I would see the day when finally the infamous pirate Captain Soul Eater would be defeated and Shinigami would collect his soul."
Captain Eater stayed quiet.
Maka wanted to say something, do something. She couldn't die now!
Medusa turned and waved over her shoulder. "Ta ta, sleep well with the fishes." The door slammed shut behind her.
If there was just something she could do, anything! They were surrounded by water with explosives on the ship ready to blow everybody up. If only she had something— oh.
"Sprog." Captain Eater spoke. "Can you see anything sharp on your side?"
Her eyes scanned every surface of the room. Everything was a mess. Through the mess she was no item of use. She shook her head violently. "No, I can't see anything of use." She wiggled in the ropes. If she could only—
"Shit" He sighed and wiggled in the ropes. "I can break my thumbs. That would give me more wiggle-room to free my hands." His words were rapidly spoken and his voice contained so much desperation. As if they were hanging on a thin thread ready to break at any given moment. "Listen Maka, there is something I have to tell you. I'm not who you think I—"
"I have a knife on me."
His words were cut off. Silent hung in the air.
"… You do? Where?"
Her face flushed a bright red. Her body ran hot with embarrassment. She was definitely not cold any more. "I-I need your h-help getting to it." She swallowed loudly. "We need to stand up."
"Right."
She parted her legs and gained a solid and stable footing. "We stand up on three. One, two, three." Slowly they rose on their feet not to accidentally make the other fall.
"What now?"
She couldn't believe what she was going to say. "Umm," Her flush was burning her face. "M-my skirt."
"Your skirt?" He asked questioningly. "What about it? Maka we don't have enough time for this."
"T-this is relevant." Her hands balled behind her back. "Y-you need to p-pull up my skirt."
"If this is some sort of—"
"It's not! J-just pull it up!"
"Alright fine." His hands fisted the material. Fingers clawed at her silk skirt and slowly reeled it up. The hem of the skirt caressed her exposed calves, knees and then, thighs. "What now?" He questioned when the skirt brushed against her rear.
"U-um… just let me—" She struggled. The fabric in his hands created a silk cage, making it impossible for her to reach her goal. "C-Captain." She stuttered and she squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't believe how she'd been stuck in this situation. "H-hand me the skirt."
His hair brushed her neck and she felt how he nodded. Carefully he passed the balled material of her skirt to her. "What now?"
Her eyes wandered around the Captain's Cabin as if there was a shred of hope of finding something else to cut the ropes with. As if there would be some other way to free themselves without using her secret weapon.
"Y-you… Um…" She gulped loudly. "Y-you need to… y-y must…" Her nails dug into the fine silk. "N-need to… move m-my p-panties."
"Wait. What?!"
She gulped. "Y-you heard me!"
"Are you…? There…?"
Her neck was flaming hot and her throat was drier than a desert. "Just do it!"
"Fine." Tentatively, his long fingers reached out to her and they wandered up her thigh. Maka bit her lower lip when his fingertips found her panties. Carefully Captain Eater peeled aside her panties and held them out of the way, trying not to touch her as much as he could.
It was her signal. She squeezed. Tensing all her muscles and she felt it move. She squeezed her lower belly and with a gasp, a loud clang echoed loudly in the Captain's Cabin.
"What… in Shinigami's name—"
"Shut up!" Maka exclaimed and she lowered her head at the brown leather holder. "You're not to ever mention this to anyone!" She slapped his hand from her undergarment and released the skirt of her dress. Roughly she pulled at the ropes and bend down, forcing her Captain with her.
"Look, you're one hard-core woman for… you know." He spoke as she grasped the leather bag and flipped the lock of it open. "I'm not going to tell as long as you don't tell about what happened at the ball."
Nothing of importance even happened. He proved to be not so much of a heartless monster by giving her his suit jacket to cover herself from the rain. It was a pretty small thing to keep as a secret unlike her hidden weapon.
"Deal." Her nails clawed at the warm metal inside of the leather bag. With a little shift of the angles, she managed to slip it out. With a quick wave of the handle, the metal shriek when the blade slipped from the handle. With care she angled the blade in her hand so the blade rested against the ropes tied around her wrists. She started to cut through the ropes, moving the blade up and down.
"Are you cutting it?" Captain Eater spoke with anticipation in his voice.
"Yes." She narrowed her eyebrows in concentration. The sound of strings of the ropes breaking forced her to cut faster.
"Hurry up. The explosives could go off at any given moment."
"I'm doing the best I can." Few cuts later, she ripped at the rope and they tore. Quickly she wiggled her arms from the ropes tying them together. It was easier to cut through the ropes with her hands free. In mere seconds of intensive sawing, the first rope broke and instantly Captain Eater ripped the ropes from them.
As soon as her eyes locked with his, reality of his knowledge of her hidden weapon made her blush once again. He would forever know about the secret place of her most secret weapon. As on instinct, she flipped the blade into the handle and hid it at the side of her corset.
"Let's get those explosives off the ship." He spoke quickly and both sprinted to the door. Captain Eater busted through the door and instantly the view of barrels at every corner of the two upper decks made her heart freeze. Her eyes quickly wandered toward the string with the small fire slowly approaching the large barrels of explosive.
"Quickly!" He yelled and headed toward the closest barrel right next to her hatchet. "Dump the explosives in the sea!"
"Right!" Quickly she ran toward the other one. Her hands immediately gripped at the barrel and she lifted it, only it was lifted about three inches. Her hands caved in and the barrel slammed on the wooden floor again. A splash caught her attention and she saw the barrel her Captain had run toward was gone, heading toward the next one.
Unlike her Captain, she hadn't the muscles to lift them alone over the railing and dump them into the ocean.
Think. Think! Think! She could come up with something!
She stared at the red flame on the black string nearing the wooden surface of the barrel in rapid speed. If only she could—
She could.
Quickly she fished up her hidden knife and flipped the blade from its handle. With one swift move, she cut of the string and threw the fire end into the ocean, successfully defusing the explosive.
Her Captain dumped another barrel into the ocean as she moved toward the next. As he lifted the barrels, heaving a loud groan before he threw them over the railing into the sea, she cut every threatening fire end of the strings. With one quick glance from her Captain, she knew he would take the upstairs at the steering wheel while she took the front. They split and ran up the stairs of their floors.
They worked perfectly together. Only with one glance they understood the other's intentions and plans, quickly understanding what needed to be done.
Maka leapt to the last barrel as the fire spark was so close, so close toward the end of it. The string became far too short for her to cut it off. Without a shred of thought, she grasped the fire and squeezed hard, flame stung her for only a second. Carefully, she opened her hand smoke rose from the extinguished string.
"Did you take care of every barrel?" Captain Eater screamed from the upper deck on the rear part of the ship.
She smiled wide and gave him her thumb up. "Yes! Every single one of them!"
In return he grinned wide, showing off every single razor sharp tooth of his. Both of them went down the stairs and they met at the main mast. "Can you do me one last favour?"
She cocked her eyebrow questioningly. "It depends on what you're asking for."
"Free the rest of the crew. Get Kid to check the rest of the explosives if he could use them, then you're free to grab some dinner and go to bed." He paused. "Can you do it?"
"Yes, but are you sure they're here?" She gestured toward the ship. "I haven't heard them or even seen them. Couldn't Arachnophobia have left them on the harbour?"
"No. A Captain and the crew go down with the ship." Slowly he started to backpedal away from her. "Number one rule of piracy." He flipped around and headed toward his nest. "You don't need to give me any dinner. I'm going to rest."
He headed inside of his nest and silently closed the door behind him.
