Hina of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Tama
Chapter 11
The Calm Before the Storm
Drill Bit slapped the mop down on the hardwood floor as he and Calvin were mopping at the brig. Kitsune, Su, Motoko, Mutsumi and the rest of the crew in one cage, Keitaro alone in the other.
"Myuh!" Tama-chan mewed, "Shiver me timbers!"
"Mutsumi says you missed a bit," Su translated. This got a jab from the mop in response.
Keitaro then leaned forward in his cell. "You knew my OC father?"
Drill Bit and Calvin turned to him with unchanged faces. "You mean Bootstrap Kei?" Drill Bit clarified, "Yeah, we knew him. He was never too happy with what we did to Alias. You know the mutiny and all. He said it wasn't right with the code and that we should be grateful for him creating us at all. That's why he sent his piece off to you. He said we deserved to be cursed for our treason."
"Stupid sympathizer," Calvin muttered.
"Good man," Kitsune corrected with a solemn face.
"As I was saying," Drill Bit continued. "Now as you can guess, that didn't go so well with Nomar."
"Didn't go so well with Nomar at all," Calvin repeated. "Tell them what he did to him."
"I'm telling the story here!" Drill Bit snapped before turning back to Keitaro. "So you see, what Nomar did, was strapping a cannon to Bootstrap's bootstraps. And the last we saw of him, he was sinking into the deep, black oblivion. … Course it was only after that we found out that we needed his blood to lift the curse."
"That my friends, is a true example of irony," Calvin finished with a nod of the head.
They all then swiftly turned at the sound of footsteps to see Nomar, Doberman and Hotshot.
"Bring him," Nomar demanded as he tossed the keys to them.
Late that night on the Dauntless, Naru was leaning over the rail as they silently approached the island. She was dressed in a soldier's uniform. (It was the only thing available at the time.) Then I came up beside her.
"I see you haven't told them about the curse yet," I said.
"I could say the same for you," she spoke back.
"Well at least I have a reason. I'm just lucky they trusted me far enough to this island. What about you?"
"… Well it's not like they'll believe me. That all you wanted to talk about?"
"… Well no," I replied as I grabbed my own chin in a thinking position. "I needed to talk to you about what will happen when the story ends."
"Everything's just going to go back to normal like all stories do, right?"
"Not quite. You see, Miss Narusegawa, when this is all over, be it by my death or otherwise, all the memories of everyone involved will have to be reset so as not effect your world or its series. But I can't afford you or Keitaro to forget anytime soon."
"So… what are you going to do?"
"…Well you see, I plan on having you, Su and Keitaro still remember. But I need you to pretend not to remember at all. For all they'll know, your mind will have been wiped too."
"But, why do you need me to pretend?"
"…Quite truthfully, I have no idea. But we'll see as life passes on."
With that, I left her and went to a small party of filled rowboats, one being headed by Kentaro. And with that, we left to the Tama.
Kentaro looked through a spyglass to see lights still on aboard the ship.
"I don't care what the situation is," he notified, "any plan of going into the cave could lead into an ambush."
I then tapped his shoulder for attention. "Yes, but you could be doing the ambushing. Here's how it's gonna go. I go in, I convince Nomar to send his men out in their boats. In the meantime, you all go back to the Dauntless and wait for them to come out. When they do, bada-bing bada-boom with the cannons and there ya go. Destroyed, dead, done. Whadya gotta lose?"
"Nothing I'd be sorry to do so," Kentaro muttered as he shoved my hand off of his shoulder.
"Now, I'd to be honest with you on this. Despite this plan, there are still chances of casualties. And that includes the future Mrs. Commodore," I pointed out with a smile.
"I'm sorry, but it's for your own safety," a soldier pleaded to the thrashing girl being shoved into the captain's quarters.
"But he has to know!" Naru shouted. "The pirates! They're cursed! They can't be killed!"
"Oh don't worry, we already know;" the soldier replied. "A mermaid flopped up on deck and told us the whole story," he said with a smirk. He then closed the door and locked it.
"Graaaah!" she shouted. "Alias! I should've known you'd do this!"
Keitaro was being shoved along by Calvin and Drill Bit as Nomar led them in tossing a truffle up and down in his hand.
"Don't worry kid," Calvin comforted. "A slice of the palm, a couple wipes of blood,"
"Not this time!" Hotshot interrupted as he began to shove Keitaro by his own. "We can't afford another mistake. Besides, he's only half Urashima. We spill it all!" he finished an evil smile.
"Hmm. Guess there is reason to worry," Drill Bit said before they both laughed.
Soon enough, the ritual was in full swing as I arrived, weaving my way through the crowd causing a wave of amazement.
"Begun by blood," Nomar began, "by blood… un… done." His eyes were as wide as they ever had been as he saw me making my way to him and Keitaro who was shoved over the chest with his neck about to be cut. "…This… This isn't possible!" he said in amazement.
"Not probable!" I corrected.
Keitaro then rose as high as he could. "Alias! Where's Naru?"
"She's safe," I assured. "It's just like I promised. She's all set to marry Kentaro like she promised, and you're about to die for her like you promised. So really, we're all men of our word…. Except for Naru who is a woman but that's excusable."
"Shut up brat! You're next!" Nomar shouted as Doberman placed a paw on my shoulder to keep me still. Nomar then raised the knife.
"You might not wanna do that just yet," I warned.
Nomar then looked at me like I was crazy, which really too far off. "No I really think I do."
"Do what?"
"This."
"What's this?"
"Errrragh! Shut up! … … … Why shouldn't I do this yet?"
"I'll tell you why. If someone removes their paw!" Doberman did so and then I continued making my way up to the chest. "You see, right now, as we speak, the H.M.S Dauntless, the current pride of the royal navy, is waiting just outside. For you."
Kentaro and his men were positioned outside the cave entrance hidden. In one boat were the two dipsticks.
"What are we doing here?" Shirai asked.
"Here's how it works," Hitani replied. "The pirates come out, unprepared and unaware. We catch them in a crossfire, and send them down to the sea floor."
"…I know why we are here, but why aren't we what Alias said we should do? With the cannons and all?"
"Because it was Alias who said it," Kentaro spoke with malice.
Shirai then looked confused. "Do you think he wasn't telling the truth?"
"Listen just hear me out here." I said to Nomar. "You send your men to the Dauntless, they do what they do best, mom's your uncle, daddy's your aunt, and there you go. Two ships. The makings of your own fleet. Now obviously you get the better ship as your flagship, I mean who can argue with that? But then what of the Tama? Make me captain of the Tama, I'll fly under your colors, find a way to get us home, give you 10 percent of all my plunder, and then you get to introduce yourself at tea parties as Commodore Nomar. Savvy?"
"And I guess in return you don't want me to kill the kid?"
"Oh no by all means, kill the kid." At this Keitaro was shocked. "Just, not yet. Wait until, the opportune moment. Like for example:" I then picked up four coins from the chest and jingled them in my hand. "When you've killed off all of Kentaro's men. Every, clink, last, clink, one. Clink." Now finished, I waved my hand open to show it empty. Meanwhile, Keitaro was finishing putting the pieces together.
"You planned this all along! Ever since you found out you lost your powers!"
"…Yeah, pretty much."
Nomar then decided for some haggling. "I want 50 percent of your plunder."
"15."
"40."
"25. And I'll throw in a nice hat! Nice and big with a feather in it! Whatdya say? Commodore?"
Nomar smiled as they shook hands. "We have a deal!"
"Marvelous!" I said with a smile. I then turned to the crew. "All hands to the boats!" I then realized my mistake. "Oh, um, oh, ah… sorry. Caught up in the moment. You give the orders here."
Nomar then smiled. "Gentlemen, take a walk."
All people then started to leave as my smile faltered. "…Not to the boats?"
All of the men, including Kentaro were confused at what they were seeing. On a rowboat was what looked like two ladies. Each had a parasol in their hands and one was waving a fan while the other was rowing. But the night was too dark to make out anything else. As for the two 'ladies' themselves, Drill Bit rowed in increasing anger. Calvin was more relaxed as he talked quietly.
"You know, this just like what the Greeks done in Troy. You know, without the wooden horse and instead in dresses."
'Remain calm,' Drill Bit thought. 'Don't snap. Your humanity is riding on this. You can regain your dignity later.
Haruka arrived at the door to the captain's quarters and knocked slightly.
"Naru? I just wanted to let you know how happy I am for your decision today. I couldn't be more proud. But still, if a decision is made for the wrong reasons, that makes it a wrong decision. So I'm just wondering if you……Naru are you even listening to me?"
She entered to see no Naru, and the window was open with tied bed sheets trailing down as a rope. She frowned hard at this. "Now look at what you've gotten yourself into."
Meanwhile, the lieutenant of the ship pulled out a spyglass to get a better look at what was coming to the boat. It was what appeared to be two ladies in a rowboat. He then heard a silent 'yoo-hoo!' from one of them. Nobody noticed the skeletal pirates that arrived from the waters except those who were already killed by them as they swept like a plague.
As for the 'ladies', Calvin waved his fan as he called out again. "Yoo-hoo!"
"Oh, would you please stop it?" Drill Bit demanded angrily. "I feel like an idiot enough."
"…You look nice though," Calvin spoke.
Drill Bit smiled in fake agreement before he suddenly ditched the parasol and throttled his partner. "I look nice?" he shouted as he snapped. "Do I look nice to you?!?"
That's when they noticed that they were exposed. Drill Bit then pulled out a pistol and shot with expert aim. The bullet whizzed and hit the surprised lieutenant's hat off. Said man turned just in time to see the pirates attack.
Haruka then poked her head out the door, also to see the pirates. To say she wasn't surprised would be a lie. So she just silently closed the door pulling her head back in.
Back in the cave, Keitaro was standing with his hands tied and guarded by two pirates. Nomar was lying down as he waited to finally be able to live again. I was just shifting through the treasure and occasionally slipped something into a pocket of mine. Nomar lifted his head to look at me.
"You know Alias, I must admit, I thought I had you figured out. But it turns out you're a hard man to predict."
I dropped a statue I was holding as I turned to reply. "Not quite true Nomar. You see, I'm a Fanfiction author. That means I'm a dishonest person. And a dishonest person you can always predict to be dishonest. Honestly! You see it's the honest ones that are hard to predict. Because you honestly can't predict, when they're gonna do something honestly stupid. Like for example!"
I then knocked over a nearby pirate after taking his sword and then I tossed it to Keitaro. He caught it and knocked over the pirate, who then slashed his sword, only to cut Keitaro's ropes. Nomar finally caught up with what happened and pulled out his own sword in defense as I charged towards him. We clanged blades in every direction before I suddenly sliced off the bulge of his pompadour. I laughed in victory before I noticed that Nomar was now angrier than ever.
Keitaro meanwhile was facing an unfair fight. He was dealing against two pirates and was barely able to dodge much less attack. He then turned and was surprised. It was the bomb pirate that got the best of him at Port Hinata. He swung his blade forward as he now started to fight three on one.
Nomar and I were constantly outdoing the other with all kinds of moves and tricks, but the both of us tried to stay in the dark. Our blades crashed together having us go up close.
"Heh he," Nomar chuckled. "You're off the edge of the map creator. Here there be monsters!"
Date of Update: 01/02/06
Sorry I'm late everyone! But I was too busy with finishing The Naruto Before Christmas on Christmas day. … And failed miserably. But still. So, I hope after that long hiatus, that you still like the story. Especially since it will end in two chapters. Take care!
The Unknown Alias status: signed out.
