Alright, I hope you guys are ready for another ride

Symphony of Stardust

Chapter 10: Pirates

Shulk covered up a yawn as he gazed out into the endless sea before him. Having lived at an inn most of his life, Shulk had practically grown up on tales told by traders and other such travelers coming in from the port town. The stories were plentiful and varied, from hard-fought struggles to get through terrible storms to epic battles with giant sea monsters. To even the cheesy romance stories about lovers out at sea that Fiora always enjoyed.

What all these stories omitted, however, were the looong days stuck on a glorified floating barrel with nothing to do but stare out into the empty blue void.

The sailor's life, as it turns out, was pretty dull.

With Robin's crew taking care of all the necessities of voyaging across the ocean, Shulk had quickly run out of things to do to pass the time. He couldn't even partake in one of his favorite pastimes of studying his prized relic, without one of the crew members peering greedily over his shoulder. Conversation, it seems, was about the only activity Shulk could comfortably partake in on this ship, but even that had its limits.

Corrin hadn't been in a good mood since the voyage started, so he was giving her some space for the time being. Unless she asked for his company, of course.

Akira was an option, but Shulk knew from experience that he wasn't much for small talk. And besides that, he didn't seem to require a companion as desperately as Shulk was at the moment. Last he saw him; the frizzy-haired boy had been occupying himself by carving doodles into the walls of the ship with his knife (hopefully with permission). Shulk thought it best not to intrude.

Then there was the crew itself which, needless to say, Shulk was not eager to strike up a conversation with.

And of course, there was Lucina, who… actually, come to think of it, where was she? Shulk didn't recall seeing her that morning. Odd, the young princess had been the most vocal about her growing boredom throughout the trip. He'd have thought he'd have seen her wandering the ship by now. He should probably make sure she hasn't gotten into some kind of trouble…

"Enjoying the view?"

Shulk straightened up as the ship's Captain himself approached. "Ah! Captain! Good morning, Sir!"

The Captain returned his greeting with an easy smile. "You're not a member of my crew, you know. Please, just call me Robin."

"Er, alright, Robin, Sir," Shulk replied awkwardly. Being on a first-name basis with the Captain of a pirate crew was interesting, though not something he could say he ever wanted to experience for himself. It'd probably be rude to admit as such, though. "Uh, yeah. Not a whole lot else to do, y' know?"

Captain Robin chuckled a bit. "Don't I know it. People like to romanticize the freedom of being out at sea, but realistically, it involves days upon days of being trapped on a boat with nowhere to go. Not exactly the grand adventure people like to make it out to be."

Shulk nodded. "Definitely a far cry from the stories I'd hear from traveling sailors back at Colony Nine. I'm beginning to think they used all this free time just to make up those stories."

Robin let out a hearty laugh at that. "Could be!"

Shulk let himself relax a little. Despite how he felt about the crew, Robin himself seemed like a decent bloke. He certainly didn't radiate the same rough and shady aura many members of his crew did. Really, aside from his long coat and the cutlass sheathed at his side, Robin didn't match Shulk's mental image of a pirate captain at all. He might not have believed it if he hadn't seen the man giving out orders to the others all through their voyage.

"Ah, right. If you don't mind my asking, have you seen Lucina around today? I haven't seen her all morning."

Robin thought for a few seconds. "I believe last I saw her, she was climbing the rigging up to the crow's nest."

Shulk's eyes widened. "What?! All by herself?! She could've fallen off and hurt herself! Or worse!"

The Captain shrugged helplessly. "Don't look at me; it's not like I gave her permission." Robin sighed when Shulk's worried look didn't fade. "Relax. She made it up just fine. Gari's on watch right now, so he's probably been keeping her entertained up there."

The Captain's words reassured him a little, but still… "And you're sure this Gari fellow is trustworthy?"

Robin shrugged. "Hard to say. He doesn't exactly act like it, but that hardly means to judge someone in our line of work." He raised his hands defensively at Shulk's somewhat sharp look. "Again, relax. Even if he wanted to hurt her, it's not like he could do anything without everyone on the ship noticing. She's fine."

Shulk shifted uncomfortably, sending glances up toward the crow's nest. "I sure hope so." Maybe he should go up and check on her later, just to be safe…

Lucine covered up a yawn as she gazed out into the endless sea before her. "I'm so booored."

"Mm. Join the crew, dearie." Gari idly replied as he gazed out into the horizon through his telescope.

Lucina bolted up. "Join the crew? Can I?!" She didn't really want to be a pirate if this was what their day-to-day life was like, but she was sure the look on her brother's face would be priceless when he learned she'd become an official scallywag!

Her hopes were dashed rather quickly, however. "That, my dear Blueberry, was a figure of speech."

Lucina slumped back against the edge of the crow's nest. "Awww…"

"Mmm. You must have quite the wealth of free time if you're up here vying for my attention."

"Well, yeah. I've seen you put on shows for the other crew members before. I thought you'd be more fun." She had heard Gari had been a wandering street performer before joining this pirate crew, and she could totally see it. From his lanky form to his performances and even just his general demeanor. Gari greatly reminded her of some of the jesters she'd seen at festivals back home. All he was missing was a funny outfit and a hat to complete the image.

The corners of Gari's mouth quirked up a bit. "I do like to think I have a finer taste for entertainment than the rest of the sea dogs on this vessel. Be that as it may, I'm currently on watch, and thus cannot relieve you of your growing boredom at this time."

Lucina let out a groan. "I didn't think sailing out at sea would be so…"

"Dreadfully dull?" Gari helpfully provided.

"I was hoping we'd be doing cool adventure-y things! Like searching for lost treasure! Or fighting duels with pirates or something!" She complained.

"Well," Gari leisurely waved his hand over the edge of the crow's nest. "If it's a duel with a pirate you want, you could always try tagging one of the crewmates down there with an arrow. That should start something just fine."

Lucina puffed out her cheeks. "Different pirates…"

Gari just shrugged.

They fell back into awkward silence after that, only broken up by the sounds of the wind blowing through the sails and the crew mingling down below. After a few more minutes of staring out at the blank ocean, Lucina broke the silence again.

"…Can I at least get a turn with the telescope?"

Gari shrugged, "Sure," and carelessly tossed the instrument her way. "Don't expect the view to be too much more riveting, though."

Lucina caught the telescope and eagerly began fiddling with it. Meanwhile, Gari casually leaned back against the edge and started playing with a knife. She wasn't sure where he got it from–he didn't have any visible pouches on his person like Akira did–but she didn't pay it too much mind.

"So," Gari began as he idly twiddled the knife through his fingers. "Where is it you and your merry little band are heading?"

Lucina answered while looking through the telescope. "Akira says I shouldn't tell anyone on the ship anything about ourselves."

"Fair enough, fair enough. How about an unrelated inquiry then?" Gari threw a glance over the edge to the deck down below. "What are your thoughts on our dear captain?"

"Captain Robin?" She replied curiously. "He seems kinda nice. Nicer than I thought a pirate captain would be." Honestly, Captain Robin reminded her a bit of the professor. Not so much in appearance or demeanor, just a vague feeling he gave off. "And he doesn't give me the creeps like everyone else on the ship does."

"Oh? Does that include me?" Gari raised an eyebrow.

Lucina shrugged. "Yeah, you're kinda weird."

Gari brought a hand up to his chest in faux pain. "Ah! Your biting words! Oh, how they rend my heart asunder!" Lucina didn't so much as glance back at his overly dramatic display. "But I digress, I can't help but agree with your assessment. Strange, don't you think? Tales are told of our dear Captain, spoken in hushed whispers told in just about every port town this sea touches. They call him a ruthless tactician, a shrewd swindler, and a dark mage of phenomenal power."

"And yet," Gari pocketed his knife (she didn't know where). He crossed his arms, "here he is, escorting a wayward party of children and a dragon, for hardly the price it's worth, all the way across the sea. All at the request of that goody-goody mercenary he's been sharing his bed with. Not that I don't get what our dear Captain sees in him~" Gari licked his lips a little at that last remark.

Lucina, for her part, was only listening to Gari with half an ear. 'Captain Robin shares his bed with Chrom? That's nice of him, with how cramped this ship is and all.'

"But alas, it seems I've missed out on witnessing the legendary Grim Captain who garners fear and respect from all who live by the ocean's graces! How very disheartening for an aspiring swashbuckler such as I! Oh! How the sea gods must have forsaken me!"

"Hey, Gari?" She asked, not taking her eyes off the horizon.

"Yes, my oh-so-attentive Blueberry?"

"What does the watchmen do if they see another ship out on the ocean?"

"Well, first and foremost, we'd inform the captain." He responded casually.

"Mm, we should probably tell the captain, then."

"Hm?" He raised an eyebrow. Lucina finally looked back at him and pointed at where her telescope was facing. She passed him the telescope, and Gari discovered what her eyes had been trained on. "Well, would you look at that. It looks like you might get that pirate battle you wanted after all."

Without a hint of concern, Gari cupped a hand over his face and leaned over the edge.

"Ohhh, Captaaaiiiin~! 3"

Shulk and Robin had settled into a relatively cordial conversation by the time the call came from above. Shulk sent Robin a questioning glance, to which the Captain merely shrugged before calling back. "What's up, Gari?"

"Ship spotted in the distance, Sir!" came the flamboyant pirate's a-bit-too-happy reply. "About thirty degrees off our port side, give or take. Flying the Jolly Roger and sailing our way!"

Shulk's eyes widened. "Is this bad?"

"That depends," Robin replied calmly before calling back up to Gari. "Can you see what flag they're flying?"

"Looks to be the flag of Kremling Krew!"

Murmurs erupted among the crew around deck. Robin began rubbing his chin pensively. "That could be bad." At Shulk's questioning look, he elaborated. "The Kremlings are reptilian beastmen, under the leadership of Kaptain K. Rool. They've earned a reputation for being wanton pillagers who aren't afraid to throw their weight around."

"So we're in for a fight, then?" Shulk asked worriedly.

"Maybe, but we'll try to avoid it if we can." He raised his voice to address his crew. "Listen up, everyone! I'm going to invoke the right of parley!"

"But, Sir…!" A member of his crew spoke out. "Jus' imagine how high our reputations would soar if we were to take out the legendary Kremling captain!" A lopsided grin crossed the lackey's face, and Shulk noted he was missing a tooth or three. "Not to mention the crazy loot we could get off him. I hear those beasties 'ave gathered all manner of rare and exotic trinkets, some o' them magic, even!" Some of the crew members voiced their agreement at the idea, greed evident in their expressions.

Akira stood up from where he had previously been carving a picture of a cat into the side of the ship (again, hopefully with permission), and stealthily made his way to Shulk's side.

"Not worth the risk," Robin responded frankly. "K. Rool is a notoriously powerful criminal, and we're escorting civilians. We negotiate, see if we can cut a deal and send him on his way."

A scoff sounded out from the side. Shulk followed the source of the noise to find another crewmate, sitting on a barrel near the ship's edge. The man was big and burly and covered in scars, both on his face and on his exposed arms. A scowl dominated his unevenly shaved face.

Robin frowned. "Do you have an objection?"

"…Not at all, Sir." The pirate replied, putting harsh emphasis on the 'sir.'

Robin crossed his arms. "If you take issue with my orders, by all means, let me know. I'm always willing to hear the grievances of my crew."

"My 'grievance', Sir…" the man grumbled, "…is that this isn't the first time you've turned tail recently. Optin' out of raiding civilian ships, turnin' down profitable deals for flimsy reasons, and now you're lettin' these dogs and their cursed wench onto our ship with hardly a coin for our troubles!" Shulk flinched when the man pointed in their direction. He was glad Corrin didn't seem to be on deck at the moment, though she might've still heard them with how much his voice was rising… "Our haul's been getting' smaller an' smaller, and you want us to just raise the white flag when a gold mine lies right in our path?!"

"Hey now," came the authoritative voice of Chrom as he stepped into the fray. "Your leader has given a sound order after taking all the details of the situation into consideration. If he believes a confrontation is too dangerous, I think you should count your blessings that we'll be avoiding a life-or-death encounter."

The disgruntled pirate stood up to face the swordsman. "I don't wanna hear nothin' from you, Merc! Yer likely what's been makin' our Captain go soft, to begin with! We ain't allowed to bring women on the ship, yet the Captain has you for company in his bed chambers every night! We're overdue a comeuppance, so I say we stick it to the lizards and take what we're owed!"

Several cheers of agreement broke out among the crew. Chrom looked like he was ready to argue further, but he was stopped by Robin placing a hand on his shoulder. He shook his head placatingly, then fixed his subordinate with a stern look. "We're invoking parley, that isn't up for debate. We'll see if we can strike a deal with K. Rool that will benefit us, but right now, our priority is getting to the next port without incident. Is that clear?"

The lackey sneered at his Captain, but before he could open his mouth to complain, he was cut off by another call from Gari. "Oh, gentlemen~! Hate to disrupt your compensation–oh pardon me, I meant conversation–but it looks like the choice is about to be taken out of our hands!"

"What now, Gari?" Robin called, somewhat relieved to have a distraction from that particular conversation.

"Some sort of cannon is extending from the figurehead of the ship! Looks to be magical in nature, and charging up as we speak!"

The crew members paled.

"That's insane!" Chrom exclaimed. "Does he intend to fire upon us without letting us make our case?! He must be mad!"

"Well, they don't call him Captain Cruel for nothing!" Shulk could hear the perpetual grin on Gari's face. He really didn't want Lucina spending time with that man…

To his side, Akira looked slightly perturbed. "If he blasts us away from this distance, he'll lose out on any potential cargo he could get off of us."

Robin bit his lip. "Damn. If he can afford a magical weapon of that caliber, he's clearly pretty well off already. He must only care about taking us out to boost his own reputation, or to eliminate a rival competitor..." He closed his eyes in contemplation for a few moments. With a determined nod, he raised his voice to address his now much-less-confident crew. "Steer to starboard! A weapon that can fire on us from that distance will take time to charge, and have an even longer cool-down period! Once we dodge the initial blast, that's when we make our move!"

As the panicked crew got to work, Robin passed by Shulk and Akira. "My apologies, but it looks like things are going to get a bit rough. You all should take cover below deck. And find something to hang onto." He continued by them without missing a beat, heading up to the upper deck, only pausing to tell Gari to update him when the cannon looked ready to fire.

Chrom bowed to them. "I must also give my apologies. I had hoped this would be a peaceful voyage. I didn't intend to get you mixed up in the crew's problems."

Shulk rubbed the back of his head while Akira responded. "It's fine. We knew what we were signing up for when we signed on with pirates."

Chrom rose from his bow and gave them a grateful nod. "I appreciate your understanding. Now you might want to take Robin's advice. I have a feeling I know what he's scheming."

With that, Chrom went off after Robin. Shulk turned to Akira. "I'm gonna go check up on Corrin. Can you head up to the crow's nest and make sure Lucina is alright?" With a simple nod from Akira, the two parted ways to ensure their female companions were safe and secure for whatever the Captain had planned.

'I really hope what I saw in my visions doesn't come to pass…'

Lucina couldn't contain her excitement and anticipation. Now, this was what pirate voyages were supposed to be all about! When Akira pulled himself up over the edge of the crow's nest, he was greeted with the sight of his young companion eagerly bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. At least until the changing of the ship's course forced her to grab the edge to stay upright.

Akira threw a glance at Gari, who was dutifully and eagerly keeping an eye on the faraway ship, then turned back to Lucina. "Someone is excited." He noted.

Lucina nodded excitedly. "I've never gotten to experience anything like this before! It's like something right out of Aunty Tiki's stories!" Not one of Mister Ike or Miss Byleth's stories, though. Both of them claimed they've actually fought pirates before, but Ike made his stories sound so boring, and Byleth always says she forgot most of the battles! Aunty Tiki made them sound so thrilling, though! "We're finally going to fight pirates!"

"If we don't get blown to kingdom come first, that is." Gari helpfully pointed out.

Lucina pouted. "But you said Robin was like a super-amazing pirate tactician, right? There's no way someone that cool would lose to the bad guys so easily!" She nodded to herself as if her own confirmation made the statement official. Which it totally did.

"Putting aside the obvious fact that we are not the 'good guys,' I am eager to finally witness the true Grim Captain in action firsthand." Gari chuckled to himself a bit. "Took him longer than I'd have liked, but I'll take it."

"Mm. Captain said we should get below deck, Lucina." Akira said, neutrally.

Lucina sputtered. "Wha-! B-But, the cool pirate battle!"

Akira shrugged. "Captain's rules, not mine. C'mon, let's get you down."

"You may want to put a pin in that. Looks like we're about out of time." Gari put down the telescope and leaned over the edge. "Oh, Captain~! That cannon looks ready to burst!"

Lucina and Akira peered over the edge to find the Captain standing at the front-most edge of the upper deck, perched right in front of the ship's steering wheel.

He was not merely standing idle, though. In his left hand, he held a light green tome, clearly magical in nature, and likely wind-based. Even if they didn't recognize the archaic writing scribbled in the book, they were quickly clued in by the radiant energy and turbulent winds swirling around it. Wildly flipping the pages and blowing back Robin's hair and coattails.

The pirate captain had to shout to be heard over the growing maelstrom around him. "Get ready! Everybody, brace yourselves!"

The first thing Lucina noticed was the bright flash of light, not from Robin, but from the direction of the other pirate ship. Before she had the chance to fully process it, though, Akira grabbed her shoulder and forced her down into a crouching position. Just in time for what happened next.

"ARCWIND!"

Lucina was nearly knocked even further to the ground by the sudden acceleration of the ship. Akira's iron grip on her shoulder was all that kept her from slamming into the wall of the crow's nest. Meanwhile, Gari remained standing, grabbing ahold of the mast to keep himself standing while laughing like a madman.

What followed was a rush. Intense shockwaves rocked the vessel, strange light illuminated what little she could see of the ship from her crouched position. And a tremendous roar drowned out all other sounds, even Gari's cackling.

Determined to get a glimpse of what was happening, Lucina grasped the edge of the crow's nest in a firm grip and pulled herself up just enough to peek over it.

What she saw was nothing short of incredible.

From her perspective, it was as if a rift had opened up between the sea and the sky, the two split apart by a rushing river, as concentrated as it was turbulent. The beam itself was maybe three times the width of the ship's mast, but its effects were felt far beyond its radius. She could practically taste the raw concentration of magical power from where she was. There was little doubt; if that beam had hit them head-on, there wouldn't have been anything left. And they had just barely avoided it.

Whoa.

Lucina gulped as the laser shot passed the ship. She relaxed a bit as the beam dissipated, only to tense up again at the sound of a thunderous explosion hit her ears. She whipped her head in the direction the laser had continued to see a massive plume of water shooting up in the distance. Perhaps the beam detonated from hitting the ocean's surface, or maybe it just exploded if it kept going without hitting something for awhile.

Either way, yeah, they would have been very, very dead.

Next to her, Akira readjusted his glasses. "That's the kind of super-weapon you usually only see royalty-types equipped with. The hell did a pirate get ahold of something like that?"

"K. Rool must have either quite the connections or quite deep pockets to afford it," Gari smirked. "Maybe I signed on with the wrong crew in my search for the pinnacle of piracy?"

"I-I'm sure Captain Robin has this handled!" Lucina defended. "I-I mean, we dodged it, right?"

Gari chuckled. "Perhaps. Don't celebrate yet, though. Next comes the shockwaves."

"Huh?" Before Lucina could inquire further, Robin shouted out further orders.

"Veer back to port side, and keep it steady! We're riding the wave straight to him!" Even as he gave the instruction, he was already charging up another wind spell in his hands.

Realization dawned on Lucina as she looked back in the direction of the massive explosion. Waves were forming from the epicenter of the blast. The ripples that develop in a pond when someone chucks a rock in. But on a much larger scale. It almost looked like the ocean was rising to chase after them.

Whoa.

As a princess herself, Lucina had, of course, heard stories of magical tools of such incredible power. Even if Ylisse itself preferred more traditional methods, such as the blessed swords wielded by her brother and his vassals. And while she had heard that Miss Byleth's sword could cleave through whole mountains, she had never seen such a feat of raw power herself before.

Maybe she should ask Miss Byleth to chop down a mountain for her sometime…

Before her thoughts could go any further down that trail, the boat lurched forward from the shockwave catching up to it. The ship leaned forward and rose up as the water moved on like a rolling hill. Before, the boat could reach the peak of the slope and therefore allow the enormous wave to pass beneath them. Robin fired another powerful wind spell into the sails, keeping the boat's forward momentum as it rode with the tide.

They were on a pirate ship, and they were surfing their way towards another pirate ship to engage them in battle. As the salty sea wind (and no small amount of seawater) rushed through her hair, there was only one thing going through Lucinda's mind.

'This is the single most exciting thing I've ever done!'

Down on the upper deck, Robin was a bit too focused to appreciate the incredible feat he had performed. Casting such a steady stream of high-level spells was tiring on its own, but he had to make sure the boost in speed remained steady. Only when he reached his limit did he allow the Arcwind spell to subside, and thus allowed the diminishing wave to properly pass beneath them.

There was some more mild panic from his crew as the Black Dragon leaned back, sliding down the backend of the shockwave until the ship returned to sea-level with a splash. Aside from a wet crew, it looked like they made it through that ordeal relatively unscathed.

For a few minutes, Robin allowed himself and his crew some reprieve. When the wave in front of them diminished fully, he was able to clearly see their target. The Kremling's ship was now clearly visible without the need for a telescope. They were only a few minutes out from one another now.

'Won't be too long now.'

Wiping some sweat off his brow, Robin straightened up to address his crew. "Prep the cannons! When we get close, I'm going to fire off another spell to boost our speed! We'll have one shot at this! As we pass by their ship, we need to hit either their rudder or the cannon; they just fired! If we can disable their movement or keep them from firing, we'll be able to outspend them and make our escape!"

Thankfully, it looked like his crewmates were too shaken up to argue with him this time. They went about preparing the cannons without complaint, the desire for fame and treasure temporarily outweighed by their desire to live.

"I suggest aiming for the cannon! If those shots fail, try hitting the rudder on our way out!" Barring that, they would have to stop the ship and head back to engage K. Rool directly. They had to disable them, or they wouldn't be able to make a safe getaway. The Kremlings would just turn around and fire another shot once their cannon was operational again.

As he continued to catch his breath, he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. "You alright? I understand the situation is dire, but try not to push yourself too hard."

Robin gave Chrom a grateful smile. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll be sure to get plenty of rest when this is all over. Until then," he gently shrugged Chrom's hand off his shoulder. "I need to guide everyone here to safety. Everyone on this ship relies on my orders in times like these, whether they'll admit it or not."

Chrom nodded. "Right then. Well, I hope you don't mind, but I intend to stay at your side until we get out of this mess." The mercenary gave a smile of his own. "It's not like I'll be needed here anyways. If your scheme goes as planned–which they always do–there won't be any need for a close-quarters combatant."

"Your confidence is encouraging. I'd welcome your company, of course. Just try not to get comfortable. If they react fast enough, we'll likely still receive some cannon-fire for our trouble." Robin looked towards their rapidly approaching adversary. "Speaking of which…"

They were getting close, very nearly in cannon-fire range now;0 It wouldn't be long before they passed right by each other. Robin raised his tome and started charging another Arcwind spell.

"Everyone get ready!" With his blue-haired companion standing steadfast at his side, he fired off one more torrent of wind into the sails. One of his men informed him that the men below deck were ready to fire. Good, just in time for them to come up on the enemy. With any luck, they'd be home free in less than a minute…

Robin pinpointed the moment things turned south nearly as soon as it happened.

The cannons fired. It was challenging to make a clear shot while moving at high speeds; Robin knew this. Even so, he was relieved to see that at least one of the shots looked like they would hit their mark.

That relief was dashed immediately when the one shell that looked like it would land was intercepted before it could reach its destination. The other two cannonballs fired wide, missing the ship entirely and harmlessly landing in the ocean.

As the other two cannonballs sailed passed their mark, Robin caught sight of what had thwarted them. Standing tall and wide at the bow of the enemy ship was the Kremling's Captain himself. In one hand, he held what looked to be an oversized blunderbuss, still smoking from use.

'He countered our shot mid-fire?!' Robin cursed but refocused his attention on the spell he was casting. "Re-prep the cannons! We'll have to come back around for the rudder instead!"

As their ships came parallel with one another, Robin caught a glimpse of the mad croc's grin out of the corner of his eye. Robin has to steady himself as the Black Dragon suddenly shook, no doubt receiving the retaliatory cannon-fire he had been expecting. Not ideal, but it would be fine as soon as they were positioned behind the-

"Uh, Robin?" Came Chrom's suddenly panicked voice. "Those weren't cannonballs they fired!"

"Huh?" Whatever inquiry Robin was about to make was violently cut off, along with most of the momentum their ship had built up. Robin grunted as he slammed into the railing in front of him. Quickly, though, with no small amount of effort, he pushed himself back to his feet to take stock of the situation. It seemed almost everyone else on deck was similarly knocked off their feet by the sudden drop in speed. The reason for said drop became evident the moment he looked over the side of the ship.

Large, iron chains were now connecting the Kremling's ship to the Black Dragon. As Chrom had said, what the beastmen had fired were not cannonballs, but rather three giant harpoons, which were now embedded in the hull of their ship.

"Blast!" Immediately he readied his wind tome, charging up a set of wind blades that would hopefully sever one of the chains.

His instincts blared, and he instead spun his charged wind attack around to deflect a cannonball shell that would've knocked his head off. Across the way on the other ship, Kaptain K. Rool grinned madly, his smoking blunderbusses trained on Robin.

Deftly, he side-stepped another shell from the oversized firearm, then ducked under the ship's railing to avoid another. Chrom joined him on the floor soon after. Robin couldn't hold back a snide remark. "So, my schemes never fail, huh?"

"There's always room for error?" Chrom replied awkwardly. "And I don't see why I'm getting grilled for your plan failing!"

Both men flinched as the railing they were hiding behind cracked and splintered from another of K. Rool's blunderbuss shots. Robin coughed into his fist. "Right, so we might need that close-quarters combatant after all. Care to lend your assistance to the Pirates of Grim, good mercenary?"

Chrom drew his sword and stood up determinedly. "You needn't even ask!"

AN/ hope you had fun

This chapter was more fantastic work from Wolfy

~ S. Rosey