The Dragon Riders were still flying across the sky, and everyone was looking at the treasure they had managed to acquire on Skypiea.
"Finally we're rich," said Snotlout rubbing his hands together greedily. "So what are we going to buy with all this loot?"
"More cannons, at least 10 of them," said Tuffnut.
"How about we slow down for just a second," Hiccup sighed. "Before we can decide on what to buy, we actually need to land first and only then will we divide up the treasure."
"Can we please get some books?" Chopper asked.
Hiccup groaned rubbing his forehead.
"Fishlegs, where exactly is this ship headed?" Heather asked.
"To the next island of course," said Fishlegs looking down at the log pose. It was only when he looked down he saw that the needle was pointing in the opposite direction. "We've been blown completely off course. We must ahead air current!"
"I definitely feel a breeze," said Ragnar as everyone's made their way on deck.
"Is that bad?" Snotlout asked.
"Of course it's bad, we have no idea where we are or where we're going to land," said Fishlegs and then he looked at their octopus balloon. "And with the octopus, we can't even set the sails or control the shape. What are we going to do?"
"I doubt I'm strong enough to push us in the right direction," said Hiccup folding his arms.
"I think we might have another problem," said Astrid as she looked up.
"What kind of problem?" Hiccup asked.
Astrid shook her head. "No, I guess I was wrong."
"Wrong about what?" Ragnar asked.
"Never mind," said Astrid dismissively.
With no other choice, they had to wait until they land before they could change direction, but now it was night, and there was still nowhere close to landing.
"The sun is completely set now," said Snotlout.
"It's still a nice view," said Chopper.
"Yeah, it really is," Ruffnut agreed.
"Nice as it is still taking longer than I expected," said Heather.
"I agree, there's no telling how far we drifted, we could land just about anywhere," said Fishlegs.
"Maybe we'll land that Berk," said Snotlout.
"Do you really think so?" Chopper asked excitedly.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but that's impossible guys," said Heather. "We would have to sail across more than half of the Grand Line just to get there."
"I knew that," said Snotlout.
"I'd be more concerned we land in the Calm Belt," said Toothless as he looked over the side. "If we land in the middle of that we'll be food for seakings."
"Way to cheer us up," said Hiccup shaking his head. "If anyone had any more cheerful thoughts let's get them out in the open."
Astrid looked up at the balloon, and her eyes widened in horror. "We've got a big problem! The octopus is shrinking, if we don't do anything we'll fall!"
"What?" Hiccup stared.
"What's he talking about?" Tuffnut asked.
"She's is saying that the octopus is shrinking!" Fishlegs panicked.
"Now that I look at it it does seem smaller than it did before," said Heather as she looked up.
"That's not good," said Hiccup as he looked over the side. "We're still too high up in the air."
No sooner had he said that they suddenly found themselves being lifted off the ground because now the ship was too heavy to be lifted by the octopus.
"We're falling!" Fishlegs cried.
"We're going to hit the sea so hard we'll sink to the bottom!" Astrid yelled.
"Only if the ship doesn't shatter on impact!" Heather added.
"I might have an idea," said Hiccup and immediately looked at the twins. "Do you still have those dials?"
"Right here," they said, holding up the bag.
"What you plan to do?" Chopper asked.
Hiccup transformed into his hybrid form and immediately took the bag. "Hopefully save our lives!" Hiccup then immediately flew below the ship began installing breath dials across the keel. "I just hope these breath dials will be enough."
The moment he inserts them on the keel, the breath dials activated in the air exiting from them began to slow the descent. They were still falling but now at the much slower speed, which was certainly not life-threatening.
"We've slow down," said Astrid.
"Are we safe now?" Chopper asked teary-eyed.
"It seems like it," said Heather.
Hiccup then flew back onto the ship and transformed back into his human form. "Mission accomplished."
"I was actually scared therefore a second," said Astrid.
"Me too, looks like we're finally safe," said Fishlegs relieved. No sooner had he said that then the octopus balloon deflated. "Or not."
They began plummeting towards the ground once again, and this time there was no way to save themselves.
"Everyone hold onto something!" Hiccup yelled.
Everyone grabbed hold of whatever they could get their hands on and gracefully impact. They hit the sea with a great deal of force, but thankfully there were close enough to the ground that the ship did not shatter though it was still pretty rough.
"Is everyone all right?" Ragnar asked.
"That was really scary," said Fishlegs with a hand over his heart. "What happened to the octopus?"
"Guess it ran out of air," said Heather.
"On the bright side we did make it down here alive," said Hiccup.
"Good point and we did get to see an incredible place," said Ragnar.
"Now that we're down here, it looks so far away," said Heather as she looked up towards the sky.
"Like something out of a dream," Astrid agreed.
"It's a dreamland," said Chopper. "You think we'll see it again?"
"Maybe someday," said Toothless.
"Well, I'm going to put on a pot of coffee. I think we all need something strong in order to calm nerves," said Ragnar as he made his way to the kitchen.
Hiccup began looking around. "So, where the hell did we end up?"
The answers came sooner than anyone expected as spotlight immediately shone around them and they heard the sound of alarm bells.
They have actually landed in a Marine base which was controlled by a branch named G-8. It was basically a fortress with cannons pointing outside and inside into the cove.
Just a few minutes ago, the Marines were just doing their daily routine patrolling and fixing damaged ships.
"You know I hear that our fortress isn't very popular amongst those fellas on the open water," said a Marine.
"Yeah, they think that we're a bunch of dimwitted softies because we haven't seen any action but so long. But think about it when was the last time you really got to test your skills in a battle against some pirates scum?"
"What are you trying to say?"
"I'm not trying to say anything, it's a rumour all right. I'm just repeating what I heard."
Without they carried on with the patrol.
"Argh, what's their problem? There haven't been any battles because there's finally peace around here?"
The Fortress commander was relaxing by doing some night fishing. He was a middle-aged man with burning redhead and had quite a thick moustache. "Another beautiful night."
At the shipyards, a lot of work was going on on a Navy battleship.
"Oh man, the ship is messed up," said one of the workmen.
"I bet it would take is at least a week to finish."
"Well, we've got three days."
"There's no way."
"Sure looks rough," said an old man. "Maybe she's been climbing mountains?"
He then looked at them and chuckled.
"Hey, Able."
"Yeah, you sure have a way with words old man. Yeah, she looks like she's climbing mountains all right. Mountains lined with gunpowder."
"With damage this extensive it looks like it fell clean out the sky."
"Come on now fellows, she probably got caught on the Seagate coming into port."
"Yeah, that is a difficult area to sail through even for an experienced navigator."
One of them began clapping. "Enough with the lollygagging, we've got a job to do so let's get to work already."
With that, they continue their work, but Able just sat there shaking his head at the warship.
"Jeez, back in my day sailors loved their ships and treated them with respect," he said as he took a swig of whiskey.
His eyes then widen as he looked up into the sky and dropped the bottle of whiskey he was holding. All of the workmen stop when they were doing and looked at him, confused.
"Hey, what's the matter? What happened?"
"Up there!" Able yelled pointing. "Look up there in the sky!"
All of them looked up towards the sky and then saw bowling down towards them was a ship.
They were the only ones who saw the ship as the Marines on patrol saw it and immediately reported it to the observation room.
"We've got a problem," said a Marine over the transponder snail. "Something has fallen from the sky, we are being invaded over!"
"Attack from the sky?" the Marine frowned and then his eyes widened. "Attack from the sky?"
Without hesitation, they immediately heard the alarm and immediately the lieutenant commander, a very stern-looking man, sprung into action. He quickly grabbed his coat and began to leave his room.
Marines began to scramble as they manned the cannons.
"An unidentified object has infiltrated the base! Get to your posts on the double! I want men guarding the posts now!"
"Sniper unit move it!"
"Close the Seagate!"
They began closing the Seagate barring anyone from entering or leaving the base and quickly shone searchlights to locate the unidentified ship.
The Chief Petty Officer, who had curly black hair and a moustache, looked through a pair of binoculars in the observation room. "All lights on grid position 12!"
"All lights on grid position 12 immediately!" said a Marine relaying the order.
In a second all the searchlights shone onto the ship, and the Chief Petty Officer could see the flag and saw the skull and crossbones.
"A Pirate ship?" he stared. "The flag is a dragon skull with a pair of crossed bones. It's the Dragon Rider Pirates."
Every Marine in the room knew the reputation of the Dragon Riders.
"What?" they yelled.
Without hesitation, every single Marine were pointing their rifles and cannons directly down the ship.
"All cannons, target the Dragon Riders ship!"
The workmen on the docks and stop what they were watching everything.
"The Dragon Rider Pirates?" Able stared as he pushed the front.
Unfortunately, this caused the people in front of him to lose their balance, and all of them toppled into the sea.
The Lieutenant Commander at this point had finally reached the observation room.
"Lieutenant commander Drake," said the Chief Petty Officer everyone immediately saluted. "Sir, the Dragon Rider Pirates have invaded our base."
"The Dragon Rider Pirates?" he said. "Show me to Vice-Admiral Jonathan!"
"Well, sir… I work, but no one knows where he is," said the Chief Petty Officer.
Drake did not look surprised on the contrary; he was rather frustrated. "Of course, no one knows where he is."
He then walked off and slammed the door behind him.
Vice-Admiral Johnson was actually doing some night time fishing when he saw the ship crashing down from the sky.
"Well, I'll be," he said as he pulled back his hook. "Somebody invaded through the sky."
"Resistance is futile, we have you completely surrounded!" said the Chief Petty Officer over the speakers.
In the kitchens, the crooks were busy preparing meals for the hungry Marines, and they were all aware that something big was going down, but they had no idea what.
"It's been pretty noisy outside, huh?"
"Yeah, do you think there is a battle going on?"
The head chef, a beautiful woman with blonde hair, heard them and immediately splashed them was a hot soup. They both cried out in pain and fell to the floor.
She then slowly approached them. "There will be no chitchatting in this kitchen!" She then presented them with the bowl of soup. "Look here, it's our duty to prepare a warm and delicious meal for 1000 hungry sailors, and we've got a get all that done before the nightshift starts in just under two hours! Does it sound like we have time to be playing around?"
"No ma'am."
"We're very sorry, ma'am."
One of the chefs chuckled. "Don't you worry about a thing lads, the day this whole of massive cannons and concrete falls is the day pigs fly. Now getting on Jessica's bad side that something to be scared of."
Jessica then grabbed the nearest frying pan she could get her hands on and hit him on the head with it.
"Right, no chitchatting," he said, rubbing his head.
Jonathan had reached his office and found Drake already there.
"What is it?" he said as he entered.
"Commander, finally," said Drake relieved. "Where have you been?"
Jonathan then gave him his fishing port and bag of bait before making his way to the window. "I didn't catch anything today."
"What? Again?" Drake blinked.
"Well, I had quite a large catch yesterday."
"That's not what I'm talking about. Commander if you're constantly absent then—"
"Don't lecture me," said Jonathan calmly. "Night fishing isn't necessarily a waste, you know."
They then heard knocking at the door, and entering the room was the Chief Petty Officer.
"Commander, I have a report," he said, standing at ease. "According to the watchmen, as was the maintenance men on the dock and saw the enemy ship up close." He looked at them rather hesitantly. "According to them…"
"Go on," Jonathan pushed.
"Spit it out already, Sergeant!" Drake ordered.
"Yes, well, uh… the men reported that they saw ghosts."
He then began telling them everything that the witnesses had witnessed, though more than half of it was hard to believe.
"Like I said, the ship suddenly fell from the sky, okay," said a maintenance man. "I swear!"
"It was really big and scary, and it had a pink hat," said a nightwatchman. "Then it jumped up and disappeared."
"Hands… Hands…" said another maintenance man.
"What about hands?" the Chief Petty Officer asked.
"A million hands began sprouting all over my entire body. Next thing I knew, everything went black."
"All those hands," said Able with a dreamy look on his face. "The unmistakable touch of a beautiful woman."
However, all of them had the same conclusion about the ship and said it was a ghost ship.
Drake couldn't believe his ears and slammed his hand on the table. "Enough!"
"Yes, sir," the Chief nodded.
"That shipped out there belong to the Dragon Rider Pirates. Sergeant, I want reconnaissance not ghost stories! And how dare you report to me with this nonsense about the ship that magically fell from the sky!"
Jonathan then cough to get his attention as he fiddled with his fishing rod. "The part about it falling from the sky is true at least." He then flicked his rod on the hook, grabbed hold of the back of the collar on Drake's jacket. "I told you, it's not a waste. Right, Lieutenant?"
After that, they began inspecting the Going Tiger with a fine-tooth comb. Jonathan examined the fleshly pod coffee and the coffee pot on the deck.
"I see," he said as he pulled out a cup of coffee. "Ghostship, huh? Smells delicious."
He then sat up and handed the cup to Drake, who, after smelling it, began drinking it.
"Commander, look what I found it one of the rooms!" a marine yelled.
They turned and found the Marine was holding an assortment of treasure, including a crown.
"Treasure, huh?" he said, rubbing his chin. "These treasures are quite old, the pirates must have stolen them from some ancient ruins."
"Get them to the lab!" Drake ordered.
"Sir!"
"Well then, let's have a look inside shall we way?" said Jonathan.
Suddenly, everyone heard a strange sound when they looked up, they saw a south bird sitting on the mast.
"What the?" Drake stared.
"Easy there, just an ordinary south bird," Jonathan assured them.
"As south bird?" Drake frowned.
"Yes, they always point south which made a prized possession for sailors of all despite this silly appearance."
Apparently, the south bird did not like that comment because then suddenly swooped down and began picking him ferociously. It kept about 30 seconds before it flew off, leaving behind a rather flustered Jonathan.
"You okay, sir?" a marine asked.
"They're certainly violent little creatures," he said panting.
After that, they began examining the cabin above deck, which was basically the kitchen and the rudder.
Jonathan examined the knives and being married to a cooking he recognised a fine kitchen knife when he saw one and a well-maintained kitchen.
"The kitchen is well maintained," he noted.
A lieutenant with grey hair and dark glasses placed several medical and history books.
"Medical and history books, sir," said the lieutenant. "New ones."
"Interesting, seems like these ghosts study a lot," said Jonathan looking intrigued.
"Not ghosts again," said Drake. "That's ridiculous."
Jonathan then made his way back on deck to talk to the Marines, he clapped several times to get their attention. "Excellent work, men. Stay brave and remember to keep a watchful eye during the investigation of this ghost ship."
All of the Marine stared at him, looking slightly terrified when he mentioned a ghost ship.
"Back to work," he said.
"Yes, sir!"
Jonathan then took Drake and three senior officers through the corridors.
"It appears the ship in question stopped by Jaya quite recently," said Jonathan. "That coffee was delicious, was it not?"
"Yes," said Drake looking confused.
"Judging from the colour and smell of the coffee left on deck, one can assume that the beings are from Jaya. But you already must know what having courageously sampled the beverage yourself."
Drake looked at him, awkwardly. "Uh, well…"
"And that south bird," Jonathan continued. "That species of bird only inhabits the jungles of Jaya. Incidentally, there is a legend of the city of gold that exists there."
A blonde-haired Master Chief blinked. "Commander are you telling me that that vessel isn't really—"
"I don't know where the ship's crew is or what they're up to, but that's no ghost ship," said Jonathan. "It's just a pirate boat out of Jaya."
"And not just any pirates is the Dragon Rider Pirates, I should know I've seen their boat twice now," said Drake.
"I don't understand Commander," the lieutenant frowned. "Weren't you just call it a ghost ship earlier?"
"Frankly our men are a little too green to deal with a situation like this," said Jonathan honestly. "If we tell everyone that the notorious Dragon Riders have infiltrated our ranks, it will cause panic and confusion that will undoubtedly aid the pirates in their mission. So, for now, we continue to call it a ghost ship, understood?"
"With all due respect, I think we should assemble a special investigation unit and begin searching for the pirates immediately," Drake suggested. "And I would be happy to lead the team."
Jonathan then came to a stop and looked at all of them. "Don't be so hasty."
"But…"
"Our defences are a number one priority," said Jonathan an immediately looked at Master Chief. "You, go and reinforce security at the coast as well as around the Seagate."
"Sir!"
He then looked at the lieutenant. "I also want the ammunition, brig and all major passageways secured. You have my extended authority to manage related personnel."
"Right away, sir!"
Drake didn't look too happy with these orders.
"Is there a problem?" Jonathan asked.
"No," he lied.
"The night is still young, and the darkness will restrict their movement, there again it will restrict ours," Jonathan explained. "At dawn, assemble your team and then thoroughly investigate any places where people gather."
Drake looked confused with this order. "Places where people gather, but why?"
"Here's why, because it's difficult to find green insects living in green grass. If the Dragon Riders were to acquire some of our uniforms…" Drake's eyes widened when he realised what he was implying. "…you must understand, it's not that I don't have faith in my men, but we must keep in mind that we are searching for the most clever enemy."
Jonathan then turned around and walked away. "Pirates are like stray dogs, they're always hungry. Why don't you start by checking the dining hall at first light."
"Sir!" Drake and the Chief Petty Officer saluted.
The moment they discover that they were in a Marine base, Hiccup had given everyone the order to split up, preferably in small groups. Sadly Chopper was all alone and was currently hiding behind a tree.
"Where did everyone go?" he said, looking terrified. He then saw a searchlight heading towards immediately ran off panicking. "What the heck is this place!"
Toothless and the twins were in the water and had just come out for air.
"Where did we end up?" Tuffnut asked.
Ruffnut turned her head and saw ship heading towards them. "In a shipping lane!"
"Oh, crap!" Toothless yelled, and all three of them dived into the water.
Astrid and Fishlegs had made it to shore on the waver and were currently hiding in the tallgrass.
"Good thing we still had this Waver," said Fishlegs.
They had just reached the tallgrass when they suddenly saw two Marines approaching them and quickly dived in. They held their breath as the Marines walked by, pressing their bodies against the ground as much as possible.
"Security is tight," said Astrid.
"We have to find everybody and get out of here right away," said Fishlegs.
Once the Marines were gone, the extra the tallgrass began taking in the surroundings. To their horror they discovered that the marine fortress was within a circular island with no opening in sight and in the very centre was a huge rock formation which had been heavily fortified.
Astrid groaned. "Oh no, is this…"
Hiccup and Ragnar were together hiding in the forest, there were currently hiding the treetops watching the patrols go by.
"Another fine mess we've landed ourselves in," said Ragnar.
"Of all the places to land we had to land in a marine fortress," Hiccup groaned. "I just hope the others were able to get out okay."
Then suddenly they heard a gunshot as bullets flew right between them.
"What is it?" said the Marine holding a lamp.
His buddy had been the one that fired on the two of them. "Well, I thought I heard something."
The Marine looked up, but he saw nothing. "I don't see anything."
Without the two of them are carried on on their patrol. Hiccup and Ragnar had climbed down the tree looking at one another awkwardly.
"We can't even have a casual conversation in peace," said Ragnar.
Heather and Snotlout had made their way to a cliff that overlooked the Going Tiger, from there they could see that the Marines had the ship under close observation.
"Oh man, we can't get anywhere near the Going Tiger," said Snotlout. "They have our ship under a microscope."
Heather then crossed her arms. 'Ear Flower!'
Several hands then suddenly sprouted out of the South Bird, who was still sitting on the mast. On each of her palms was an ear, she leaned in towards two Marines, who were talking amongst themselves.
"We looked, and we couldn't find a single crewmember anywhere."
"That's not even the half of it. Did you hear the maintenance guys said they saw monsters?"
"Yeah, and on top of that the commando clearly said that this was a ghost ship."
"That ain't right, assigning us to watch a creepy ghost ship in the dead of night."
Heather then looked at Snotlout. "I see, pounding the Marines think that the Going Tiger is a ghost ship."
Snotlout looks furious upon hearing this. "A ghost ship! How rude!" He then immediately turned towards the Going Tiger and was about the other top of his voice, but Heather quickly covered his mouth up with her hands.
"Relax, I believe this can work out in favour," said Heather. "If they continue on believing in their little ghost story. Don't you think we can use it to our advantage?"
Snotlout nodded those difficult to tell whether it was because he agreed with all because he found it difficult to breathe.
"It could buy us some time," said Heather.
She then began moving her hands close towards the Marines began tapping on the shoulder.
"I got it, the ghosts must have stolen cursed gold and are now doomed to sail the seas forever."
"Cut it out, man, because I touched that gold."
Both the Marine then felt something tapping on the shoulder, and when they turned around, they saw Heather's arms waving at them.
"Ghosts!" they screamed.
In his office, Jonathan was trying to determine how many of the pirates would be on the base.
"Dragon Conqueror Hiccup, Valkyrie Astrid and Pirate Hunter Toothless," he said leaning back on his chair with his feet on the table. "We can also assume that the woman with countless hands and that hairy beast are also part of the group. All in all, there are ten pirates among them are a very skilled gourmet cook… a knowledgeable ship's doctor and possibly a historian as well."
Chopper had managed to make his way inside the base, but he had made a little bit of noise that caught the attention of the nearby Marines.
"I heard something over here! This way, hurry!"
Chopper was running as fast as he could. "They're going to get me! They're going to get me because I'm lost, and I don't know where I'm going!"
He then skidded to a halt when he appeared around the junction, and he heard Marines coming down the corridor behind him along with the other two corridors.
"I'm trapped… cornered," he said frantically. "What am I going to do? I've got to think of something."
He then turned around and saw a recycling bin and got an idea. He quickly grabbed toucans and then made his way over to the window, he opened it quietly and then dropped the cans out of the window. They bounced around the outside of the fortress before hitting the bottom.
"Wait! It's downstairs!" a marine yelled.
"On my way!"
He then heard all the Marines making their way back down, much to his relief.
"That was close," he said relieved.
Toothless and the twins had made it to shore, but they had no idea where to go next.
"So where should we go next?" Ruffnut asked.
"No idea," said Tuffnut.
In order to get a better view of the bay, both Astrid and Fishlegs began climbing the cliff. From there they got a good view. Unfortunately, it wasn't good news.
"Completely encased by land in all directions," said Fishlegs.
"And what was it was heavily armed," Astrid added.
"You don't think we landed in a lake with no possible way to get out, do you?" Fishlegs panicked.
Astrid didn't answer, but it certainly looked that way, and it was the case this was bad.
Johnathan had set up ten chess pieces on the board, each one representing a Dragon Rider.
"What I don't understand is why?" he said. "Why are the Dragon Rider Pirates here?" He then made his way to the window and looked down at the Going Tiger. "What could they possibly be looking for in Navarone? Guess we have to wait and see."