The left over jolly atmosphere carried over the night. Yet that didn't bode for a relatively peaceful tomorrow.
The morning of their 2nd day on the ship presented no many changes, though. It was a bit comforting to have a normal schedule: wake up to the noises of the bustling women, wash the face, get breakfast, ask how to help, then proceed to carry some lighter cargo to the storages, help with some counting, and lastly end up cleaning the deck. The captain herself said that it was easy and tame stuff as not to aggravate her leg wounds (which were properly dressed by the nurse in the evening and had the needed protection of the worn-out boot-like shoes for which she still cried out of happiness) but Ann still managed to get quickly exhausted before 12 o'clock.
Of course such idyll had to be punished with bad luck. In the near future Ann would wholeheartedly agree with that.
The light swing of the waves and hushes of the sea were quickly dismissed as the crack of a cannonball resounded.
Shortly followed with a shout: "PIRATES!"
In a matter of a few minutes most of the crew was assembled on the deck, their work having been abandoned due to the imminent danger.
From the railings at the back of the ship where Erika and Anna had been resting for a while, they took notice of the looming outlines of a pirate ship on their right side. There wasn't much distance left between them. It didn't help that the pirate ship seemed to have picked up on speed, chasing after the merchant vessel.
The first to raise a command towards them was the captain seeing as she was right next to them having been overlooking the work of the cleaning group.
"Anna, Erika. You go down below deck. Jet, Rue, Meg, you guys are to shield them and the other incapable to fight, mainly the elder ones and the ones with cracked bones, as they go down to the storage. You know which one. You are to keep the intruders from going there. The others with weapons get ready!"
With that the Helen quickly ran forwards to hiss out another shout to the ones who didn't hear her.
Everyone present rose with tension enveloping them, clearly expectant of the oncoming orders. The smaller group, that gathered near the main mast, was escorted to the kitchen area and then a backdoor that led below deck.
Ann could hear some other shouts like "Group A protect the shipment!" or "Group B to the cannons!" and so on.
Somehow it reminded her of the first days in this new universe. She scooped Erika closer to her and firmly held her hand on her shoulder as they were guided to the more secluded section.
"This is the empty storage room. On the other side of the wall is the real cargo. No need to worry, we can hold ourselves if anything. We have a tough crew," said Meg with a reassuring smile. He was tall and bulky with a very deep brown carnation and dreads but overall very friendly. Ann and Erika answered with a smile. They sat down in the middle, a few men who seemed to be either very old or with broken limbs surrounding them and a couple of women who they presumed to be kitchen helpers or the cooks. Obviously the nurses and the doctor were needed at the sick bay in case for instant help.
They sat still for a while with the ongoing ruckus of battle shouts and cannonballs in the background. Almost instinctively Ann grasped the shoulder of Erika and pulled her to herself, the younger almost resting on her lap. To surpass her inner shudders of what was going on Ann focused herself on small talk with the others. She got to know that most of them had some battle experience, not surprising as it was a merchant ship in the New World so there needed to be tough people to protect the cargo, explained a girl who was actually a cook.
"Sadly there weren't anyone to cook with actual battle experience. Most are previous marines or some tougher fisherman. Rarely pirates. We," she gestured to the batch of girls who sat in a circle. "were the only cooks that actually wanted the job and got it as there weren't many who wanted to or could cook for that matter. Not many want to be on a merchant ship. Though the pay is actually good. Sometimes there are even high bonuses, especially if it's a cargo from a rich person or a noble. Though it is pretty dangerous if one doesn't know the waters or safe routes to travel. Merchants are normally accompanied by a marine ship. But these waters are fairly new to them and most islands, as you may know, are under the pirates rule. Luckily most of them are under Whitebeards reign. He is the most peaceful one who protects his islands and allies. That's why it's OK to travel here. The other pirates are mostly afraid to attack," explained the blonde cook to the two who were intently listening.
Another woman with short brown wavy hair added brightly: "The strongest man in the world." But was interrupted this time by an old-looking man with a broken leg.
"But there are still wannabe pirates who try to attack him or worse for us: his territories. They might be nothing to him but to us they are usually pretty strong. Sometimes we lose some cargo."
"Yea, and the next day most are beat up," added with a grin a black-haired man with a sprained ankle. Ann grasped tighter the younger shoulders and most likely, she thought at least, must have paled as Erika turned to her with a cornered look. The others caught up with that but before they uttered a reassuring word, both of them were slapped on the head by the blonde cook.
"Both of you. Stop that scaring. Can't you see that she is absolutely terrified. Really, catch on with the mood, " she scolded which earned her a muttered "Sorry, Lin." And then turned around and uttered a sorry to the two.
She turned around to them both. "Sorry about these two. It seems like a novel idea that there are sensitive people who don't like battles and prefer to be away from all that. Or simply don't want to engage in dangerous situations. Unlike some people." She glanced at the group of young injured men who smiled sheepishly. Then she turned to Ann and smiled. "But you don't need to worry. Here it's relatively safe..."
And a crash interrupted her followed by vibrant shouts.
"Get to the railing!" "They are tough!" "Hurry up with the guns!"
Ann made a visible 'You-don't-say' face with a 'Are-you-kidding-me' added to it as the cook nervously chuckled.
"Well, at least no one flew through the wall, hehe." The strained voice didn't convince her in the slightest.
Ann sighed and refocused her anxiety-stricken thoughts to something else.
"Where do you come from? I mean, the island and such …"
Seeing the effort to change the topic the cook began rumbling about how she came from a village near a river transport trail in the mountains.
"Well, it's not that bad," Ann thought.
Another crash resounded.
Her eye twitched.
"Yea, it's definitely going to get worse."
One new feature about the ship, which Ann learnt from her stay in the storage, was that the thin walls and the narrow corridors were a perfect way of transferring sound.
Amongst the ongoing chaos with people shooting, fighting, protecting the goods and rushing to the infirmary with the bleeding ones, she could easily pick out someone's yelp.
"Wait. Is that a Whitebeard ship coming there?"
"Yea, I think it's one of them!" shouted back another person.
"Do you see the size? It's the Moby Dick!"
"No way could it be them. I think it's the Moby 2 or 3," added another one.
A moment later the massive shadow came near and revealed a big 3 on the main sail or so she thought relaying on the shouts rather than the mid-sized round wooden frame, window as the pirates were pretty much either farer away or at a different angle.
"See. I told you it's not the main Moby Dick."
The small interruption seemed not to change the ongoing chaos as both sides fought and shot causing more and more wounded. Luckily more on the pirates' side.
At some point one of the men shouted through the noise: "Cap, are they gonna help us!?"
There was a small pause as the older woman pushed with her sword her attacker into the sea.
With a huff and slight annoyance she answered equally loud:
"We shall see!"
And spew out another chain of commands to ward off the attackers.
In roughly 15 minutes the big ship came nearer with a rather tall and bulky man at the front.
In the meantime as Anna and Erika were huddled in a relatively safe corner in the storage, both of them had time to inspect thanks to the only window the rather intimidating ship with their equally scary residents that considering the barks of commands above might be their saviors.
The next few minutes were spent moving back and forth and from side to side at high speed velocities.
The ship moved from left to right, the people on the deck nearly crashing into the cold sea water. (To Ann's relief the storage was as safe as before apart from the sudden sways.)
The attackers' ship while being rather big to the merchants couldn't hold a candle to the combined cannon balls of the merchant's and the helping pirates.
Within few seconds the opponent's ship with its residents plummeted into the sea. The overflowing waves caused by the fight mercilessly taking it down to the bottom of the ocean.
Luckily the impact and the residue pirates who got onto the merchant ship's deck didn't concern the girls as almost immediately the enemies were fought off with only the vicious hisses of metal echoing through the corridors.
Ann, trying to failingly lessen the stress from the noises, spent her time closely looking around and securing a hard grip on the smaller girl's shoulder. Her eyes wandered from one corner to the other till she stopped at the same small window which made it possible to even notice the giant pirate vessel though it was only a part of it.
Clashes, shooting, and angry shouts filled Anna's head. It certainly didn't help her overheated nerves as she shifted her body along with the waves of the sea. The only lasting effect seemed to have her rather crude breathing techniques which she used during moments of heightened levels of stress and fear. She had more than enough shares of such 'moments'. More than she bargained for. The unnaturally familiar feeling of anxiety hit her like the proverbial ton of bricks.
"Calm down, calm down, calm down." The mantra muttered at high speed making it sound like a chain of curses.
Maybe it was a gut feeling or sheer obviousness of her nausea which told her if anything were to abruptly stop then her next course of action would end with her head deeply hidden in the soothingly cool toilet bowl. Or the her head peeking out from the damn window.
For now she settled into an awkward half-crouch, Erika being in a sitting position in front of her with a firmly planted right hand on Erika's right shoulder.
Through the on-going battle above their heads, her mind having gotten used to the constant disarray of thoughts, curses, and whatever else, the distressed older teen didn't notice a cool hand slip onto her face.
"Miss?" The sudden sound of concern and a deeply layered fear, brought her back to the current situation of looking at the shining emerald eyes that held a touch of upset.
Ann violently shook her head as to let go of Erika's hand and her last worries in her mind. The reaction thankfully didn't deter the younger much yet made up for new confusion.
"Nah. It's better now. I'm just not used to all…"
Her chapped lips a stiff imitation of a smile wasn't enough to fool the redhead. Ann's eyes wandered yet again through the room, visibly and quite desperately trying to look for a good name or word for the chaos.
Her eyes jumped from the few elder whose worried expression held an inexplicable calm, to some unfortunate injured whose legs, arms or even ribs were thoroughly bandaged which seemed to ooze some kind of liveliness in their auras unlike Anna's misery, to the rest, the few muscled ones or the ones with sharp objects as their weapons of choice while serious or in a light-hearted mood ready to jump in case things took a wrong turn, and the newbies whose inexperience or hot-headedness or both made their posture straighter in an almost comical way with determination and excitement dripping from their features. Lastly her eyes came back to the impressive green, very expectant of an answer to which she simply added: "That."
And hastily hugged the teen from behind, her stiff stance relaxing from the building tension. The change didn't go unnoticed by the younger whose own feelings seemed to emulate Ann's.
Additionally her tight grip on Erika's shoulder loosed a bit, a subtle sign that it was Ok. That Anna was Ok. By far not great. But alright. Just ok.
In all her years the almost 19-year old would never have done such an embarrassing act of affection in front of anyone, at home, with very close friends, sure yet not in front of the recently acquainted people who looked highly amused if not outright chuckling at the display.
Yet Ann chose to ignore the rising feel of awkwardness in favor of savoring the sweet moment of having an alive human being at her side, providing her with soothing warmth to her overheated nerves.
"Who cares if the guys have nerves made from steel. Who cares that they don't get panic attacks at the guns, or battle. Cut me some slack, I'm just a 18-year old girl with sensitive feelings."
Her words too slurred to make out their meaning though it didn't matter as long as Ann got her anxiety relatively at bay and Erika wasn't going to take an example in her and get anxious, too.
Her grandiose thoughts of panic attacks, keeping her guts at bay came to an abrupt halt as a round of shoots echoed.
This time everyone present turned to the window from where the most intense shouts and clashes could be heard. It looked like the high of the battle faded away leaving angry grunts of protest in the background.
As on cue the door to the storage opened, with a little too much impact.
"You can get out! The attackers went down. We won!" exclaimed a rough-looking crewmate in a gleeful manner.
Without further instructions the people scrambled to the exit, some faster as to help out with the aftermath, some slower to help out the ones lagging behind.
"Let's go," she commanded to Erika in a half-smile to which the younger nodded.
Despite cramping legs from the tension and sitting they managed to get the exit.
Yet an ominous feeling enveloped Anna's mind which she couldn't quite shake off.
Like the calm before the storm.
A horrendous and sadistic touch twisting her guts.
A bit of bile tasted in her mouth and Ann tried her best to ignore the sense of foreboding. As a distraction or in a yet again overflowing need of comfort, for her or Erika, she wasn't sure, she took the girl's hand in her own. Out of the corner of her eye she could see a genuine and grateful smile forming on the redhead's face.
"Seems like we both need the comfort," she thought. Her face having twisted into a scowl rather than a smile due to the oncoming nausea.
Unconsciously the grip tightened from both their hands as the two stepped onto the deck.