After everyone caught their breath from laughing, Tyque sat down again with a playful smile. It was decided that the game would end on that high note, Tyque having enjoyed herself well enough to be perfectly fine in not giving a dare. The crew returned to their seperate quarters, leaving Giru and Akuma to themselves.
Giru stood, levitating back up into the crows nest and putting his feet up.
"So, fun time is over. We're sailing nowhere in particular, no map, no navigator." Giru thought aloud.
"So what's your plan, Cap?" Akuma responded.
Giru sighed, closing his eyes in acceptance, "Nothing at the moment. We're at the mercy of the wind and waves."
"Don't you think it's time to make your newspaper debut? Get yourself a bounty, an official crew name?"
"Not yet. I dont know if we're strong enough for bounty hunters. I dont even know if we're strong enough for marines."
"Then shouldn't you test your mettle by finding a navy vessel or base?"
Giru went silent. Perhaps... Perhaps it was. They'd never know until they tried. The thought of anyone dying, though... That terrified Giru. More than just his own death- Holy shit, what if Arata died? He wouldn't be able to live with himself.
"Hey, HEY! You're tormenting yourself. That's MY job." Akuma relented.
Giru slowly smirked. It was decided. Next island they land on, they'd go on the offensive.
That is, if they ever reached another island. The ship was still in the ocean with no land in sight a full week later. The crew had been informed of Giru's plan and were prepared to surmount the challenge! However... The challenge had yet to be presented.
Giru paced back and forth in his room, biting at his index finger as he tried to think of a way to find land. They weren't going to die out here on the water.
"Land. Land. We can't see land in any direction, meaning we're at the very least, absolute least 12 miles away from any land. Even if he could run on water, it would take Arata entirely too long to check every single direction, and relying on blind luck for him to go in the right direction- much less return- is flawed. We're at the mercy of the wind. The wind and waves. We don't have oars. We dont have powered engines..."
Giru looked up, pulling his finger away from his mouth and having his jaw hang slightly open. "Power..."
It took two seconds before he teleported to Mist's room.
Mist wasn't very surprised. It was as if Giru had walked in through the front door. He figured he had to get used to this sort of thing eventually.
"Mist. Back when Franky built our ship, he said it would run off the power of the Marksman, not the Navigator. He said we'd be slow but easy to handle. I need you to go to the mana console."
And with that, he teleported again. Mist could sense the urgency of the situation, so he would run up to his console and place his hands directly onto it.
Giru appeared in Miss Tyque and Mr. Sin's room next. They each turned their heads in curiosity.
"Tyque, do you have a spell to reduce the weight of an object?" He asked rapidly.
She rose an eyebrow, getting out of her chair. "Yes..."
Giru seemed to be getting excited now. He turned around and did a fist pump, then turned back to her with his hands together as if praying, "Can it work on the ship?"
Tyque was even more curious now. "Not enough for anyone to lift it or anything, but yes..."
Giru let out an audible whoop and jumped for joy!
"To the deck!" He shouted, running out of the room. Upon reaching the deck, he would shout "ALL HANDS ON DECK!" to get the crew's attention. Soon everyone was present.
"Alright. I'm getting pretty tired of looking at the water, and I know you all are too! What i'm thinking should get us a big increase in speed, however miniscule!"
Everyone kept listening in silent interest.
"Tyque, I need you to use your spell to lighten the ship, as much as you can without overloading yourself."
Tyque opened her spellbook, her body gaining a lavender glow and her hair beginning to rise.
Giru was very excited now! He went to Mist with a big smile, "Alright, as soon as she's done, you blast the cannons with absolutely everything you have! It'll eat up your stamina, but I know you've been training for that!"
Everyone was slightly amused, slightly impressed by this.
Giru teleported down to Arata, grabbing the boy's shoulders. Shaking the shipwright, making him laugh giddily, "Arata! Go down to all the cannons, point them Sternside! As aerodynamic as possible! Go, as fast as you can!"
Arata was made giddy by the captain's own giddiness! "As fast as I can!?" He yelled in response.
"As fast as you can!" Giru replied. The boy was gone in the blink of an eye, zipping at Sonic speed down to the cannons to angle them to point backwards.
Giru turned around and pointed to Mist again. "Mist! Is there any way we can help feed stamina into this!?"
Mist nodded down to him before looking at Ayumi.
"He can take our stamina if we press mana dials onto him." She reported. Giru jumped and fist pumped again!
"Yes, YES! I'M A FUCKING MASTERMIND! AYUMI, MR. SIN, LET'S DO IT!"
Giru teleported to Mist's room again, taking four mana dials out of the marksman's tools and porting back. By this time Arata had finished aiming the cannons, reporting back to deck and being told to join the group feeding energy to Mist.
Each individual grabbed a Mana Dial, pressing the shell between their palm and Mist's body. A multicolored glow came from the shells as Mist absorbed the mana from them. As he did so, his body nearly doubled in muscle mass, his face contorted in pain at the unnatural rapid expansion. He sweated through it, opening his eyes in determination and looking down at the console.
Tyque's glow finally faded as she stumbled towards the group, leaning on the rail for support.
Giru saw this and had another thought.
"Mr. Sin? Can you chain us all to the ship? And Ayumi, can you make a dome around us?"
Both Shadow Keepers replied with a nod, Mr. Sin's chains shooting out of the deck to tether everyone, and Ayumi's dome protecting them from what would soon come.
"On my mark..."
This was it. Either it worked, or they were stranded on the waves for an indefinite time.
Giru took a deep breath, the enthusiasm he displayed before replaced with determination.
"FIRE!"