With a heavy sigh, Captain Brandy shut the door, casting one quick look at its sole occupant. Dumb, young idiot...
He barely had room or time to turn around, though, because as it turned out the infirmary's hallway was jam-packed with Marines. Some were wounded, but not more than the person in bed, and all looked at the ground, eyes downcast. Finally, one spoke up. "Do they know if he's gonna be alright, sir? When they took him away, he looked pretty..." he trailed off with a gulp when he saw his captain's face.
"Well now, not very good," Brandy said, wiping his brow with his cap, "he took a lot of hits to the back, y'know, getting you fellas outta there. Some internal bleeding, couple broken bones...definitely not good."
He took a closer look at the privates. "You're Johnson, aren't you?" the captain asked, even though he knew perfectly well. "If I recall, you were giving Ryoga a hard time a day or two ago. Something about him used to being a pirate...?"
He could have recited the whole conversation, but that was more than enough to make him spill his guts. "Y-yeah, and for the past little while, actually. Me and a bunch of the guys. Never got a rise out of him, either...and now..." the lad shook his head. "After all that, he still got us out of there first. W-what were we thinking?"
Brandy patted him on the shoulder. "What you thought was right, son. I've done it more than a few times, myself." He jabbed a finger toward the infirmary door. "For now, why not think about what you'll say to him after all this? I know he'll pull through, and he'll have plenty of time to listen."
The marine strode off then without a further word, flashing a little smile. The first step was already taken - but he hadn't expected it so soon.
One Piece: The Skull Pirates
Chapter Twenty-Four: Pursuit! The Skulls Strike Back
Almost as quick as they had come, the Skull Pirates reappeared exactly back where they had been in the stand-off, none the worse for wear except some sore limbs.
"You know, I must admit," Gerald said after they'd exhaled for a moment, "when I joined you in that prison it never quite crossed my mind that I'd see you haggle with a talking fish."
"I never imagined I'd be more worried about something than Martin's mother finding us-" Mary said, before realizing exactly what she was saying.
Up came two of Jack's fingers. "Gerald, whales are mammals, and that one can probably still hear you right now. Mary, you can tell everyone about that later."
Before she could make the captain regret that remark, Frank saluted. "What are we going to do now, Captain?"
Jack turned to him, the smile he gave bigger and nastier than anything Drake could have managed. "You have to ask?" he said. "Catch up to that squeaky bastard, smash him and his buddies, and make them all wish they'd had the whale to deal with!"
I do not think you could have forgotten my name so quickly, pirate.
"Stick it up your blow-hole."
Ketos fill silent.
"…uh, after you tell me where our ship is, anyway."
0
Drake had reached the shore. He stared out at the sea, frowning as he saw the row-boat off in the distance, heading toward the steamship docked safely away from the currents. Looking down at the water, he pondered them. It would be difficult, but…
I can-
"No. Whatever deal Jack has made with you, I don't need it. I'll save that girl by myself."
Without a word, he jumped into the ocean, kicking toward the boat as fast as his muscles would carry him. Before he'd got more than a few feet out, some part of him regretted that pride – the currents around the Archipelago weren't something to underestimate. At the moment they were threatening to take him in three different places at once, and if he was careless they'd be more than happy to share him; lurking just beneath the surface were rocks sharp enough to puncture a steel hull. They'd never have gotten past if it weren't for Emelia. But he would.
Almost as soon as that thought left him, though, the current shifted without warning, undoing his forward stroke in an instant and dashing him into a rock fin-first. He grunted in pain, but the water was already pushing him off it, towards others that were somehow worse. Slapping out a hand, he gripped hold of an edge; the water around it turned red as his hand came down on the point. The sharkman barely noticed, shifting his feet to rest against the rock's surface and kicking back into his stroke, remaining alert to the slightest change in the sea's flow.
0
After a moment of everyone staring, Jack cleared his throat. It felt a bit like shouting in a church (or he imagined it did; for some reason, churches and the Grand Line didn't really mix well), but hey, they had work to do. "Guys, you can spend time thinking about how the whale probably parked our ship better than I could later."
That did it well enough – sometimes not getting any respect was a good thing. Maybe. "Oh, that's a bit unfair, Jack, comparing yourself to something that can control water."
"Well, it doesn't seem like he has very good self-esteem, Gerald. I wonder why that could be?"
Frank looked between the two, scratching the back of his neck. "Um…sometimes I think the captain smells. A little."
"…"
"…"
He shrunk. "I wanted to say something…"
Jack sighed. "Let's just get on the boat."
Michaels felt a lot better once he was back on the boat. Both because a man's ship couldn't help but comfort him when it was under his feet, even if it was only his on technicality these days, and because it let him look somewhere other than at the girl. She'd sat there the whole time, looking down at her knees. He'd never seen anyone look that worse off in his life – not even in the mirror.
He clenched a hand as he saw Ahab motion to the angler to stop her in the middle of the deck. He patted her on the shoulder, then stepped back with a gulp. Michaels wondered what the guy had on him. Family? Would he…dumb question, of course Ahab would. Then again, just plain old threatening would probably work with this guy.
The bastard snapped his fingers, and one of his pets spread out the map. He pointed to a space directly between the three islands. Now that Michaels took another good look, he saw they were arranged almost like a triangle; weird.
"I'm sure I don't have to tell you what this is, do I girlie?" He tapped the spot with his hook, smiling. "We're going there now, and I want you to open it up."
One of Michaels' men glanced toward him, and he nodded, feeling like a barnacle for it. The whaler turned back just to the girl shake her head forcefully. "No. I don't care what you say you'll do to me, I won't let you in there!"
Ahab tapped his hook on the side of one steely cheek. "Oh? Not even if something bad would happen to your friend?" The business end of the blunderbuss slowly twitched to point over her shoulder.
Michaels heard Johnny gulp again, louder this time, and watched as the girl's shoulders quaked. Then she spoke. "N..no. Even then, I won't do it."
He couldn't be positive, but the whaler could have sworn he saw Ahab's face twitch in sheer surprise. It was only there a moment, and afterward Michaels saw why.
"Really, Emelia?" said an unfamiliar voice behind her. "That's awfully disappointing."
The next second, Michaels stepped forward, uttering a cry choked back at the last second. In one violent motion, the angler snatched the girl – the one supposed to be his friend – up by the neck, throwing her forward into the deck's steel surface. It barely took more than the blink of an eye, like the fat tub from before had just been a figment of their imaginations.
He stepped back as the girl shook on the ground, probably more from the shock of what had just happened than the pain. Johnny's speed wasn't the only thing that had changed; a wide sneer now marred his once-friendly features, making him uncomfortably resemble Ahab. "Ah…you don't know how long I've been waiting to do that, kid. But then, you don't know much, do you?"
Emelia stirred on the ground, lifting herself up to her hands and knees. A nasty bruise was already forming on her face. "…why?" she asked quietly.
"Surprised?" Johnny asked with a mocking edge. "I thought my acting was a bit much, but good enough to fool you, huh?" He crouched down, staring at her calmly. "Truth is, you should have listened to your friend. I've been working with Ahab since before I showed up at your waste of an island. Isn't that right?"
The metal man nodded, watching the presentation with some enjoyment.
By now the girl had pushed herself, slowly, into a sitting position. She was shaking her head now. "Don't quite get it, do ya?" he asked pleasantly. "That's because you're a sucker, kid. Any good con takes two people, and I was the one you don't see until it's too late." He leaned forward, watching with curiosity to see what she'd do.
"But…your family…"
"Made 'em up." he said coldly. "I figured that sinker would work on an orphan brat like you. And what do you know, I was right.
That was more than Michaels could stand. "You sunova-" he said, starting forward and groping for his tusks. It probably wouldn't have gone well for him if someone hadn't tugged him back quickly. Spider shook her head, silently. He gave her a pained look – of course she was right, but he sure as hell didn't have to like it.
Johnny gave them both a look of disdain, then turned back to see Emelia giving him one of betrayal. "You…you know what he'll do if he gets there, so why-"
He sent her out of his face with a flick to the forehead. "Money. Ahab offered me a cut of what he's gonna make, and it'll be a fortune if he pulls it off. There doesn't have to be any reason other than that. Or is that something you're too stupid to realize?" The anglerman shrugged, smirking; he looked pretty damn pleased with himself. "Then again, you did trust me, didn't you?"
Lifting his head, he uttered a loud, braying laugh around the deck.
As the girl's eyes began to fill up with tears, still partly from disbelief, the fishman walked over to stand by Ahab. "Well, now that that's settled, shouldn't we get going, Ahab? Some lazy help you've got here, that's for sure."
Ahab caught Michaels' gaze; he returned a glare, but motioned for a crewmate to get them underway. He disappeared down the stairs to the engine room, looking glad to get away. Michaels couldn't blame him.
0
A pair of wide trees spread back like an honor guard as The Flying Skull took off from the lagoon. An hour or two ago, Jack would have been pleased as punch to get off it, but now he actually felt kind of anxious. At first he'd patted himself on the back for such great negotiation skills, but thinking about it, if the tub of blubber was this worried, then what the hell were they being sent to stop?
He half expected him to chime in, but nothing came. Jack frowned, but something else tugged at his mind: the vicious currents circling around the islands. Quickly he leaped up onto the ship's prow, looking downward at-
-water that could have passed for a millpond's. Well, that explained Ketos actually shutting up.
He didn't need a telescope to spy the blasted steam ship on the horizon – especially not with that plume of smoke coming off it, damn! Jack looked up to the sails, blown by no more than a breeze. If it didn't pick up more before they got the engine started, they'd never catch up. The one time he wanted a crew full of rowers, they weren't there. His crewmates were making themselves busy, but it wasn't like any of them could move the wind, could they?
Somehow, I do not think you will have to worry.
"Tell it to my head, pal."
0
"Hm." Michaels said pensively. He did have a telescope, and was now watching the Skull Pirates' vessel approach them on the horizon. No-one else had noticed, with his crew scrambling to prepare the engine and Ahab struggling to stay standing. You couldn't make sea legs out of metal, apparently.
He knew enough about ships to know there was no chance for the galleon to catch up with them, and even if they did, so what? There were only five of them; no problem to deal with at all.
So it really wouldn't matter if he just…didn't happen to tell Ahab, right? After all, with everything going on it wasn't like he was paying attention to-
"See something interesting down there, Michaels?" spoke a voice behind his ear.
Hell of a time for the guy to find his legs. Turning around, he came face to face with Ahab, Johnny rubber-necking in the back. "See something interesting out there, Michaels? Don't mind if I take a look, do you?"
The whaler growled, but handed it over to Johnny. The fishman smiled as he stepped back, but wasn't anymore when he put his eye up to the telescope. "Wh-what!?" He cried, his assured demeanor quickly cracking. "It's those pirates!"
"WHAT!?" Ahav screeched, fitting his own widened eye up to it. "How in hell's heart did they escape from the whale?" He cast a glare toward the nearest thing that could be blamed: Johnny.
Bad minds thought alike, and the angler did the same. "T-that girl must have fed me a pack of shit! I'm gonna-" he said, starting off across the deck.
At that moment, a massive crash shook the deck, sending both him and Ahab spilling over. The latter did so away from Michaels, which he was more than thankful about. Not so much something hitting his boat, and even less when he picked up the communication tub on the nearby wall to find a hole had been opened in its hull.
"Well, get it patched up, and fast! Don't let water get into the engine room!"
What the hell could have caused an impact like that? They were sitting still in the water!
Drake was covered in cuts, scrapes, and now a massive bruise from running into the steamship's hull at top speed. It hurt, but a few more and it wouldn't be going anywhere. Of course, in just a few moments he'd be receiving some company, but that wouldn't matter. For their sake, he hoped the crew could swim.
He pushed away from the wounded boat, picking up speed as he swam away. The archipelago's currents began to work at him, but he'd grown more than familiar with them. Just as one began to pull him into its deadly embrace, he swerved to one side, riding the momentum of one going the opposite way - right back toward the steamship.
When he was about halfway there, however, the water's surface above him rippled and broke as a dark shape dove through. It was big, larger than him, and quickly swam down to place itself in-between him and the vessel.
They were obscured, but Drake had an idea of who it was. Fair enough, then - it would come to this sooner or later. He sped up, not expecting what happened next.
Perhaps it was arrogance on his part, charging in like he did, but what followed almost shouldn't have been possible. A foot or so away from the blocker, they made a motion with their hands, and the shark's momentum vanished like a blown bubble.
Then, almost casually, holding him tight, they turned and thrust him face-first ingto the steel of the hull, again and again. When they were through, the water around them had turned red. They let go, and Drake dropped.
Ordinarily this wouldn't have kept the sharkman down for long, but he was wounded and fatigued from his trip through the currents. He felt his eyes creep closed as he drifted downward.
The last thing he saw was Johnny grinning down at him.
To be continued...
Next time, on One Piece: The Skull Pirates...
Drake: Now that the truth is out, I can fight to my heart's content.
Jack: Same trick again? You getting rusty or something?
Ahab: I found it...I found it at last...
Arise! Ahab's Ambition and the Ocean Palace.
Gambit508 - I was worried it might look a bit cliche, but I'm glad you liked it.
smilingdamnedvillain - Well, that's a real compliment right there. Thank you sir.