A/N: YAS! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

Chapter 41: The Privateer and the Forest Queen

April 17, X792 – Early Morning

The torrent of rain that fell around the island of Pluvia was a perfect cloaking shield for the slightly smaller ship that often times ran with the Black Skulls' main ship. It too was dark in color with the same pitch black sails as the main ship. This ship went by the name of Fury and belonged to one of the Black Skulls members. It had been brought along with him when he joined the crew and was now back in action due to its captain being called back from a mission he had previously been on. And that captain stood at the helm, carefully watching the large guild ahead of them to ensure they hadn't been spotted yet.

This man was known as D.P. Roberts, but was simply referred to as Roberts by the rest of the crew. Even though he was a shorter man, standing at 5'6" with a lean build, his brown eyes were sharp and cold. His short, blonde hair was slicked back in order to keep his vision clear. He wore black, loose fitting pants and shirt along with black, leather boots. A silver mask covered the lower half of his face with a black print of the Black Skulls symbol across it. And at his right hip hung a rapier.

"I am very surprised to hear that so many of our crew members have had so much trouble with this guild," a woman said, walking up from behind Roberts to stand on his right side.

He glanced down at her, the woman being just a couple inches shorter than himself. Though, she had a lovely, curvy frame with a modest bust. Her light green hair traveled down to her waist, but was tied into a ponytail. Her dark green eyes normally held a happy look in them, much like the man next to her, but because they were now on a mission, her eyes had changed to hold more of a coldness in them, the woman disliking the fact that many members of her crew had been hurt by the guild. She wore baggy, black pants that hung low on her waist along with a white, short sleeved t-shirt that ended just above her belly button. She also had on a black coat with sleeves that ended at her mid-forearms. Finally, her ears were pierced with emerald studs and she had a light blue, rose shaped marking on her stomach.

"Hmm," Roberts hummed in response, "It seems that our members have underestimated them."

"I suppose so. I never thought they were that stupid though," she said, stopping to think about what she had just said. A small sweat drop fell down her head as she laughed nervously, "Whoops. I didn't mean to sound rude. I'll have to apologize to them when we get back to the main ship."

"I honestly don't believe that you need to apologize, Rika," he said, "They are all stupid in their own right for failing so many times now. But things will be different this time," he explained, his gaze returning to the large guild in front of him, "We have the advantage of a surprise attack in this weather and with the Fury being much faster than both our main ship and the guild. Plus, we made sure not to come along empty handed as well," he finished, motioning out to the plethora of men working the ship, the men belonging to the Black Skulls crew as well, "We aren't taking any chances this time."

"And the weather is perfect for growing flowers," Rika said with a smile, "Don't you think?" she asked, looking up at Roberts with the same smile.

"Quite," he answered, creating an iced rose in his hand before crushing it quickly.

. : + : .

Cordelia currently sat down in her office, a cigarette held in between her thumb and forefinger. She smirked at it, "We're getting close to finishing, Van Black. You better keep up your end of the promise. I want those revolvers," she said, "But I also hope you know that I'm gonna pop your gramps straight in the nose for all the shit he's put me through," she added, her face taking on a flat look at the thought of Blackstroker and the fact that he was probably watching everything going on with the treasure hunt.

Though, it was at that moment that a large explosion went off, sounding like it was coming from the middle vessel. Cordelia's eye twitched at the sound of it, knowing a few of her members had to be doing something stupid. She put the cigarette safely back in her desk before moving to put her coat on and tuck the map away within it. She soon made her way onto the deck, sighing at the look on Sam's and Matilda's faces when she saw them standing outside of the navigation cabin. She then looked in the same direction as them to see a stream of smoke billowing upwards. Sam and Matilda gave her looks of sympathy as she began grumbling and making her way towards the middle ship.

It was on her way up onto the deck of the middle ship that Hagi and Mia appeared at the top of the bridge she was walking up. The three stopped and stared at each other for a long moment, Hagi and Mia both wearing nervous looks while Cordelia gave them an unamused stare. She then sighed again as she continued her walk up the metal bridge.

"Cordelia!" both Hagi and Mia called out, running down towards her in hopes of stopping her from going up on deck. They each grabbed onto an arm and attempted to drag her away, "How about you show us how close we are to Pluvia!"

Cordelia easily yanked her arms out of their grasp and pointed out towards the island, "You can see it from here," was all she said as she continued moving up the bridge.

Hagi and Mia exchanged nervous looks and followed after her slowly so as not to get involved with any reprimanding that was about to happen.

As soon as her feet stepped up onto the deck, Cordelia came to a sudden stop. Out across the middle of the deck were chunks of wood, most still burning from the explosion that had happened. There were also bits of metal, appearing as if they had previously been rings around barrels. And along with the smell of burning wood, a faint hint of beer wafted towards Cordelia, but it was quickly vanishing with the pouring rain. It looked as if it had been several barrels that had been involved in the explosion, the wasted contents having been furthered destroyed by the rain.

Cordelia stood there staring at it for a long moment, the pouring rain causing her hair to stick to her face and her clothes to her skin; but fire could been seen igniting in her eyes, the fire flaring as she moved her gaze past the debris and to the men that she knew had to be the culprits of the destruction. She began moving towards them, her steps steady and determined. People moved out of her way, nervous looks appearing on their faces at the sight of her, much like Hagi and Mia. She walked straight up to the two men standing in the middle of everything, the fact that they were both heavily muscled and towered over her not fazing her in the slightest. She stood just in front of them, crossing her arms as she listened to their argument.

"Call her a bitch one more time and I'll melt your head off!" Eli snapped, his body posed to throw a punch.

"I'd like to see you try. You can't do anything without an order from your fucking precious guild master," Gordon said, "And I might call her a bitch, but at least she can do things without being told to do them. You're just a damn mindless drone."

"I don't know how you're still a part of this guild, but I'm sure as hell gonna do everything in my power to get you kicked out of here!"

"Oi! I told you to fuck off in the first place, but you didn't listen! If anyone needs to leave, it's you! You're always causing fucking problems!"

"Me?! Who was it that screwed the guild for the last three years?!"

This caused Gordon to snap again and launch for Eli, the two men starting another fist fight, considering the bruises and blood that already covered their faces and hands. It was apparent that they had already been in a fight from their wounds and the destroyed barrels of beer.

Not wanting another fight to fully break out and having heard enough from the two men, Cordelia called out her Twin Pistols and aimed them both into the air. She quickly pulled the triggers, the loud noises bringing everything to a halt. The two men looked over at her in surprise, watching as she moved the pistols down to aim at them both.

"That's enough," she said lowly, "Back away from each other."

They did as they were told, both of them keeping their eyes on the guns pointed at them.

"Now, someone better tell me what the hell is going on."

"He started making comments about you, so I had to put him in his place!" Eli snapped.

"I didn't start making comments until you bumped into me and started accusing me of things!" Gordon retorted.

"You bumped into me!"

"Tch, whatever. I still told you to fuck off and you wouldn't leave me alone!"

Cordelia rolled her eyes with a sigh, "All right, all right. Stop it," she said, instantly silencing the two again, "I'm tired hearing this crap. I don't care who bumped into who or who said what. Just drop it and leave each other alone."

"But Cor, he called you a bitch!"

"Like I haven't heard that a thousand times from him," she said, giving Eli a flat stare, "Just leave it alone."

"So I'm just supposed to sit back and let people call you whatever they want?! Like hell I'll do that!"

"I said to leave it alone!" she finally shouted, bringing silence over the guild again, "I understand what you were trying to do Eli, but I don't really care what he calls me right now. I have other things to worry about besides someone's name calling. And now you've gone and wasted several barrels of beer because of this stupid fight," she sighed as she recalled her pistols, "You're both going to pay for them when we hit port after the treasure hunt is finished."

"But Cor!"

Cordelia simply turned away from him, not wanting to hear anymore about the situation. Though, she glanced around at the crowd around her, feeling like she shouldn't just leave things the way they were, "Also!" she began so everyone could hear her, "If I hear anyone else giving Gordon any more shit for his time as guild master, you're going to answer to me personally! I'm tired of hearing about it! I'm guild master now and that's all that matters, got it?!"

The crowd around her nodded in agreement.

"Good," she said, glancing back at Eli. She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment to make sure he got the message. He huffed in response, but made no further arguments about it. She then turned her gaze onto Gordon, her expression turning a bit softer. He caught her stare, and for a brief moment, Cordelia thought that he was just going to brush her off again, but he actually nodded at her before walking away from the area. She couldn't help the small flutter of happiness and accomplishment that came over her, feeling like she had made some progress with Gordon, even if it was very small. She was sure they'd continue to have differences and arguments in the future, but this was a tiny step forward for the two of them.

Before Eli or anyone else could get to Cordelia, Haruna came running up on her. She was currently holding Sho in her arms, considering how much the cat disliked water. He looked like quite the unhappy, wet furball sitting in Haruna's arms, wearing an unamused and irritated look on his face. Haruna, on the other hand, appeared to be unfazed by the pouring rain as she smiled up at Cordelia.

"Cordelia!" Haruna began in her usual chipper voice.

Cordelia could only smile in return, "How can I help you?"

"I think you need to come help Squall, ne Sho?" she said, looking down at the beanie wearing cat.

"Like I said before, I don't care what you do, but you could have left me in our room in this weather!" he shouted, struggling to get out of her arms to fly back to their room within the girls' dormitory.

"Haha, he's just a bit grumpy today," Haruna said, looking back up at Cordelia.

"I can see that," Cordelia said, laughing a bit herself at the wet cat, "But let's get back to the Squall business. What's going on?"

"She's up in one of the bird's nests as usual, but I don't think it's good for her to be up there while it's raining. What if she slips on something if she tries to climb back down?"

"Good point. Take me to her then, yeah?"

Haruna nodded in agreement and then headed towards the front of the guild to where the ship that held the supplies was. The two quickly made their way to the ship and Cordelia was surprised to see Seth already standing near the main mast of the ship that held the bird's nest right near the top.

"You're here too?" Cordelia asked once they were next to the large man.

"Aye," he said with a smile, "Haruna ran into me first and thought I could help out, but Squall doesn't seem to listen to me very well."

"I see," Cordelia said, her own smile appearing. She stared up at the bird's nest that held the young girl, trying to figure out a way to get her down. She then remembered the map within her coat pocket and that she still needed a group to go onto the island to finish solving it. She turned to Haruna with a wider smile, "Go and get Zhuue for me please, Haruna. Meet us back on the middle ship. I have a job for you, Squall and Zhuue."

"Yes ma'am!" she answered with a salute before running off towards the ship that held the infirmary.

"All right, now back to our current problem," Cordelia said, smiling back over at Seth.

"If you can get her down, I'll buy your drinks tonight," he said.

"You're on!" she said with a smirk, "OI! Squall!" she shouted up to the girl. She saw the slight movement of a body, but she never moved to look down at her. Cordelia tried a sharp and loud whistle next, but still no show of a face from the girl, "Hey! I know you can hear me! Get down here!"

Squall finally decided to stand up and peer over the edge of the bird's nest, looking between Cordelia and Seth with a bored stare.

"It's not safe up there while it's raining! What if you slip and fall?!"

Squall watched her for a moment longer before moving to pull one eyelid down and stick her tongue out at the woman.

Anger literally bristled across Cordelia while Seth began laughing loudly in response.

"Shut up you!" she hissed at Seth before setting her sights back on Squall, "Listen here, little girl! You better come down right now! Don't make me come up there and get you!" she yelled, only to receive another pulled down eyelid in response from the girl along with more laughter from Seth, "If you don't come down in the next five seconds, I'll make you wear shoes for the next week! And don't think you can hide from me either! I'll assign Gamu as your watchdog to make sure you wear them too! You know how he can randomly pop up anywhere!"

"Like here?!" Gamu suddenly called out, appearing on the bit of mast sticking out from the bird's nest. Squall jumped in surprise, having to tightly hold onto the railing of the bird's nest to keep from falling over while Cordelia and Seth stared up at the man, cocking their heads to one side at the sight of him.

"How did he even get up there?" Cordelia asked.

"I've been theorizing that he's part ninja lately," Seth answered.

"Seems legit," she said before coming back to the task at hand, "Looks like my point was made, Squall! So are you gonna come down or do I have to make good on my threat?!"

Squall glared down at Cordelia before looking back up at Gamu.

"Shoes! It'll be like a game! Let's play shoes!"

Squall made a face at his comments right before she jumped over the edge of the bird's nest. Cordelia easily caught her and placed her on her feet.

"I thought you'd see it my way," Cordelia said with a chuckle. Squall only glared at her more in response, "Aww, don't make that face. You just won me drinks for the night!" she said, bending down to Squall's level and began smooshing her cheeks, "Besides, I have a job for you if you're interested."

Squall batted her hands away and stood looking thoughtful for a moment. She then glanced back at Cordelia, silently telling her to proceed with explaining her what she needed.

"I need you to go onto Pluvia with Haruna and Zhuue to figure out the next clue for me," she said, taking out the map from her coat pocket, "I'm giving you the map to hold onto. Don't let go of it and don't give it up to anyone. It's very important that you do this. It would kinda make you the leader of the team too. Would you do that for me?"

Squall took a moment to weigh her options, moving her hands up and down as she thought it over. Soon enough though, she swiped the map out of Cordelia's hands and shoved it into her own pants pocket before sticking out her hand towards Cordelia.

"Glad we could come to an understanding," Cordelia said, shaking the girl's hand, "Now then, we need to head towards the middle ship to meet up with Haruna and Zhuue," she added, looking back towards Seth, "You stay and take care of that," she said, pointing up at Gamu, who was now twirling around on the mast, "Get him down before he fal-"

A heavy thud against the guild cut off Cordelia's words and had the group stumbling around on the deck. And as if to prove Cordelia correct, Gamu came flying down from the top of the mast to slam down on his back in between the trio, causing them to stare down at him.

"Round and round and round we go," Gamu sang, twirling a hand in the air, "Where we stop, nobody knows," he continued, his mind jumbled from the fall.

"Take care of him," Cordelia said to Seth before grabbing onto Squall and dragging her up towards the middle vessel. When the pair made it up onto the deck, people were scrambling around from whatever had hit the guild. Cordelia tried to call out to them to get them to calm down, but no one would listen to her. And soon she felt herself being pulled to the side of the chaos. She kept a tight grip on Squall, afraid to loose the girl in the mob of people running around.

"Cordelia!"

She instantly recognized the voice as Isaak's and was finally able to turn to face the silver haired man, "What's going on?!"

"An attack has been made on us."

"I kinda figured that, but from where?"

"There," he said pointing towards one of the long side ships. There she saw a dark ship with black sails rammed up against the side of the guild with hooks already digging into the guild to keep it connected. Men stared pouring out onto the decks of the guild with a man and a woman taking their time walking onto the guild.

Cordelia's eyes narrowed in on the man's silver mask with the black marking on it, "Black Skulls," she said, "Black Skulls!" she repeated louder, looking down at Squall, "We need to find Haruna and Zhuue and get you three onto the island!"

"This way!" Isaak said, pulling on Cordelia's arm again to lead them along with him through the crowd. He made it to one of the bars where Haruna and Zhuue were looking around worriedly before spotting the trio heading towards them.

"You made it!" Haruna called out.

"Yes, and you three need to get a move on," Cordelia said, pushing Squall towards the other two women, "Head onto the island and solve the riddle as quickly as possible and then head straight back here. We'll hold off the Black Skulls from following you, but still, be on the look out for any that might break through our defenses."

"What about getting onto the island?" Haruna asked, "We're not at port yet."

"I'm going to keep this fight away from the island if I can help it. I don't want people living on the island to get involved," she answered, "So either use your Nature Magic or Squall's Wind Magic to get you over to the island. We should be close enough for you all to do that. Okay?"

Haruna looked a bit nervous until Zhuue laid a hand on her shoulder and smiled down at her. The teen looked back up at Cordelia with a smile on her face now, "Yeah, okay! We'll make it onto the island!"

"Good girl," Cordelia said, "Now get moving you three," she added. Though, she grabbed onto Zhuue's arm for a moment before she got too far, "Take care of them."

Zhuue grabbed onto Cordelia's arm in return with a reassuring smile and nodded at her. She then turned and ran after the two younger girls.

Cordelia stared after them, a nagging, worried feeling pulling at her stomach, as if sending those three without some back up after them had been a bad idea. But she soon felt a comforting hand landing on her shoulder. She looked up to see Isaak next to her, the rain making his own hair stick to his face.

"They'll be okay for now. If things start looking bad or pirates get through us, then you can send someone after them," he said, "But we have to focus on the attack happening now on the guild."

Cordelia moved her gaze back to where the three girls had previously been standing, still feeling worried, but also knowing that Isaak was right. She took a deep breath and stood up straight as she called her Twin Pistols out, "You're right," she said, turning her back to the island in order to face down the pirates beginning to spread out across her guild, "You ready?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Of course, angel," he said with a smirk, pulling out a deck of Rune Cards to have at the ready, "Although, I'm sure I'll be knocking more of them out than you."

"Tch, we'll just see about that," she said as the two headed into battle.

Storm's Helm Question Corner!

Today's question comes from Origm2012 for Nanami:

You seem fairly practical. In your mind, who is the strongest non S-Class mage?

Nanami: That is actually a really good question. Let's see. Who to pick.

Eli: Oi! Come on! You know it's me!

Watson: Don't interrupt! Super rude!

Nanami: Watson-san is right. You are being quite rude in a question that is meant for me to answer. And besides, I am not choosing you, Eli-san.

Eli: What?! But you know I'm the strongest!

Nanami: Pure strength does not always mean you are the strongest.

Eli: What the hell is that supposed to mean?!

Isaak: It means that you're an idiot.

Eli: Oi! No one asked for your opinion, four eyes!

Isaak: Seriously, come up with better comebacks, char face.

Watson: Well, while they work out their bromance-

Eli: Like hell it's a bromance!

Watson: SUPER RUDE! *throws book at Eli* Why don't you give us your answer, Shiraki.

Nanami: I suppose one person would be Isaak-san, even if I did defeat him for his S-Class spot. I think another strong person would be Ace-kun, but he's a bit too laid back to go for the position. And then I also think that Kasra-san is a strong mage as well. All three have the potential to be S-Class in the future.

Watson: I like those choices too! Well done Shiraki!

Isaak: *throws an arm around both Nanami and Watson* How very kind of you ladies to choose me. Why don't I take you both out for a drink to thank you.

Watson: Ahaha…*blushes*…Sure! Let's go! *turns to readers* See you all in the next update!

Eli: OI! Why am I always being left behind?! Hey! Don't ignore me!

A/N: And there we are! I hope you all liked it!

Credits

D.P. Roberts - mrady

Rika Shiren - Origm2012

Whoo! I had a lot of fun with this chapter! And we're getting back into the action! CHA! I'm so excited! And Roberts and Rika are the last two Black Skulls members to be introduced as the rest of the crew members are basically 'faceless' members to fill numbers. So that means that we're definitely getting closer to the end of this arc! But it'll be fun seeing how this clue and its events turn out since there will be a lot going on with Roberts and Rika and some of the Storm's Helm members. GAH! It's so much fun!

Anyways, thank you all for your reviews even with the short chapter previously! I still quite liked that chapter, especially since it helped me work out a whole lot of stuff dealing with the history of the guild as well as the Murdock family. You all don't even know yet! Haha! But seriously, your reviews were awesome and made me smile as always!

I think that's it for this time around.

The next chapter should be up soon!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson