A New Direction
"If I must fully draw my sword, none of you will walk onto my ship. Is that understood?"
Lykos' declaration had all but Bryn's right-hand men and a handful of other subordinates dropping their weapons in surrender, but even those who resisted took a step back at the intonation and authority of the Vice Admiral's voice as well as the confidence that he could, and would, easily back it up.
Bryn himself remained silent and motionless, never allowing his gaze to drift from the imposing Vice Admiral whose sights were squarely trained on him. Sweat beaded on the Commodore's brow as Vice Admiral Lykos absorbed his attention and the full gravity of his circumstances weighed heavily on his shoulders, drawing his focus away from the slowed bleeding of his missing arm. Before he completely succumbed to the insane pressure generated by the majestically grandiose officer, Bryn collected himself enough to give a surprising announcement.
"Jax, Dax, and the rest of you, thank you, but it's time to end this. Drop your weapons! . . Lykos, let them go, please. They're good marines; they were only following my orders."
"Squad 5, establish a perimeter. Squad 1, detain and escort Commodore Bryn. Squads 2 and 3, subdue the Twin Commanders, Lt. Commanders Jax and Dax. Squad 4, gather pirate captain Shin Tensan and carry him to the ship," Lykos barked orders. "You'll all be coming with me to stand trial for your actions."
Once orders were issued and the different squads set out to complete their tasks, Vice Admiral Lykos, moving for the first time since making his presence known, supported by a personal squad of elites, made his way to a stammering and nervous Isaac, whose throat was still firmly in the grasp of Bryn's dismembered hand. On the way over, one of his men picked up Commodore Bryn's glove and handed it to the Vice Admiral.
Lykos knelt before the young man with the glove inside out on his right hand, and positioned his left hand on the special metal limb with the gloved right hand just beneath it.
Isaac was visibly nervous as the marine prepared to remove the hand and tried to warn the officer of the dangers. However, Lykos seemed to ignore him as he took a deep breath in and yanked the hand off. Isaac's heart skipped a beat and his voice left his throat as his whole world slowed down. He was sure he'd already died when he felt an even tighter grip around his throat, announcing to him that he was in fact still alive as he struggled to get clean, fresh air to his lungs. Using the airtight material of the glove, Vice Admiral Lykos wiped the highly flammable liquid from Isaac's skin before any air could get through and rose to get medical attention for K'ron.
Isaac unsure of how well known a pirate K'ron was rushed to his side before Lykos could really approach, and volunteered to take responsibility for the unconscious young man's health. Accepting that as his decision, Lykos ordered his men to move out and he brought up the rear as a small detachment went to retrieve the Commodore's ship, leaving Isaac and K'ron on their own.
"Hey... HEY! Come on, speak to me! You baka; you better not die on me! Say something you shithead.
In his panicked state, Isaac violently shook K'ron while screaming at the top of his lungs, a small reservoir of tears beginning to well up in his eyes. Even in his mild hysteria, he was careful not to say K'ron's name in the presence of the Marines. After a few tense seconds of silence, K'ron's pained voice sounded in his ears breaking through the distress he felt and loosing the gathered tears in slow streams down each cheek.
"Sto- sto~op sha~aking me... I'm a-live; I can't die. I'm going to be- sssh, a-aah, oww- Pi~rate King.
Isaac's tears immediately ceased, and his mouth dropped open, face frozen in a look of complete shock as his brain tried, mostly in vain, to process and make sense of K'ron's words, in a way that they weren't completely suicidal for the two of them. Isaac stayed stock still, hoping against hope that Vice Admiral Lykos hadn't heard that last outburst. His prayers were simultaneously dashed and answered as the Vice Admiral muttered something from behind him.
"Fools like that don't live long."
Isaac could hear the Vice Admiral's footsteps getting farther away, and waited until he was sure they weren't in any immediate danger to hoist up his new friend, placing an arm over his shoulders and leaning K'ron's weight against him.
The two slowly began to make their way out of the encampment, Isaac mostly dragging the barely conscious K'ron. Crossing by the Marines' path, Lykos called out to the pair, warning them.
"You two were lucky today; you could have died. Now, you should be thankful that I have more important matters to attend to."
Isaac didn't take very well to the Vice Admiral's haughty tone and nearly dropped K'ron in his haste, a precursor to a far more dangerous action.
"You're looking down on me. I'll teach you to make light of me."
"Do you wish to test your luck again, boy?"
Isaac glared heatedly at the powerful man, barely able to contain his pride induced anger, but just as he was about to make a step to engage the much more powerful foe, he felt a strong grip clenching his shoulder, bringing a grimace to his rage locked features before he succumbed to the will of his injured compatriot and backed down from the sly grin challenging him to move forward.
It took some time in their condition, but the duo eventually made it to K'ron's boat docked at the coast, a small, but sturdily made single sailed ship. The first thing Isaac did with K'ron's pirate flag in view was toss K'ron's limp body into the ocean, making sure to get the young pirate past the shallow bank, earning him a yelp as loud as K'ron could manage through the agonizing pain it caused. After that K'ron managed to muster up enough strength and stamina to just briefly verbally berate the plum stupidity of Isaac's action once Isaac lifted him from the water.
"What the hell are you doing, baka?"
"You're suffering from first to third degree burns. The cool ocean water will help ease the heat," Isaac explained.
K'ron's jaw dropped at the childish naivety of that response, but Isaac's additional statement made the real reason understandable.
"And, that's the least you deserve for almost getting us both killed back there."
"Me? You're the one who wouldn't back down from that Vice Admiral or whatever."
Isaac stared at K'ron a moment, his face expressionless as he spoke. "Do you need another dip in the water to cool your temper?"
"AUUGH! Alright, alright. I have burn ointment and medical wraps on the boat just put some of that on my wounds, and then use ice periodically to take down the swelling," K'ron griped instructions to his new partner.
And, from there, the two ended up in their current predicament, Isaac in K'ron's small pirate boat with a human shaped arrangement of bandages lying motionless next to him. He'd barely slept a wink worrying about the various risks and problems. On a calm stretch of open sea, with waves gently rocking the sailboat back and forth, Isaac's eyelids felt heavy as a calming breeze flowed over him and he briefly resigned himself to the embrace of sleep.
Isaac was roused from his slumber by a slight jostling. He hurriedly woke up, scolding himself for falling asleep in the first place, and looked to the other end of the boat to see K'ron, still looking like a life sized bandaged teddy bear, lying perfectly still, presumably unconscious. Isaac then glanced at the sky, noting the movement of the clouds, the change in wind currents, and the increased swaying of the ship. He was quickly able to piece together the inevitability of a storm, and jumped to the sail in time with a powerful wind veering the boat drastically off course. Isaac caught the rigging and tried desperately to restore the course, but found it difficult to simultaneously fight the strong gales and keep track of direction in the dimming daylight without the sun or stars for aid. He pulled the ropes taut as the crashing waves pelted against him, tossing the small vessel along. With deft maneuvering of the sail's rigging, he just barely managed to direct them against a rogue wave that threatened to crush the single sail ship. He glided through the wave, the inside of the boat getting doused in the process, and broke through to the center of the storm.
This only gave him a brief respite, but it was enough time for Isaac to orientate himself in the fierce weather and prepare for the next stage. It took almost an hour, his focus and intensity never allowed to wane in the slightest, but he got them out of the storm mostly unscathed, his body exhausted and beaten by the crashing waves as his muscles burned fiercely from strain. Panting heavily, he fell to the deck, sprawled and spread eagle, just looking blankly at the night sky before K'ron's snoring entered his ears, frustrating him greatly.
"How can you sleep through all that," Isaac growled, bringing his heel crashing down on the chest area of K'ron's full body cast/ bandages, caving in a sizable portion and sending cracks through the immediate surrounding area of the wrappings, before letting his head fall to the deck with a thud as he himself immediately fell into a deep sleep.
Nggh. K'ron slowly regained consciousness within the confines of the thick bandage wrappings. Every time he shifted, the bandages, stiff after being soaked in seawater, broke apart bit by bit until he had gained enough freedom to flex and release his arms. K'ron then removed the remnants from his arms and ripped the broken shell off his torso before hammering apart the portion around his legs, kicking it all overboard and disregarding it.
"How can he be sleeping at a time like this," the teen grumbled, looking at Isaac snoozing contentedly.
K'ron muttered a bit to himself as he got up to stretch and fully unfurl the sail. Letting the wind carry them, he picked up a large pair of dumbbells and thought back over his most recent fight and defeat as he went through a light workout. Power, experience, and even endurance; K'ron had been completely outclassed by Shin for the entirety of their conflict. K'ron didn't often lose brawls and he'd never been toyed with like that before.
Because of his slugfest style of fighting, K'ron's toughest fights usually came against those that held a significant size and strength advantage, so it was imperative that he get stronger in order to be ready for what would surely come down the line. K'ron's body, still not completely recovered from his injuries, burned as his workout neared four hours, but, also due to his preferred brand of fighting, he possessed a great level of physical endurance and reveled in pushing his body's limits. It was for that reason that he couldn't help but bear an animalistic grin thinking about the total defeat he'd suffered as well as the myriad of even stronger fighters he'd no doubt come across as his journey continued. The thought alone got his blood boiling and he nearly broke the weights' handles as his grip unconsciously tightened.
His growling stomach broke K'ron from his reverie and he dropped the damaged dumbells and searched his stores for food before remembering that he ran out of food long before he docked at Isaac's home island.
The noise K'ron had unknowingly made in his search stirred Isaac, who briefly awoke to question whether they were still on the right course. K'ron answered yes and Isaac tiredly drifted back to sleep. K'ron continued to think about what to do about food when a great idea struck him. He looked at Isaac with hungry eyes, slowly, cautiously approaching the slumbering youth. With hands mischievously wringing together unconsciously, K'ron moved silently as he tied Isaac up with rope and bandages, covering the bandages in an ointment that would cause them to tighten yet remain flexible when contacted by liquid. In absence of more formal bait, K'ron figured the best plan would be to use Isaac, with a rope tied around his waist and a gag in his mouth, to catch some large prey.
'If I'm lucky, maybe I'll catch a Sea King.'
Less than a minute after Isaac had broached the water, K'ron felt a commotion from the other end of the rope, and with a glee filled grin, he wrapped the rope around his forearm and pulled hard, raising his 'catch' out of the water. But, much to the pirate's disappointment, it was only Isaac, violently hacking up seawater attempting to get air into his lungs, and an average sized bass taking a bite out of the fleshy part of Isaac's butt.
Once he was finally able to breathe again, Isaac went off on K'ron, yelling and cursing the black haired young man with venomous resolve. He berated the young man at the top of his lungs, calling him every name he could think of, seemingly particularly fond of shit-for-brains, but K'ron simply kept a sour expression while looking at the sight.
K'ron tossed Isaac behind, yanking the fish from his bum, and continued to gaze at the fish with an annoyed expression before ultimately turning back to Isaac.
"Should we try again?"
Isaac erupted in another fit of rage, his voice booming enough to blast the fish from K'ron's three finger grip. Having not eaten and barely slept in three days, Isaac's temper faded soon after K'ron cut him free, opting for rest over rash action which would only exacerbate his current issues.
"Hey, baka, keep an eye on our course, and if you try that stupid stunt again, I will strangle you with your own intestines and drown you in your bladder.
With Isaac once again asleep, K'ron looked upon him with mischievous intentions, contemplating whether to attempt using him as a bait again after losing his first catch, but even sleeping, Isaac appeared to be keeping an eye on K'ron at all times.
K'ron resigned himself to their current predicament and laid back in the growing breeze, visualizing various fight scenarios in his mind and thinking up effective moves and strategies for future reference, coming up with a handful of techniques that he took note to practice in earnest when he next had the opportunity.
After hours of silence, Isaac awoke with a start, breathing heavily once his eyes flashed open. For a minute, he simply stared blankly at the dawn of the morning sunrise, calming his breath and aligning his thoughts.
K'ron was also awoken by the slight rocking Isaac's sudden jolt caused and the daybreak sun beaming down on his face. Tiredly rubbing his eyes, he turned to his companion with half lidded eyes.
"What's with the commotion?"
"Why were you sleep? You should have been keeping watch."
"Oh, shut up. We're fine, aren't we?"
"Whatever; are we at least still on course?"
"Yeah, yeah," K'ron waved away Isaac's worries.
K'ron's quick and nonchalant answer did little to ease Isaac's piqued nerves and instead did the opposite. As the gears of his mind turned and the pieces fell in place, Isaac realized why the answer seemed so off; the sun wasn't on the right side. For an expert at reading the stars, the sun, and the clouds such as Isaac, using all of that to maintain a single direction was child's play, and right now, he knew they weren't going in the right direction, so he asked again, much more forcefully this time, but implicitly already knowing the answer.
"Are we still going the right way?"
"I said yeah! Why do you keep asking that same, stupid question? We're going where the wind takes us; of course, we're going the right way."
"WHAT!?" Isaac's face was a mixture of shock and rage. Overwhelmed by emotion at K'ron's blatant idiocy, Isaac lunged at the recovering young man. The boat rocked mightily with the ensuing tussle. Isaac locked his hands around K'ron's throat, but K'ron countered with heavy shots to his head. K'ron freed himself from Isaac's grip with a thunderous double fist to both ears, disorienting Isaac.
The two recovered simultaneously at opposite ends of the boat, but K'ron settled first, moving to tackle Isaac to the deck. Isaac, though, intercepted him with a knee, sending him careening to the edge where his head slammed into the wood. While K'ron was still dazed, Isaac lifted him up by the throat and slammed him into the single mast, forcing the air from his lungs. K'ron fought for freedom, but Isaac possessed a look he had never seen in their short time together and it was reflected in his strength as K'ron couldn't budge the arm holding him up or land a blow past the defense provided by the off-hand. Gripping tightly onto Isaac's forearm with both hands, K'ron lifted his legs up and kicked Isaac in the chest as hard as he could.
The move caught Isaac by surprise, and K'ron used the opportunity to grab hold of his head and deliver a crushing knee to his abdomen. Isaac's grip slackened enough that a quick elbow to the joint of his arm, set K'ron loose. When Isaac attempted to regain the offensive with a high roundhouse kick, K'ron blocked it and delivered a strong punch to the center of his chest. The force sent Isaac flying straight back and over the boat's edge, crashing into the still waters with a splash.
Isaac immediately began swimming as hard as he could, not wanting to be caught in the waves or a current. Pulling himself from the water, K'ron's laughter filled his ears, but that took a backseat as he realized there was no waves nor any wind. The worst-case scenario immediately flashed into his mind, and once he'd gotten himself back inside the boat, Isaac began doing calculations to figure out how they got in this predicament. K'ron became alert as well when he saw the look of horror on Isaac's face, knowing this must be serious.
"Oh no... This must have happened when I fell out while taking care of your dumb ass," Isaac muttered as panic set in.
"Ha, then this is your fault."
"You baka, this is no time to worry about whose fault it is. We're stuck in the Calm Belt; we need to get out now."
K'ron pouted at Isaac's reaction, mumbling under his breath, "Says the person whose fault it is."
"Argh," Isaac growled. Even amid such a perilous situation, Isaac pounced at K'ron again. Before they engaged, though, the boat prematurely rocked, causing Isaac to stop immediately, but K'ron still clocked him with a hard, right straight across his jaw. Isaac glared fiercely at his companion, but did nothing more as the rumbling around them increased and a giant turquoise scaled Sea King with a mane of long white hair and a beak filled with razor like teeth emerged from the water.
Their boat was now stranded on top of the Sea King's head and both K'ron and Isaac gawked over the boat's side at the frightening creature, though with entirely different expressions: K'ron smiling broadly while Isaac looked about ready to shit himself.
"This is awesome. I bet this guy taste great"
"I knew getting involved with you was gonna get me killed."
K'ron jumped out of the small boat, directly onto the Sea King's head, the sight of grilled meat in his eyes. Isaac was in complete shock over K'ron's brash actions, but when K'ron lifted his fist and a heavy weight surrounded them, Isaac was quick to restrain him, holding both arms back while K'ron continued to struggle in order to attack the ferocious monster.
The Sea King seemed to remain ignorant of the struggle going atop its head, but when K'ron's heel dug into its skull, the Sea King roared loudly and violently bucked its head, sending both K'ron and Isaac, along with their boat, flying into the distance like three twinkling stars shooting out of sight.