The next day started off a little later than had been planned due to some contestants' protesting any form of an early start after the party the night before. Alfred, however, had been ready to ship off almost at dawn it seemed to many of the others as his usual level of enthusiasm seemed to have skyrocketed in anticipation. He was just barely able to outline the rules thanks to having Kiku questioning everything for good measure before agreeing anyway to what Alfred had suggested.
"Okay. So, it's simple..." Alfred said as he and the others who were going to race stood on the docks. "Sailing around the island to get back to the starting point. Couldn't be more dull, but it works, right?" He said, making to climb onto his ship.
"And what about any places we should avoid, Alfred?" Arthur asked, halting the eager American's walk. "We don't know the area too well and you decided to have a bonfire rather than brief us on any potentially dangerous areas." He said, Alfred shrugging in response and earning a huff of irritation from the older blonde.
"Dude, I gave y'all maps and stuff when you first got here. Use those." He said, Arthur just as surprised as some of the others that Alfred would've taken the time to do that. Then again, they were on Alfred's territory and so it wasn't too outside the norm. "Besides, if I told ya everything, then there'd be no real competition. Help's just on the coast and we're only goin' just outside of sight of land." He said.
"Then how do we know you are not planning on using knowledge of area to be cheating?" Ivan asked with smile in place, head cocked to the side as he asked his question. He had under his arm some supplies that made the others question just what exactly Ivan was planning on doing out on his boat alone with what looked like a harpoon. But, considering who they were analyzing, they all thought better of outright asking what could very well have been a 'comfort' to the Russian man in much the same way the double-headed axe was to Denmark.
"Come on dude." Alfred said with an eye roll, not fazed by the strange image Ivan made with those items and sunscreen already on his nose that must've been the result of one of sister's doting. "Home field advantage. But if it makes you feel better, the hero will give you all a….five minute head-start. Better?" He said, Ivan choosing not to say anything and instead heading to his boat. "Okay, then. Guess that works." Alfred said with a chuckle at the lack of a response from Ivan, while the Baltics seemed more nervous than before at the Russian's demeanor.
"Ve~, what about lunch breaks?" Feliciano asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet in his own excitement. In response, his older brother groaned and rubbed his forehead with his hand.
"Idiota, we're on a boat. We'll be eating on the boat." Romano grumbled, Feliciano pausing in his bouncing as he thought over what his brother said. Without actually opening his eyes, the others could practically see him blinking in confusion before smiling again.
"Okay. But won't the….wait for me big brother." Feliciano began, only to start to run after his already retreating brother as Romano apparently decided to take off on his own while his brother pondered over the deeper things in life – namely how to create the perfect dish of pasta on their boat with what they had packed away.
But if Feliciano had found a way to do so in the middle of the desert with Ludwig, Romano felt like there shouldn't be too much for him to be concerned about. He instead was avoiding Antonio's last minute suggestions that the Italys join him on his boat for the trip, the southern Italian disappearing below deck quickly with a blush on his face and obscenities on his lips.
With that, it seemed that everyone was satisfied that there was some sense of order to this race and had each gone to make their boats ready. The others who had chosen not to take part met up on the shore to wish them all safe trips, Alfred jumping back on the dock once the others were ready.
"All set? Go!" Alfred shouted to get the others' attention, pulling out and shooting off his gun without warning up in the air. Once the shock wore off, Arthur scolding the American once more as he took off with the others, Alfred only laughed at the startled shouts and surprised faces around him. As they took off, Alfred felt a tap on his shoulder.
"You decided not to go, eh?" Matthew asked as his twin faced him, a curious expression on his face. He could see some of the others with similar questioning looks.
"Figured out you, like, weren't up to the challenge?" Feliks teased, clearly looking to toss a barb toward the American after blaming him for the previous night. He honestly had no idea why anyone would think to blame him for getting caught up with all the sparklers to not notice that he'd caught his pant leg on fire – it was sparkles after all.
"Dude, that so doesn't even make sense." Alfred said with a scoff at the implication that he couldn't rise to any occasion. "I'm just givin' everyone a head-start because someone thought I might have too much of an advantage. It's only fair I guess." He said, checking his watch and climbing back into his boat.
"You sure it's a good day to do this?" Matthew asked as he watched his brother undo the rope connecting his ship to the dock. "I mean, you checked the weather and everything, right?" He said, looking up to see a clear, sunny sky that gave no indication otherwise that there might be any reason for alarm.
"Yeah, yeah, ya' worry-wart." Alfred said with a teasing smile, as he started up the boat's engine and slowly headed out. "Forecasts didn't mention anything. We'll be fine. Make sure you got the burgers goin' by the time we get back, bro!" He said with a wave before the boat took off at full speed to catch up to the others.
The Italy brothers' boat was still quite visibly lagging behind enough to cause Germany to shake his head at his friend's clear apathy toward the concept of a race. Matthew waved goodbye with a smile, but it seemed his twin had either forgotten he was still standing there or wasn't paying attention to much of anything else beside his boat.
Alfred easily managed to sail past the Italy brothers with a friendly wave, Feliciano already lazily going about the deck while his brother tried to put in some semblance of effort toward their goal. The northern Italian gave out a friendly greeting in return before cringing at his brother's exclamations for him to pay attention to what he was doing before he fell overboard.
For a while, Alfred managed to navigate pretty easily to where he knew the currents to be better for natural bursts of speed, going a little farther out but quickly catching up with the Baltic, and Spanish personifications. Alfred extended a greeting by blowing his boat's horn. Receiving similar toots from the other boats with his friends, Alfred decided to see if he could start a conversation.
"Ha ha ha. Did you see the Italys?" Alfred laughed to him as he caught up, speaking through the radio. "I think they've decided to turn this into a cruise rather than a race. Romano's only gonna be able to last so long with Feliciano bouncing around as he was." Alfred said, waiting for a reply.
"Si. But that's not a horrible way to spend the day." Antonio answered, earning a smile from Alfred. "I wouldn't mind doing something like that myself later." The Spanish man continued.
"Careful. You and the Italy brothers might end up making it back by next week." Alfred said, readjusting his course to head out a little farther to where he thought the 'sweet spot' would be for his kind of boat to start to make significant progress. It was clear that each participant had their own tactics, the ships spread out pretty good at this point. Alfred was waiting for a reply when it seemed like the other nearby boat was having some difficulty, smoke billowing from its backend.
"Hey, you three alright?" Alfred asked into the radio, confident that the other boat would still be able to pick up his signal. "Dudes, this may be a competition, but if ya need help, the hero's here for ya." Alfred tried again when it seemed he wasn't getting an immediate response, pausing for an answer and hearing Antonio calling over the radio too.
"Oh, um…no need. We're f-fine." Raivis' voice came over the line. "Well, we will be. Once the engine stops smoking." He continued, Alfred hearing another voice on the other end shouting to him. The radio was obviously fumbled about with for a moment before Alfred heard his friend's voice come through.
"We're alright Mr. America. Thank you though." Toris said, sounding a little stressed. "It seems the engine somehow had a few things wrong with it, he he." He said with a nervous laugh, Alfred certain that such unforeseen circumstances may have had something to do with a certain tall, intimidating man that happened to be fond of hovering around the Baltics. "We'll work through it." Toris said, clearly intending that to be the end of the discussion.
"Ya know, you could probably just ask him what he did. Knowing him, he'd be more than happy to tell you." Alfred said with a shake of his head at how creepy the other man could get sometimes. But experience had taught him that Ivan would most likely offer to then help - if they agreed to 'become one with him'- smile firmly in place as he made such a suggestion.
"N-No, we can work together. That's why we teamed up in the first place." Toris hastily said, worried that Alfred might just bring Ivan into the discussion since he and the Asian personifications were in the next clump of boats visible. "We may have our differences, but we're capable of fixing this. Thank you anyway Mr. America." He said with a tone that Alfred recognized from having the Lithuanian stay with him as pleading without having to actually plead.
"Okay then. Take care dudes." Alfred said, heading further out more to get back into the race once more, finding where he wanted to be and bypassing the other three ships. He was surprised to find that he hadn't spotted at least Francis' ship, but figured that the Frenchman was more than adept at finding ways to be annoying close to Arthur.
Alfred could only assume that the British man was somewhere further ahead, and that the Frenchman was doggedly tailing him or had somehow managed to overtake him. As for the Nordics, he made the same assumption that they'd managed to get into the lead for the race so long as the much warmer climate didn't cause them all to pass out. He'd noticed how Sweden seemed to be a little lightheaded the day before as they'd prepared their boats, taking charge as the 'hero' and feeling the need to assist the large man as Tino fretted over him.
Alfred had begun to start thinking about actually making something to eat for lunch as he continued on in the deeper waters, checking over his maps again as music blared in the background to help fill the silence that Alfred often found stifling – he'd done his best to try and get his twin to accompany him, but it seemed nothing could persuade the Canadian who preferred the part of the 'welcoming party' instead.
As he continued on, grabbing an apple in the meantime before making an actual lunch of an appropriate size, his thoughts were interrupted as he noticed the sun seemed to suddenly turn off as clouds began to fill the sky. He switched the radio over to what should've been a station giving the weather, only for a freak storm to start pounding into his ship. He scrambled to prepare for the storm, the boat beginning to rock as the waves began to get larger and more tumultuous.
He heard a crack as the winds snapped the mast his sail had been attached to, the whole boat rocking even more as it came crashing to the deck. The waves kept coming over the sides of the boat, Alfred realizing that his ship was being blown off course. He wondered if the others had run into the same storm for only a few moments before a flash of lightning illuminated the horizon, the outlines of a couple of ships visible to him but indistinguishable. Fighting to keep the boat steady, all he could think about was how oddly clairvoyant his twin seemed to have been that day.