A/N: Sorry it's a bit late.
Chapter is not betaed. Betaed chapter will be posted when available.
Chapter Nineteen
Attack
"I can probably get its attention."
Harry sat down on the sea king's head.
"But I'll also need to be a little closer. First off, what did you mean you'd knock out everything in a 500 meter radius?"
Shanks joined Harry in sitting and patted the sea king.
"Basically, I'll send a large burst of Haki in the Yuda's general direction. With eye contact, I should be able to focus enough of it to knock it out, even about 500 meters away, but I'm sacrificing control for power. Everyone on the ship and Zeb would definitely be knocked out too, and anything between us and the Yuda would as well. You?"
"Trade secret."
"You aren't going to turn the Yuda different colors, are you?" Shanks teased.
Harry stuck his tongue out. "Wouldn't you like to know? But seriously, I think I've got a pretty good chance at getting it to look at us. We'll have to get closer, though, and also get the ship off Zeb unless you want us to crash when he falls unconscious."
"Can do. Come on then, Kid, let's get my crew off their lazy asses."
There wasn't actually any work for the crew to do. Shanks explained to the sea king that it would have to let the Yuda closer and then put the ship back into the water. It was testament to Shanks' power that the sea king easily agreed to allow the predator to draw nearer.
The crew prepared oars for rowing the ship out of the Calm Belt once they wake up before finding a comfortable place for unconsciousness.
Harry was second-guessing his decision to volunteer getting the traveling snake's attention. He could speak only two words of Parseltongue now: open, and stop. Along with a sonorous charm, "stop" should be sufficient in either impressing the snake with his ability or angering it with his arrogance, both of which should encourage its approach. If neither, then a well aimed Conjunctivitus Curse would have it pursuing the ship easily enough.
He didn't want the crew to hear him regardless of what he does, however. People finding out he could speak Parseltongue brought him nothing but trouble in the past, and demonstrating offensive spell-casting skills might trigger more reactions like Greg's, or unwanted expectations in future battles.
A temporary silencing ward around the ship from the lookout point downward would solve that problem. A few runes carved into the wood at five points to mark the boundaries and Harry could activate a thirty second ward that would stop the sound of Harry's voice from entering the area by channeling magic into the rune on the floor of the crow's nest.
But did he have the right to do something like that to Shanks' ship? Runes, once activated, would heat and, in this case, possibly burn themselves deep into the wooden planks and resist any magical repairs. These runes also happened to be one use only – if he was stuck in another situation like this, Harry would have to carve fresh runes, further damaging a ship he had no rights to.
In the end, Harry chose to go ahead with carving the runes, for now. If the pirates were going to react negatively to his abilities, Harry wanted it to happen when the threat of unconsciousness – leaving him vulnerable to attack – wasn't looming in the immediate future.
"Alright Shanks, let's do this," Harry called out from his position at lookout point.
"Got it!" Shanks turned back to the sea king. "Alright boy, slow down a bit, okay?"
The sea king began the slow down, as if tiring from the Yuda's pursuit. When the distance between predator and prey shortened to three hundred meters, the sea king slipped its head down, placing the ship back into the water with a gentleness that belied its great size. Once the ship was steady, the sea king took off at top speed once more under Shanks' direction.
Harry took this time to crouch down towards the primary rune.
"Actum."
Feeling the runes activate, Harry pointed his wand at his throat and cast a Sonorus before yelling at the traveling snake.
"Ssstop!"
With a jerk, the snake pulled its attention away to glance in the ship's direction. At first, it didn't seem to see it, since the ship was quite small. Although Spaz said Hancock used Yuda to pull her ship, Harry was having doubts as this one seemed quite large. Not nearly as big as the sea king, but still several times larger than the ship.
Not seeing the ship, or perhaps it saw it and dismissed the puny thing as insignificant, the snake seemed about to pursue the sea king again, so Harry once more yelled out to it, wincing as he felt the ward fall halfway through his word.
"Ssstop!"
This time, the snake was visibly annoyed. It turned towards the ship and swam closer.
Harry cast a Quietus and lied down in preparation for Shanks' Haki. He did not like the idea of being knocked unconscious by someone else but thought that experiencing the power of Haki first hand would be more educational than lightly stunning himself.
He waited.
And waited.
What was happening? Harry thought, rolling over to glance down through the barred railing. Shanks was just standing there, not even looking at the approaching snake.
No, he was watching the sea king.
Harry cursed. Of course! If the sea king was knocked out too, then whoever woke up first would "win," and Shanks wasn't going to risk that.
280 meters, 260, 240…
Harry watched the traveling snake with mounting dread. At 200 meters, Harry could see the ship as a tiny speck reflected in the snake's eyes.
Then finally, Shanks snapped his head to face the Yuda. His right hand reached up to tilt his straw hat back.
There were no words. Harry watched with fascination as a soundless but visible pulse of energy blasted from Shanks body. The last thing he saw was the ocean itself rippling out towards the Yuda before the world went black.
CLANG CLANG
BAM!
BA-BOOM!
With a crash, Harry fell straight out of bed.
Wait, bed?
Untangling himself from the covers, Harry looked around, locating the exits – a door and a pair of windows – and taking stock of his condition – clothed, dizzy, hungry, thirsty, need the bathroom, still in possession of his wand and still pulsing magic against water though once more extended to over a centimeter's distance – before getting up and approaching the door.
Beyond the door was a sight beyond Harry's wildest predictions.
The deck of the ship was filled with pirates, most of them not from the Red-Hair crew. The clanging of metal against metal could be heard as the pirates fought with a variety of close quarter weapons, mostly swords and fists.
"Merlin's beard. What happened while I was out?"
"Harry!"
Harry turned and was immediately pounced on. Recognizing Spaz, Harry forced his magic to calm after the unexpected attack.
"Harry, you're okay, that's great, you were out for almost a week, how are you feeling, do you need anything, can I get you something, how about some water – "
"Spaz!"
"Right, sorry," Spaz said sheepishly, stepping back from Harry and stopping the stream of questions, though he bounced on his toes with impatience.
"I'm fine, all things considered. Anything I need I can take of, no worries, okay? More importantly, what the heck is going on here?"
"Oh, this?" Spaz looked out at the deck where pirates were dropping the ground in sprays of blood, "we're under attack by some pirate fleet. Shanks is taking care of it pretty well."
"I… I see."
Steeping out a bit more, Harry could see the battle more clearly. Surrounding the ship were seven other ships, all flying the same flag of a Jolly Roger wearing what looked like an old fashioned European wig.
With a start, Harry realized that the ships were firing cannonballs and yet not a single one was hitting Shanks' ship. With shock and disbelief, Harry saw Beckman running on the railing after each cannonball, and, reminiscent of a beater hitting a bludger, used his rifle to knock them back at the enemy ship.
The first mate stayed on the port side, however. At starboard, there was no cannon fire and a glance upward explained why. Yassop was crouched in the crow's nest with a musket. With a steady eye, he shot an almost continuous stream of bullets at the three ships, unbelievably aiming at the cannon hatches. Because of his angle, he couldn't kill anyone, but getting a bullet in the foot would certainly distract someone from firing a cannon.
In front of the ship was the largest enemy ship. A man, probably the captain, was standing at the bow. Dressed like a fancy, renaissance French sailor, he waved his fencing sword around, yelling.
"Attack! It eez only vun sheep! Ve vill be victorious and claim fame, reeches, and ze zea 'orse!"
Sea horse?
A loud whinny interrupted Harry's confusion. Between Shanks' ship and the enemy ship, a large creature soared out of the water.
Unlike seahorses back home, this monster looked exactly like a horse along the upper half, hooves included, but with a large fish tail. And it was green, instead of the usual earth tones of normal horses.
"He got another sea monster?"
"Yes sirree," Spaz answered, "that's Frank. He's really nice. Shanks thought it'd be cool to have a horse pull us. I think that's one of the reasons we're being attacked right now, though. Apparently the enemy saw it and thought it was domesticated and decided to steal it."
"From Shanks?"
"Well, he didn't know it was Shanks until he got closer, but apparently that just encouraged him. He wasn't intimidated, no sirree, he wasn't. Thought he might try and make a name for himself by defeating an Emperor."
"Where is Shanks, anyway?"
"Uh… you might want to look closer at the sea horse."
Turning back to the battlefield, Harry gazed across the deck at the sea horse. A loud whoop rang through the air. Sure enough, Shanks was riding the sea horse, settled between the ears. Grinning like no tomorrow, he didn't even have his saber drawn, one hand grasping the seaweed-like mane of the sea horse, the other holding onto his hat.
Apparently, Shanks was treating the whole thing like a game.
And perhaps that's how the rest of his crew felt as well. Beckman was blasting back cannonballs with vigor, Yassop had a large grin on his face, and the rest of the crew was roaring excitedly as they beat back the invading pirates.
"Where's Lucky Roo?" With such a large girth, he didn't seem like one easily missed.
"He's out stealing treasures from the ships. It's the strangest thing, yes sirree, but when he left, I lost track of him, practically couldn't see him even unless I focused real hard on where I knew he was. Once I took my eyes off him, I couldn't find him again. It's real creepy but really cool too. He makes a great thief!"
"Right." Trying but failing to imagine not being able to find Lucky Roo of all people, Harry shook his head.
"Well, it seems like they're fine. I need the loo; then I might as well return to cooking duty. Hopefully they'll be done by dinner."
"So," Harry started, stirring the chicken soup while Spaz put the bread dough into the oven, "a week, huh?"
"Five days, actually. No one knew what was wrong. Shanks slept a bit, but he, Beckman, Yassop, and Lucky Roo were awake in less than a day, I heard, and everyone else woke up the next morning."
"Hmm," Harry hummed. He wondered if maybe he was weaker to Haki because he had none of his own, not being from the world, and all. He didn't seem any more vulnerable to it before, but perhaps when he was awake, he could will himself to withstand it like fighting the Imperius Curse. Once he was unconscious, he couldn't fight back the effects.
"Who cooked then?"
"Everyone took turns. Apparently that's how they used to do it. None of them are very good though," Spaz whispered, as if telling a secret. "A lot of them can't even make rice and set out barrels of food directly from storage with crates of biscuits. Some of them held barbeques. Only Greg made actual meals – he used the fish from the fridge to make soup once, and he's a lot nicer now, you know, even asked me how you were doing – but they were really simple stuff. I mostly just looked after the animals. The chickens are laying a lot of eggs but the cows are getting kind of stingy with the milk."
"How's the food in storage? Anything rotting yet?"
"Umm, I don't really know. I made applesauce with some of the soft apples, but I don't know what to do with anything else. Grandma never let me in the kitchen back on the farm."
"That might be a problem." It's been some time now since the produce was first brought aboard the ship. Harry would need to see what he could do to preserve it. He might need to ask Greg for help, since the pirate knew more about things like that. Harry could jam fruits, but other things were beyond him without the use of preservation charms.
"Oh well, we'll deal with it tomorrow. How's the fighting going?"
"Still going, Harry. I think they're having too much fun," Spaz spoke with awe, watching the Red-Haired pirates still fighting strong, their opponents still outnumbering them but looking much worse for the wear.
"Damn. I'm going to try and tell them dinner is ready," Harry decided, turning off the stove and covering the pot of soup. "You watch the bread. If I'm not back in twenty minutes and the loaves turn a golden brown, take them out. Just don't forget to use the pot holders."
"Yes sirree, Harry, will do!" Spaz answered, flicking off a mock salute.
Harry left the kitchen and took off across the deck. Stepping nimbly over and around the unconscious bodies of enemy pirates, he picked his way around, looking for someone he could talk to about finishing up the fight.
To his right, he noticed Greg was in the midst of a brawl with three other men. The three men dived at him, but Greg just ducked under the punch of the first one, coming up on the other side while delivering a punch to the gut of another man. Turning deftly, he swung another punch to the jaw of the last one while tripping up the first one who had over extended at Greg's unexpected dodge. An elbow drop between the shoulder blades finished him.
Harry gave an impressed whistle. The whole series of movements took all of maybe five seconds.
"You're pretty good at hand-to-hand combat," Harry said, approaching the pirate.
Greg look over having confirmed all three men were truly down for the count.
"You're awake, finally," he grunted.
"Yep, and dinner's ready. You guys gonna finish up soon?"
"You'll have to ask the captain."
Harry looked around, finally spotting Shanks still riding on the sea horse, only this time swimming – galloping? – circles around the ship, teasing the enemy captain who had discarded his fencing sword for a pistol instead, shooting fruitlessly at Shanks who deflected them all easily with his saber.
"Right. Er, I'll do that."
Greg snorted at Harry's bewildered expression.
"It'll be easier than you think. Just tell him you cooked dinner. God knows we're sick of pickled vegetables and hardtack."
Then before Harry could respond, he picked out another enemy pirate and charged.
Was that a compliment? Harry wondered.
Smiling to himself over this small show of acceptance, Harry decided to do as the man said. Beckman had stopped playing baseball with his rifle and incoming cannonballs as the shots had stopped coming so Harry ran along the railing in favor of picking over the fallen bodies on the deck.
Reaching the figurehead, Harry carefully stepped onto it and yelled towards Shanks.
"Oooiiii! Shanks!"
"Kid!" Shanks turned towards Harry, sheathed his saber, and waved.
Harry startled as a bullet flew at the pirate captain but it bounced lightly off of Shanks' Color of Armaments.
"You're up!"
"Yeah, and I made dinner! When are you gonna wrap up the fight and come eat?"
"Awesome!" Quick as a flash, Shanks leaped onto the enemy ship, rushed at the enemy captain, and knocked him out with a sharp chop to the back of the neck.
A pulse of Haki knocked out all the other pirates on the ship, and Shanks rode the sea horse back to his own crew.
"Wrap it up, men!"
With a loud cry, Shanks' men doubled their attacks and made short work of the remaining enemy.
Harry watched, impressed, as the enemy ships were stripped of their flags, the men thrown back on the ships, and the treasures carried onto the nearly cleared deck.
Half an hour later, the crew was gathered in the kitchen, toasting celebratory beer to Harry's chicken soup, bread, and honey-glazed ham.
A/N: That was fun, yeah?
Still need a beta, if anyone would like to volunteer? Or recommend someone? Thanks :)
Thank you everyone who reviewed to reassure me that Harry was not too emo! I'll try to keep future angst down to a minimum, but eventually I'll have to address the fact that he committed suicide o_0
275 reviews as of today, February 17, 2011