Now that the Dragon Riders were far away from Water 7 and Hiccup's killer grandfather, they were now enjoying their new ship.
Astrid was currently having a bath relaxing to the gentle rocking of the ship. "This is a dream I don't want to wake up. Taking a hot bath while the waves gently rock the boat, this is the life."
Chopper was rather excited to have an office. "My own office… I have my own doctor's office," he said as he spun around on his swivel chair. "What's wrong, Chopper? Nothing at all! Hurry up and bring me patience; that doctor is in!"
Ragnar was looking at him through the window and chuckled before making his way to the kitchen.
Snotlout and the twins were currently fishing, and the twins had somehow managed to capture a shark.
"Got him!" Tuffnut yelled.
"Ohh, it's a shark!" said Ruffnut.
"Well, put it! Put it in the fish tank!" Snotlout yelled.
The twins gladly complied; they picked up the shark and dumped it into the fish tank.
In the common area, Eret had installed an aquarium where they could dump any fish they would need to eat or enjoy watching them swim.
"It would seem we have a new guest, a shark," Heather noted, looking up from her cup of tea.
"So this room perfect or what?" Eret smiled.
"The room is fine, but don't those idiots know that a shark is a bad idea," said Ragnar.
"Obviously nought they wouldn't have dumped it in," said Hiccup.
"Hurry up, let's go and see it!" Snotlout yelled as he and the twins dashed to the common area.
"Everyone's going to love this!" said Ruffnut.
"Almost as much as we are going to enjoy it!" said Tuffnut.
They immediately rushed into the common area.
"Hey, did you see the shark?" Tuffnut asked.
"Oh, we saw it," said Hiccup as he drank his tea.
"It is a fascinating specimen, unfortunately, doesn't seem to play well with others," said Heather and pointed to the aquarium.
It was then that they noticed that the shark had eaten every single fish in sight.
"What do you think was going to happen?" said Ragnar rolling his eyes. "Don't you know how the food chain works?"
"Stupid shark!" Ruffnut yelled.
"We're going to eat you for that!" said Tuffnut.
"Ragnar, can't you barbecue?"
"You don't barbecue everything you know," said Ragnar. "This is a fresh fish we're talking about. It could be sushi, or we could boil it and add some spices."
"Okay, now you're just made me hungry," said Ruffnut.
"Whatever the case, this ship is amazing, Eret," said Hiccup.
"It is pretty amazing, isn't it?" Eret smiled. "But what you've seen so far isn't even the best part. I've got lots more that show you."
"You do? Like what?" Tuffnut asked.
"I'll tell you, one of its greatest features is its Soldier Dock System," Eret explained. "The bottom of the ship is equipped with five docking stations numbered from 0 to 4. Each dark has something unique to offer depending on the situation, so no matter what kind of trouble you get the Night Fury into, I can guarantee we've got the solution."
"Now you've got me curious," said Hiccup.
"I'm afraid that curiosity will have to wait. When the situation calls for it, you will see them in action. If I show you all of them now, it would spoil the surprise."
"I think we can live with a spoiled surprise," said Ruffnut.
"Well, I'm looking forward to it," said Heather.
Fishlegs was mending the helm while Toothless was on lookout duty when he noticed something rather unusual out at sea.
"Hey! There's something floating in the ocean," he said on the intercom.
Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and went to check.
"Where is it?" Hiccup asked.
"There!" Ragnar pointed, looking through his spyglass.
They saw floating in the sea was a barrel with a black banner sticking out of it.
"A barrel?" Chopper frowned.
"I think it says treasure on it," said Ragnar.
"He's right; maybe it fell off a ship," said Snotlout.
"Then let's find out," said Hiccup as he took on his hybrid form.
Moments later, he grabbed the barrel and flew back to the ship.
"Treasure time! Treasure time!" Snotlout, the twins and Chopper yelled as they danced around. "Open it up and see what's inside! Whatever it is, it's going to be mine!"
"It's most likely going to be some old booze or some preserved food," said Astrid as she stepped outside after taking her bath.
"What, you have x-ray vision or something?" said Ruffnut.
"Yeah, you can't know what's inside," Tuffnut agreed.
"Because it says treasure offering to the Sea Gods," said Astrid. "It's an old practice called barrel drifting. People pray for safe passage by making an offering to the Guardian spirits of the sea. So it's more about superstition than actual treasure."
"In other words, you got your hopes up for a barrel of sea trash," Hiccup chuckled.
"Whoever says booze is trash," said Snotlout. "We should open it up and drink our fill."
"But isn't that bad karma?" Fishlegs asked.
"It's fine; just make a little prayer first," said Astrid.
"If you're so scared, you can let me open it," Toothless offered. "My people don't believe in any god, sea or otherwise. We believe that our souls into the Eternal Flame of life, so it's safe to say that I'm safe from any kind of divine punishment."
"Alcohol stirred by the waves, from what I hear, it improved the taste," said Astrid.
"Oh, yeah," Eret beamed. "Let's find out."
"All right then, we can make a toast," said Snotlout.
"After you're finished, they say you're supposed to add the new offering and set adrift again for good luck, okay," Heather added.
"And with our motley crew, we need all the luck we can get," said Hiccup.
"Who cares about that? Let's just open it up," said Eret.
"Toothless, since you don't care about divine punishment, will you do the honours?" Hiccup asked.
Toothless merely shrugged and began to undo the ropes, but the moment that he opened the lid, there was an explosion enough to send him backwards. Everyone watched as a flare shot up into the sky and exploded.
"Whoa, what is that?" Snotlout stared.
The flare was so big that it was blinding and could no doubt be seen from miles.
"A flare?" Hiccup stared.
"Whatever it is, it's bright," said Fishlegs covering his eyes.
"What is going on?" Astrid asked.
Ragnar went and helped Toothless up. "You all right?"
"Yeah, I have to say I wasn't expecting that," said Toothless.
"That was a signal flare," said Heather.
"Who would put a signal flare in a barrel?" Astrid frowned.
"It could be just a prank, I suppose, or if it's not…"
"And if it's not?" said Snotlout and Chopper shaking uncontrollably.
"…perhaps we alerted someone in there about to come looking for us," Heather finished.
"You mean that the booze was a lie!" Snotlout yelled. "No, even worse, it was a trap, and we set off by opening the barrel! Who knows what kind of horrible people will come after us now!"
"Calm down; the first thing we need to do is search the area," Hiccup instructed. "It was a trap, then I suspect that it belonged to some pirates."
Everyone immediately looked towards the horizon, but there was no sign of any ship.
"I'm looking all over the place, but I don't see anyone," said Chopper.
"Nothing here!" Snotlout yelled.
"It's all good here!" said Tuffnut.
"Not a ship in sight!" said Ruffnut.
"Something isn't right; I can feel it," said Fishlegs. He then felt a change in the wind. 'It's the air pressure; the clouds are moving fast too.'
He then suddenly realised that a storm was heading straight towards them. "Everyone get into position! We're going to escape South by South West! A huge storm is coming in five minutes!"
"You heard the man; get into positions!" Hiccup ordered, and everyone immediately scrambled to their positions. "Fishlegs, what's our heading?"
"2 o'clock straight ahead!" Fishlegs replied.
Everyone just got the ship ready just as storm clouds covered them, and then they were suddenly hit by a powerful storm.
"Did that barrel summon a storm or what?" Tuffnut asked as he and his sister tied the swing.
Suddenly lightning began to rain down upon them, and it was quite fierce.
"That lightning is really close," said Chopper.
Toothless opened the sails as wide as he could when there was suddenly struck by a powerful wave. Snotlout was at the helm, trying to keep the ship steady, but that was next to impossible.
"No good, we're heading straight headwind," said Fishlegs. "The ship is going to overturn!"
"I can't hold it!" Snotlout yelled.
"Move it!" Eret yelled, shoving Snotlout aside.
"What are you doing?"
"Don't worry, the ship's got this," said Eret as he turned again on the wheel. "It's time to show you the Soldier Dock System I installed, but first, I need you guys to close up those sails!"
"Are you mad!" Astrid yelled.
"Just trust me!" said Eret.
Hiccup looked at everyone. "You heard him close those sails!"
Doing wanted what they were told in moments, they closed the sails.
"Channel 0 activated!" Eret yelled, pulling down on a leave, and the numbers on the side of the ship began to rotate until the number 0 appeared.
"Cola Engine Panel Ship Night Fury!" Eret announced as dreamers began to open either side, and paddles emerged.
They then began spinning around, and they suddenly took off.
"This is both awesome and scary!" Tuffnut yelled excitedly.
"I know, it's a blast!" Ruffnut yelled.
They finally managed to get out of the storm, mostly thanks to Eret's engine panels, but now they seem to be in a thick cloud of fog.
"Okay, where the hell are we?" Toothless asked. "It should be night yet, right? So why is it so dark? And what is with this fog? It's strange, huh?"
"This is it; we paddled the Night Fury strayed into that sea Coco was talking about," said Astrid.
"So where at Fishman Island already?" said Snotlout shocked.
"Not yet," said Hiccup. "We're currently strap bang in the middle of the Sea of Ghosts."
"That's right, be careful," said Eret. "You've heard of the Florian Triangle, right? You know it's also called the Devil's Triangle. A haunted see where ships are swallowed in by the darkness without a trace."
Snotlout was now shaking in his boots and everywhere else. "H-haunted?
"Welcome to ghost central," said Hiccup.
"Shut up!" Snotlout snapped and looked at them all. "Why does everyone know about this except me? If this is some kind of prank, it's not funny!"
Chopper was now clinging to Toothless' leg as he had just seen a ghost behind him. "Toothless…"
"The reason you don't know about this is that you weren't with us when Coco told us about it," said Hiccup.
"You know, willing to bet that there are zombies and skeletons here as well," said Tuffnut.
"If so, it makes it even more terrifying and even more exciting," said Ruffnut.
"Why are you too happy about this?" Snotlout asked.
"Don't let your imagination run wild; I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation for why hundreds of ships vanish from the waters without explanation," said Ragnar calmly. "Though I have heard some terrifying rumours of the souls of sailors remain on the ships wandering the CU for all eternity."
"Why did any of you warn me about this!" Snotlout yelled furiously.
"Even if we had, there's nothing you can do."
"Sure there is; I'm gonna cover myself and anti-ghost stuff!"
"Snotlout, you got to let me borrow some too!" Chopper pleaded.
They then heard a ghostly singing coming from the fog.
"Who's that?" Snotlout asked. "What's that voice?"
They all looked around for the source of the singing and then saw emerging from the fog was a large pirate ship. Everyone stared at it openmouthed because it was clear to everyone that the ship had seen battle.
"It's a ghost ship!" everyone cried.
Yo-hohoho, Yo-ho-ho-ho,
"We're going to die," said Fishlegs.
"This is the son of the damned!" Snotlout cried, covering his ears. "Hurry… cover your ears! You'll be cursed!"
Chopper screamed, covering his own ears.
"If you talk back to the ghost, then you will be pulled into the sea!" Snotlout cried. "Don't answer them no matter what they say! They'll steal your souls and drag them to the ghost ship!"
Yo-hohoho,
"Where's that?" Heather frowned. "Is someone actually driving that ship?"
"So, can you kill ghosts?" Toothless asked.
"On the deck, look," said Ragnar.
If the site of the creepy ghost ship was not terrifying enough, what they saw next was way more bone-chilling. Leaning across the side of the ship was a skeleton of a drake, dressed in gentleman entire with a cane in one hand and a cup of tea and the other. However, it wasn't the skeleton itself that scared them. It was the fact that it was looking down at them and singing.
Gather up all of the crew
It's time to ship the bink's brew,
All of them stared at the skeleton, both eyes widened, and mouths wide open as the ship sailed past them.
"Okay, did anyone see a singing skeleton, or was it just me?" Hiccup asked the others.
"But skeletons don't sing; they're dead!" Snotlout yelled. "You must be seeing things that aren't real."
Chopper nodded rather quickly.
"No, I saw the singing skeleton as well," said Astrid.
"But that's impossible," said Fishlegs.
"Exactly, which means there has to be a perfectly logical explanation for this, and the only way to find is to board that ship," said Hiccup.
"He's right, but no one should go on the trip alone," said Ragnar.
Astrid immediately pulled out some sticks and held them out. "Okay, we're drawing straws to decide who stays here and who goes on the creepy ghost ship."
"Why do we need to go there at all?" Snotlout asked.
"Because it's not just the explanation of the singing skeleton, anything on a ship that can help us navigate through this portion of the sea would be a great help," said Hiccup.
"But there's already plenty of people who want to go on there already?" Fishlegs pointed out.
"Yeah, let us stay!" Chopper agreed.
"You really sure that how you want to do this?" Astrid asked and then gestured to the others.
Sure enough, the rest of the crew were ready to board the ship.
"You guys ready?" Hiccup asked.
"Oh yeah," said Eret.
"Okay, okay, we'll draw," said Fishlegs as the three of them fell to their knees.
"We don't want to be left alone," said Chopper pleaded.
"Not even I can battle against ghosts," said Snotlout.
"Whoever is going to go on that ship, we need to decide now before it gets away," said Hiccup.
"Four of us will go, and the rest will stay here," said Astrid.
Everyone drew straws, and the lucky individuals to pull the ghost ship were Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs and Ragnar.
Fishlegs wasn't too happy with the outcome. "Why did it have to be me, of all people? I want to recount!"
"Fishlegs, get moving," said Hiccup.
"Give me a second," Fishlegs pleaded.
"The longer you wait, the longer we remain here," Astrid pointed out.
"Is it strange for me to say this is not the weirdest thing we've done?" Ragnar asked. "I mean, we've travelled with the Princess, flew up into the sky where we battled God, had our memorably stolen from a seahorse, and then we declared war on the World Government."
"We're not a normal pirate crew, that's for certain," Astrid nodded.
They continued to climb up the rope ladder, and that's when they saw the skeleton looking down at them.
"There here is," said Hiccup.
All of them remained where they were, trying to process what they were seeing, and Fishlegs then screamed.
On the Night Fury, they all heard Fishlegs' screams.
"Well, it was nice knowing them," said Snotlout.
They eventually managed to make their way onto the deck, where they stood face-to-face with the skeleton.
"Why, good afternoon," said the skeleton politely in a joyous manner. "Thank you all for stopping by. You must excuse me for not reading you properly before. I really was quite surprised; it's been so many years you see wandering these waters all alone. I'm so used to ghost ships that the living frightened me; quite ironic, isn't it? But please come inside and take a seat; I'm sure that you have many tales to share."
"He's rather polite, isn't he, for a corpse," said Hiccup.
"He's not exactly what I was expecting either," Ragnar admitted.
"You make it sound as if we were expecting to run into a talking skeleton?" said Astrid.
The skeleton then turned to Astrid. "And I ask who you are, my fair maiden."
"Uh, Astrid Hofferson, and you're not my type," Astrid blinked.
The skeleton laughed. "No, I imagine not. However…" His empty eyes then fell upon Hiccup. "… I imagine this young gentleman fits your criteria. So tell me how the two of you made love yet, because—"
Astrid then suddenly punched him in the face knocking him flat to the ground. "That's way too personal!" she yelled bright pink.
"Well, you hurt me right down to the bone because I'm a skeleton, you see," he moaned.
"So not only is he tactless, but he makes bad jokes," said Fishlegs, no longer looking scared anymore.
"That punch just gave him swelling on his skull," Ragnar noted.
"I suppose there is a logical explanation as to why you can sing and talk when you're nothing but bones," Hiccup assumed. "Plus, we would also like to know why you're here and what happened to this ship. These waters aren't really haunted, are they? We need answers."
"I would be more than happy to answer any questions you have, but we can better discuss it over a meal don't you think?" he said.
"Then why don't you come over to our ship," Hiccup offered.
Astrid, Ragnar and Fishlegs stared at him, speechless.