Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!

The hides of over 50 wyverns.

It was enough to cover the entire exterior of the ship twice over, and then some. Since they didn't need the wyverns for meat, and they were in a hurry to get to the resource island, Naruto had the wyverns skinned and just dumped the bodies into the ocean. They could feed the fish and the sharks for all he cared, but since Ishtar and Van Gogh went overboard with hunting them for their scales, Anne and Mary had to work even harder skinning them.

Now, 3 days later, they had 50 wyverns skinned and the meat dumped into the ocean.

"So, we're setting sail?" Melusine asked Naruto as he tested out the scales for himself, stretching the material between his hands.

"Yeah, we're setting sail. Anne, you and Mary get the ship ready to sail. We're heading out in 15 minutes at most. Beni, get back in the kitchen and start with dinner. Ishtar, do a lap around the island and make sure there are no other ships around." Naruto sent out those who had a job to do. Melusine pulled on his sleeve, and she looked towards Naruto's own cabin, the captain's quarters.

The rogue servant was hiding on the ship.

They had not called her out yet, and Naruto was making sure nobody mentioned the fact they knew she was there out loud. As it stood, she was hiding herself well and only stealing the minimum amount of food to prevent herself from being caught. Naruto could tell that she was searching the ship for something, and he would guess it was his Holy Grail that was currently hidden with Beni-Enma, and after midnight it would be switched to Shuten-Douji, and after her it would be passed to Melusine.

Those who could hide it would be taking turns guarding it.

If she wasn't after the grail and was looking to attack him, then there was a different issue. At that point, he would leave it to Melusine to guard him.

"Master..."

"Don't worry too much, we've got enough food to last for awhile. As long as the food doesn't rot or get too low we won't be too concerned about food." Naruto spoke in code. Rot was just their code for getting attacked, and food getting too low was about the Holy Grail being stolen. Melusine understood, though she wasn't a fan of the stray servant staying on the ship without being confronted.

She was worried.

Ishtar returned 10 minutes later.

"On the South side of the island, about 18 kilometers out, there is another ship approaching the island. If we leave now, they won't see us leaving. They weren't flying a Skeleton Crew flag." Ishtar reported what she had seen.

Naruto thought about it.

'... We can stay and fight another Master Ship, win, and take their Holy Grail for us... but if we fight them, that leaves us open too... and we have the Stray Servant on our ship, who we haven't actually allied with.' Naruto took the un-allied servant into account. If she decided to aid the other side, then their numbers advantage would be lost instantly. It could end with them taking loses right at the beginning of the war. '... not to mention we haven't enhanced the ship yet.'

"I think we should fight... it would be fun." Shuten threw her opinion in.

"Same, I think we should take out whatever competition we find early on. Destroy them." Atalanta gave her opinion as well. It was an opinion that seemed to be shared by a few others on the ship.

Naruto thought about it some more.

"Tamamo, how long would it take for you to make some kind of magic talisman that can track the location of what it is placed on?" Naruto asked the kimono wearing woman. She looked at Naruto with some surprise, before she just pulled what he was asking for right out of her sleeve. She wordlessly handed it over to him. Naruto looked at it and nodded his head, before he handed it over to Melusine. "Go as fast as you possibly can, and stick this to their ship without being seen. If you can do it without being seen... also put a hole in the ship." Naruto added with a grin.

Why not?

"... The island isn't large, and if they are less than 20 kilometers off the coast... I can do it." Melusine grabbed the talisman and stuffed it right in her armor. She floated up, before she zoomed off into the distance. She was out of sight within moments. There was a single boom as she reached a higher level of speed, and another boom moments later.

-With Melusine-

She saw the ship.

She flew inches away from the water... and almost threw up when the scent of the salt water got into her nose. Either way, Melusine saw the ship as she rapidly approached it from the side. She extended both of her fists in front of her, holding the talisman in her hand.

*Shatter*

Melusine shattered her way into the side of the ship, breaking right through the durable wood in a moment. In a half second, she stabbed the talisman right in the floor of the ship as she went flying through the ship. Her eyes scanned everything inside of the room that she was soaring through, and in less than a second she shattered her way through the other side of the ship. And zoomed off back where she came from.

-At the Boat-

"Master, we only have-"

"I have returned." Melusine landed on the ship right next to Naruto, and she politely put her hands in front of her skirt, her armor no longer on her body and having switched to a more royal outfit. She nodded to Tamamo.

Naruto nodded.

"Tamamo, I need you to modify my Sea Charts to be able to track that talisman... even just their general location would be good... though I think they won't be leaving this island for awhile." Naruto placed his hand on Melusine and rubbed the top of her head. He didn't say his thanks out loud, because he was addressing everyone. "Mary, pull up the anchor, and Anne, set out. We're leaving now." Naruto called out to his Riders.

Melusine spoke up.

"Master, when I crashed through their ship, I was able to take notice that the layout of their ship was similar to our own. Also, I saw 5 servants. They didn't get a good look at me, and I wasn't able to get a great look at them... I would say the average power of the 5 servants I saw, was about half the power of Atalanta in mana strength." Melusine wasn't able to give faces or names, but she could give the general strength of the crew.

"Average..."

"The weakest of the group was barely a fraction of her mana strength, while the strongest was still weaker than her." Melusine had a comparison only for mana power. She didn't know raw skill, speed, or strength.

"Oh... so... the other 3 members might be the strong ones then. Thanks, it isn't a lot, but that is good information. Tamamo, how long do you think it would take for you to enhance the ship to be able to withstand an attack equal to what Atalanta can do?" Naruto asked his most magically gifted servant.

"3 days, and the most I can enchant onto the ship is the ability to raise it's defensive abilities by about 60%. I can't enhance it more than that." Tamamo had a limit to her defensive enhancements. "I can't layer the magic I use to add defensive ability."

"Setting sail!"

"Anchor up!"

"Okay, the resource island is about 17 days away. Can you enhance the Wyvern Hides in that amount of time, and the ship?" Naruto asked her. He didn't know a ton about how her magic worked, but now was a good time to ask. The ship started to move out deeper into the ocean once more.

Tamamo was smiling, but confused.

"Why?"

"Well, even if you can't enhance the ship multiple times... making the ship more durable is still great, and if you can make the wyvern hide more durable too, we can cover the ship in the enhance wyvern hide... and then we can cover THAT layer of hide with another layer." Naruto might not be able to have her stack enhantments, but he would be able to have her put enhantments on multiple things, and stack those things on top of each other to get a similar effect.

"Your lovely Tamamo can do that! Consider it does Master."

"Go-Gogh Gadget Van Gogh." Naruto called out.

Van Gogh laughed from the barrel she was sitting on, and she walked to meet Naruto with a smile.

"Yes Master?"

"We're setting sail, you go with Atalanta to storage and make sure the wyvern hides are nice and secure. Shuten... just... why don't you... just find something to do that isn't destructive." Naruto deadpanned, since he didn't really have a task that he needed Shuten for. She really was mostly for Combat, and didn't have a lot of other uses. Atalanta had her uses on the land, but not out at sea, so he assigned her some busy work to keep her occupied.

Tamamo could enhant things with spells and magic, and his Rider servant pretty much sailed the ship for him most of the time. The fact he summoned pirates onto his ship might have been one of the luckiest situational summons.

Melusine was happiest when she was at his side, so he just let her be at his side whenever possible.

"Oh... that isn't very restricting."

"Don't pick any fights with Beni either. Load all the cannons maybe... don't fire them, just load them... you can fire them if we have a target to fire them at." Naruto saw a glint of amusement in her eyes, and with that she got to work as well. He started to

"Okay~!"

"I'm serious, don't pick any fights with Beni, her food is delicious, and I don't want you making her ruin it! That woman is keeping us all fed, do not distract her from her kitchen duties!" Naruto called out to Shuten, just to make sure that she didn't even go and distract Beni from her duties. He wanted to eat good food while at sea.

-3 Days Later-

'So... she stayed on board.' Naruto glanced to where he was sure the servant was hiding.

The entire ship lurched moments later.

The sky darkened.

"... All hands on deck!"

The ocean around them started to change, he water getting choppy and much darker than before, as the currents changed. The air pressure changed, and everything started to spiral.

True terror lurked beneath the waves.

Chapter End!
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