Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!

There was an eery calm.

The ocean had almost nothing in the way of currents of waves in their current location, and in the calm of the night with a mist spreading across the surface of the ocean, there was a strange feeling in the air. Those sensative to the changes were just as quiet as the ocean was, and the usual sounds of the ship were muted, as if even the ship itself was scared of making too much noise.

It had been this way.

For 3 days.

For an entire three days they had been trapped in an endless mist, passing by the same island over and over again. It was part of the strange calm that descended over everyone, and that calm was what put everyone on edge. Even if they weren't on edge, the fact they had passed by the same island several times now despite changing directions multiple times to try and avoid it was alarming.

'That island isn't on the map, but how do we keep passing it like this...' Naruto made a sign for Anne to change directions on the ship.

-The Next Day-

"Master."

"Yeah... I see it." Naruto frowned when a very familiar volcano island started to appear out of the mist. The same island that they were trying to avoid. They were now on the 4th day of trying to escape the mist, and they were no closer to figuring out what had caused the mist in the first place. "... I wish we could see the stars... are we sure that island isn't on the chart?" Naruto asked Melusine as she stood next to him.

Anne and Mary were more on edge than anyone else.

Naruto started to motion again, but stopped when a dark figure showed up in the mist. He stopped his signal when he noticed the figure was not moving, and it got larger the closer they got to it.

A ship.

Anne and Mary looked at the ship as they naturally got closer towards it, and saw massive holes were blown into the ship itself. The ship was wrecked to the point it was a miracle it was still floating at all.

"Mary."

"That... the flat is gone." Mary noted.

Even their ship had a flag, it was new, but they had their own jolly roger. A black flag with an orange spiral, and two swords crossed underneath it. The ship they were passing had no sails and no flags visible.

"Pull in closer and drop anchor." Naruto gave his order, despite hearing them. "Everyone... be on high alert. Release half of the prisoners onto the deck as well." Naruto raised his hand up.

-30 Minutes Later-

They were neck and neck with the wrecked ship now, and their boarding planks had been sent across so that a small team would be able to go onto the wrecked ship to check it out.

"You, Chaldean."

"The name is Ritsuka."

"Don't care that much, but-" Naruto grabbed her by the back of her jacket and pulled her up with him to the planks. Naruto looked to Melusine and Mary, the two who were going to be joining them. "-everyone be on high alert. If worst comes to worst... we will manage something." Naruto pushed Ritsuka in front of him.

She was okay with that.

"So... you an experienced captain?"

"At this point, might as well be... but cross. Melusine, do not go more than 10 feet from me at any time. Shuten... join Mary and protect her... and Mary, do your thing." Naruto watched as Mary unwrapped her sword and got ready for combat. Naruto got off the other end of the plank, and he was instantly greeted by a stench.

It was a horrible stench.

"Uh... why couldn't we smell this before crossing... this smell is like... 10 times worse than... Captain, I think I'm going to be sick, can I go back now?" Ritsuka asked very politely.

"Yeah, and leave you with a group of servants, not a chance. There is a reason your Atalanta is still in her cell... the smell... it's fresh." Naruto stated as he looked around the deck. The mist was lighter when they were on the ship, and now it was much easier to see where they were, and what was causing the smell.

Bodies.

Lots of corpses, with wounds on their bodies that had green liquid covering them. Half of the people were still breathing.

"... Kill all the survivors." Naruto gave that simple order. Each person was almost to the brink of death, and considering where they were, how they were still in the mist, there was no way to save them. Mary didn't hesitate to sink her blade into the heart of a barely alive crew member of the ship they were on, putting him out of his suffering.

Naruto looked back at his own ship, but the mist was preventing him from seeing his own crew, but he didn't hear the sounds of battle.

"Why kill them... we should be able to save them." Ritsuka questioned him.

Naruto ignored her.

He got down to his knees and examined the man that Mary killed, and he ripped open the man's shirt so that he could better look at the wounds. Naruto furrowed his brow when he saw claw and bite marks. Naruto raised his own arm to his face and sank his teeth down into his arm, hard enough to puncture his flesh and draw blood.

"Melusine... bite right next to mine." Naruto raised his arm up to his Lancer, and she nodded and sank her teeth next to his. Naruto lowered his arm with two bite marks down, and he compared them to the bite marks on the man. '... the teeth aren't human, but these bite marks... they are closer to Melusine in size than mine... whatever caused these wounds...' Naruto mentally zoned out for a moment.

The size and shape of the mouth that inflicted these wounds was close to Melusine, but the teeth themselves were nothing like what he and his servants had. The teeth were all circular, like a mouth full of canines and nothing else. They weren't shark-like though.

"Fangs... like a snake... but also"

"Master."

"Don't stray too far Mary, what did you find?" Naruto stood up when he noticed Mary and Shuten were less visible now, having strayed a little further away from him. Half of his Rider approached him, and Naruto noticed Shuten was examining something hidden to him by the mist. He didn't say anything to her.

"Some of the men have had their ring fingers removed."

"Some of them..."

"Only on the left hand... those who were married, had their wedding band fingers removed... I thought I should tell you." Mary made sure to let him know everything that she found. No matter how small a detail. She had put 4 men out of their misery, but among those who she killed, and those who were already dead, she noticed that pattern.

Naruto followed her as she led him towards the dead she mentioned, and he got to his knee and started to examine the man.

'She's right... the entire ring finger is gone. The wounds on his body as consistent with the other one... what is this?' Naruto reached up and grabbed the man by the beard. He moved his head to the side, and looked to see the man had something stuck in his ear. He pulled it out, and turned the head to other side to see his other ear was blocked exactly the same. "Check the other men... see if they all have their ears blocked."

Shuten laughed nearby.

"Ufufufu... seems you've noticed it too sweetie... yes... all of the corpses on board have their ears blocked, except for the females." Shuten lifted a woman's corpse and tossed it in front of Naruto. Naruto looked at the woman, and saw her ears were unblocked.

Naruto glanced towards Melusine.

"Stay close to me, if even for a second I seem like I'm not myself, I want you to knock some sense into me. It seems this crew is about... 15 people... a ship this size wouldn't be easy to sail with a crew that small... there were more people here." Naruto got up and started to head towards the captains quarters. He pushed against the door, but it wouldn't budge. "Mary." Naruto stated as he stepped to the side.

She kicked the door open and rushed into the room with her sword ready.

"... No threats, but there is a girl here on board. She's wounded, but alive, and in much better condition than the others." Mary gestured for Naruto to come. Naruto entered the captains quarters, and he saw only two other people.

One was a man dressed like a ninja.

He was in the corner of the room, holding a wounded stomach and on the verge of death.

"KOTARO! MASH!"

Ritsuka saw the girl and the ninja, and tried to rush by Naruto. Naruto just raised his arm and stopped her from moving forward.

"Shuten, take Ristuka back." Naruto gave a simple order.

Shuten grabbed Ritsuka and flung her off the ship and back onto his ship, where she was no longer visible. Naruto went to investigate, he kneeled down and approached the girl.

*CLANG*

"Kill the servant." Naruto gave the simple order. When Naruto reached down for the girl, the servant had reacted and flung a kunai at him. Mary walked towards the barely alive ninja in the corner of the room, and he was gasping for breath.

"You won't... touch... Lady Mash... while I draw... breath."

"Kill him." Naruto repeated.

"Wait... Master, he's a servant... and it seems he knows what happened here. He has a chance to survive his wounds."

"He's an assassin, a ninja... he's too dangerous to keep on board my ship alive. Kill him, and if Ritsuka doesn't like it, just tell her it was a mercy killing." Naruto could see that the girl was still in good enough condition that her chances of recovery were satisfactory, at least for information gathering. She had no weapons on her, other than a large mechanical shield that she wielded.

Her wounds were severe, but not life threatening by themselves if treated soon.

Splish.

That was the sound of Melusine beheading Kotaro, and his body soon vanished like any servant that died. Naruto nodded his head in approval, but he reached and grabbed the girl by the face and turned her head to the side.

Earplugs fell to the ground from Kotaro's body as he faded.

Yet, the girl had no earplugs in.

Her wounds included a gash at her side, with the same green liquid coming off the wound, a bite mark on her shin, and she had several senbon that were in her body. Her breathing was unnaturally slow.

"... Accupuncture... smart ninja. He slowed her breathing and bloodflow with accupuncture." Naruto removed the senbon, since Tamamo was on board as a healer for his crew. Naruto turned her over and looked at her back. She had the entire back of her outfit ripped off, and a large bruise that covered her entire back. "Mary... do you know any sea beasts that fit this description?" Naruto asked the woman.

She sighed and shook her head.

"Sorry... my brain is fuzzy right now. I know what is doing this, but... it's at the tip of my tongue. I just can't recall it."

"You're right... I feel I should know what this is, but I can't quite remember it either." Naruto noted as he grabbed his face in annoyance. It was obvious, and he felt like he should know the answer to what happened. He had all the clues in front of him, but it was just out of his reach. "... Mash, I think Chaldea's Master called her Mash. Take her to my cabin, I'm going to treat her wounds with Tamamo... then we're going to question her when she wakes up." Naruto reached down and touched the green liquid.

"Master!"

"It's fine... I'm extremely resistant to stuff like this. It doesn't seem like acid either..." Naruto put the liquid up to his nose and sniffed it. '... This is where the smell is coming from. The liquid is so thick, too thick... it's like clotted blood.' Naruto could see that Mash had this in her wounds, but her wounds weren't bleeding that much.

Examining it was important.

Naruto grabbed Mash's outfit and ripped off the part around the wound, and he leaned down closer. He put his head on her chest and listened to her heart beating, before he took a very close look at her wound.

'The the veins around the wound are inflected... blackened. I sense a dark, and terrible magic in her wounds. She's got some sort of Magic Resistance... she's lucky. Kotaro slowed her pulse, and her resistance helped her the rest of the way... with these wounds, she should be in worse condition.' Naruto reached out and touched her shield. There was a powerful magic in her shield as well. "Take her shield too. Lets get off this ship and go yesterday." Naruto grabbed Mash and lifted her up.

Shuten grabbed the shield and dragged it behind her.

The shield was taller than Shuten was after all.

They started to walk back towards the planks leading to his ship, when Naruto noticed out of the corner of his eye.

The flesh on the corpses was starting to melt off of their bodies slowly. Naruto hurried up and rushed off of the boat, and back onto his own ship. Not another word to say on the matter, and when they crossed the planks, Naruto motioned for them to head out. Within 10 minutes, his ship was in motion again, and Naruto was carrying Mash towards his quarters for treatment.

The mist had thickened.

The ocean had become even more silent than before.

Chapter End!
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