Luz had never seen a thunderstorm in her life; Gus and Willow had occasionally admired the rain from Camila's shop, but they had always done so from a warm, comfortable place; Masha in turn had almost always seen them through a window of their house, and they had only rarely been caught out in the open. Of all of them, the only one who had truly experienced a storm in its purest form was Vee, who had always slept rough even in the midst of the heaviest rain. But now even Vee felt that the storms she was used to were a mere trickle of water from above compared to what hit the ship not even twenty minutes after they boarded it.
The sky had become completely black, so much so that the only source of light was the lightning that continuously split the clouds and filled the air with thunder so loud it hurt the ears. The rain that had started to fall was not a calm rain or at most a little heavy like that which was coming down inland, but rather each drop was like a projectile of frozen water fired from a cannon. The wind was so violent that Luz, Masha and even Vee, who was the heaviest of the three, felt themselves being dragged away and had to force themselves with their legs to avoid falling; Luz was thankful that Willow and Gus had taken Captain Salty's advice literally and hid in her pocket, because if they had dared to come out they would have been swept away like grains of sand in the middle of a tornado and she probably wouldn't have been able to grab them in time. But the most frightening thing was not the darkness, the lightning, the thunder, the rain or the wind, but the sea itself: the waves had become enormous and were breaking against the ship with extreme violence, tossing this way and that a boat weighing tens of tons as if it were a twig. It seemed that the ocean had come to life and was trying in every way to tear the hull apart and drag all the inhabitants of the ship into its depths.
"Okay… we definitely made the right choice getting on board!" Vee exclaimed as she clung to the point of the ship with all her strength. She wanted to vomit but was holding herself back because she was sure that the vomit would start flying, dragged by the violence of the storm, and end up on falling on someone.
Luz and Masha completely agreed with her. If that storm had hit them while they were still in their little boat, it would surely have torn them to pieces in an instant. While spending time on a ship full of pirates wasn't a good idea, it was definitely better than facing that hell alone. They hoped that what Viney had said was true and that the ship was truly unsinkable, although they had a very hard time believing this since every time a wave crashed on the hull the whole vessel rocked with extreme violence, and it seemed that only a miracle prevented it from breaking.
Suddenly a wave larger than the others crash not on the hull but directly on the deck of the ship, hitting the sailors head-on; for a moment Luz feared that she would be dragged into the water, but fortunately she managed to hold on and only emerged extremely soaked. Immediately afterwards she heard Jerbo shouting: "Damn it, now the boiler is all wet! We have to change the embers! Freshwater sailors, come here immediately!"
Trying to keep their balance (in vain since they fell to the ground at least three times in a row) Luz, Masha and Vee managed to reach the boy, who was in front of a large iron container that was connected to the pipes surrounding the ship. Jerbo tossed them shovels and pointed to a bag of coal. "Come on, get busy! You just have to fill the boiler with this, it won't be difficult!"
"Uh... ok" Luz replied confused, and she dug the shovel into the bag of coal taking some; it weighed a lot and she was barely able to lift it, but she still managed to throw it into the strange iron container. Vee and Masha did the same, although they worked significantly faster than Luz. After a while, a fire lit up in the iron container and the pipes that were connected to it began to vibrate. "Oh, have you turned it back on yet? Great job, girls!" Jerbo exclaimed. "Good, then from now on this is your job: make sure the fire never goes out! If you need more bags of coal, they're in the hold!"
It was the first time that one of the pirates had paid them a compliment, and despite the not so rosy situation Luz managed to feel a little flattered. Masha pointed to the iron container: "Sorry if I ask, what is this stuff?" they asked, trying to drown out the roar of thunder.
"Oh, that? It's an invention of mine, I called it a steam engine!" Jerbo replied with some pride in his voice. "It's a sort of fusion between a chimney and a cannon: it uses the energy of fire to generate propulsion. It allows the ship to travel faster than any vessel!"
"Yes, when it works" Barcus said as he approached. Even though the ship was being tossed from side to side, the dog was able to walk as if it were still. "Nine times out of ten it doesn't even start and we have to set the sails"
Jerbo scratched his head in embarrassment. "Well, that's true, it still needs improvement. But luckily Captain Salty lets me experiment, unlike all the others I've had who after the first two attempts told me to give it up. And the rest of the crew supports me too..."
"It's enough for us that you don't blow up another ship. Then you can indulge yourself as much as you want" Barcus said wiping his glasses which were covered in water, although it didn't help much since after two seconds they were already soaked again.
"Hey... how can you stay so balanced?" Luz asked him. She needed to know it urgently because she was sure that if the storm continued at that intensity she would end up upside down shortly thereafter.
Barcus looked at his paws with a confused look, then he seemed to understand. "Oh, this? It's just habit. Trust me, after the first eighteen storms you will be so used to this that you will no longer notice it anymore" he said. "For the more veteran among us it's almost like fun now"
"An entertainment!? This is a life and death situation, not a jester's show!" the puppet protested.
"Life and death situation? Nah, don't worry, wooden girl. This ship certainly won't sink in a storm like this, it has withstood much worse in the past. Compared to some hurricanes and typhoons, this is a light rain" Jerbo reassured her by pointing the rest of the crew with their eyes. "Look: do you think that if there was some imminent danger everyone would be so calm?"
The puppet looked at the rest of the pirates and saw that in fact none of them were worried, in fact some of them were even laughing. She thought they were completely crazy, but before she could say it out loud Viney, who until then had been standing at the top of one of the ship's masts (and Luz hadn't the faintest idea how she didn't fall considering that the aforementioned tree changed angle every second due to the movement of the waves), she threw herself down holding on to a rope completely unaware of being tossed away by the wind and she landed in front of them with extreme precision. "Hey, you guys, get back to work!" she ordered. "Fell free to have fun, but at least shovel that coal while you laugh and joke!"
"We're not having fun!" Luz screamed furiously.
"Really? You're really a shrimp, as the captain says! A true sailor makes fun of this rain!" Viney responded by ruffling her hair teasingly. "We haven't even reached the heart of the storm. You better get used to it before..."
"SHARK!"
Vee's terrified voice rang throughout the ship, above even the thunder; they all looked in the direction she was pointing and saw a huge dorsal fin the size of an oak tree emerge from the water and come speeding towards them. "EEEEKH! It'll break through the hull!" Luz screamed almost jumping into Viney's arms in fear. "Quick! Shoot it with the cannons! Do something!"
"Shooting that with the cannons? Don't even talk about it, it's not worth wasting a lead ball on that. And then I don't want to kill that poor beast... it's not even an adult specimen" Viney replied, then she grabbed a rope. "Leave it to me!"
The girl took action and then she threw herself over the edge of the ship, and using the rope and the force of the wind she rose into the air almost to the height of the main mast, and at that point she let go. Luz, Masha and Vee held their breath, expecting to see her fall into the sea and disappear under the waters, but instead Viney spun in the air as if she were diving and landed directly on the shark's enormous dorsal fin. The fish evidently noticed that and poked its snout out of the water to devour her, but she took a black powder from her pocket and threw it onto its snout. "Let me introduce you to the sneezing dust of the far east, big fish!" she exclaimed, and as soon as the shark was touched by it it began to sneeze so violently that it doubled over. Viney jumped onto its tail and let the shark, who was sneezing and convulsing so hard that it seemed in the throes of an epileptic fit, throw her back onto the ship.
"VINEY!" Luz screamed as she watched her fly towards them, expecting her to crash into the deck at any moment and turn to pulp, and without even thinking she grabbed a tarp and tried to lift it up to break her fall, but to her surprise Viney pulled a grappling hook from her pocket and with it she clung to the mainmast, she made a couple of turns around it, and then she finally landed in front of the puppet without hurting herself in the slightest.
"You didn't need to do it, but I appreciate you caring about me" Viney said gratefully to the shocked Luz. "But seriously, next time don't be scared. I do these things at least once a week"
"You... you're out of your mind!" Luz slurred. "What crazy person would throw herself into the sea in the middle of a storm, and against a shark of that size!?"
Viney smiled superiorly and pointed to herself: "Well, this crazy person, it seems. I'd rather settle the matter this way than with cannon fire. We didn't have to waste lead balls, and that shark will see another day"
Too bad she hadn't even finished speaking before the ocean seemed to explode in front of them and a sperm whale the size of a palace hurled itself at the sneezing shark with its jaws wide open, grabbing it by the side and shattering its bones with a crash loud enough to be clearly heard despite the distance and the thunder, and then disappear under water not before having generated a freak wave with its enormous tail.
Viney blushed in embarrassment. "Um... well... in the end it was the nature who give it the final blow, not me! After all, as people usually say, there's always a bigger fish"
"Technically that's not a fish" Barcus pointed out.
"Who cares! Now get back to work!" Viney ordered them, then ran back to the mainmast and, holding on to it with one hand, she shouted: "Come on, guys! We'll soon reach the center of the storm! Now the real dance starts!"
Luz was speechless for almost a minute, then she looked at Jerbo and Barcus with widened eyes. "She's crazy!"
The two of them seemed quite embarrassed by their first officer's behavior. "Nah, Viney is just... a free spirit, let's say. Trust me, she's not bad when you know her well" Jerbo tried to justify her, even though he didn't seem too convinced either.
"I seriously doubt it" Luz muttered. "Why did your captain allow such a person to become his first officer?"
"Because they are the same" Jerbo said, pointing to the top of the ship. "Don't you see it?"
Luz looked up at the helm, where the captain was standing, and suddenly understood what they meant: if Viney was crazy, Captain Salty seemed completely mad, as he was raising his claws to the sky as if he were mocking it and laughing like he was insane he was screaming: "And you call this a storm!? Ha ha! Try again! More wind, more rain! It will all be for nothing! You will never sink this ship, ha ha!"
"We are doomed" Luz concluded feeling completely drained of all energy. If the storm or some sea monster hadn't torn the ship to pieces, with a captain and first officer like those two they certainly wouldn't have gotten very far.
If Viney seemed too reckless to you in this chapter, I remind you that in The Owl House canon she had trained a griffin alone and without any experience in the matter. Griffin which, let's remember, is the cross between an eagle and a lion, two of the most dangerous animals on Earth. She is definitely not a person who runs away when faced with danger... she is someone who laughs when faced with danger. Also, the shark and the sperm whale are again a reference to the original story and the Disney film. References, references everywhere