It'd been beyond joyous reuniting with her brother and even better ensuring the safety of her cubs once Captain Gutt had agreed her wouldn't hurt her but now, Akira worried for her herd and partly, herself, because the way the ape looked at her made her uncomfortable. "You're safe, Kira, don't worry," Jace said, nuzzling her gently as they settled in a partly isolated part of the ship. There was a pile of furs that smelled strongly of the sabre beside her and Akira heaved a sigh, plopping down on top of them, hunger and thirst tugging at her stomach.

"What about my herd? What'll happen to them?" Jace narrowed his eyes in confusion, cocking his head. "Your what?" The soon-to-be mother huffed, settling on her side with a long, drawn-out sigh. "It's a long story, but they're my family, Jace." He stared down at her, silent for a few too-long moments before the quiet that fell over them was broken. "Two-thirds of your herd is prey." The expression she fixed him with silently asked him if that was truly of importance, especially as their lives were at stake. "I. . . I don't know, A. Gutt isn't one for dead weight so maybe the mammoth will be fine but the sabre—he doesn't need another one, and the sloths. . ."

Akira's eyes darkened with the possibility that soon, she'd need to run—or float swiftly away—with her herd for their safety. No matter if she wasn't under threat, she couldn't live with herself if she lost them by turning a blind eye. Diego and Manny had been adamant that she and the cubs came first but Akira would cross that bridge if she got there—currently, she was in no immediate danger but they could be. "Play along, A, and you'll be fine. If your friends behave, they'll be okay for now, too." She hummed, For now. "Of course," she murmured, eyes scanning the span of the massive ship.

"Replacing Shira already, I see."

Gutt descended from one of the trees that towered above, his eyes dark with a glow Akira didn't like at all. Still, however, she gave him a small, shaky smile to mask her uneasiness and skepticism. "I—ah!" She'd barely said a word before there was a twinge in her abdomen, not quite from a kick, that caught her off-guard and pulled a gasp from her throat. She was unaware as Jace's face twisted with worry, his eyes flickering between his sister and friend. Gutt practically vibrated with excitable energy, his eyes fixed on the sabress' bulging stomach as the cubs writhed inside. "Are the cubs giving you a hard time?" He asked, feigning concern and innocence as he crept closer.

Akira exhaled heavily, every inch of her body aware that the ape was nearing, his claws, rivalling her own, tapped a smooth rhythm uncomfortably close to her stomach. "They tend to get restless when they're hungry." It would have taken someone blind to bypass Gutt's desire to place his paw on her pregnant belly and whilst Akira's every instinct instructed her not to, the words left her mouth before she could stop them. In the back of her mind, she felt as if the consequences of bypassing it would have been worse in the long run—and, not to mention, there was a good chance Gutt would have placed his paw there regardless. "They're still—mm—kicking, if you want to. . ."

In a blink, his paw was on her stomach and his grin bordered animalistic. For a moment, Akira had stopped breathing as she felt the sharp tips of the ape's claws dig into her abdomen, a silent promise being spoken among them. One move too far in the wrong direction could slice her stomach into ribbons and put her cubs' lives at risk. "Do you know why they call me Captain Gutt, dear?"

Choosing to ignore the endearment, eyes fixed on the claws subtly digging into her, Akira shook her head. "Why is that?"

Wordlessly, Gutt moved his paw in what had the illusion of a gentle caress but the sabress was hyperaware of the long claws on that flattened paw that dug into her stomach with the whisper of a threat. With that act in mind, the nature of his name was more than self-explanatory. Akira felt a surge of worry settle deep in her chest, the feeling paired with her blood running cold as Gutt continued. "Would you like your meat fresh? That mammoth would be quite the meal."

The mere thought of eating Manny, her best friend and family, was nauseating, to say the least. "I. . . I'm not feeling for mammoth, right now." She murmured, watching closely as Gutt's eyes were fixed on her stomach, transfixed in a way a predator would be with a potential meal that piqued curiosity but the need to kill was dormant, for the time being. "Of course, the cravings and all. Go get her some meat from my storage, Jace." The sabre nodded to himself at the order before he paused, doing a double-take. "Wha—your storage?"

Akira didn't think apes were meant to eat meat, nor were their claws and teeth meant to be so sharp. Gutt seemed unphased and unconcerned by Jace's question, however, nodding. "My storage, kid. Can't give her any less—not with all those mouths to feed." His dark eyes gleamed when he mentioned her cubs and Akira had to fight with every muscle in her body to stop herself from shying away from the ape's touch and hungry eyes. The sabress was afraid to try and decipher the look in his eyes, concerned at what she might find.

At the near centre of the massive ship were the members of the herd that hadn't quite received the same treatment as the pregnant sabre, the trio tied to the branches and trunk of a towering, leafless tree in the centre of the ship. "Manny!" Sid had been crying the mammoth's name for some time now, hoping that each shrill scream would be the next to wake him up. After nearly ten minutes and Sid narrowly dodging a fishhead dagger, Manny finally groaned, showing signs of life aside from deep, near undetectable breathing.

Manny grunted, raising his head as he glanced around, taking in his surroundings. "Hey, buddy," He glanced up as Diego's voice sounded above him, "Welcome to the party." Among the ship it was a little chaotic, with the elephant seal searching for his rear, a feral-looking rabbit trying valiantly to kill a sabre-toothed squirrel and Granny hobbling about, her restraints taking her in a circle around a tree. Manny wasn't sure the sloth noticed her inability to go anywhere else. And if she did, her senile self could care less.

A face suddenly obscured his vision and Manny scowled at the ape as he partly invaded his personal space, teeth bared in what was an off-putting grin. "Morning, sunshine. Let me be the first to extend the hand of friendship." Manny was unimpressed as a foot was offered to him in lieu of a hand, levelling the ape with a blank look. "That's your foot."

Gutt seemed amused, chuckling quietly. "Oh. Nothing gets by you, does it?" Manny was far from being entertained, taking notice that Akira was nowhere to be seen. Diego seemed sane enough, tied to an extended branch high off the ground so the sabress was okay, to say the least, but Manny refused to adopt some semblance of calm until he saw that for himself. "What do you want?"

Gutt grinned at him even wider. "I bet you're feeling lost, scared, confused. Allow me to explain. Help me out, boys."

The elephant seal squealed, lapping his flippers excitedly. "Oh! Captain's going to sing a shanty!" Sing?

The various mammals fell behind instruments and Gutt swayed, smiling as wildly as ever. "Here you are on a boat. You're adrift, you're afloat. One might even say you're stuck," The ape sang as he scaled the tree Sid was tied to, hovering by the sloth. "Well, I don't want to gloat but I would like to note that you're in luck." Gutt skulked over to where Manny was, his eyes gleaming with promise, "You've been saved by the ape that rules these waters so forget about your wives and daughters."

He left the glaring mammoth by his lonesome, scaling the empty leafless tree to settle on the branches that crowned it. "Quartermaster, introduce me to them, please." The white sabress, nothing like the one the three hostages desired to see, grinned. "Aye-aye, Captain Gutt." She prowled along the branches and high platforms of ice where the gull they had seen was perched, "He's the big and scary, elegant yet hairy," the demented rabbit grinned as she passed by, "Fear-inspiring," the badger looked even worse, strumming a bone guitar, "Years from retiring."

Shira was all teeth as she joined the weathered kangaroo and absent-minded elephant seal, "Looting, stealing, banana peeling," the entirety of the shanty was more than rehearsed as now all the mammals pitched in, practically harmonizing so well that Many knew if Akira were here, she'd have laughed till her water broke. "Undisputed Master of the Seas."

Sid grimaced, "Oh jeez."

Gutt grinned, "That's me." The crew mirrored his toothy smile, "'Tis he."

"That's me."

"'Tis he."

The ape's eyes gleamed. "Okay, okay. I'm a primate pirate pioneer," he slung an arm around the neck of a rugged boar, the small beast snorting in response. "And these are my brave buccaneers, all of whom were once lost souls like you." The kangaroo piped up, "It's true. He rescued us." The rabbit, twitchy as ever, gave a deranged grin as he slashed his knife threateningly at the tied-up mammoths, "He saved our butts."

Shira prowled on the beam Diego was tied to, lowering her head to the southern sabre's, flashing her fangs. "For that, we owe our lives to Gutt and assuming he doesn't kill you. . ." The sabress leapt from the height, joining her companions, "You will owe him, too."

"Kill them?" Gutt chuckled from where he was suspended on one of the connecting ropes that were strung up around the trunks. "Me? No, no. Well," Effortlessly, he swung along them until he was on the trunk of the prisoners, descending in the blink of an eye to hook a claw on Manny's tusk, "At least not this very large, useful mammoth." Meaningfully, Gutt glanced up at the sabre who'd done nothing but glare at him since his capture. "Or that lovely little sabress. She's just about ready to pop!" He jeered, popping the 'p' of the last word.

He felt deep satisfaction and a jolt of excitement as every one of the mammals captured turned their heads to look at him, eyes narrowed. "Hey, hands off!"

"You keep your filthy claws away from her!"

"Bad monkey." Both Sid and Granny shared these words, glaring at the smiling ape.

Gutt hadn't experienced such a situation generating interest in quite some time. He slipped away from them, not a word of promise to reassure their concerns as he ascended once more. "Here we are on a ship moving at quite a clip through the ever-shifting ice. Come along on a trip." The kangaroo twisted the handle of a knife in its hand, "That's a hint." The rabbit sneered, "That's a tip."

Shira batted the rabbit aside before he could attempt to gut Sid, baring her teeth at the sloth when he expressed his relief. "That's good advice."

"In a world that's going under to survive, you must learn to plunder. Luckily that's my field of expertise." Manny blinked at them all, effectively tuning their voices out as he watched them dance and prance around, mouths moving but sounds no longer reaching his ears as he subtlely began examining his surroundings for escapes and, particularly, a space away from the crowd big enough or out of the way enough for two northern sabres.

Near the back of the ship, there was a cave-like hole that had been carved in near perfection, the mammoth momentarily worried for his herd's well-being as it dawned that the cave was too perfectly done to have been a natural occurrence. Once upon a time, it seemed the notorious Captain Gutt had had a few mammals to do his bidding, especially if the odd bone weapon in the hands of the pirates were anything to do by.

He shot a look up at Diego, directing the sabre's gaze to the hole he'd found whilst he grabbed Gutt's attention away from Diego's wandering eyes.

"Captain Gutt?" He feigned disinterest, taking in the ape's domineering presence with a note that his arrogance practically oozed from his stance. "Really? I have a little paunch, too, but I wouldn't name myself after it." Gutt's eyes widened a fraction in surprise, blazing for a moment too quick to pin down before he grinned, his amusement genuine as he cocked his head at Manny. "That's funny," The ape laughed, sincere in his words. Manny supposed his sheer nerve in comparison to the submissive crew actually delighted the omnivore. The mammoth could see that Gutt saw him as nothing more than a plaything twice his size, presumably twice the fun.

He didn't intend to play with the Captain of the Seas, however, far from laughing when the lives and well-being of his herd were at risk. He needed to get back to his wife and daughter and get Akira somewhere safe where she could have food and water as well as a safe place to give birth. Before him, Gutt was talking, fangs on display as well as his, admittedly and discerningly sharp claws. Manny hadn't been giving the ape a second of his attention and, for a split second, he was worried for the resulting consequences before Sid spoke up, saving him the trouble of responding to the display of pride.

"I don't get it." Sid frowned, cocking his head slightly as he regarded Gutt with glassy, bright eyes. The ape neared, claws settling at the base of Sid's gut. The sloth gasped in alarm, inhaling deeply and refusing to exhale. "Okay." Not discouraged but, excited, the pirate slowly raised his offending claws up an invisible line on Sid's body, "Let me give you a visual aid. I just gently press here."

Manny and Diego were a little worried as they watched the display, Sid missing his silent cue to be afraid, faking it or not. Instead, the sloth laughed, unaware of the imminent danger until Gutt's claw pressed a little deeper as it trailed up the expanse of his throat. "And go down like this." Sid's laughter cut off abruptly, the sloth sucking in as much air as his body allowed. "And then your innards become your outtards."

Manny and Diego could only mentally applaud Sid as he laughed again, his expression dumb confusion as it always was. "I still don't get it." It threw Gutt off, baffling the ape that his usual, gut-wrenching threats—pun intended—didn't have the desired effects on the mammals he saw as inferior to him. Manny chimed in, "Look, as much as I'm tempted to join a monkey. . . the Easter Bunny and a giant bag of pudding. . . I'll pass. No one's going to stop me from keeping my herd together and getting back to my family."

The Easter bunny in mentioned bared his teeth, brandishing his fishbone dagger with ill intent. "I'm going to lambada with your liver, buddy. Let me at him!" A paw stomped on his puffball tail, stopping him from advancing forward but Manny suspected the crewmate was also abiding by silent orders as Gutt turned his attention to him, leaning in with a snarl. "That family is going to be the death of you."

With that, the ape turned away, facing his ragtag group of buccaneers. "First mate, jettison the deadweight."

Shira's eyes gleamed, "Aye-aye, sir. Prepare the plank!" The sabress sneered at Squint as he echoed her words but she was only half into it as she approached her captain, admittedly hopeful in her question. "What will become of the other sabress, Captain?" She almost regretted the question as Gutt peered down at her with a feral grin, his eyes alight with a predatory gleam that threatened to trigger her fight or flight. Much to her wounded pride, she would choose flight because Shira had seen the truthfully nauseating aftermath of Gutt's victims. There was nothing pleasant, even to a predator like herself, in murdering mammals for fun and turning them inside out for as long as they were alive to feel it.

"Afraid of being replaced, Shira?" Gutt inquired, peering down at her with a gaze just shy of threatening.

The sabress swallowed the lump that risked forming in her throat as she fought to hide her apprehensiveness. "N-no, captain. But you did see, she is pregnant. Just more mouths to feed—" Gutt neared in a blink, a claw hooking underneath her chin. Shira gasped, not even daring to breathe as a movement so small could have the point piercing her throat and ending her life in minutes.

"Are you questioning my decision, Shira?"

She gritted her teeth as she shook her head. "No," she inhaled slowly, "no, Captain."

The claw remained for another beat but soon, it was gone. "Good. The sabress will stay—she's family now. You ensure that those cubs are safe." The ape advised although. . . everyone listening couldn't help but register that he hadn't mentioned Akira's safety—only that of the cubs.

Diego and Manny, from where they were, glanced up at each other with horror in their eyes as a sudden realization hit them. Gutt's fascination with Akira had been concerning whilst knowing nothing but now, they could see it. They could see why Gutt was so enamoured with the sabress. "Manny—" Diego hissed, the mammoth grimacing as he nodded, a dark look passing over his face. "He's gonna cut the cubs out." And do God knows what with them.

Jace had been approaching the group, his sister in his den, fed and full and resting, but he stopped in his tracks as he caught what the mammoth had said. His breath escaped him as if it had been punched out of his lungs and having heard him, the captives turned to face him—specifically the mammoth and sabre as much as they could shift in their ropes.

The three stared silently at each other, the Northern sabre wide-eyed as the implications of what was suddenly at risk occurred to him. His sister and nephews or nieces were at risk by a mammal he viewed as family—how could he not? Gutt had saved his life more times than Jace could count on two paws but. . . this was his sister and her cubs. He could never live with himself if he allowed Akira to so much as get hurt because he'd turned a blind eye. It almost hurt to think that Gutt, after all he had said, planned to do something like that but Jace had seen the signs himself.

Gutt didn't treat anyone so kindly without an ulterior motive and he never let anyone take from his storage. No one on this ship, not Jace and not even a few of the female apes he took from islands to entertain himself till their next stop. Gutt didn't do kind and he didn't share—not unless doing so would give him something he valued highly. And it seemed as if now, that something was Akira's cubs and without a doubt, he'd get them at the expense of his sister's life.

As the pirates occupied themselves with the old sloth, coaxing her to walk the plank, Jace made his decision.

"Don't make me regret this."

The ropes holding the mammoth fell away as his claws sliced cleanly through them.