With the Seas ~ A Hetalia Fan Fiction

Chapter 4 ~ Duel

 Apparently, once I had been knocked out outside of the alleyway, the pirate captain had carried me onto his ship and put me in a spare cabin. I am now on the deck, waiting for him to retrieve our weapons. I could have run away, but I’m no coward. Instead, I content myself with looking around the ship.

 It really is a wonderful vessel.

 The sun hasn’t set yet, so the crew is still absent. Footsteps sound behind me, and I turn to see the pirate captain holding two sabres. He hands one to me, walks a few paces away, then turns on his heel to face me. We crouch into our fighting stances, blades extended.

 “Make this entertaining for me, girl,” he drawls.

 I grit my teeth before giving him a cocky smile.

 “With pleasure.”

 The wind whistles as my blade slices through the air and nears his right side. He parries the blow and swings at me, but I dodge easily and return another strike. It goes on like that for a while; I strike, then he parries or dodges; he attacks, and I defend.

 At one point, I narrowly avoid being stabbed in the face, but he manages to scratch my cheek with the tip of his blade. I wince at the slight sting of pain. In that moment, he raises his sword and slices downward, aiming for my head, but I block it just in time. Instead of pulling back, he presses his sword down harder.

 “Is this the best you can do, little thief?”

 “Not even close.”

 With a grunt, I move in toward him then sidestep to the left so that his blade slips off the tip of mine. The momentum of pushing down on my blade causes him to stumble a little. Using his vulnerability to my advantage, I maneuver behind him and thrust my sword at his back. To my surprise, he manages to swiftly spin around and face me again. He jumps back before the hit lands.

 Oh, no you don’t.

 Eyes narrowed in concentration, I pull my sabre back and simultaneously step towards him. Then I begin to rapidly thrust my blade at him. For a second, I think I see fear flash across his green eyes. Whatever it is, it is quickly replaced by excitement. He barely dodges my attacks. I aim to stab his left side. He moves to the right, as expected, and into a corner: a wall behind him and the edge of the ship on his right. I smile.

 This is it!

 My arm straightens as I stab the air to his left, then I pull it back and aim for his neck. There’s nowhere for him to move to. If he wants to jump into the ocean to dodge, then I won’t stop him. Once again, with surprising quickness, he avoids my blow by ducking. I attempt to back up and slash downward, but the damned pirate shuffles forward, still crouching, and touches the tip of his sword to my throat. My own sword freezes inches away from his back.

 Slowly, I move my right arm to my side and drop the sabre. The blade pointed at me moves away as its owner straightens up. He gives me a triumphant smile that I return with an intense glare.

 “Fine, you win, I lose. Just finish me off already.”

 I guess I’m never meant to remember who I am.

 A bitter smile forms on my lips.

 The pirate stares at me for a moment then laughs loudly. My blue eyes widen in disbelief then narrow into a glare again.

 He’s laughing before he kills me? What a sadistic bastard!

 “I’m not going to kill you, you know.”

 “What?”

 I search his face for any sign that he’s lying. I find none.

 “Is this some bloody joke? I lost, didn’t I?”

 He chuckles softly.

 “Yes, you did lose, as I knew you would, but I never said that you had to win to prove yourself. My only condition was, ‘Make this entertaining.’ And you did just that – midway through at least.”

 I am both shocked and relieved at his words, but my face is a mask. The captain stoops down to pick up the sabre I dropped then saunters over to me with a wicked grin plastered onto his face.

 “Welcome to the crew, girl. You get to serve under me and keep your life. Aren’t you happy?”

 “Ecstatic,” I respond wryly.