Long Journey || ATEEZ

Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers

"Acuate, that bastard, never liked him," Jongho growled as he rushed over to the quarterdeck, Hongjoong close behind. The captain made a beeline for the helm, whilst Jongho clambered up to the poop deck once more.

The emergency bells, never used before, were clanging, filling everyone's ears with a raucous, incessant din as pirates rushed around, a team of eight hauling on the ropes connected to the sails whilst others rushed down to the cannons, powder monkeys flying about with gunpowder bundled in their arms, and the rest prepared for battle.

"Why not?" Hongjoong asked as he rushed Soni off the wheel, urging him to go get ready to fight, and took up the helm himself.

"Slippery bastard, he is," Jongho growled as he did some last-minute mana collection, letting the Magik in the air pulse through his arms, into his body, into his core. "Always causing trouble for Dad. Thalassa's a much better sea god, in my opinion. She's really nice."

Hongjoong glanced at the port side of the ship, The Catastrophe looming ever-closer with every passing second, at a frightening pace.

"Ready?" the captain asked the maknae.

"Of course, hyungnim."

"GO!" Hongjoong swiftly jerked the wheel to the right, and at the same moment, air blew up the sails, which had been rotated to the left earlier. With a groan coming from her depths, the ATINY began to turn towards the approaching enemy ship, head held high in defiance.

Jongho let his winds drop, and the sails flopped back down again; the team of eight on the sails hoisted the ropes and tightened knots, as Yeosang used his Magik to fold the sails. It seemed the lessons he'd received from Jo were really paying off.

Tense seconds followed, punctuated by the shouts of the crew, asking where equipment was, asking to borrow arrows and the like.

Then, with frightening speed, The Catastrophe pulled up alongside the ATINY on starboard side, and ropes, thick with hooks latched onto the end, flew over.

"Shit," Hongjoong muttered under his breath, feeling his balance waver as the ATINY lurched to the side, tugged in by Cezanne's powerful crew. "CUT THE ROPES!" he roared to the rest of the crew, as some of the pirates on Cezanne's side started to bring over planks of wood. "WE CAN'T LET THEM BOARD US!"

"Oh no you don't," Cezanne said with a smirk. They were close enough that they could hear her, and differentiate the different yells of their crew.

And as some of Hongjoong's crew rushed forwards to cut the ropes, burn them or whatever, several of them leapt onto the deck of the ATINY, crossing the canyon they'd created between the two ships easily, a fathomless, merciless chasm of dark water waiting hungrily below. A couple swung their fists, and members of the ATINY went flying; others slammed their hands down onto the hooks, and Magik encompassed them.

There was no escape now.

Cezanne's crew dropped the gangplanks onto the gap between the two ships, and pirates – enemy pirates – spilled out onto the deck of the ATINY like a tide of water, all growling and snarling and brandishing their swords.

And so the battle had begun.

Blood already splattering, teeth gritted, sweaty grips on cutlasses tight – the battle had begun.

"ABOHR, ZINNIA, DYLAN! TO THE CAPTAIN'S CABIN!" Cezanne roared as she swung her cutlass left and right, narrowly missing Mingi's head and almost grazing Vi's chest. Before her, the pirates of the ATINY toppled like useless skittles. "WE'RE GETTING THAT FUCKING MAP!"