Legends - Pirate AU [BNHA]

Chapter 5 - Curiosity

The dream was forgotten as soon as I woke up.

It was like a jellyfish had run over my back at least four times, and then Enji, Hawks and whoever else I'd made mad had pissed all over it.

In other words: it hurt.

When it had finally died down enough for me to even fathom moving, the giant rock that was my situation finally crashed into my thick skull.

I was Nereus knows where.

Badly injured.

On the Red Riot.

With Katsuki Bakugou.

And somewhere on this very ship was the infamous map of Toshinori, the eighth captain of the All Might.

Well, fuck.

Feeling the sudden urge to get up and do something, I tentatively stood up, the pain flaring as my muscles moved.

With a hand on the wall and the other limp by my side, I began my slow exploration of the ship. To my surprise, no one told me to get back to bed or told me off for being reckless. The few people I didn't say anything, probably used to such stupid behaviour I knew I was displaying. I didn't talk to them, and they didn't talk to me.

But still, the underlying hostility was thick in the air.

The way they stared, eyes wide and lancing.

The way they fell silent as soon as they saw me, the way they whispered as soon as I passed.

Shaking it off, I stood a little straighter. They didn't need to see me like this. I was the heir-

Damn it.

I nearly fell as the hand I'd been resting on the wall suddenly shot sideways as it hit a closed door, causing me to lean the other way to compensate. As I regained my balance, voices filtered through my traitorous thoughts.

"Well, we've deciphered a few more," The first man sighed "but yeah, nothing major."

A small groan, a light thud.

"This was supposed to be the fucking easy part!"

"I know man, believe me, we all thought we had it."

With a start, I realised the voices were getting louder, presumably nearing the door which I was facing. Quickly, I took a step to the left, pressing my back against the wood. I flinched as my shoulder hit the surface, but didn't make a noise.

The door opened with a creak, almost inaudible over the chatter. The bulk of the door covered me, and they all filed out of the room

"We'll get it soon! I'm sure it's just a matter of time-" A red head- no, the red head, the one from the tavern, the one who'd recognised me walked out first, his eyes glancing behind him as he tried to comfort whoever it was following him.

"We don't have fucking time! We're getting followed and ambushed left and right, and every single damn time someone gets injured. We can't keep this shit up!"

A gasp escaped my lips, and too late I realised who exactly was speaking.

His hair drew my eye, an ashy explosion of blond. His heavy stomps were accentuated with thick black leather boots, complete with gold detailing. His shirt was a little loose, held in place by two back leather belts, crisscrossing over his torso. Another belt, thicker and browner, circled around his hips, slanting slightly to the side that held his infamous sword in place. The burnt orange gem gleamed in the lamplight, taunting and dangerous. 

As he passed, I held my breath, waiting for those ruby eyes to flick my way.

But they didn't.

A few others filled out after them, the woman I'd spotted at the tavern with pink hair among them, as well as the black-haired man who I'd fought first.

And then the hall was empty.

Feeling surprisingly guilty, I slowly entered the room, glancing around.

The main feature was the large table in the centre, several papers and maps covering the surface. More maps were pinned to the wall with varying sizes of daggers, some impaled in certain towns or ports.

I managed to spot Yuuei or navy bases in about half of them, but there were several places I'd never seen before, strange lands that had notes scribbled on them, or circles around certain spots.

Bringing my attention back to the table, one particular map made me double-take.

Instead of lines or images, it seemed to be made up of symbols, only about half of which I recognised. Little scribbles covered the map, revealed to be neat shorthand.

Tracing a finger around the parchment, I tried to figure out what this was showing, but none of the symbols I could read made any sense.

Where on this blue earth was there a volcano, a coral reef, and snow all within a mile of each other?

A bang snapped me out of my thoughts, breath gasping until I realised that he wasn't here, no one was. Whatever had happened, it was deeper in the ship.

A few minutes later, and I was still trying to puzzle out this mystery. Thinking I'd seen a certain landmark before, I was pacing around the room, trying to find a map I recognised. Finding none, I whipped back to the table, regardless of the pain, finger desperately seeking out anything recognisable, when a loud yell penetrated my hearing.

"Where the fuck is he!?"

"Have you tried-"

"If he's in the map room he's fucking dead-"

"Hang on, think this through-"

The door slammed open, revealing the ash-blond once again.

Mask, mask, the mask-

"Fucking told you. He's spying, trying to send the location of the treasure to dear old dad, aren't ya?"

He dared-

He knew nothing, and he had the utter nerve-

My features settled, emotions hiding deep within. Better late than never.

"Excuse me?" Allowing my confusion to slip though, I met his gaze evenly, not flinching from his gaze.

I wouldn't give in, not even when his irises filled my vision, not even when they burned with the same fire I'd seen so many times before.

The pirate stalked closer, hand slamming down next to mine.

"Then what were you fucking doing if it wasn't gathering information?!" Always suspicious, always doubted, always looked down on-

Calm.

I was calm.

"Truthfully? I walked in here on accident-" He rolled his eyes, clearly not buying it. "-When I saw this. What does it show?" My gaze fell to the map once more, scanning over the few things I recognised.

"Are you fucking serious?" The pirate's reply brought me out of my trance, head snapping up.

"What do you mean? It was an honest question." He scoffed, glancing back to the red-head from earlier, before snapping an answer back.

"It's Toshinori's map." 

Definition time! 

Nereus - An old sea god.

A/N So sorry I missed last weeks upload! I'm doing a double upload today to make up for it! Thanks so much!!