Asta was on his way to the captain's cabin. When he opened the door, he saw Noelle cowering in a corner. He knocked on the door to alert her of his presence.
"Had a rough night?" Asta asked nonchalantly. Noelle sighed.
"You could say that. Had two nightmares for the price of one." Noelle said, blushing a bit.
"And what did you experience, in those said nightmares?" Asta asked. Noelle turned to face the boy. She was beet red. It was unusal to see him being that interested in her whereabouts. He would check on her from time to time, mostly in battles, but looking after her casually? Her heart was in overdrive.
"W-wh-wh-" she mumbled.
"Something wrong Noelle?" the boy asked.
"WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING HERE, I DON'T REMEMBER LETTING YOU IN" she shouted.
"But you kinda di...nevermind, captain sent me to bring you ashore, it's time to meet the crew" Asta said, a bit stunned.
"S-s-so what are you waiting for Bakasta, we have to go" she said as she hastily dressed herself. When they arrived on deck Noelle looked around. It was almost noon. When she tried pulling out her grimoire Asta quickly stopped her.
"C'mon Noelle, you know the rules" Asta said.
"Then how do you expect me to go ashore, dummy" Noelle scoffed.
"Maybe it would be a good idea, I don't know, to use this rowboat?" Jack iterrupted the pair.
Noelle felt a bit dumb, but decided to use her get-out-of-a-bad-situation-by-being-a-tsundere free card. "Hmmpf, I hope you're not expecting me to do the hard work, I am royalty you know" she said as she casually played with her hair. Jack and Asta just sighed and everyone sat in the rowboat. Asta grabbed the oars and started rowing towards the shore. Everyone was silent. Noelle kept switching looking at Asta and Jack. Suddenly she spoke.
"I know it's a weird question to ask, but when were you two knuckleheads planning on introducing this guy?" Noelle asked.
"Oh, this i-" Asta said, but was interrupted by Gibbs "Joshamee Gibbs lassie, yer new first mate" Gibbs said as extended his hand. To his surprise, he was slapped.
"Who do you think you are, I won't shake hands with a drunk peasant, I am royalty you know" Noelle scoffed. Jack and Gibbs exchanged looks. Gibbs took a loud sip out of his flask and said: "This'll be interesting"
When they arrived ashore, they were greeted by sailors standing in a line awaiting their admission.
"Feast yer eyes, captain. All o'thaim, faithful hands afore th'mast. Every man worth his salt, 'n crazy tae boot" Gibbs said. Asta and Noelle exchanged terrified looks.
"You can't be serious" Asta thought to himself.
"Is this supposed to be your able bodied crew, seriously?" Noelle said in a mocking tone. Jack paid no attention to the two land rats and continued examining his sailors. Suddenly he saw a tall, thin man and a short weasel that pretended to be a man.
"Your name sailor" Jack asked.
"Mundy sir" Gibbs answered.
"Would you like to elaborate what exactly is that" Jack said, pointing at the man's weird rifle.
"Ya mean my eye of reach?" Mundy asked.
"Yeah, that thing" Jack responded.
"It's my long range rifle, you got a problem with that mate" sailor scoffed.
"Why would you need, whatever that thing is, on a ship" Jack asked.
"Snipin's a good job mate" Mundy proclaimed.
"Okay, what about you, why does such a little, little man carry such a big gun" Jack asked.
"I- I don't even know where to start with you, do you know who you're talkin to?" the tiny man said.
"No, should I?" Jack said mockingly.
"Holy smokes dude, you just fricking killed him" Asta thought to himself. Noelle laughed and Gibbs took a sip from his flask. The boy looked like a part of him just died.
"Uh the quickest man in the world, the lightning of the west, the flash from spade, blink and you miss him, nothing?" the stunned boy said.
"Nope, nothing. Also hate to break it to you, but I think someone might have surpassed you while you were picking up girls in Tortuga" Jack said.
"Dead body found" Asta and Noelle thought to themselves as Gibbs almost spat his drink. The boy just stood there, trying to figure out a proper response. After a while he recomposed himself. "Okay, I am a force of nature. A true close range fighter. And your kind of guy. Call me scout, Cap"
"Welcome aboard then, scout." Jack said as he turned to face the stunned duo "Satisfied" he asked.
"Well you proved they're mad" Noelle scoffed.
"And what's the benefit for us" was suddenly heard from the far side of the pier. The closer Jack walked to the source, the more uncomfortable he was as the sudden realization hit him. He slowly took the hat of the person, who said the words.
"Anamaria" was the thing Jack said before he recieved a huge slap. Asta and Noelle exchanged looks.
"So, I suppose you didn't deserve that one" Asta said.
"No, that on I deserved" Jack said as he slowly turned back to Anamaria.
"You stole my boat" she proclaimed with a death stare towards Jack.
"Actually..." Jack said before he recieved an another one "This one I didn't deserve" he thought to himself "Borrowed, without permission, but with every intention of bringing it back." He finished.
"But you didn't!" Ana shouted.
"You'll get another one" Jack argued.
"I will!" she said with an even deadlier stare.
"A better one!" Noelle quickly added.
"A better one." Jack added.
"That one." Noelle said as she pointed at the Interceptor.
"What one?" Jack asked as the sailors looked at the Interceptor.
"That one?" Jack asked angrily as the sailors looked back at him.
"Aye. That one. What's say you?" he desperately proclaimed to Anamaria.
"Aye!" Her and the sailors cheered and made their way to the ship.
"No, it's fightful ill luck tae bring a woman aboard, sir. 'N'even worse tae bring two." Gibbs argued. Noelle glared at Gibbs for a bit, but stopped when Jack spoke.
"It'll be far worse not to have her" he said as he pointed at something.
The trio of Gibbs, Noelle and Asta tried to find whatever he was pointing at.
Later that evening the Interceptor is sailing through an intense storm.
The sounds of planks bending, hull stressing and sails tearing was truly frightening to Noelle, but it wasn't the worst thing. She had been seasick for a while, hiding in the cabin from the hell that was happening outside. Asta brought her a bucket, just in case, but it didn't help much. Speaking of Asta, he got his first true sailor experience. He had been following Gibbs's every command, but couldn't help but feel powerless in this hell. If they'd hit a reef, they'd be visiting the locker. That was the only thing he understood from Gibbs. Scout was swinging on a rope he was supposed to tighten with Mundy trying to catch him. Jack was at the wheel in, what seemed to Asta, was his natural habitat. He stood there stradily, barely moving. This to Asta signaled that Jack was the best sailor here. Jack looked at his compass and steered the wheel ten degrees east. A sudden wave came crashing on deck, flushing Gibbs and Asta, pinning them on the railing. They got up quickly and tightened the ropes. Asta suddenly asked Gibbs.
"How can we sail to an island that nobody can find, with a compass that doesn't work?" Asta asked desperately.
"Aye, th' compass doesn't point north, bit we're nae trying tae fin'north ur we?" Gibbs responded.
Jack looked at his compass again, adjusting their course. Suddenly Gibbs came on the quarterdeck.
"We shuid drap canvas, sir" Gibbs said.
"She can hold a bit longer." Jack aswered.
"Whit's in yer heid as puts ye in such a fine mood, cap'n?" Gibbs asked desperately.
"We're catching up" Jack said with a massive grin as the lightning struck.
And that' s it for today's chapter and I've got to say, I've had heaps of fun writing it. I decided to not mention Cotton in this one, however don't fret, he's still here. I know this chapter is a bit shorter, however, this part of the story is just as short, so I decided not to bloat it much. Sadly another idea for a book decided to spring in my mind and I am having troubles trying to write this, because my mind tends to run off somewhere else. However don't panic, I won't axe this one. I am commited to finish this book before I run away to mess in a different dimension. Next one is either coming early friday or late tuesday. I'd love to say, that I finally have a schedule, but I'd be lying. I'll try to write mondays, wednesdays and fridays, but I might deviate from said schedule. Now that's out of the way, I'd like to thank all of you for sticking with this book. It's my first attempt at writing and I knew from the start it would suck, but seeing you guys reading it, even voting for it warms my heart. I'll try on improving my writing and english as the chapters go, so you guys won't cringe everytime there's a mistake. Anyway that's it, and I'll see you, when we'll stop the Blood ritual.