~ Chapter 90: The cap'n be flyin' ~

[Shanteya's point of view]

To our great joy, we finally encountered a vessel. It was a typical Paramanium Galleon with two black sails and a bulky black body. Fourteen cannons were lined up under the bridge in two rows and another four on top of the deck. There were signs of battle on it, with two holes in the bow of the ship and three in the stern, all on the starboard side from which we approached. The main mast was grazed as well, but it held tight.

Overall, it looked like a sturdy ship, but there was one thing that worried us... the flag with a skull and two crossed bones fluttering in the air above the crow's nest. That was the rumored Jolly Roger.

As we got close, we noticed that we had been spotted and they were all a bunch of dirty pirates who kept undressing us with their eyes. How unfortunate... for them.

“Be on your guards.” Zoreya warned us.

“Indeed.” I said.

When our raft got close enough to them, they shot a cannon ball at us. The strike was about twenty meters away from us, but it was a clear sign that they weren't going to welcome us with a friendly attitude. Our Magic Armors were raised, but even if they shot all those cannons at us, they still wouldn't have been able to even scratch us. If Illsy's railgun could not, why should their cannons be able to?

We stopped with a light bump right next to the hull.

“Oi! Look at this, mates! We have ourselves here some nice lassies just sailing down on our seas on a raft!” one of them shouted as he looked down at us.

“Hahaha! We be the masters of these seas! We no want no wenches around, but... they be cute, let's hoist them up here!” another said as he licked his lips.

“Can I blow up the ship, nya?” Tamara asked as her tail swayed left and right.

“No! We want it intact... or still floating.” we all told the nekatar.

Going by who lost their temper first, the list would be as follows: Nanya, Tamara, Ayuseya, me, Zoreya, and lastly Illsy. Unless it concerned us or something he cared about, it was hard to annoy our man now that The Darkness was gone.

“Ah, we're going to miss you, dear friend.” Illsy spoke to the raft and gently rubbed one of the logs.

“Let's get up there before I smash this floating pile of sticks into a billion pieces...” Nanya grumbled as she got out of the water.

“I suppose so. Illsy, will you carry me?” I asked him.

“Hm? Sure!” he replied with a smile.

“I'll go first, nya!” Tamara said and using her claws, she climbed up on the hull.

“Huh? One of 'em is coming up here... A busty one with cat ears!” said the sailor from before.

Regarding how these poor excuses for men looked like, well... ripped unwashed clothes, sunburns, very tanned skin, bandannas or hats on their heads, signs of scurvy, missing teeth and toes, and a smell that made my nose itch and stomach turn.

“I'll go up next.” Ayuseya said as she used no chant to cast a wind spell and propel herself upwards just as she did earlier on the raft.

Zoreya stepped up next and used a power jump to get on the deck. Nanya jumped after her. The last ones were me and Illsy. Our husband carried me in his arms and used a wind spell to slowly ascend.

Once on the top deck, we were greeted by the 'welcoming committee'. Over twenty pirates had their swords unsheathed and grinning up to their ears. We were pretty, well dressed, and clean. Of course, they would drool and fantasize about us like a bunch of animals in heat. They were all humans too. Regarding skin color and other specific traits, well... they were all mixed, half of something and half of an another. Either this or they were so tanned and dirty, I could tell which was which. It was much easier with draconians and el'doraws... Humans were weird.

“Fancy me a barrel of grog, but ain't they a beauty?” said a black man with squinting eyes.

“Bah! Ye blind as a bilge stuck bat, ye not seeing the blondie over there? She the one that fancy me eyes.” said another, who I think had orange skin... or he was very dirty.

“Bilge stuck bat? Want me to skin ye alive then, ye overgrown Merion huger!” the other retorted.

The two were glaring daggers at each other, while we were in shock... because of their stench.

“Nya... These guys are morons, right? Right?” the nekatar giggled and looked back at Illsy.

“Watch ye tongue, missy! Ye don't want me to be cutting off those pretty years of yours now, would ye?” a large, bulky man wearing baggy linen pants and a ripped brown leather jacket pointed his curved sword at her.

“Nya?” Tamara simply tilted her head as if confused.

After fighting all those monstrosities back on the island, fighting against a bunch of pirates was easy.

“Avast ye scurvy dogs! What ye be gathering there for?” a loud voice was heard from behind them.

“Aye aye, cap'n!” they said and stood straight, making way for him to reach us.

The man in question was a human of around 40 years old with a long gray beard around his neck. It was so 'well maintained' that a Merion would see it as heaven. He wore long black clothes and leather boots with metal soles, good for keeping his balance on a swaying deck. The vest and pants were well tailored but ripped in many places and patched up with pieces of cloth. The tie around his neck was the only thing that looked well made, but so out of place on a pirate ship.

“Well, shiver me timbers! That's the finest pirate booty I ever laid me eyes on!” the captain wiped his mouth with his sleeve and approached us.

All gazes ignored Illsy.

“Tell me, ye fine ladies, what brought ye out here in the middle of the ocean? Sailing all the way out here ain't a thing for such treasures. Or by chance a land lubber claimed to be a sailor and proved it so well that he shipwrecked?” he laughed, and the other pirates laughed as well.

“No, actually...” Illsy wanted to reply.

“I ain't talking to ye, lad! If I ask, ye open ye mouth, if not, ye welcome to walk the plank and give my regards to the fishes bellow!” he retorted.

“Fishy?! Where? Where?” Tamara reacted to the key word and looked around with her ears perked.

“If ye let me rest me ship in your port, I'll give ye all the fish ye want!” the captain laughed.

Tamara tilted her head.

“Your ship is too small and sails too poorly to please this port, nya!” she replied with a smile.

I blinked surprised. Did she actually caught that reference?!

The others were surprised as well, but the captain looked furious.

“Ouch.” said Illsy as he looked away.

“Cap'n, what should we do with them?” one of the pirates who greeted us asked.

He was skinny and missing most of his teeth.

“Tie them up and hoist them to the cages in the bilge. Bring the lass to me quarters. I'll show her what a real pirate's ship can do!” he smirked.

“Aye aye, cap'n!” the pirates replied with a grin.

Tamara once again tilted her head to the left as though she was clueless.

“Sigh... idiots.” Nanya shook her head.

“Watch ye tongue, ye shikak!” one of the men said as he approached Nanya.

The moment she heard the word, her tail stopped swaying. I guess, they weren't intimidated with her demonic looks.

“What did you say?” Nanya asked... slowly.

It was subtle, but we could feel Magic Energy gathering around her.

“Put me down.” I told Illsy, who was still holding me in his arms, although one hand was firmly gripping my bottom.

I gave him a kiss on the cheek and stepped away from Nanya. So did my friends.

“Ye didn't hear me? I called ye a shikak because that's what...”

BOOM!

The pirate didn't know what hit him. He flew off the ship towards the starboard and all the way into the open ocean.

“First time I'm seeing someone play stone skipping... with a pirate.” Illsy commented as if he just saw something outrageous.

“Aaah!” the pirates all screamed and backed away from her.

“M-m-monster!” one of them pointed at Nanya.

“Ye have some lil' strength there lass. Ye there, bring Lil' John over here. He will fancy playin' with ye all.” the captain ordered one of his crew and then looked at Nanya.

“Hm? Is that so?” Nanya made a fist and showed him a forced smile.

“Oh, she's pissed.” Illsyore pointed out.

A moment later, while the captain and Nanya were shooting lightning daggers at each other, the so-called Lil' John came, and he... was quite tiny.

“BWAHAHA!” Illsy laughed.

The man in question was a one-meter-tall man with an angry look on his face, a bald head, a long mustache, thick arms and legs, and smelling worse than the toilets I had to clean back at Fellyore Magic Academy.

“Why ye be laughing, ye bilge Merion?” he asked with a high-pitched voice.

I tried not to laugh.

He looked at me and then jumped forward, trying to punch me, but in a moment, Illsy's laugh stopped, and he was in front. He grabbed the man by his wrist, broke his arm at the elbow and then stuffed it in his mouth.

Lil' John didn't even have time to know what happened to him. As for his Magic Armor, it was shattered by Illsy' hand grip alone.

“You were about to do something very stupid there, so I made you eat your fist.” he told him and then he pushed on his shoulders.

The man fell on his knees, breaking his legs as well. The fist in his mouth partially muffled his screams.

“I-Impossible... Lil' John no pushover, he be a Godlike...” the captain said in surprise.

With us, Illsy was an angel, but if anyone or anything tried to harm us, he would not hesitate to behave like The Darkness, only in a fully controlled state, which made him far more dangerous. At the very least, this Lil' John fellow should thank him for not killing him like Nanya did to that pirate a moment ago.

Even so, his punch would not have even scratched my Magic Armor, but I could say that I wasn't willing to spare his life either. Unlike Illsy, I would have killed him... with one strike.

“Godlike? Someone so weak?” Nanya asked raising an eyebrow.

She finally made a move and walked towards the captain, who froze when he looked into her black piercing eyes.

“You are the captain, right?” she asked.

The man nodded.

“What were your orders again? Send us to the bilge and bring Tamara to your room? Hm?” she showed him a chilling smile.

This man's life has come to an end, it seems. I thought as I looked at the scene.

“A-Aye...” he trembled.

Now, he even urinated in his pants. The image of the tough-looking captain just went poof in the air.

“Hm. Is that so?” Nanya nodded.

“Please spare me.” he begged.

“I'm afraid not.” she showed him another smile.

“Mommy.” the pirate cried and then Nanya struck.

Her fist hit right under the chin and sent him flying into the sky. No doubt he died on the spot, if not he would die from the fall wherever he landed. The pirates probably could not even see him anymore, that high up he was tossed.

Next, she looked at the rest of the bunch.

“Anyone else?” she asked and cracked her knuckles.

They all shook their heads several times as fast as they could.

“Good! Now listen up, you bunch of morons! IF you do not want to end up like the captain and take a flight through the sky, you will do as I say, got it?!” she glared at them.

“Aye aye, cap'n!” they all saluted.

“Good!” she grinned.

“What are you going to do now?” Illsy asked as he walked up to Nanya.

“First, we need to get this boat fixed and these bastards cleaned up.” she replied.

“Oh?” Illsy looked over at the bunch, they were trembling in their boots.

“You two over there, tie some ropes to the rail. Make sure they reach all the way down to the water.”

“Aye aye!” they replied and ran to complete the order.

“The rest of you...” she smirked “Jump in the ocean and don't come up here until you are sparkly clean! Got it?!” she glared at them.

“Huh? In the ocean? There?” one of them posed a rather stupid question.

“If you don't, I'm going to toss you.” she cracked her knuckles.

They all gulped.

“What was the saying? Ah, yes! Walk the plank, you scurvy dogs!” she shouted at them.

“Aye aye!” they all replied, although some with tears in their eyes.

One after another, they all tossed themselves into the ocean. They would swim until they cleaned themselves up or at least most of their dirt came off.

When the last one of them was jumped off, I looked back at the demoness, and to my surprise, I saw Illsy moving his hands underneath her chest armor.

“Illsy?” Nanya asked with an angry expression on her face.

“Yes, my love?” he replied.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Giving you a massage?” he replied with a smirk.

“Ahn~” she let out a cute moan.

Good thing no pirate was near to hear that, or she would have killed him.

“A massage, you say? Fondling my breasts is a massage, you say?” she asked with a pinch of anger in the tone of her voice.

“My kind of massage?” he replied with a big smile.

“I see... I see...” she nodded.

We stepped back from the two of them and probably thought the same thing.

He's going to get punched.

By the time Illsy noticed her clenched fist, it was already too late.

“How about you go massage that captain then?! Go and fly to him!” she shouted and punched him right in the chin.

“Hihi! Mate turned into a star!” Tamara laughed.

“Well, he'll live. Illsy has one of the strongest Magic Armors out of all of us.” I shrugged.

“True... Should we go and see what they have to eat on this boat?” Zoreya asked and walked up to the door leading to the lower decks.

We all acted as though this sort of events had become normal by now.

Before we entered the ship, we heard his voice from up in the sky.

“Colly Tos!” and... they were gone.

“I'm going to kill him.” Nanya growled.

Thus, another day ended... with a certain demoness running on the surface of the ocean, while chasing after her no-good husband who looted his own 'pirate booty'. Needless to say that the only reason he cast that moronic spell was because he wanted her in his bed tonight. Although strong, Illsy was at times... a bit too playful with us?

As for the rest of us, we replaced our lost lingerie with a spare one from our crystals and continued to inspect the ship as though nothing out of the ordinary happened.

Maybe life at sea was starting to affect Illsy's sanity? Nah! He was probably just too bored like the rest of. Even though she didn't show it, I was certain Nanya was having fun in her own way through her exaggerated reactions, we all did.