Below the deck, how may floors to the top?? She didn't know. Tasue had landed safely due to her umbrella opening, lessening her descent speed greatly. But she was slightly scared.
"Aniki?? Alloy?? Yukio-san??" She called, but got no reply. The thirteen year old girl began walking, looking for a staircase, as she walked, she heard the screams of girls and the sounds of men talking, more so, demanding. She began running toward that direction to check what was going on, only to find two girls being held against the wall.
"The captain has to know that his second in command was going to betray him!!" One pirate announced.
"Yes!! And then one of us can become his right hand man!!" Said another.
"Beat them both unconscious!!" One said. And they were ready to do it.
Tasue watched one of them hold their fist up to deliver the knockout blow when she decided to do something about it. Removing her whip, she snapped it on the man who's fist was up, but unfortunately, it didn't do much.
"Who did that?!?!" He noticed as he turned around to see the girl's small figure. She had a serious look on her face. The man laughed. "A child??!! Get her out of here!!" One of the pirates decided to take it upon himself as the man turned around again, facing the two women.
"Don't touch me!!" She shouted. Loud enough for the person on the floor above them to hear her.
The seven men who surrounded the women heard the man grunting, when they looked back, they were shocked to see him on the ground. Little did they know, they were next. She used her drift and touched the ship's walls. She then focused to add gravity where they were and where they were alone. 'If I make the whole ship heavy, it will sink faster.' She thought. Her next thought was out loud as she called out her move.
"重め (Omome) — Heavy!!"
Immediately, it brought all of them down. But the problem began when her indelicate use of her abilities began forcing the damage on the men to the ship. They struggled on the ground until they heard cracks beneath them. The ship was beginning to giving up.
*****
Above deck, a hulking figure waltzed through the multitudes of his men as they moved and cheered for him, chanting, "Captain Beckan Ironjaw!!" The more he walked, the more his silhouette became clearer, his black boots, the purple pants above them, the patched leather coat and the iron jaw prosthetic he had that was slightly bigger than what his original jaw would've looked like without it. His ensemble was complete with the white top hat he had, which was also patched by the way. The 6 foot 8 man stood in front of Alloy, looking down as figuratively and literally as he could at her.
"I am the captain of this ship. Thank you for bringing yourself to us, you'd make a good sale, like the woman we have downstairs." He bellowed.
"Sale??" Alloy asked, her head turning due to the uncertainty. "What do you mean??"
"We will make you our slave and prisoner, then when we get to our destination, sell you to the highest bidder!!" The men cheered once again.
"I asked for you for a different reason. But I still have to go through you and your men, don't I??"
"Hmm?? You're sharp. Yes you do. But I can't beat a weak woman, I won't sleep well tonight. Men!! Bring her to me alive." He said as he strutted back, showing his back at Alloy. The men began sprinting toward her. Her blue eyes had a narrow sharp look to them, almost as sharp as the katana she wielded on her left hand. She gripped it tighter, then bolted toward them.
*****
"Kid!! Stop!! You'll sink us all!!" The woman pinned on the wall shouted at Tasue. She deactivated her drift, however, the men began getting back up, three of them bigger than the rest. She whipped the faces of the weaker looking ones and they were rendered unconscious due to most of their energy taken from trying to get back up. The three men got up and while they were disoriented. The woman took Tasue's and the other woman's hands and began running. The men weren't far behind. While they ran, she asked, "Where did you come from, child??"
"I fell by mistake." She replied.
"Fell??!! From where??"
"I jumped on the ship with my friend."
"Where are they??"
"I think she's at the top fighting those people."
"Go here," she said, shocked by Tasue's reply and heading toward the stairs. The three girls ran up as the men called at them to stop. They obviously ignored it and kept running, but just as they reached the next floor, they found the silhouette of someone standing at the bottom of three consecutively broken bulbs which forced them to stop.
"Who's there??!!" The woman asked. No response.Unsure of what to do, they turned back to see the three big men behind them. Upon looking back at the man inside the dark shadows, they watched a flame ignite, showing a bit of his face in the dark. Tasue saw it and instantly began sprinting toward him, holding the woman's hand and in turn, the other followed.
"ANIKI!!" She shouted in excitement. Her voice echoing through the entire wooden and creaking floor. Damion then let go of the arrow he had prepared, hitting the first person who made it to the top of the stairs, and with his fall, the other two were caught like dominoes and fell as they were rendered unconscious as well. With the danger passed and Damion feeling at ease after finding Tasue, he didn't know the other two women with her.
"Tasue, are you okay??" He started.
"Yeah!! You found me!!" She exclaimed.
"Who are these two??" He asked looking at the two women right next to them."Some bad people tried to hurt them so I tried to help them but those three were too strong for me to handle… So we ran and found you!!"
Damion sighed. "If we had a navigator, we would've avoided this." He glanced up, hearing multiple people shout, weapons falling on the ground, thuds of bodies doing the same, and the creaks of the ship struggling to keep quiet. The chattier of the two women started speaking.
"Kakeha… please go with them." The woman slightly shorter than Damion replied.
"But… it might not be what the stars wish, Tella…"
"They saved us, they saved you. You have to go with them. Maybe you can be an actual navigator for someone else.
"Damion heard and saw the banter going on and him and Tasue just stared at each other.
"Let's go back up. Our captain is still fighting." He said, Tasue agreed with him.
"Tella?? Was it?? Which way gets us above quickly??" He asked.
"Behind you, there's a staircase that will get us on deck quickly." She answered.
They began running to the other side of the ship to find the stairs to the deck. The women following close behind them. The had met at least five more adversaries that Tasue managed to push down as Damion fired at them, with these people unconscious, they continued moving and eventually got to the staircase.
When they arrived to the foot of the stairs, Damion took the first step before hearing loud shouts and a thud, immediately after that, two people came rolling down the stairs, the looks on their faces confused the women if they saw something shocking before they were driven unconscious. They walked right past them and finally got to the deck where each of them paused. Their eyes wide, their mouths agape.
Alloy had wiped out every single person, leaving only ten people. Nine of which were the tenth's underlings. She stood, her breath steady, but panting just a bit. Still one sword out, and a bead of sweat dropping from her forehead. Some of her hair was blown to the front of her head, and the wind wasn't the cause for it. She was still pissed, with her eyes piercing through Ironjaw's very own. Waiting for the final few to charge at her. Her concentration was waved just a bit the moment she heard their voices.
"Alloy!!" Tasue shouted as they stepped out of the staircase entrance. "You guys!! You're okay!!" She smiled.
They were four. Tasue, Damion, and the two ladies, Kakeha and Tella. The women stayed next to the door but after Kakeha saw the massive sail with the Syndicate's logo from the enforcer ship, she moved to the other side, Tella right next to her as well.
"Are you all this WEAK??!!" Ironjaw got up from his chair at the bow of the ship, passing through nobody since his seventy to ninety men were now down to 9, mostly thanks to the girl she looked down upon not so long ago.
"She's too strong, captain!!" One spoke.
"Yeah!! Who the hell is this girl?!?!" Panicked another. Both had drops of sweat dripping down their faces.
They had stood their ground facing Alloy, so they spoke in front of her as they kept whatever hopes they had for defenses ready. Ironjaw's patience dropped entirely. He was desperate enough as it is, and he only showed it more after he glanced and noticed Kakeha and Tella. Damion had stayed behind at the entrance of the staircase they came from with his hand gripping his bow but not aiming. Tasue stood next to him. Damion's eyes focused more as he glanced at the ship's captain.
"Isn't that the guy whose poster we saw at Vira Port??" He asked.
"It is…" Alloy replied. Confirming his suspicions. "And he's pissing me off."