Octavius laughed as his first mate shouted about bracing for impact. He was very prepared for the crush of two ships rocketing into one another, and the captain was barely phased as the two vessels collided. He stepped nimbly from one ship to the next, scattergun in hand, and a sickening grin splitting his face. The [i]Duchess Gambit[/i] smashed viciously into the merchant freighter. First, the poor mermaid that the warlord had shared drinks with was crushed between the two sea-faring craft, but once she was smashed to splinters and matchsticks, the merchant's hull followed suit, giving in easily to the larger ship as it shoved its way through the doomed ship as unceremoniously as possible. 

By the time the words that Cere's bellowed had reached his ears, they were being drowned out by shotgun fire as Captain Cuttlam did his thing. His opponents had begun to scatter as soon as they could move safely, without risk of being tossed overboard. Their companion who had not listened to such advice was now in the drink, and would likely remain there for the remainder of his life. For the rest of them, there was an angry pirate to fight. He fired once and watched a man collapse, his chest torn up by lead shot. He fired again, and watched another man's arm bones turned to powder as he tried to escape the assault. His dive only resulted in a slower death for the poor bastard. The next man in line survived for a precious few seconds more, as the third round in Octavius' shotgun refused to fire. He racked the slide and chambered another shell. This one fired nicely, and the spread of shot took out a running man at the knees. The four healthy sailors that remained were scrambling for defences, and one of them appeared to be successful.

Unfortunately for the freighter's crew, success was measured on a scale, and on this scale, even success meant failure in the face of the pirate lord with a host of insecurities. When one of the sailors produced what appeared to be a brace of single-shot pistols strapped to a rail and fired the whole volley with the pull of a string, their assailant reacted faster than any of them could have imagined. His left arm exploded, showering everyone nearby, including the shooter, in gore. However they quickly realized this was not a result of the shots being fired at the captain, mostly because the triggers were still being pulled at this point. His shotgun had disappeared when his arm exploded, but in the same instant, a massive canine head, attached to a seemingly endless neck had replaced the original appendage that protruded from his arm. It curled around in front of the pistols and soaked up the gunshots as if they were not potentially lethal wounds. From there, the monstrous protuberance whipped around, back toward the shooter. Continuing to grow, it bit the man in half without effort.

When its maw reopened, however, the sailors that dared to look would not see any normal mouth. Instead, Octavius' arm protruded from what should have been a cavernous, slavering pit of terror and death. Clutched in the hand on the end of that arm, was a shotgun, and he pulled the trigger as easily as if he'd been holding it properly. Another life was extinguished violently, blood soaking everything nearby. At this point, Captain Cuttlam began to chuckle. He whipped his canine "arm" about and knocked any remaining sailors he could see into the drink, before his laughter erupted in full force. He was truly a psychotic sight to see.

Even as his fellow pirates joined him on the deck of the fallen ship, he laughed, doing little to retain command. "Loot the place. Take what you can, let the rest drown." he ordered in a brief instant of sanity, before he returned to his blood-soaked chuckles. His monstrous arm returned to its place inside him, and he set to reloading his shotgun as he headed for the deck of his own ship, wondering how long it would last. Not long if he treated it like this, but he supposed it would be luck to get out of a fight with the [i]Powder Keg[/i] with anything intact. "Hold on, my love. You'll rest soon enough." he promised the ship beneath him as he headed for the helm. Even in a best case scenario, the [i]Duchess Gambit[/i] wasn't going to survive their destination...