[@Shiyonichi][@noodles] Something was wrong. Frank could feel it in his big toe, or where his big toe would be if not for that terrible accident that transpired while he was younger,cat-fishing in a small stream. The phantom pain always spelled out trouble. It had given him a few tiny sparks when he first saw the woman in marine garbs that were far too big for her, but he assumed it was because of the thief. Now, on the other hand, there was little doubt there was something going on here. He reached for his sword. Took the handle. Slowly, at least to himself, began pulling it up out of the sheath. Then, the world when black. No sooner had he hit the floor than two marines turned a corner. They paused, but not for long enough to allow the pirates a chance to react. Neither went for their blades. Instead, both went for their side arms, bringing them out with the intent of shooting the pirates were they stood. To hell with ordering them to surrender first. [@grandia20][@Crimson Lion] Working was difficult, the young marine thought, hiding in one of the ship's store rooms. In one hand he had a bottle of saki and in the other there was a half eaten apple. How he got himself into this situation was beyond him. All he wanted was to see the world. HIs parents were poor so he figured joining the marines would be an easy enough way to go about it. Not like he could ever be a pirate. No way. That would just get him killed. Nope, it was definitely the marines. And now that he was a marine he hated it. Now all he wanted was to go home and live out the rest of his life in bed, or in the garden him and his mother made together. There was no longer any doubt he'd enjoy spending time with his mother than his grandfather. He took a bite and paused. Someone was yelling. Swallowing hard. He realize he'd eaten more apple that was healthy and found himself choking on a large chunk. He did turn blue, but manage to smack himself in the chest hard enough to force the rest down. Death averted, at least for the time being, he sneaked up to the door and slowly pushed it open. There were three men in the room. Two of them didn't belong there. One had long red hair and the other was covered, but lacked the chest needed to be certain it was a woman. "Shit. Shit." The young marine, Dylan, mumbled. He quickly pulled out the snail. "Mayday. Mayday." He half whispered, half shouted into the transponder snail. "There are people over here. Lt Mario is down. I repeat LT. Mario is down. There's two strangers on here around him. Please hurry up and send back up." After finishing the call, Dylan sucked up all his courage, stopped to take a piss in the corner of the room because he didn't want to die and piss his pants, and then tried to kick the door open and rush out in the most heroic way he could. He did get the door open, but before he could try and talk himself out of the situation, the door came back and smashed him in the head. He fell backwards and made a bang that nobody could miss when he hit. ---- "Pirates huh." One of the marines said, slowly pulling out his sword. "You don't say." The other said, a pair of handcuffs appearing in his hands. "We'll protect you from them for sure." A third marine said, as he started moving towards the young woman along with the other two. *** "Okay!" A large man with a captain's rank, said as calmly as he could, after deactivating the snail. "Mark." He said to the Captain. "Tim" he said to the captain's first mate. "What's going on here? There's reports of pirates over on your ship attacking my men, and now I'm getting reports of pirates, who seemed to come off your boat, landing on here and also attacking my men." "No idea, Breth." Mark said, shrugging before downing a mug of ale. "This is all news to me." "Same here, Captain Arkeus" Tim said. He wasn't as good at lying as his captain so kept his eyes on the ground. "There wasn't anyone else on the ship when we left port." Captain Arkeus opened his mouth to reply but stopped when he noted his five best men standing at the other end of the room, at attention, staring at him intently. "Well don't just stand there. Go get them!" Without a word the men nodded and hurried out the door.