Alright! Alright!" A young marine shouted, banging on the cage bars as he moved down the rows of imprisoned soldiers. "Up you go. Everyone up! We'll be unloading all of you in a few minutes here and nobody wants anybody to be dragged, trust me. We're not the nicest of marines, as you guys should hopefully know by now. So get up and be ready to be led off."  

"Humph." A grilled figure sitting with the adventurers in their cages gritted his teeth. The stranger's face was filled with lines like a map to nowhere anyone wanted to go. His small brown eyes looked like beast peering through a thick rainforest. "What a bunch of crap. Disgusting to see how bad they've gotten." He shook his head. "Damn marines. They're either dogmatic psychopaths or crookeder than a winding tree branch." He spit and looked over the surrounding faces.

"The name's Gerld by the way. Not sure if any of you wish to know that. The way I see it, I'll be leaving while most of you would won't, unless fate has other plans. And if so then you're welcome to search me down for revenge." He made a point to pause and look any of his seven cellmates in the eyes.  

There was a lurch as the ship came to dock by the lighthouse pirate’s ship. "Speak of the devil, am I right?" The marine laughed. A light appeared at the edge of the boat before hidden doors were swung open to reveal a group of rough-looking men.  

A man in forties, under a red cap, and smiling with as many teeth as holes were teeth had been stepping forwards. "Well, let's see here. What did you guys bring me?" He took a moment to stroll through the cages before settling on the one where the group.

"Bah. All of these chumps look like they're nearly dead already." He pointed at the group's cage. "Just take these guys and throw them into the cages. Doubt they'd be able to drag up much excitement from the crowd in one-on-one battles, but maybe in a battle royal they'll do a bit more good." He spits in the cage's direction and turned around as the prisoners were pulled out and pushed forwards into the light from the pirate's ship. 
*****************
The captives were led through a narrow hallway for a few minutes before they were split up from the majority of prisoners.    

Little by little, the chanting of murmurs of their audience could be heard. There was a different kind of light from the cheap bulbs their captives used in the halls. They came out into a ramp, and were might by the applause of dozens if not hundreds of spectators, eager for their blood.

The man from earlier appeared in front of a large steel cage made of sea prism. He gave a wave and the crowd's applause burst into a grateful uproar.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the pirate captain bellowed. "I apologize for the delays." He shook his head. "There were a few hiccups on the way," he paused. His frown shifted into a sly grin. "So let's not waste any more time, right?"

The crowd agreed with chants of "Aye" and "About time."

"Good. Good." The captain made a motion, and the prisoners were pushed forwards to stand beside him. "So then to get things started off with a bang how about the classic free-for-all?"  

The crowd cried for blood.  

"Glad you're all so excited." The captain snapped his fingers and the screens in front of the audience turned on with pictures of the 'contestants.'  

"I think we wasted enough time waiting for this. So I'll just open up the betting screens."  

The crowd was bursting with excitement.

"Well then." The man's smile reached his cheeks. "Throw them into the fire. Let's see whose bright enough to be lighthouse pirate material."

The prisoners were tossed into the large cage. The doors were locked. A second passed before there was a beep that could hardly be heard over the crowd. Their seaprism shackles fell off.

[@WanderingDragon]
Gerld raised his hand to rub at his wrist. There deep gashes thanks to how tight the pirates had them. "Garbage." He grit his teeth. "Any chance they have for needless cruelty, they'll take it." With a sigh, the man looked up and narrowed his gaze. His eyes were locked on a young man.  

"I'm sorry." He said, walking towards his opponent. "It's nothing personal. I'll make it as quick as I can, if you'd like."

[@Conejitoooo]
"Crap!" Caddocc winced as she pulled her arm up to gauge the damage. "Bastards." She clenched her jaw. Those pirate scum were in for a rude shock if they thought she'd join after killing everyone there. They'd be lucky if her fury subsided a little so she would only kill the ones nearby when she was let out. 

"But at least they didn't unarm me." She said to her surprise, noting her babies were still there. "So that's something." Her mood rose up as she looked around for her first victim. 

"Ahh." She smiled and started towards a woman with two swords. "Hey there!" She called out. "While we're here, might as well have fun. I see you've got yourself two swords there. Can you really use both of them at once?" Little by little as she walked she started to jog, run, sprint, and lunge at her target, thrusting a hand with a blade forwards.


[@Crimson Lion]
A figure in a cloak paused to look around. HIs body trembled as he noted one fighter and then another. He didn't want anything to do with any of them. They all looked like they were ready to kill or could kill. Had killed? He didn't know, but he wasn't ready yet. At the most, he was a quarter ready.  

"Uh. Uh." Large man with a wrinkled face? No. He was scary. Woman with two swords? No. She was scary. Skinny man with a knife that was hurrying to the fishlady? No, he was scary. Fishman? No. She was scary. The one the wrinkled man moved towards? No, getting involved was scary.

Who wasn't scary?

Swallowing hard, the figure paused at the only person left. The younger man didn't look like he could do well in a fight. Spring jack liked that about the stranger.

"Hey!" He called, hurrying over to the fighter. "I guess it's you and me, right?" The cloaked figure looked around. "And you don't look like you can fight either. Which means we're closer to equal, right? Right?" The figure paused as it nervously skittered towards the young man with green hair. "It's fair, a fight between us, isn't it?"

[@The Irish Tree]
Earlong Tsk didn't know what was going on. He'd been asleep for a while, and things looked to have changed a few times since then. It didn't matter. None of the surrounding strangers mattered. Only the leader who said they had to fight or die matter.

Tsk liked to fight and planned on taking full advantage of the situation. He'd make sure to bury his knife in everyone around him, at least once. That way his rusty blade, the one his father gave him, would absorb iron and stop rusting. MAybe there'd even be enough so he could go home and be forgiven. 

He rushed forwards, his eyes sight on a fishman. He'd never dipped his blade in a Fishman before. Maybe their blood would be better because they were used to not dying in the water. AS he ran, a white trail of dust hung in the air behind him.  
******
Meishu leaned forwards. Her eyes were wide, like a dim yellow man being forced to eat all the doughnuts in hell. She could hardly believe it. There he was. Gerld was right there!  

She knew there was a chance she'd find him as the lighthouse pirate's prisoner but didn't believe it. The man was one of the toughest, and that came from one of the most reliable sources she'd ever met. 

He was a prisoner, being forced to fight to the death, among a sea of gambling, blood-thirsty pirates.

Frowning, she leaned back into her seat and took in the scene before her.  

How was she going to get him out?