Sarpedon

The great pirate era. (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

did I fuck it up again?

The great pirate era. (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

Octavius raised an eyebrow as Ceres looked like she was about ready to start really rubbing it it. She'd gotten her ship before he had gotten one for him. Apparently that was cause to celebrate. The pirate was about ready to celebrate the woman right in the face, with the butt of his fowling piece. Then, of course, she said that he should be the one in charge. He just about tried to slap her anyway, his knee-jerk reaction being to refuse. Thankfully, just in time, he remembered that she was crazy, and that he had to share a ship with her. And she was a woman too, on top of it all. Bad signs, where he was concerned. He did his best to be polite, then, knowing that he last thing he needed was an angry woman on this vessel. It was bad enough she'd attract sharks for a whole week every month, he didn't want her flipping out on him now. "If you want the ship, I'd suggest you take command." he informed the new captain as politely as he could manage. It came out a little rough, but the effort was obvious. "If I'm in charge, this is my ship, but it can't be mine, because I can't go around collecting things while I still owe you. If I were you, I would get things under way before the marines show up..." He was quite proud of his polite tone, and left it at that. The thin veil of civilization would fade soon enough, he didn't need to tear it up in front of her just yet. As it was, this woman was becoming increasingly stressful for him, and he didn't need any more of her attitude, or her crazy notions. Ideally, her shark-attracting self wouldn't even be here, but that wasn't really an option now. He'd gotten her a ship. Now he just needed an escape. If it would have been safe to just step off the gangplank doctor in tow, he wouldn't be on the ship right now. But the section's worth of marines running down the docks said it wasn't safe to be wandering about. He poked his head up from below just in time to realize that these men knew where they were going. The psychotic woman was probably still checking the cargo. He decided something needed to be done, and the captain wasn't disposed properly to do it.

"All hands on deck. Prepare to repel boarders." he said calmly, smacking the nearest sailor as he spoke. The man relayed the order with gusto, shouting even as he ran to secure weaponry for the crew. The pirate lord was already armed, and he watched as the marines sprinted into range. Unfortunately, they had the nerve to change tactics before the Shotgun Preacher could start organizing things. That meant that his crew of men armed with scatterguns and pistols wasn't going to be terribly effective against the repeating rifles of the marines. He then designated four of the quickest-looking sailors to start things going. "Get us moving." he ordered, letting them figure out what actually needed to be done.

While the crew was loading up and taking up repelling positions, the marines had formed up in two ranks and were preparing to fire. Their usual, orderly manner had the captain starting to feel nervous. "Fire at will." he bellowed at the men who'd taken up positions on the swivel guns. They got off one shot each before the soldiers got themselves together. Four marines died, and then they volleyed back. Their rifles thundered as the hail of lead began tearing up the sides of the ship. Not enough to do any significant damage to the vessel herself, but concerning enough to get Octavius into a rage. He tossed his pistol into his left hand and then his whole left arm exploded. But the revolver was just gone, not detonated like the rest of the limb. When the canine head raced toward the marines, he saw them start to falter. Then their rifles ran dry. His human arm burst from the mouth of the dog the moment it was comfortably close to the enemy soldiers. They tried to take cover and reload, but found their opponent too swift on the trigger for that. His pistol barked violently, each shot ending a life. Only six of the shots went off properly, though. The section commander and a grunt both made it to cover, and from there, he watched them flee.

The pirate started swearing violently, most of his crew having been useless. One of them was even dumb enough to get shot to death. And the ship still hadn't started moving. "Everyone arm up. Get this fucking thing moving or I'm going to start eating people." he growled, finding himself a keg of powder, and a case of shot. He went up to the poop deck and found himself the largest of the swivel guns. He could keep watch better from here, and if anyone wanted to do battle again, he would be ready. And really, it was only a matter of time, since two of the marines had escaped. Hopefully that time wouldn't be wasted. It didn't look like it to him, which was good. Actually eating people was disgusting, but when you could turn into a massive, hungry-looking dog-thing, people believed you might actually eat them, and it was excellent motivation, even when death was chasing you down anyway...

The great pirate era. (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

that is usually what I am saying XD

The great pirate era. (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

I'll take your word for it. I'm not the boat guy

The great pirate era. (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

is that what you're looking for?

The great pirate era. (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

damn. aight, I'll go slow some things down. good thing I installed new brakes on this train XD

The great pirate era. (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

The second marine was what really surprised Octavius. Thankfully that one was kind enough to go after Ceres. Unfortunately, Ceres was not kind enough to expire. The captain chuckled when the woman screamed about not fucking with her, and he shook his head. "No, please do fuck with her. Kill her so I don't have to worry about getting her a ship." he encouraged in a mumble, disappointed that no more enemies appeared to ruin his new friend. Unopposed, the group headed for the docks. There were more than a few ships just hanging out on the waterfront, waiting for crews or supplies, or what not. But of course, the one that the woman wanted was the one with people on it. At least it was being loaded up. That was nice. But it was too big. They had half a dozen sailors with them. He sighed and shook his head at the woman. "If anything untoward happens because of you, I'll make sure you drown." he whispered to his companion before leading the way toward the ship. He didn't have time to go get another ship and try to escape. The marines were all over the place as it was, and clearly Ceres was not about to put up with waiting.

"Who wants to be a pirate?" he asked casually, racking the slide on his scattergun as he approached the ship that his creditor demanded. About another half dozen sailors quickly joined his crew. The rest were smart enough to leave before anything got messy. "Keep loading then." he suggested, waving the muzzle of his shotgun at the last of the barrels. He gestured for his whole crew to help out, before heading onto the ship. While the men set about packing away whatever they were carrying, Captain Cuttlam moved to the aft of the ship to check the flag being flown. Satisfied, he turned to go find Ceres. The ship was hers, so he supposed everything was on her now. She hadn't gotten far, thanks to the size of the ship, and once the pirate lord had tracked down the new captain, he sighed. "Ship's yours, skipper. Take it away." he declared in passing, figuring he would continue his survey of the ship. He hadn't said anything about who would be on the ship, just that she would get one. So it seemed fair to join his escape with hers. He'd probably get off at their next stop and take his doctor with him. The crazy woman could take her bad luck to the grand line and get stuffed, for all he cared. Just as long as he wasn't going to be dragged down along with her...

Tales of Eyreseum - The False King

patience for days dawg, you know what I'm saying?

The great pirate era. (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

((it's all good. no worries. You've been stupidly patient with me, so I figger you've earned a break XD))

Octavius wasn't so sure about Ceres' assumption that he was speaking in the same language as her, but he figured he would just be quiet, and see what happened. If she did die, well, he was no longer bound to their deal. If she didn't, well, he supposed they would all have to hop on the first caravel they saw and hope for the best. While the water did its thing, the captain had enough sense to double-check that the chamber of his fowling piece was loaded. And of course it was. He grinned, and did some quick grip-switching amongst his weaponry so that he had his shotgun in his right hand, and his revolver in the other. Then they all started running at the woman's prompting. Just about everyone the wave smacked into was knocked down and unconscious. If they were lucky enough to remain conscious, most of them weren't in any state to fight back. The toughest of the marines, however, were more than willing to try. The water rendered their weapons mostly useless, but they had no problem drawing their swords and charging the group, screaming bloody murder and threatening the same.

The ragtag crew that the pirate lord had assembled were kind enough to respond by producing pistols of various designs and opening fire on the charging soldiers. Captain Cuttlam himself, however, had no such luck. After his run-in with Ceres in the alley, all of the powder in his firearms was wet, and thus ruined. He groaned, and then tucked his pistol away, racking the slide on his scattergun until it was empty. He loaded two rounds rapidly, and discharged them just as quickly. The first was a dud, probably also wet, but the second went off nicely, violently removing a good solid third from the top of a marine's head. He chuckled and stuffed three more rounds into his fowling piece, finding two more duds before slaying another rapidly approaching enemy with a well-placed slug to the throat. The pirate then growled angrily, though he was delighted to see that his crew, having continued their rush down to the waterfront, had managed managed to finish off the rest of the enemies who had taken it upon themselves to rush headlong into madness. All except one, of course.

There was always one man thrown further into madness than the others. In most cases, that man was Octavius Cuttlam. In this case, though, it was one of the marines, washed into an alley. Sometimes that madness resulted in great success. This time, it ended in tragedy for the afflicted. Having spotted Octavius before the wave struck, this one was determined to be the hero of the town, and the slayer of one of the greatest pirate captains in history. But Captain Cuttlam hadn't become a pirate lord by being slow, or unaware. Even as his assassin was leaping from the shadows, bayonet fixed, and sword in hand, he was moving, turning, shifting out of the way, and opening his mouth as wide as it would go. Thanks to the magic of the strange fruit he had eaten so long ago, his mouth opened ridiculously wide, When the opening was big enough, which didn't take long, the massive dog head that had earlier exploded from within his arm, now ripped from his throat, rushing out and crashing into the soldier. The head of the beast lunged straight for the poor bastard's throat, and before anyone else could do anything, the marine was dead, his spinal cord severed, along with all of the vital blood vessels in his neck.

Satisfied, the now blood-drenched canine retreated, disappearing before every watchful eye, and the captain barely reacted, beyond swearing quietly at Ceres for ruining his ammunition. Then it was onward to the docks, a swift journey constantly accompanied by a near silent tirade from Octavius, regretting his decisions more as time passed. He resolved to get his revenge on Ceres in some way. For now, he would have to honour their deal...

Tales of Eyreseum - The False King

*waiting intensifies*