Dream Hunt: Chapter 6

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Chapter 6: At Queen's Mercy, Part 1
 “The wind is good,” a sailor might have said on that specific day. Such quote would be justified by the constant speed by which the ship travelled. “Fast and safe!” They would celebrate and smile proud of his crewmates.

 What caused the happiness of the anglers on the deck, however, caused disdain for others.

 Of course, the wind meant it was not a warm day on that sea. And Roland, Axellia and Toruviel—three ladies of three different species—had to endure their nights on a humid, if not wet, dark bilge, accompanied by dirt and fish that held a distinctive bad smell.

 No matter the weather, their situation wouldn’t be good. Although telling them that would not change a thing.

 “Atchoo!” Roland cleaned her nose once more. “Wouldn’t it be better to be caught by the officers?” She sat on a box full of fish. “We smell, we are sick and we are cold, and we don’t even know when we’re going to land!”

 “We’re qualified for robbery, aren’t we?” Toruviel laid down on an improvised hammock between two pillars. Her question she answered herself, with a noisy bite on a stolen apple. “Anglers’ ships always worked for me,” she continued. “I’d even say this is a pretty good one we got ourselves into.”

 “You’re a brute…”

 “Hey, I got back so you could get your baggage on the town, didn’t I? Even with that Donny the Crow-or-whatever going after us.”

 She bit the fruit only once more and threw its white corpse onto the floor. “That’s more than I usually do,” she completed with a mouth full of apple bits.

 “I just hope we don’t spend another full day in here… One was enough!” Roland sounded as a lost child who wanted to cry.

 The elf just glanced briefly and rolled her eyes. “Nice partner we got ourselves…” She mumbled on thoughts and turned aside on the hammock, pretending she was going to sleep. “It’s all Axel’s fault…”

 “… Axel’s.”

 “… Fault.”

 She repeated the words in her mind.

 “… Shit.”

 A moment passed and something occurred inside that elf’s mind. It was a revelation, of many that would occur in the future, as time went by. But that moment, when she did not know about its future frequency, it was if a hammer was dropped on her feet.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “… Roland?”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Yeah?”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Where’s Axel?”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Well, she’s right… Not… here.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Goddamn it!”

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<p class="MsoNormal"> “Captain!” The dog-lady got inside upon seeing the captain had her door room open.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Essi Queen had a couch on her room, on which she laid down. Her left hand pet the head of her black cat, sitting on her chest. Her right hand picked grapes from a bowl sitting on the couch’s backrest. “Yes, Florence?” She casually asked and directed the green eyes directly to the bestial face of the navigator.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Barefooted as the captain was, her hair was not presentable and, obviously, she did not wear her combat plate armor.

<p class="MsoNormal"> The navigator Florence, upon entering her captain’s chambers, should have expected to meet Captain Queen under those conditions, but even so, the casualty made her eyes open wide and her chin drop an inch.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Meow!” The cat yelled at her, taking her off her trance.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Oh, right, I… Hey!” Florence growled to the feline, but limited herself to that. “Ahem! Gagliotti spotted a ship close to our position, seems to be a fisher.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> Essi Queen raised her eyebrows. “Why should anglers worry us?”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Meeeeowww?” The cat followed her owner’s questioning.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Because…” Florence paused and smiled threatening, making sure to show her sharp fangs to the black feline. “The ship goes by the name of Regal Silva.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> Queen’s cat did not understand her owner’s subtle change of expression, neither why she quickly got up and told the dog to get the crew ready.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Aye, Captain!” Florence answered with a smile and faced her furry cat rival. “Seems I got the best this time, huh, BB?” And she laughed loudly and sarcastically as she walked back to the deck.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Meow-ow?” The cat named Duchess Blueberry asked herself, all alone. What could be so special about a single ship?

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Duchess-dearie, today’s a big day for mama!” Essi Queen returned.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “… Mew!”

<p class="MsoNormal"> The cat’s tone was of amazement, for her master was dressed for combat, and spoke on an excited tone. Rarely was Essi Queen excited.

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<p class="MsoNormal"> Roland and Tor ascended the stairs cautiously. The briefest of glimpses of their presences could end up with them thrown in the ocean.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “… and I’d have to carry you!” Roland complained in a whisper.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Yeah, yeah, that’s your biggest problem, sure.” Tor answered sarcastically.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Their ascension took more steps than they had hoped. The little demon they searched was nowhere to be seen, floor after floor, until a last set of stairs presented itself to the hunters. They both sighed, for they both had prayed the kid wouldn’t be so stupid.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Seems you own me some money now,” Rol provoked—besides prayers, on the bilge they had made bets.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tor closed her fists—with such strength, her hand bled.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “That’s why we should lock kids up until they’re fourteen or older!”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “But Axel is fourteen.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “… Argh!” The elf punched her own forehead in an act of rage. “Let’s go!”

<p class="MsoNormal"> Her face was covered in blood, so was her fist.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Up the last set of stairs, they went, ready to a fight: contact with the crew would be unavoidable, and sailors were never known to be forgiving. Weapons in hand, they climbed. Step by step, twenty-two of them. The rusted door waiting at the end just needed to be open.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Please, God, don’t let me be killed today,” Roland prayed and pushed the door.

<p class="MsoNormal"> They clearly saw a kitchen, as a kitchen would look like. What they did not see was people.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Neither rose a sound.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Say, Tor,” Roland started. “If it were early in the morning, so early the whole crew was sleeping…”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “We would know. They sleep downstairs,” the other completed.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “And downstairs was empty, wasn’t it?”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Ehh… Could they all be on the deck?”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Yeah, if they were…” Rol raised an eyebrow, her eyes revealing only disbelief. “In…”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Complete…” Tor continued.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Silence,” they both said—and speaking it aloud only enhanced their estrangement.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Maybe if I tried…” Tor thought for a second. “Axel?” She asked casually.

<p class="MsoNormal"> In response, the thin air moved, as if solid. Literally, a piece of the scenery the duo watched moved like a door. The sink revealed a sink, and the oven revealed an oven: it was a camouflage.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Toruviel smiled and laughed. “Clever girl.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> The transparent door was actually a mirror. From behind it, a happy Axel showed her face.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Tor, Rol, hey!” She giggled. “I wanted to see how long would you take to… Rol?”

<p class="MsoNormal"> The newest bounty hunter had her face wet in sweat and her hands trembling in shock. A black, subtle shade crossed her face as if sign of an illness.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “I-I-I…” The gunslinger tried to say. “I thought we were…”

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tor pat her shoulder.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “I thought I had mentioned to you,” she said. “Axel ate a Devil Fruit a while ago.” The elf showed her teeth in a giant evil grin. “Now, if we’re caught, be sure to carry us both on the ocean, yeah?”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Come here, you two, I want to show you something!”

<p class="MsoNormal"> Axel skipped and giggled. She waved calling them, thus they crossed the door of her small glass hideout… And small it was.

<p class="MsoNormal"> The girl was sitting over the sink, eating a bowl with fruits. The two women, on the other hand, had to fit themselves into the small portion between the sink and the mirrors. The result, as expected, was that they felt inside a box—Rol with a shoulder on her face, and Tor closely behind, on the same situation.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “… Too close, Tor.” Coming from above Roland’s right shoulder, Toruviel’s face touched her on the cheek.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “How’s that a problem?” Tor asked.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Y-You… I… I…” Rol’s face was red.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Stop fighting and look here.” Axel pointed at a small window next to the sink, existent for the sole purpose of making the kitchen bright when there was sunlight.

<p class="MsoNormal"> On the deck, they could see, the whole crew of twenty-or-so men stood in silence. They formed a circle, all sat down. Two men sat in front of each other in the center.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “… So our theory was right?” The two women questioned it at the same time, before their young partner asked for them to remain silent.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “They’ve been like that for a while,” Axel had all her attention focused on the strange ritual, while she chewed a banana. “I’m trying to figure out what they’re up to...”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Swallow before you talk, Ax,” Roland bluntly put.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Sorry, sorry…” she giggled.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “But, I was saying…” Axel’s expression, one second to another, became the one of a hungry hunter pursuing its prey: sealed lips, focused eyes, light and constant breath… She smashed the banana with the hand that held it, creating a white mess on the sink. Never had anyone seen the girl in such a state. And as fire her heart burned and pounded with passion:

<p class="MsoNormal"> “They’re going to summon a dragon-sheep!” Her eyes sparkled in fierceness as she said the words.

<p class="MsoNormal"> The aura she emanated burned wildly and reached even the spirits of two matured bounty hunters!

<p class="MsoNormal"> “… Or they’re brawling.” Tor suggested.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Could be that too!” Axel agreed with a smile.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “But…” Roland, who forgot how embarrassed she was seconds ago, closed her mouth: no questions were necessary.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Couldn’t it be a drinking game?” The gunslinger asked the elf.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “It could…” The elf answered. “I’d guess they’re returning home or something like that, and are taking the day off with a game.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Huh… That’s a weird game…”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Silence, you two! They’re moving!”

<p class="MsoNormal"> They did move, but only two men on the circle. Those two took one jar each and handed them to the two men who faced each other on the center of the circle.

<p class="MsoNormal"> After picking the jars, the contestants closed their eyes… and drank.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Each drank its jar whole, in a matter of seconds.

<p class="MsoNormal"> The jars were then removed, and the two competitors stood up—their faces were red and they couldn’t stay in balance, in a clear sign of drunkenness.

<p class="MsoNormal"> After almost a minute, still standing, they stared at each other’s eyes, and each nodded once. Not long enough, the same men who had brought the jars before showed up holding an oar each.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Important to notice was that all of the anglers there were gigantic men who looked like bears.

<p class="MsoNormal"> The hands held the oars tighter… and they swung them.

<p class="MsoNormal"> The huge wooden pieces—strong enough to move boats—hit the backs of the two competitors with the impact of cannons. The wood was destroyed upon the impact, breaking itself into a thousand small fragments.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Few seconds passed, and one of the men who took the blow, whom the hunters saw only the back, fell down to his knees. His face hit the floor, as he fell out of conscience.

<p class="MsoNormal"> After a moment of silence, applause. The winner, the older man who managed to stay standing, was greeted and celebrated with enthusiasm, even though he didn’t seem to be happy himself.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Inside the kitchen, two hearts full of despair.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “… L-L-Let’s jump on the ocean, s-shall we?” Tor’s whole body trembled.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “… N-N-Not a bad idea!” Rol agreed, sweating bullets. “I-I-I-I think I can carry you b-both.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Why’re both so afraid?” Axel was not impressed. “They haven’t found us ye-”

<p class="MsoNormal"> What interrupted her was an arm, the size of her own body, breaking through the kitchen window she faced.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tears fell out of her eyes.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Inside the kitchen, three hearts full of despair.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Axel was pulled to the outside by a giant arm. The next second, the arm returned and pulled Toruviel and Roland, at the same time. As a result, they were three thrown down on the deck.

<p class="MsoNormal"> The winner of the competition, who, they now noticed, was a man of age, stared them from above, casting a shadow over their whole bodies.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Nothing they said.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Intruders?” The old man said with a voice that sounded like thunder. “I am not fond of intruders… Never have been.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Well, we…”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Stand up,” he ordered. Immediately, they obeyed.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “The intruders are pretty women, huh?” The captain—they assumed he was—continued. “I am fond of pretty women… Have always been. What to do, what to do…”

<p class="MsoNormal"> The rest of the crew—twenty-men-or-so—stared menacingly. All had iron muscles and the presence of dragons, even though none was more intimidating than the oldest one.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Captain?” One of the younger man talked. “May I give a suggestion?” Even he looked afraid: as he spoke the words, his eyes aimed at the floor, and his eyebrows shook out of insecurity.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Huh? Suggestion?” The captain scratched his head with a finger. “No, young Desso, I made up my mind. The intruders, they’re going to-”

<p class="MsoNormal"> Out of nowhere, a huge bang sounded. On the space between the three females and the big captain, a cannonball crossed the air and caused a strong wind that blew all their hairs. The iron ball crossed the whole ship and hit the water of the ocean with a splash.

<p class="MsoNormal"> The hunters turned their heads to their right, to the direction of the shot. Every other men followed.

<p class="MsoNormal"> There was only one ship, and it was far—too far to have made that shot. But no other ship was on view, so there was only one possible conclusion…

<p class="MsoNormal"> Toruviel whistled. “Isn’t that a troublemaker?” She joked.

<p class="MsoNormal"> However, the captain kept staring, and as such, no one else said anything.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Intruders will wait,” he announced. “We’ll talk!” He shouted the orders to his crew.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Their ship stopped its course, in preparation to receive the incoming ship.

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<p class="MsoNormal"> With impressive speed, it took the ship a matter of five minutes to reach the anglers. It was, indeed, a day of good cold wind. It stopped about twenty meters away, and then it could be seen how bigger the interceptor was.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “It is a pirate ship, that’s for sure,” Roland told her companions, inside the kitchen. “But I can’t see their Jolly Roger.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> From the pirate interceptor came straight and quick blasts. Six chains made of iron feathers. Chains, which by themselves, held the anglers’ ship where they could, and pulled both ships closer. They pulled with an invisible force, which shook both ships from their balance. As soon as the embarkations touched, the force stopped, and the boarding began.

<p class="MsoNormal"> There came five pirates, who jumped from a deck to the other. They held swords and guns, but nothing particularly notable could be said about them.

<p class="MsoNormal"> The sixth pirate, on the other hand, had a distinctive presence. He wore green shades over his eyes and wore a complete red outfit that contrasted his white hair. To complete, two big revolvers rested on his belt. He gave the other crew a vague glance, and extended his hand as support to his captain arrival.

<p class="MsoNormal"> The captain accepted it, and boarded elegantly.

<p class="MsoNormal"> It was the sound of iron parts and heels over wood that preceded her coming. “Thank you, Lach,” She told the man in red when she glanced over the angler crew—most looked aside, for pretty the blonde woman in the blue dress was… Pretty, even if wearing a giant plate bigger than her body.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Meow!” The black cat came running happily and took refuge on the captain’s shoulders. In response, the captain scratched her head and whispered a few words.

<p class="MsoNormal"> For last, the navigator came: she had a robe and a hood, with which she in vain tried to hide her animalistic appearance—the one of a dog who walked in two legs. All it took, however, was one cold glare from her captain, and she stopped the useless hiding.

<p class="MsoNormal"> The feathery chains at last released its grip, thus both ships shook until returning to their balances and original positions.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Twenty-or-so iron-muscled anglers.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Eight pirates and a cat.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Two bounty hunters and a demon girl.

<p class="MsoNormal"> One minute of silence.

<p class="MsoNormal"> The beauty in armor cleaned her throat.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Meow!” Her cat followed in a rude tone.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “… Oh, right!” The dog woman whispered to herself. She took, from inside her robe, a big folded scroll. Unfolding it, she triumphantly announced:

<p class="MsoNormal"> “I present to you Captain Essi Queen, from the Rapier Pirates!”

<p class="MsoNormal"> With a satisfied smile, she folded the paper and stored it back inside her robe.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “… Why did you even need the scroll?”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “… Captain?”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Ah, forget it!” The captain sent the cat out of her shoulders, and took a step forward. “I heard this is the ship named Regal Silva.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> The old man that was the captain didn’t answer. Who did, instead, was the young Desso:

<p class="MsoNormal"> “You bet it is the Regal-”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Quiet!” The old man suddenly ordered as a thunder. “Yes, it is the Regal Silva. However, we are just anglers trying to live our lives. We have nothing of value except our work.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> Essi Queen grinned.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Such a strange peculiar breed…” she said, unclear if it was insult or compliment. “You’re Grade Maccoil, aren’t you?”

<p class="MsoNormal"> Once more, the old man who was the captain did not answer.

<p class="MsoNormal"> And once more…

<p class="MsoNormal"> “No, you witch! His name is Matten Maccoil, you better not forg-”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Quiet Desso!” This time the old captain screamed louder, and turned his head to look at the young man. “I am the captain here, do you understand?” He roared at his apprentice as a wild beast.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Then, he directed his attention to the elegant woman.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “I do not have money anymore,” Matten warned. “And I do not fight.” His voice still rebounded like a cannon, but now, especially after the last sentence, it sounded sad.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Queen stopped smiling.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “I doubt it!” She challenged. “I’ve met you once, long ago, when I was a little girl, and your combat was the most wonderful thing I’ve ever witnessed. Don’t tell me such an innate fighter would simply… stop!” She sounded genuinely offended.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “I do not believe this.” She added.

<p class="MsoNormal"> She raised a hand, and Florence, the navigator, handed her a rapier.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Captain are you sure…” The navigator tried a shy advice, before the sword was taken by force form her hand.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Don’t tell me you’re not reacting if I hurt you...” Sword in hand, the blonde-haired captain cut the air with sharp movements.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Don’t think you can just hurt our captain and go away!” An angler yelled.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Yes, we are his-“

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Stay out of this!” Captain Maccoil roared. “There are things my crew doesn’t need to know!”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Very well,” the woman in armor grinned and moved. “Show me the beauty of your-”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Gan Gan no…”

<p class="MsoNormal"> Essi was hit in the face with an iron bell, bigger than her head was.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “… Bell-to-the-face.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> Toruviel stood next to her, somehow appearing out of thin air. After the attack, shards of broken glass fell to the ground… Shards from Axel’s mirror, the camouflage the elf used to get there unseen.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Essi spit blood, but did not fall down.

<p class="MsoNormal"> The pirate gunner in red and green shades promptly pointed a revolver at the elf. “You motherf-”

<p class="MsoNormal"> … But Roland was already on the deck, seemingly coming from nowhere, pointing a pistol at him.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “An impasse…” The male gunner interchanged his eyes from one bounty hunter to another.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Pirate and bounty hunter… The sword-wielders and the gun-wielders faced each other intensely.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Toruviel had only her huge bell at hand.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Essi cleaned the blood from her mouth.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Who are even you, blue hair?”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Bounty hunter, skirt hunter,” Tor grinned. “And both your bounty and your skirt seemed right up my alley!”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “The old man has a bounty far greater than mine.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Really? He looks a fisherman, not a pirate.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “I see… So that’s how it is.” She glanced briefly at her gunslinger. “Lach, the elf is mine!”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Aye, aye.” He answered, and on the next instant, he was pulling his second revolver, on a draw that seemingly took less than half-second to perform. If he wanted to do it before, he could have already killed Roland.

<p class="MsoNormal"> His bullet hit Roland… It was a mirror. Glass fell in a million pieces to the floor of the angler ship.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “What?” The man in red, Lachlann Muse IV, turned all sides, and his eyes moved with speed far superior to that of a regular human eye.

<p class="MsoNormal"> His gaze met, less than a second later, Roland’s eyes behind the kitchen window. From there, the woman in red shoot, but due to a half-second advantage, Muse just barely avoided—he could see the bullet cutting the air right in front of his face. The target was instead wood from the deck, and the impact scared anglers who were around.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Roland would not take the bullet-storm outside. She instead waved calling the other gunslinger, and ran downstairs, where she was minutes before. Lachann Muse, being the way he was, accepted the challenge.

<p class="MsoNormal"> As he was gone, silence remained under the sun. Not a soul—the pirates, bounty hunter, nor anglers—knew whether they should move or not.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Florence!” Essi Queen called.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Yes, captain?”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Anyone interferes, no matter who, and you bite their face off.” The pirate turned to face Matten Maccoil. “You just watch, ''Grade Maccoil. ''If you see me fighting, you’ll change your mind.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> Grade—or Matten—nothing said in response.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “That’s absurd!” The young Desso, among the more than twenty men, incited. “You can’t just think we’re standing still while you-”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Stay out of it, Desso,” the captain simply said. “This is not your fight to get involved with.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “But… Captain!”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “The two of them are dueling and we’re not getting involved. None of you need to fight.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Captain…” Desso closed his fists. “Why are you acting like this?”

<p class="MsoNormal"> His captain didn’t answer. All he did was step aside, opening more space for the fight to happen.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tor had a bell. Essi had a sword.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Don’t you want a weapon or something?” The pirate captain offered.

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Nah, the bell’s enough.”

<p class="MsoNormal"> “Very well.” She kissed her blade tenderly and advanced.

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