Brine and Ash
The first pirate to cross the gap between the ships landed on our deck with a heavy thud, his boots hitting the wood just moments after his grappling hook. He was a big man, carrying a cutlass that looked almost comically small in his meaty fist, and he wasted no time in charging toward the nearest target. Which, of course, was me.
“I’m gonna cut you up real good,” he laughed, clearly trying to be intimidating. He rushed towards me, one arm held high above his head and the other in front of him, prepared to grab me.
He lost that one first.
My axe sliced through meat and bone with almost supernatural ease, and the pirate was left dumbfounded, staring at the stump of his arm and wondering where the rest of it went. I helped him along with a twist, sending my axe through his neck and his head careening to join his arm. He staggered, then slumped, then fell as his body realized there wasn’t anything piloting it anymore.
The rest of the enemy crew seemed taken aback by the brutality, but I wasn’t here to play games. I shook my axe free of blood and hefted it again, moving towards my next opponent as the battle began in earnest.
As I set about relieving men of their limbs and lives, I noted that a few went down without my attention. Wooden shafts spurted from necks or chests, and a glance upwards revealed Nera perched atop the mast, knocking another arrow and letting loose in nearly the same motion. There was a meaty thwack as she let loose and a man who was trying to flank me went down sporting a hole in his thigh.
The second pirate to reach me was smarter than the first. He came in low, his blade aimed for my stomach rather than my head, and I had to twist sideways to avoid being skewered. The movement sent a flare of pain through my ribs, but I pushed through it, bringing my axe down in an overhead arc that he barely managed to dodge.
He scrambled backward, eyes wide as he tried to rally, but I stepped in too close for him to swing his sword effectively and drove the butt of my axe into his temple. He crumpled without a sound, his weapon slipping out of loose fingers.
The rest of the enemy crew was flooding over the rails now, their boots thudding against the deck as they swarmed onto our ship. I turned to face then, gripping my axe tightly as I faced down the oncoming hoard out for blood. I was suddenly brought back to just a few days ago, preparing to risk life and limb against a firing line just to get my friends to safety. I was ready to die then, fine with it even as long as we won the day. But now...
“I’m not dying here,” I growled, hefting my axe and striding forward with anger and determination warring for dominance in my chest.
As I fell into the press of bodies, I quickly lost sight of the world around me. Too focused on killing and surviving, I didn’t have time to think or plan. These guys thankfully weren’t that strong or skilled, but there were a lot of them.
A knife came out of nowhere, tracing a line of fire across my cheek and I hissed, staggering back as blood trickled down my face. The pirate who’d cut me grinned, thinking he had the upper hand, but the triumph lasted only a moment before my axe bit into his side. I ripped the weapon free as he went down gurgling, and I wiped the blood from my cheek with the back of my hand, grazing the split.
More pirates pressed forward, and I found myself fighting two at once. One came at me from the left while the other tried to flank me from behind. I caught the first one’s blade on the shaft of my axe, shoving him backward, but the second one was already swinging and I wouldn’t be able to properly block.
Just then, a blur of brown and white dropped from above, and suddenly there was Nera, her wings traded for arms again as she drove a pair of bleached daggers into the pirate’s shoulders. He screamed and she twisted, hanging onto him like she had stolen a ride. He fell to his knees and Nera rolled off of him, darting into the throng with her body held low to the ground.
“Try to keep up,” she called over her shoulder.
I didn’t respond, too busy dealing with the pirate in front of me. He’d recovered from my shove and was coming at me again, but this time I was ready. I faked high, then went low, sweeping his legs out from under him with the shaft of my axe. He hit the deck hard, and I ended him with a quick strike before he could recover.
The battle continued much in the same vein. My arms burned with every strike and parry and my ribs ached with every twisting dodge, but the fire in my chest kept me moving. As I soaked my boots on blood, I occasionally caught sight of Nera, darting through the enemy crew. She was like a ghost, slipping into guards and slitting throats or hamstrings. Nobody could keep a bead on her, much less touch her.
I wasn’t quite as fortunate. A pirate charged me from my blind spot, and I caught the movement too late. His sword caught me across the arm, tearing into the meat of my forearm. I grunted, spinning with the momentum and burying my axe in his skull before he could follow up.
A deafening explosion rocked the ship. It rolled in the waves and I turned to find the enemy vessel blooming with fire and smoke. Up at the helm, Brogy laughed heartily, Gōwan belching fire and iron at the enemy ship as he pulled the trigger again. Explosions rocked the other vessel, tearing holes in its hull and sending pirates tumbling into the sea dead or on fire.
And in the midst of that hell, was Rachel. Seemingly unconcerned with friendly fire, the woman had set upon the other ship and was dueling the enemy captain. She obviously in high spirits, her cutlass held in one hand and her pistol in the other as she twisted, ducked, and parried the man who had called her out, smiling all the while.
It was clear that the enemy captain was good, and even clearer he was outmatched. Just how strong was this woman, I wondered.
A cry from behind me drew my attention back to my own fight. Three pirates had formed a semi-circle around me, their weapons raised. The largest of them was easily a head and a half taller than me, wielding a massive sword that he clearly intended to use to cut me into tiny pieces. judging by the look on his face.
“Come on then,” I growled, settling into a stance. “Let’s get this over with.”
Before the group could take me up on my challenge, they were suddenly blindsided by an attack from beside. A wave of sickly-sweet smelling brown liquid caught all three of them unaware, slamming into them and sending them careening across the deck where they were barely saved by the railing.
“You idiots. She just killed seven men without breaking a sweat, can’t you see she’s too strong for you?”
A man sauntered onto the deck, stepping over the bodies of his fallen crewmates without a glance. He was tall and lean, with an open trench coat revealing a pale chest littered with scars. More of that brown liquid dripped from his shoulders, landing on the ground with loud smacks as he approached with hands in pockets.
His crewmates stepped back as he approached, fear flashing on their faces. “I-Ironji? What the hell was that for?”
Ironji held a hand out to the man that spoke and a torrent of that same substance burst from his palm. It knocked the man off of his feet, slamming him into the railing where he curiously stuck fast. The man tried to move, but the syrupy liquid stretched and molded, unwilling to let him free.
“Quiet,” Ironji growled, stepping up to me. “I’ll be handling this one.”
I studied the man as he approached, examining the puddles that he left behind with every step. It looked like tree sap. Extremely viscous, horrifically sticky tree sap.
“And here I thought Devil Fruits were supposed to be rare,” I muttered, taking a step back. I glanced around, quickly finding that I was alone. Nera was up near the helm, helping Brogy fend off the enemies that decided to take out the living artillery, and Rachel was still fighting the enemy captain. I’d have to deal with this guy myself.
Ironji stopped a few feet away from me, his hands held loosely at his sides. He stared at me, his expression tense. I expected him to say something about how I was going to lose or maybe threaten to do unspeakable things to me once he had me incapacitated. Standard shonen villain talk.
But he just stared at me, sizing me up. It was honestly kind of unnerving.
Suddenly, without any prior indication at all, Ironji raised a hand, palm pointed toward me. My eyes widened and I dove to the side just in time to avoid the surge of sap that cleared the area where I just was.
I rolled across the deck, coming up with my axe ready. Ironji didn’t give me time to recover. Another wave of sap came at me, this time low, aiming for my legs. I jumped over it, but the bastard anticipated that and a preemptive third blast caught me in midair, wrapping around my torso and pinning my arms to my sides.
I hit the deck hard, the wind knocked out of me as the sap seeped into my clothes and started spreading as he poured more on. It crawled up my chest and down my legs like a living thing, and I felt it start to harden, locking my joints in place.
Ironji walked toward me, his expression casual. “You’re pretty strong, kid. Killed quite a few of our men. If things were different, I’d practically beg the captain to let you join our crew. But as it stands...”
He stopped a few feet away from me, looking down. Another glob of sap formed in his palm, slowly expanding. “It’s my job as First Mate to eliminate threats to my captain and crew. Just lie there and suffocate under the power of my Jueki Jueki no mi.”
I tested my bonds, straining against the sap that held me. It was like trying to move through concrete that hadn’t quite set. Every inch was a struggle, and even then, I barely managed to twitch my fingers.
Dammit! I cursed as Ironji held his hand above my face. The bubble in his hand was sweet and cloying, like rotting fruit. It inched toward my mouth and nose, moments away from covering them completely, when a sharp whistle cut through the air.
Ironji turned just as an arrow came screaming towards his face from nearby. He raised his hand and the bubble detached, leaping into the air and catching the arrow before it could run him through. Nearby, Nera tossed her bow and empty quiver aside and unsheathed her daggers, darting forward with murder in her eyes.
“Annoying,” Ironji muttered, stepping away from me to fight her instead. I was left alone in the sap cocoon, forced to watch them battle it out only a few feet away.
I strained against the sap, my muscles burning as I tried to force even a single limb free. It was like being encased in slowly drying cement, every movement costing me more energy than the last. The substance had hardened around my chest and arms, locking them in place, while my legs were pinned together from the thighs down.
Ahead of me, Nera’s daggers flashed in the sunlight, twin blurs of white that struck at the First Mate from every angle. But Ironji was ready for her this time. Sap erupted from his body in, trying to catch her in its sticky grasp, but she managed to dart away before she was caught, rallying nearby.
Nera feinted high, then dropped low, sliding underneath a wave of sap to slash at Ironji’s legs. He jumped back, but not before her blade opened a thin cut across his shin. He didn’t even flinch, turning and lashing out with a vine of sap.
“What the hell is that stuff, you freak?” Nera growled, flipping backward and landing in a crouch. “So damn annoying. Just stay still so I can get this over with!”
Ironji didn’t respond. His face remained completely neutral as he raised both hands and unleashed a torrent of sap that forced Nera to throw herself sideways. She rolled across the deck, coming up with one of her daggers raised, but the deck was covered with sap at this point and now, so were her legs. She was slowing down and if this continued, she wasn’t going to beat him.
My own situation wasn’t much better. The sap covering me had hardened even further, covering my body like iron. It squeezed my chest and ribs and every breath was a labor. I grunted, straining against my bonds.
Come on, I thought, gritting my teeth. Move!
I had to get out of here.
My promise to Umi echoed in my mind, repeating themselves over and over just like in the storm. This time, I wasn’t being subjugated by the world itself, forced underneath lashing tides and impossible waves. I was just underneath some sap, and I would be damned if that was what took me out after everything I had been through.
I promised her. I’m not giving up anymore!
I felt it then, a stir of something inside me. It wasn’t much, but it was there.
The feeling grew, spreading through my chest and down my arms like fire. It was the same feeling I’d had during the fight with Aldric, but this time, I was more aware of it. I could feel it building, coiling in my gut and waiting to be released. I focused, pushing the feeling towards my limbs.
The sap around me groaned. Cracks spiderwebbed across its surface, tiny fractures that grew larger with every passing second. I pushed harder, letting that fire in my stomach pour into my body, and the cracks widened before, with a sound like shattering glass, the cocoon exploded.
Chunks of hardened sap flew in every direction, and I sucked in a desperate breath of sweet, salty air. My muscles burned and my ribs hurt so much I thought I might have broken them again, but I was out.
Ironji heard the noise and turned, his eyes widening as he saw me standing. “How—”
He barely got the word out before I was on him. My legs propelled me across the sticky deck in what felt like a single stride. My axe was already in motion and Ironji, still floundering from his surprise, simply couldn’t defend.
With the sound of a wet melon being sucked through a tube, Ironji’s head was separated from his shoulders by sixteen inches of steel.
Ironji’s body stood there for a moment, almost confused about the fact that it was no longer attached to its head. Then, almost anticlimactically, it crumpled to the deck in a heap as his head rolled to land by his feet.
I huffed, planting the head of my axe on the ground and leaning heavily on the handle. My chest and arms burned from the effort of breaking out of the sap cocoon. How the hell was that stuff harder to break than stone?
Nera sidled up beside me, regarding Ironji’s body with a mixture of disgust and surprise.
“Nice work,” she said, glancing my way “Didn’t think you had it in you.”
“I’m full of surprises,” I wheezed.
She snorted, but there was a sense of respect in her eyes that certainly wasn’t there before. She sheathed her daggers, turning to look at the mess of limbs and tree sap that covered the deck. “This is going to take ages to clean up.”
“I’ll ask Rachel to find a broom.”
By now, the battle was winding down. Most of the crew was dead, including the First Mate and captain, and the rest of them weren’t exactly in a position to fight. Those who could still stand surrendered, while those who couldn’t took their chances with the open ocean and I guess prayed they wouldn’t drown between here and the island that wasn’t even in sight yet.
“Oi! Irana!”
I turned to find Rachel striding toward me, her weapons sheathed and the smell of smoke wafting about her. Her coat was singed at the edges and there was a thin cut across her forehead that was already clotting, but otherwise she looked none the worse for wear. If anything, she seemed energized.
“Come with me,” she urged, pulling me towards the enemy ship. “We’ve got loot to collect!”
“That thing’s on fire,” I pointed out. Brogy’s weapon had set the mast and a good portion of the bow ablaze, and it was quickly spreading inward. Soon enough, the entire ship would be engulfed. Assuming the ocean didn’t claim it first.
“We’ll be quick!” She chirped, dragging me onward. I was forced to follow, though I really didn’t want to.
We crossed the gap between the vessels on a plank that had been set up sometime during the fight. The fire had spread, flames licking up the masts and crawling across the deck like hungry serpents. Smoke billowed into the sky, thick and black, and I could feel the heat even from where we stood.
“We don’t have much time,” Rachel said, completely undeterred by the inferno slowly consuming the ship. “The treasury should be below deck.”
“How do you know that?”
“Experience,” she replied with a grin. “Now come on!”
She took off toward the stairs leading below deck, and I was only half a step behind her. The interior of the ship was already filling with smoke so I pulled the collar of my coat up over my nose, trying to filter out some of the worst of it.
Rachel navigated the corridors without any worry for the oncoming blaze checking doors and peering into rooms with practiced efficiency. I followed close behind, my eyes already stinging from the smoke.
“Here we are,” Rachel announced, stopping in front of a reinforced door. It was locked, but that didn’t seem to bother her as she reared a foot back and slammed it into the door, just below the handle. The door shook and opened with a crack, revealing the treasury.
The empty treasury. I half expected a room full of loose gold and chests overflowing with jewels. There was a chest filled with a modest amount of coin and jewelry, but it certainly wasn’t overflowing.
Rachel sighed, “Ugh, I knew it. These bastards are broke.”
I looked around the small room, my eyes passing over the meager chest without much interest. “How unfortunate,” I glanced back at the door where smoke was starting to curl in. “We should probably go before this whole place goes up.”
Rachel nodded, heaving a sigh as she bent down to grab the chest. She got her hands under it and lifted, straining with the effort. It clearly wasn’t light, but she managed to get it a few inches off the ground before setting it back down with a huff.
“Alright, grab the other end,” she said, gesturing to the chest. “We’ll carry it together.”
I huffed. I was ready to get out of here and this was taking too long. “Or I could just carry it.”
Rachel blinked at me. “What?”
I bent down and got my hands under the chest. It was heavy but a few experimental flexes revealed that it was nothing I couldn’t manage. The stone in the mines had been much denser, and I’d spent years hauling that stuff around. Even with my ribs, this was light work.
I lifted the chest onto my shoulder, adjusting it so that it rested comfortably against my back. The weight settled into my muscles, but my legs held firm.
Rachel stared at me, mouth slightly open. I jerked my head towards the door. “Can we leave now?”
Rachel blinked at me, her mouth slightly agape as she took in the sight of me standing there with a chest that probably weighed as much as she did balanced on my shoulder like it was a sack of potatoes.
“What are you standing there for?” I asked, already heading for the door. “The ship’s burning down around us.”
That seemed to snap her out of it. Rachel shook her head, a grin spreading across her face as she followed me out of the treasury. “Right, right! Let’s move!”
We made our way back through the smoke-filled corridors, Rachel leading the way while I brought up the rear with the chest. The fire had spread faster than I’d anticipated, and more than once we had to duck under falling beams or sidestep patches of flame that had taken hold on the walls. My eyes stung and my lungs burned, but I kept moving, one hand braced against the chest to keep it steady.
The plank between the ships was still in place when we emerged onto the deck, though the flames were licking at the rails now. I slipped across the narrow board with the chest still on my shoulder. Rachel followed close behind, and we both made it back to the Fletcher’s Fury just as the enemy ship’s mast came crashing down in a shower of sparks and burning wood.
I set the chest down down on the deck with a heavy thud, letting out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. The cool sea air was a relief after the smoke and heat, and I took a moment to just breathe.
Behind me, I heard Rachel land on the deck, her boots hitting the wood with a soft thump. She appeared at my side a moment later, patting my unoccupied shoulder.
“That was impressive,” she said. “I’ve seen plenty of strong folks in my time, but not many who can haul a chest like that without breaking a sweat.”
I shrugged, rolling my shoulder to work out the stiffness. “Years of hard labor. You’d be surprised what the body can get used to.”
Rachel hummed, her eyes narrowing slightly as she studied me. “Aye, I imagine so.”
She turned away, addressing the crew. “Alright, everyone! Good work out there! Nera, can you check the ship for any stragglers? Brogy, keep an eye on the sea in case they have friends nearby. Doc should be out soon to look over anyone who needs it.”
Nera gave a sharp nod and took to the skies, her wings carrying her up and over the burning wreck of the enemy vessel. Brogy just grunted and hefted Gōwan back onto his shoulder, making his way toward the bow of the ship.
Rachel turned to me. “You can follow me down to the treasure room. That coin is singing for some friends and I’ve got plenty waiting for it down below.”
I followed Rachel down into the bowels of the ship, maneuvering the chest through the narrow corridors as she led the way. We passed the crew quarters, the kitchen, and Brogy’s workshop before finally stopping in front of a reinforced door that looked like it could take a cannon shot and still hold firm.
Rachel produced a key from somewhere inside her coat and unlocked the door with a flourish, swinging it open wide. “Behold! The treasury of the Firebrand Pirates!”
I stepped inside and felt my jaw go slack.
Now, given the fact that Rachel seemed to be more than happy wearing enough gold to buy a house, I figured the woman had money. But what I was seeing went far beyond my wildest expectations. The room was packed from floor to ceiling with gold and silver and jewels of every color that sparkled in the lantern light. Rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and diamonds, the largest the size of my palm. And that wasn’t even the half of it.
Ornate weapons lined the walls, their handles crusted with precious stones and their blades gleaming with the kind of craftsmanship that spoke of master smiths long dead. There were chests overflowing with plate and goblets, silk tapestries rolled up in corners, and more besides.
It was, without a doubt, the most impressive display of wealth I had ever seen in either of my lives.m.
“Holy shit,” I breathed, my eyes wide as I took in the sheer scope of it all. “You could probably buy a whole ship with what’s in here.”
“A ship? You could buy a whole fleet with my hoard,” Rachel laughed. She gestured widely. “What you’re seeing here is years of work! Every coin, every jewel, every shiny bit of plunder we’ve taken from every bastard who thought they could take us on.”
I stepped further into the room, my boots crunching on coins that had spilled from their respective piles. I picked up a ruby from a nearby stack, turning it over in my fingers and watching the light play across its surface. It was easily the most valuable thing I had ever held in my hands and there were a dozen others just like it just laying around.
“I don't understand,” I said, setting the ruby back down. “If you have all this, why are you still sailing around? You could probably buy and island and live like royalty. Hell, you might not even have to spend it all to do that.”
Rachel turned to look at me, her expression genuinely baffled. “Huh? Why in the world would I spend it all?”
I blinked. “Because... that’s what you do with money?”
Rachel laughed, shaking her head. She walked over to a pile of gold, scooping up a handful and letting it cascade through her fingers. “The whole point of having treasure is to have it. That’s it. To look at all this loot and know it’s yours is the greatest pleasure a pirate could ask for.”
She said this like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and I found myself wondering if maybe she was right. In my old life, money had been a means to an end. You earned it so you could spend it on rent and food and the occasional luxury. But here, in this world of pirates and adventure and freedom, maybe you could just... have things because you wanted them.
“Now come on,” Rachel said, gesturing to the chest I had carried in. “Empty that into the pile. No need ta sort it. Just put it with the rest.”
I did as she asked, lifting the chest and tilting it over the nearest mountain of gold. Coins spilled out in a cascade of color, mixing with the existing piles until the new additions were indistinguishable from the old.
Rachel, meanwhile, had made her way to the center of the room, where the largest pile of all sat. It was a mountain of gold that came up to her chest, glittering like a dragon’s hoard from a storybook. Without hesitation, she turned around and threw herself backward into the pile with a whoop of joy.
Gold coins went flying in every direction as she disappeared into the pile, her body sinking into the mass of wealth like it was a pile of autumn leaves. A moment later, her head popped back up, her hat filled with coins and a grin so wide it looked like it might split her face in two.
“This,” she declared, spreading her arms wide, “is what it’s all about.”
I watched her lounge in her treasure like a cat in a sunbeam, her face practically glowing with contentment. Coins were tangled in her hair, lodged in her coat, and somehow even stuck to her cheek. She looked absolutely ridiculous and completely happy.
“You’re insane,” I said, but there was no heat behind the words. If anything, I was jealous. Not of the treasure itself, but of the sheer, unadulterated joy she seemed to derive from it.
“Maybe,” Rachel conceded, plucking a coin from her hair and examining it briefly before tossing it back into the pile. “But I’m happy. And ain’t that what matters?”
I didn’t have an answer for that.
Rachel sat up in her pile of gold, lounging among the coins with legs crossed.
“You know,” she said, her voice leading, “You fight pretty well. I don’t suppose you’ve got any plans after we get to Kara Town, do ya?”
“I promised my friend I’d get her home and I intend to do that.”
“And after that?” she led. I eyed her, wondering where she was going with this.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I haven’t really thought that far ahead.”
Rachel hummed, leaning back on her hands and looking up at the ceiling. “Well, if you ever find yourself with nothing else ta occupy ya, you’ve got a place here.”
“On your crew?”
“Aye. I’d be more than happy to have a fighter like you watching my back, and Brogy likes ya well enough.”
I blinked, “We barely know each other, and your offering me a permanent spot on your ship?”
“You’re good people, I can tell,” Rachel said vaguely. “If you find yourself willing to put up with us for be more than a few days, we’d be happy to take ya on and help ya find your dream.”
There was that word again. I felt like I was missing the significance of it.
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
Rachel tipped her hat and flopped back into her pile of gold with a satisfied sigh. “That’s all I ask.”
I stood there for a moment longer, watching her lounge in her treasure, before turning to leave. My ribs were starting to ache again, and I could feel the exhaustion of the battle catching up to me. I needed to find Doc and get these cuts looked at before they got infected.
As I reached the door, Rachel’s voice stopped me.
“Oi, Irana.”
I turned back.
Rachel tilted her head, still sprawled in her gold and grinning widely. “I appreciate you helping out today. It was real bloody good of ya.”
I met her gaze for a long moment, then nodded once. “You saved my life. It seemed fair.”
Rachel’s smile softened. “Aye, well. Fair’s fair then.”
I left the treasury behind, closing the door softly as I went. The sounds of the ship surrounded me as I made my way back above deck—the creak of wood, the snap of canvas, the distant murmur of waves against the hull. It was peaceful in a way that I hadn’t experienced in a long time.
As I climbed the stairs back to the main deck, I found myself thinking about Rachel’s question. What came after I found Umi and got her home safely?
I didn’t have an answer yet. But for the first time in either of my lives, I found myself kind of looking forward to finding out.