Anton sat on one of the discarded chairs in the ball room, catching his breath and allowing himself the brief respite in the combat. With Lestalt defeated, the pirates had cleared out and the room had been secured. But the marine commander knew it wasn't over yet. The Aristocrat Pirate's captain was still at large, and somewhere around the ship. Meanwhile, the other people in the room had taken to barricading the doors to ensure the pirates didn't try to get back in. Lestalt had been tied up and was being kept in a corner.

"Did they say anything about what they wanted?" Anton asked one of the servants as he passed by. The young man turned to look at the marine. "All they were saying as that the ship was theirs or something. I'm guessing they're just trying to take over the ship itself." Anton could believe that. This was one of the finest ships in the Blues. It would make sense for a group calling themselves "The Aristocrat Pirates"  to want a ship like this. "What about their own ship? How did they get aboard?" "I saw their ship when they first appeared," a young nobleman spoke up, approaching him, "They pulled up alongside and began boarding.  I managed to get down here before they caught up."

The fact that they were able to pull up without any issue worried Anton. When he first came on, he didn't see any cannons or any defenses on the ship. The marines here were supposed to do that. But he could bet there were plenty of cannons on theirs. He knew what he had to do. "I've got to go," Anton said, rising to his feet and heading for the door. Everyone in the room looked at him. "Going to fight them sir? the servant asked. Anton gave a small nod. "But before I do, I've got to get to their ship. If we win this, I don't want them trying to be petty and destroy this place." Everyone in the room went pale, the realization just hitting them. If they drove back the pirates, what would stop them from scuttling The Grand Maiden?

It seemed Anton would be stopping them, that's who.

A couple of men shifted aside the barricade enough for the doors to open, allowing Anton to slip out. There was nobody waiting outside. Good. He glanced back at the collected people. "Just wait here, ok? We'll take care of this." He was hoping he sounded confident, because right now, despite his success up to this point, he was still scared of failing and dooming all these people.

And with that, the doors slide closed.

Anton had managed to slip his way through the ship up onto the main deck. He had stayed in his human form, mainly to allow him to recover strength from his battle against Lestalt, but also to help him sneak by. A human was much easier to miss than a tall grasshopper man.

Keeping himself low, his eyes immediately spied the pirate ship. Large and grand in design (though not as big and grand as the Grand Maiden), from his position Anton could spot multiple cannons on one side alone. Anton was going to have his work cut out for him, especially if he as to disable them all. He also spied five men on deck, clearly keeping the line joining the two ships secured. He wasn't sure if it was because he beat their quartermaster, or if they always kept security this tight. Either way, in order o get onto the ship, Anton had to get past them. But how?

He glanced around, looking for something, ANYTHING, he could use against them. He hoped he could find something that wouldn't draw too much attention. The upper deck was fair open, giving the pirates a clear view. There was a barrel or two not far from where Anton was hiding. A small idea began to form in his mind as he looked up at the main mast.

As quickly and quietly as he could, he slipped into his hybrid form, and when the pirates weren't looking (they were fairly distracted with their conversation, thinking they had allot won), Anton slipped over and grabbed one of the barrels, before ducking behind the main mast. Using the mast as cover, he began to climb up the ropes, using two arms to hold himself up, while his second pair held onto the barrel.

A few moments later, one of the pirates would get a very nasty surprise, in the form of a barrel falling from above, crashing atop of him and knocking him over the edge of the ship. As he fell into the water below with a splash, a couple of the pirates looked over to where their comrade fell, while the rest looking up to see where the barrel came from. What they saw was a grasshopper man swinging down from a rope towards them, legs stretched out to the sides. Before they could react, Anton's long legs clotheslined the four remaining pirates as all five of them went over the edge.

Three of the four pirates fell into the water, while Anton and the last of them (one distinctly more muscular than the others), landed on the deck of the pirate ship. The pirate groaned as he started pulling himself to his feet. "What the...what the hell just happe-" He didn't get to finish as Anton kicked him from behind, knocking him off of the ship and into the water below. Without waiting to see the results, Anton quickly shifted into his human form and ducked behind some cover. He hoped that hadn't drawn anyone's attention.

Well, part one of the plan was complete. Anton was on the ship. Now he had to find those cannons and make sure this ship was anything but combat worthy.


4 T0 pirates defeated. 1 T1 pirate defeated.

Anton had remained in hiding for a couple of moments, making sure that his little entrance hadn't drawn anyone's attention. Thankfully, nobody had come on deck to investigate the noise, meaning he was either quiet enough, or that most of the pirates were aboard the Grand Maiden, causing havoc. He couldn't help but worry about the people on board. The longer this took, the more people were being injured or killed by those monsters. He didn't have any time to lose. Quietly slipping out from his hiding place, he slipped through one of the doors into the ship's interior.

The place was rather well designed, definitely fitting the aristocratic theme the crew was going for. But he didn't have time to admire the construction. He had to get to those cannons. He didn't know the full layout of the ship, but he had seen where the cannons were on the ship, and could make a rough guess as to where they were. He moved quietly through the halls, keeping an eye out for any pirates. Oddly enough, the place seemed rather empty. Were they seriously so confident in their victory that they had left their entire ship unguarded? As he approached the level which he believed the cannons were on, he reached for the door.

Only for it to open, revealing one of the pirates. The two stared at eachother in surprise, a sheepish smile appearing on Anton's face. "Erm, hello?" Thankfully for the marine, Anton was able to act first before the pirate could, swinging his sword up to slash the pirate before he could draw his weapon. While he was still reeling from the wound, Anton shoved his way through, bursting into the long room, lined with cannons on every side, and four other pirates in the room, all of them equally surprised to see him. Anton had to act fast, charging into the group, swinging his sword around wildly as he bullrushed into the nearest pirate, knocking the man to the floor. Looking up, another of the pirates was moving into to attack, bringing a large hammer up to strike. Anton yelped and quickly rolled to the side, the hammer striking the downed crewmate instead. Anton rolled along the ground, before coming to rest near a small pile of cannon balls. The pirates, now three, were advancing on him. Thinking fast, Anton grabbed one of the cannon balls, shifting into his hybrid form, much to the pirate's surprise. Bringing one of his legs back, Anton kicked out against the cannon ball, launching it like a projectile towards the largest of the pirates. Not expecting a cannonball to come flying at him, the pirate had no time to dodge before the iron missile struck him, knocking him flat. The remaining two pirates stared at their fallen comrade before looking back at Anton, whoch had gotten back to his feet and was looking at the cannonballs next to him.

Anton hadn't expected his legs to have gotten this strong, but they were, and now Anton had another means to wreck up the pirate's ship.


2 T0 Pirates defeated. 1 T1 Pirate defeated

6/15 T0 pirates defeated. 2/5 T1 Pirates defeated.

Pirates were charging towards the room where Anton was fighting for his life, only to dive back to avoid cannonballs being slung at them. Anton had stuck near the iron balls and was using his feet to launch them at them. Men were diving for cover as the cannonballs crashed into the wall, splintering the wood. Two of the pirates had been brought down, the rest hiding behind cannons and other forms of cover. Now Anton wasn't one who enjoyed being in a battle situation, but he couldn't help but feel like he was having some fun out of this. He made a mental note to learn some way to perfect this. Being able to launch cannonballs would be a very useful skill later in life.

He reached back for another cannonball, only to almost grab nothing but air. Anton looked back to find that his pile of ammunition had suddenly been reduced to one. Suddenly, all the fun in the situation had suddenly vanished as Anton realized he was one ball away from being ganged up on. The pirates were seeing this too, smirking wickedly as one moved to pick up a cannonball. He moved to the nearest cannon, turning it towards him and loading it, quickly lighting the fuse. Anton's eyes widened. He could withstand weak gunfire in this form, but a cannon shot was something else entirely.

Anton acted almost without thinking. Grabbing the last cannonball, he kicked it with all his might at the cannon. The ball slammed into the side of the barrel, managing to knock it off angle and no longer pointing at him. However, he did something else as well. The blow had put a small dent in the side of the barrel. Not a major one, but deep enough to prevent a certain cannonball from getting out. The other pirates realized this too as their eyes widened in shock.

Anton dove for the floor as suddenly the cannon fired and promptly backfire, the iron barrle breaking apart from the blast, scattering shrapnel everywhere and blowing a whole in the floor. Many of the pirates (five by Anton's count), that had been close to the cannon had been caught in the blast, throwing them all over the place where they now laid limp and unconcious. Thankfully, the shrapnel hadn't done any real harm to Anton, just damaged his coat. The marine slowly came to his feet as more pirates, clearly stunned by the blast, entered the room.

Anton reacted before thinking, suddenly barreling forward and tackling into the nearest pirate. The two went crashing to the floor, or rather, through the floor as the hole that had been blown by the cannon was directly behind him. The pair hit the floor hard, an audible crack coming from the pirate as something broke. Anton shook his head, quickly regaining his senses. He was on another level, more cannons lining the walls. Up above, he heard the pirates moving, running to get to where the invading marine was. Anton quickly climbed to hit feet, the fight no over yet.


6 T0 pirates defeated. 2 T1 pirates defeated

12/15 T0 pirates defeated. 4/5 T1 pirates remaining.

Anton was up and ready when the pirates burst in. As far as he could see, there were only four left. The cannon's explosion seemed to have worked more in his favour than he thought. Anton backed up, sword in hand as the four advanced on him. They weren't going to try anything with a cannon again, not after last time, though there was noticeably no pile of cannonballs for Anton to exploit this time. Instead, all but one of them rushed him at once, swords swinging. Anton was forced to keep backing up, sword to to try and deflect the strikes. Thankfully, there was too much in the way for them to move and flank him, resorting in them attacking him from the front. Unfortunately, the continuous strikes prevented Anton from striking back. He was continuously backed up further until he reached the back wall, his back hitting a door.

One of the pirates brought his sword up and swung. Cipher managed to dodge to the side, the sword burying itself in the wood. As the pirate struggled to pull his blade out, Anton lept forward, tackling one of the pirates to the floor and springing back to his feet, spinning around to face them. The three pirates turned to the marine, the first one managing to rip his sword out of the door, opening it in the process. As Anton prepared himself for another fight, the remaining pirate, who had remained back the whole time, pulled a small bomb out from under his jacket, lighting it and throwing it. Anton only just remembered his presence and managed to duck in time for the bomb to fly over his head.

Right through the open door.

Which led into a room full of gunpowder.

Everyone seemed to freeze for a moment, realizing what was happening. Anton was the first to react, shooting towards the bomber, grabbing him, and throwing him towards his companions. As the pirate fell in a heap, Anton kicked open the nearest cannon hole and slipped out. He only barely managed to get out in time before the bomb went off, igniting the barrels of gunpowder which trigger a massive explosion, rocking the ship. Anton had to hold on for dear life to prevent himself falling into the ocean below.

Once the explosion died down, Anton slowly began pulling himself up the side of the ship. His strengthened legs made climbing a little bit easier, and it wasn't long before he finally pulled himself up on deck. Slipping back into his human form, Anton fell to the deck, panting heavily. After all that, he was sure the Aristocrat Pirates were in no condition to fight should they force to retreat. Now all Anton had to do was get back onto the Grand Maiden, and drive the rest of them off.

"So, you're the one that's been causing us trouble."

...If only it were that easy.


15/15 T0 pirates defeated. 5/5 T1 pirates defeated.

[To be continued in "Lady in Waiting"]