Neverland

The ship dropped from the sky into the ocean with a huge splash. Ariel immediately dived into the water. For the past hour, she had been clinging onto the ship in her human form, and despite her best efforts, it had been getting really uncomfortable.

As she sank beneath the waves of 'Neverland', she noticed something. The water here was different from the water back home, and not just because these waters weren't polluted with poison and dark magic. The seawater here was something else entirely. When Ariel closed her eyes, she could almost feel the tingling sensation of magic.

She had spent the past hour pressing up her ear against the hull of the pirate ship, and this was what she knew so far:

Captain Hook, a man who had earned that name thanks to the hook he wore in place of his hand on his left arm, was one of the most infamous pirates in all the lands. He traveled to different realms often, but his real home was located here, in Neverland. Apparently he had an obsession with dark artifacts, and he had been collecting them and storing them here. He also had an ongoing war with someone the pirates referred to as 'the boy'. According to the conversations Ariel had eavesdropped on, 'the boy' refused to let Hook store his dark magic on Neverland. The pirates called their enemy 'the boy', but the way they talked about him, one would think that this boy was over a century old.

After swimming around for a while, Ariel reappeared at the surface of the ocean. She had just spent a very long time listening to how Hook was a cruel and selfish human, meaning there was probably no chance the pirate would just hand over the weapon that could overthrow Ursula. And even if there was a chance of him being helpful, Ariel was hesitant to risk it. Her las encounter with a male human hadn't gone so well. She had ended up losing her voice, her father, and the trust of all the merpeople of Atlantis.

So, she decided to wait until all the pirates were off the ship. From there, she would locate the weapon on Hook's ship, take it, and try to find a way to leave this realm. How did she know the weapon was on the ship and not somewhere else? She didn't. But if it really was a weapon of so much power, Ariel doubted Hook would be keeping it somewhere on the island, where 'the boy' could easily find it and get rid of.

The ship docked itself near the beach on the island called Neverland. Ariel hid underneath the boat, just in case. As she breathed in the strange water of the ocean, she saw something that made her eyes widen.

Mermaids. There were other mermaids, here, in Neverland. Curious and excited, Ariel began to swim towards the three mermaids that were playing near the surface of the sea, when something- a harpoon- came flying out of nowhere and scraped the tail of one of the mermaids. The three of them fled, and Ariel could hear the pirates laughing in amusement.

Ariel had definitely made the right choice on not directly confronting Hook.

Soon, the pirates were all off the ship. Ariel rose to the surface of the ocean and changed herself into human form. After a couple minutes of groaning and sweating, Ariel climbed aboard the ship's top deck. She held the edge of the ship as to not fall down, and quickly began making her way up towards the captain's cabin. She knew from her short time aboard Eric's ship that the most important stuff were always located in the captain's cabin, the room right behind the steering wheel.

Ariel hobbled up the stairs, and entered the cabin. She looked around and gasped. So many mysterious objects lined the walls. Some of the objects, Ariel recognized. Like the pendant that rested in a case- it was full of magical squid ink. And the staff by the wall- with the right ingredients attached to it, it could control the weather.

Ariel held up her turquoise gemstone. It shined so brightly Ariel had to close her eyes. The weapons was definitely here, there was no doubt about it. She was about to hold it up again to try and locate the weapon, when she felt the side of a steel blade press up against her throat.

"Well, well, well," a voice spoke maliciously. "What do we have here?"

Slowly, very slowly, Ariel turned around. A very sharp blade was being held at her throat- and the man holding it was none other than- "Captain Hook," the man introduced himself.