Land

"Captain, the men have spotted land!"

"This is great news Masatane! Are we truly going to survive?" The Captain's eyes that were once dead had a spark of life return.

"Before you get my hopes up is there vegetation?" The Captain knew that their situation was dire. A barren island would only mean death for him and his crew. They had only planned on being out to sea for 10 days at most.

No change in mood could be seen on his crew members' face this already gave the captain relief. "Yes sir, Not only is there vegetation but birds have been landing on the ship"

Hope, something the captain had not been able to muster since the navy showed up to trap them after raiding a merchant's vessel. The merchant vessel undoubtedly was there to lure them in. The gold it was carrying turned out to be fake. Only heavy iron painted gold. The marines must have planned to slow his ship down. If not for the storm they would most likely be in cuffs heading to the gallows. This proved to be a blessing and a curse as they ran out of food. Left unable to eat they have been frantically searching for food.

"good good haha make way then Masatane. It's time for us to get our fill." The captain was truly happy that his crew will be able to survive. It has been a rough 4 weeks on the open seas. When the food first started running out a lot of fights broke out. Less than half his crew remains and not due to the marines but to infighting. The remaining crew feels like brothers. They all started as just a band of criminals who decided to make a pirate crew. Now they are like family.

Walking out to the deck the captain could be seen moving slow and lethargically. His once youthful appearance was now disheveled. "Helmsman." He called out.

Meeting the call an equally dirty and ragged man showed up."Yes, captain."

"Do you know of this Island? To my knowledge, the next Island should not have been so close. We expected 3-4 more days on the water where did this island come from?"

Joy sprung up on the helmsman's face for a brief moment. He only allowed himself short moments of excitement. It has been mostly a depressing time on this ship and starving has taken a toll on his mental health. "We first thought our ship had been blown 30 miles east. Now we believe it was west instead. Leading us to this island. If we are right and we are west instead of east then this is a remote island that has no name shown here."

Reading the map the helmsman brought out there was indeed a no-name island on the map. "SUPERB!" The captain felt like it was fate that lead him to this island. Somebody was protecting them.

"Bring the ship to the island. Once we have our fill we will be careening the ship. This is the perfect place." Being able to plan past just getting food was great for the mind. (careening: cleaning the underside of the ship. Usually to remove barnacles.)

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Landing ashore the captain told his crew to fan out and resupply. Some holding barrels that stored their water. Admiring the Island it was perfect for what he needed. Remote and full of supplies.

Hours passed and his crew could be seen returning with big smiles on their faces. The island was plentiful considering he could see some of his men carrying not only animals but fruits such as bananas.

The crew stacked everything into a pile waiting for their captain's go-ahead to begin eating. While they were criminals they still had a hierarchy. Undoubtedly they would not disrespect somebody who could kill them with a wave of the sword. He was the captain for a reason. "Eat eat."

Nobody was polite they all started to devour the food in front of them. The only outlier was his first mate Masatane. "Masatane why don't you eat? Get over here and get something before it is all gone. We all need our strength." With a jovial tone, the captain finally felt like things were on the up.

After being called Masatane started to move towards him. The captain felt a bit weird about his first mate for some reason. While most of his men him included had been looking at the pile with greed, not Masatane. Chalking it up to him just being starved and out of it, he pulled him onto the sand alongside him. "Take this Masatane I know you are starving like the rest of us no need to be polite."

"Very generous captain I will get my fill." If the captain paid more attention he could have seen the glint of murder in his first mate's eyes. Unaware of the danger the captain also started to pig out.

"Hmm, what are you doing Masatane?" interrupted by a hand on the back of his neck he was confused.

"Oh, just this." Said Masatane

*Crack

And just like that, the captain fell over lifeless. The look of confusion was still plastered on his face. The crew seeing the interaction was freaking out. "What have you done Masatane after all we have been through?" Nobody could believe that Masatane would do this to their captain, hell they were friends before they were all starving together.

Masatane broke out in a laughing fit. " 2 years I have been trying to get somebody to land on my island you can imagine how frustrated I am."

All their faces changed. They realized that either he is crazy or not the Masatane they know. "So what you are just going to kill us all now Masatane?" Knowing that their first mate is not that stronger than a regular crew member they started to grab their weapons.

"I would not do that if I was you." Calm and collected Masatane seemed to not care about them.

"And why not huh? You think we are scared of you?" Cheers erupted from the other crew members in agreement.

"Because before I ate poor little Masatane he told me about all of you. Murder, rape, and a horde of other crimes you are all my favorite people. The only problem for me is that I can barely hold back. How I would love to eat all of you leg by leg arm by arm. Unfortunately, I need you alive and if you push me too far I will kill all of you and wait for the next ship." Delivering that speech the crew was mystified.

What the hell had happened to their first mate? Where did he get this confidence? Why is he now spouting nonsense about eating people? All these questions started rotating in their minds.

"Maybe it would help if Changed back." said Masatane. They could not believe their ears. How crazy could somebody become after only a few hours on an island?

Horror is the only way to describe what happened next. The Masatane they knew started to change it was fast but creepy. The scrawny first mate was now forming into a massive fox.

"....."