CH - 13 [ Bear island ] part - 1

There was so much to do and Halcen had little ability to do it all at once.

Jory and Loyola needed medical attention. Since there was no actual doctor aboard, they needed to perform some first aid themselves. Luckily, Halcen, Grey, and Valentina were all perfectly qualified to perform these tasks. Being that Halcen had not had the chance to clean himself up yet, he asked that Grey take care of it while Valentina took care of getting them moving. Loyola had a pretty severe cut across her right leg, so she was going to be off her feet for a few days. And since Jory was very badly banged up all over, he was going to need almost a week before he was ready to anything. Halcen realized that without an actual doctor, treatment was going to be very basic. We're going to need a real doctor soon if we're going to be pirates.

Next, he, Grey, and the Marines had to clean up the mess of from all the dead bodies lying around the ship. Jory had killed a couple down below deck so it wasn't going to be as easy as spraying it off with sea water. They had to actually scrub the blood away. The bodies were quite hellish to actually get off the deck themselves. Halcen didn't want to toss them all overboard one by one for fear of somebody tracking them, so they had to make it all happen in one go. They finally managed to tie them all together in a giant ball of gore, and dumped it into the ocean over the edge of the Black Tail. It was one of the more disturbing things they would have to deal with.

Finally, Halcen desperately needed a shower. He was in a bad way. He had fought Anosmia, the sewage logia captain of the Anosmic Pirates. The raw spew had gotten the all over him, his clothes included. Knowing full well he wouldn't be able to get them clean, Halcen tossed his clothes overboard as well. But he himself was finally able to clean off with laborious scrubbing. At least that bastard is dead, was all he could think to himself, over and over. Finally, the smell subsided, and Halcen was sure that he was ready to move on with the rest of the day.

He went back up to the deck in his fresh clothes to get an in-depth damage report. "So how are we doing?" he asked Bailu.

The elderly man was ready with some not so great news. "Well, good news!"

"What's that?"

"I was right about you."

"Oh?" Halcen felt a little flattered. "How so?"

"You're nothing but trouble," Bailu stated flatly.

"Oh," Halcen's face flattened.

"When Pad told me I'd be working for a pirate Max owed, I knew this was gonna be bad. And I was right. We've only been out from port a little more than a week and you've already gotten us into trouble, and the ship is screwed."

"How bad?"

"There are the two giant holes in the starboard side of the ship."

"Are we gonna be okay?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," he answered sarcastically, "you know, unless a storm hits. In that case, we might sink. The damn thing's gonna blow open if any excess pressure get put on it, then we're gonna fill with water and run aground. "

Halcen gulped. "So we need to find somewhere to anchor where you can work on the ship?"

"And fast too!" Valentina shouted from the helm. "Look up ahead!"

Halcen turned to look at the sky they were heading toward. The clouds were thickening and grey. Halcen knew this was bad news. They had just been in a fight that damaged their ship, and right off the bat there was another problem. Just one thing after another. "Alright… Valentina! Are there any islands near that we can anchor in? We need to get this patched up right away!"

"There's one a ways off. It's not on the map, but it should be enough for us to at least settle until the storm passes. It'll be tough finding a landing spot since we don't know if it even has a port. Plus, the storm's coming from the same direction, so we're gonna get caught at least a little in it!"

"That's fine. Just find us a way through it! We can't be out here susceptible to the elements."

And so Halcen and Grey helped Valentina run the ship through the storm. Since Jory and Loyola were injured, the two had to fill in for them. And the storm picked up quickly. After only a half hour, the waves were pushing the Black Tail all about. But they had to continue on to the island anyway. The lightning flashed and thunder cackled. This storm wasn't horrible, but it was enough to worry Halcen about the amount of water they were taking on.

Thankfully, after about an hour, they had made it to the island. It was relatively large for an island that wasn't on the map. Most of it seemed to be forestry and hills though. Valentina eventually found them a nice place to anchor the ship only a hundred feet off the shore. The storm could do all the howling it wanted to at that point. They were too close to shore to take the damage seriously. Halcen and the crew batted down for the night until the storm finally subsided.

When the sun finally came up, it was covered by still cloudy skies. The whipping winds and pouring rain had finally died, but the clouds were still there, throwing grey over the whole day. The crew of the Chaos Pirates awoke from their slumbers to take a report of their new situation.

Bailu went over the ship, cussing and shouting. The ship had taken on some extra water and the holes had been opened a bit more than they already were. Sailing on open water was now out of the question.

Grey and Valentina went ashore to take a look around the island. They were gone for the most of the morning, but eventually came back to report. The forest went on for a quite a while, but there was a small town on the far side of the island. They had been able to spot it from a ridge. It looked to have a small port, but it didn't look like it was equipped to handle large ships. "We might be able to squeeze in there though."

While everyone else was busy, Halcen went to talk to the Marine snipers. They had gone back to their room that Halcen had used as a temporary brig. But it hadn't been locked and they were no longer bound in rope like hostages. They were just sitting there, waiting.

"Guys," Halcen said, nodding as he walked in.

They were sitting, waiting for something. Maybe this. The darker-skinned one looked to Halcen. "Halcen." He nodded back.

"Can we help you?" The other asked, a bit jagged.

"I wanted to say thank you. You guys really saved our asses."

"We didn't have much of a choice."

"I guess maybe not, but still… You did us a service. You didn't let any of my crew die. I appreciate that."

The dark one nodded.

"Have you had any time to think about my offer?"

"We did," the short one responded. "We can't help you find Reluji for many reasons, the most prominent is that we don't know where he is."

"You don't? Seriously?"

"Only the officers are given the important information. What they choose to share with us is up to them. We're only Chief Petty Officers. Means we're not actual officers."

"So you two have no information you can help me with?"

"No. But we also wouldn't if we did. We still want to figure out a way back into the Navy."

"Really? After all that?"

"Yeah. It's where we belong. But we were hoping you would help us."

"Help you?"

"Well… at least take us to Loguetown with you. There, we can hop off and find someone to talk to. Reluji will probably have already besmirched our names, but the way we figure it, we'll be able to deal with whatever punishment they throw our way. It'll be easier on our families if we do."

"So you just want to ride with us to Loguetown?"

"And then we'll separate. At least… as long as we're not still prisoners."

"No… you guys paid your debt. You can go about the ship, and whatever else you want to do. When we do get to Loguetown, you guys can head out. And I'll say thank you once more when we get there. I will ask that you help out around the ship now though, seeing as how Loyola and Jory are in recovery."

"That we can do."

"I'm also gonna need your names."

And for the first time, the snipers realized they hadn't given their names at any point; an attempt to keep their families and friends safe. But they were beginning to trust Halcen.

The dark skinned one looked to Halcen. "I'm Bosopp." He extended his hand to Halcen.

Halcen shook the Marine's hand gratefully. "Bosopp? That's interesting."

"It's a family thing," he said, almost a little embarrassed. He shook his head. "Just call me Bo."

"Sounds good."

"And I'm Kazuki," said the other Marine, holding his hand out.