A Rather Quick Resolution

"Captain?!" A man cowered under the sight, his spyglass shaking in dread while his legs tried keeping up his shaken will. "I-It's turning around!" The word 'marine' was stitched on the top of his white cap. Many more of the same uniform were shocked at the news down from where

"So it's true. A flaming ship with night-like sails has set itself on the sea, we need to call the other branches and warn them. Turn us around, let the wind do our work, adjust sails!"

A man by his side salutes before addressing him. "Captain Kurr, should we signal to the other ship?"

"Yes, make them do the same. Our brigs are faster, the report says the ship doesn't have any staysails and only square sails. We are faster than them, we only came here to confirm its validity and we have finished that objective."

"Yes sir!"

Their ships turned but it was a slow process, it couldn't do a straight 180 and it needed to take into account the direction of the wind and constantly assess how much to adjust, it was more of a long u-turn than spinning to the direction opposite to the front.

Although, the marines hadn't accounted for another aspect of the ship they had sought.

Not even 30 minutes had passed and already they could see something off about the way their captain assumed the Reaper ship. One man certainly had a good time seeing the galleon somehow getting closer than before.

"Sir, t-t-the ship!" A panicked mariner yells. "It's gaining on us!"

"What?! Impossible!" The captain of the marine vessel takes away a spyglass from a nearby mate and extends it only for the lens to show how close the galleon was becoming. The sails filled his sight. "Don't worry, they still are out of range-"

"Sir! Cannons-" A marine tried to warn before the sounds of chains flying through the air. From a distance even if they were far, they weren't far enough.

Pair of balls linked with chains ripped through the air, swinging as it got closer to the rigging. The marines could do nothing as they watched it rip apart the ropes and part of the side of the pillar making up the rear sail.

"The rear mast, don't let it fall!" The captain yelled in vain, but the panic wasn't stopped. Despite the thinking they were far, cannon fire found its way to them with deadly accuracy.

Chaser cannons were pouring more shots from the Eviction, with one of Karma's crew manning one of them, who had a grin and a flick from his cat ears.

From the two ships locked in a conflict lasting extending minutes, its battle was more of a chase, the crew panicking to try and keep the sails up.

The rigging was falling apart, slowing them down even more as the ship was close enough for men on each side to shout and hear each other. What came next was expected.

The Eviction sharply showed its side.

"How?!" The captain yelled in horror, some of his men were already desperately trying to keep the masts functional. "It's a galleon, how is it possible for them to be that fast at manoeuvring!"

"Sir! They're going to broadside! What do we do?!"

"I- I don't… we-"

Even if it was only 5 cannons on each side, cannons unleashed repeated salvos but oddly, they weren't firing normal cannonballs. It was all chain shots.

"Brace!" the men yelled.

The cannons fired, a few missed but eventually two, then three, then four had hit their mark. The rigging was completely destroyed and men screamed as stray shots took them along to the sea, either crushing their bodies along the path of the projectile or shrapnel entering their eyes from all the wood that was being cut down.

The accompanying brig couldn't believe it, one moment they were a sizeable distance, but now they could only stand and watch when the assumed cursed ship was immobilizing its allies.

"Shit… fuck! What happened to Captain Kurr?"

Captain of the second brig, once a proud marine and now hopeless in front of such an adversary. They underestimated how fast the galleon could be. He was in denial, asking obvious questions, telling himself in his mind that it was all okay.

He was so wrong.

The galleon sped by, almost ignoring the disabled ship but without another explanation as to what was happening, the disabled brig somehow followed despite its sails being totally unusable.

"Quick! We need to gain speed! Throw the cannons overboard!"

The men were confused but followed, the trailing flame of a ship's bow made them ignore their doubts about the captain's command.

It was all in vain since even before they could even untie the cannons from the top deck. The captain stopped their actions. "This whole thing is… useless."

"...Captain?"

"Prepare to fight for your lives! We're turning and facing them at the port side! We cannot escape from them this is our only chance!"

The marines switched their actions, making the sails go up to avoid getting swept by the wind, manipulating it to the point they could try a broadside.

"Sir! It's… veering off!"

"..." The captain couldn't believe it, the ship that was hunting them had turned so fast. No ship could be that quick in changes, not only that, they were now finally realizing something important. "There's no one working their sails…"

The Eviction forced itself to move, the coordinated amount of ropes and cloth constantly adjusting without any men needed, making it known that the marines were regretting trying to even investigate whether the claim of a ghost ship was true.

Two brigs for a single plausible existence of a ship was almost a joke at the time. The captains and marines complained that it would be better to use them elsewhere. They weren't laughing at the suggestion to have sent out more ships anymore.

The previous marine ship was getting dragged by an unknown force, following by but stopping before the Eviction halted close, the ropes that were on the yards swung and a man was on it and landed on the enemy ship.

"Hello there," Karma announces.

"Shoot-"

Ropes from the rigging whipped and jolted away from the arms of the marines. Each marine had to run from their own rigging as the entire ship came to life. Each rope tangled more, the thicker ones slamming into the poor men.

Tied and restrained, the entire ship had chaos overwhelm them, the vessel had its own movement, almost like it was possessed. The marines screamed and tried shooting the man who came aboard only for a rope to strangle them and lift them to the air where more marines were being carried.

The captain tries reaching for his sword despite most of his mind telling him not to.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, one move and I will snap the necks or hang your men up high. It was troublesome to try and waste more chain shots so I was surprised you tried turning to fight. Admirable of you, but unfortunately, it was me you were chasing."

The ship gets positioned to the side, the other one had pretty much the same thing going for them. Multiple people were wrapped in their own ropes, it was scarily fast how it had been captured so easily.

Karma stepped closer as more of his own crew come aboard and started taking everything in the ship; cannons, cannonballs, ammunition for pistols, weapons from the marines even the food and water. Everything would be taken.

The Eviction was parallel to the second marine ship while the first one was still afloat 50 meters away to the other side. Xed crossed the small gap between the two opposing ships as he looked around and whistled. "Wow, Karma. That was fast, the initial chase was long but you'd taken care of the crews of both ships."

"They couldn't escape, while they needed the wind, our ship used both itself and the strong gale to move. Xed, while you're here, take charge of gathering everything. I'm going to the other ship and getting it here. We'll sink the other one and let this one float."

"Huh? Why?"

"You know how I asked you to shoot chains instead of normal cannonballs? We want their stuff to be taken, preferably not sunken in the ocean. Also… this ship tried to fight back instead of running. Still, they picked a fight and ran as soon as they saw us turn to them. I'm sinking the first one for that."

"No!" The captain of the marine ship protested. Seeing his distress showing itself on the only man left not tied or subdued.

"Pray and tell why? You are marines who came to us, what will happen next is all a product of your actions. This is just a consequence."

The captain, unlike the rest of his crew, still stood but couldn't move at the sight. "I'll kill you before that happens!"

Perhaps overcome by liquid courage from his crew being threatened sent him to a fanatical bravery. Karma laughed. "Haha! I seek those who are not afraid to fight for what they believe in, no matter what that may be. Time is running out and I have to cut this conversation between enemies. You will be answering my questions, if not, I will count upwards from one and each time I do, your men will die corresponding to the number I have said."

"What-"

"First, what branches are you two from? Who sent you and how did you know where we are?"

"I can't say that-"

"One."

A marine from the crow's nest screams, his body coiled under the pressure as the rope holding him smashes him to the deck.

"No! Stop! We're the 93rd and 49th branches respectively! We're under the command of commodore Murphy Monsoon of the 10th! At first, it was relayed from our smaller bases nearby that a ghost ship was sighted!"

"Keep talking."

"It first was from some elderly person and the mayor from the island of Tallan and eventually more calls came in that they spotted you! We sent it up to the commodore and tasked four of us to scout the ship!"

"But you convinced him to only send you two. Now, why would a commodore bother himself with something like hearsay about a ghost ship? I find it hard to believe your story…"

"I- I don't know anything about why-"

"Two-"

"Wait! We really don't know why he would send that many! It might be because you were reported to have been a galleon!"

"Hmm…" Karma has gotten enough for now. It was worthless seeking out more, at least they'd know that the old man who was next to the mayor was at least one that told the marines where they were.

Karma lets the captain slacken his shoulders in relief as Karma nodded before leaning in towards Xed and whispering. "I'll get going, tell Larc and Krys we need to continue our talk before we got interrupted."

The Eviction started lending out ropes on its own, Karma used them to swing back before moving his ship to the other disabled and more wrecked vessel.

"Looks like you all stayed put…" Karma then had to do a double take as the ropes that held the captain were loosened. 'So my bluff that my ropes were going to kill them when they moved didn't work on the captain. It was wise of him to not let his marines try it though. Still, I warned him.'

Karma walked the deck of the ship, his footsteps echoing from the wooden floorboard as he tried opening the door to the captain's quarters of the marine vessel. Winding his arm back, he punched and the door flew off the hinges as he saw the scene in front of him.

The captain was huddled in the corner with a sabre and pistol. A transponder snail's receiver was still hanging off the desk and Karma assumed what he did.

Karma got closer, knowing well he could easily fling the pistol away when he saw even the trigger move. "You know your crew would have been in danger. Why escape and condemn them to their doom?"

"Filthy pirate! You have no right to blame their peril on me!"

"…When you signed up for fighting marines, you signed your life to potential death. You sail the seas knowing if death came, you would embrace it. But when you showed your intentions by pursuing us, you turned around and fled. Why?"

"We were only supposed to see if the report was correct!" His finger moved and he tried to shoot, his wrist broke and he screamed soon after. "Argh!! Why you-"

Karma charged and kicked the distracted man straight in the knee, dislocating it as he hefted the man by the collar and stared into his eyes.

"Listen well, I thought you joined the marines to fight pirates? I understand survival of the fittest but when the supposed self-proclaimed protector of the seas chases a pirate and immediately changes direction to avoid combat, you aren't really protectors, are you? Shameful! You will sink with your ship, the seas may still have respect for you if you do so!"

When Karma was taking control of the marine brigs, the first one had been looted later than the second. Tying the captain of the wrecked brig, Karma waited as Larc and Xed brought out gunpowder barrels, one was placed at the bottom hull and the other was broken open and spread through the upper decks, a trail leading to the last one.

"Xed, did you make sure to take everything?" Karma stood at the starboard side with his friend to his left, Xed nodded while observing the crew in their ship transferring and reorganizing everything, more so on the cannons they had stolen, a good 22 in total with the same calibre as the ones they took from the sloop.

"Aye! Krys has made a list as well. Also, she's concerned that we have to kill so many people."

"Xed, tell her this isn't a modern nation. Values and morals from our world do not carry over to another universe. Killing is a natural part of it, we can't be soft knowing that others will do the same to us if given the chance. In that matter, I will let you shoot the firebomb."

Karma took out a firebomb case and settled it nearby, tossing one out to his friend as his eyes sparkled. It was like their days in the Sea of Thieves all over again, despite it being only half a day between being isekai'd and setting sail.

"Really?! Hell yeah! I heard some of the marines murmuring about me earlier!" Xed took the bomb and placed it inside the cannon before adjusting his aim. They were taller than the brig so it made sense for him to just aim a bit lower.

"Hehe…" Xed inhaled deeply, preparing to scream the most profound and wise words he always says during the first sink of every session. "You ******* *******! Thought you could beat us just because you're all *******, too bad you might as well have gone back to ******* for being so ******* because of you *******!"

Xed finally started yelling racial slurs.

He fires the cannon after a few more seconds of incoherent toxic behaviour, the fire lit the deck, and the tangled crew was now panicking. Many were in the heat, crying or staring in shock.

The gunpowder lit and a small chain of explosions resounded. In the end, an encore had come in the form of the entire ship's lower hull blasting out and rippling the waves. The gunpowder barrel had served its worth, sending the brig filling with holes and the crew stuck in the cold waters.

"Phew!" Xed exclaimed. "That was a nice explosion. Are you sure it's fine not sinking the other one?"

"I believe this will be better, let him rescue what remains of the crew. We set sail for the next island!"