Mashiro Hiro - Act 2.01: The Start Of Hiro's Journey! First Pirate Encounter!

People nowadays look up and ask 'What is beyond that sky?'. However, back then, people look at the waters that separate their lands from the rest of the world and wonder: What mysteries lie in the forever-stretching sea?

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Mashiro Hiro never rode a ship before... but if he could tell his family what it felt like as he traveled to Bonjouraux with his party, he would say... it was unexpectedly... boring. There was nothing but sea around them and ships are very limited in space. There are no video games, manga, or any actually interesting books to quell boredom so all the party could do was play cards. "I win!" Maiko placed her last card onto the table while Luge slammed it down.

"Again."

Maiko snickered, calling Luge a loser.

"Again? We've been playing this for two days straight. I'm getting bored now," Hiro disagreed with Luge

"Well, there is nothing else, so we have no choice."

"I am going out. I'm bored," Maiko yawned and stood up to leave for the deck.

"Me too," Hiro found his excuse to leave.

"Hey! Wait! Don't leave me alone! Fine! I'll play by myself!"

====On the deck====

Hiro found Maiko staring out into sea with her red hair flowing in the wind. "Man... she always stuns me..."

"Oh... Hiro... you're here," Maiko noticed Hiro taking his place beside her.

The sea breeze felt comfortable and Hiro's heart lightened as if the breeze snatched the burdens as it fanned him. The sun had just rose, giving the sky a lovely azure color. Suddenly, Hiro heard a sniffle from his side; Maiko wiped away some stray tears that had fallen. "Maiko! What's wrong!?"

"Nah," Maiko wiped some more tears away, "Just thinking about how much Yuko would love this if he was here... He had always wanted to be a pirate if he ever travels to a world like Omnipossibilia. The sea is incredible, he said..."

"Him again..." Hiro's mind gritted its teeth.

"Did you... still like your brother...? That way... I mean..."

Silence. Hiro began to panic; did he say something wrong?

"Yeah... Although I tried to forget it... I just can't..." Maiko's tears began to fall more frequently.

Hiro wanted to hug her, but couldn't; Maiko would surely punch him. All he could do was try to cheer her up... no matter how much it pains his heart. "Well, you two are not biological siblings so I am pretty sure one day, Yuko would see you the same way as you see him."

"Thanks... for trying to cheer me up..."

"No prob. Just doing what any friend should do..."

Just as they were about to go back to the peaceful humming of the sea...

"PIRATES! PORTSIDE!" one of the ship's crewmates started screaming which was followed by the booming of cannons.

Pillars of water shot out of the sea as the cannonballs missed their target. "Crap! Pirates! Awesome! I can finally fight!" Hiro called out the Orb of Benevolence; he had been training for this day.

"What is going on here!?" Luge had finally reached the deck.

"Pirates. You're right, Luge. We are going to meet pirates."

"Pirates!?" another volley of cannonballs attacked the ship, this time scraping the port of the ship.

"Okay! Hiro! You and I are flying to the pirates' ship. Maiko! You deal with the cannonballs!"

"Wait... how am I going to deal with the cannonballs!?"

"I don't know! Punch it!?" Luge began dashing through the air while Hiro flew there, leaving Maiko totally clueless on what she should do.

"Shield!" A transparent hollow sphere surrounded Hiro and bullets bounced off it.

"Ooo, quite decent! Now, for a Fireball!" Hiro threw a ball of blue fire at the ship, "And EXPLOSION!"

A large hole formed on the deck and some of the pirates jumped overboard to escape the impending carnage. Luge had just arrived. "KILL HIM!" the pirates surrounded the lone prince who smiled.

"Crow Style! Swan Dance!" a blizzard of slashes came down on the pirates and foam of blood fogged Luge's vision for a while.

Just then... "What do we gotta here?" a pirate holding two swords licked his lips.

"Let's just deal with them fast and we can take that ship," another pirate appeared with a spiked mace tied to a steel chain.

"Yeah yeah. Let's go-"

"Rock fist!" Hiro punched the sword-wielding pirate with his hand that was covered in rock.

"You bastar-" the other pirate was immediately defeated with a rain of slashes.

Hiro and Luge peered at the carnage they had brought with them. "Are those two supposed to be elites?" Hiro yawned, "'Cause everyone here is easy to deal with."

"Probably just some ragtag team of pirates. Nothing compared to the Devil Pirates and that might be an overstatement too," Luge sighed in disappointment, "Let's go back. I am pretty sure the cannon fire has stopped due to the commotion we caused here."

"Where d'ya think you're going?" a low voice sounded behind Hiro and Luge.

Hiro and Luge looked back at a buff man with wide shoulders and wearing the stereotypical pirate attire with a drawing of a skull plagued with barnacles and crossbones embroidered into his hat. "I AM CAPTAIN BARNACLES! AND I WILL KILL-" He was immediately dispatched.

"You should have stayed quiet," Hiro tipped the unconscious pirate before suddenly changing his mood, "I have always wanted to say that."

"Whatever... let's go back. This really has been a waste of time."

"Yeah... let's go."

"I told you..." a shadow loomed over the two, "YOU'RE. NOT. GOING. ANYWHERE!"

Hiro and Luge managed to dodge before the supposedly unconscious captain gave the deck another hole with his fists. "Oh... looks like he's still alive," Hiro looked at Luge, "Let me deal with this guy."

"Sure."

"ARE. YOU. MOCKING. ME!?" another slam on the deck, "I. WILL. KILL. YOU!"

Hiro effortlessly dodged the pirate captain's blows as some conscious crew members cheered him on. Finally, Hiro had enough and caught the fist of the pirate captain. "That's enough playing around..." Hiro noticed the captain smiling and the crew members calling him an idiot.

"Something's wrong..." Hiro tried to pull his hand away, but he couldn't; he was stuck!?

"WONDERING WHY YOU CAN'T MOVE!?" the captain jeered, "MY BODY SECRETES A FAST-CURING CEMENT THAT IS USUALLY SECRETED BY BARNACLES! THUS MY NAME!

"NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO!" the captain readied a fist behind him, "YOU CAN'T ESCAPE MY GRIP ONCE IT HOLDS ONTO YOU! I CAN RELEASE YOU. WHEN YOU'RE DEAD! HAHAHAHA!"

The fist smashed onto Hiro's shield, eventually breaking it and smashing Hiro's jaw. Hiro tried to move away from the fist, but his cheeks were stuck as well. The captain smashed Hiro's head on the deck, creating a hole. Another smash and another. Hiro was using his shield, but he needed to escape soon. "OI! Do you need my help?" Hiro heard an uncaring Luge call out to him.

"Fuck you!"

"No, then..."

Hiro suddenly got an idea. "Basically, the captain sticks to me, right?" Hiro smiled and chanted, "Fire Armor!"

Flames sprouted from Hiro's body and the captain eventually began to feel the pain. "AAAAH! IT BURNS!" the captain released his hold on Hiro's body to tend to his burned hands.

When he tried to return to the battle, however, it was already too late; Hiro flew to the top of the ship and a blue fireball slowly grew in his hand 'til it covered half of the ship. "SHIIIT!"

"Azure Meteor!" Hiro threw down the fireball at the captain and steam burst out of the split ship. Luge cursed as he tried to make a break for it as pirates tried to grab hold of something that was not burned.

When the steam cleared, the ship had already been sinking and Hiro stood in the air. "Let's go-" Hiro suddenly felt himself falling and before he could scream, he was already in the water.

Hiro panted as he tried to keep himself afloat. "Damn, I'm out of mana! And almost out of stamina as well!"

"Luge! Help!"

"No thanks," Luge snickered.

"That bastard..." Hiro's thoughts fumed.

"You shouldn't stay in one place for too long," Luge teased, "I heard that there's a giant sturgeon that eats the survivors of sunken ships around here."

"Huh!?" Hiro suddenly felt something ominous from underneath the water and turned back to see a giant mouth filled with teeth appear from the waves.

"FUUUUUUUUUUCK!" Hiro swam for his life despite his near-exhausted state as the giant mouth of a Grand Farlands sturgeon chased him.

"HAHAHAHAHA! That's what you get for being rude to me!" (=> recalling when Luge asked Hiro if he needed help when he was in a tough situation with Captain Barnacles!)

Luge continued laughing at the desperate Hiro until he felt a strong force shoot him down from his safe nest in the sky and into the water. Luge turned towards the source which was a cannon manned by no other than gunpowder-covered Maiko! "That's for leaving me to deal with the cannonballs!"

"Hey! Get me up there!" Luge heard Hiro's screaming laugh getting louder and Luge's eyes opened wide.

"DON'T BRING IT TO ME, YOU IDIOT!" Luge joined Hiro as they swam for their lives from a giant sturgeon.

They were eventually saved after the crew members managed to chase away the sturgeon with cannonballs and bullets. "Y-y-y-you b-b-b-b-astard..." Luge stuttered as he shivered underneath his towel along with Hiro who was in a similar state.

"Farlands is spotted 950 meters off the starboard bow!" one of the scouts announced.

"A-a-a-already? Th-th-th-that's w-w-w-weird..." Luge stuttered, "W-w-w-we just met pirates j-j-j-just an hour a-a-a-ago. S-s-s-something's wr-wr-wr-wrong here. The N-n-n-navy should have d-d-d-dealt with the pi-pi-pi-pirates before we ar-ar-ar-arrive there."

The Hero's party approached Farlands... However, when they arrived... they were greeted not by cheering people, but by the corpses of soldiers and a white quadrupedal corpse. "Glitches!"

======= TO BE CONTINUED =======