The daughter of Davy Jones and the remaining members of her crew were on the run.
They had taken a small vessel a captured vessel, stolen from the navy, its sails still bearing the British emblem and began to ride it on the tides. The waves were violent, unpredictable, alive. They crashed against the hull, spraying salt water across the deck, soaking the survivors, testing their resolve.
The navy fleet continued to fire cannonballs at the ship.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Iron rained from the sky screaming through the air, splashing into the water, exploding around them. But Davina's crew was skilled. They had been born on the sea, raised on the sea, killed on the sea. They evaded each shot twisting the wheel, trimming the sails, dancing through the chaos.
Davina came out of where she had hidden within the ship.
Her pink coat was torn. Her face was cut. Her eyes were wild. She looked at the fleet behind them at the dozens of ships still pursuing them, at the cannons still firing, at the death still chasing them and made a decision.
"This will not do." Her voice was sharp, determined, cold. "If we are to survive... then we have to at least take down one ship."
She pointed at the nearest vessel.
"Wreck it so bad that we kill anyone that was in it."
She turned to her right-hand man.
She called him Brody.
He was tall in height towering over the other crew members, his head nearly brushing the lowest clouds. But his body was that of someone suffering from an illness. His limbs were thin. His cheeks were hollow. His skin was pale. Yet his eyes his eyes were bright, fierce, alive.
She said to him, her voice low.
"Is it possible?"
He replied, his voice light, almost dismissive.
"Please stop that." He rubbed his hair, slicking it down, arranging it across his forehead. "It is really uncool."
He smiled.
"You know, I have to keep farming aura." He gestured at the crew around them. "What will others say if they hear our conversation?" He shook his head. "It would really be uncool."
He slid his hand down his hair smoothing it, perfecting it, finishing it.
And smiled.
Davina punched him in the face.
WHAM!
His head snapped back. Blood sprayed from his nose dripping down his lips, staining his teeth, painting his chin. He stumbled but did not fall.
"You idiot!" Her voice was furious, frustrated, fond. "Fuck!"
She grabbed him by the collar.
"What I'm trying to fucking say..." She pulled him close. "...take over the wheel and use the waves. Turn this ship into a fucking speed bullet."
He bled from his nose.
He smiled very brightly.
His eyes lit up with passion.
"Yeah." His voice was soft, almost reverent. "This is it. The reason why you are my captain." He touched his chest over his heart. "The best captain ever."
He looked at her.
"You're so fucking cool."
He got up immediately.
"Yes! Yes, Captain!"
He rushed to the front of the vessel his long legs eating the distance, his thin body moving with surprising speed and took over the wheel. His hands gripped the wooden spokes, feeling the vibrations of the sea, listening to the language of the waves.
He took a deep breath.
He smiled.
Then at full speed he spun the wheel to the left.
And to the right.
Over and over again.
The ship responded tilting, turning, twisting through the water like a living thing. The waves parted before it. The wind filled its sails. The cannonballs missed it by inches.
He shouted out to the back.
"HOIST THE SAILS!"
The crew moved pulling ropes, climbing masts, adjusting canvas. The ship accelerated, surged, flew.
He smiled.
"In honor of our captain..." His voice was soft, almost prayerful. "...and the dead of our crew..."
He lifted his finger up.
"I will give this move a name."
The ship rode along the storm, almost as if it became one with the sea. The waves carried it. The wind pushed it. The very fury of the Infinite Sea seemed to bless it.
He shouted.
"THE STABBING SHIP OF DAVINA JONES!"
Davina the daughter of Davy Jones, the Sea Princess, the Mermaid Pirate looked at him from afar in pity. She rubbed her hands on her face, pressing her palms against her eyes, her cheeks, her forehead.
"Yeah." Her voice was flat. "Definitely."
She lowered her hands.
"He's an idiot."
Her face was blushing.
"What a stupid name."
The ship like a piercing blade stabbed into the navy ship at its centre.
CRAAAAAAAAASH!
Wood splintered. Metal bent. The navy vessel snapped almost into two its hull cracking, its deck tilting, its men falling into the sea.
The crew broke in.
Davina carried her whip and her saber the weapons gleaming in the storm-light, the leather worn from years of use, the steel sharp from years of killing. She raised them high.
"KILL THE NAVY MEN!"
She, Brody, and the entire crew jumped onto the navy vessel.
But there was another crew there.
One of the sub-crews led by the Iron Lantern.
Gideon Crowe "The Black Ledger" sat in a chair on the ship.
He wore a black raincoat long, heavy, hooded. The coat was buttoned to his chin, covering his body, hiding his form. In his hands, he held a black book thick, old, bound in leather that seemed to drink the light.
His men were engaged in battle with other navy men.
Swords clashed. Pistols fired. Bodies fell.
Gideon did not move.
He simply watched.
Davina saw him.
Her blood froze. Her heart stopped. Her breath caught in her throat.
She turned to her crew.
"Change of plan."
Brody's brow furrowed.
"Huh?" He tilted his head. "Why? Let's kill "
She slapped him.
WHAP!
His head snapped to the side. His cheek reddened. His eyes widened.
She shaked in fear her body trembling, her hands quaking, her voice barely a whisper.
"Let's escape." She grabbed his arm. "Now. Before he sees us."
Gideon raised his head.
His eyes dark, cold, calculating caught a glimpse of them.
And he smiled.
Like a wild psycho.
The smile did not reach his eyes. It did not touch the rest of his face. It simply... appeared. A crack in the mask of indifference, a flash of teeth, a promise of violence.
Davina ran.
Her crew ran with her.
The men of the first mate of the Iron Lantern the men of "The Black Ledger" chased them.
She shouted over her shoulder.
"TO THE SEA! LET US FALL TO THE SEA!"
Her voice was desperate, urgent, certain.
"TRUST ME!"
Gideon Crowe "The Black Ledger" watched them flee.
His voice was calm, measured, absolute.
"Catch her." He turned a page in his black book. "And kill her."
He looked at his men.
"I'm sure she's the reason for the extra navy warships that are present."
He returned his gaze to his book.
"For any that fail..." His voice dropped. "...their heads will roll."
.
The crew ran.
The hunters chased.
And the sea waited.