The iron lantern reached a high edge of the ship.
His boots scraped against the wooden railing, his massive frame swaying with the movement of the waves. Blood still dripped from his abdomen, pooling at his feet, staining the deck beneath him. The storm raged above lightning flashing, thunder rolling, rain falling in sheets. His golden gloves were dark with gore. His torn navy robe flapped wildly in the wind.
He broke into a long laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHA!"
The sound echoed across the water wild, unhinged, free. It carried over the crashing waves, over the cannon fire, over the screams of dying men. His crew men around the surrounding area heard him. Every pirate who served under the Black Tide Squadron, every sailor who had pledged their loyalty to the Iron Lantern, every soul who had followed him into battle they all heard his voice cutting through the chaos.
He shouted to them.
"OI, BOYS!"
His voice was a thunder louder than the storm, louder than the cannons, louder than the roar of the sea monsters fighting in the distance.
"ONE LAST TIME!"
He spread his arms wide embracing the wind, the rain, the certainty of what was to come.
"LET US LAUGH OUR HEARTS OUT!"
He smiled.
"BEFORE EMBRACING FATE!"
He remembered the first time he was captured for being a pirate.
The memory came to him unbidden sharp, vivid, aching. He was younger then his hair darker, his scars fewer, his fire still burning with the intensity of a man who had everything to prove.
He was chained up.
Iron wrapped around his wrists, his ankles, his neck. The links were heavy thick, cold, inescapable. He sat in the darkness of a prison cell, the stone walls damp with moisture, the floor slick with something he did not want to name.
His rival stood before him.
The man was dressed in the uniform of the British navy crisp, clean, perfect. His face was handsome, young, unmarked by the horrors of the sea. His eyes were hard, judging, cold.
He spoke.
"Hey." His voice was quiet, but it carried in the silence of the cell. "Why do you choose this life?"
He paced before the chained pirate.
"The life of a pirate is there really anything for you to gain from it?" He stopped. "There is no honour. There is no grace. You live your life on the run. At sea."
He leaned closer.
"Isn't it frightening?" His voice dropped. "Isn't it painful?"
He straightened.
"Don't you ever look at yourself?" He gestured at the pirate's body at the scars, the tattoos, the evidence of a life lived outside the law. "And the evil you have committed."
His face twisted.
"The man you became is not what your mother would have wanted." His voice hardened. "Neither is it what your father would have been proud of. If both of them were alive."
He turned away.
"I've spoken to many pirates." His voice was flat, dismissive. "They are all scum. All trash. All disgusting."
He looked back.
"I can't even bear to look at their faces."
He paused.
"Honestly..." His voice softened just slightly. "The only reason you're alive is because of the relationship that we share."
He met the pirate's eyes.
"You know..." He touched his chest over his heart. "...if it wasn't that we had a connection in the past..."
His hand dropped.
"...when I caught you, I would have killed you."
The iron lantern laughed loud.
"HAHAHAHA!"
The sound echoed through the memory bouncing off the stone walls, filling the cell, drowning out the silence.
"All is worthless!" His voice was booming, defiant, absolute. "There is no meaning to all you just said!"
He leaned forward, the chains clinking with his movement.
"There is no difference..." He smiled. "...between the mindless cry of a child who has been given life... and your worthless speech."
He straightened.
"I am a pirate." He touched his chest over his heart. "I live my life in freedom."
He looked at his rival.
"Your freedom is set by the illusion that being good makes you gain freedom." He shook his head. "I am my own freedom."
He raised his chained hands.
"Yes I kill because I want to." His voice hardened. "That is an expression of my freedom."
He lowered his hands.
"It doesn't matter what anyone says." His eyes burned. "I will express that freedom of mine to the ends of the earth."
He paused.
"To plunder."
He smiled.
"For that is the only way I will have meaning." His voice dropped. "A meaningless death is truly the greatest of death."
He laughed again.
"Simply because..."
His rival drew his saber blade.
The steel sang as it left the scabbard gleaming in the torchlight, sharp, deadly, final. He stepped forward, his boots echoing on the stone floor, his face unreadable.
He went straight for the pirate's heart.
The blade plunged into his chest SHLIK! piercing flesh, shattering bone, ending life. He punched it in, driving the steel deeper, twisting the blade, ensuring the wound was fatal.
The iron lantern smiled.
Tears dropped from his eyes hot, silent, unexpected. They traced paths down his cheeks, dripping onto the chains, mixing with the blood that poured from his chest.
His rival spoke, his voice barely a whisper.
"So... that is what freedom is to you."
He looked at the dying pirate.
"It is the right to make a choice." He paused. "Not imposed on yourself. Not imposed by the world or by people."
He nodded slowly.
"Hence... you saw the sea."
His voice hardened.
"And chose to be evil."
He paused.
"I want to ask you a question." His voice was soft, almost gentle. "Was it your choice... to die by my hand today?"
The iron lantern smiled.
His teeth were red with blood. His eyes were bright with tears. His voice was calm, peaceful, certain.
"Yes."
He looked at his rival at the man who had captured him, who had judged him, who had killed him.
"There is no better way..." He coughed blood spraying from his lips. "...than to die in the hands of a friend."
He smiled.
"A friend who has been with you all this time."
His voice dropped.
"Truly... a marvelous friend."
His rival's face was filled with dread and shock.
It froze in that position mouth open, eyes wide, hands trembling. The saber was still buried in the pirate's chest. The blood was still flowing. The chains were still clinking.
But something had changed.
Something had broken.
The iron lantern stood on the edge of his ship.
His crew laughed around him.
And the sea roared.