The dock grew quiet.
A moment earlier the crowd had been laughing and shouting wagers, but now the noise drained away as the two crews stood facing each other across the sunlit boards of White Lantern Port.
Waves slapped against the hulls of nearby ships while sails creaked overhead, the harbor still alive even as the small battlefield in the center turned tense.
Weapons were drawn, magic gathered in palms and along blades, and no one moved.
Fharess broke the silence first, she lifted both hands in front of her chest and spread her fingers apart as if conducting some invisible orchestra. Her green eyes lost their color, black devouring the iris until nothing remained except two dark pools staring forward.
The shadows on the dock reacted instantly, every pirate cast one under the bright sun, and those shadows suddenly rose like living things peeling themselves from the ground. Long spikes of black darkness erupted upward without warning.
Eight pirates never had time to react.
The spikes burst through their bodies explosively, one man screamed as the shadow drove through his stomach and lifted him clear off the boards, Another woman's chest split open as the spike blasted through her ribs, spraying blood across the dock while her cutlass clattered from limp fingers.
The sound of tearing flesh echoed across the port, and blood splashed across boots and wood planks while bodies sagged around the rising pillars of darkness. One after another, Fharess' s magic did its thing.
Weapons fell, and the large captain jerked backward.
"Tch!"
Shock flashed across his face as he watched half his crew die in an instant.
'There's more of us than them, my infamous crew, the Hornskulls, never lost a fight!'
Lodis moved next.
The Godweed smoke drifting from her lips wrapped around her shoulders like a thin storm cloud. Her body moved with an unnatural quickness as she burst forward across the dock, boots tapping the wood in rapidly that barely made a sound.
She reached one pirate before he could even raise his sword.
The revolver jammed straight into his mouth, and her finger pulled the trigger.
The pirate jerked sideways at the last possible moment. The bullet blasted past his cheek, splintering a crate behind him while he twisted his body with surprising agility.
A curved blade flashed out, the steel coated with a bright green aura that dripped venomous poison down the edge, and he spun and slashed toward her ribs.
Lodis brought the revolver up and blocked the strike, parrying it, her gun crashed the blade as she caught the blade along the thick barrel of the gun. She twisted her wrist, redirecting the slash away from her body before snapping a spinning kick straight into the pirate's face.
The impact lifted him slightly off his feet, and the pirate's body spun completely around from the force, and Lodis was already aiming, and the revolver fired, and the bullet brutally dashed through the back of his head.
Blood shot out from her attack, and Lodis leaned away at once, stepping to the side with visible irritation as the blood droplets flew past her; she didn't want it touching her at all.
She hated other people's blood getting on her, being a pirate had never changed that particular habit.
"Gross…gross."
While the body collapsed behind her, the rest of the enemy crew rushed Kappa.
"HAHA! Come on!"
Kappa ran straight into them laughing, it was obvious Agmada were built differently than most races.
Their bodies carried tougher bones, traits that came from generations of brutal survival in the mountain territories where their people originated. Their natural speed rivaled trained fighters, and pain rarely slowed them the way it slowed other species.
The first sword cut across Kappa's stomach, and she barely noticed. The blade bit into her vest and skin, but she drove forward through the hit with a grin spreading across her face. Her tail flicked behind her while smoke gathered around her boots.
Then she vanished in the smoke, teleporting in it while the pirate blinked.
Kappa appeared behind him in the same instant, both cutlasses in her hand flashing into existence in her hands. The blades had some burning acidic smoke lingering off of it, each one carrying the same engraved name carved proudly into the steel:
"Kappa!" It read.
She swung both weapons at once, the first blade carved across a pirate's chest while the second caught another man across the neck, sending blood spraying across the dock as both victims collapsed.
Smoke wrapped around her body again, and she vanished once more with a smile
Another pirate screamed as Kappa reappeared above him, dropping down from a cloud of swirling and burning vapor with both blades spinning in wide attacks.
Steel flashed repeatedly while she darted through the group like a hummingbird, teleporting from one patch of smoke to another.
Axes struck her, a spear stabbed into her side, and guns shot at her, all hitting her at once.
But she kept laughing.
"Come on!" she shouted while ripping a blade across someone's back. "That's all you've got?!" Then, she dodged three bullets aimed at her, dashed to that pirate, grabbed her face, and stabbed her through the neck, and used the pirate's body as a shield.
Then she teleported again with the body, and appeared on the side of a few pirates and slammed the dead pirate body into them, knocking them out hard.
The captain stood frozen for a moment, his brain struggled to process what he was seeing.
Half his crew already lay dead or bleeding across the dock. The witch floated nearby surrounded by creeping darkness, the modest girl with the revolver was picking targets off like she was picking apples. And the horned one, Kappa, moved through smoke like a damn lunatic tornado swinging two blades with her name carved into them.
His thoughts stumbled.
'What the fuck is up with these women? They're just three period-having sailors with a little ass boat! They can't beat us!'
He roared suddenly, rage burning through the shock.
The captain grabbed his enormous cutlass and charged forward.
'I'll slaughter them with my own hands!' The dock shook under his worn out boots.
…
Minutes later the fight had ended.
The captain's body hung suspended above the dock, pinned in place by four long spikes of shadow that pierced through his torso and shoulders. His beard hung forward while blood ran down the length of the dark spikes and dripped onto the wooden planks below.
Bullet holes dotted his chest where Lodis had fired repeatedly, and several deep blade wounds crossed his arms and ribs, acidic steam rising from the injuries where Kappa's strikes had torn through the pirates' muscles moments earlier.
The dock around them looked like a battlefield, the crowd that had gathered earlier now stood farther away, watching with silent fascination….And then they began cheering.
Lodis, Kappa, and Fharess stared up at the dead pirate leader; blood covered Kappa's arms and clothes, dark splashes stained parts of Fharess' coat, and Lodis remained mostly clean, her revolver still smoking while she brushed a small blood droplet off her sleeve with visible disgust.
The dock slowly filled again with noise after the fight ended. Pirates stepped around bodies and broken weapons while the crowd that had scattered earlier began moving closer, curiosity always winning over caution in the Blacktide Confederacy.
The three women stood in the middle of the aftermath while gulls circled overhead and the harbor breeze carried the smell of salt and blood through the port.
A few nearby sailors leaned together and whispered while staring at them.
"Whoa…"
Another scratched his beard while watching Kappa wipe her blades.
"Who are they?"
One sailor let out a low whistle. "Strong and pretty fucking good lookin'… maybe we should invite them to our crew…"
The man beside him shook his head quickly. "Strong and good lookin', yeah, but they have a witch and an Agmada with them. We gotta leave them behind, let's just take that modest one."
Not far away, Lodis brushed more dirt from her sleeve and glanced down at herself with quiet disapproval.
"I'm filthy."
Kappa, meanwhile, looked like she had just finished the most enjoyable exercise of the day. She stretched her arms, grinning wide while blood dripped from one of her cutlasses.
"This day is going great already…"
She glanced at the other two and suddenly pulled a small notebook from the back pocket of her trousers. The pages inside were dirty and warped, stained in dark smears from previous entries. Kappa stood beside the dead and impaled pirate captain and dragged one finger through the blood pooling beneath him.
She pressed that finger onto a blank space in the notebook; The mark joined dozens of other fingerprints and smears already covering the pages, it was like her personal trophy collection.
Kappa closed the notebook with a satisfied nod and shoved it back into her pocket.
"After so many fights we've won, why do people still not take us seriously?" she said, waving one hand around the harbor. "We literally have a witch in our crew."
Fharess stood with her arms folded, her voice came out calm but carried that edge. "Maybe because there are only three of us. But I like it this way. The fewer people there are, the easier it is to avoid problems."
Lodis adjusted the strap of her satchel and spoke carefully. "We don't even have a name for our group. That is concerning." She looked between them with a thoughtful expression. "All three of us became pirates for different reasons. We joined together because our goals happened to align, that means our crew has purpose. I believe that purpose deserves a name."
Kappa blinked.
"Mmm."
She scratched her cheek thoughtfully.
"Damn, you're right. We've known each other for three years and we still don't have a crew name. How about—"
FWOOSH!
A massive splash of seawater slammed into her, the wave came out of nowhere and drenched her completely from head to toe.
Kappa stood frozen for half a second, dripping, then she slowly turned around. Her tail flicked quickly behind her as she pointed her blade toward the surrounding sailors.
"Who did that?! Who threw water on me?!"
The nearby pirates immediately backed away, some raising their hands defensively while others stepped out of the splash zone. A few of them kept their distance but pointed toward someone standing behind Kappa.
Kappa followed the direction of their fingers while turning slowly, Fharess stood a few steps away, watching her.
Kappa narrowed her eyes and lifted one cutlass, pointing it toward the witch. "Did you throw water on me?"
Fharess nodded once. "Yes." She tilted her head slightly. "You looked dirty," Then she extended both hands toward the ocean beside the dock.
The water began to churn, a circular current formed near the edge of the pier, spinning faster and faster until a swirling whirlpool rose like a twisting column of liquid. The water lifted several feet into the air, spiraling under Fharess's control while droplets showered across the dock.
"I see you still have some dirt on you," Fharess said calmly. "Let me help you."
Kappa's grin returned immediately, though this one carried a dangerous edge.
"I dare you."
Lodis reacted before the situation could escalate further. She grabbed Kappa by the shoulders and pulled her backward while the Agmada kicked her legs wildly.
"Let me at her! Don't hold me back!"
Lodis held on for a moment, then shrugged.
"Okay then."
She let go, but Kappa stood still. She looked at Fharess for a long moment.
Then she crossed her arms.
"You know… I don't feel like fighting right now."
Lodis blinked. "Are you still scared of Fharess?"
Kappa spun toward her instantly, now pointing her blade at Lodis.
"N-No! Never!"
Fharess stepped closer, the whirlpool collapsing behind her as the ocean returned to normal. She stopped beside Kappa and leaned slightly forward.
"You're wearing my clothing. You could have asked."
Kappa kept glancing at her from the corner of her eye without fully turning her head.
"Well… I know you make your own clothes," she muttered. "And I saw it just sitting in a neat pile…and I liked it. What? You want me to strip butt ass naked in front of all these hungry pirates?"
Several pirates in the crowd perked up at that suggestion. A few exclaimed like rabid dogs:
"Hell yeah!"
"Show us!"
Lodis immediately looked horrified. "Oh no, that would be most concerning… the revealing of skin…"
Before the conversation could spiral further, a loud armored step echoed across the dock.
Six figures approached from the harbor street, their white and gold armor shining brightly under the sun while their mechanical wings rested folded across their backs. Yeah, it was the Paladin Knights, and one of them stepped forward, his voice carried across the entire dock.
"Attention!"