The sun was high in the sky while the Interceptor's crew seemed bored.
"Captain!" Anamaria shouted to Rigel, who was playing cards with John, Thomas, and Jonas. Without cheating this time, Rigel turned to look at Anamaria, curious. She pointed ahead with her chin and shouted. "Ship ahoy!"
Rigel stopped, threw the cards on the ground and walked towards the bow, looking directly at the ship, he pulled out the compass and looked at the pointer.
Just as he expected, the pointer was pointing directly at the ship, and he was immediately excited.
The interceptor was already fast, and with the 70% speed boost granted by the Pirate Hat, it wouldn't take long to reach them.
Elizabeth appeared beside Rigel so quietly that Rigel almost jumped. "Captain, is this our target? Are we going to plunder?"
She seemed very excited about it, causing a wry smile to appear on Will's lips, along with a slight displeasure at the action. He knew he had boarded a pirate ship, but he still considered himself a man of honor.
"No, probably not, I only rob rich people." Rigel replied, turning Elizabeth's face away from his.
At that moment, Jack jumped from somewhere and landed on his shoulder, looking excitedly at the ship, he loved when it was time to plunder, he was a hyperactive monkey.
Rigel looked back and saw the crew cheering up, he rolled his eyes. Although they hadn't earned as much money as Jack and Gibbs, Rigel still gave each of them a few gold coins. Even so, pirates were never satisfied.
Most of them will spend it all on women and alcohol.
"Listen here, you idiots, I'm going to speak and you don't act unless I tell you to, am I being clear?" Rigel asked, narrowing his eyes.
The crew seemed to remember who Rigel was, his peaceful attitude, playing games and joking with the crew, almost made them forget, but Rigel is an extremely powerful Wizard.
"Yes, Captain!"
Rigel nodded, satisfied.
Will seemed relieved, at the very least, Rigel didn't appear to be an evil pirate.
Elizabeth, though excited, also appreciated it, she hated going around killing innocent people, she just liked the "adventurous" part of being a pirate.
Rigel ignored the crew's emotions, adjusting his hat, with Jack still on his shoulder shouting excitedly and Salazar sticking his head out of his collar, curious.
Rigel put the compass in his pouch and took out the Legendary Flintlock, placing it in the holster he took from one of the crew members, keeping it on his left waist while his wand was still hidden in the holster on his right arm, he felt ready.
"Get in the water after the ship stops, get on the opposite ship and await my order." Rigel spoke in Parseltongue towards the snakes all over the ship, except for Salazar who was still clinging to his neck.
Rigel received no reply, but he knew they had understood.
After preparing himself, he watched as the ships quickly crossed paths.
The opposing side had seen it a long time ago, Rigel hadn't yet hoisted a black flag, so seeing that ship with the Royal British Navy markings, the opposing side not only seemed frightened but waved excitedly at them.
Rigel blinked, confused. Even if a civilian ship saw a navy ship from some country, they wouldn't act like these guys.
Along with the direction indicated by the Compass earlier, he knew that something must be wrong with that ship.
Taking a deep breath, Rigel waited until both ships had stopped before approaching from the port (left) side.
Rigel finally heard what they were shouting. "Help! Help us! Please!"
Rigel blinked, looking at the group, and the crew behind him weren't doing much better, it was the first time those pirates had received a request for help.
Although, technically, their current ship didn't look pirate-like at all.
Rigel looked at the group and spoke. "Shut up!"
His scream made the opposing side stop, confused, but seeing the child ahead and a group of poorly dressed sailors on the other side, nothing like the real navy, they swallowed hard.
"Pirates?" one of them said, and the others turned pale.
Rigel didn't care, the Interceptor was smaller than the opposing boat, but that didn't matter much. Rigel turned and shouted. "Get on board!"
The pirates roared as they quickly began using the ropes to jump to the opposite side, the effect of the hat taking shape as the pirates seemed even more energetic, even Jack jumped off his shoulder, ready to have some fun.
Will and Elizabeth seemed a little confused, but they followed suit, the opposing side had already realized the situation wasn't good. One of them pointed his weapon directly at one of the pirates, but Rigel moved first, his wand pointed at the man.
-Expelliarmus. - Rigel said, the red spell struck the man, making the weapon in his hand leap away.
The opposing group was even more shocked.
When Rigel finally boarded the boat, the opposing side had already surrendered.
There were four men, an old man, and a woman, all kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs!
"Please! Please! Don't kill us!" One of the men shouted, another looked frightened, another stared at them with a face of pure hatred, and the last one continued praying.
The woman remained silent, her head bowed. The old man waited for Rigel to arrive and spoke quickly. "Please, my grandson is sick, please help him."
Rigel frowned and looked at Anamaria beside him. "Where is his grandson?"
"We didn't see anyone else, probably inside the ship, but this is a cargo ship, it's huge, it would take a while to search it." Anamaria explained.
"He's in my cabin, he's sick, injured, please." The old man continued speaking.
Rigel sighed and turned to Ragetti and Pintel. "Go see the boy."
The two nodded and quickly went to look for the boy, Rigel, on the other hand, was more curious about what supernatural things were happening on that ship.
"Can someone explain to me what's going on?" He asked the strange crew.
One of the men, the black man, seemed the most receptive, so he spoke. "An animal, a devilish beast, entered our ship, it came with the cargo, attacked the crew, some have already died."
Rigel grew even more curious and asked. "A beast? What kind of beast?"
"We don't know, he hunts at night, sleeps during the day, appears and disappears like a ghost, drinks the blood of his victims, and those he attacks fall ill... one..." He seemed to hesitate to continue, but seeing Rigel's impatience and the pirates seeming to take it as a command, raising their weapons and swords towards him, the man quickly continued. "One of us, he was bitten, went mad, attacking the crew, mutilating himself. I thought it was an illness or poisoning, but..."
"But?" Rigel continued, irritated by the delay.
The man swallowed hard and finally spoke. "But he caught fire, as soon as the sunlight touched him, he burned like charcoal to embers."
The pirates around them froze, the group glanced at each other, and then stared at Rigel with wide eyes.
They swore they hadn't seen anything supernatural since they were born, but in less than a week sailing with Rigel, they'd seen two, and now it looked like they were going to see three!
--x--
[A/N: Hey guys, a new week, this is this week's free chapter.
The rules remain the same as last time, but now I'll keep the number of chapters at 160 Power Stones with a maximum of 6 chapters. If it goes beyond that, I'll see what to do.]