Victorian had joined Yuto for his meditation the next day. They were in the middle of meditating when she felt something touch her hair. Victorian opened one eye to see Baise acting like a cat to her red ponytail.

“Baise-dono, we are meditating here. If you would like to join feel free however if you are not, please leave us alone.”

“I’m good, I’ll just stay here.” Baise then tried to do the braid that Victorian taught him the other day.

They were still far from Beghonia and Victorian was out of things to do on the ship. She tried to help Julius with preparing the meals but couldn’t keep up with his instructions. Morgan, who was completely different from the directionless man he was on land, didn’t need the extra hand around for navigation. She couldn’t last a minute in the medical room with Kiyiya and his jokes and since no one else on the ship really did anything, she was left there with nothing to do.

“Tori-sama, meditation is not supposed to stress you out more,” Yuto said.

Victorian opened one eye to see that his eyes were both closed and before she could ask why, he answered, “Even the seagull flying above would notice your stress levels. Perhaps you should go enjoy the view from the Crow’s nest.”

“No thanks. Maes was talking about seeing a ghost. Where is he anyways?”

“If Maes-kun has not been beaten up by Chef-san for trying to eat then wait for Lane-san’s voice, she’ll probably yell at him for not doing his duties.”

As if right on cue, Elena’s voice could be heard throughout the ship as she yelled for the youngest member. However her commands to clean the ship were drowned out by the cries of pirates.

“TAKE EVERYTHING MEN!”

“YES MA’AM!”

Ropes were being thrown from one ship to another. The pirates prepared to board while the Sundance Crew, expect for Victorian, prepared for battle.

“Thomas and Julius go man the cannons and take Tori with you. Everyone else, get ready and Morgan, how did you miss such a big ship from behind us?” Baise commanded the crew and drew out his sword.

Baise, Elena, and Yuto were busy cutting the ropes that were thrown onto Going Sunny while Alzono and L’Roux were shooting (but not killing) those who were boarding the ship. Morgan and Kiyiya were protecting the inside of the ship, in the odd chance that someone was to reach that point and the remaining trio headed down to the cannons.

“What are we doing here?”

“We are going to hit their ship with a few cannonballs Miss Tori. Just stand back here and cover your ears until you want to learn. There’s a free one over there.”

“Um… that’s my cannon,” L’Roux said appearing next to Julius.

“Why are you here Mr. Sniper?”

“Maes sent me here, he wanted to stay on stay and fight. I was running in front of you the whole time, didn’t you see me? Well I guess you didn’t. But you noticed Tori didn’t you? And she was behind you the whole time. Yeah, behind you but you still noticed but what about me? I was in front of you and oh look you’re not even listening to me anymore.”

L’Roux let out a deep sigh before heading to his cannon. Next to him, Julius was showing Victorian how the cannon worked.

“And then you just pour the gunpowder in like how I did and pull the key and shout “FIRE!”. Miss Tori you may want to cover your ears.”

Just as he finished, in the nick of time, Victorian covered her ears and one by one the three cannons went off. The two that L’Roux and Julius fired hit the enemy ship perfectly while Victorian’s was short and just grazed the other ship before falling into the sea.

“Mr. Sniper go up ahead. Miss Tori and I will take care of the last blows you go on ahead.”

A quick learner, Victorian managed to hit the opposing ship on her second shot and continued the streak until Alzono announced that they were finished. On the way back to the deck, the two passed the ship’s doctor and navigator along with a few passed out bodies.

“Miss Tori just look up ahead,” Julius said without looking back.

“Send some more in Julius, I’m bored-boya.”

“Oh my, that arm needs to be amputated. Just kidding, kekekekeke. It’ll just be infected unless you’re treated by the next moon,” Kiyiya informed one of the barely conscious pirates.

Back on deck, the first wave of pirates were dealt with but with the holes that the cannons created, the remainder of the attacking crew made their way to Going Sunny.

“How many more are there?” Baise shouted.

“There’s more comin’ on the ship Cap. I’d say a good 50. Bet I can take more down than you can.”

“Deal. If I win I get half of your dinner until we dock.”

“If I win, you do my chores Cap.”

“And if I win, the two of your will do your both of your chores,” Elena said, joining the bet.

The trio went back to back and got ready to fight again. Baise loosened up his shoulders and neck while Thomas cracked his knuckles and changed to another set of gloves. Elena switched out her sword for her more favoured double knives which were hidden in her boots.

“I shall join too and if I win, then it will count as Baise-dono’s win.” Yuto tightened his grip on his katana and charged forward.

“Yu, that’s not fair, Cap can take care of his own share. If you win then Jules will give you extra dessert.” Thomas ducked the incoming punch and threw one ten times the strength at his opponent effectively knocking him out.

“I will not Mr. Maes so don’t try to use Mr. Samurai’s potential win and a way for you to get more dessert,” Julius shouted as he joined the fight, performing a series of leg sweeps to trip his opponents and then either kicking them off of the ship or hard against the ground.

“Don’t forget about Alzono. Alzono wants Senorita Lane to be nice to Alzono if he wins.”

“Like that’s possible you Stupid Fox.”

“What’d you say you Useless Chef?”

The two rivals knocked out the pirates around them and headed for each other, knocking down anyone who tried to get in their way.

“I bet that it’ll be another tie between the two.”

“Maes-kun, I believe you should focus on the group that is coming your way instead of those two.”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three consecutive shots were fired into the air. The Sundance Crew knocked out the surrounding enemies and turned to where the sound came from. Near the edge of the ship, a tanned pirate with a green bandana around his arm held a gun to Victorian’s head.

“If you want her alive then hand over this ship. Ours has a few holes in them thanks to a few of you.”

In the back, Maes gave Julius a high-five.

“Good job Jules.”

“You, the bratty one, if you want her to live start moving.” The pirate waved his gun at Maes while tightening his grip on Victorian.

“Okay we will, we will, can I just say something real quick?” Baise said, sheathing his sword.

“It better be about treasure,” the pirate said.

“L’Roux?” Baise said, nodding to the sniper who was in the Crow’s nest.

The pirate turned around just as L’Roux took the shot resulting in a bullet being lodged in the head of the humerus of the arm that held the gun.

“Wrong ship buddy,” L’Roux said coolly before disappearing.

The pirate dropped onto his knees and let Victorian go as he clutched his shoulder in pain. On the other hand, Victorian the hostage fell onto Alzono who dived across the deck to make sure that the woman wouldn’t get injured.

“Go tell your captain that you’re dealing with the wrong merchants.”

Maes lifted the injured man and threw him over to his ship. The other crew members did the same with the hundred other pirates. The other pirates, who were regaining conscious due to the impact, finally noticed the infamous flag being gracefully blown in the wind.

“A-a white sun-moon logo dra-drawn on a black flag. Captain it’s the-”

“The Sundance Crew.” she finished her first mate’s sentence. “Doctors tend to their wounds, everyone else who’s able to move, cover the holes, and navigator! Take us to the closest island.”

Back on Going Sunny, the crew gathered on the deck and stared at the main mast.

“Do you think it’s going fall?”

“Should we get it fixed?”

The main mast was an unfortunate victim during the attempted robbery and pirates were thrown against it countless times. Along with a few lodged swords swings and misfired shots, the mast was just holding itself together.

“Will it make it to Crohcus?”

“Will it even make it the next island Mo?”

“What is the next island Mr. Navigator?”

“It’d be Choishya-boya. Eight days from our current location-boya. Unless you want to follow those guys to whatever island they’re going to-boya.”

Baise gave Morgan a grossed out look and said, “Choishya it is then. Set sail for Choishya crew.”