Chapter Text
“Sail ho! Starboard bow!”
Namjoon, standing by the bow’s bulwark, pulls out his spyglass from his coat and looks in the direction shouted from the lookout in one of the fighting tops in the masts. He feels someone step beside him to his right, pulling out their own spyglass. Namjoon knows who it is without looking. Hobi, his friend. Hoseok, his Quartermaster.
“Ah, I see them,” Hobi said. “It was a good spot from our lookout.”
Namjoon glances to see where Hobi is looking then follows in his direction. There, on the horizon, is a ship. He feels the excitement and adrenaline rising at the prospect of what’s to come. The same feelings he can sense in the rest of his crew. His breathing deepens and he swears his senses get slightly better. He loves the feeling coursing through his veins.
He gives his orders to sail towards the ship.
A voice comes from behind them, making them jump slightly. “We taking this one?”
Namjoon turns to the voice. “Do you have to sneak up like that, Yoongi hyung? I nearly threw my spyglass into the sea!”
Yoongi grins, but before he could speak, a loud voice shouts from up the mast.
“It’s the law!”
Hobi frowns. “That is not the big mighty fighting vessel I was expecting. Too small.”
“We go for it?” Namjoon asks. “We have the weather gauge and the perfect opportunity if we’re not outnumbered or outgunned.”
Moments pass while Hobi studies the ship. He nods his approval.
“Good.” Yoongi gives a mock salute. “I’ll get on with my duties.”
As he walks away he yells out, “All hands on deck!” followed by “Clear the decks!”
There’s a scrabbling as the crew hurry to follow orders.
When there’s a slight lull in the noise, Namjoon shouts out, “Are we feeling generous? Do we give quarter?”
There’s a resounding “ayes”. Any “nays” have been drowned out.
“The ayes have it. Hoist the flag! And get ready to run a shot across the bow!”
Cheers meet his commands as everyone prepares for battle.
Namjoon turns to raise his spyglass so he can keep an eye on the enemy ship.
“Our chase doesn’t seem very fast, not so much a clipper,” mentions Hobi. “Looks like some scuffling onboard too.”
Namjoon watches as the ship seems more in chaos than what he would have expected for a ship being pursued by pirates. Hobi yells out commands to fire their warning shot at the enemy ship. Then Namjoon spots a cannon pointed their way, 3 men manning the gun with an officer behind them swinging a whip. One man lowers his linstock to the primed vent of the cannon.
“Incoming iron!” yells Namjoon, as he ducks and braces for the cannon ball.
Yet there’s nothing. Not even the splash of a cannon ball missing the ship, or the smoke from the fired cannon. Namjoon stands up and hurriedly raises his spyglass. He watches the man repeatedly touching the linstock to the primed vent, with no cannonball firing. He laughs delightedly. This is going better than expected.
“Looks like our chase has some wet gunpowder,” Hobi yells loudly, keeping the crew updated.
The crew erupts in cheers and excitable yells. Wet gunpowder makes for an easy target.
“Namjoon-ah,” Hobi gets his attention. “I think they’re striking their colours. Also possible mutiny.”
Namjoon doesn’t bother checking, eyes roving of his own ship to assure both the vessel and crew are ready for battle. Or, seeing as their chase has surrendered, ready for looting the cargo.
As their ship nears their chase, Namjoon yells loud and clear to them. “Heave to! Heave to and prepare to be boarded!”
Not that their chase was sailing with any type of speed. If Namjoon had been less experienced, he would have assumed they hadn’t be sailing at all.
The pirate crew swing grappling hooks to the enemy ship to pull them close. Hoseok, fully in his public Quartermaster role, calls commands, and is one of the first to cross to the enemy ship. Namjoon loses a bit of time, carefully making his way across to the other ship. It wouldn’t look too good for his reputation if he fell into the sea. Also wouldn’t bode too well for his health if he fell between the two ships and got caught between or under them.
In that time, his crew have already rounded up the disarmed Royal Navy sailors, sitting them down on the main deck. It looks like the officers are the inner ring, while the lower ranks surround them.
“Who among you is Captain of this ship?” asks Namjoon, voice deep with authority.
Nobody answers but he notes that many of the lower ranked sailors glance towards the stern.
“Check the Captain’s quarters,” Namjoon orders a few of his men.
“Halt pirate!” One of the finely dressed officers demands as he stands up. “You can’t go barging in there. How dare you?”
Namjoon grins at him as the pirate crew ignore the attempted order of the enemy officer to search for the Captain. “Oh we very much dare. And who might you be?”
Before he could answer, Namjoon’s men came back.
“Captain’s got a fever. Incapacitated,” reports one of the men.
Namjoon turns back to the officer. “So, I assume you have taken command?”
The man stands taller. “Yes. And I demand a duel.”
Namjoon raises an eyebrow. “Really? And, again, I assume you have picked out your opponent and terms of this fight?”
“Yes, I pick him.” The man points to Hoseok. “The terms are when I win, you will all surrender so you can be tried and executed for piracy.”
Hoseok steps forward. “And terms will be the same for when I win.”
He smiles at the man. To anyone who didn’t know Hoseok, the smile is a normal smile. To the pirate crew, they knew better. They knew what it meant.
Danger.
Namjoon feels the hair on the back of his neck rise and he shivers slightly. He’s glad that smile is not directed at him. It means nothing good.
Some of the sailors protest at the equal terms, asking that they are not held accountable for what this acting captain is doing. Namjoon makes a mental note of who gives what opinions and sorts them into two factions. The officers side with their acting captain, while the regular sailors are making the distance known.
“I accept your terms, Acting Captain. Step forward and meet your fate,” Hoseok said, as he twirls his cutlass seemingly lazily around his body.
The man steps through his crew and faces off against Hoseok. “You will pay for your crimes, you disgusting dog.”
“What did the dog ever do to you?” calls out someone from the pirate crew and Namjoon raises a hand to silence them. Not that anything would distract Hoseok. Nothing distracts Hoseok in the middle of a fight.
“First man to draw blood or to make the other yield, wins.” Namjoon, said, voice easily carrying over to everyone on deck. “Fight!”
Quick as a flash, Hoseok lunges forward. He takes advantage of the element of surprise to use his sword to strike the officer’s sword away from his body. The swords strike so hard that it flings the sword out of the officers hand. Before anyone could react to that, Hoseok flicks his sword towards the man’s face, leaving a slice on the cheek. Blood beads at the cut before a drop falls down his cheek.
“That is a win for us. Time for you to accept the deal,” Namjoon grins happily as his crew cheer around them.
“I refuse! You cheated!” shouts the man.
He steps to pick up his sword, but Hoseok gets there first. Hoseok’s left fist hits the man in the temple, leaving the man to crumple to the deck in a daze.
“As winner of the duel, how do you wish to punish him?” Namjoon asks Hoseok.
Hoseok grins at Namjoon, this time a happy one and not the one that scares people. “Well as acting captain, he should stay with his ship. We tie him to the fighting top on the main mast. All those who backed him can be tied to the mast on the deck. We loot their cargo and then scuttle it. The other sailors are free to go.”
Namjoon nods his agreement. The crew get to work pulling the officers away from the common sailors who they’ve been hiding behind. The shouts of protests from the officers and the scuffles they put up are no match for Namjoon’s crew. Hoseok has trained them well.
When all the officers have been tied to the places Hoseok demanded, Namjoon turns the common sailors who flinch back in fear.
“Are there any men tied up that you wish to be released?”
They shake their heads, even as the officers hurl insults and orders at them.
One brave sailor speaks up. “They take the better rations, even taking double rations while most of us only have half at best. They say we need to earn our food. The captain is the worst. He takes whatever food and drink he likes whenever he likes, and he punishes those of us who try to speak up against it.”
Namjoon clenches his jaw in anger. Few sailors whimper in fear so Namjoon makes an effort to unclench it. “What they did is violation of the Navy’s laws. While we will take most of your cargo, we will leave you some supplies to see you through.”
Namjoon gives the nod to Yoongi. Yoongi takes his pick of men down to the cargo hold to choose what loot to take. Several others go to the Captain’s Quarters to search there for any valuables.
Suddenly a small shaking hand is raised.
The sailors try to hide the person from Namjoon’s gaze, but they relent when they see the look in his eyes and they part so he can see who raised their hand.
A boy stands up. “I-, I-I, I....”
Namjoon crouches so he’s more eye level with the boy, trusting his crew to watch his back. “What would you like?”
The boy opens and closes his mouth before giving up speaking. He points to himself, then to the pirates ship.
“You want to have a look around my ship?” asks Namjoon, confused.
The boys starts to nod before shaking his head. He mimes sleeping, then climbing the rigging, then eating, before pointing back at the ship again.
“I think he wants to go with you,” one of the sailors translates.
The boy nods his agreement.
“Wh– ... how old are you lad?”
The boy shrugs before hesitatingly raising a hand.
“Five?” Namjoon said aghast. “That’s a bit young to be sailing. Most boys are older before they start sailing. The captain agreed to bring you along?”
The boy looks down, his small frame trembling. One of the other sailor’s speaks up.
“He’s an orphan. The captain says he’s old enough to work for his food and board.”
Namjoon takes a deep breath to help calm himself so he can talk gently. “What’s your name lad?”
The boy only shakes his head. Namjoon looks to the other sailors.
“The captain only calls him ‘boy’ and the officers call him ‘stutts’ because of his stutter. We don’t know his actual name.”
“Do you like being called ‘boy’ or ‘stutts’? Namjoon asks the boy gently.
The boy hesitates for a moment before vigorously shaking his head.
“Didn’t think you would,” Namjoon mutters to himself.
Namjoon turns to look at Hoseok standing behind him. Hoseok raises both eyebrows and shrugs. The message was clear: Hoseok was leaving the decision up to him.
Namjoon turns back to face the boy and the sailors.
“If I may ask sir,” asks one of the sailors quietly. “Could you take him with you? He will face a degrading life in the navy. And he has no family to speak of to go home to. He won’t take up too much room and he doesn’t have any belongings on this ship either.”
“Why are you trusting me?” Namjoon questions.
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend, I guess. Or however that saying goes.”
Namjoon frowns at the sailors. “But you don’t even know me.”
“I don’t need to know you to trust you.” The sailor glances around, realising again they are surrounded by pirates. “Or well, at least trusting you with him.”
Namjoon hums thoughtfully, turning his attention back to the boy. “Do you want to join my crew lad? It’s a hard life. If you don’t like it later we can find you a good family in a good town to raise you.” Namjoon has no idea how he will do that, but he’ll do anything to help this boy.
The boy raises his head to look at Namjoon. He nods.
“Ok. Say goodbye now. I’m going to ask you to go straight onto my ship.” Namjoon stands up and backs away, leaving the boy and sailors some privacy. He stands next to Hoseok, who has got the scary smile on.
“We’re punishing the captain right?” asks Hoseok through gritted teeth.
“There isn’t a punishment that is enough for that. But I do have an idea.”
Namjoon startles when the boy stands by him. The boy raises his arms, making grabby motions with his hands.
“He’s asking to be picked up,” calls out one of the sailors helpfully.
Namjoon, surprised by the trust the boy is showing in him, gently picks the boy up and settles him in his left arm, leaving his right arm free.
“You don’t want to go on my ship?”
The boy shakes his head.
Namjoon quietly sighs. “Ok. It might get a bit loud so I want you to cover your ears and don’t look, ok?”
The boy nods, following his instructions, and tucking his face in Namjoon’s neck.
Namjoon glances at the few crew members who had been guarding the sailors and had heard everything. “Drag the captain out.”
Two crew members go to do that and it doesn’t take long before they are dragging a spluttering indignant man between them. They look at Namjoon for more instructions.
“Take him aboard our ship and prepare him to be keelhauled.”
The crew members nod gleefully and drag the man away.
“Cut off the tongues of all the officers too,” Namjoon orders.
Soon the air is filled with gurgling screaming. Namjoon hopes this isn’t going to traumatise the boy. But in the life of a pirate, this is normal life.
Two crew members emerge from the depths of the Navy ship carrying a large box. They not so gently set in down near the sailors.
“Supplies for them,” said one of them. “We’re ready for scuttling.”
“I think we’re done here,” Namjoon glances at Hoseok for confirmation.
Hoseok nods. “Cargo has been loaded onto our ship. Scuttle this ship and lets get out of here. We’ve been here too long already.”
“Aye,” both crew members said, before disappearing back into the hold of the ship.
Soon, there is bang and the ship rocks in the water.
“All hands! All hands head back to our ship!” orders Hoseok loudly.
The pirate crew scramble back across to their own ship. Namjoon doesn’t leave until he sees Yoongi emerge from the enemy ship, and Hoseok doesn’t leave Namjoon’s side.
With all hands back on their ship, they set sail. Leaving the sailors of the Navy ship to their fate. Namjoon watches through his spyglass, noting that none of the sailors even glance at their screaming officers. Namjoon wishes he could be there to watch the officers go down with the ship, but Hoseok was right. They’ve been here too long. Plus they have the boy to settle in, get used to, and to work out his role on this ship.
And they have a Captain to keelhaul.
With setting as much distance as they can between themselves and the Navy ship, securing the new cargo in the appropriate places, and the equal sharing of the loot, no one notices four figures in the water who have been observing them from a distance for a long while now. They had been watching the events unfolding on the Navy ship with keen interest, but making sure to stay out of human sight and underwater for much as possible.
“Can’t we get any closer?” the youngest of them whines, poking the eldest in the ribs. “I want to see his dimples again.”
The eldest squeaks in surprise, turning to the youngest and pouncing on him, dragging him down under the surface. Two of them playfully fight under the water, hands poking each other, their tails doing the work of propelling them through the water.
The other two continue to watch the pirate ship, easily keeping up with the speed of the ship, all the while still holding hands. They had been born only a few months apart and ever since then, they could always been found holding hands. Even during their most bitter fights, they never once let go unless absolutely necessary.
Now the four of them follow the pirate ship to wherever it may be heading. Two holding hands, the other two play fighting.
Maybe one day they will work up the courage to observe the humans at a closer distance. Someday.