Chapter Text
Yuuri could practically hear Mari’s scornful voice ringing in his head.
‘Captured by bloody pirates’ she would say, leaning against the doorframe ‘Yuuri, what in the great Ocean were you thinking?’
But Mari was back at the palace, blissfully unaware of Yuuri’s capture- at least until the crew who were left behind on the ship arrived back in Hasetsu.
If Yuuri was Mari, he wouldn’t be on this ship right now. He would be sailing back home with the rest of the crew, with a few tons more gold, and twenty pirate prisoners. If only Yuuri had listened to Minako before he left, and trained to use a sword on humans (he had only fought straw dummies before). But at the time, Yuuri had been so confident, he was sure they wouldn’t run into pirates.
But, Yuuri supposed in retrospect, even if he did know how to fight people, he wouldn’t have actually done it. He could never kill someone- even if they were a pirate.
Yuuri’s mind wandered back to when he was on the Eros.
He had been standing outside on the deck with his best friend Phichit. They had been travelling to a country to renew a trade alliance, and they were only about a day away from their destination.
But then another ship appeared on the horizon.
At first, the crew thought nothing of it. They passed merchant vessels all the time, and these weren’t waters that any pirates frequented.
Then the cannons started, and pirates, swathed in black started storming aboard.
Phichit tried to defend Yuuri, but was shot in the leg by a pirate, then kicked in the head to make him fall unconscious.
The last thing Yuuri saw before he entered darkness was a flash of silver hair in the distance.
Captain Nikiforov.
Two hours later, Yuuri woke up in the brig of a ship, the metal grating giving him just enough light to see by.
His hands and ankles were tied to a wooden beam behind him, which scratched his back. There was no one else in the brig, so Yuuri prayed that the rest of the crew was returning home safely. Footsteps and laughter sounded above Yuuri, which made him shrink even further.
What were these pirates planning to do with him?
Kill him?
Make his country pay a ransom?
Make his country pay a ransom and then kill him?
As much as Yuuri hated to admit it, the third option seemed the most likely. If it was any other pirate ship, maybe Yuuri would have had hope of returning home safely.
But Yuuri’s mind kept going back to what he saw before he was forced unconscious.
This was, no doubt, Victor Nikiforov’s ship.
The most fearsome pirate in the Seven Seas.
Aboard his ship, the Stamni Vicino, Victor and his pirate crew had raided hundreds of ships. The few survivors returned back to Hasetsu to tell horror stories of his merciless gaze, his unforgiving sword, and his distinctive silver hair.
Yuuri shivered, partly of the icy cold in the brig, but also of fear.
He needed to find a way to get off this ship.
Compelling his mind into rational thought, Yuuri breathed in deeply, and breathed out.
He ignored the rope around his hands and ankles that was rubbing his skin raw.
Most ships had an escape dinghy. Yuuri would need to somehow escape from his bindings, wait until a pirate unlocked the hatch, knock out that pirate, and attempt to escape across the deck.
Simple.
Yuuri was startled out of his thoughts by the iron hatch creaking open.
A man climbed down, the sun outside bouncing off his blond hair.
Yuuri levelled him with a steely glare.
The man just laughed.
“Now don’t be like that.” H said “We’ll get a nice price for you before we kill you. Just be glad we didn’t kill you straight away.”
A plate of bread with water gourd was set on the ground, and the man shut the hatch.
Damn. Yuuri couldn’t escape without that being open.
“You can call me Chris.” Chris said amicably, seemingly dismissing the earlier threat “Now, I’m going to undo your rope so you can eat, but any funny business, and you’ll be dead a little sooner than planned.
Chris stepped behind him, and undid Yuuri’s rope.
Yuuri took a small bite of bread, but when Chris wasn’t looking, he stuffed it down his shirt, for when he needed it on the dinghy.
He did the same with the water.
As soon as Yuuri was finished, Chris redid the ropes- even tighter than before, and left through the hatch, locking it behind him.
But as Yuuri saw Chris turn away above him, the hatch keys on his belt came loose, and fell through the grate.
Yuuri thanked every god that he knew for the fact that pirates were idiots.
As soon as he could no longer see Chris’ retreating back, Yuuri looked at the key.
It was out of sight of the hatch, so if a pirate looked down, they wouldn’t be able to see it. But since Yuuri was in a contortionists position, his arms and legs tied to the beam, he couldn’t reach them either.
Carefully, Yuuri felt the back of the beam with his tied hands, carefully searching until he found the perfect place.
A rough, unsanded , neglected part.
Slowly, Yuuri brought the rope over the spot, and quickly pulled it down. He kept repeating this action, slowly sawing away at the rope, until the light through the hatch disappeared, replaced by glittering stars.
Voices on the deck grew fainter, until only a few, who Yuuri guessed were in the crow’s nest, were audible.
And then the rope gave, finally freeing Yuuri’s hands.
The bread and water pouch in Yuuri’s shirt rubbed uncomfortably in his shirt as he untied his feet, standing and stretching his sore muscles.
Then he crept over the floor, grabbed the key, and inched the grate open.
Once Yuuri was out on deck, he kept to the shadows, moving behind barrels as he checked for the dinghy.
A sick feeling of fear worked its way up Yuuri’s stomach with every moment that passed in his fruitless search.
Until Yuuri finally spotted it, tied fastly to the side of the ship.
Carefully, he stepped backwards, feeling the ridge of the side with his hands as he put one leg over…..
Accidentally kicking a barrel over with the other leg.
LOUDLY.
Yuuri immediately dropped over the side of the ship, landing in the dinghy, and started fumbling to undo the knots.
Firelight washed over him
“OI! The pig’s getting away!” Screamed a short, blond, green eyes boy.
The boy jumped onto the side of the ship, obviously about to jump.
But at that moment, Yuuri caught the final knot, and the dinghy plunged down into the icy depths, leaving the green eyed boy grinding his teeth.
“Victor!” Chris yelled, banging the door open.
Said airheaded captain woke up with a start, propping himself upright.
“Chris?”
“Prince Yuuri escaped!”
That caught Victor’s attention.
He was immediately up, fastening his cloak, and striding forwards, shouting out orders left and right.
Striding up to the edge of the ship, Victor saw a small, wooden boat moving away in the horizon.
Victor smirked.
“You won’t get away that easily, solnyshko”