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As much as I didn’t want to be tying ropes at this late hour, I had to admit that the sea was truly breathtaking. It was a warm evening, the sun was just setting, and I had the perfect view from the largest mast as I fixed some faulty rigging. I wanted nothing more than to sit up there and watch the sun sink below the horizon, but unfortunately, I was a “pirate” and I had duties.
And just as I was about to finish those duties-
“Weigh anchor! Prep the sails! We have to reach the channel by midnight!”
The booming voice startled me, throwing my focus off and causing me to nearly topple over.
“Shit,” I swore softly, releasing the rough wood I hastily gripped in anticipation of falling. Great, now I have a splinter. The devilish wood chip was imbedded far into my palm, painfully protesting as I flexed my hand open and shut. My own jumpiness was really biting me in the tail. I did my best to ignore the slight throb from my hand and tugged the knot I had made one last time for good measure. Shimmying across the beam, I reached the netting and began the climb down to meet up with the loud, splinter-inducing Fleet Commander.
He stood on the upper deck, towering over every sailor that ran past him while preparing the ship. His green eyes scanned the progress, but always seemed to find their way back to me just long enough to cast a wary glance and look away.
Fleet Commander Mike Zacharias didn’t trust me, but fortunately, the feeling was mutual.
It wasn’t like I had signed up to be a part of his swashbuckling pirate party. No, quite the opposite happened. I was forced here by none other than Erwin the Egregious, famed leader of the ironically-named pirate clan The Wings of Freedom . He had “hired” me after I attempted to steal his gold rings that constantly adorned his fingers and a satchel of gold he was carrying as well. Ambitious, yes, but I was feeling lucky. As a talented pickpocket, I had usually made off with my bounty fairly easily. I overestimated my skill and underestimated how astute a rugged-looking pirate was.
Erwin caught me almost immediately, seeing right through my sweet-talking and seduction as I approached him in a shitty dive bar. Of course, I didn’t know that until he invited me into an alleyway behind the building and threatened to cut my fingers off if I didn’t give him his stuff back. At that point, I thought about making a break for it, but as soon as a dagger was to my throat, I dug through my pockets to return his goods. When he didn’t drop the dagger, I panicked, thinking he was gonna slit my throat and leave me to bleed out.
But instead Erwin offered me a job.
A place on one of his ships, under one of his right-hand men. I’d talk to royal sailors we planned to rob, making myself look like a noblewoman captured by rogue-ish scallywags. When they eventually bargained for my release, his men would board their ship and take their riches by force. In exchange, he’d let me live, give me my own room aboard one of his ships, and offer a purpose for my “dull, cowardly existence” as he put it. I would’ve accepted regardless of if he had a blade pressed to my jugular, but the threat of death made me answer quickly. Erwin dropped the dagger and smiled, offering a large hand for me to shake.
I was in.
Not a week later, I moved my little amount of belongings onto Fleet Commander Mike’s ship. Erwin had originally given me an option between him, Fleet Commander Hange, and Captain Levi (who led a small flotilla that did special jobs for Erwin). After meeting both Hange and Levi, I decided Mike was the least intimidating and opted to join his fleet.
At first, I mostly did charting under close inspection by a fellow sailor named Nanaba, but slowly Mike “trusted” me with harder tasks like checking rigging, fixing sails, and sometimes even steering the large ship. Even though I had been hired to trick royal sailors, I was starting to like being a pirate. It was freeing; the sea air filling my lungs, and the salty wind stinging my eyes. I finally felt like I belonged somewhere, something I hadn’t experienced before. It was nice.
What wasn’t nice was the splinter in my hand.
I was pretty annoyed about it as I climbed onto the upper deck and walked towards Mike, who still had his eyes trained on me. He stood up a bit straighter as I approached, as if he needed to be any taller. With a quick inhale through his nose, he gestured for me to follow him into his office. I did, keeping pace with his long strides as best I could without looking strange. The large door swung open and he stepped inside, waiting for me to do the same before he swung the door closed behind me.
“Are we any closer to the Odetta yet?” I asked, knowing exactly why he called me in here.
“Yes, we should be there in a couple hours. Are you ready?” Mike confirmed, walking behind his desk and checking over some supply reports that Captain Levi had stolen to help us pull off this robbery.
“I am. Can’t be too hard, right? Fooling a bunch of rich, horny bastards?” I joked, trying to get the stoic commander to crack a smile. Of course, he smiled, even laughed, in the company of his friends. I had seen it many times with Nanaba, Hange, and even Levi (who didn’t smile or laugh, ever) in the month I’d been a part of the clan.
But he didn’t smile at my words, or even look up from his reports. The only indication I got that he even heard me was a grunt and the words, “Need any help getting into that outfit Hange gave you?”
“No… I’ll be alright. I can cinch a corset myself.”
“Well, go do that. Make yourself look as much like a kidnapped noblewoman as possible.” The way he said it sounded like the end of the conversation, and I began to wonder why he even brought me in here in the first place.
“Aye, aye, commander.” I saluted sarcastically, which he didn’t see with his nose in the reports, and began to make my way back to my room.
-
So… the job did not go according to plan. The royal sailors on the Odetta never saw through my act, but they were smart enough to realize that the pirates boarding their ship did not plan on bartering for me. They refused to hand over any of their gold, and when Mike decided to go over to talk some sense into them, they pulled out guns.
Oh shit, we did not plan on them having guns. I thought frantically, quickly freeing myself from the loose ropes that had “bound” me to a mast. Running to the side of the ship, I tried to see everything happening on the Odetta . Mike had his hands up and he was speaking calmly, but he was too far away for me to make out any words. But I did see that he was buying time. As he spoke, many of our sailors crept back across the planks of wood they used to board the noble ship in the first place.
Among them was Nanaba, who had climbed back first. As soon as she reached our deck, she gestured to two other sailors, Lynne and Gelgar, and then to the row of cannons lining the ship’s perimeter. I understood the order, but not the intention. Were we going to sink the ship? The ship that had our reserve on it? I watched as Lynne and Gelgar made short work of setting up the cannons and aiming them for the Odetta. Nanaba stood behind them with her back turned to me. But as if she could feel me watching her, she turned around and met my eyes.
“You know how to shoot a cannon?” She asked, crossing her arms. Oh shit.
“Uh, no, not exactly. I could learn though.” I hoped my answer would suffice. I did want to help, and maybe this was the right way to do that.
“Good, get over here.” I did, quickly joining her behind the rows of cannons. “These are all loaded.” She started to explain. “It’s a simple process, really. You just aim for the other ship, light this,” Nanaba grabbed a rope protruding from the back of the cannon. “And stand back. It’ll fire on it’s own, but you don’t want to be near it when it does. When you aim, go about halfway down the hull. We need to have enough time to collect the money and get everyone off the ship before she goes down, but if we hit too low, we won’t have time to do that.” As she finished, she turned back to me. “Got it?”
I ran through the process once again in my head. “Yes, I got it.”
She nodded. “Don’t shoot unless Mike gives the order. He’ll raise and lower his left hand twice if he wants us to fire.” And with that, I was in charge of a death machine.
Turning my attention back to the confrontation happening on the Odetta’s deck, I watched Mike’s hands carefully. They were still above his head, and he was slowly backing up towards his escape route. Now, he was the only one from our ship over there, and I didn’t understand how he was planning on getting the gold and leaving with his life. It really seemed like one would prevent the other from happening. But if I had learned anything about Mike in these past weeks, it was that he was persistent, brave, and confident almost to a fault. It would be attractive in any situation besides a life-or-death one.
And these noble scumbags weren’t letting up.
They continued to advance on Mike, even as he was retreating, seemingly issuing apologies, and weaponless. Their guns were held in defense, trained on his figure as he finally made it to the planks. Showing off a bit, he walked back across, hands still up. I caught a few words he said to them as he walked back.
“Sorry, fellas! Won’t happen again, our mistake entirely!”
Alright, he has to have a plan. What’s his plan? The situation seemed increasingly hopeless as the noble men began to dislodge our only way across to their deck. Mike was still walking across, and their guns were still trained on him. What are they-
Oh. Oh, no.
“Mike, run!” I screamed, grasping the end of the rope leading to the cannon, striking a match, and lighting it up. He looked back at me, confused, before realizing what I was doing. I jumped back while he ran as fast as possible without falling off the planks.
Two different booms rang out at once. A gunshot and cannon fire.
The massive lead ball shot out of the barrel of the cannon, flew towards the Odetta , and hit her dead center. It was so structurally damaging that the ship immediately cracked and began to take on water. The impact had also knocked the planks off, and for a moment I thought I killed Mike. But Nanaba had grabbed his hand and threw his entire weight behind her and onto the deck, saving him from an impromptu watery end.
So, down went the Odetta , down went the treasure, and-
“(Y/N), what did you do ?”
-down went my life.
-
Mike was cradling his left bicep as he walked towards me, which was slowly dripping crimson blood. I would’ve reached out and tried to help his injury if he wasn’t so visibly angry at me. His entire face looked like the beginning of a massive thunderstorm, telling me, in no uncertain terms, that he was absolutely furious.
“Mike, wait, let me explain!” I began, but he silenced me with one massive palm held out in front of him.
“That was our funds for the next three months. Because of you, it’ll be at the bottom of the ocean in about an hour. What on God’s green earth were you thinking?” Mike asked, his voice still calm and level, his emotion only portrayed by his face.
“They were going to shoot you! I couldn’t let them do that!” I fired back, feeling my face flush as I realized everyone was watching our exchange.
“That wasn’t a decision for you to make. You are not the captain of this vessel.” He sighed, wincing slightly as he shifted his arm in order to pinch the bridge of his nose. “25 lashings with the Rope’s End.”
“ What?” I asked, dumbfounded. I saved him. I saved him, and this is what he had to say to me? “You would be dead if it wasn’t for me! And you’re going to lash me?”
“We will reconvene on the upper deck in half an hour, where (Y/N) (L/N) will receive her punishment.” Mike didn’t meet my eye as he delivered his “ruling”. The crowd of onlookers immediately dispersed, Mike included.
Before he could get very far, I called to him. “Wait!” He turned around. But I didn’t have anything to say to him. Gathering as much dignity as I could, I ran past him and into my quarters with tears stinging my eyes.
-
I was bad with pain. I always had been. Even splinters, like the one I got earlier, had bugged me immensely. Being flogged would likely be the death of me. Whether it be from pain or embarrassment, the Grim Reaper was knocking on my door.
Okay, I was being dramatic.
The Rope’s End wasn’t the worst flogging tool, not by a longshot. It was short and only had one tail, which wasn’t even knotted. While, yes, it would hurt and I’d likely be sore for days, I would not bleed or pass out from the pain. It wasn’t the Cat O’ Nine Tails, which absolutely would make you bleed. That was a small kindness, at least.
I had just begun my climb to the upper deck when the nausea hit. Luckily, I had eaten very little today, but that didn’t stop the rising bile in the back of my throat. Oh, I really shouldn’t have shot that cannon. But then where would we be as a captain-less vessel? Erwin would be mad, he would probably take his anger and grief out on this crew. We would probably be split up among Hange and Levi’s crew, some of us even let go or killed to keep us from talking about our previous career as bloodthirsty pirates. No, I had made the right decision. I saved Mike, and I would be tough and take my punishment. If that meant he stayed alive, so be it.
Steeling myself completely, I stepped onto the deck. The crew had gathered in a circle around Mike, who had a bandage around his wound and a whip in his hand. A path cleared for me as I approached him. As I reached the inside of the circle, Mike grabbed my hands and tied them above my head by a hanging rope attached to the sail. Nanaba was suddenly by my side as well, and she lifted and secured my loose blouse to expose my back (thankfully, she was careful to leave me my decency by covering my chest). She left me once again, and I was alone as the center of attention.
I was surprised when Mike started to speak as he disappeared behind me. “A real pirate is fierce, strong, loyal, and brave. They can take a couple lashings with a whip and survive. They are not scared in the face of death. I take pride in delivering this punishment, as there is no doubt in my mind that (Y/N) has every one of the traits needed to be a good pirate. In her time here, I have seen her grow from a common thief to a real lady of the sea. I’m proud to call her my crewmate and subordinate. She will take these 25 lashings like a woman, only to become stronger and fiercer. Now,” Pain suddenly sliced across my back, stinging badly even before the crack of the whip reached my ears. The surprised cry ripped from my throat seemed to echo ominously back at me. “One.”
“Two.” This isn’t too bad.
“Three.” I can do this.
“Ten.” Everything is blurry.
“Fifteen.” There go my knees.
“Twenty.” The nausea is back.
“Twenty-five.”
I was released from the ropes, but instead of standing tall like I had originally planned, I collapsed to the ground. My vision was swimming, I couldn’t think through the stabbing pain in my back. I reached a hand around my own waist as I felt something warm dribble down my back. My fingertips were covered in my own blood when I looked at them. That was the final straw, and all of the acidic vomit from earlier pushed its way out of my insides on up onto the deck.
I sat panting for a couple moments until I had enough strength to stand. Everyone was still watching me, their faces probably paler than mine in that moment. I looked to Mike as I wiped my mouth, who approached me and took my hand, raising it above my head.
Cheers went up immediately, praises being thrown into the air. I wanted to smile, but I was in such pain that I probably only managed a grimace. This wasn’t the typical reaction, seeing as every one of these men and women around me has probably been flogged at least once. But I hadn’t, and I was not as accustomed to the ways of the sea as they were. So, the support felt nice, even if it was maybe a bit overzealous.
Eventually, it died down and the crew went about their work. Mike was still holding my hand, though not above my head anymore. I looked at him, only to see his emerald eyes trained on me already. Meeting his stony gaze, I tried to decipher what he was thinking. His features didn’t betray him this time. Instead, he tugged me across the deck and into a room that I didn’t recognize. It was larger than any other room I had been in besides the mess hall, with a small desk, an attached wash room, a massive bed, and a closet.
It took me an embarrassing amount of time to realize it was Mike’s quarters.
“Sit on the bed.” He mumbled after closing the door behind us. I did, wincing slightly as I lowered my body to the mattress. Mike retrieved a wet rag from his washroom and moved to sit behind me. The calloused hands on my sensitive and bleeding back made me jump, but the warmth from the rag calmed me again. “I’m sorry…” He whispered softly, his breath tickling the back of my neck slightly.
“It’s alright, I understand why it happened. I shouldn’t have disobeyed you. You had a plan and I ruined it.” I replied, running my hands down the fabric on my thighs to keep my mind off of the gentle hands on my back.
“No, it’s not alright. I-,” He sighed heavily, pausing the gentle touches to my back. “I didn’t actually have a plan. I didn’t know how we were going to get the money off the Odetta , and I didn’t know I was about to die. If you hadn’t shot that cannon, I would be dead right now.” My eyes widened at this, and despite the pain in my back, I turned around to face him.
“You mean…”
“I lashed you for being a hero, just to save face. If people don’t respect me as their superior, we may have an uprising and they could attempt to overthrow Erwin. I know it doesn’t make up for what I did to you, but… I did it for the good of our Regiment.” Mike’s eyes were trained on his hands, which still held the bloody rag he had been cleaning my back with.
All of this… to save The Wings of Freedom ? He was so loyal, almost to a fault. Even this, which clearly went against his moral code, was not too far for him if it meant he saved his comrades from a theoretical uprising. And, though I should’ve been furious, I could not muster the emotion for it. Instead, I looked at this massive man sitting beside me looking like a kicked puppy and felt sorry for him.
“Hey,” I cooed, reaching to cup his cheek and bring his eyes to mine. “I don’t hold it against you. You acted for the same reason I did, to save someone you respect. That’s loyalty, and didn’t you say that was one of the qualities of a good pirate? Fleet Commander Mike, you are a great pirate and the bravest man I’ve ever met. You’re so brave you didn’t even realize you were in danger. And I appreciate you. You put me in my place, and everyone with an ego as big as mine needs that sometimes. Thank you.” As I finished speaking, I was surprised to find Mike’s eyes began to shine with tears. I was at a slight loss for words, but before I could say anything else, Mike leaned forward.
His lips touched mine softly at first, as if he was asking if it was okay. My whole face exploded in heat, but I pushed through my flushed daze and pressed my lips back firmly against his. My hand, which was still on his cheek, was slowly becoming wet with his tears and I brought my other one up to join it. My thumbs rubbed his tears away as we continued kissing, only breaking away for a moment to catch our breath and smile at each other before reattaching our lips.
At some point, his tongue found its way to the entrance of my mouth, prodding slightly before I parted my lips and let him in. I shivered as he grazed his teeth with my own, and, in a surge of sudden dominance (and maybe fear of laying on my back), I pushed him down and straddled his waist. His muscled arms wrapped around my lower waist (below the wounds) and pulled me down so I lay on top of his chest. From there, his lips left mine and he began kissing down my jaw and eventually reached my neck, quickly finding a particularly nice spot just below my ear that made me gasp. Mike paid extra special attention to that spot, rolling the skin between his teeth and kissing it in a way that sent spikes of pleasure through me. Jesus, he is good at this...
Why didn’t we do this sooner?
-
By the time we were finally done exploring each other with our tongues, the sun outside had completely set, leaving us tangled together on Mike’s bad, bathed in candlelight. He had bandaged my back up for me and was laying under me in just his briefs, leaving me in one of his nightshirt with my hair splayed out across his chest. He traced small shapes on my shoulder and hummed, which sent pleasant vibrations through me and kept time with his heartbeat.
As his breathing slowed, I knew he had fallen asleep. I snuggled further under the covers and closer against him, letting the rock of the sea lull me to sleep.
The fool who fights always comes out on top, hmm?