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Joel’s crew had abandoned him ages ago.
Which was fine! If they couldn’t handle how he ran things, then that was on them. He didn’t need them anyway. He was perfectly capable on his own and he knew, eventually, he would get a crew that understood him enough to stick by him. A crew with the same morals as he had.
Of course, he knew how hard that was. Especially within the ‘pirate’ business. See, Joel wasn’t really what would be considered a ‘normal’ pirate. He didn’t pillage or steal or kill unless it was toward other pirate crews. It was the whole reason he became a pirate after all. To get revenge on them for burning down his village and killing his family.
Yeah, he knew it was cliche. But at least he was spicing it up a bit by becoming a pirate himself instead of joining the navy. That’s what people usually did if they wanted revenge against pirates anyway.
Joel had amassed a crew for a short amount of time before he forbade them from pillaging a coastal town. When they realized Joel wouldn’t let them do anything ‘fun’ they left. Which, again, was fine. Joel didn’t want crewmates that acted like that anyway.
Having no crew was fine, until it wasn’t.
Joel had been sailing along the ocean, heading toward another town in the hopes of finding someone to join his crew when he noticed another ship in the distance. At first, Joel wasn’t worried. There were trade ships out and about as he had gone along and they usually steered clear of him when they realized the flag he was waving.
But as the ship grew closer, Joel realized a similar flag waved on the other ship.
He did not need pirates coming after him right now. Without a crew, they would make quick work of him. He turned the ship a bit, trying to head down a different path and hoping to put more distance between them and him. If he managed enough, maybe they would give up and leave him alone.
Of course, these were pirates he was talking about and trying to run only made things worse. It had been miles already and the ship was still following him. The scariest thing though, was that it was actually catching up to him.
Joel was helpless to do anything as the ship pulled alongside him. He winced as hooks with ropes shot out of their cannons and hooked onto his ship, reeling him closer. He had seen this trick countless times before and he knew there was really no fighting against the pull. Joel backed away as a pirate placed a plank across both ships and, a guy Joel could only assume was the captain, walked across on to his ship.
“Well, well, well, what have we here?” The captain asked, sneering at Joel. Joel sneered back.
“I don’t want any trouble.” Joel bit out. Normally, he would love it, but without a crew to back him up, that would not be a smart thing to do.
“Heh, well with that flag you're waving there, you sure are asking for it.” The captain said, amused. Joel clenched his jaw. He knew he should have taken it down for this journey.
“Where’s your crew? Hmm? Lost at sea? Cowering in fear below deck?” The captain banged his heavy boot on the ground and laughed. His crewmates, who were still on their own ship, laughed with him.
“I don’t have one.” Joel said, seeing no reason to lie when a quick search would show how alone he was.
“Oh really?” The captain raised a brow at that but his grin didn’t drop. “Shame. For you, that is.” The captain chuckled and unsheathed his sword, stepping closer to Joel with it. Joel backed away in turn, cursing himself for not having his weapon on him. “This is going to be the easiest plundering of my life.”
“Not so fast!” A voice shouted, causing confusion among Joel and the other pirate crew. They looked around for the source when Joel spotted it. A ship, that seemed to have come out of nowhere, was coming up beside them. A man was aboard, the one who had shouted, with his arms crossed and looking back and forth between the two ships. Although, like Joel, his ship also seemed to be empty otherwise.
The captain seemed to have spotted him too because he laughed. “Oh this is rich. Another lone pirate.” The captain’s laugh turned to a sneer. “You might want to get out of here laddie. Or else I’ll run my sword through you after I’m done with him .” He motioned toward Joel, who winced.
The other lone pirate only smirked. “See, that’s where you’re mistaken. I’m not alone.”
“Your ship seems pretty empty to me!” A pirate from the other ship shouted.
“Yeah, small too! Ain’t no way you’re fitting a decent crew on that thing anyway!” Another jabbed and they all laughed.
The man shrugged. “I tried to warn you.”
Joel could only briefly wonder what the heck this guy's plan was before the water around them began to shake and wave. He nearly lost his balance as it made his ship bounce around a bit. And then, suddenly, a… head popped out from the water. And then arms. And a torso and…
Oh. It was a giant mer.
They were all screwed.
She was glaring down at them, making Joel feel weak in his knees. The others seemed to be feeling the same. He saw the captain's crew cowering in fear, unable to keep their eyes off the giant mer. The captain, too, also seemed to be at a loss for what to do.
“Grian?” She spoke, eyes glancing down toward the other lone pirate. Though, Joel was now thinking that wasn’t a good way to refer to him anymore, considering he seemed to be in cahoots with the giant mer.
Grian simply pointed toward the other pirate ship and that seemed to be all the giant mer needed. She nodded and then reached for the other ship. The crew jolted out of their frozen state and started running around maniacally in fear. It would be funny if Joel didn’t think he was next.
She lifted the ship out of the water, which Joel could only stare in awe about. And then, more amazingly, she shifted the ship to just one hand and then reached toward Joel’s own ship. Joel’s eyes widened and then he shut them tight, bracing for the feeling of his own ship getting lifted. But instead of that, he heard the sound of the captain screaming. He opened his eyes back up in time to see the mer’s hand lifting the captain up in a pinched grip.
She lifted him up to her face and for a moment, Joel thought she was going to throw him into her mouth. But instead, she just glared at him and set him back onto his ship. With the whole pirate crew now on the ship, Joel watched as the giant mer wounded back and then threw the ship into the horizon.
Joel followed it as it flew with wide eyes. But eventually, it launched out of sight. The mer had managed to throw it so far that he hadn’t even been able to see it land . It was lost to the horizon and Joel knew they would not make the landing.
“Are you okay?” A voice said from right behind him and Joel jumped with a yelp. He turned around only to find that Grian had boarded his ship. And with the giant mer hovering behind him, it created a menacing aura.
“I-I…” Joel stammered out, backing up a few steps. His eyes shifted between the giant mer and Grian, not knowing what to do. He was pretty trapped here.
“Don’t worry, we aren’t going to hurt you.” This time, Grian wasn’t the one to speak, but the giant mer. Joel’s gaze went to look at her and he noticed that she was smiling. But not in a creepy malicious way or anything like that. It appeared to be friendly.
“Then…what about…” Joel trailed off, looking back toward where the giant mer had thrown the ship. When he looked back, she was frowning and Joel tensed.
“They deserved it. They were ganging up on you, 20 to one. I don’t think that’s very fair.” She huffed and Grian nodded in agreement.
“What’s your story, by the way?” Grian asked, arm crossed. He looked at him with a slight head tilt. “You’re very clearly a pirate but you’re alone. What happened?”
“I could ask you the same thing…” Joel muttered to himself, wondering how someone like Grian got a giant mer working for him. He took a deep breath. “My crew left me ages ago. I’m not really the kind of pirate captain they were looking for.”
Grian raised an eyebrow. “And why is that?”
Joel sighed. “Because I only steal from and kill other pirates. I want revenge for them burning down my village and killing my family when I was a kid.” He explained his tragic backstory or whatever, wondering where that was going to get him.
Grian blinked and looked at him for a moment. Then he smiled and let out a small sigh. “Looks like we made the right choice then.” He turned towards the mer. “Good work Gem!”
Gem grinned and lowered herself so that only her head was peeking out of the water. She was more eye level with them and the ship now.
Joel shook his head, now more confused than anything. “Okay, what on earth is going on?”
Grian placed a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry about the scare. I’m Grian and this is Gem. We’re an…unconventional pirate duo, you could say.” He said this with a grin.
“I would definitely say that, yeah.” Joel said, eyes still darting back and forth between the two. “I’m…I’m Joel.”
“It’s nice to meet you Joel.” Gem chimed in and Joel startled a bit at her voice. But he nodded at her.
“So…what. You two help people in need or something?” Joel asked, trying to get a read on this whole situation. Grian waved his hand in a so-so manner.
“Or something. Really, we keep people out of Gem’s territory.”
“ Our territory.” Gem said and Grian huffed.
“Alright, fine. Our territory. And we kill pirates when we can but we also try to save who we can too. That’s my job. I go out and gauge the situation, see if they are good people or not or if they have prisoners. And then Gem comes in and takes care of them.” Grian and explained. Joel blinked.
“Huh.” That sounded…well, great honestly. It seemed they had a really good thing going here. “It sounds like you’re kinda doing what I am. Or, what I’m trying to do anyway.” Joel hadn’t really been successful yet. What with his lack of crew and all.
Grian nodded. “Yeah, it does. So don’t worry. Gem isn’t one to eat people even if we don’t like them. And you seem great, so you’re safe here with us.”
Joel finally let himself relax, believing what they said.
“Do you need any more help?” Gem asked, her face coming a bit closer when she saw that Joel believed them. Joel was still a bit wary of her size but he tried to keep himself from tensing back up. “I can’t take you all the way to the mainland, but I can take you across our territory.”
“Or…” Grian started and Gem looked down at him with a raised eyebrow. Joel turned to look at him. Grian smirked. “Maybe…since our goals are so similar anyway…you could join us?”
Joel blinked. “Uh…” Before he could say anything, a giant hand reached down and scooped Grian out of the boat. Grian and Joel both yelped, Joel scrambling back as he watched Grian get lifted into the sky.
Gem smiled at him, though it looked a bit more forced. “One second Joel, I gotta talk to Grian real quick.”
Joel then watched Gem swim far enough he could only barely make out whispers but not at all what they could be saying. Gem was turned around as well, so he couldn’t see her facial expressions either. He could guess what it was they were talking about though. It probably had something to do with Grian’s sudden invitation to join their little crew.
He wasn’t sure if the invitation would still be open when they were done talking but he thought about it anyway. Grian was right, their goals were similar. And Joel did need a crew. He would also be lying if he said he wasn’t curious on how Grian and Gem became a team in the first place.
If he joined them, all his questions and problems pretty much disappeared.
It really was a no-brainer then.
He just hoped the invitation was still valid.
Gem swam back, an unreadable expression on her face. She brought her hand back down on the ship, letting Grian off. Grian dusted himself off, not looking all too bothered by having been suddenly picked up and held. Grian smiled at Joel and offered his hand. “Offer is still on the table.”
Joel’s eyes widened and he looked at Gem. When she saw this, her expression softened a little and she chuckled. “Well, at least you know who's really in charge.” She joked, causing Grian to sputter a bit and Joel to laugh. “It was just sudden but I’m not against it.” She said and then smiled. “I think the three of us could be a really great team actually.”
“So?” Grian said, still holding his hand out. “What do you say?”
Joel grinned and took Grian’s hand, shaking it. “I’m in.”