Despite the slight inconvenience of having a captive running loose on my ship, my morning had been rather uneventful. Not much could be done as most chores were taken care of by the crew, and steering the ship in a singular course was not exactly difficult and could be accomplished by the steerman alone. Since my cabin was still occupied by the young pirate, I was not very keen on returning to my chambers all too soon. As such, I busied myself with smaller inventory tasks, and regular chores on board. I was carrying a sack of flour from the ship’s lower storage towards the kitchen when one of the younger men on my crew came flying down the stairs, hair unshelved, his eyes searching around the lower deck until they met my own.

- Captain! A ship has been spotted, we think it might be bandits.

Sometimes you should not even entertain the thought of boredom, as one might suddenly be thrust into something you did not ask for. I cursed mother nature under my breath, imagining the shallow waves crashing onto the sides of my ship as a spiteful gesture of amusement, our suffering for her entertainment. 

- Aye, I’m coming.

With that the young man seemed satisfied, and ran back up to where he came from moments ago. No day could be quiet any more, so it seemed. I begrudgingly followed up to the deck, where most of my crew had gathered on the starboard side of my ship. As I got closer to the railing, I too was able to make out the distinct shape of an oncoming ship, though I could not make out the colour of their flag with my mere eyes. 

- Here, Captain. They don’t seem to bear any flag or colour.

I accepted the spyglass from David, raising it up to my left eye, closing the other in order to see through it more clearly. Once I zeroed in on the ship, I too could not see any flag or colour hanging from their sail, or mast. There were no clear signifiers on the actual ship either, though it resembled a typical merchant ship from around the mediterranean. It would not be surprising if it was a stolen ship and the men on board were bandits. I lowered the spyglass, handing it back to David before raising my voice to address my crew.

- They seem to be bandits, likely stolen the ship and the goods on board. I suggest we prepare for battle, but we only attack if they raise arms. What say yee?

A resounding “Aye Captain!” rung across deck, as my fellow crew voiced their excitement at the prospect of getting to unsheath their swords and fight. Though it would take some time, as the stolen merchant ship would not be within distance for another few hours. The men began to prepare for the oncoming fight, their eyes now lit with an intensity that I had not seen for some time, as we had yet to come across a good fight for far too long. It was rather likely, these bandits would not be a good fight, but enough to break the dullness that had hung over my crew the past week or so. I too began preparing for a battle, though I knew we were more than likely already victorious, having seen the size and state of the average merchant ship. Knowing it had few cannons and fewer possibilities of surprising our crew. 

The next few hours were filled with anticipation, the crew were fidgety as they polished their weapons, or re-counted their pouches of gunpowder. The lull before the storm or chaos that were soon to ensue, always brought the weariest of feelings to any man. There was something in the air, an anticipation, a notion of something coming our way. As the ship came closer, a shout from the crowsnest rang across the upper deck. 

- Red flag!

I quickly walked up towards the starboard side of my ship once more, as the ship was now much closer, I could make out the red flag waving in the wind, and the movements on board the merchant ship. They were preparing much like ourselves, for an attack, though unbeknownst to them it would be their last. 

- All men on deck, prepare the cannons!

My crew yelled out a clear “Aye, Captain!”, before manning the cannons, and preparing for a proper fight. It didn’t take long for the first shot to be heard, seeing splinters shoot up from the railing where one of the bandits had aimed for my ship. I yelled for the first few shots to be taken at the smaller ship, the cannons ripping through the rough wood, making large dents in the small ship that was clearly not made to withstand such force. As the rest of my crew prepared for another round of cannons, I watched as the bandits were beginning to steer the ship closer towards my own, close enough to make an attempt at boarding my vessel. 

- Arm yourselves, prepare to fight man to man!

Just as I yelled out the last few words of my order, shots and screams could be heard as the bandits began to swing themselves across the water, and landed onto the deck of our ship, armed with nothing but swords and knives. The mere idiocy of these bandits was a clear indication that they were either inexperienced or out of their mind. I quickly pulled up one of my guns, aiming it at a young man who had just jumped onto my ship. We locked eyes for a mere moment before I pulled the trigger, shooting him square in the chest, the force of the hit throwing his body overboard and into the unforgiving ocean down below. From there it continued, man after man came on board, knives and swords swung aimlessly above their heads, one after the other their bodies made their way into the ocean, or onto the blood-soiled wood underneath our feet. The adrenaline is far too powerful for a man to feel the cut across their chest, or the loss of a limb in the midst of battle. I had just blown a man half across the deck, now missing the right side of his face as my eyes landed on a figure on the other side of the deck. I could see his back from here, wearing clothes that I was unfortunately all too familiar with. His hair was just as blonde as I remembered it to be from earlier when I had chained him to my cabin floor. I could barely believe my eyes, but the moment he turned towards my direction, his purple eyes meeting my own from across the deck, I had my suspicions affirmed. As our eyes locked onto one another, his pupils dilated in recognition, only to just as quickly turn into something entirely different. A challenge. His smirk was just as annoying as I remembered it to be, his lips curved slightly, and eyes shaped like crescent moons as he thrust a knife into the gut of the man before him, all without breaking our eye contact. I did not have a chance at questioning how he had made it onto deck before I suddenly had a man throw himself at me, sword swinging heavily in his haf-limp grasp. I quickly parried his sword with the barrel of my gun, before unhanding him, letting the sword slide across the wooden floor and away from us. I pressed the muzzle of the gun against his head, the man was mid-breath as I pulled the trigger, not looking at the carnage of whatever mess was left behind as I was all too distracted at keeping my eyes on the escapee. The damn pirate was seemingly having the time of his life, swinging his knife across the skin of the quickly dwindling crew of bandits still alive on board. His body language tells of the ease and swiftness he seemed to have when stabbing, carving or gutting the men who were yet to die to his blade. I simply remained still where I was, not bothering to interfere, still uneasy as to how he had managed to get out of my cabin, seeing the ruined chains still hanging from around his wrists and ankles. Somehow he was not slipping or stumbling on these, as he skidded across the blood-soiled deck, knife expertly going from one man to the other, aiming for the best spot available, underneath a ribcage, right below the sternum or right into the neck. He did not seem very careful to get soiled by the guts or blood of the bandits, as his shirt was completely ruined with the innards of the dead men laying in his wake. As the last few men were taken care of, I finally holstered my gun, before walking up towards the loose pirate, who’s eyes were still scanning the upper deck for more men to kill, almost as if he had yet to be completely sated.

- That was quite the stunt you pulled. Pirate.

- Well it was nice to come outside and get some fresh air.

- Is that so?

- Aye, I needed to stretch my legs a bit, they were quite sore from laying on the floor.

- I can only imagine.

As I had approached him, I let my hand take a hold of the knife he still held in his hand, his grip immediately letting go of it, and willfully letting me throw the knife off to the side. His eyes almost seemed brighter than normal, though that was likely just the sun reflecting off of them. Though he seemed overall in a much better mood than earlier. 

- Since you have your hands free, care to help clean up this mess?

- Oh, the bodies? Aye, I can do that.

He looked surprisingly excited at the prospect of mopping up guts and blood off of the floor, but I was not about to question what had just transpired, knowing I would likely never truly understand the actions made by this particular pirate. He was an enigma no man would ever solve. As such I left him to fetch a mop and bucket from the other crewmen, who seemed to not recognise the pirate as he was quite filthy from the fight, handing over the supplies without a second thought. 

Before retreating back inside my cabin, I couldn’t help but notice the obvious. 

- Where is my door?