Python from the Underworld II.

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #1 

With a help of great luck and they managed to defeat the fishmen who robbed the transporting ship and retrieve part of the stolen cargo, hopefully together with the chest that was supposed to contain Myra´s Devil Fruit. Unfortunately with all the chests locked and the pirate ship right behind them they didn´t have enough time to actually check if their assumption is true.

Speaking about the pirates, Moon hoped that they will prioritize the remaining loot over hunting them, but this hope proved false. Right after they sailed from the island the pirate ship changed it´s course and followed them. Although their small sailing boat was fast, the much bigger and better armed caravel of the enemy was faster and so with every passed minute they were getting closer and closer.

BOOM…SPLASH!

Gabriel turned backward from the helm just to see a small fountain of water after heavy cannonball hit the sea circa ten meters behind their stern.

“They are too close, we won´t be able to run away.”

He stated the obvious while looking on the enemy´s ship. It was small caravel for something between thirty and forty crew members ,armed with four medium sized cannons and one smaller on the bow, from which they were shooting on them. Their flag, regular skull with cross bones that were set on fire said nothing to him, but Professor guessed that it belongs to the tall and heavily muscular man with wild red hair, who was standing at the bow, armed with huge hammer. As the rest of his crew looked rather ordinary, Gabriel would probably risk a fighting with them, under normal circumstances, but since he had broken hand and Myra´s leg wasn´t in the best condition either this option wasn´t really viable.

BOOM...SPLASH!

Another cannonball, this time closer than before.

Gabriel cursed for himself.

“Myra, can you take the helm for me? I´ll try to keep their fire away from us…”

Moon yelled on his companion, while quickly pulling one of the looted crates in front of the helm so she could at least sit down on it.

[Cat]

Myra #1 

Gabriel helped her to get on the board and then he grabbed the helm. She sighed when her ship moved again because it gave them a chance to be not caught by pirates or whoever wanted her devil fruit.

„Pirates...“

She noted when she looked more carefully in the direction of their pursuers. The young doctor quickly jumped/ limped to her bag, which she left on the board. Without hesitating, she quickly began bandaging her foot and ankle. When she finished, she looked at the situation around her.

It looked bad, the pirate ship was closer to them and cannonballs almost hit her precious ship. She frowned and looked at Gabriel, who wanted her to sit and hold the helm. She looked at closing pirate's ship and then at the sails, which needed some manipulation for quicker sailing.

„All right“

She limped towards the helm but didn´t sit down.

„You have to adjust sails, this ship will survive one cannonball, but attack of pirate ship definitely not“

She said to him and looked towards the horizon, where she hoped to saw some savior for them.

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #2 

Professor Moon frowned, when Myra refused to sit down despite her injured leg, attributing it to her stubbornness and pride, rather than to her magically improved condition.

“Our sails?”
Moon took a quick look on them and had to agree that some adjustment were in place, but still he doubted that their single mast could outperform the double mast of the pirates.

“Ah whatever, as if they had something to lose...”

Gabriel leaved his post on the stern of their ship right at the moment the pirates fired another round.

BOOM...SPLASH!

The heavy cannonball hit the water on their right, sprinkling him with a drops of salt water.

“Can you at least try some evasive maneuvers or something?”

He yelled on Myra, while using the ropes to adjust their sails and squeeze some extra speed from their boat.

“HEY YOU LITTLE RATS LISTEN TO ME!”

Powerful voice resonated through the air. Gabriel turned his head finding out, that it was the pirate captain who was yelling at them from the distance.

“MY NAME IS CARLOS MUTEBA AND I AM CAPTAIN OF THE FIREHEAD PIRATES! SURRENDER TO ME, RETURN WHAT YOU STOLE AND I PROMISE I´LL RELEASE YOU FOR A FAIR RANSOM!”

Gabriel slightly chuckled, but than he noticed something on the horizon. White sails of a big frigate with Marine´s logo painted on the sails.

They were still far away hardly visible for someone without his eyes and their course wasn´t ideal at all, but still…

“Myra, change our course towards that ship”

As he wasn´t sure if she can see them or not he pointed in the right direction with his arm.

“They are marines”

With that, he turned to the approaching enemy´s ship, walking back to their stern with a gentle smile on his face.

“I AM TRULY SORRY CAPTAIN MUTEBA, BUT AMONG THESE CRATES IS ONE THAT BELONGS TO MY PARTNER OVER THERE, SO COULD YOU PLEASE WAIT UNTIL WE´LL FIND WHICH ONE IT IS? WE WILL THEN GIVE YOU THE REST!”

Playing for a time wasn´t really his forte, but right at the moment he didn´t have many other options.

[Cat]

Myra #2 

Myra tried as she can to look sure and stable even with her wounded foot. She was glad that Gabriel had other things to do and didn´t pay much attention to her. She hopefully looked at the horizon. She saw some small shadow which could be ship or only the result of her imagination.

Before she could decide which case it was, she heard Gabriel. She frowned and almost scolded him for that question. Before she could do that, the captain of their pursuers yelled at them and she fell into an unhappy laugh.

She could pretty good imagine how he asks for ransom for her and how it would end.

„If you think it is a good idea...“

She muttered for herself, but Gabriel quickly directed her attention back to the horizon and to the small blur, which looked like a ship at the moment.

„Working on it, just….“

She didn´t finished and completely forgotten, what she wanted to say. Her mind was completely overloaded by analyzing Gabriel´s response to the pirate captain. She wasn´t sure what to do as a reaction so she preventively wave with her hand while leading her ship in direction of the marine ship.

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #3 

“WARARARARARARARARARA”

In reaction to Gabriel´s request the captain Muteba started laughing hysterically to the point of tears, together with his whole crew. Irritated by their response, Moon was watching their mirth thinking, that if nothing else he joust managed to buy them extra minute or so.

“WHAT THE...DO I LOOK LIKE A GOOD UNCLE CARLOS TO YOU?”

The captain started yelling again, this time with a wide smile on his face.

“LISTEN UP OLD MAN IT´S NICE THAT YOU WANT TO PLAY HERO AND ALL, BUT EVERYTHING ON THAT SHIP, INCLUDING YOUR SHIP IS NOW MINE UNDERSTAND!”

Gabriel frowned.

“Old man? Look who is talking you are three years younger than me at best...”

But he didn´t say anything. At least for that moment as he noticed that their exchange was drawing attention of their whole crew and while the crew was looking at them, their adjusted sails against their unattended ones slowly started to make a difference in their favor.

“I AM REALLY SORRY BUT THAT WON´T BE POSSIBLE. YOU SEE, IT´S HER BIRTHDAY GIFT AND...”

Captain Carlos sighed.

“AH I SEE, THAT´S UNDERSTANDABLE, IN THAT CASE...ARE YOU ******* MAD?”

Someone obviously lost his temper as even from that distance, Gabriel could see bunch of veins popping on his forehead.

“STOP ******* AROUND WHO DO YOU THINK I AM? I AM ******* CARLOS “FIREHEAD" MUTEBA CAPTAIN OF THE FIREHEAD PIRATES WITH THE BOUNTY OF ******* TEN MILIONS BELI SO YOU WILL EITHER SURRENDER AND GIVE ME EVERYTHING YOU HAVE OR I WILL SINK THAT TINY BOAT OF YOURS TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA!”

Gabriel sighed.

“What I think about you? Be glad you don´t know that.”

The pirate couldn´t hear him, but it wasn´t necessary as someone in the crow´s nest finally spotted the Marines.

“CAPTAIN! MARINES ON THE HORIZON!”
His voice could be heard even on their ship just as the curse of his captain.

“THAT LITTLE RAT WAS PLAYING FOR TIME!”

Instead of proper response, Gabriel just waved him. Firstly they were already out of the effective range of the smaller cannon and they were getting farther and farther away with every second. And secondly, his vocal cords were too tired from their previous exchange.

“THINK YOU CAN ESCAPE?!”

However the captain obviously didn´t have the same problem, as his voice was strong as ever when he started to spin his hammer.

“What the...he is going to throw that thing?”

The answer was yes and no at the same time. Captain Firehead really threw his hammer, but without actually letting it go from his hand with caused that the hammer carried him right against their ship.

“You have to be kidding me...how heavy is that thing?”

Cursed Gabriel for himself, before raising his voice.
“Myra grab something!”

“FLYING CARLOS!”

Second later huge, more than two meters tall, heavily muscular man with wild fiery red hair and huge war hammer landed on their ship with such force, that the bow rose so high that the ship as a whole was almost perpendicular to the sea before falling back on the surface.

[Cat]

Myra #3 

Myra wasn´t surprised by hearing a laugh from the pirate´s ship. Gabriel´s request must sound childish to them, especially if they didn´t notice the other ship.

„Please keep them occupied“

She said, while the pirate captain introduced himself together with his bounty. The price of ten million Belli took Myra´s attention to another option, but then she decided to not risk with her wounded leg.

A few seconds later, one of the pirates saw a marine ship and yelled it loudly as a warning. Myra frowned and her eyes fixated on the marine ship, which seemed to change course to them.

„We need more...“

She didn´t finished. She felt like everything around her slowed down and the pirate captain landed on her ship. It caused a dangerous swing of the board of her ship. She looked at the chests and boxes on the board, which were sliding to the taffrail.

„Nooooo“

She without thinking jumped in the trajectory of the most of boxes. The result of her action was that boxes hit her and stopped with her as the only obstacle before falling into the sea.

„You...“

She growled at the pirate captain and took her revolver and shot at him without thinking.

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #4 

As the ship rocked up and down, Gabriel had to quickly grab the taffrail to keep himself on the ship. Quick look behind showed him, that Myra obviously loved her crates more than her health as she literally jumped in front of them, catching them with her own body, before emptying her revolver into captain Mutebe. Moon himself had to find cover very quickly to not get caught in the crossfire. Because four of the five bullets found it´s mark, the professor expected the fight is over, so when the pirate started laughing he startled for a bit.

“WARARARARARARARARARARARARARA, you really think that little stings like that can actually hurt me? NAIVE! HEAVY CARLOS!

From the closer look on his body, Gabriel noticed that captain Firehead have dozens of scars ranging from knife and sword wound to a gunshots, but he was probably more reckless than immortal as the pain from his wounds caused him to stop for a moment with his hammer high over head.

Long enough for Gabriel to step in with his “Phantom Step”.

The last thing he wanted in that situation was to play hero, but he could imagine what would happen if that thing hit the deck of their ship with full force and it wasn´t nice image.

“WORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

“Empty Moon”

Hitting the side of his hammer, with his own palm, Gabriel pushed just enough against it to change it´s direction away from his body and their ship.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"…..SPLASH!

Carlos´s war cry quickly change into surprised scream when he noticed that the momentum of his own overweighted weapon is pulling pulling him from the ship down into the ocean.

Quick look down there showed Gabriel that even with his monstrous strength the Firehead captain could barely keep himself above the surface while still holding onto his hammer.

“Just wait right there! I am going to kill you you little mouse!”

He yelled angrily on their retreating ship, while his own people were changing their course, preparing ropes to help him out of the water.

“Yeah….stand in the queue...”
Muttered Moon while looking on the broken taffrail Mutebe took with himself when he was falling from their ship.

“Myra, are you alright?”
He tried quickly change subject to some hopefully safer topic.

[Cat]

Myra #4 

Myra didn´t miss a single shot, but to her surprise, the pirate captain was too stubborn to stop in his arrogant behavior. He laughed and tried to continue in his attack. This time he chose Myra as his target. She made a roll to the side, which was one of the few things she was able to do with her foot. She looked at Carlos, who continued in his attack, and saw Gabriel, who was trying to protect her.

Her relief was quickly changed for anger when she noticed Carlos was falling to the sea from her boat and destroyed taffrail.

„Hey!“

She protested and looked at Gabriel who deprived her of her prey and ten million Belli and also damaged her ship!

„Why did you threw him down? I had it under control, I wanted money from his bounty!“

She looked at him discontentedly. She limped to the helm and corrected slightly course of the ship to the marine ship. The pirates were still too close to risk a mistake.

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #5 

As expected, Myra was upset about the broken taffrail, but what Gabriel didn´t expected was that she was upset about him saving her life and her ship.

“Because if I didn´t step in, he would probably smash our ship into the pieces and probably kill us both for all that bullets you put in him?”

That was what Moon wanted to say, but he didn´t. He was old and experienced enough to know that there are time, when man can not say truth to a woman no matter what so he used the only answer that was correct in this situation.

“Hmmm, sorry, my hand slipped.”

To make sure, they are safe, the professor looked behind them, but the almost drowning Carlos didn´t look like a thread and so he headed back to the helm to replace Myra who needed some rest.



With how the situation turned out, Gabriel hoped that the Marines will go after the escaping Firehead pirates and will leave them alone, but he was once again mistaken.

After the pirates pulled their captain back to the safety and turned their ship away for a strategical retreat, the marines, instead of pursuing them turned their ship and started sailing along theirs. Than, out of nowhere shadow flew over their ship. Young man in the uniform of marine captain with a handsome face and long blonde hair, armed with rapier made perfectly executed somersault a gently landed on their deck in deep bow.

“Good evening poor victims!”

He said theatrically almost as if he was actor on stage.

“My name is captain Charming and I am honored by the opportunity to protect your lives and property on your way home.”

With that he straightened his backs and turned to Myra completely ignoring Gabriel who was more and more irritated by his presence with every passed second.

“May I be so bold and ask you your name my lady?”

He asked while kissing Myra´s hand.

“Woof?”

Asked Beast silently, while making disgusted face.

[Cat]

Myra #5 

Gabriel apologized to her, which Myra didn´t expect. She looked at him with a badly hidden surprise in her expression. To hid it more properly, she decided to be generous and accept his apology.

„It´s all right, I have my eighteenth birthday after all! I shouldn´t be in bad mood.“

She smiled and limped from the helm and leaned against the non-broken part of taffrail. She was still a little bit angry about losing her opportunity for her first bounty to collect. She observed the marine ship, which headed to them.

Suddenly, someone jumped on her ship and wished her a good evening. Myra raised her eyebrows because it wasn´t evening but afternoon. She observed a blonde man with contempt and suspicion. When he said he is captain, she preventively looked on his uniform to verification of his statement.

„Thank you for your help, captain Charming“

She said to him with a slightly cold voice and without interest in the continuation of their debate. The captain was probably ignoring, her intonation, because he tried to kiss her hand. If he wasn´t captain of the marine ship and her foot wasn ´t hurt, she would probably kick him just for his behavior.

„My name is Myra Raven“

She said with disgust in her voice without any attempt to hid her feelings. Was he some kind of bad parody of heroes from the books? She wasn´t sure, but it was strange.

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #6 

Captain Charming was either more oblivious than Gabriel thought was possible, or he was deliberately ignoring disgust in Myra´s voice, because after kissing her hand he straighten his back with a dazzling smile on his face.

“Myra Raven, what a beautiful name.”
He exclaimed with one hand on his chest while the other one was outstretched towards Myra.

“One that´s definitely befitting beauty like yourself! My dear...”

With exaggerated gesture he pointed towards his ship, while taking Myra around her shoulders.

“may I ask invite you on my ship?! We have to celebrate this fortunate meeting! Because believe me when I am saying, being able to rescue you from this distress is the greatest honor this ship ever received! ”

Gabriel cleared his throat with the fingers of his healthy hand extended in the “Nukite” position.

“I am sorry captain”

he said, trying his best to sound as polite as possible

“but wouldn´t it be better if you tried to capture that pirates who attacked us?”

He pointed towards the quickly retreating ship of the Firehead pirates, however the marine captain ignored him completely saying.
“Of course, your...butler and dog”

He smiled indulgently on Gabriel who had to muster all his will and self control to resist sudden urge to imprint the sole of his boot onto that man´s face.

“can join us too. They can eat with the rest of my crew.”

The way he said it made it sound like if he considered not only Gabriel and Beast, but also the men under his command as something insignificant compared to himself.

“Now...”

he gently pushed Myra towards his ship, from which his men already lowered the footbridge, but than he noticed the bandage around her ankle.

“Oh, my lady how rude from me! I am terribly sorry, please forgive me, but I didn´t noticed, that you are hurt. Come, allow me to carry you!”

Saying that, he tried to take Myra into his arms and carry her on his ship.

[Cat]

Myra #6 

The captain of the Marine ignored her intonation and unwillingness to talk with him. Myra started to doubt his intelligence when he tried to praise her name. When the captain touched her shoulder she frowned, it was strange …

She looked around and saw Gabriel, who had obviously the same opinion as her. Which he showed when he asked about pirates. Myra was grateful for his attempt and hoped the marine ship will leave them pretty quickly. But no…. The captain lack any intelligence, or he simply didn´t want.

„I´m really sorry, but I couldn't ´t attend your celebration, I have different plans.“

She said to him and limped a step away from the marine. She really wanted to look for her birthday gift, which was somewhere among other boxes from the assaulted shipping ship. Myra looked at the marine and quick calculation forced her to change plans.

THEY HAD STOLEN GOODS ON HER SHIP!!!

Myra sighed.

„I am really sorry, but I have a birthday today, so I wanted to celebrate them“

She tried to explain her motives for not agreeing with him and also deliberately gave him an excuse for true celebration. She wanted to befriend that strange marine and maybe use his help to safely and quickly arrive on the next island.

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #7 

Myra probably couldn´t see that, but Gabriel noticed, that right after she tried to excuse herself from Captain´s Charming party, his eyes dangerously gleamed as he looked towards the crates scattered on the board.

Or maybe she did notice, because right afterward his assistant came up with swift excuse for her refusal.

“Birthday?”
Asked captain Charming with wide smile on his face.

“Oh my dear and there I thought this day couldn´t be more marvelous! This has to be providence of the fate! Men, prepare ship for a celebration and you my lady please follow me. As a gentleman I have to make sure, that your today´s birthday will be the best day of your life!”

With that the captain once again tried to lead Myra on his ship, while his subordinates on it´s deck cheered. However despite they tried to sound merrily, Gabriel couldn´t but notice, that their voices sounded annoyed and the looks on their faces weren´t any better.

“Go ahead, we will clear this mess and catch with you later.”

After saying that, Moon tried to begin with the cleaning, however captain´s strict look stopped him.

“Excuse me?”
He stretched the words into affected length.

“Who is going to attend to miss Raven, if her butler...”

Professor Moon was determined to behave politely, but what was enough was enough.

“Captain...”

He raised his voice as if he was facing one of his misbehaving students and not a marine officer. To his sincere surprise it made the peacock shut up.

“I am her employer, not a butler and...”

Gabriel didn´t finish as he realized, that captain Charming lost all interest in him already.

“Whatever.”
He sighed and started cleaning.

Meanwhile on the upper deck of the second ship, the marines set a small table for two with a burning candle and few plates with deserts.

[Cat]

Myra #7

The captain Charming led her to his ship and ordered Gabriel to be the waiter at the celebration of her birthday. She wasn´t surprised when he declined. What surprised her, was Gabriel and his announcement he is her employer.

Myra remembered their agreement about translations and explanations of medical terms, but she was his manager! She looked at the captain and decided to not argue with Gabriel.

„Thank you for your help and saving us from piretes“

She decided to thank the marines and their captain. The marines didn´t look happy about her presence on their ship. Young doctor doubted that they would even have prepared food for the party. She looked around and thought about what to say and broke the silence.

„I never was on a marine ship, can I look around? … A little bit?“

She made pleading puppy eyes at captain Charming and smiled. She looked around again and with a playful silent laugh, she decided to walk around the board.

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #8 

Beast ran on the Marine ship right after she smelled food and so Gabriel began to clean the scattered crates and chest, carrying them down, bellow the deck as fast as his wounded arm allowed him to do. He was naturally curious about Myra´s Devil Fruit as he never seen one, but he didn´t want to spoil Myra all that fun connected with going through the crates and so he left them unopened. He was about halfway though, when another Marine came down on their ship. This one fortunately looked more...normal than his captain. Tall and wiry man in his late thirties, with short brown hair that already began to turn gray, armed with cutlass and two pistols. Lieutenant according to the rank designation on his uniform.

“May I help you officer?”

Asked Moon carefully with one hand resting on a nearby crate.

“Patrick, you can call me Patrick and no, actually it´s the other way around, I was hoping that I will be able to help you.”

Gabriel smirked.

“Not a fan of big celebrations?”
He asked as he started pushing another crate towards the door.

Patrick looked in the direction of their deck and sighed.

“Let´s say I would prefer battle over our captain´s romantic poetry any day in the week.”

Moon chuckled.

“Is it so bad?”

“Worse.”

The marine assured him walking across their ship to help him lift the crate and carry it down.

“How did someone like him even became a captain?”

Asked Gabriel when they put the box down and headed up for next one.

“Ah, you know how it works...our previous captain retired and this guy was send here from the HQ, highly recommended and took the command over the ship.”

“Hmmmm”

Patrick noticed the tone in Gabriel´s voice and shrugged.

“Orders are orders, by the way, where are you heading?”

“East Blue, and you?”

Patrick laughed.

“Well, that´s one bad luck for you. We captured some wanted guy few hours ago and so are heading back to the West. And as I know our captain, you are going back with us.”

Gabriel silently cursed.

---

Meanwhile on the board of Marine ship upheaval started, when Beast sprinted towards the table with desserts.

“Uuuh, bad dog, bad!”

Captain Charming tried to push her away, carefully as he didn´t want to be to violent against Myra´s presumed pet.

Luckily for him, one o his lower ranking officers got the right idea and brought some leftovers from the kitchen including fish heads and pork bones, which occupied her for long enough so the captain could once again pay attention to his guest.

“Ah, sure off course you can my lady. Take your time, meanwhile my men will prepare some music and lunch for us. Just avoid the jails there is really horrible criminal locked there, whom I captured myself just a few hours ago!”

For some reason the warning sounded more like boasting than anything else.