We set sail and it didn't take more than a couple of days on the sea to have a realization. Pirate movies didn't tend to show all of the boring stuff. I basically spent all day just swabbing the deck. What made it worse was the fact that I couldn't even talk too much for fear of another person on the crew hearing me and doing the thing where I get stabbed.

I tried to talk to the gray bird who had told me her name was 'Heather' or to Hubert or to Shelldon whenever I felt it was safe. This became a bit of a game in itself and helped with the boredom. The penguin just waddled about and was a favorite pet among the other crew members. Even the captain, who didn't speak much either, could be seen scratching the penguin's head from time to time. I wasn't complaining though, any love the penguin got probably helped me gain trust since I had brought him aboard.

Heather squawked loudly and then said, "Ship!" Anyone in earshot looked around and saw what she was warning us about.

Then, a yell came from above. It was one of the riggers higher up and loud enough for most of the sailors to hear it. "Sails ho!" The crew all started running around doing their jobs to turn the ship towards the approaching vessel. Maybe it was from extreme boredom, but I was more excited than I had been in a long time. Finally some action.

I moved close enough so that I could hear the captain's orders but continued to swab and otherwise look busy.

He looked through a spyglass and then shouted instructions for the crew to get us closer to what appeared to be a friendly pirate vessel. I guessed we were just checking to see if the smaller and lighter ship had news. I had other plans.

When we were close enough for my scheme to be put into effect I used my Distant Utterance spell to make a loud shouted threat come from the approaching ship.

"Surrender yer ship or be ye fired upon!" Came the call from the other boat. I had made it as magically loud as possible and it was enough to reach the captain's ears.

"The bilge-sucking traitors! Come about and prepare to fight, all hands! Take no prisoners!" The caption's commanding voice boomed over the crew and everyone seemed to move double time.

As the ship got even closer, I used the spell a couple more times to enrage the captain even more. I'd never seen him so angry. The other ship came up broadside to try and hail the captain, but he was ready with every cannon that faced them.

The loud booms came almost in perfect unison as about a dozen cannonballs struck the other ship doing a massive amount of damage. The captain gave the order to close the distance and board the vessel. I wanted to impress the captain and also squeeze the captain of the ship we were attacking for information. I kept up my persona as a non-verbal person who definitely didn't have access to a dimensional space and got the captain's attention with only a mop in my hand.

I motioned to myself and then over to the other ship to ask permission to go over there and fight. It was a decent enough charade to explain my intentions and he seemed to appreciate the fighting spirit. That or he wanted the entertainment factor of watching me fight with a mop and probably die.

I ran up to the highest point I could easily reach and used my elevated strength, agility, and ability to jump double the regular distance and jump from one ship to the other. I landed with a roll and smacked one of the enemy combatants right in the face with my trusty mop. He was knocked out and his face was slightly cleaner than it had been previously so that was a bonus.

I was able to pull his dropped cutlass into my inventory without anyone seeing as far as I could tell. I continued to fight with the mop to avoid as many casualties as possible. By the time I reached the captain's quarters, I had at least a half dozen cutlasses and a couple of other makeshift weapons in my inventory. I couldn't have this captain telling my ship's captain that he hadn't ordered the attack so I reminded myself that he wasn't a real person and pulled a cutlass out and fought him.

He was better with a sword than I was but I was better at pulling extra weaponry from my inventory to sneak attack a person mid-fight. I quickly looted him and then ran around pulling everything possible into my inventory. The only items left in the room were the large table and desk and anything else that was secured down. I would have to look through all of the papers, maps, and random loot later if I didn't want to be found out.

One of my shipmates burst in and saw me standing by the body of the captain. I left his captain outfit on him but swapped out one of the standard cutlasses for his much nicer sword.

"Ye were able ta run the traitorous dog through?" He asked with enough surprise in his voice to make me feel a little bit self-conscious. I nodded in response. "Grab his sword so ye can present it to Cap'n Porter."

He took me before the captain and I kneeled down on one knee presenting the sword I had pretended was the one that the enemy captain had used. He took it and inspected it.

"No wonder ye defeated that scurvy traitor, his cutlass was poorer than that of any captain I've seen on these waters," he continued looking over the sword for a few more seconds and then handed it back to me. "Ye be a proper sailor now. Someone who fights as ye do be difficult to find. Ye'll not be swobbing decks anymore, as captain of this ship I promote ye to the rank of cabin boy and guard."

I bowed low and then stood up and gave the captain a friendly smile and a nod. I went to put the sword away but I couldn't add it to my inventory and I didn't have a scabbard or sheath or anything. He noticed my struggling and laughed a hearty laugh.

"Go grab a scabbard from one of the dead on the other ship before we sink her," he said pointing over to the other ship. "Feel free to take any trinkets that be left over but be swift or bones is what you'll be." I nodded, ran, and jumped over to the other ship.

I found a scabbard and also found that even if the bodies had been looked over they hadn't been looted yet. It was quite possible that the other pirates just didn't have the looting capabilities that I had. I must have looked silly sprinting full speed from body to body, but I was the only one onboard the ship that was about to sink and I understood why. It was already starting to take on a bit of water from the initial cannon attack.

I was still able to search the decks and found dozens of barrels of hardtack, clean water, salted mystery meat, gunpowder, and even a couple that were full of limes. I also picked up a pile of cannonballs, any rope I could find, a few fishing nets, and all of the previous shipwright's tools. This was a huge haul and I looked forward to doing this on every ship we fought. I felt something cool on my ankles and realized that it was seawater.

I ran to the top deck and jumped back over to my ship. It made sense that the pirates hadn't taken all of those supplies. The ship can only handle so much weight. The fact that I could store all of it in my dimensional space without weighing multiple tons afterward was amazing. I had so much stuff to trade at this point that I was itching to find a trader after this was all over. I just wish I could lift the cannons on the ship but they all felt like they weighed a ton and I couldn't lift them yet.

I wondered how I could test my strength, but I hadn't found a good method yet. I didn't worry about it too much and went to find the captain and wait for instructions. That evening while I lay in my bunk I looked through the items that I had picked up earlier. None of the papers were all that helpful except for the maps that auto-filled in some points of interest in my personal map. All I had to do was scan them for a moment and they worked their cartography magic. The best new item I had gotten was the captain's sword that I wouldn't be able to use until my cover was fully blown.

Captain's Cutlass (Rare)

This well-made sword was designed for slashing.

It will easily cut through a thick rope and less easily cut through a thick skull.

My new job was much easier than swabbing the decks. I just grabbed the captain things he wanted, did a little light cleaning around his normal areas of operation, and listened in on all of his important conversations.

I was able to learn a little about the pirate hierarchy, but this particular captain didn't seem to be too far up the totem pole so I didn't get too much out of him. From my understanding, there were a few tiers of pirate leadership but no one would talk about the highest tiers out of fear.

Using my Distant Utterance over the following weeks gave me the opportunity to chat with five more pirate captains about the 'higher ups'. They were tight-lipped even under the threat of death. I was getting more and more frustrated and it almost messed up my plan as Captain Porter's first mate walked in on me mid-questioning on the last ship. Apparently, I was getting a little louder than usual and he heard me. I ended up having to kill him and the captain this last time which was regrettable and didn't make me less angry.

I quickly looted everything and then picked up the first mate's body to bring back to Captain Porter. He saw us exit the opposing captain's quarters and yelled at me to bring the body over. He was visibly distraught. This ship wasn't as damaged so the captain's orders were for a small crew to take it to a location that was only revealed to the acting captain of the other ship.

They'd be taking the first mate's body to this secret location and I figured it had to be some sort of pirate home base for this much secrecy to be necessary. It was all very hush-hush and I couldn't do my usual looting which made me even angrier at myself for screwing this one up so bad.

I had gotten a little snippet of information, but it wasn't anything I could be sure was one hundred percent accurate since it called for some assuming on my part. I couldn't ask Captain Porter directly so I decided to continue with the status quo. I knew I was gaining more trust, but I was getting a little frustrated at the time it was taking to bear any fruit.

Barry was fast asleep from a full day of the difficult and dangerous work of rigging. Heather, the beautiful gray parrot, sat perched on a rope that ran beside my bed so I decided to talk quietly with her for a few minutes.

"Do you think I am too angry, Heather?" I asked her quietly.

She squawked loudly and repeated, "Too angry."

I looked around to see if she had disturbed any of the other sleeping pirates. There were a few tosses and turns, but no other response.

"Nevermind," I said wanting to end the conversation.