“Sounds like we’re about to come ashore,” I said. We had been waiting and listening intently for the past couple hours for shouts of land. Finally they had come. We couldn’t tell the time in the cargo hold, but the sun had almost edged below the horizon before we left. We must be well into the night by now. The dark sky would play a pivotal role in our daring mission.

“Let’s switch rooms. There should be a sleeping quarters with some hammocks or beds if we go up to the lower deck,” I whispered.

“Why didn’t we just hide there in the first place?” Pedro stared confused while checking his bag to make sure everything was still there. The caravel we are currently catching a ride on separated itself into three floors. The cargo hold with goods where we currently hid at the bottom, the lower deck with rooms that I didn’t get a chance to peek in at, and the main deck with the sails, kitchen, and captains quarters. The ship was bigger than the one the straw hats used in the anime, but I think it’s still classified as a caravel. I can’t be sure.

“The lower deck probably doesn’t have as many places to hide, but everyone should be on the upper deck, to dock the ship by now. They’ll have to come into the cargo room to unload the ship, and we can’t let them know we are here yet. We need to sneak on to the island to find the money and destroy the base with gunpowder if we can.”

“We only have a little gunpowder, we would need way more right? And how are we going to get off the island without getting caught,” Pedro questioned.

“Crow will have gunpowder for his fleet, so if we need more we can steal it. As far as getting off the island I don’t know yet.”

We walked out from our cover behind the barrels and moved toward the center of the cargo hold. A hatch with a set of stairs attached to go to the floor above rested right above our head. Pedro moved to jump up and pull the hatch down but I placed my hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“Let me check first.” My body started to grow bigger and hairier until my head nearly touched the ceiling. I let my senses take over, using them all at once to pinpoint the locations of the pirates above. None of them were on the lower deck so I motioned for Pedro to go ahead before reverting back to a human. He poked his above, checking out the floor before pulling himself up. I walked up the steps quietly and motioned for Pedro to follow me down the tight hall where 6 rooms were lined up.

Above he could hear Wabul screaming commands out to his crew. We slipped into the middle room on the right and shut the door. The room was tight and the ceiling low, but still big enough to fit a twin sized bed and drawer. A loud splash rang out and then another followed soon after.

“What the hell is going on up there?” I couldn’t quite distinguish their words from here, so I transformed again to hear better.

“You 5 unload the ship and make sure to place everything in the storage hut immediately. I’ll be coming by later to make sure everything is where it needs to be after my meeting with Captain Crow,” Wabul said.

Not too long after Pedro and I heard grunts and feet scraping across the floor.

“Grab as much as you can at once. I don’t want to take too many trips back and forth.” The sounds of cargo being moved broke the silence of the lower deck.

“Why aren’t they docking the boat,” Pedro whispered.

“They probably never built a port. They probably set an anchor near the island and will row the goods there in multiple trips.”

“How are we going to get off without them noticing? Are we just going to wait till they’re done?”

I knew this question would come up eventually but I had been hesitant to address it with Pedro. We won’t be able to always hide. We are going to be up against thieves and murders, we won’t have a chance to think about morals in the moment. If I have to, I’ll kill them but I’ll avoid it if possible. I used to be an air traffic controller in the military before I retired, so I was never forced to kill anyone. But in all likelihood the innocence I’ve carried with me till my death, probably won't be with me after today.

“Luffy is lucky he never has to kill anyone,” I sighed.

“Huh, what’s that mean?”

“It means we have to be ready to protect ourselves. We’re going to wait till they finish unloading the ship and attack whoever is leftover watching the ship at night. If we can capture them we will but if not we will kill them.”

I made sure to say the words with conviction so Pedro would understand. This will be dangerous and there is no going back. It’s time to push all my chips to the middle, no holding back, if I want to win big. Pedro’s face looked worried as he thought it over.

“I guess I knew it would be like this. Captain Crow is ruthless and we can’t hold back. James, you know I’m with you.” He put out fist bump and we bumped fist before going back to listening to the pirates. I stayed in my werewolf state just in case one of the pirates came in. We waited what seemed like hours till the sounds of cargo being dragged away died down.

I tuned into my senses and could hear two men above deck arguing over something. They must be in charge of guarding the ship at night from deserters and thieves.

“There’s only two pirates left on board. Are you ready,” I whispered. Pedro gave me a thumbs up and we stepped out of the room and crept toward the hatch to go to the main deck. I turned back into human form so I wouldn’t scare them immediately and cause a scene. I breathed in and out while pulling the stairs to the main deck down. I walked up and put my hand up to motion for Pedro to stay down there. I immediately saw both of them near the head of the ship looking out while sitting on some crates. Their heads turned around and we made eye contact as their eyes flew open in surprise.

“Who the hell are you? How’d you get on this ship,” the man on the right demanded. Both stood up and drew their swords.

I put my hands up quickly and prepared to pull out the best acting I could manage.

“My name is James. I didn’t mean to sneak on the ship, I was just hungry and scared.”

“Where did you come from?”

“I got on the ship back at Brookhaven. Please don’t hurt me.”

“Ryun, what should we do?” The man on the right scratched his head with his free hand conflicted on what to do.

“Just take him captive, we can let the captain decide,” the man on the right responded.

The man on the right approached slowly with his sword out and reached out to grab me. I jumped forward, cutting the distance while activating my devil fruit. I grew rapidly into full hybrid form and slashed at the sword the man put up to protect himself. I knocked it out of his hand with the slash and brought my leg up, kicking him in the chest. He was sent skidding back toward his partner, and left sprawled out on the deck. I immediately rushed the other pirate who trembled in fear. He ran toward the edge to jump off but I grabbed his foot just in time. I swung him around in a circle overhead and tossed him at the mast, which he hit with a thump. I walked up to check and they were both knocked out cold. Unfortunately we won’t be able to get any info out of them with them knocked out.

“Pedro, the coast is clear.”

Pedro walked up glancing at the men sprawled out.

“We’re going to tie them up and put them in the cargo hold. I’ll move some boxes on top, so they aren’t able to get out.”

Pedro nodded and went to work not even needing my help. I looked around quickly and noticed about two bigger ships a distance away lit up by similar torches to the ones these pirates held. Hopefully they don’t notice us.

“James, they are ready to go. I just need you to carry them down.”

I picked them and made my way to the cargo hold, dropping them off in a corner. I covered them in the sheet we had used early just in case. I went back up and dragged a couple of beds out of the rooms, and placed them on top. They shouldn’t be able to get out tonight. I went back up to deck and saw Pedro staring out at the island.

“Are you ready to go? we’re going to take their boat to the island. We only have a couple hours till the sun comes up. I want to be out of here by sunrise.”

“No problem, I am ready to go.”

I looked up at the crescent moon to prepare myself for what’s to come.