Across The Seven Seas

Bastard

Shit. Killua cursed, cornered. He could hardly breathe, the little oxygen in the room wasn't enough and it was depleting fast. There was fire on all sides, his only survivable choice was to jump off the balcony. Though, to do that, he'd have to run through a wall of fire.

Just when he thought life couldn't get worse.

Killua'd be damned if he let himself die in such a way. Whenever he dies, it'd be on his own terms. Not because some low-life band of thieves set fire to the castle. At least Killua had the closure of knowing his younger siblings were out of town. Shopping for festival wear with their mother. So they were out of harm's way.

"Fuck it!" Killua shouted out as the fire became unbearably hot. With all the courage he could muster in the moment, he charged towards his balcony. Not bothering to take the time to open the doors, he crashed through the glass and over the rails.

Killua gasped as he fell into the bay. A mistake, seeing as it caused him to breathe in the salty water. It stung his lungs, and his throat. He struggled, and eventually emerged on the shore, taking labored and raggedy breaths.

Once he could pry his mind away from his burning lungs, Killua saw the pirate ship not far off the coast. The crew had used smaller boats to reach land without docking, it seemed.

Killua sighed, laying back on the pebbles. Closing his eyes, he couldn't care less about whatever was happening in the town. The unrivaled royal guards would be fighting off the pirates, anyways. There was nothing to worry about aside from breathing.

Despite having thought that, Killua heard violent clamor. Getting closer, too. If he heard right, the royal guard had pushed the pirates back. As Killua thought, everything was fine.

Killua then heard the tumbling of dozens of boots on the pebbles of the shoreline. Right, if the pirates were pushed back, they'd retreat back to their ship.

Meaning, Killua was in their path.

Realizing this, Killua jumped up and thought he could still run for it. He was too late, however. One of the pirates grabbed him by the arm, their constricting grip not allowing for Killua's escape.

"'Ell today sure ain' yer lucky day, mate, eh?" He laughed. Then, looking down, he noticed the pendant attached to Killua's collar. "Aye... you wouldn' 'appen to'be-a Zolduck, would ye?"

Killua glared, yanking his arm away. "I'll have you know I'm the heir to the land! So I suggest you beat it out of here, thief!"

"A lively one, eh." The pirate grinned. "Ell, yer just da guy we need! Oi! We got arselves a bargaining chip!" He announced to the others.

Killua's face paled. A what.

A young woman that was getting into one of the smaller boats looked over. "You idiot! We don't have time for games! The guards are closing in on the others- we need to bring the ship around pronto!"

Yes! Killua looked to the man. Surely, he wouldn't waste time with him. They were in a hurry, clearly. The safety of their crew was-

"I'm sayin we take 'im wit us! As insurance."

Fuck! Killua swallowed.

"You have a point..." She sighed. "Tie him up! We need to go!"

Killua dragged his feet, writhing, trying to resist as best he could. It was useless, though. This giant here was too strong. "Fuck you! Let me go!" He screamed at them.

"Oi." In the boat, as they left the shore, the lady held a dagger towards Killua. "You wanna keep your tongue, you shut the fuck up. Got it, pipsqueak?"