The Captain's Bride | Ninjago Jaya AU [Complete]

The Feast

A/N

This story's gonna be pretty secretive on some departments, so I fully expect some juicy predictions from y'all 👀.

By the way, the 'shanty' I mention in this chapter is actually a real French nursery rhyme called "There was a little ship" if you want to look it up. In the Greek version, the one I grew up with, the young boy doesn't pray and get saved, instead being eaten by his peers as more and more people are voted to be eaten, so no happy ending there.

Hope you're liking the story so far.

Enjoy!

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By the time the sun rose, the bottom floor had emptied.

He frowned in his sleep, trying to make the ringing noise go away.

But alas, when the bell chimed near his ears, he jumped. He covered his ears, trying to shut it out, but he failed.

"No need to be so aggressive..." he grumbled, but once he turned to face the pirate, he swallowed his words.

The woman was intimidating without even needing to look at her face, which was covered beneath a horned helmet and a piece of cloth over her mouth. She was much stronger than he could ever wish to be, much taller, and certainly much scarier... She reminded him of Cole, Head of the King's Royal Guard and one of his best friends. Unlike Cole, however, it was unlikely that she would have soft spot for him; in fact, she would probably snap him like a twig if she had the chance.

"Breakfast is served in an hour," she said tonelessly. "Flintlocke wants you on deck."

He nodded and she left without another word, her steps alone making the floorboards shake.

He quickly got up on his feet, playing with the fabric of his white tunic as he too left, trying to collect his thoughts.

His boots creaked against the stairs when the previous night popped into his brain. Slowly, he went back down, and, after making sure that no one was there, tried to open the door.

It was unlocked and the room was empty, just like Flintlocke said it would. He walked inside cautiously, squeezing past the barrels to search the mattress on the floor that would soon be his.

They had taken the note with them, it seemed. He smiled.

When the fresh, cold wind filled his lungs, he remembered just how much he loved the freeing feeling that could only be experienced on such a ship. It was quite different than the days he had to mop the floors on the trip towards his kingdom, hoping for a promising career on his then new home.

That had all gone out the window, it seemed.

He inhaled deeply as a seagull flew past, reminding him that he wasn't alone, after all.

"You're not an early bird, are ye?" Flintlocke told him, the crowd of pirates clearing his path as he approached.

"Just stayed up all night working," he said. "You have a nice workshop."

"You're a hardworking one," he said, patting his back. "You have potential."

He wasn't planning on being one of them; nevertheless, he smiled.