"Seventeen deaths, captain."
Arthur Kirkland looked over his crew, all of them at least bloody or battered somewhere. They'd suffered the worse loss in a long time to the Spainards, possibly their worst loss they would experience in the rest of their pirate career. With there being thirty-three on the crew overall before the brawl. That meant they lost more than half of their crew. And it was a skilled group, most the best of the best and others simply there to help out. This meant the captain had to replace some irreplaceable people.
"Bloody hell," he murmured to himself, usually calm yet cruel eyes acidic and piercing. "All because I kidnapped his precious Italian for a day..."
The Brit paused in his complaining momentarily, looking up at his remaining crew. The death toll consisted of the best sniper on the seven seas, three excellent swordsmen, four watchmen, three amateur gunsmen, and the remaining members were either peasants hired to clean or cook. He couldn't have lost this many people. He was a better captain than this!
"Crew, I hope you never 'ave ta lose like this again. This is the worse a captain can feel! I lost half 'a my bloody crew today! Ya'all need ta up your fightin' if you wanna stay on this ship or ya'all can walk the plank!" he yelled at them, smirking widely when he noticed their eyes widen and they cowered back slightly. He almost never showed that rough of a side, only after losses.
"C-Captain.." one of the scrawnier, meeker members of the crew said, but he was cut off with the tip of a sword less than an inch away from his throat.
"I'm done with ya. All of ya, start repairin' the ship or get some rest. We're gonna head ta America. They have a decent gunman there." the blonde said with a flicker of danger in his eyes before bringing his sword back, feeling like he'd terrorized them enough, and spun around on his heels to begin walking along.
Arthur sighed softly when he reached his quarters, taking off his pirate hat and setting it on the wooden desk. He didn't know if he was really meant to be a pirate sometimes, but he had a lot of experience in the career- if it was even one- and didn't want to abandon it as it was. He'd get killed mercilessly anyways. After all, he was wanted in a lot of cities for a lot of things. He didn't even know anymore.
Once he had placed the hat back on his head and exited his personal living space, he noticed everyone out on the deck had stared at him, freezing in place to look at him before quickly resuming their work or chat. He simply decided to blame it on the fact they were still jumpy from the surprise attack given by the Spainards. Hell, Arthur almost died fighting that stupid Spainard, Antonio, who was the captain of their ship.
The captain made his way up to the upper deck, each footstep creaking a plank. Once his hands touched the wheel of the ship, however, he let out a contented sigh. This was the only time he felt like the pirate life was worth it. He really felt like he was worth something, not just one of the many pirates on the sea. Something about staring at the ocean soothed him. He didn't know what it was. That and the fact the wood was so comfortably worn; he remembered when he first got the ship and everything was so new. It was lovely, but annoying to not hear the creaks of wood as he walked across the deck. He also found that comforting, for some reason.
The next thing Arthur had to think about was the crew he had to replace. His gunner had been his right-hand man, the next captain if the Brit died. Sighing gently to himself, he shook his head and adjusted his eye patch. Was this new gunner on the rise worth it, to travel all the way to America? He believed the rumors that he heard- the gunner was exquisite. Almost better than the gunner he'd had beforehand. Oh, well. He could think about that later.
He waited until late: when the mess hall and decks were empty, and when all of his crew were in their quarters. The captain headed inside his own then. What if the gunner was actually female? He shrugged that thought off too; though his crew was strictly males-only, because they were tougher (or so Arthur thought) and had better endurance during times of a famine on the ship. He wasn't going to worry about a feminine gunner. They could hardly hold the ones with the larger kick anyways.
He removed his hat and heavier layers of his uniform before crawling under the wool blankets on his bed. It gave a resistant creak under him before adjusting to his weight. He closed his eyes and relaxed, his tense muscles releasing. Just before he was asleep, he heard a loud yell.
"Land ahoy!"
So much for sleep, the Brit thought before grinning widely. They were already there- that meant they could have a new crew in a matter of days, maybe even hours. A pirate got what a pirate wanted.
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hey guys, it's meee~ i'll hope to be updating this story as much as i can. any recommendations or comments? i'm open to critique. review please? x
