Yarrr!” Her crew groaned in unison. Which only made her laugh harder.

  Lucy grinned and strode forward across the deck, chin high, boots thumping against the weathered planks the way a pirate captain should.

  The sun glared off the river, blinding-bright and catching in the little flecks of salt that the wind kept whipping into her face. Her “awesome pirate-adjacent” hat, really more costume-shop ridiculous than practical, kept flopping into her eyes every time the breeze shifted, smacking her in the cheek like it was mocking her. Still, she refused to take it off.

  Image mattered.

  “Not another…” she heard a familiar voice mutter behind her.

  “Lucas!” she almost yelled, spinning with an exaggerated flourish as if she’d caught him sneaking aboard. “Get yer arse over here, and drag yer lass with ye! As I got to level twenty-five and got class advancement, I swapped the Goddess I worship as a paladin. So I…” She paused and realized her pirate slipped. “I be needin’ Pearl! She be twenty-five in her epic class, aye?”

  Internally, she winced. Okay, that was barely English. But I am committed. Commit to the bit.

  “Yeah, she said… y’know, ask her yourself. I almost don’t understand what you are saying… And that is not her name…” Lucas muttered dryly, nodding his head toward the back of the ship.

  Lucy followed the gesture.

  Pearl was sitting near the stern, legs crossed neatly on the sun-warmed planks like some meditating monk. Eyes closed, posture rigidly still. Her short electric-pink hair fluttered in the breeze, catching the light.

  Lucy’s grin faltered slightly. Of course she’s “watching.” Always watching. Creepy, hacker-y little…

  All of the ships of her “Royal Fleet” which was honestly more of a motley gathering of players, were jammed up along the left bank of the river. The sea wasn’t far; she could smell it: sharp brine and distant tar. But between them and the open water loomed a natural chokepoint.

  Narrow. Treacherous.

  And now fully blocked.

  Enemy ships formed a wall across the passage, dark silhouettes rocking in the current, their sails taut and proud. When she’d ordered the fleet to sail anyway, they’d had the audacity, the gall, to fire a warning shot.

  Lucy’s lips curled into a grin. With a few new level twenty-fives, they could ram through that blockade like a battering ram through paper walls.

  She stomped forward, planting herself near Pearl with a swagger that would’ve made a theater kid proud. “Pearl! Good to—”

  Pearl raised a single finger without opening her eyes. A silent, perfect dismissal. “Watching,” she murmured.

  Lucy cocked her head, hat flopping to the side. Of course. Because normal answers are too mainstream.

  “Arright,” she said, leaning back against the mast, arms crossed with all the dramatic weight of a captain pondering their next conquest. “But when ye done watchin’, we be needin’ a plan, lass. Can’t let these scallywags keep us bottled like cheap rum!”

  “Empire,” Pearl breathed, so softly Lucy almost thought she’d imagined it. “I see Empire flags. Twenty ships.”

  “What?” Lucy nearly yelped. Her knees hit the deck hard as she dropped beside Pearl. “What do you mean, Empire?!” Panic pricked at the edges of her voice before she could shove it back down. The Empire? Here? “Why would they block us? This river isn’t even on their territory!”

  Pearl cracked open her eyes at last, unreadable as ever. “Aren’t you a pirate?” She said, and… was that a smile?

  Lucy blinked. It was the first time she’d seen Pearl actually smile, and that was worth celebrating. So she did, flashing her own in return, big and bright, like they’d just shared a secret joke.

  “I’m a pirate!” she barked, throwing her hands wide. “Yarr, but this be important!”

  The sudden shift in tone made a few nearby deckhands glance their way, but Lucy ignored them. She stomped one boot for emphasis, the hollow thud echoing across the deck, and jabbed her finger toward the blockade as if she could shame twenty warships into retreat. “They be bottlin’ us up like a cheap grog barrel! We can’t be sittin’ ‘round waitin’ fer ‘em to get bored!”

  Pearl sighed. “You do realize yelling ‘yarr’ doesn’t make you sound like a real pirate, right?”

  “It do in me heart!” Lucy shot back with a grin that felt too wide for her face. And it works for morale, she added silently. “Now quit yer meditatin’ an’ help me bust through that wall o’ ships! Unless ye be enjoyin’ sittin’ here like a landlubber.”

  “I was scouting,” Pearl said, and there was the faintest edge of hurt in her voice. “We need to get through so we can all go to Charlie’s party or whatever she’s throwing.”

  “You are going?” Lucy’s eyes lit up. She practically bounced in place, hat slipping sideways. “Yas!”

  Pearl rolled her eyes, all patience gone. “What do you need from me?”

  Lucy twisted to face the horizon again. The blockade sat there. “It’ll be a hard fight. You got a class that has recon and sees weak points, right?”

  Instead of answering, Pearl just sent over her class card.

  “Oh, should share mine, then!” Lucy winked at Pearl.

  Pearl's eyes widened; she was surprised. “What is this nonsense? Loophole Knight and a marvel rarity?”

  “Well, Charlie said something about having a weird skill, so I said… Why not choose her as my Goddess?” Lucy shrugged. “It worked.”

  “What do you need from me?” Pearl finally rose. “Your new goddess isn’t enough?”

  “Awwwh don’t be like that! It was different Charlie!” Lucy grinned.

  Pearl nodded. “I knowww…”

  “For the help…” Lucy fiddled with her interface. “I need you for this!”

  “Are we even playing the same game?” Pearl glanced at the screen. “But damn… With my mana I can create a drone… Uh, I mean an invisible crow and scout with that. I love this.”

  “Then I need a plan, Yarrr!”

  Lucy wanted the plan simple. Ram their capital ship. Overwhelm them with numbers. Burn the rest.

  Brutal, fast, decisive.

  But of course, Lola had to ruin the fun.

  “Absolutely not,” Lola said, sharp and certain, when the top brass gathered on Lucy’s ship. “We need to find out what they are doing here, and we can ask them to let us through.”

  The meeting was tense, packed into the lower deck where the air smelled of damp wood, oil, and too many people sweating under armor. A single lantern swung overhead with the ship’s rhythm, casting everyone in shifting, uneven shadows.

  All the top players stood in a loose circle, gear polished… somehow. Fty stepped forward, nodding to Lola. “I agree. We don’t know if we need to fight yet.”

  “That warning shot was not a friendly hi,” Lucy said, folding her arms tightly across her chest. She turned her gaze to Tramar. “And our return fire wasn’t exactly a hi either.”

  “Was I supposed to let them attack?” Tramar adjusted his ridiculous [Picky Hat], tilting his chin up like he expected applause for being provocative.

  “That’s…” Lola faltered, momentarily losing her sure-footing. “I don’t know?”

  Tramar conjured a tiny fireball in his hand to “celebrate” his point, but Lucy immediately smacked it down, slapping his wrist like he was a child. “Not on my ship. You still owe me for the last time.”

  He always does this on my ship. Why is it always my ship? Damn, I am getting very into this Pirate person.

  Tramar grinned sheepishly. “I know.”

  TechiLlama nodded toward Luminaria before speaking. “Seneschal, Mage Tramar is right. We can’t show weakness.”

  “Hey, I also want a fancy title!” Tramar piped up again.

  Llama didn’t even blink. “Prove your worth in battle, and the Queen may reward you with one.”

  “Battle,” NightSwallow said, emerging from the shadows like a wraith. Sunlight filtered through the hatch above, hitting her face. “What do we know about them?”

  “You’re here?!” Lunaris whispered. She was tucked out of the way, back nearly against the bulkhead, like she wished she could melt into it.

  Lucy gave NightSwallow a brief nod and stepped forward. The planks creaked beneath her boots as she took center space in the circle. “Twenty ships,” she said plainly. “And they outgun us. The only thing we have on our side is speed. Pearl scouted their ships; they’re carrying serious firepower. If we go in blind, we may lose at least half of our fleet. If not all.”

  Her words hung in the stale air.

  “That’s why we need to at least try diplomacy.” Lola cast a wary glance toward the ships through the slatted deck windows. Her hand tightened on her clipboard. “Frozna is trying to tame fish to help us, but her team opened an underwater dungeon with level twenty enemies, and they keep harassing them. We need someone to talk to these people. We need to learn why they’re here.”

  “I’ll go.” Luminaria stepped up, her robe flowing as she moved, layers of fine fabric swishing more like something from a ballroom than a battlefield. “I have experience in situations like this.”

  Or she just enjoys making speeches when she looks good, Lucy thought, biting back the comment.

  “I’ll go with her as a guard,” Llama said, moving to her side without hesitation.

  “Let your girlfriend go alone!” Scamantha laughed. Everyone turned to her. She wasn’t here a minute ago, and no one had noticed her arrive.

  Luminaria didn’t miss a beat; she simply took Llama’s hand, leaning into him with calculated grace. “Wandering Alchemist, you could go,” she said, her eyes flicking to Scamantha. “You can sell anything, so you might be our best bet.”

  “I could, yeah.” Scamantha shrugged, producing a vial of blue dust from her inventory that glittered unnervingly in the shifting light. “But there’s this ingredient on the shore I picked up. I’ll make something that goes boom.”

  Lucy’s stomach dropped. She recognized the powder. Usually found near ruins, definitely flammable. “On shore,” Lucy said firmly, remembering the last disaster when the alchemist tried brewing on deck. “Not here.”

  “Thus me not a diplomat.” Scamantha winked and sauntered off, waving dismissively.

  The lantern swayed again, groaning on its chain.

  Tramar was still staring after Scamantha as if expecting her to blow something up just for fun, then finally muttered, “What about a quest? Can we get an update to solve this?”

  “Let me check.” Lola’s tone went distant as her gaze glazed over, eyes flickering in that way that said she was deep into her interface. “I still can’t. Must be appointed personally.” She pointed up at the ceiling, where a small orb floated near the beams.

  Lola then nodded. “I’ll ask Charlie; I’m recording for her; she should still be on Earth. I will notify you as usual. At worst, we’ll use the old system.”

  Luminaria raised her hand with practiced grace, the motion as smooth as if she were on stage rather than crammed into the shadowed lower deck of a war?ready ship. Her robe sleeves slid back just enough to catch the flicker of lantern light. “Lola,” she said, “am I allowed to use the Heart of the Tempest?”

  Lola’s brows pinched as she fell into deep thought, her eyes unfocusing slightly, checking the ledgers only she could see. “It is fifty thousand. Do you realize if converted to Earth credits, the gem could buy a house?”

  Lucy felt the air tighten. Even the mention of Earth credits always did that.

  “That’s why I am asking,” Luminaria replied, unbothered by the number. “You gave it to me, after all.”

  “I…” Lola’s gaze swept the gathered players, as if searching for anyone to challenge her judgment, to share the weight of the call.

  No one spoke.

  Finally, she exhaled, shoulders dropping slightly. “Okay. If using it takes us through with minimal losses, you are allowed. I think… That’s all?”

  “Class dismissed! Get ‘ta work, yer lazy bastards!” Lucy bellowed, stabbing a finger at the ceiling like she could command the sun itself to rise on her orders. Her voice carried through the lower deck, bouncing off the beams.

  Fty stared at her with all the enthusiasm of a brick wall, his expression flat.

  “What?” Lucy huffed, yanking her oversized hat lower over her brow and adjusting it with a flourish so unnecessary it was practically a performance. It makes me look like a captain, she told herself. Even if it’s only on video. “Always wanted to say that.”

  Her boots thunked against the boards as she crossed to Luminaria. “Get the small boat and two players,” she ordered, dropping the pirate theatrics for once and leveling her with a serious look. “Should be a simple XP for them. And if you fail…” she let the words hang, then grinned wide enough for her cheeks to hurt.

  “I’ll ram them for you.”