by N. Y. Weaver
a bad person?”
“There are no bad people. There ain’t no good people neither. There are only people. And everybody is looking out for number one.” Dean replied.
“We limit bloodshed when it is possible, but sometimes it is necessary.” said Gold.
“Sometimes it is just the easiest option and not the best one,” Musashi responded, “Who are we to end a life, to take away the most precious and beautiful thing in the universe. I think we are bad people.”
With a week left before the Napoléon was due to reach the island the days seemed to become longer. One particular morning; the rolling waves of the Pacific had slowed to an unusual calm. Out of the blue the large ship began to rock violently, knocking most of the crew off their feet. Johnny peered over the side of the ship only to be snatched, shouting as he was pulled into the sea by a long, purple tentacle. By now the entire crew was on the deck and they watched in despair as a large tentacle began to roll around the ship’s main mast. The ship creaked sadly as more tentacles began to reach around it.
Musashi grabbed his sword and in a sharp strike sliced the tentacle that was wrapped around the main mast and then sliced through a second tentacle that lashed towards him, making the sea monster momentarily visibly quiver. A third tentacle reached up into the sky and then came crashing down upon the ship, grabbing Lan around her waist and pulled her screaming into the deep blue. Musashi cried aloud in grief as the sea monster’s large bloated head slowly rose up the side of the ship, its huge eight eyes appearing from out of the water.
Every crew-member was slicing, shooting or firing the cannons as the monster’s tentacles lashed down and swept sideways across the deck. But it seemed futile, every second the Napoléon creaked louder than before. Captain Gold jumped onto the ledge side at of the ship where the beast’s bloated head lay and with his Baby Dragoon shot out one of the creature’s eyes.
“Dean, shoot out all of its eyes!” the captain shouted.
Dean quickly ascended the ledge of the ship and in a few seconds had precisely shot the remaining seven eyes of the creature.
“Musashi, NOW!” Gold called out as he was flung across the ship by a flying tentacle.
Sensing the final step in Gold’s plan Musashi jumped over the ship’s edge and slicing through various tentacles, landed onto the head on the eyeless purple monster. In a long, powerful strike through its brain he executed the monster, which gradually began to fall downwards back into the sea, hitting the water with a deafening crash. Musashi saved himself from a similar fate by thrusting his sword in a downwards motion from above his head into the side of the ship and clinging on for dear life. He was soon pulled aboard by a rope that was flung to his aid and he collapsed on the ship in exhaustion. The wretched sea monster sank down to the shadowy depths of the abysmal sea, never to be seen again.
The continued onwards downheartedly. Only two had perished and the Napoléon was barely damaged structurally, however the event cast a dark gloomy shadow over the ship. The only thing that kept their hearts alive was the hope that on the island lay the fruits of their desire. Musashi spent most of his time alone in his cabin, unsuccessfully comforted by the best efforts of the crew. Gold tried to lighten the mood within his crew, talking about all the things they would be able to buy with the riches they soon would possess and this slightly increased the morale of the people on board.
In the first days on Autumn the golden beaches of the mythical island could be seen from the ship. Everyone came on deck to lay eyes on the extraordinarily beautiful island and marvelled at the wondrous mountain at its centre, the dense tangle of trees that covered the island and the sandy golden beaches that encompassed it.
“La isla de oro” Captain Gold smiled.
Gold
The newly crowned Captain Moon watched eagerly as the Napoléon reached the shore of the beach where he sat on his throne. As they found a suitable place a bit further down the beach to anchor the ship Captain Gold and his burly first mate Peter hurriedly whispered to one another. Their eyes darted between the elegant throne in which Moon sat, the tribe of distortedly featured island people and the pyramid of dead bodies that lay on the beach that had now come into their field of vision.
Cautiously the thirty-strong crew of pirates climbed off the Napoléon and slowly made their way towards Moon’s tribe. All carried guns in their holsters, swords in their scabbards and fear in their hearts. Captain Gold led the group, his ever present blue overcoat concealing his similarly ever present Baby Dragoon revolver. Peter followed at his side, with Dean James, the Roger twins, the new Mexican recruits and the rest of the crew tailing diligently. Musashi brought up the rear, absentmindedly dragging his great sword through the sand.
Moon threw off his crown, jumped off his throne gleefully and ran to greet Captain Gold and his men. He remained in his dilapidated spacesuit of which only the chest and leg-pieces shredded at the knees remained, and combined with his bleak black eyes and sharp jutting teeth, was quite a fearsome sight.
“Captain Moon.” said Gold reading the lettering across his spacesuit.
“Thank god someone came to rescue me! I would have gone crazy here!” Moon laughed while glancing at the tribe standing a distance behind him.
“Rescue you? You guys are stranded?” Gold asked apprehensively.
“Yes, yes!” Moon said quickly, “Me and my men here were suddenly brought to this island by a freak storm a few days ago, thank goodness you’re here!”
“Lucky we ran into you then. We were worried you and your people would make some trouble. We can take you guys back to land but you’ll have to hold on a little while, first we need to get something that we left here.”
“What’s with the dead bodies?” Dean asked bluntly.
“Say, those are some strange clothes you people are wearing, where are you from?” Moon asked, his black eyes glinting in the sunlight.
“I could say the same thing to you partner,” Dean said “This is what normal people tend to wear in the 1860’s, I don’t know what decade your stuck in.”
“The 1860’s?!” Moon repeated “Is that what year this is? I must be dreaming.”
The crew looked at each other perplexed. Dean smiled.
“Trust me, you ain’t dreaming.” Dean said.
Moon closed his eyes for a few seconds and then opened them suddenly
“If this isn’t a dream, then I’m your worst nightmare.”
“ATTACK!” Moon howled to the tribe. The spidery-limbed tribe scuttled forward astoundingly fast, swinging their spears and knives as they ran through the sand towards Captain Gold and his crew. Gold swung his hooked hand at Moon’s face, slashing a huge cut diagonally across his face while at the same time grabbing his revolver out of his coat with his left hand, shooting through the chest and killing the first tribe member to reach the crew. Without missing a beat he began to move his gun towards Moon, but it was too late. Moon was now wielding his blood-stained green machete, which he then used to decapitate Gold. Captain Gold was dead.
The tribe swarmed through the pirate crew, surrounding and isolating the weakest and stabbing them to death. The scar-faced Moon laughed excitedly as ran through the carnage using his machete to butcher his victims from behind. Peter fought bare-handed, and enraged by the death of Gold mercilessly broke the arms and then shattered skulls of three tribe members. He then began to make his way to Moon but was overwhelmed by a group of tribe members who leaped on his back, took him to the ground and ripped him to pieces. The pirates were now hopelessly outnumbered.
Dean picked Gold’s Baby Dragoon off the ground and with his sawn-off shotgun in his right arm and the revolver in his left, began to shoot out his numerous enemies. Musashi had picked up a second shorter sword to accompany his ancient blade and now he circled around Dean, orbiting him like a planet around a star. Ferociously he used his two swords to slaughter anyone who approached. By now only a dozen of the pirates remained. Every new recruit from Mexico, along which several who had
been with the Napoléon since the beginning lay dead on the golden beach.
Fighting back-to-back the Roger twins had managed to survive the red and green bloodbath thus far. One of the twins shot a bullet through a tribe member’s eye but then was stabbed from below his chin by the devilish Moon, the blade sticking out from the top of his head. Another one of the tribe members, a spindly man then bit into the neck of the second twin from behind, spluttering red across his cheek. The twins too had now perished. The maniacal, relentless madness of Moon and his tribe had seemingly won over the skill, bravery and loyalty of Gold and his men. The tribe which Moon had single-handedly defeated and took control of had now almost decimated Captain Gold’s crew.
It was now just the dual wielding weapon warriors Musashi and Dean against Moon and his tribe of maniacal minions.
“Why are we fighting?! It didn’t have to be like this!” Musashi shouted to Moon as more and more tribe members began to surround him and Dean.
Moon’s maniacal grin now disintegrated and was replaced by a twitching scowl. He tossed his men to the side and advanced towards Musashi furiously.
“Because I’ve lost everything! Everything! My dreams, my wife, my daughter, there all gone!” Moon roared, his fist splotching white from clenching his machete.
The tribe fell back slightly
