Chereads / Devil's Luck Pirates / Chapter 14 - A Big Problem

Chapter 14 - A Big Problem

-What're you lot doin' on this island? – Atom asks after his great entrance.

William quickly recovers from the shock of the explosion and assesses the situation.

-W-well, we were just sailing by and decided to take a quick rest when this polar bear attacked us. – William chooses not to reveal their real objective – Thank you for saving us, but we had it covered.

-Huh, whatever you say, pal. – Atom says as he looks at Pearl and Verona taking care of Duros' wounds.

-I guess we should present ourselves. – William walks up to Atom and puts his hand out – I'm Captain William Emanon. At your service.

Atom shakes his hand. William then proceeds to present the rest of his crew.

-And what about the girl? – Atom asks particularly curious.

As he asks that, Pearl makes a point to adjust her hood and look the other way.

-Oh, she's just coming along for the ride. Not part of my crew. Anyways, may I ask what brings you to this snowy island? – William asks, changing the subject after noticing Pearl's reaction.

Atom looks at William with even more curiosity. However, he decides to not press the matter any further.

-Well, I'm a treasure and bounty hunter. I basically go after anything that can give me some money. I'm here cause I got word of some big treasure hidden somewhere on this island.

William wonders if they're both after the same treasure. He hopes not. He has come to take a liking to Atom's personality so far.

-But I've made no progress thanks to this darn snow! – Atom continues – The snow falls faster than I can blow it up.

-Perhaps SOMEONE could try to melt it with FIRE… – William inquires directing his and the crew's attention to Pearl.

While the captain and Atom talked, Pear was trying to follow the noise she heard earlier. Until William broke her off the trance with his question.

-I-I don't know what you're talking about! – She says – T-There is no way I can do such a thing a-as breath fire!

-We never said anything about breathing fire. – Verona comments.

-Girl, even I saw what you did back there. – Ragnar says.

-So is that how you can cook meat so fast? – Duros asks – What an incredible and versatile ability! – He complements making Pear blush a little under her hood.

-A-anyway! I can hear a weird sound coming from that mountain up ahead. We should check it out.

Pearl tries to change the subject. This seems to work since the rest of the crew and Atom can also hear the strange noise coming from the weirdly shaped mountain.

They decide to go and investigate. As the group slowly makes their way towards the mountain, the sound keeps getting louder and louder until it becomes something more akin to a person's cry.

The snow also appears to get stronger as they get closer to the mountain. As if it's being created by it.

-Oh, you have to be kidding me… – William expresses as they reach the base of the mountain.

This "mountain" appears to be, in fact, a giant. A huge man kneeling, crying like a baby who lost his favorite toy.

-Well, I certainly wasn't expecting this. – Atom says awestruck as he looks up at the giant.

They can barely see him thanks to the much heavier snowfall. But this is undoubtedly a giant. The same one from the storybooks they used to read.

-Ragnar, we finally found someone taller than you. – Verona comments.

-CHAHAHA! I bet he's not stronger than me crying like a baby!

The giant's cries are so loud that it almost makes the entire ground shake with his voice.

-He seems very sad for some reason. – Duros says worried – We should ask him if he needs help, Captain! He might be in terrible pain.

-I'm not sure if he can even listen to us! His voice is so fucking loud!

Duros proceeds to scream back at the giant with the intent to garner his attention.

But the giant's cry is too loud for him to listen to anything. But Duros will not give up. He swore to help anyone who needs help, no matter their size.

-HEEEEEEY!!!!! MISTER GIANT!!!! ARE YOU OK!?!?!?! CAN YOU HEAR ME!?!?!?!

Verona tries to get his attention by poking him in the legs with his rifle. But he can't find them thanks to the tons of snow covering his legs.

As Duros keeps screaming his lungs out, William sees a strange blur fly up towards the giant's face.

He was about to mention this to the rest of the group, but moments later the snow suddenly stops falling and the giant's face slowly becomes visible.

-Huh? Tiny people? – The giant questions with his booming voice.

-Well, it seems he finally heard me! – Duros says happily.

-Yeah, he definitely heard you… – Pearl says coming from behind William. Which is weird. She was next to Duros only moments ago.

-Hello there, friend! – Duros waves at the giant – We heard your cries and wondered if you need some help!

-Help? – The giant's eyes start to get watery again – Yes… My pet bear, Polly… We were told to stay here by a scary man. But now… I don't see him anywhere… – He says as if he's about to start crying again.

They look at each other in panic for a moment. Hoping that island is inhabited by polar bears and not just one.

-Well, we just need for him to stop crying long enough to get to the bottom of all this snow. – William states – Hey, giant!

The giant brings his head closer to William so he can listen to him better.

-Tell you what, if you stop crying so much, we might be able to find your friend!

The giant wonders how one thing has to do with another but accepts William's offer in the end.

Duros comes closer to his captain as they move a bit further from the giant to begin their search. Not for the giant's pet bear. But for the treasure.

-Captain, how do you pretend to look for someone who we know is dead?

-We just need to get the treasure and leave as soon as possible. – William responds.

-I agree with your captn', man. We got no chance against that giant if he finds out we blew up that beast. – Atom adds.

-Technically, you were the one who blew it up. – Verona comments.

-Well I don' think you fellas would have any better against that thing.

As they continue with their banter, William has an idea.

-Atom, can you blow up all this snow so we can be done with this quickly?

-I sure can, captn'. But, we'll need to discuss the matter of how will split up this treasure. – Atom suddenly takes a more serious tone when talking about money.

-Sure, let's just get out the island with the giant first, ok?

Atom is a bit annoyed by William's hastiness. He thinks that these guys would just the all the treasure and leave as any other pirate would. However, he knows that he's at a disadvantage against all of them. So he decides to play along with them for the time being.

After setting everything up, Atom blows up the snow in a magnificent show of fire and ice. Since the giant stopped crying the snow doesn't undo all the work of the explosives.

The party comes closer to finally see what the ground of this island looks like, but are they are only presented with a deep, dark hole on the ground.

-…That can't be good. –Verona says looking down.

-Maybe the treasure is down this hole. – Pearl comments.

As they all admire the darkness below, the giant startles everyone with his sudden question.

-Did you find him?...

-Oh, umm… Y-yes! We can see he is just down this hole right here! – William says nervously garnering the looks of everyone.

-Oh… Ok. Please get him soon. I feel so lonely without my Polly…

His eyes tear up again reminding the group that his giant can start a snowstorm at any time now.

-Guys, I know we all expected this to be a five minutes thing, but it seems we're in for a ride. – William says looking at his comrades and Pearl.

-Sight… I sure hope this is worth it. – Pearl comments with a sigh of frustration.