"Guess I'll earn my money for once." Nicholas spoke shortly, eying the dark wave of energy rising to the sky in the distance as he stretched his arm, "Yo Blackbeard, are those the guys with the other Grail?"
Yeah, that was right.
Every singularity had a Grail, usually in the hands of someone with heavy daddy issues or crippling existential crises, that was fucking everything up. This time around, from what he knew so far, the big bad was a massive fan of One Piece and turned the whole wide world into an ocean.
They'd lucked out though and joined the crew of a pirate chasing said someone for their Grail already... They had a tracker too.
"Aye, laddie! That's the one! It's an old hag with saggy cow titties! Hahahaha!" Blackbeard shouted from the helm, cutlass drawn, "We're gonna loot them and throw her overboard!"
"She'll probably float from them alone." Mary commented stoically, glancing at the resident sniper or rather, at Anne's chest.
Damn, this girl reminded Nicholas of himself a little too much... She didn't say much but she said more than enough.
Anne gasped from the crow's nest, "Mary! You promised we'd never talk about that!"
""Damn.""
Nicholas and Cu fistbumped each other.
At the same time, the 'enemy' finally attacked and the pillar of dark energy started falling towards them.
"Nice. But, they're comin'!" Cu held up his staff before tapping it on the deck, making massive dark branches extend from the ship's hull just as Nicholas jumped off the railing providing a platform for him to run on.
Smashing his foot down, Nicholas leapt into the air and punched out, parting the pillar entirely, "Deja vu?"
This... felt a little too familiar for his liking.
Narrowing his eyes, Nicholas spotted a certain mop of platinum blonde hair looking at him with wide eyes and... rather than feel elated about finding one of his servants, the Chaldean Master's brow furrowed ever so slightly.
As he fell from the sky, Nicholas pursed his lips, "...I thought I was harsh enough but I guess not."
It was the Altered Saber who had, not too long ago, caused a mutiny while he was gone and now, well now she was doing it again.
His thoughts were drowned out when both ships opened fire on each other.
Cannonballs shot through the air as the wind around them howled, drowned out by the massive booms of the pieces of artillery on either vessel. There were even cannons appearing out of thin air from the ship the enem-...no... the TRAITORS were on.
Nicholas wasn't jealous at all.
He watched with a pensive gaze as the smell of gunpowder started overpowering others.
What was he even supposed to do?
His thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt when the Queen Anne's Revenge changed directions and started heading right at him, or rather, at the golden ship behind him.
"ARRR! We're boarding them!"
Massive balls of fire shot at the traitor ship, slamming into the hull and making it quake and shake, thrown off balance by the sudden impacts.
Mary appeared near him, taking full advantage of a servant's ability to enter a spiritual form, and tossed him onto the deck before reappearing next to him and giving him a small nod, "Good. Now us."
"That's right! Can't let a newbie take the brunt!" Anne shouted from the crow's nest, taking aim with her musket, "Lancer! Stop moping around and board!"
"Right, right."
Cu let out a depressed sigh 'for some reason'.
Before they could collide however, a pink haired woman jumped onboard with a flintlock in either hand, "Come on, ya shitheads! Get some!"
She shot Mary in the face, only for the latter to slice the bullets apart with her cutlass in a feat of inhuman agility and strength.
"Well... damn, how the hell am I supposed to beat that?" Francis scratched the side of her head, visibly surprised, "Just kiddin'! Try this on for size!"
She pointed her flintlock at the short pirate again, only this time, half a dozen golden portals appeared behind her and cannons extended out of them.
A wave of blood erupted from the traitor ship, slamming onto the Queen Anne's Revenge before morphing into massive spikes of blood that tore into the ship's hull and pierced it's sail. Any normal ship would be rendered obsolete by the level of damage inflicted but, this one was a manifestation of Blackbeard's noble phantasm.
"I keep forgetting how sinister her shit can be." Nicholas commented off-handedly, observing the conflict curiously, "But, that's about enough."
He grabbed Francis by the jaw before she could pull the trigger and choke slammed her onto the deck, knocking the wind out of the woman's lungs, "You stay put there for a bit."
The pink haired pirate stared at him through wide eyes, but pushed her flintlocks against his chest, "...How about you back away, boy?"
"How about no?" Nicholas yeeted her at Blackbeard, "You lying shit, she isn't saggy at all!"
"She will be soon! It's science!" The pirate shouted back indignantly, ducking under the woman thrown his way.
Ignoring him, Nicholas jumped on board the other ship and stared at the frozen Artoria, "You..."
"M...Master." The Altered Saber jolted and straightened up, dropping her sword.
"Hmmm, quite strange. Master, why are you aiding the cause of the singularity? He's a man. Did you change teams?" Carmilla appeared next to him, visibly confused and estranged.
"Change what now?"
"Did you start batting for the other side?" Carmilla tried to clarify herself, gripping her staff, "I thought you only went after the singularity sources if they were of the opposite gender?"
Nicholas paused, tilting his head, and pointed at Blackbeard who was fighting Francis while laughing like a maniac, "You mean... You mean that's the big bad? And what's with the slander? I'm a good boy. I don't go after anyone."
"Yes, yes and stop lying to yourself." The older woman spoke bluntly before narrowing her eyes and holding out her staff to stop Artoria from sneaking away.
"Bu... But Francis has the Grail?"
"Her Grail is the one that belongs to this era naturally... The one with your 'friend' is the one from your 'acquaintances'." Carmilla smiled ever so slightly in defeat, ruffling her Master's pale hair, "You're quite the cute little boy sometimes."
"Fuck off..." The Chaldean Master averted his gaze.
Of course this just made the Blood Countess giggle into the back of her palm, surprised with herself.
"W...What the hell am I looking at here?" Gudako stared at her fellow Master with a deadpan, "And if you don't mind me asking, why are you with the guys we were sent to beat?"
"Piss off."
"Alright, jeez, I was just trying to be nicer." Gudako threw her hands up in surrender and walked off, completely unperturbed by the fact that they were in the middle of a battle, even as a cannonball flew just over her head.
Visibly amused, Carmilla took off the mask covering her eyes and stared at her Master with amused golden eyes, "Whatever should we do now? My Master?"
"...Can I get an adult?"
Nicholas did not like the vampire was licking her lips.
"I am an adult~."
"Wait... were you calling me gay?"
"I mean... the last two times we spotted you with the one causing the trouble..." Carmilla jerked her staff, turning to glare at Artoria who was trying to sneak away the second time before once again smiling at her Master, "You can't blame me, can you?"
"..." Nicholas refused to answer the allegations, "I need my lawyer."
"What?"
"I'm not saying another word without my lawyer."
Fortunately, he didn't need to as all of them were forced to cover their ears when Lil' Tone Deaf started singing from the crow's nest of Francis' ship.
"From the chandelierrrrr! FROM THE CHANDELIERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!"
"Somebody fucking shoot her!"
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Hope you enjoyed the chapter.