In accordance to Bentley's plan of attack, doing both missions at the same time, Murray, Sly, and Derpy headed out for the jollyboat that he wanted them to steal and use against the ships that were around the harbor, while at the same time Bentley, Penelope, and Clockwerk headed out to prepare and launch her hover-spectrometer, a device that would help them figure out where LaFwee was hiding the map to Dagger Isle. Sure, that left the Panda King, Gilda, Diz, Carmelita, and the Guru without anything to do at the moment, but that meant that they could make sure that everything was ready for when they went out to steal the pirate ship that Bentley had his eyes set on. Fortunately the majority of the pirates that were patrolling the town at the moment were either getting drunk or had fallen asleep, meaning that there was fewer enemies for them to worry about, though when the first trio arrived at their destination they noticed that the jollyboat was as large as the boat that Murray had used back during the ACES Competition, meaning that it was large enough for two people, which wasn't a problem since Derpy could fly around the area with her wings. At the same time they noticed that the jollyboat was locked up, but it was a simple lock that Sly could take care of on his own, to which he left Murray and Derpy behind for a moment, allowing them to contact Bentley before they got underway.
On the other side of their binocucoms, however, they found Bentley and Clockwerk putting the finishing touches on what they were doing, indicating that they were getting close to launching the device into the air to figure out where the map was located, and only paused when one of them noticed the duo was checking in with them.
"Murray, I need you and Sly to blast the rudders off all the galleons in port." Bentley stated, knowing why the duo was calling him at the moment, allowing him to convey exactly what he needed them to do before they went and stole the ship he glanced out at, "With their boats disabled, the pirates won't be able to chase after us when we sail for Dagger Isle."
"What about those boats out there at anchor?" Murray asked, gesturing to the other ones that were already out in the water, ones that looked like they might be obstacles that one of them needed to take down, "They look ripe for a breaking... or a lightning bolt to the side."
"Don't worry about those boats." Bentley instructed, knowing that Murray might understand what he was saying while both Sly and Derpy will be able to watch over him and make sure he doesn't do anything to jeopardize the mission, or reveal their intentions before it was time, "The pirates won't have time to row out and get them rigged before we're gone. Besides, once you start shooting at those rudders, the harbor patrol is sure to show up."
"That sounds like a job for a man that has Murray's destructive habits." Derpy commented, though at the same time she flexed her hand and channeled a bit of lightning between her fingers, as she had to wonder what she could go in this mission, besides fly around and be a pest to those that were attacking them.
"That's correct." Bentley said, knowing that Derpy understood what he was talking about, even if she wasn't doing anything at the moment, before he glanced at Murray once more, "Murray, take out the harbor patrol and there will be no one left to chase after us when we 'appropriate' our chosen pirate boat."
Murray nodded his head as Sly undid the jollyboat that they would be taking for this mission, to which the two of them climbed onto the boat and Derpy watched as they rowed out into the harbor, where they started using the cannon on the boat to damage the rudders. It was rather easy for Murray to maneuver the jollyboat into position so Sly could target the rudders and blow them to pieces, though as the first one was fired upon they found that there were small floating sentries waiting for someone to try something, showing them that the pirates also used newer technology when it benefited them and their community. Of course a well placed shot destroyed each of the sentries, allowing Sly to blow the rudder he was targeting up so Murray could move them onto the next target, where they repeated the same actions several times before destroying the second rudder. It wasn't long before they moved onto their third and fourth targets, as those were all the rudders that Bentley wanted them to take out, and sure enough the harbor patrol moved into the area, where they discovered that the jollyboats their new enemies were using had more armor than their's did, so they needed to ram their targets and then blow them to pieces with a shot from the cannon.
Fortunately it didn't take Murray long to get a sense of the pattern that the pirates were using and soon all of their armor had been removed, along with their jollyboats sank, though that was when a larger ship, a cutter according to Bentley, showed up and moved into the harbor... only for Derpy, who had been idly gathering magical energy since she had been left standing on the dock, to blast the unguarded powder kegs that were exposed on the ship's deck, blowing the entire thing to pieces and completing the mission for them.
Once the harbor was secure, and many of the pirates slept through the sound of Derpy's lightning going off, Bentley and Penelope launched the device they had been preparing and sent it over the skull shaped fortress, only for one of the still awake pirates to blow it out of the sky and separate it into seven pieces that fell over the entire town. Clockwerk, as it turned out, suggested that they use Penelope's RC Car to find the pieces of the device and recover the information that had been on it before the pirate shot it down, something that both Bentley and Penelope agreed to once they heard what he had in mind. Since he was also sticking around in his miniature owl form, even if the bullets the pirates used wouldn't be able to harm him, the ancient owl followed after the RC Car and helped it take out the enemies that were in the way, knocking them out instead of outright killing them, all while Penelope gathered the information that she needed for their attack on the fortress. Bentley, on the other hand, was also receiving the information that Penelope and Clockwerk were gathering, putting together a picture of where their target might be located, and when the seventh piece of the device had been collected the ancient owl carefully grabbed onto the RC Car and flew off with it, returning it to Penelope without letting the pirates tear into it.
"I've figured out what we're looking for!" Bentley exclaimed, though that was when he carefully turned his computer around and showed the two of them the information that he had been sifting through, as they were the only other members of the gang that could understand what he was showing them, "There's a massive chest near the top east-facing windows. Let's go get the map to Dagger Isle and get out of here before the pirates find us."
Together the three of them made their way over to the entrance of the skull fortress, though upon their arrival near the drawbridge they discovered that LaFwee must have learned of the device's existence and had ordered the drawbridge be raised until further notice, as the only way across was to either use some floating boxes or go the long way around before coming back here.
"This LeFwee guy is really on it." Penelope commented, staring at the raised drawbridge for a moment, as this was an obstacle that none of them had been expecting their enemy to use, not in the short amount of time he had since his underling broke her device, "He must have seen the disc and raised all the bridges to the fort. There's no way in."
"Don't worry, we've dealt with guys like this before." Bentley stated, as he had learned something over the many years of traveling with Sly and his sisters, and all the information he had gained from their various heists only increased what he knew about the people they went after, "They can't really trust their own men, so they always keep an escape route handy. You just have to look around a little."
"Wow, Sly's really taught you and the others a lot." Penelope replied, as she had noticed several things while she observed the other members of the gang, and she knew that they were different from the other types of thieves that she had heard stories about.
That's true, he has taught us many lessons since we each joined the team. Clockwerk said, as he remembered that the first thing he learned was actually something that he should have known, that there was more to life than hatred, and he had learned several other things by watching the others as well, Everyone in this team has their own strengths and weaknesses, and the strengths of everyone else makes up for those weaknesses. Bentley and I are the brains, Murray is our brawn, Sly and his siblings are all field agents and master thieves, while Gilda, Derpy, and Diz are powerful magic users that can overcome whatever is thrown at them. Sly taught us a lot, that is true, but we also helped him out in our own various ways, helping him improve his life and made sure that everyone knew that the Cooper Clan was as honorable as the stories say we are.
Penelope looked like she wanted to say something, anything really, but she decided against it as Clockwerk made the decision for them, and that involved flying up to part of the drawbridge and forcefully lowered it into position, all while making it seem like the gears had malfunctioned so that LaFwee wouldn't know that someone had come by here. From there the three of them made their way to the backside of the fortress, where they found a few floating boxes in the water that would allow them to reach their target, before Bentley blew up some support beams to lower a walkway into position so they could reach the top of the fortress. What they found when they reached the top of the fortress was LaFwee talking to one of his guards, maybe his First Mate, though it was clear that the poor pirate had said something that he shouldn't have, as LaFwee turned around and stabbed the man right in his chest, directly where his heart was located, before shoving the body off into the water, where the sharks tore him apart. In the following moments he promoted the Second Mate to captain of the guard and told him that he'd be inside the fortress, torturing the prisoners from the last time they went out on the Seven Seas, before he disappeared into the keep... and that was when Clockwerk swooped in and smacked around all the pirates that were guarding the room that they needed to get into, allowing Bentley and Penelope to open it and let the three of them inside.
When they went to open the heavily guarded chest, however, Clockwerk insisted that they remain outside the small structure while he tampered with the chest, just in case it was set up to explode, but when he found was some dust that was designed to blind whoever opened the chest without the proper key that was stuck in the side of the metallic chest, but since his body was made of metal, and his eyes weren't like everyone else's, he got off without a scratch and soon they were headed back to the safe house for the next stage of their plan.
Once the three of them returned to the safe house Bentley had Sly, Carmelita, Gilda, Derpy, and Diz take to the field and head out for the ship that they would be taking, the one that happened to be a little further out in the harbor than the ones that Sly and Murray had destroyed the rubbers of. While there were only three guards on the ship, and five of them, the group was more than able to sneak up on their targets and knock them out, thanks to an invisibility spell that Diz used on all of them, and soon enough she had formed a bridge of wood and magic for the others to board the ship and even store away the van before the pirates discovered it. Once again Sly and the others weren't going to ask how Diz was able to hide the team van on a ship, but right now they were more than happy with her deeds as the last member of the team boarded the boat and stood on the deck, allowing her to break the magical bridge she had formed so they could finally set out for Dagger Isle. Oddly enough it was Murray at the wheel, though he remained focused as Sly and the others readied the rest of the ship, allowing them to make for the mouth of the harbor before the pirates even knew what was going on, but once that happened Sly pulled out the map and directed Murray towards their true destination.
As they headed out onto the water, however, Diz and Clockwerk managed to find several chests that were filled with gold, and somehow hadn't sunk to the bottom of the sea yet, and pulled them aboard to add to the loot that they already had to their name, just to add some pirate treasure to what they had taken so far.
It took them some time to reach Dagger Isle, only because going by an old fashioned boat was much slower than the one they had used to reach Blood Bath Bay in the first place, but eventually Murray reached the island they had been heading towards, thanks to Clockwerk and the others flying around and correcting their course as necessary. When they arrived, and the anchor was dropped, Sly and Carmelita stepped off the ship and touched down on the beach, as Bentley stated that Sly should head out and find the treasure while they guarded the ship, in case more pirates showed up, and Carmelita was going along to be his assistant in case something happened. The first clue that the map gave them, as there were written instructions on how to find the treasure added, was to 'stand before the statue's gaze to begin your walk along the treasure's maze', meaning that they needed to find a statue while avoiding the pirates and the large near-sighted lizards that called the island home as well. What surprised him was that it was easy to find the statue in question, since the pirates were guarding it on the other side of the island, and once they removed the surrounding enemies Sly stood in front of the statue and read the next clue, so they could figure out where the treasure was buried.
The following clue indicated that the holder of the map needed to take twelve paces in the direction that the statue was facing, to which the two of them counted out the steps that were needed and made their way back over the small bridge they had walked over to reach the statue. From there six paces were needed to advance in the direction of an 'x' that the map mentioned, which Carmelita spotted a few seconds later, and once they reached the point in question Sly discovered that the next clue wanted him to take eighteen more steps towards the circle of palm trees that the lizards were walking around. After that it was sixteen additional steps between the two large rocks that were nearby, as the map detailed it like they were a ship trying to avoid danger, which was followed by him needing to take thirteen paces towards a rock that had three palm trees growing on it, allowing them to touch down on another beach before reading the next clue, which required that they take six steps in the direction that the wrecked ship was facing, like they were heading back towards the statue for a moment. Since that was the last clue, and they were sure that they were in the right place, Bentley, Murray, Dimitri, and Penelope came out to assist Sly and Carmelita in digging for the loot, so they could get out of here once they had what they came for before LaFwee and his men found them.
It wasn't long before the assembled members of the gang found the treasure that Black Spot Pete had buried on Dagger Isle, as the chest was actually really close to the surface of the beach, which revealed that the pirate must not have had a lot of time to bury it when he was last here, but that meant that they were able to get the chest out of the ground easily and stood back for a moment.
"Well, Dimitri, it's your loot." Sly commented, gesturing to the chest that they had been searching for since they arrived in Blood Bath Bay, even though they needed the map to find it in the first place, before the rest of the gang that was around them nodded their heads in agreement to what he was going to say, "I think you should have the honor."
"I open with joy. You Cooper Gang is a tight groove." Dimitri replied, showing that, in his own way, he was happy that they were able to find what he had been searching for, even if it meant going up against the pirates of Blood Bath Bay to recover what was his, before he turned to the chest and opened it, where a smile appeared on his face as he stared at the contents of the chest, "Van Gogh Bullseye! The primo diving gear to accentuate my deep-down diving style!"
"It's so intricate." Penelope said, staring at the diving suit that was inside the chest, because she had never seen anything like it before, at least in terms of the subject matter, and she knew that the others were staring at the items they had been after as well, "Your grandfather was an artist. I've never seen such fine craftsmanship."
"He had the juice, check it!" Dimitri stated, showing that he still adored his grandfather and his stories, though now he was happy to have part of his family's history back where it belonged, something that he would be eternally grateful for and that he would never forget, "The gear even matches my suit! I can dance, dive and accessorize!"
"I wonder what else is in this chest." Murray added, as he knew that Black Spot Pete had been the one to bury the treasure that they had dug up, which meant that the real treasure, all the gold, had to be beneath the diving suit that Dimitri was pocketing at the moment.
"Aye, let's get a good look!" a voice said, though that was when the gang turned around and found LaFwee, complete with a number of armed pirates standing behind him and a blade held close to Penelope's neck, standing behind them, and that Penelope was frightened, "Avast, lubbers! Didn't think ye could steal from the smartest man on the Seven Seas and not taste the repercussions! Har, har, har! I might have been late for the opening of the chest, but I'm just on time for the stealing of the gold!"
"Let Penelope go." Carmelita stated, as she knew that right now they were outmatched, especially with their magic users and Clockwerk still aboard the ship, but she was hoping that they might be able to get away with this and not have to do any intense work to save someone, "We can work out a deal."
"Penelope be the lass's name?" LaFwee commented, though that didn't stop him from studying her for a moment and, to Bentley's anger, took a second to actually sniff her hair before turning to face them again, "Purdy as a sonnet, and what a rich, sweet scent from the wench's hair."
"Guys, we can't fight him right now... he'll hurt her." Bentley said, though while every fiber in his being wanted one of the others to come and deck the entire pirate gang right now, and save Penelope, he knew that the smart move was to retreat and then take LaFwee down, "This guy's a killer."
"Aye, ye summed me up with but a word... killer." LaFwee replied, though his tone indicated that he was pleased that one of them knew exactly what he was, but that was before he grew serious and stared at them, "Away with ye, back to your ship. This gold is mine now, or her death is yours... take yer choice."
"Penelope, do what he says... and stay alive." Bentley said, though at the same time the members of the gang that had assembled here started making their way back towards the ship, so they could properly plan out how they were going to ruin LaFwee and his men, before making her a promise he knew they would keep, "We will save you."
Penelope nodded her head as some of the pirates hauled her back to their ship, complete with the treasure that they had stolen from the Cooper Gang since they were forced to retreat without risking her life, and she knew that LaFwee was in danger of defeat... all she had to do was stay alive and wait for them to come rescue her, and then they could get out of here before anything else happened to them.