Somewhat south of the Smoking Island, a large, beaten up, nearly-wrecked, galleon sailed to the rocky coast ahead.
The Scourge had seen much better days.
It had made it out of the Strip of Storms but with much difficulty, and now they had found themselves to have been blown slightly off-course. Godfrey saw that they were south of the Smoking Island when they emerged from the storm. Their ship had been making a steady pace since then, and now they were finally close to landing at the island. The Scourge though would need repairs before it could set off for the open ocean again. The middle mast was still broken, there were holes that had to be patched up, and many more sails had been torn on their journey to escape the Strip of Storms. Even the bow of the ship had been damaged, the roaring dragon now splintered and broken in places.
Not to mention was the fact that quite a few crewmates had been swept overboard and, well, that was the last anyone saw of them. The ones that were left were exhausted and broken—and though Godfrey didn’t believe in mercy he still knew everyone needed time to rest every now and then. He worked his crew to the bone but he didn’t get anywhere if they were dead. That’s why he hadn’t really taken out his anger on any of them yet. The ones that had survived the Strip of Storms had done a good job getting their ship here.
He was also still more amused than anything by the turn of events and Rainbow Dash actually managing to get the better of him this time. Despite his pride and ego he really didn’t want to be a sore loser. Not like it’s the first time he’s ever had a setback or lost a fight anyways—he always comes back and wins in the end.
So that was why he was comfortably standing at the bow of his ship, grinning and watching as they got closer and closer to the Smoking Island.
He was going to get back at her very soon.
His eyes narrowed the more he looked at the coastline, searching for any docked ships or any harbor with buildings at it at all. From what he knew there were ponies that lived here but not many. His knowledge on most of the smaller islands in the Grand Ocean was… full of holes to put it bluntly. If it wasn’t a big place like Bosche or the Sarrarocco Archipelago or an important trade post like Rum Haven he didn’t have much interest in it. But he was always willing to learn firsthand.
At the moment though he couldn’t see anywhere for their ship to actually dock. They’d simply have to drop anchor in front of the cliffs and embark onto the island from there. They still had some boats for the non-fliers to use. But… he might just have most of the rest of the crew stay with the ship anyways. With the extensive repairs it needed it might be best for them to keep working on it while it’s anchored in place.
As he looked at the big volcano on the island though, the constant smoke emanating from it worried him a little.
No. He didn’t get worried. A volcano was nothing to fear. If he was willing to sail directly into the Strip of Storms then stopping at a little volcanic island like this wasn’t a big deal.
Still—he did get a bad feeling about that volcano. His gut had never led him astray before.
But at the same time there was no way he was giving up pursuit of Rainbow Dash and the others.
“Heh. Rainbow Dash and the others? When did it change to that?” Godfrey chuckled to himself. “I wanted to find the Trident of Ponyseidon most of all—a real treasure that could actually do something. Not just a golden trinket. But now it’s just as fun thinking about showing that colorful pegasus her place...”
“Er, Captain? P-Pardon me for interrupting you, but where are we going to dock? And is there even a settlement for us to raid for supplies?” Sea Shanty asked.
Godfrey looked over his shoulder at his first mate, the peg-legged pony had come up behind him while he was lost in thought. His eyes flickered to the rest of the main deck, spotting numerous members of his crew who were only acting busy and pretending as if they weren’t paying attention to Godfrey and Sea Shanty. Morale was probably at an all time low. Mutiny may have even been on the minds of some of them. Not the smart ones though.
“No need to worry, Sea Shanty,” Godfrey grinned and turned around to face the pony, clapping him on the back. “There’s definitely somewhere ponies live on this island and they’ll be able to, heh, give us everything we need. For now you’re right though, we’re just going to drop anchor at the cliffs and I’m going to go it alone for the moment while the rest of you do your best to fix things here.”
“You’re going to go alone, Captain?”
“Of course. With the damage to The Scourge we need all hooves working to fix the mast and the other problems. I’ll handle the business with my brother and their ship while you do that. Once it’s over with we can raid the other ponies here,” he told him.
Sea Shanty looked conflicted, his eyes going between his Captain and the upcoming island. “F-Forgive me for my words… b-but is it okay for you to go alone, Captain? There are five of them and only one of you.”
Godfrey’s grin grew wider. “Heh. You were probably pretty scared of asking that question, weren’t you? I respect that you still had the courage to ask so don’t worry about it, Shanty. But have some more faith in your Captain. You know who I am don’t you?”
Sea Shanty nodded. “Yes, sir.”
The griffon pirate left him and walked back to the bow of the ship, peering right over the railing at the island. “And truthfully… maybe I could take a few scouts with me. But that’s no challenge. I’m going to get them good again,” Godfrey clenched his talons in anticipation.
“But it’s also...”
Godfrey looked back and raised an eyebrow at Sea Shanty. “Hm? What?”
“The volcano...” Sea Shanty pointed at it, and the smoke still rising from it. “Is it safe to land on this island? What if we stay for too long and the volcano erupts?”
Godfrey just scoffed. “It’s named the Smoking Island for a reason, Shanty. It’s been smoking like that for ages. It’s not a sign that it’s going to erupt soon and even if it did you’re all going to be on the ship already so you’ll be perfectly safe. Whether we stay for a few days fixing The Scourge or not isn’t going to change anything.”
“A-Aye, aye, Captain.”
“That’s right,” Godfrey laughed and stretched his wings and front legs, getting an audible pop from his feathery appendages. “Now—go tell the helmspony to bring us up alongside the cliffs. There’s no more time to waste, our prey has already gotten here for certain and they could be far inside that jungle already. It’s going to be enough of a pain to find them without anymore delays.”
“Yes, Captain,” Sea Shanty nodded again and left to relay Godfrey’s orders to the helmspony. He probably wasn’t especially happy with the way the conversation had gone, but he didn’t have anything to directly complain about either.
The rest of the crew seemed to get the message as well and were returning to work—or at least pretending to work in a less obvious way.
“Ahhh… fear is the best motivator, but sometimes confidence is decent too,” Godfrey smiled.
A few minutes later and The Scourge had come in to rest in the calm waters next to the cliffs of the Smoking Island. Sitting there parallel with the cliffs, the crew dropped the large anchor into the water so it could rest safely. At this spot it would be easy for the other pirates onboard to make it onto the island and into the jungle later if they needed to. And it was a good spot thanks to the calm waters for them to fix it up in the meantime. The cliffs would obscure them from being seen from most directions as well.
“Well my friends, it’s time for you to get The Scourge back into tip-top shape. Meanwhile, I’ve got other business to deal with,” Godfrey said. “But I promise I’ll be back with good news at the worst and some amazing treasure at the best!”
He spread his wings but before he flew off to the island he glanced over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow at the crew. “Well?”
“T-Three cheers for the Captain!” Sea Shanty shouted and thrust a hoof into the air.
“F-For the Captain!”
“Go, Captain Godfrey!”
“Crush them!”
It wasn’t exactly three cheers as a myriad of other shouts came from the crew, but Godfrey was satisfied at least. He laughed and jumped into the air, quickly rising on his powerful wings to scale the cliffs and then shoot up over even the tallest trees of the jungle. The island was big enough, and had enough hills in spots, that he couldn’t see over the entire thing from this height. He couldn’t see where any locals might have been living, where the Heart of Azure was docked, and he certainly didn’t see any flashes of rainbow color.
He didn’t really see anything at all aside from jungle and the mountains and volcano in the middle of the island.
He didn’t hear anything either.
Godfrey frowned and flew into the island a little more before dropping down into a clearing in the jungle, what at one time may have been a road. He looked at the trees to his right, then at the trees to his left. He kept his ears up and wide open. But there was nothing at all.
“Where are all the animals?” Godfrey scratched his head. “I didn’t hear anything about this being a ghost island.”
He glanced down at the cutlass secured in its scabbard on his side. There was certainly something off about this island right now. He wondered if the lack of animals also extended to the ponies that should be here. But it’s not like he had so far been to anywhere on the Smoking Island where those ponies should be, so he was going to withhold judgment until then. He tried to think about what he did know about this island though. Though he was no expert or particularly learned when it came to every insignificant place he retained information very well. There was supposedly an old civilization that used to exist on this island in ancient days—and that must be why those silly pests had come here. Ancient civilizations meant treasure. Treasure meant the possibility that it could be one of Ponyseidon’s heirlooms or something else pertaining to Merlantis.
“Now if I was some ancient civilization that lived here… where would I put my temple, or castle, or tomb or whatever it is that held all my treasures?” Godfrey grinned and looked up past the trees. His sharp eyes slowly turned to the large volcano proudly standing in the middle of the island—so big it was visible from anywhere. “Well, that’s a good bet.”
He dragged a talon along the hilt of his scabbard before cracking his knuckles and taking flight once more.
There was only one possible destination to go to. The exact same one that his brother, that merpony, and Rainbow Dash had to be going to. He couldn’t wait to see the looks of surprise and terror on their faces. And this time, nothing was going to get in his way.
On The Scourge, Sea Shanty watched as a team of two-dozen ponies lifted the broken mast up till it was standing straight once more. They pulled and pulled on a series of heavy ropes tied around the mast, going through pulleys and tied to the other masts to keep it secure when they had it in position. They didn’t exactly have the right supplies onboard to fix such a serious wound to their vessel, but they could patch it with enough bolts, plates of metal, chain, rope, and wood. He hoped. As long as it stayed up long enough for them to get to a real shipwright and get some extensive work done on it they’d be okay. But they might need more tools and supplies from the island just to fix the mast—not even getting started on all the rest of the damage.
Godfrey wouldn’t like that. If he came back and they were still a mess… he didn’t want to think about it.
The Captain’s temper was worse than the storm they had just traveled through.
Still, everything about landing here was gnawing at him in a negative way. He almost wanted to risk the Captain’s wrath once more just to try and convince him that they should leave. There was something about this island that was twisting Sea Shanty’s stomach in knots. And it all had to do with that volcano. Of course, what the Captain said wasn’t wrong, but Sea Shanty still wanted to trust his gut instinct and leave.
Leave before there was even the possibility that something bad could happen.
Even if they had to more or less drift and get lucky with reaching another island because of the shape their ship was in. His body was screaming at him that they shouldn’t be anchored here any longer than they absolutely needed to be—something he believed was the result of many years living on the Grand Ocean.
“I never should’ve traveled to Sharktooth Island as a kid… stupid idiot who wanted to be a pirate, I must’ve been crazy...” Sea Shanty mumbled to himself.
What did he have to show for it? A peg leg and numerous brushes with death.
“We could pull up the anchor… just pull it up and go,” he knew how bad of an idea that was though. And any other sort of mutiny would end incredibly poorly, he doubted he could get everyone else to work together against Godfrey. And even if they did he wasn’t sure if they could actually overcome him.
Sea Shanty had done a lot of pirating before meeting Godfrey. That griffon was unlike anybody else. The entire system—the entire ocean—had been turned upside-down by his arrival. Pirate lords who had been active for decades, pirates who were the heirs of pirate lineages that dated back hundreds of years, Godfrey had torn them all to pieces and became the scourge of every living being on the Grand Ocean. The saying was right—when you see golden wings you had better pray.
“S-Sir?”
Sea Shanty blinked, temporarily lost in thought, and looked to see a deck hoof had come to speak to him. He narrowed his eyes at the young pony. “What is it? Get back to work.”
“W-We was just finishing cleaning… me and the other deck hooves, and we couldn’t help but keep looking at the volcano,” the quivering deck hoof said as he looked past Sea Shanty and towards the smoke rising into the sky. “The Captain earlier… he’s right that it wont erupt or nothing?”
“Of course he is. There’s nothing to worry about. Now if you’re finished cleaning then go find something else to do!” He ordered.
The deck hoof jumped back in fright and ran off to the others, who scattered across the deck of The Scourge.
Sea Shanty sighed and looked at the rising smoke as well. “I hope I’m not just saying that...”