Godfrey lied on his back on top of a piece of burnt driftwood that at one point was part of his ship. Right now it was his new vessel, his raft, as he drifted aimlessly through the Grand Ocean. His talons were folded behind his head as he stared up at nothing. A blue sky and some white clouds. Nothing.
He wasn’t even angry. Honestly.
Gold was just metal, all the gemstones and jewelry were just shiny rocks, the treasures just trinkets. Fun for showing off with and using as a status symbol, and a reminder of his victories, but he didn’t really care about any of it. There were greedier creatures out here who put more value in money who would’ve had a far worse reaction to losing his treasure. And he hadn’t spared his crew a single extra thought either.
Right now he was more bored than anything. This quiet wasn’t something he was used to at all.
“What to do and where to go?” He muttered to himself. He hadn’t even attempted to drift anywhere in particular and really hadn’t given much thought to his next course of action at all.
Something would come up. Some opportunity always did. He wasn’t worried about starving or dying of thirst either, once he really wanted to he could fly and find something.
He started whistling and thought about the Trident of Ponyseidon that he was after. Now that was a real prize, that was the only treasure he truly cared about. A treasure that could actually do something. Something that could give him control of all the waters of the ocean and allow him to do anything he wanted. Oh the fun he could have, the way he could terrorize every country and island out there, it would be a blast. Some ancient underwater city didn’t interest him one bit, what could he do with that? The Trident was what mattered to him.
A smirk came to his face as he thought of Rainbow Dash and her group. They must still be out there on their search. He had seen them flying, there was no way they couldn’t escape the volcano, he’d never be satisfied if things ended like that. That pegasus in particular… it couldn’t be said that she had gotten the better of him, but it seemed likely that she and her friends were probably in a better situation than he was right now unless their ship took a direct hit too. And they seemed a bit too lucky for that.
“Heh,” Godfrey chuckled. “Well, we’ll see.”
Still though, he had to admit that despite being happy to know Rainbow Dash survived, there was a measure of annoyance that came with it too. This was what? Technically the fourth time he had fought with her, and while he came out on top most of the time he still hadn’t been able to finish things with her. She never gave up or looked at him with even the slightest amount of fear in her eyes. That part was frustrating. If she kept getting away, kept thinking she could beat him, he might actually start getting angry.
There was no way he could accept being treated without respect. Next time he’d make sure things were finished with her or at least force her to fear him. A rivalry could only be so satisfying. He was too used to being feared on this ocean to face someone who didn’t view him the same way. Rainbow Dash was a different breed, he knew that the moment he met her, but that didn’t mean she could think herself untouchable.
Bored of lying on his back, Godfrey clicked his tongue and stood up, dusting his clothes off and balancing on the gently bobbing “raft” for the moment. The piece of wood probably wouldn’t last for much longer, he’d have to make like an albatross and fly for a long while until he found land. Or came across any particularly unlucky vessels. So he yawned and took a big stretch before flapping his powerful wings and flying up into the sky.
“Can’t sit around doing nothing forever,” Godfrey said as he went several hundred feet up in a quick breath. It gave him a pretty commanding view of the wide open ocean around him, though there wasn’t much to show for the move. Whatever part of the Grand Ocean he was in now after drifting for a while, there wasn’t much around but water.
“North, south, east, west… all the same huh?” Godfrey muttered.
He spun around in a circle for a moment while pointing a claw out. Stopping, he found himself pointing east.
Godfrey shrugged. “Works for me.”
With another whistle coming from his beak he started flying through the air at a leisurely pace, still not in a big hurry, and going east. Maybe he’d end up going so far he reached East Light itself if he didn’t find anything first? At least he knew there were plenty of ships he could commandeer there. He’d had The Scourge for so long it had been a while since he actually took another ship over and used it as his own. Not since his early pirate days when he was mostly skulking around Sharktooth Island and preying on idiots who didn’t know him yet.
Oh but they all knew him now.
Or were dead.
“Heh… this might actually be fun. Starting over from nothing again? It’s a challenge, it’ll be just like the good old days when I first came to the ocean,” Godfrey chuckled to himself. “Lot of fond memories of those times…”
He was cruising through the sky for a while longer with nothing visible on the horizon or the ocean. It was easy to forget even for him how big this place was. However after a couple of hours his eagle-eyes spotted something small coming up on the water. Obviously not an island at its size, and not just a solitary rock shooting up from the waves either, no, that was clearly a boat down there. A minute later and he was close enough to make out more details about it.
A very wide grin split across his beak.
“Oh, this is going to be a lot of fun.”
Aside from their larger Junks, the Bosche Navy had a large number of smaller scout ships that were used to (obviously) scout for prime raiding locations and then report back to larger vessels and groups. They had only one mast and large sail instead of the usual two on Junks, and not as much space hidden away below the main deck. One such scout vessel was making its way through a stretch of open ocean on a mission to discover any potential small islands and settlements that may exist out here that were previously unknown. It was a quiet, often boring, job that didn’t bring much honor or glory but it still had to be done.
This scout ship in particular had Commander Yang in charge of it. Every sailboat, no matter how big or how small, in the Bosche Navy had to have an officer of at least Commander rank onboard for it to go on missions. He wasn’t happy with the position, but some recent failures had forced Bosche to be more aggressive with their scouting missions. As long as he came back with something good then maybe he’d be rewarded with a command position on a real vessel.
These scout ships didn’t even have ballistas on them. It was a joke for a veteran of so many slave runs and battles to be placed here.
“Feh,” he narrowed his eyes in annoyance as he stood on deck. Two soldiers stood behind him, only four in total on a small vessel like this.
As he did so, he noticed the three slaves kept onboard as deck hooves stiffened up. Probably assuming that if he was in a bad mood they’d be the ones he took his anger out on. And they were right, but he didn’t have any intention of doing so at the moment. Cowardly, weak creatures, he shook his head. To be in such close proximity with pathetic slaves like them was another reason for him to hate this job. They only existed to work for Bosche, he couldn’t respect them any less if he tried. That was the superiority of Bosche—all others on this ocean belonged as slaves at the bottom of the ladder to them.
He never spoke directly to them, letting his lower-ranking officers and soldiers dirty themselves instead. His rank and blood was simply to high for that.
Yang huffed and shook his head, he walked up to the ship’s bow and looked out from it, seeing nothing in the direction they were going. “I’ll brew some tea and turn in for the day, this is a complete waste of time.”
“Yeah I was thinking that for a while too, but then I found you guys. Lucky me.”
Commander Yang spun around at the unexpected voice and froze.
His two soldiers were half lying on the deck, their back legs dragging across the wood as they were held up by talons grasping their necks and their heads limply hanging down. Their eyes were frozen in shock and their tongues lolled out of their mouths. Just as quickly, the talons let them go and they fell to the deck. Now standing in-between two very dead soldiers was a very large and imposing griffon. One any Commander or officer of the Bosche Navy knew well.
“Y-You-” Yang sputtered as he tried to back away but couldn’t as he was already at the very front of the ship.
“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Godfrey Goldenwing said with a very happy grin on his face. “Obviously you recognize me, I love getting that reaction.” He started to scratch under his beak. “Hm, this is just a scouting ship so there should only be two more soldiers unless you’ve changed things up recently.”
Yang finally found the ability to speak and immediately shouted for help. “Soldiers! Slaves! To action! We’re under attack!”
“Oh yeah, like that’s going to help,” Godfrey rolled his eyes.
As if on cue, the two other soldiers came out of the ship with spears in hoof and the slaves had also joined into an unsteady line on the side. Meanwhile, all the other servants and officers onboard aside from the helmspony had also gotten together behind the soldiers.
Godfrey’s eyes roamed over them for just a second before he nodded. “Alright. Simple enough.”
He shot forward at the two soldiers with enough force to knock Yang over. The spears were leveled at his chest but Godfrey’s talons reached out and grabbed them right below the spearhead, yanking them to the side and out of the soldiers grips as he flew into them. The leather armor and mail they wore didn’t do much to help them from the powerful griffon barreling into them. And the unprotected Boschese right behind them fared even worse. They might as well have all been rolled over by a boulder.
Godfrey didn’t land, instead hovering just above the deck with his two new spears in each talon. He whistled as he turned around and flew over the groaning Boschese officers before stopping right above the two soldiers. They were halfway to getting back on their hooves.
That sopped when Godfrey twirled the spears around and stabbed them into the soldiers backs.
Yang gasped in horror and the slaves froze up completely.
“There we go,” Godfrey wiped his talons together and landed on the deck as it now started to run red with blood. Behind him, the officers and servants scooted away in terror and the pony at the ship’s helm trembled. Godfrey looked over his shoulder and grinned at them. “If you all want to live, just stay there, okay?” He glanced at the slaves. “That goes for you too.”
He started walking towards Commander Yang with that grin still stuck on his face.
Perhaps it was pride, perhaps it was fear driving him crazy, but Commander Yang didn’t stay quiet. “H-H-How dare you?! How dare you do such a thing! You disgusting, degenerate, pirate! Godfrey Goldenwing or not, you can not hope to get away with this! Bosche is the greatest power on this ocean! This insult you have dealt to us will not-”
“Will not go unreturned, blah, blah, blah, I’ve heard this speech a lot of times,” Godfrey snorted in bemusement. “Do you have any idea how many Boschese officers just like you I’ve killed? Actually—I’d like to know if your navy has kept a tally of all the ships I’ve plundered.”
“You fiend, I will-”
“Make an example of me and bring my feathers back to lay at the Emperor’s hooves,” Godfrey finished for him, folding his strong arms over his chest. “Yeah, I get it. I’ve heard it before.”
“Nnnnghhh!” Furiously, Commander Yang reached into his red and black jacket and pulled out a curved silver knife.
Godfrey immediately snatched it out of his hoof and turned it over, inspecting it. “Hm. Ceremonial dagger huh? I know you Boschese love your polearms so I didn’t expect to be able to pick up a sword here… but even though this isn’t exactly my type of weapon I suppose it’ll do for now.” He shrugged and put it into the belt of his overcoat on his left side.
“How dare-”
“Me. Yeah, alright,” Godfrey grinned again. “Now then Mr. Boschese Commanding Officer. I think there’s only one thing left to do here.”
Commander Yang fruitlessly struggled against the chains and shackles wrapped around him as Godfrey effortlessly held him with one arm over the side of the ship. The deep blue water directly below just seemed to be waiting for him. The Commander’s face was a mix of rage and terror, spit flying from his lips as he cursed and insulted Godfrey. Who just seemed amused by it all.
“Is that all? Cause I’ve got places to be. If those are the last words of a pathetic slaver like you then so be it,” Godfrey laughed.
“You-” Yang finally managed to say something a little more coherent. “You’re looking down on me! On Bosche! All the Kingdoms, they think they’re so much better than us just because we enslave the weaklings of the ocean?! And you’re nothing more than a pirate! A plunderer! What right do you have to insult Bosche for the slaves we capture?! Bosche is great! Bosche is grand! A pirate like you can’t look down on us for our enslavement!”
He finished, breathing heavily and his face contorted in rage.
Godfrey looked back at him like he was an idiot, with a single unamused eyebrow raised.
He let out a short chuckling “Heh” before his beak lifted up in a grin and full on laughter emerged from his throat.
“Gehahahaha! You’re getting it all wrong! I don’t look down on you because you enslave others, I look down on you because you rely on enslaving others. You’re weak. Bosche is weak. As weak as the stupid worthless little bugs that deserved to get enslaved by you in the first place. Look at you? What has Bosche done besides prey like a bunch of starving vultures on other weaklings? That’s all you’ve ever used your big fleet and all your resources for. Bullying the weak. Look at me. I bully the strong. And the weak for fun too sometimes, but hey. The fact is that I’m just better than you because I’m not scared of anything, I can do whatever I want while you weaklings that think of yourselves as the greatest ones on the ocean skulk about in the shadows. Never doing anything great or tough for real. You’ve heard of me, but do you even really know me? I’ve flown over mountain ranges, across continents, I’ve fought monsters, killed pirate kings, conquered islands, upended countries, and yeah, sometimes I’ve lost and sometimes I’ve almost been killed. But I keep coming back and trying until I win. Cause unlike you, I’m awesome. I get what I want. I take what I want! I’m Godfrey Goldenwing!”
He let Commander Yang go and the Bosche officer disappeared with a splash.
“Hah!” Godfrey clenched his talon and took a deep breath. “Boy, that was refreshing.”
He turned around and looked at the rest of the Boschese on the ship, who had quietly been watching, not wanting to draw his ire as well.
“For the foreseeable future, you are now my crew,” Godfrey said to them. He then looked over at the three slaves, still chained up but uncertain of what was going to happen to them now. Godfrey feigned thought, scratching under his beak. “And slaves? I’m happy to announce that you’re now free to… gehahahaha! Sorry, I can’t even say that with a straight face. You’re just under new management.”
He cracked his neck and started walking towards the back of the boat, where the officer’s cabins were. On the way he pointed at the dead soldiers still on deck. “Clean those up and let’s go… oh, let’s keep going east for now. I’ll come up with something later.”
He paused as he didn’t hear anything and sharply glanced at the nearest Boschese.
“Y-Yes, Captain Godfrey!” The Boschese shouted and saluted, the rest of them all got up to shout and salute as well before they frantically began cleaning things up.
“Heh. Love it,” Godfrey smiled and opened up the door leading to the posterior of the vessel. There was a red carpet on the inside that he followed along, a few doors by his sides but a larger door with a golden (painted) pair of handles at the very back. Well it was quite obvious where he would find his new quarters.
Godfrey sighed in contentment as he opened up the door and strode into the former Commander’s cabin, closing it shut behind him.
The cabin was nice but not what one could call lavish, as expected of a scout ship with only a mid-ranked officer commanding it. There was an ebony table in the middle with a bed that was too small for Godfrey behind it, and to his side was a series of shelves loaded with candles, incense, and pots of various kinds of tea. He rolled his eyes, this was definitely a Bosche ship. With nothing better to do he stepped forward and dragged a talon across the top of the desk before shrugging at the ill-fitting bed.
“Guess I’ll just get some shuteye for now.”
“It’s been a while, Godfrey.”
Godfrey spun around at lightning speed and pulled out his new dagger all in one smooth movement, bringing it right towards the sound of the unexpected voice that came from behind. His talon stopped at the last second, the blade of the dagger held at the neck of the one who spoke.
“You...” Godfrey said in surprise.
“Is that any way to say hello after so long?” Harlequin Grey said to Godfrey, totally unconcerned with the silver blade held at his neck.
“What are you doing here?” Godfrey frowned and put down his dagger. “I haven’t seen you since before I left Griffonstone.”
“Call it checking up on you. I also would like to extend the same offer to you again that I did in the past and-”
“Pass,” Godfrey held up a talon to stop him. “I still don’t get what you really are or what your deal is but I didn’t want your offer back then and I don’t want it now. Don’t need it.”
Harlequin Grey raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh really? Even after being bested by a particular pegasus so recently?”
Godfrey’s eyes narrowed. “What does she have to do with you? And she didn’t best me.”
“I suppose I might as well be honest with you—I recall how disagreeable you are,” Harlequin Grey sighed. “That pegasus, Rainbow Dash? She’s the real reason I’m here. I’d like you to kill her for me.”
“Gehahahahaha! Seriously?” Godfrey loudly guffawed. “That’s it? Guess she really did something to annoy you too out there. But asking me to kill her? You didn’t need to bother—I was planning on that the next time I come across her anyways.”
“You won’t be able to.”
Godfrey paused, his eyes taking on a darker tint. “Excuse me?”
“You won’t be able to. Rainbow Dash will continue to get the better of you the way you are now.”
“Oh...” Godfrey leaned in towards Harlequin Grey and brought the dagger back up to his chin. “Now those are some fighting words if I ever heard em.”
“She’s already survived multiple encounters with you and will continue to do so. She’s special. Surely you’ve realized that yourself?” Harlequin Grey continued to ignore the threat from Godfrey.
“So what? I’m special. I’ll kill that pegasus just like everyone else who’s crossed me out on this ocean.” Godfrey growled.
“Are you really going to take that chance? Losing to that pegasus for good and having your dreaded name tarnished? Not being able to terrorize the ocean and do whatever you want? Sounds like quite the chance to take,” Harlequin Grey shrugged. “Unless of course that is, you take my offer and I give you some of my power first-”
“No,” Godfrey flung the dagger down to the floor, where it embedded itself in the wood. He raised a single claw and poked it roughly into Harlequin Grey’s chest. “I told you no back when I first met you, and I’m telling you no now. I don’t need you.”
For the first time, Harlequin Grey’s eyes narrowed in annoyance. “You owe me, Godfrey.”
Godfrey grinned and shook his head. “I don’t owe you anything. Sure, you told me about all the fun I could have if I flew east and made it to the Grand Ocean, but I’m still the one who made the journey on my own. I’m the one who went from having nothing to being the most feared pirate to ever live. And I did it all on my own—not using your power or relying on anything but my own wings. And I’ll never rely on any power but my own, cause then what’s the point? What sort of victory is that? It isn’t awesome. It isn’t me.”
Harlequin Grey clicked his tongue. “You’re almost as much of a bother as she is.”
“And after meeting her I think I’ll take that as a compliment, geha!” Godfrey laughed.
“So annoying… I regret pointing you in this direction,” Harlequin Grey shook his head. He turned around and opened up the cabin door. “But don’t come crying to me when you end up losing to her. Goodbye, Godfrey.”
He stepped out and closed the door behind him.
Godfrey frowned and stepped over to open the door back up—but saw nothing.
Another grin came to his beak. “Heh, get lost, loser.” The grin though started to turn down into a frown as the words of Harlequin Grey stayed stuck in his head. His talon clenched around the door handle. “Rainbow Dash… you haven’t gotten the best of me. You never will. I’ll beat you.”