A tail for an eye - Eren x Levi

Chapter 2

"Task Of Preparation"

'The Colossal titan' - quite the grand ship she was. She floated gently ahead of him. A little short in size, but it proved helpful when capturing sea creatures. It held all the necessities and enough cabin space for the pirates, not to mention its subtle gloss along the wood made her stand proud and look pristine regardless of her age. Levi would only admit to himself how proud he felt of his boat, she'd been through everything with him, and longer than most crew mates. The one crew mate who had stood by his side since the beginning was Zoe. At this moment in time she was barking orders at the other crew members on where to place the boxes of supplies. Levi adjusted his hat and set foot onto the boat, creeping up beside Zoe.

"For God's sake, don't put the medical things under the food boxes! Bread won't be much help if your arm is sliced open from a shark!" Zoe yelled, pointing rather dramatically at the boxes. Her sparkling amber hair that was tied in a ponytail bounced eagerly with every movement she made, her layers falling out from it and framing her delicate face. 

Levi felt a slight internal amusement at how peculiar of a woman she was. Usually, she was the life and hope of the crew, always optimistic and cheerful. Yet, she had to be one of the most terrifying people Levi had ever met when she was angry.

"Oh, hey, Captain, how's it going?" she asked, suddenly spotting him. In just that moment, she'd become calm and happy. Her change in personality somewhat confused Levi at times, yet he'd become accustomed to it by now.

"Fine."

"Don't look too happy or anything." Zoe adjusted her glasses whilst looking down at a clipboard.

"We're hunting a merman, not going to a birthday party," Levi stated, flat in tone.

"You're never happy at birthdays anyway." Zoe couldn't resist the urge to get a dig in, "you have the same face killing sea creatures as you don on Christmas day, you know."

"Is the whole crew here?" Levi changed the topic, taking a few steps forward as he glanced around attempting to count heads.

"Everyone's present. And ready, too."

Levi felt relief from this, most times there was always one new pirate hanging onto shore, saying repeated goodbyes to his family and crying. They were never much use to Levi, yet sometimes tasks like these required as many pirates as possible, even if they were as useful as a bristleless toothbrush. Levi made his way to his little office area, where all the maps and books were, the compass, the radio etc. Arguably the most important asset to the boat.  What made it earn that title to him was the photographs of his grandparents and father, proud photos. They, too, were once pirates. His father died early from illness after inheriting his grandparents' boat, but they died quite differently. A merman. The crew that survived that fateful day mer-people attacked their ship would tell tales of this merman. He was dangerous, had gorgeously innocent eyes that lured in to false safety, had a way with words that would swoon you over until you didn't realise you were being played along until being drowned.

This merman was almost like a siren, yet didn't sing. Simply existed, and that was somehow enough. Levi always hoped to encounter this merman. First, to see what all the fuss was about but secondly to earn a big of revenge. Mer-people had been responsible for almost every major incident that had happened in his life, why should he spare them any mercy?

"This is going to be a danger and half, isn't it?" Zoe's voice rung from the open door. Faint clatter could still be heard from behind her, murmuring voices filling the air. 

Levi sighed, not responding. Instead he fiddled with some files on his desk before taking a seat. The files were all on histories, theories, facts and anatomical researches on mer-people, "It's worth the money."

"I bet!" Zoe took a seat opposite Levi, very relaxed and comfortable in position, "you know, we've never gone out this far into this sea. Reckon our titan ship can take it?"

"Of course she can." Levi scoffed. He felt little worry for the ship, it was actually the crew he had less faith in. Rumours and myths of this sea had circled around the whole country for years, very few people ever sailed out into it. And if they did, they either went out under a mile or were never seen again. The last thing helpful during dangerous situations would be panicked crew members fussing around and screaming.

"Do you think stories of the kraken are true?" 

"Maybe, guess we'll find out," Levi answered her. Conversations on what might exist never interested him much, focusing on truth provided more helpful information. There was little use in questioning myths and legends. He moved the organised files on his desk to reveal a large book of maps. Opening it and skipping straight to the pages of this sea was like muscle memory, 'it's said to be around this area of the sea."

He used a pencil to trace around a circular part of the sea. It would likely take up to a week to get to that area, but he was also aware that the mer-people were said to live around the exact same region. A rather unfortunate circumstance, yet still worth the money.

"There's no land," Zoe pointed out, "bet there's a lot of dead pirates and shipwrecks under the water, maybe even under us right now."

Levi hummed lowly in agreement. He stood up from his chair and spoke, "Gather the crew, time to make set sail."

Zoe smiled at this and jumped from her chair in joy, sprinting from the room with Levi following behind. Outside the room, a salty smell hit their noses and the people gathered began making louder remarks. Zoe yelled for the crew to come over as the last few members pulled away the wooden board connecting their boat to the land.

"This will be a long few weeks," Levi began, earning attention from every pirate on board, "I don't doubt you mostly all know about mer-people, but don't underestimate their danger. They live far out into sea, presumably near giant sea creatures. They travel in large groups and are able to bring down large ships with their bare hands all together. Their tales are strong enough to break bones and their nails are sharp enough to stab you. This is your last chance to leave before we sail away."

He took a pause, viewing over the slightly worried faces of some passengers and the determined ones of others. Even the crowd down below had gone quiet, just being able to hear his spoken words. He continued, "in that case, we leave now."

Levi had never been one for inspiring words, simply truth instead. Inspiring words, to him, were false hope and determination. If a pirate wasn't able to motivate themself, then Levi didn't care for them. As the wind blew, the sails were blown out and appeared eager to rush out to sea. The colossal titan shook as her anchor was pulled up and ropes were let loose from their stationary places on land. In an instant, the ship was pushed forward and land was left far behind.

Deep breaths were taken in from every passenger. Levi looked out to see and couldn't help but hope that he'd get to meet that brat of a merman who killed his grandparents. He more hoped to be able to kill him and bring revenge for his family.