Prince of Embers

8. Take the Crown

Warnings: blood, gore, a sliver of mild smut in the middle of the chapter

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Yunho and Mingi kicked the door to the naval fort down. Blunderbuss in hands and with his murderous husband by his side, Hongjoong stepped over the threshold. They faced a bunch of wide-eyed jack tar seated around a table playing cards. Their uniforms were rumpled and their weapons far as they scrambled to sit upright.

"Gentlemen, this be an invasion. Lay down yer weapons an' swear to the blackjack, then we will spare yer miserable souls."

The soldiers looked at each other, wide-eyed and unprepared for an attack despite training for years to get rid of the pirate plague. Hongjoong waited, impatient, but the fools tried their luck. One scrambled to the hind door, yelling for their commander. He went down first, riddled with bullets. The others followed the moment they made for their guns.

In a swirl of steel and blood, the pirates bathed the room in their colours. Alarm bells rang across the yard, assembling their lazing men, but whichever scallywags they expected, it wasn't the Pirate King and his crew of demon-killers. Their orderly rows got mowed down by sabres like rye.

As the crew swarmed out to search the buildings for leftover cowards, Hongjoong stomped up the stairs to the commanding office. He didn't run, never hurried though blood caked his boots and made the stairs slippery. Around him, the stench of gunfire and death filled the air. San lunged with his eyes blazing and two fumbling soldiers went down under his attack. He dragged their bodies off to a pile to salvage later.

Flanked by Yeosang and Seonghwa, Hongjoong kicked the door to the office open. The man behind the desk was but a shadow of a governor. He wore noble clothing, pigging out on the high earnings his position promised despite never lifting a blade himself. When the three pirates appeared in the doorway, he fell to his knees, fingers coming up to plead before his white wig.

"Have mercy, scourge of the seven seas! We are a humble outpost; this island has nothing to offer you!"

Hongjoong snorted. As he transgressed the room, Yeosang and Seonghwa supervised the door.

The cowering male ducked deeper, grovelling before Hongjoong's feet that carried the leftovers of his men.

"Do ye 'ave no shame? 'Idin' away 'ere while we slaughter yer mates?" A fine commander he made. He should have died at their front, leading them into battle. How must it be to die for a person without having worth to them? Hongjoong hoped his crew would never find themselves trapped by such doubts.

"I beseech you! Have my treasures and my maps, but leave this fort! Harm will come upon you once our allies arrive; it's in our mutual interest!" The man babbled.

Ice-cold scorn filled Hongjoong's heart. He crouched, not bothering to pack the man by his fake hair and going straight for his throat. Spluttering and gasping, the commander flailed as Hongjoong hauled him around the table. He didn't mind the howls of pain as his captive collided with its corners.

On the naked stones beyond the table, glimmering in lantern light, hung spreadsheets. Wanted posters of the worst pirates mingled with death warrants.

Hongjoong halted before them with the commander by his feet, grovelling and praying for clemency.

"Do ye know who I be?"

"N-No, please! Please have mercy; the Lord blessed every man walking the earth with it! You have it; you can find back on the right path and go to paradise, please, I beseech you-"

Hongjoong hauled him up and slammed him face-first into his wanted poster. The crack of the man's breaking nose echoed through the tall room and blood splotched over the visage of a past Hongjoong staring back at him. Riches beyond everyone's imagination awaited the one who handed him in. His title: Pirate King Kim Hongjoong. Just Dead.