The Tale of Mythia

Chapter 44: Yar

(Thursday, 8th of Dancing Fool Moon, 2021)
Pirates.

Of course there are pirates.

"BATTLE STATIONS, MEN!" The pirate captain shouted to his soldiers whilst holding a crimson colored minigun with a shark-like design.

"Let me guess, artifact?" Jack pointed his finger at the minigun with a shark design.

"Yep, specifically Red Shores." Valerie summoned four bats around himself. "You catch on fast, so you want to call dibs?"

"Oh I'm sorry, do you see anyone else with the ability to use every single artifact in the history of existence?" Jack asked the vampire while Thor stood beside him on the ship deck, twirling his hammer.

"WOOOOOOOO, IT'S SHOWTIME!" Thor shouted whilst excitedly glaring at the pirate ship making its way towards the group.

"Is that plant really going to do nothing?" Ned asked whilst aiming one of his revolvers at the boat. "Like, I'm not sure what they can do."

"Quit whining, I'm trying to focus." Simo looked annoyed for some reason. "The swaying of the boat is making this hard enough."

"But the boat is barely moving?" James looked at the clam sea around him, the sun shining down atop of their faces without a cloud in sight. "It's a calm sea."

"Please, even the slightest movement can ruin my shot." Simo kept the barrel of his gun aimed at the pirate ship. "Damn, I should have got myself an anti-tank rifle or something. James, can't you tell your sister to keep this boat still?"

"Now now children, try to get along!" Cheng shouted whilst leaning up against the wall.

"After all, you'll be helping each other fight off the pirates while I sit here and watch." Cheng smirked while Adrian pulled out a thick greatsword that rivaled him in height with curved ends and blue stripes decorating the chalk white blade.

"Wow, not even going to help us?" Jack summoned Storyteller and prepared to use it to get close to the captain.

"Well it's not too bad, we can take these pirates." Milunka aimed her grenade launcher at the pirate ship. "So who's firing the opening shot?"

"Mary's trying to save the ship cannons for sea monsters we may come across, so it's just us." James prepared his anchor in one hand and cannon in the other. "Luckily, ship destruction is my specialty."

"Oh James, you need to save your stamina." Cheng smiled. "If we relied on you the entire time, you'd be out of energy the moment we set foot on the island where the fruit is growing from. Thor, Gaia, you too. This is a threat for Jack, Valerie, Ned, Simo, and Jojo to handle."

"She's right, but why did she mention Gaia?" Jack asked, and Valerie shrugged. "Okay, so...I'll head over there and cause a ruckus with Jojo. You, Ned, and Simo take care of them from a distance."

"Wait, I have a bard skill." Ned holstered his revolver and pulled out a banjo. "While I play this banjo, I can boost someone's abilities to a certain degree. My guess is that it's only a 15% increase in everything, but it could be less if I use it on multiple people."

"Hey I can use my bats to drain health and make people weaker like that too, but mine gets stronger the more targets I use." Valerie explained, and now Jack saw what Cheng meant when she said they alone can handle this.

"Alright, Ned, support me, Jojo probably won't die unless it's a shotgun blast directly to the brain." Jack summoned Beowulf, and the armor covered his entire body. "Alright, YEET!"

Jack picked up Jojo with his spare hand and threw the Badger onto the deck of the pirate ship, which was now five meters away from the ship at its closest point. Jojo landed on one of the pirate's heads, and Jack used Storyteller. Apparently, he could teleport to the location of other artifacts, but Jack must know what they look like before he could teleport to them. In order to do that, Jack has to see them in person first. Jack used Storyteller to appear right beside the pirate captain right at the helm of the ship. Jack appeared behind the captain and grabbed Red Shores' barrel. The captain of the ship noticed Jack right away, but he used his prosthetic leg to kick the pirate captain in the chest. The force of his kick managed to send the pirate captain flying off of his ship, and landing face first onto the ocean water, leaving Jack with Red Shores.