Ruthless Winds and Raging Seas

Chapter 3

"Hoist the sails!" Igneel ordered Natsu to do the next morning. 

"Aye-aye captain!" The salmon haired boy saluted before running to the sails.

"And make sure that you tie them up real tight son!"

"I will!"

 He started raising the sails up.

"Father did you hear anything weird last night?" Natsu asked.

"Like what son?"

"Well last night I thought I heard cannons."

"Funny I thought I heard cannons last night too. Of course I thought it was just my imagination."

"Do you think there was a ship attack last night?"

"Maybe."

Natsu continued to raise the sails when he saw something floating in the water. It was a wooden panel. Now it wasn't unusual to see things like that floating adrift in the sea but it was unusual to see a boy lying unconscious on top of the panel.

"Father come quick!" Natsu shouted.

"What is it?"

"There's a boy floating on the water!"

Igneel looked over the edge to see the wooden panel that held the boy. He was then mortified to see that it was floating from a ship that was in shambles and burning.

"Mary mother of God!" He gasped in horror. He quickly went to the life boat. "Natsu lower me down and secure a rope to pull me up."

Natsu nodded and did as he was told. Igneel rowed the boat to the panel and careful took the boy off of it. He then rowed back to the ship and lifted the boy up toward Natsu.

"Lay him down on deck and keep an eye on him. I'm going to look for survivors." Igneel told his son.

Natsu took hold of the boy and pulled him on to the deck. He checked for a pulse. The boy still had one and he was still breathing.

"Well at least you're alive." Natsu said in relief.

An hour passed and still the boy did not stir. Igneel found no other survivors but he did find some very precious cargo. A few crates of rum, some muskets, and some boxes. Believing that they could be useful in the future he brought them back to the ship.

"Was anyone still alive on that ship Father?" Natsu asked Igneel.

"I'm afraid not son."

"What do you think happened to that ship?"

"No doubt it was a pirate attack. An attack led by dirty pirates."

"What makes a dirty pirate dirty Father? Mud?"

"No son. They're pirates who have no honor or respect for the pirate code. You see son we pillage and invade and steal but we never harm the innocent and we only kill if we have to. These pirates, they didn't just steal they murdered all the innocent lives on that ship. All but one."

They moved the boy below deck and laid him in a bed. Later he started to wake. When he saw Igneel and Natsu he became scared and started to flinch away.

"Take it easy lad we're not going to hurt you." Igneel assured him.

"Where am I?" The boy asked.

"You're on my ship, we pulled you from the sea. I am Igneel and this is my son Natsu."

"I'm Gray...I was on a ship when..." At once the memory of that terrible night came flashing back to his mind. The pirates invading the ship, his parents being killed, the fire, the explosion, the sea.