There was no chance of escape on any side; the fish-men moved incredibly quickly, all the more so when the ship's captain suddenly issued an order. "Finish them off, lads," that absolute command immediately made the fish-men even more aggressive.
I knocked them all back but quickly brought both feet back to the ground—we were forbidden to kill them because, after all, they had been crew members with us for a week and a half. "Alice, please deal with Jones—I'll save Captain Hook!" shouted the girl with purple eyes; she ran off before I could warn her and swept aside everyone in her path.
"Wait, Liz—don't do anything stupid, he has—" Before I could finish my sentence, she had already leapt and plunged into the vast ocean stretching out before us—I wanted to grab her leg, but it was too late; she was already out of my reach. "She has the heart of the ocean…" I groaned, letting out a long sigh; she was sometimes too loyal for her own good.
I glanced over and saw Robin growling in frustration, struggling to restrain himself from shooting too harshly, because the slightest mistake would kill an unfortunate soul whose body was being controlled against their will. "Forget it!" he shouted in frustration; the bow and arrows in his hand vanished into shards of green light. "Alice, deal with Jones—I can take on all of them by myself," he said before landing a punch on one of the fish-men's faces, sending him flying.
"Are you sure?!"
"You trust me, don't you, my lady?!"
Hearing that immediately calmed my heart; I couldn't help but smile mischievously before turning round. "Don't embarrass yourself, Greenie!" A blue light formed between my fingers—and from within that light, a card appeared. Not only that, but my hand drew a sword with a whitish blade that soon blazed with a heat so intense it even burned me as I held it.
Elsewhere, Robin savagely punched one of the mermen in the face and, before his body could hit the ground, his hair was grabbed and he was thrown straight into another member of the crew who was trying to claw at him.
From behind, someone tried to launch a surprise attack; even so, Robin's hand was quick enough to seize his wrist and, with all his might, he hoisted his body up and slammed him straight into the cluster of mermen attempting to attack Robin as a group.
Leaving no time to catch her breath, one of the fish-men came running from the side, his hand poised to strike—but Robin was quicker; her elbow landed squarely on his face, followed by a swift uppercut to the chin that sent his feet flying off the ground; the final blow was a powerful kick that sent the fish-man crashing into one of the crates, smashing it to pieces.
"Phew, I have to thank Romeo for teaching me all this," Robin said before cracking his neck, ready to go into the second round.
An attack came suddenly from the side, but Robin was quick to place his palm beside the merman's head before slamming him hard onto the floor. "Go to sleep, lad," Robin sneered. His ears picked up the sound of approaching footsteps—he turned slightly and his foot shot out, knocking the merman behind him to the ground. "You sleep tight too, and don't let the bedbugs get you."
Watching it all from a distance, I couldn't help but be in awe of the skills Robin was displaying. "I won't let him beat me!" I replied before dashing towards Jones, who was already ready. Our blades clashed as we tried to force each other to their knees. "Have you seen a girl called Red?" I couldn't contain my curiosity, because the last time I'd seen Red, she was with Death, the leader of the organisation Jones belonged to.
"The girl who's lost her way in life? He confirmed it with a description that really caught my attention. I tried to push forward, but the distance between us was too great—I was nearly sent flying, putting me at a disadvantage. "Your reunion with her has been destined by the sun; you simply need to wait until you can breathe that air again," he said.
"But instead of sitting pretty in London—" he managed to push me back; my breath came in gasps and my blue eyes locked onto the pirate standing before me, his hand gripping his sword tightly. "You decided to interfere in a matter that was none of your business and set sail across the seas." The tip of the blade was now pointed straight at my face.
"Sorry, it seems there's something you don't quite understand here—" I gave a small smile; I mustn't appear intimidated in the slightest—and most importantly, I mustn't let him touch me at all; the moment his finger touches my skin, it's game over for me. "—Meddling in other people's business is something Mother Goose's children do!"
At that very moment, we could hear a deafening roar coming from the sea far below us, as though something enormous were surfacing. The ship suddenly began to lurch, not because of the waves but because of something else—my eyes darted to the side and I saw something shocking: a giant tentacle had seized the stern of the ship, followed by another tentacle that had already gripped the bow tightly and was pulling the ship down. "What on earth?!" Jones immediately ran towards the deck, giving me a moment's respite.
A loud jingling sound rang out beside my ear; I turned and found a fairy hovering nearby with a sulky expression. "Ah, Tinkie! "Sorry, I'd forgotten about you," she looked away; I couldn't help but giggle at the sight of her sulking like this.
Four tentacles were already pulling the ship closer to the surface of the sea, returning it to where it should have been sailing. Robin gaped, and a green light formed an arc from her hand; she clicked her tongue in exasperation at having to fight this at the same time. "Wait! Robin, don't attack yet!" I shouted before she could fire that arrow.
"Huh? Why, Alice?" She asked curiously but obeyed anyway. Without warning, two human figures appeared, smiling with a mix of pride and mischief—a man with long, slightly curly black hair and a girl with light tanned skin and short black hair. They both seemed to be floating in the air, but it all became clear when the head of a huge octopus emerged—they were standing right on top of its head. "Captain Hook! Liz!"
"Ahoy! Are you all right, lads?" He greeted us, and in his left hand he clutched tightly a heart-shaped pearl—it was the device that allowed him to do all this. "So it turns out the Kraken does exist; it was just asleep yesterday," he added, and Jones, who witnessed all this, was utterly shocked. He was lost for words, but I could clearly see from his body language that he was furious right now.
The Kraken's two enormous eyes were even far larger than my own body, meaning it could probably see right to the farthest reaches of the ocean. Without warning, a tentacle grabbed hold of Jones's body and began to tear through all the bones within, yet he would not die without a fight—his hand touched the slimy, wet tentacle, and slowly, the tentacle began to show signs of blistering.
However, unlike when touching human skin, the blistering spread so very slowly that it seemed as though it wasn't spreading at all. "Bad Ending's abilities really are extraordinary, aren't they…" Robin muttered, watching the blistering that remained effective even when faced with a giant sea monster like the Kraken.
Sensing danger, the Kraken released Jones from its tentacles and dropped him right onto the deck. Liz, seeing that the Kraken was in pain, immediately crouched down and stroked the creature's hard head. "There, there, are you all right, big guy?" The giant octopus let out a loud grunt—I didn't understand what this monster was saying, but at least it wasn't rampaging.
Captain Hook tossed the heart from the sea towards Liz, who caught it—though he almost dropped it—with the help of a tentacle stretched out like a bridge; he walked across it before his feet touched the creaking wooden deck. "You'll need more than that to kill me, Captain Jones," he sneered, and I immediately hurled my sword at him, which he caught without seeming the slightest bit troubled.
"Now, let's fight again." Captain Hook stopped right in front of Jones, who was drawing his sword once more, and this time he seemed determined not to hold back at all. "And this will decide who will be thrown overboard!"
This was a battle of honour; none of us dared to interfere—Robin stepped forward and stopped beside me, his expression a mixture of hesitation and great hope. "Alice, do you think Captain Hook will win?" He must have already known my answer, but he asked the question so that his heart might feel a little more at ease.
"Of course he'll win—he is our captain, after all!" I declared, and upon hearing that, Robin immediately breathed a long sigh of relief—our fate now hinged on who would emerge victorious from this battle.