#we say 'grian knew what he was doing poking the goat' but doc knows that mumbo is grian's weak spot | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gridoc · 4 years

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he woke up to rain

tried my attempt to write a Doc/Grian meeting in my pirate au sooo enjoy?

7.5k grian/doc pirate au

Its quiet- the sound of crashing waves along the sides of the ship could be only heard. Grian however, hears only his heart- beating out of his chest. He isn’t scared- not at all but the stars seem a bit dimmer, the diamonds seemingly hiding from the bloodscape of the inevitable. Grians' chest goes numb from the constant thumping of his heart as he stands before the most feared pirate of the seven seas and tells him to fight him.

And maybe, he could have done something else- jumped overboard and tested his chances, but he’s stubborn and stupid. More the latter many would say if they saw him right now, two feet on deck in between the bodies of his own crewmates and- god, (you don’t even believe in god, Mumbo would say) Grian could have saved his own hide- so easily.

But he didn’t, so too the corpses around him mock him. Bodies of his crewmates, the men he laughed, drunk with- lay around with deadly wounds dealt by pirates.

The moment he saw The Golden Goat appear, Grian should have known people won’t survive.

But, as he stands with his own sword pointing towards the Pirate Captain- a smirk coming from him, a confident smile knowing it's for an easy fight - Grian is glaring in response and he knows in his heart that it’s not his own time to die, today isn’t his last day. He’ll make sure of it.

His last day couldn’t be this- he woke up to rain.

Small taps rocked the navy ship, wooden boards acting as windows cracked and clacked outside, the rain running against them, tinning delirious warnings to an ever coming storm. Grian nearly falls out of his hammock as the thunder outside crackled, a siren call about the soon future- Grian groaned forcing his eyes open, an eyelash into one of them and such tears leaving him in annoyance. So many bad omens for only a minute into the day.

Already dressed for action, he used his sleeve to wipe his tears as he got out of the hammock. The red sleeve staining due to the liquid. It’s in his right eye, he rubbed it knowing it's just going to make it worse but the inflorescent tears didn’t stop coming- the other eye bleak and dry at least. “Grian!” The voice of the first mate jostled him to look up, a visceral of his heartbeat quickening and ready to make any order come true. “Grian!” The voice grew closer as the First Mate appeared on the stairs leading to the deck. “It’s your shift, what are you still doing here?”

He scoffed as Grian quickly ran past him at the warning- was it that time already? The sun isn’t even up- Grian hit himself in the head as he realised, the storm, its clouds hiding the sun forcing him to be late.

Poking his head onto the deck, his face was immediately met with rain hitting his face. Grian put up his arm on instinct, hiding his eyes away from the water. But as the weather absorbed into his coat, he decided to put it back down and just continue on.

Looking around, he saw this shift's crew members running around panicked trying to keep the ship in control during the weather. The tempest was gulfing out water onto the deck, trying to escape itself- coughing out waves and rivers onto the boat like a sickness. The boat moved, shifting under the weight of the furore, Grian having to grab a rope to keep upstanding.

Water began covering the deck in a thin layer acting as a bowl slowly filling in the corners. A few crew members were desperately shovelling water out before it reached a too late point. Just for the sea to return it as if they lost it and it was giving it back to its rightful owner. Some others were running around pulling ropes, cutting them off- tying them, to change the sails periodically to keep up with the rising winds.

“Hey!” Another voice snapped him back to reality- a crewmate who was holding onto a rope tightly called for him, boots into the wood as they tried to settle themselves against the wet floor not to slip away. “If you have time to gawk, you have time to help us!”

He got distracted, he felt annoyed at himself. Sure, it's bad weather, he thought as he ran up to the person and grabbed the rope, helping out to pull back the sails- but they've seen worse, he’d seen worse: much worse. Spitting out hair from his mouth, the wind driving the hairs around his face in a frenzy, even his own ponytail threatening to unravel itself in the conditions. With a final pull along with his crewmate the rope finally got back far enough to tie it around the railing of the deck. Just as he pulled along and tied a knot around it- another shout came from the opposite end of the vessel. Turning around, seeing yet more people battling against the water, trying to roll barrels and supplies from the deck into shelter- into the crew, captain quarters, securing cargo from the deck.

“All hands on deck!” The captain shouted over the wind- and much more of his own crewmates emerged from the bottom of the barrels, some of them are putting on their coats and boots as they are getting up to the surface- getting met with the sudden gust of wind. At Least Grian was lucky enough to be woken up earlier alone, it must be chaos down there now.

Along with sea, the deck began being flooded with more sea, the rope he was earlier struggling to get a knot around was taken over by another pair of hands. There were a lot more people around quick, the Captain did say ‘all hands on deck’ after all. Sails and masts were being tied down quicker than before, the cargo disappearing in the scuffle. At the moment everything was secure, but just then the storm picked up in the distance large waves crashing into one another, sending ripples throughout the ocean like an echo towards them the wind propelling it towards the keel. The crew had a mixture of shouts as a particularly strong wing enveloped them, the boat violently seesawing, some people falling past to the bottom of the boat- hitting themselves on the walls.

The Captain and First Mate were at the helm, the wheel working against their will and using both the mens might to keep from going haywire. Grian once again was distracted and only realised that when someone grabbed his arm, forcing a thick rope into his hands. With muscle memory working for him, he grabbed the rope; a few more crewmates lined up behind him and before also holding onto the cord and pulling. Grian heaved it within rhythm with everyone else, rubbing elbows with the people around him as they used their might to get the sails to close so they didn't propel themselves into the nearest landmass. But the wind was stubborn, and refused to work with them.

But, in the midst of the storm: between the water crashing into waves, collecting lifes and realisations along the depths and floors of the ocean, the peaceful waters became sharp and dangerous threatening to destroy them any minute, people started singing.

“Oh!” One strong voice began, guttural and loud, “We’d be alright if the wind was in our sails!” and although Grian didn’t know this one, he still sang along. “It would be all right!” They all sang in unison with another pull and push, moving along the deck, “If the wind was in our sails!” the sound of the earth trying to shatter them, to drown them, the voices of everyone being drowned out by the winds but the energy, the ripples of energy of the song still was heard. Not even the first mates orders were heard, now one of the many voices echoing through the sea singing the song that they might die singing.

“We'd be alright if the wind was in our sails!” Grian let out the song with a throaty rasp, but he did with a unison of other throaty rasps- “And we'll all hang on behind…” the unity of everyone fighting against whatever force put this upon them outnumbered the killing intent of mother earth.. He stepped back, another shout from everyone as they pulled, people upfront guiding what to do as they stared at the sails and onto the sea.

“

In reply, the crew replied with a shout of glory compared to a thousand soldiers' army about to fight their last battle. It's funny how a little storm can test your life and realise that you aren't safe on this boat after all, but here they are anyway. Waking up to the possibility of your death, that the sky you looked under for so long had the intention to kill you.

People stopped singing and let go of the rope as they instead went to run back and forth to tighten different ropes, everyone in a hive mind set the course towards the spot of light, hoping it was not the one at the end of the tunnel.

Grian didn't expect that however, and some others as well- people upfront let go of the rope throwing off the harmonious balance upon the middle, and the force of certainty and relalibalty of the pull was gone. Grian felt himself falling forward and seeing the person before him fall as well.

But Grian didn't spend training with his sword for his reflexes to fail him right now, Grian let his chest fall back- sliding his leg behind him and the other before him. And just as quick the back one slid to the right followed by the other one, his footwork always being excellent and this was to show as he watched a few of his crewmates falling upon on each other like dominos.

Turning around, he sang along to the continued shanty, "-if we make it around the horn!" the strong voice passed by him, the song continued around him as people ran around stringing the masts.

The wind struggled to overpower the hopeful men's voices, "We'd be alright-" he sang along with the first half, watching the bodies of red scurry and sing around, in reply everyone else sang "if we make it round The Horn!"

The ship of the military men forced itself through the waters towards the sight of hope.

The voyage was clearly ofcourse, even Grian , one of the many crewmates- the last one to be told the details of the journey or not even in mind to inform, knew this. They were heading towards the Hermiatic oceans to get to a military town to pick up and change through crewmates who were due to retire or leave. And Grian has been at sight of these exchanges, old men with bitter bones who he played cards with left towards nowhere, even men younger than himself would never return- he remembered them coming onto the ship, bushy tailed and wide eyed on being part of this and serving the King just like Grian once was, then a voyage later the spark gone as well as an arm, and the one who sung with a guitar in the deep nights gone to never be seen.

And they weren't headed there, the course sidestepped due to the furious storm and thunder, not even a care for the repercussions of this task if they were going to be lost or be able to find their course nor will they be ontime for the handoffs. But even as Grian knew of this stupid decision, he didn't question it, himself wanting to head to the very spot he himself pointed out. So, he won't complain.

As they headed closer the rain held up, the waves calmed as they crossed through the threshold- the stomach of the ship letting out a breath as it digested the tension every soul within it let out during the situation.

People stopped running around, stopping to look up with a smile. However some were already holding brooms and mops and forcing the water back to its source, the wood stained and dripped through. Grian hissed, it must have gone to the crewmate quarters, he already knows he's going to sleep either on the floor if they decide to put them up to dry or just sleep on a damp hammock. He isn't happy for either. Well, so it goes.

God (Mumbos voice once again ran through his mind)- he’s tired.

“Hey!” A hand waved before him, the quartermaster, “Use your gawking for something useful and go to the birds nest, spot us some land why don’t you?” With a ‘yes sir’ Grian turned around to climb up the mast, ropes and ladder making it easy and he hoped he's going to be able to come down just as quickly.

...He didn’t, yawning hours later after someone brought him up some soup and bread he was still up looking for any land, and his fear that they got turned around away from land and into the large and into the uneding Eremeetis- where pirates roam circling the land like prey, waiting for a stupid navy ship to sink their claws in.

He raised his spyglass, his heart freezing as he saw it. The sun was going down behind it but there was no secret what it was. A custom ship, seen years of wear sailing through the ocean, as if the sea itself was falling upon itself to make way for it, red sails doing nothing to camouflage the ship against the blue ocean, and the red flag with a skull and crossbones didn’t hide who- what it was.

The Golden Goat.

He’s heard of this ship, legends, stories, rumours- and there it was. He never expected to see it, never expected to lay his eyes on it. Intimidating, large and on its way towards them- getting bigger and bigger in his vision. He gasped, his spyglass falling down to the floor of the nest. Shocked, and terrifying he looked down and with all his might shouted into the deep,

“PIRATES !”

And that's when the first cannon went off, and the pirates missed, but the force of the waves rocked the ships- sending Grian flying off the birds nest.

He barely registered what was happening, the wind breaking under him- the air in his lungs beginning to taste metal, he screamed. Looking up, the nest and sails looming over as he grabbed the first that ended up under his hand, his stomach dropped and arms pulled as he held on tightly onto a piece of horizontal wood at the bottom of the sails. Blinking numbly against the pain, he tried to breathe but couldn’t, “Drop!” He heard a voice under him, and, he did. He didnt think about it, his fingers were slipping anyway. He let himself fall further- and closed his eyes for the impact of the floor of the ship….

But it never came. Instead he landed on something softer, opening his eyes to see some crewmates around him, linking their forearms to make him a landing pad. Seeing him okay, some let go to go load up cannons or help to sail away from pirates.

“You okay?” a young one asked, one of the bushy tailed types, Grian couldn't speak- air knocked out of lungs. “Go-” he rasped his hand on his chest, heart beating canons into his brain. “Pirates-” the other seemed to understand. Leaving him to go help out.

Grian took a deep breath, and one more regaining his lifeback- they, they need to leave. He looked around and well, there wasn't much to do than go on normally, a cannon shot won't do right now, it will knock them back again. And then, the first normal shot went off- and the young boy who he just talked to was shot point blank, his body slumping over and falling down against the floorboards.

The sun has completely set now, the darkness returning into everyone's minds as more bullets flew past. Grian ducked behind some barrels- as more shots from both sides overcame and he heard more and more bodies hit the floor, the echo of their souls departing onto the wood never forgetting, and another and another and another- and he heard laughing, unknown laughter from faraway, The Golden Goat was coming closer. Then, another body fell by him, and in his hand- a gun. He took it.

He popped his head over the barrels, and shot. And hit, a strong ‘fuck!’ was heard- an unknown masculine voice from the other side. He hit a pirate- he hit a pirate! Of course he did- they didn’t see him so he had the window of opportunity. He popped his head out, seeing one less pirate up on the deck. But with a large hit, as the two ships collided with one another. They were probably going to put down a plank for the pirates to come and raid the ship Grian was on. And he didn’t want to be already the first victim to be sliced by the sword, in the moment of distraction and bullets Grian crouched up, gun in hand.

He vaulted across, moving behind barrels and just any cover. Moving up the stairs toward the helm, and his bread hitched seeing the dead body of the first mate. The same first mate who woke him up this morning, the one who told him that it's his shift- who woke him up before everyone else. And now he was lying dead on the floor, a bullet through his head bleeding out on the wooden boards. Grian tried to stop his gasp, tears in his eyes as he crouched down to avoid being seen. He peeked over the helm however, seeing a plank on the space between the two ships, The Golden Goat grander in size yet smaller in crew but with the amount of bodies on their ship it should be the other way around at least.

But, the pirates were lurking around right now. A man, with brown hair in a ponytail roamed around on deck- shooting whomever breathing. A woman with short brown hair disappeared down the stairs to the cargo hold.

Guess the red, no mercy flag was no joke. However, where is the captain of the pirate ship? He peered up higher, looking for the fabled captain, a monster who was ever worse than any of his crew, ruthless and emotionless and no pleading will help you when before him.

But, it isn’t whoever is on the navy ship right now, the man with the ponytail was a contender but as one of Grians crewmates pleaded for his life [the voice of the man, was deep and naturally loud. The one he heard leading the shanty during the storm], telling the pirate about his children and wife. The pirate hesitated, it was seen in his demeanor, the gun at the forehead of the navy did not set off immediately, it lingered. The pirate stepped back, and looked away. Then shot.

The body of the father, husband, singer fell onto the floor- slumped. Draining his blood onto the floorboards, forever staining the deck.

Grian fell down, sliding and sitting down- hand over mouth to resist a gasp. Grian knew the red pirate flag- no mercy even if they plead for life. He heard about it, the legends, but- but- he never really believed it until now. He had to face the facts, as they are alive onboard right now.

Looking around, he took a deep, quiet breath. He needs to get out, there is a lifeboat on deck.He needs to get into it, and just go. Or die trying. Hopefully not the latter.

Grian looked back up, seeing now another woman with long blonde hair onboard along with the ponytail pirate.

He needs to sneak past them. Can he distract them? But how? He looked around, seeing a bottle- empty glass bottle by the helm. He frowned, was the captain driving the boat, drunk? Where is the captain anyway? Is he dead? Where is the Navy Captain?!

He sneaked down the stairs again, in one hand he had the gun in the other the glass bottle. Crouched down and walking down slowly, he was staring at the other two pirates as he did so. He ducked beside the barrels again, walking over the dead body he grabbed the gun from earlier. The lifeboat is where the pirates are, he needs to distract them-

“Wait- Wait!” His captain's voice rang out, Grian peeked out seeing the captain being dragged up from the lower deck by the brown haired woman, “I can tell you- where the gold is- don’t kill me! Don't kill me!” The captain was hiding under the deck, as his crew was killed. As his first mate was shot. Aren’t the crew supposed to be family?

The brown haired woman threw the captain before the other two, Grian peeked out further- could this be the distraction? Is it okay for him to use this as a distraction to save his own skin?

The ponytailed pirate raised his gun. The captain looked around panicked, for something to help him, save him- then they locked eyes.

The captain looked straight at him, Grian was too far out- he was seen by him. And now, he just hopes that the captain won’t see him as what is needed to save his own hide.

“There!” The captain shouted, pointing at Grian. A wish is too weak.

The long haired blonde pirate looked at him directly- as a shot rang out and the ponytailed pirate earned his second kill. Point blank, no mercy. And as he put his gun back into his holster, he also looked at Grian.

Grian started shooting.

The blonde woman immediately went towards the short haired woman, throwing them both to the ground- the ponytailed pirate shooting back before moving towards Grian. Is he not scared to be shot?! Grian tried to shoot again, but instead- blanks. He ran out of bullets, he clicked and clicked onto the trigger and nothing but air and his hopes left the gun.

The ponytailed pirate arrived at him: With a well placed kick to the chest, Grian stumbled back. And overboard into the water. Grian was about to plummet into the ocean- but the deja vu of before, of falling off the mast again. So, once again he grabbed the first solid thing under his fingers. And then, with a familiar gut into the throat and a stretch of the arm, he grabbed a piece of wood from the side of the ship. But this time no ones going to be there to tell him to drop, and this time he won’t.

With a sense of determination, of remembering his crewmates, who cared enough to stop in a midst of a pirate attack to make sure he's safe, the new crewmate who stayed behind for him to make sure he's fine- who died because of that. Grian can’t fall, how would he be able to face them in the afterlife? Or in the next life? Or whatever the gods have planned? But as he's dangling from the side of the ship, which in the past two years he felt safe in- who he gained new and old friends- which it all disappeared in the hour as their blood drip through the floorboards. Do gods even exist? Is Xisuma, the god of sailors, laughing right now or crying over this loss? Has he created the storm who got them here?

It's a sick joke, Grian thought as he lodges his feets into some crevices between the wood, and clumb. He had no gun, no bottle- the gun fell into the water, and the bottle was still on deck. But he doesn’t have any use for it now does he? Grian took a deep breath, as he put his foot up again- bracing against the water, then the next- and so to the hand. Hissing as he felt water hit his back, the sea water engulfing his seasons as he clung to the ship that threw him up.

He finally came back up to the top, peering over again, the pirates back where the navy captain's body was. There was another one however (a pirate), still not the captain however, as they seemed to be arguing with him. He had white hair and a black mask on, a bandage on his arm. He couldn’t hear what they were saying from this distance. Vaulting over the railing, he landed feet first- crouching again. This time they were seriously distracted, but still by the lifeboat.

He moved again, to the right behind more closer barrels, quickly sneaking between the empty space. Hearing them a bit better now.

“You could have left ONE Person alive!” The white haired man shouted, annoyed. “Now we don’t know where their safe is, their important cargo- what were you thinking?!”

The ponytail shrugged, “I- I! Well- I thought more people were left?”

“Doc is going to be mad, you know that right?” The blonde woman pinched the bridge of her nose, “And then we’ll be on cleaning duty along with-”

“I don’t care if Doc is mad!” Ponytail replied, throwing his hands up, “How difficult is it to find some safe?”

He turned around towards the captains quarters, “That captain grassed out his own crewmate! He probably has it under his bed or something.”

“Come on, False” The short brown hair said towards the long blonde hair, (False, Grian hears her name is), “Let’s distract Doc for a bit, before he wonders why we’re taking so long.”

False sighed, glaring at ponytail, then looking back at short hair with a “I don’t think Doc can take losing at poker against me again.”

“He’s going to have too, lets go.” Short hair gently pushed false towards the pirate ship. Which the other decided to just go. White hair followed ponytail into the captain's quarters.

Grian grinned, it's his chance! With nothing left to lose and a clear path in front of him, Grian didn’t even think as he ran across the deck- a bad plan in mind. Grab the boat, turn it over and throw it down onto the sea overboard, dive into the water and get into the boat. It's foolproof.

It was too easy to run across, ripping off the ropes that kept the boat to the ground. He didn’t pay attention to his surroundings, panicked and quite hopeful he threw away the ropes. Then he felt his hair being pulled back violently, he was thrown back by his hair back onto the floor. In the same way the captain did too him- and saw ponytail again. Oh no.

“Thought I threw you overboard.” He said looking down at him, saying so as he placed another bullet into the chamber of his pistol. “I should have waited for the splash I guess.” with a click, the weapon was loaded, and the pirate pointed it at Grian. Straight at his forehead.

“Ren!” A new voice entered the fray, deep and accented. The authoritative voice echoed through the ship, calling the name. The pirate about to deal his death sentence turned around, he must be Ren.

Grian used this opportunity and dealt the same fate Ren did to him earlier, so he kicked him. Kicking his hand holding the pistol, the gun was thrown somewhere else- Grian didn’t have time to watch where, but concentrated on standing up and dealing a punch to the pirate.

The pirate fell back, and in this distraction Grian ran back to the boat- and once again was pulled by his hair. This time the white hair was back, and threw him face first to the ground, arms behind him and he felt them being tied up with rope.

“Amu, you’re annoying.” He could hear Ren's voice, he was standing back up. As white hair pulled him up to his knees. “Thanks Etho.” Ren said to the white haired pirate, as he walked up to the two. Etho started talking, but the two went silent as a set of footsteps were heard.

Footsteps, belonging to the voice which called out Ren- in the middle of the loud sea, the loud, heavy footsteps walking across the bridge between the ships were the only things heard. They were slow and confident, taking their time. Grian was too nervous to look up to who they belonged to, already having a feeling. “Is this why you were taking so long?” The accented voice returned, the footsteps changing to creaks, indicating it landed on the navy ship.

Ren coughed- “Well, we were about to ask where they have the safe.”

The footsteps grew closer, and Grian still watched the floor- the pale oak floorboards looked darker now. Much more redwood. Why isn’t he looking up? He could kick a pirate who he saw kill twice earlier, he blindly shot another pirate earlier- but the silence the two went when these footsteps arrived, told him to shut up and look down. “I’ll ask.” And the steps were before him, well, the shoes. Black boots- stained dark at the heels and soles.

And like that, then the feet crouched down- squatting down and Grian still stared at the floor. Then a hand was grabbing his face- forcefully and squishing his cheeks, making him look up at the owner of the voice.

It was alot to take in.

First thing he noticed was the teeth, there was a smile on the person's face- it was sharp, twisted- and smug. The teeth were so too, sharpened alike to sharks, created for biting, for violence, for hurt- nothing peaceful. Then, it was the eyepatch across the person's right eye, black and a scar peeking from beneath the fabric. Smoothed back brown hair, a stubble on his chin- with a white eye. But, the white eye seemed to make sense with the green textured skin, a monster. The legend echoes, staring at the Captain- many calling the Pirate King- he was a monster through his actions and through his own self. The smile however, was the most terrifying thing about him.

“So, where's the gold?” He asked, the low voice once again coming through. Grian stared, stared at the captain before him. Earlier, he was scared because of the concept of this man, of the idea, of the silence- but his confidence came flooding back for the second, aswell as the sounds of the seas and the rotten and mournful realisation of: he’d going to die anyway. So:

He spit onto the Captain.

The Captain immiedietly recoiled back, closing his eye with a “Fuck-” Grian grinned watching the pirate stand up, wiping his face from the saliva. The Pirate King looked back at Grian, “Take him to the plank.”

Wait no- Grian thought as he felt himself being pulled up and pushed towards the edge of the ship, where there was a gap between the railings, a long board beside it. This time, Grian doesn’t know if he will be able to catch himself if thrown off.

Ren placed the board onto the gap, halfway so it won’t immediately fall off, Etho pushed him towards the plank. And with his hands literally tied, Grian couldn’t do much as he began walking onto the board. He looked back, seeing the Pirate captain, not even looking- not even witnessing his order just wiping his face and not paying attention.

Grian gritted his teeth, “Go.” Ren said, seeing him not moving, both him and Etho had their feet onto the board to keep it steady as Grian walked but instead he stood still looking at the Captain he just offended.

“Duel me!” Grian shouted. Its a stupid move, idiotic- He;s the pirate king, he never looses. This is a suicide mission, just a way to make his death slower and more painful. Delaying the inevitable.

The captain looked up, hearing that. ‘Paying attention now, are you?’ Grian thought.

“He won’t duel you, move along.” Etho scoffed, letting his foot leave a board for a second, making it wobble, Grian however, didn’t care- still looking at the Captain as he steadied himself under the moving board, the roar of the sea under him beckoned, waiting for a new snack as the sacrifice dangled above in the form of him. Grian didn’t show any weakness, back straight and looking straight on, as the waves clung up trying to grab him for dinner.

The Captain didn’t even spare a second thought as he walked over- the same confident walk as before. “And what's in it for you?” He asked, the deep voice making Grian shiver, but the contents of the sentence made him angrier. For him? The pirate is already assuming that this will end with Grians defeat.

“You let me go.” Grian said his terms, feeling worse when the two other pirates laughed at this.

“I let you go?” The captain smirked at this demand, “And if you lose?”

“I tell you where the safe is- as well as navy trade routes, plans- which ports aren’t properly guarded with valuable cargo.”

“And then I let you go as well?” The pirate crossed his arms, an amused smile still on his face.

Grian shook his head, a gulp before finally speaking. “Then you kill me.”

The two other pirates looked at the Captain, it was a good deal- if Grian only offered the safe it would be easy for the Captain to just order for him to plummet to the sea.

But, Grian worked in the navy long enough to be trusted with secrets, and is able to see and know where too, he has valuable information. And it's only a duel for them.

The Captain stared at him, the smirk falling, a more serious face actually contemplating this.

“Doc…” Ren began, making the captain look at him. They shared a look, which Ren shook his head during.

“Okay.” The Captain said, earning a look of disappointment from Ren. The smirk was back, “Untie him, give him a sword.” The captain ordered and turned around, taking out his own sword from his belt.

Grian looked at Etho and Ren, who once again shared a look before beckoning Grian to come back. Which he gladly did so, Etho took out a small knife from his pocket- cutting off the ropes with a quick slice. Grian instantly takes them apart, going to rub at his sore wrists.

Ren looked around, walking away towards a corpse and taking the sword off them. Throwing it at him- Grian catches it.

Looking across, he sees the Captain with his own cutlass already out, with the same annoying smile. It's confidence, it's relaxed, he knows he will win. All the odds are in his favour, Grian is much shorter than him, he’s been thrown about the past hour and his arms are sore from catching himself constantly as well as a headache due to the hair pulling.

But, even with those, Doc is going to lose, Grian was determined to stay alive. Today isn’t going to be his last day. He woke up to rain.

Grian stepped forward, standing up straight- sword out, one foot behind the other, and one arm behind him. Grian isn’t going to die, not within a duel- he remembers all the navy training he had, all those days he skipped to practice sword fighting with Mumbo, the only thing he was top of his class in.

And he was also determined for that Captain to stop with that annoying smile.

And if Grian knows something about sword fighting, then he knows it's going to take a few seconds to cut it off.

Suddenly, a wave crashed into the boat- making the occupants recoil, moving around to tighten their feet onto the ground. And suddenly Grian felt something hit his foot, he looked down- the glass bottle. Grian looked back up, to see the pirate captain raise his eyebrow, “Having second thoughts?” He asked, with that same, irritating, so sure of himself smile.

“No.” Grian smiled back, and in fell swoop- grabbed the glass bottle and threw it at the captain- once again having the benefit of surprise as he began the duel with a bang. The captain exclaimed, putting up his arms as the bottle hit them- and when he put them back down Grian was already before him, a split second earlier the duel would have been done with. But the Pirate still had his reflexes in the close quarters, reflecting the blade quickly- pushing Grian back but with nosense of self-preservation Grian was already back hitting the other blade again.

Grian pushed, the pirate captain walking back as he continued the deflect the sword hits, the sore sound of metal hitting one another echoing throughout the ship with buoyancy, Grian was going to get him in a corner and he’s determined to maybe even throw him off the ship- but after a few more sword deflects the captain was sick of this, and with one more strike the captain used the sense of confidence Grian had and kicked him when least expected- Grian falling back onto the floor, blinking his eyes open and with an reflect he rolled away from the sword about to stab into his chest- the captain's sword lodging itself into the wooden floor where Grians body used to be.

Grian stood up, and before the Pirate could take out his sword he launched himself at the pirate, pushing him down onto the floor. Sword gone, the captain rolled across the floor. But, quickly collected himself again, looking up with a deadly glare. Grian gulped, the glare at the others' faces replacing the annoying grin from earlier, and this time- Grian saw in the pirates expression that it's serious now, that his ruse of being weak is up- and that the pirate will show no mercy.

As Grian was realising the tone shift of the battle, the captain used his own trick against him- moving up during distraction. The pirate ran at him, grabbing his sword out of the floor as he pushed it at Grian. Grian reflected again, the two roles reversed as Grian walked back, this time the one being pushed over the edge.

The parrying continued, and this time Grian was in a corner, concentrated on keeping Grian in front of him, but Grian didn’t want that- he needed to get out of this. Break the rules, think outside the box, both of them were too confident and the beginning and those feelings both faltered during the fight, putting on equal level but Grian couldn’t have equal. Grian wanted- needed to win, his life depended on it, and he doesn't plan on dying today.

With another reflect, Grian ducked down- and headfirst ran onto the pirate, pushing them both down onto the floor. Grian sat up, straddling the captain's legs as he went for the kill with his sword. But the captain again had good instincts, putting his own sword up to defend himself. Grian pushing down onto it, trying to somehow bypass it.

The captain gritted his teeth, pushing the blade up and with a loud clang of metal in the reflect; the other was pushed back giving the pirate an opportunity to sit up and roll the two again- this time Grian on the floor and the pirate over him, swords once again gripping against each other in the midst of their own duel of which one will break first. And over the sparks, in the seemingly dead end within the battle with no rules, Grian took a guttural breath- and once again. Spit onto the pirates face.

It worked, the Pirate fell back, rolling off- closing his disgusted eye at this. Grian stood up, filled with adrenaline, his own sword in his hand- and pointed it at the pirate. Placed under his neck- the pirate doesn't even notice until he stops wiping his eye, looking up at Grian with a surprise. The pirate blinked, looking up at Grian with- with an unfamiliar expression. A beat passed between them, both breathing heavily, the wind passing through them. Grian let out a smile, he won.

And then two more swords were at Grians own neck. Right, the other two.

“Put the swords down.” The Captain said breathlessly, after nothing happened, he repeated the order, a much stricter tone “Did I stutter? Put the swords down, the man won!” He gestured at Grian. At this the swords disappeared from under his neck.

Doc looked at the sword Grian was holding with an incredulous look, Grian stared back not sure what he meant for a second before- “Ah, ri- right.” He stuttered, putting his sword back.

“What's your name sailor?” The pirate asks, standing up.

Grian did not want to give him his name- but, he feels like he owes him that after this but first- “What's your name?” Grian asked in response to the question.

“Now, that hurts.” The pirate stated, with a slight smile and a rolled eye, he bowed ceremoniously, clearly in mock. “I am Captain Doc. Surprised you do not know my name already.”

“The wanted posters don't give out your name-” Grian tried to excuse himself, before realising how that sounds.

“And yours?” Doc asks, disregarding that- but a smile still on his face showing he understood what he meant.

“Grian.”

“Grian.” The pirate repeated, in his deep, rumbling voice that made Grian shudder. “Well, Grian-” Grian realised that he regrets giving out his name, just for the sole reason of having to hear the pirate say it. “You won, we will let you go.”

Grian finally turned around, away from Doc, to see the other two pirates had flipped over the lifeboat he was trying to get too early. They were setting up to lower it, he looked back at the pirate. Doc put his sword back at his belt, hands in pockets and no ulterior motives to be seen.

Grian walked over to the lifeboat, sitting down before looking at the other two pirates with distrust. It's not like he’s going to ask to go get his things from under deck. Sitting down, he saw the two other pirates beginning to lower it down to the sea. Which calmed down fortunately, and as Grian looked back at the bright ship from above- he saw the Captain peer down overboard, crossed arms on the railing, just watching him.

It's as if he knew that Grian was angry he wasn’t paying attention the first time he was being plummeted to the bottom, and as he stared at Grian and Grian stared at him- well, Grian lost. He might have won the duel, but in the staredown he was defeated as he looked away back at his rowboat- his heart beating faster as he heard a chuckle from above. He looked back up and saw the captain gone. And as he was fully lowered, the other two pirates disappeared too. And Grian let out a deep breath.

“He- He had important information!” His crew was angry at him, Etho exclaimed when they passed back onto the boat, “Now- we killed an entire crew and we still couldn’t find the safe! You had your fun, you could have just forced the information out of that navy-”

Doc stared at the sea, completely ignoring his crew, the ship behind them where the duel took place was long onfire crumbling upon itself and the bodies it had onboard. The gold and cargo falling to the bottom of the sea.

He shrugged at the complaints, “He won.” He only said, staring out to the calm sea.

It seemed only Doc realised the fact he won, that that random navy defeated The Captain of the Golden Goat, in a duel. Maybe the crew was avoiding the topic, or didn’t understand the implications of the fact but Doc himself has- since the moment the sword was under his chin and he was looking up to the blonde man.

“Grian…” he murmured out, turning around- a smile returning to his face. “Huh.”

#hermitship #hermitshipping #gridoc #pirate au #my writing

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