Please read Crown of Gods (it's free) first before reading the Rookie Pirates

A warm breeze swept its way through the cobbled streets of Southport, a small harbour town found south of Harvest Island. It was an island famous for producing the finest crops and food throughout the world of Aqua.

The crescent moon shone brightly in the late evening sky, and its white light reflected off the calm blue sea. In fact, it felt too calm and quiet for the red-haired girl that sat on the thatched roof of the local tavern. Her legs swung over the edge of the old, deteriorating building, and her feet kicked out playfully. A stoic expression landed on her lips as she waited patiently for some sort of excitement to arrive.

Tick tock.

The seconds passed by and still yielded nothing. The red girl had turned to admiring her newly bought blade. The sharpness of the silver glistened in the moonlight and reflected the sadness of her honey-gold eyes; they were eyes that had seen things that could never be unseen, eyes with a dark past. Yet, in the corner, they glimmered with hope. The girl wasn't all gone yet; she still had hope for a brighter future.

She sheathed her rapier sword in its black scabbard. She had yet to name her new blade, because she found it hard to come up with a suitable one when she hadn't yet played with her new weapon.

"I thought I would find you here."

The peacefulness of the evening was interrupted by the soft voice of the red girl's friend, Elena Sharp. Elena's shadow loomed over the red girl before she sat down next to her and handed her a hot cup of freshly made tea.

The girl indulged herself in the sweet taste of the honey-flavoured beverage and let the warmth of its contents heat her body. She nodded to her friend in thanks.

The red girl had always found Elena beautiful with her delicate facial features, a slim, perfectly-shaped hourglass figure, and long black hair. However, the girl always found Elena's eyes too intimidating to her liking; they were a dark yellow colour and would dart around like a predator looking for its prey. They made her friend look older than and more mature looking than her actual age of twenty.

The girl had always found something mysterious about Elena, but she didn't dwell on it too much. Elena most likely had a dark past, just like she did, and wasn't her place or business to ask her friend. If Elena wanted to tell her, she would do so in due time.

"Anything tonight?" Elena asked.

"It's a ghost town." The girl sipped on her drink.

The evening went on, and the two of them sat together in peaceful silence. Not a word was said, but they still enjoyed the other's company.

Elena finally gave in to exhaustion and yawned while stretching her arms up into the air. She stood up, taking the two empty mugs with her as she made her way to the hatch on the roof of the Hawk's Eye.

"Good night, Jessica. Don't stay up too late."

"Night," Jessica grunted.

Elena disappeared through the hatch, leaving Jessica alone with her thoughts and the peacefulness of the evening. She heaved a sigh; it didn't look like there were going to be any forms of commotion tonight.

Pity, Jessica thought. I like watching the Pirates fighting with the Navy.

As if her prayers had been answered, at that exact moment, the sound of a cannonball being fired split through the air, followed by an explosion and the sound of wood splintering as the dock shattered into pieces. The local navy headquarters, which were half a mile inland from where she sat, lit up. Alarms blared loudly, and the sound of scrambling feet could be heard as the navy sailors prepared themselves for battle.

Jessica's face lit up with anticipation as the noise of more cannons could be heard going off out at sea. Her heart drummed to the sound of the swords clattering over the ocean breeze, and in the distance, she could see two boats approaching.

At the front and closing in on the harbour was a large dark wooden ship. It had ripped black sails that rippled in the wind, and tied to the tip of the mast was a pirate flag. The naval vessel trailed behind it, firing cannon balls but missing the pirate ship as it elegantly sailed out of the way and shot back.

Jessica recognised the pirate flag as one of the infamous pirate crews who had made a name for themselves this past year. She had been reading up on all of the newbie pirates and their dangerous activities in the newspaper. Jessica read the paper every day; information could be used as a weapon, as her father had once told her.

She's recently read about Mad Man Levon and his motley crew that had single-handedly taken out the Pirate Lord Madame Cheng. Such a pirate crew could only be monstrosities. If they were strong enough to take down a powerful foe such as Madame Cheng, a Pirate Lord, a title given by the Pirate King himself, what else could they be but monsters?

Unfortunately for Jessica, this wasn't Mad Man Levon and his crew. No doubt about it, this crew contained the most vicious pirate to sail the seas of Aqua in a very long time: The Hothead!

"Captain Ruben Kirk!" An eager smile spread across the girl's usually-stoic face. "This ought to be a fun night after all."

Jessica watched fondly from her rooftop, her legs kicking out more playfully than usual as the excitement got to her. She delicately placed her index finger in her mouth and chewed down on her nail, flaking away the purple varnish.

The pirate ship finally docked, and in the distance behind them, the naval vessel could be seen sinking into the deep blue abyss. The Pirates jumped down onto the wooden docks, their weapons out and ready. Immediately, they started to cut down anyone who stood in their path.

Cain Reed, the first mate to the captain, was sleek in his movements, fast-paced and unstoppable. His razor sharp blades spun against his wrists in a blur as he zigzagged his way through the charge of navy sailors. Red splattered in all directions and pooled up between the small crevasses of the cobbled street. The sound of cries echoed throughout the town when the Navy called for mercy.

With such a racket, one would think the townspeople would step outside to find out what all the chaos was about; however, like most islands throughout the world, they had become accustomed to pirates and their activities and knew best to stay out of it. Some islands, including Harvest Island, welcomed pirates with open arms, for they brought business and helped the economy boom, at least, most of the time they did. Only King Mordred's government, the United Islands, hated pirates.

Finally, the infamous red-haired captain jumped down from his deck and into the chaos below. His long, black, steampunk-styled coat flapped behind him as he landed. A wicked smirk spread across his face when he cut down the first navy sailor he saw. There was no remorse or hesitation to his actions, only laughter, a sure sign of a cold-blooded killer. He would cut down anyone that stood in his way, no matter who they were, and it didn't bother him in the slightest.

Jessica's sword started to rattle next to her. She gripped the weapon to stop it from flying away and became awed by what she saw. Objects from all directions rose up into the air and orbited around the captain. The navy was useless against his arsenal of floating weapons. The sailors were shot down within seconds.

He was a cursed soul with the ability to move objects. Jessica had never seen such a powerful cursed soul before, and she had seen many in her life. Cursed souls were people with supernatural powers, but nobody knew how or why they became cursed.

The fight continued throughout the night, and watching the chaos below her, sent a thrill throughout her body, making her want to join in on the battle. She always felt like this whenever she watched the pirates fight with the navy.

The fight soon came to an end, and the navy lookout tower stood ablaze, leaving an orange glow in the night sky. The last of the sailors ran away, clearly knowing that they had lost the battle. The captain laughed into the night and wiped the red specks from his face. As much fun as it was to watch, Jessica found him to be a cocky captain and not to her liking. He took everything too lightly and he acted like he was unstoppable and could take on the entire world, a trait which could get him killed one day if he didn't learn to be more aware of his surroundings. He had missed the sailor pretending to be dead on the floor behind him; his hand raised, a musket aimed at the captain's head.

The gun rang out with a bang.

As swift as a cat and faster than lightning. Jessica jumped down from her rooftop spot and deflected the bullet with her rapier sword and knocked the sailor out with the heel of her leather boot.

The pirate captain turned with an annoyed grunt to find a girl delicately sheathing her sword, a navy sailor unconscious by her feet.

The girl had long, crimson-red hair, similar in shade to his own, that reached as far down as her waist, a white beanie covering her roots. She wore a long-sleeved purple crop top with a pair of white suspenders crossed at the back and attached to the loopholes of her black denim shorts. On her feet was a pair of black knee-high socks and loosely-fitted leather boots.

Where had the girl come from?

He should have been dead, and he knew that this girl, whoever she was, had saved him. However, this annoyed him. He didn't need some girl to protect his arse. The girl was about to run when he caught her by the wrist. A honey-gold bracelet caught his amber eyes before he forced her to face him. He had to admit, she was a pretty little thing with her cute button nose and a startled look in her eyes. He slowly looked her over and saw the hardly-noticeable pink scars on her neck, which she had tried to cover up with a black choker.

The look on the girl's face turned innocent, and the pirate captain's grip slackened; something about that look got to him in a way he hadn't felt in a very long time.

Jessica took advantage of his sudden change of state - an opportunity to escape from his clutches. She forcefully stepped on his foot and punched him in his abdomen, forcing him to keel over in surprise more than pain, and whacked his head up, flipping him onto his back.

He grunted when he landed on the angular cobbled street, not the most comfortable of landings.

He didn't expect the little thing to be as strong as a fully grown man. Grovelling in agony from the surprise attack, he stared up at the girl as she walked off. She had a unique elegance to her step when she jumped up onto the rooftops. There was a certain cat-like grace about her as she disappeared into the shadows of the night.

He smirked; she was fierce and independent, and he liked that about her, but she had still pissed him off and humiliated him in front of his now-laughing crew.

He would get his revenge.

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