Chapter 15: A Love at Sea

I was always a problem child. 

Rebellious. 

Brash. 

Illegitimate. 

 Those words followed me through my life. Of course, that led me to become affiliated with piracy. That was when I met her.

Nassau, New Providence

August 1720

Laughter and shanties fill the air of a Nassau tavern where pirates share tales of their exploits and the plundered they stole from navy vessels. As the tavern maids bring drinks, a cling of mugs is heard as Calico Jack, Mary Read, and Bartholomew Roberts enjoy the merriment. 

"Then one of them Spanish blokes tried to shoot me with a musket, but the thing jammed, and the gunpowder burst into his eyes instead," Roberts chuckled as he took another gulp from his mug of ale.

Mary laughed feverishly, "Oi, I feel bad for that poor wanker. Of course, if it was a Brit like myself, I wouldn't give two shats."

 Calico giggled as he felt the effects of the alcohol, "Tell me about it. In fact, Bart, do I ever tell ye the time I-"

Then, the sound of glass shattered is heard nearby.

"YOU FUCKIN' BITCH!"

The trio and the rest of the patrons turn their attention to a pirate clutching his bleeding head with shards of glass. Standing over him is Anne in a barmaid's outfit and a broken bottle of bourbon in her right hand. Anne glares at the pirate with burning disdain.

"That's what you get, you fucking pig!"

Some of the pirates go to check on one of their own.

"Damn it, Anne! What in Davy Jones's locker is wrong with you!" One of the pirates yelled at her.

 "Tell that to your mate when he should've kept his mouth shut," Anne snapped back.

"And if any of ye' try to do something to me, I fuckin cut ya!" Anne yelled while holding the broken glass like a shank.

"Hey Bart, who's the redhead," Mary whispered to Roberts.

"Her?" Roberts pointed at Anne before giving a slight chuckle.

"Her name is Anne Bonny. She was married to some bloke until he reared up his arse for the British. What's his name? Joe? Jimmy?"

"James Bonny," Jack stated

"Aye, that's the one! So she divorced him and now works as a tavern wench. But as ye see, she's quite the fiery type," Bart says as Anne is now arguing with the tavern owner.

But for Mary, she couldn't help but be enamored by Anne. Her heart fluttered at Anne's perseverance and magnificence.

Later that day

Anne starts a pipe near the harbor to soothe her anger. She inhales the perfume of salty sea air and listens to the soothing sounds of ocean water splashing against the ships and harbor deck.

"What a crock of shat. I got fired because I defended my dignity. Bloody hell, I need to get back to the seas."

"Maybe I can help with that, love?"

Anne turned around to see Mary Read standing over her.

"Can I help ye, ma'am?" Anne said in an annoyed tone.

Mary nervously giggled as she attempted to articulate her thoughts.

"W-well, I couldn't help but see ye in the tavern causing a commotion and uhh-"

Before she could finish, Anne pulled out a knife and pointed it at Mary.

"I fuckin knew it! Let me guess, ye want revenge for your mates, right?! If so, then I'll gut ye like a damn flounder!" 

"Woah there! I ain't here to hurt ye. I come as a friend, nothing more," Mary put her hands up to show she was not a threat.

Anne gave the pirate a judgmental glare before softening her attitude and putting aside the blade.

"Sorry. I'm just...having a shitty day."

"You talk about the dickhead who grabbed your booty," Mary asked.

Mary yelled, "Damn right! That lard-headed bastard whistled and made crude jokes at me, but I get fired for defending myself?! I am not some whore for someone to mistreat. I'm just as a pirate as everyone else!"

"I think you're a pirate," Mary said earnestly.

Anne was slightly taken aback by Mary's sincerity. She used to be belittled and mocked due to her ex-husband's incompetence.

"T-thanks, I appreciate your comment."

Anne then rubbed her hair in annoyance.

"Damn, I don't know what to do now. I don't have enough wealth to start my own crew."

"Well, how about joining my crew?" Mary responded with a compelling grin. 

Anne raised an eyebrow at this.

"You want me to be part of your crew?"

"Well, the crew listens to my captain, but since I'm quartermaster, I can give a good word for ye," Mary winked, which made Anne chuckle a bit.

"Blimey! You're really doing all of this for some lass you barely knew?"

"Well, don't ye want all of Nassau to show how much of a pirate you really are?" Mary stuck out her hand and gave an amiable smile.

"Oh, and the name's Mary Read."

Anne smiled back as she took Mary's meaty hand.

"Well, Mary, I'm Anne Fulford. Or Anne Bonny if you feel like it."

Present Day

Anne and Saihua exchange sharp and unwavering stares while the audience watches intently.

"Anne, please... Don't fight on my behalf. Saihua is too strong for you!"

Anne turned to Mary as if a mother was ready to scold her child.

"I don't care if she is strong. I let you down before, but I'll be damn if I let it happen again!"

Meanwhile, Saihua witnessed this and had a proud grin on her face.

"You know, it's rather ironic."

Anne shifts her attention back to Saihua.

"What do you mean?"

Saihua glanced and flashed a sorrowful but kind smile to her family in the stands, cheering for her.

"Because I also know what it's like to watch those you love be taken away. But understand that I will not stop until you both fall."

As she says this, her mace radiates a pure white aura to emphasize its next transformation.

"I call upon the Guardian of the West to lend me your power. Prowl once more, Baihu!"

The crowd and Anne watch in astonishment as Saihua's weapon morphs again. The iron orb that makes the mace shifts and compacts into a dagger-like axehead. The polearm has silver bands and a tiger ornament on the end of the weapon.

Baihu: Heaven's Descending Claw

"Remarkable! Saihua's staff has changed from a mace into a dagger-axe," Hermes announces

Saihua assumes a crotching position before lunging at the pirates. Anne runs to confront Saihua head-on. The audience cheers as both ladies aggressively smash their weapons. Anne goes for an aggressive onslaught with her cutlasses, but Saihua's dagger-axe keeps Bonny at bay. Then Saihua spams a series of parries and slashes at Anne.

Tiger Blade Tempest

"Saihua is overwhelming Anne with an intense barrage of slashes! This isn't going well for Mary and Anne," Hermes declared

The Yang family and Song soldiers cheered while Yu Huang watched Saihua dominate Anne with a condescending smirk.

"Excellent."

Davy Jones panics over watching his champions losing.

"No! NOOOOOOOO!"

Davy scurried to Hades and Persephone's throne, where he prostrated himself before them.

"Hades! Persephone! By my sea-salted beard, help me out!"

The king and queen of the underworld looked perplexed by this.

"What would you have me do, Jones? I have no stakes in this tournament, nor did I choose your champions," Hades spoke sternly.

"But...but...you're the king, and you owe me for aiding ye in the Theomachy, remember?" Davy Jones pleaded.

"Well, Davy, I wouldn't be begging now if I was you. Look," Persephone said while gesturing to the monitor.

Davy Jones fanatically looked at the screen and behold Mary launching herself in the air.

"Get away from her!" Mary bellowed before descending towards Saihua with her trident poise to skewer.

Maw of the Leviathan

Saihua was Mary coming towards now and blocks it in the nick of time. Anne staggers a bit, trying to keep herself together. 

"Anne, can you still fight," Mary said, looking behind to see how her friend was doing.

Anne wipes the blood from the quarter of her mouth and smirks, "Aye-aye, captain!"

Mary smirked back as she and Anne went on the offensive at the general. Mary unleashed a flurry of thrusts with her trident, but Saihua parries each of them. However, Saihua felt her body being cut as Anne sneaked in her slashes of her own. Saihua tried to deflect and decapitate Anne, only for Mary Read to block any attempt from the general.

Grand Line Riptide

"What a shocking turn of events?! Anne and Mary are answering back with an interchanging series of thrusts and slashes, making it difficult for Saihua to keep up the defenses!"

As Hermes announced this, Davy Jones leaped for joy with renewed vigor.

"Yahahaha! That's it, girls! Push on! Show that crone no quarter! Win this for all of pirate kind!"

In the stadium, all of the pirates rally for Anne and Mary to win at all causes.

"Anne! Mary! Keep going! You got her walking the plank!" Jack yelled, hoping to see his dear crewmates come out alive.

"Yeah! Kick her ass so we can share a drink about this," Bart stated before drinking from a flask. 

"No way... There's no way Mother could be killed, r-right?" Yan'an muttered nervously as the Yang family watched on with fear and anxiety.

"Saihua, please don't be taken away from us," Yang Ye uttered while clinging his hands together as if to pray for his wife's victory.

Saihua was able to feel the same sense of dread that her family was experiencing at that moment.

'I... I must win. I've witnessed my boys and my husband dying before my very eyes. Not this time.'

Before Mary and Anne could strike simultaneously, Saihua roared with fury.

"I WILL NOT LET MY FAMILY RELIVE THAT DESPAIR!"

With a mighty swing, Saihua cleaved through the pair's weapons and managed to slash them across their chests. 

"Gaaah!" Mary and Anne coughed up blood as they were launched back and slammed to the ground.

Every human, god, and angel alike gasped at the surprising burst of strength from Saihua.

"I don't believe it! Saihua, with one swing, has destroyed Mary Read and Anne Bonny's weapons and landed a devastating hit on them!" Hermes announces, which is met with cheers from the crowd. 

Anne slowly gets up while wincing in pain. 

"M-Mary?"

Then, she sees Mary struggling to get to her feet while coughing up blood.

"Mary!"

"A...Anne," Mary groaned as she was about to fall.

Anne catches her and tries to hold her up.

"You're okay. W-we're not dead yet."

Yu Huang saw the display and chuckled to himself.

"Those foolish girls. I pity them for thinking they could still possibly win."

Guan Yu cast a disgusted look at his lord in response to the cruel remark he had just made. It also got judgemental glares from Athena and Amaterasu.

Without looking at his critics, Yu Huang said, "Hmph. Look at me however you like. I don't care. Regardless, it's time for this...'match' to end."

Saihua gasped for air while trying to maintain her footing. If she had not been pushed against the wall by the combination of Mary and Anne, she would be lying if she denied it. Then she noticed the pair getting to their feet despite losing their weapons and giving grievous injuries. Saihua smiled as Mary and Anne truly earned her respect.

"Anne Bonny and Mary Read."

The pirate duo looked at her wounded yet powerful opponent. 

"I have been through countless battles, but you two are the most valiant warriors I've ever met. Huh, it's a shame. I wish we didn't have to fight, but I'll give you painless passing. Come forth, Guardian of the South, Zhūquè." 

Instantly, Saihua's weapon spontaneously combusts into flames. Surprisingly, Saihua's hand didn't burn while the fire twisted and danced. The flames transform into a ruby and gold longbow.

Zhūquè: Soaring Fire Star

Saihua sighed heavily as she regrettably drew the yellow string and an arrow of light manifest.

'Go in peace,' Saihua thought as she let loose the arrow and rocketed towards Anne and Bonny. 

Anne and Mary saw the arrow hurtling towards them like a viper poised to strike. Anne feels the need to act quickly and find a way for her and Mary to dodge it. But Mary sees Anne in the trajectory of the arrow.

"Anne... Sorry," Mary whispered to Anne before shoving her out of the way.

"Noooooo!" Anne could only scream as the arrow pierced through the heart of Mary Read.

Mary Read felt only a slight buzz from her chest as the arrow hit its mark. Saihua was stunned at Mary's sacrifice. Mary's body descends to the ground as the audience watches in silence.

"MARY!" Anne crawled to her fallen partner and saw a hole smoking from Mary's chest.

"W-why... Why did ye do that?" Anne asked, racked with overwhelming sorrow.

Mary weakly laughed as she muttered, "Be...because I couldn't let ye...die."

The hot tears of Anne trickled down her eyes as she didn't want to be the last one standing again.

"This isn't fair! We were supposed to win this together. And...I got to never told you that...I...I..."

 "You...love me?" Mary uttered as her body is slowly fading away.

Anne sniffed as she said with a bitter smile, "Yes, and I always have, beloved."

Mary shreds a tear and smiles with pure relief.

"To think that I have been so nervous over nothing. Use our love to win this for us, my dear Anne," Mary said, her final words before disappearing from existence into stardust.

A moment of silence is held in the arena to pay respect to Mary Read. Saihua felt a bitter feeling of taking one's own lover. But she knows that regardless of who she fights, a battle is a battle, and only one can walk away.

Then Saihua sees Anne get to her feet and take off her coat.

"Mary, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you after all this time. I thought you didn't feel the same, but I was wrong."

Then Anne walks to pick up a broken blade from one of her swords and the shaft of Mary's trident.

"Anne, you have my condolences, but using those broken remains won't lead you to victory. It's not too late to forfeit," Saihua implored.

Anne gazed at Saihua and contently smirked as she faced her opponent.

"Ye may be right. I didn't go into this fight with the right mindset. Saihua, do ye love yer family?"

"I do," Saihua answered truthfully.

Anne lightly chuckled, "I guess we're the same. We outlived those we loved and lived in regret. And while I failed to save us, I won't fail to same our love!"

Then, the broken pieces start to glow with a light blue aura. Then, she puts them together and flashes brightly to the awe of the audience.

"Wait, is this...Anne's Divine Invocation?" Hermes announced, beholding the sight.

After the light fades, Anne wields a silver harpoon spear with a blue shaftguard and heart-shaped spearheads on each end.

Divine Invocation: Piercing Twin Hearts

Mary's Love has Fueled Anne's Determination...!

Match Three Will Meet Its Emotional Conclusion...!