Muffled sounds met your ears, sounding almost like voices coming from underwater. Your vision was black and your entire body screamed at you in pain as your head pounded and your stomach churned. The last thing you could remember was the ship plunging into the biggest whirlpool you'd ever laid your eyes upon, the crew clinging onto anything they could find for dear life as the ship was dragged into the depths. Then there was nothing but crushing pain as the cold blackness of the sea enveloped you.

Your eyes shot open as a boot connected to your stomach, making you sit up sharply as sea water spewed from your mouth. There was so much coming out it felt like you'd swallowed half the ocean! As you spewed out the vile sea water, the voices surrounding you became much clearer as you heard gasps of shock and surprise.

"The Cap'n... He's alive!"

"Davey Jones'll have to try harder to claim his blackened soul!"

You opened your eyes, your vision blurry but still able to make out the familiar shapes of your crew surrounding you. After coughing and spluttering for a little while longer you rubbed your eyes, your vision all but returning to normal, though they still stung slightly from the salt water. You looked around to survey the situation, then stopped, rubbed your eyes again and did a double take. Not only was your entire crew there on the deck looking down at you, you were on the deck of your own ship, The Green Bastard; the ship that you had been on as it plunged below the surface of the sea, rigging and sails tearing and mast cracking as it met its fate.

The ship appeared to be in almost immaculate condition, well, as good a condition as it was usually in. No torn sails, no splintered wood or gaping holes, everything seemed to be in order. Your crew looked a little worse for wear, all soaked from head to toe, some battered and bruised and with torn clothing, though from what you could gather they were all there and without serious injury. Your head gave a painful throb as you tried to fathom how any of you were possibly alive after being swallowed by a whirlpool, and you cradled it in your hands. You felt a hand on your shoulder and looked up to see your first mate standing over you.

"First mate Nameless, do ye mind explaining how in the hell we're not all at the bottom of the ocean right now?" You asked.

"A- a miracle Captain, it's as if Poseidon himself lifted the ship back to the surface. Me eyes could hardly believe as we emerged forth from below the waves, I'd thought for sure we were all doomed men."

You struggled to picture the large ship simply reversing its trip to the ocean floor and rising back up to the surface, but decided not to question whatever deity was looking over you and your crew.

"Aye, it seems God still has plans for us sorry lot, either that or he can't be bothered dealing with us all yet."

Nameless helped you to your feet, and from this vantage you were able to admire the shimmering blue water that stretched as far as the eye could see and lapped at the sides of the ship. You'd grown to disdain the sea after weeks of travelling through hellish storms that turned everything a blackish grey and brought howling winds and rain that lashed like a cat o' nine, but now the skies were clear, and only slight breeze washed over you as you took in the vast expanse of blue. A toothy smile cracked your features as optimism blossomed within you for the first time in weeks; it seemed fortune was shining on the wicked for once, and you were going to take full advantage of it.

You leapt straight into action, climbing up to the wheel of the ship whilst barking orders at your men, your heart pounding with a vigour you hadn't felt in years.

"To your stations ye dogs! Hoist the sails and raise the flag, today our fortune changes!"

There was a cheer from the crew as they dispersed to their posts, the men looking more lively than they ever had. Must be something about surviving certain death that lifted the spirits somewhat. The sails unfurled- what was once a gleaming white now a discoloured brown- though still appearing majestic as the wind pulled them taut and the ship lurched forwards. Soon enough the sea's breeze was rushing through your hair, caressing your body as the 'Green Bastard' cut through the rolling waves like a knife.

A few hours passed, the mood never dimming as the crew sang sea shanties whilst they went about their tasks, some of which you yourself joined in with. After checking the stores, the ship's cook Unnamed had found that nothing had been waterlogged when the ship submerged, all the food remained fine and unspoiled, and he had prepared a decent meal larger than the ones he usually made to celebrate the ship's miraculous survival. There was dried meat, bread and cheese as were typical, but due to a rare successful raid on a smaller vessel there was also some fresh veg and potatoes which he'd made into a stew and even a small amount of wine for each man.

You were considering breaking out the rum, content to let the day pass without incident, when a cry from the crow's nest startled you into alertness as adrenaline began to course through your veins.

"Cap'n, sails spotted off the starboard bow!"

You whipped out your spyglass, eager to see your soon-to-be prey as you instinctively turned the ship towards it. You then gasped in surprise as you saw a galleon on the horizon, larger than your own ship though slower and less agile, and sure to be holding a hoard of valuable trading goods and supplies. Your heart was pounding as you made a course straight towards it; such a formidable quarry was certainly dangerous and you could be facing heavy losses if you made even the slightest mistake. Your thoughts however were consumed with excitement and optimism, imagining the riches that awaited you and pushing the danger to the back of your mind. A glance down onto the deck showed the crew possessed by a similar excitement as they scurried about readying cannons and loading pistols and muskets, each man arming himself to the teeth as he prepared to fight for plunder and gold.

You were now much closer to the galleon and could pick out more of the finer details on it, and what you saw confused you greatly. The flag wasn't any that you recognised, being neither British, French or Spanish, and the sails were bright shades of blue and purple. Such a colourful ship you'd never seen; there even appeared to be colourful blobs scurrying about on deck, though you couldn't make out clearly what they were yet. What confused you even further was the fact that you saw no hatches down it's side that cannons could be pointed through. An unarmed ship? In these waters?

You turned to your First Mate Nameless who had been stood next to you awaiting orders.

"Tell the men to be cautious Nameless, something about this ship has me stomach churning. Only fire when I give the order, and when we board make sure you keep yer wits about ye, I sense deception and deviant trickery"

"Aye Captain, I'll have the boys in order for ye, make sure none of them get too... carried away" He assured you. With that he descended the stairs from the ship's helm and began barking orders, ensuring no one would dare step out of line. "Any of you dogs even think about jumping the gun without the cap'n's order and I'll have yer sorry hide strapped to the mast and flogged for an hour, and you'll receive none of the bounty! Have I made me self clear?"

There was a chorus of "Aye"s before everyone returned to what they were doing, albeit with a more focused determination and less of a reckless fervent energy.

As The Green Bastard drew closer to the unidentified ship the colourful blobs on the deck came into sharper focus, and what you saw had you totally baffled. It looked like... colourful little horses? They seemed to be tending to the ship like a normal crew would, and some of them even seemed to be gesturing towards your own ship, some even appeared to be waving at you.

The excited chatter and fervour of the crew also seemed to be dying down, replaced with confused mumbling as they too beheld the colourful little creatures. You shouted Nameless back up to the helm, where you handed him the spyglass so that he could see for himself.

"Nameless, do ye have any idea what in the hell those creatures are?" You asked him as he surveyed the strange ship.

"Haven't a bloody clue Cap, I've sailed the seven seas for years and never laid me eyes upon anything like it. The crew be murmurin' too, some reckon it be a trick, others say the vessel is cursed". He spat the word, as if it was a foolish thing to even suggest.

You scratched your beard in thought as anxiety grew and began to replace the excitement you had initially felt. Every impulse in your body was telling you to abandon this quarry, it was an obvious trap that only a desperate fool would fall for. But a desperate fool you were; you and your crew had rotten luck ever since you decided to pursue piracy as a career choice, only successfully raiding much smaller vessels who's bounties were barely big enough to sustain you until the next one came along. This majestic ship before you practically dwarfed your vessel, and was bound to be teeming with riches and booty the likes of which you had only dreamed of plundering. It may be a trap, but the truth was that you couldn't afford to pass this opportunity.

You sighed as you gave Nameless his orders.

"We can't afford to let this one pass us by Nameless; I've no doubt that some devilish trick awaits us, but if we manage to take even a sliver of it's cargo we'll all be rich men. Tell the lads that we're going to board. We'll give 'em a scare, state our demands and make off with the loot quick as a whip, and if I so much as smell foul play we'll butcher the lot of 'em and leg it back here 'fore they can gather their wits and attack us."

"Aye Cap'n, I'll go sort the men out." He said, looking at you with grim determination etched onto his face.

Nameless was a good man, tough as nails and able to instil fear and respect in equal amounts over anyone who crossed paths with him. He was the oldest member of your crew, and was responsible for keeping the sorry band of cut-throats and villains in check whilst you plotted courses and steered the ship. You knew that if any mortal man was capable of getting through this encounter unscathed it would be him.

Author's Note

All the crew's names are different synonyms of 'Anonymous' if you didn't notice already. Shouldn't get too confusing since there's only like 4 named characters, just thought it would be weird if there was Anon and the rest of his crew had bog standard names like Dave or Baz.