Siren's Call of the Damned

It had been ten long years since the seas knew of the terror of the Perish Song. Ten years of being off the grid. Not even the world government had known about the whereabouts of the ship of a pirate that had lived long beyond the lifespan of giants, long beyond the time to do much but become a skeleton and rotted bones. Yet, whenever the ship surfaced back on to the scene, it seemed that The Siren, the captain of the Perish song, was rejuvenated and invigorated. Today was no different.

The Siren, the captain of the Perish song, stood at the bow of the ship, white coat billowing in the wind of the seas while their mask was pulled down firmly over their face, keeping everything from the nose up covered. An eccentric hood on the cape that came to rest just over the shoulders on their body. Black shirt, down all of the way to their wrists. They wore dark pants with white squares marked on to them on the outsides of the legs. And black boots on their feet. Sticking out from under that hood was blue squishy hair with black spots against it, shaped like tentacles. But, who would have hair like tentacles?

Speaking of odd things that stuck out, what kind of pirate captain that lived for more than five hundred years was five foot one inch tall?! Well, that's the secret. That no one could know about. The Siren was long dead, hundreds of years ago by this point. Retired even earlier than that. But, before they retired, they passed on their training, skills, and name to their successor. And this continued, from one Siren to the next. ANd now, today's Siren, making her first debut on the public ocean, was Fibi Cala Mari, one of two survivors from her home land of a now nameless merchant island.

Today, she was making her first day as The Siren known to the world, never to reveal her real name or the story of The Siren. The current former Siren made sure of that, a killer whale fishman. Everyone on this ship was either a human or a fishman, the Siren never being anything other than a fishman, however, the Siren saw something great in Fibi, a half human-half fishman.

While she power posed at the very bow of the ship, her hands folded on the iron tip of her weaponized paintbrush, yes, weaponized paintbrush, she looked out at the sea with her cross shaped pupils. She sighed softly before she raised her head back and shouted out to the crew, "Oh my name was Captain Kid!" After that a few joined in in a song like tone, "as I sailed, as I sailed!"

And so, a sea shanty was begun while she turned around, resting her paintbrush over her shoulder. Joining her side was another halfling, her closest friend and soon to be first mate, Nene Mori Gala. Taller than Fibi by a short amount, the two were inseparable, but, only one could take on the mantle of someone else, sadly. Fibi was that one.

Deep in the back of her mind, she was not going to live this life for herself. She didn't want to live the life of another person. And, Nene new this. "Heya Cap, you ready to get to your first island as the Cap?" Nene asked with a bright smile, her two sharp teeth, almost like an internal octopus beak, spoke to her cherished friend.

"Yeah...I just wish, you know, I could be a little bit more free from the costume." SHe said under her breath.

On the crew, a number of people worked, there were around forty on her ship currently, with seven particular strong fighters including herself and Nene. The other five were the former Siren and four select fighters.

Little did they know that, the moment that their ship was out on the ocean once more, rumors were already spreading, and glory hound crews were coming their way. People that wanted to test the true power of The Siren and the Perish Song.

The ship was spreading fog, with the power of dried ice and water, they were making the ship seem like a ghost shit with the help of phosphorescent paint on the top layer, so that it glowed in the waning daylight.

The open waters between islands often yielded patches of blue in which all that could be seen would be the hull of another ship passing by one's path. It was in these isolated expanses of openness that the Coral Pirates had made their offensive. With its glowing light and flowing fog, Captain Cerulean had made out the vessel from far off in the distance, but had chosen to ignore it.

"Pretentious entertainers, boys!" he dismissed across the deck of his caravel.

Captain Cerulean:

Instead of turning their attention to the ship passing near, the captain returned his focus to the merchant ship they'd stumbled upon instead. Read hooks attached the pirate ship to the merchant vessel, keeping both close to one another, as the subjugated merchants delivered goods and beli towards their aggressors.

"You paying attention down there?!"

"Aye aye, captain!" They responded dutifully, many rolling their eyes or shooting their mates knowing looks. The swift ship looked to charge the ghost ship's starboard side, with Captain Cerulean standing atop his own boat's bow.

He elected to ignore the ship and simply watch his newest bounty roll into his own ship's treasure room with a gluttonous glee. "Take 'em for all they've got, you mooks! It's our right!"

How utterly foolish of the Coral pirates' captain to assume that this was a mere boat traveling through. A boat of entertainers no less. He would come to regret that decision, and sorely so. As the Perish Song started to sail closer, the jolly roger could be seen. A cartoonish skull, surrounded by a thick illustrated smog, the smog originating from the mouth of the skull while the depiction of two ships cleaved in two were behind the skull's back bones. It was the jolly roger of the Siren.

As the glowing ship came close and The COral Pirates were getting ready to board the merchant ship, the merchants all froze in fear. "N-No! N-No! NO!" Shouted one of the merchants, falling back on their ass in fear with one hand held up while he stared in disbelief at the sight of the ghost ship approaching. "G-Get the anchor up! Give them what they want and move the boat as soon as possible! It's the Perish Song!" The merchants started to get as much as they could, forking it over to the Coral Pirates, just so that they could get the pirates off their ship while they were getting to emergency stations.

The rumor had it, those who heard the songs of The Siren were doomed to be sunk, never to be spoken of again other than tally marks for the hull of the ship and the captain's personal list. The hull of the Perish Song actually was marked with deep black paint on its side, numbering in over a hundred, one for each ship that it had sunk. Imagine all of the people that the boat had sent to a watery grave as a result.

And it was on a crash course straight for the area between the merchant ship and the Coral Pirates' ship! How would Cerulean handle this? Fear? Shock? Anger?

The boat would be in range of cannon fire soon, but, could you really fire upon a ghost ship? And to make matters worse, the fishmen of the crew had leaped off of the Perish Song, in the fog, unseen by all. They would swim through the water and get as close to the COral ship, to destroy the rudder and ruin its chance of turning to flank fire the Perish Song. A drastic mistake of not assuming the worst out of the smallest thing on the cold sea.

Fibi had taken to the helm of her ship, gripping on to the wheel firmly while she stared down at the ships they were sailing on, she wasn't really looking at the ships, she had a thousand yard stare that none on her ship could understand. She wasn't looking at anything, she was looking at a when.

Activity of their captors quickly accelerated past the pace with which the arrogant captain was comfortable. "None of are you are moving without my permission! Boys, keep your hooks on this prey!"

Merchants approached the captain, with fear apparent in their faces, but Captain Cerulean paid their pleas no mind. "Monson! Get me a look at that boat! What's so scary about a circus act?!" the pirate had heard the campfire stories of the Siren Pirates, but retained a confidence this boat was nothing but a ship of impersonators.

"No good, captain! Fog's too thick!"

"Bring us around then!" Cerulean barked, "They wanna get close, then we'll give 'em a view of our underside as they sink to the ocean floor!" He approached the helmsmen, shrugging off another merchant with tears in their eyes. "Somebody keep control of them!" he ordered to no one in particular.

"Our rudder's doing nothing, captain!"

Seething, the captain spit into the water, his teeth bared while he stared out at the approaching Siren ship. "Scare tactics don't work against us! Neither shall sabotage and underhanded moves! Arms at the ready!"

The Coral Pirates resounded with bloodthirst in their voices, each scrambling about for their weapons. "Gunners abandon the cannons, swordsmen to the planks!" His close ranged fighters took position between the merchant and pirate ships, their eyes trained on the approaching vessel. Cerulean himself took position at their head, pacing back and forth in front, and waiting patiently for a turn to crack at the enemy.

The Perish Song did not stop. Its front was reinforced with stone like plating, ready for ramming. The bow sticking out and right behind the banister of it now stood The Siren, Fibi. Looking from under that hood and through her half skull mask. Her eyes locked down at the boats as they approached now. "As you wish." SHe said to herself while thrusting one arm out, revealing her weapon,a  spear length paintbrush? A paintbrush? Seriously?

Held flush against her shoulders with her right hand clutching the highest point on the shaft that she could while the body of the weapon was held against her arm and back.  With a spin around, she prepared herself for a fight, now pointing the metal spear bit of her weapon out at the enemy. Her weapon flourished around in a fanciful manner. The Siren was known for fighting with a spear, or at least a pole arm.

"Dead men tell no tales. Live through this, tell the world of what has happened to you today. Or become another mark on my ledger of collected souls." She said in a dark tone, something that Nene never really enjoyed, but, it was a part of the act, within the act in and of itself.  Fibi rushed to the front of the bow, leaping off of it while her jump would put her in a position to be attacked in the air.

That would be, if her fishmen crew mates weren't crawling up the sides of Cerulean's ship, and instantly chomping down on the planks between the two ships, which would ruin the footing of the pirates and merchants on the planks.  And, if it worked, Fibi would dive straight in to the water, spear first, aimed for Cerulean's stomach.  Though, he may be able to defend himself if he were in the process of falling, but, he would be a human in the ocean with fishmen, the warriors of the sea.  Fibi was not in this for a pure massacre. Just take out the captain, be done with it and sail on.  Maybe she could also give the merchant ship a chance to pull away from her Perish Song's collision course.