A Devil
Theon POV
"Kill him."
I only smiled as the Pirate Empress ordered her big man. Horace was his name. Well, since I wasn't wearing my armor and only had my sword and dagger with me, I couldn't take it lightly. That hammer he carried could kill me after all.
"Haha, like that would ever happen." In the end, it was just a joke.
The hammer just missed me, flying above me as I ducked. One punch to the stomach and another to the jaw. That would be enough for most people, even without my iron gauntlets. But Horace wasn't normal. He took my punches like they were nothing.
"Slaves, huh?"
They were used to pain by this point. Someone as big as Horace was probably more used to it than most. Still, he wasn't as big as the Mountain, nor was he any faster. Just a brute who could take a few hits.
But still just human, and now a human with a knife in his neck, half his throat sliced wide open. This Valyrian steel dagger sure was sharp. Not even muscles could slow its slicing power. Just like through cheese, I just slice him wide open.
"There are over one hundred men under my control on this ship," the Pirate Empress said, not looking too disturbed at her man dying before her eyes. "And there are thousands of people who want to kill you outside the ship."
"You should have known," Big Mom continued. "We pirates don't believe in promises or simple words. We believe in what we see. And with you, we see hundreds of thousands of gold coins falling into our hands. Every single one of us will try to take you down for that reason alone."
"And you expect me to fall to my knees and beg for mercy?" I asked, hearing hurried footsteps as men gathered outside the cabin doors. "Hundreds, thousands? When a ship sinks, even rats run, trying to survive. Just sit here and watch as your ship burns."
Although I wished I could kill them all first, I didn't have time. More men burst through the door into the cabin. Before they could overwhelm me, my sword pierced the first one running at me, and he was thrown into the others.
Without my armor, I felt vulnerable. I couldn't act recklessly as I would like. Keeping all of them in my sight, I cut them down and kept most of them outside the cabin, controlling the fight and the flow.
I let myself take a cut at the side so I could sever one of their heads. More corpses piled up as I continued receiving damage. I didn't bother blocking every attack; there were too many. All I could do was keep a distance and use the length of my sword to slice them one at a time.
"Incompetent fools," Morgan snarled, having lost his patience as he rushed at me from behind.
His axe-hand sliced through my shoulder as I somehow managed to evade most of the damage. Now I was backed against the wall. At least my blood covered the floor under their feet.
"I will let you in on a secret," I smiled, looking at everyone bearing blades against me. "It is something that should have been said often enough about me that even you must have heard: I just love to burn bastards like you. So let there be fire."
I ran my knife against my sword, creating a spark that ignited my blood and produced a burst of flames that pushed everyone away. It quickly spread to the corpses and everything that my blood touched.
"You'd better start running," I said with a smile as Morgan was the first to bolt through the doors.
Big Mom tried to follow, but I blocked her. Knocking her down with a punch, I stomped on her head until I heard the satisfying crunch. The Pirate Empress at least tried to defend herself with a dagger. Too bad, my sword found her stomach faster than her dagger could find my heart.
I threw her into the fire, hearing her scream as she burned with her ship, then turned to the last one in the cabin. He still sat relaxed as smoke filled the room and flames spread.
"I knew there must have been a reason people call you a devil," the Silverhand said.
"Are those your last words?"
"No, they are the first words of my allegiance to you, King Theon Greyjoy," the man said, kneeling. "I waited for a day like this. As fun as it is to go with the wind, I'm getting old, and I would like to see at least one kingdom burn before my eyes."
"And why should I allow it?"
"Because I swore to you before all this mess," he replied. "I volunteered to send my men to capture your ship. Now they are there protecting it and drinking with your friends."
"You are sensible enough, I see." I started to like the man if what he said was true. "Then I will be going. Meet me at my ship to finalize our deal."
"Morgan is probably waiting for you outside with dozens of men." It was incredible how calm the Silverhand was, even as smoke made it hard for him to breathe.
"As much as it annoys me, I guess I have no choice but to run," I replied with a smile.
I still had a somewhat human body. If crossbow bolts hit me, I might die. Ripping a burning shirt from one of the corpses, I wrapped it around my upper body and head, letting the fire stick to me before I rushed outside.
"Ahhhh!" I screamed, pretending to be in agony as dozens of men waited for me with crossbows and swords, pointing in my direction. None of them moved as I thrashed in the flames, hidden by smoke and fire.
They probably didn't realize who I was. I ran and jumped over the board straight into the water before they could think to shoot. Silverhand should be fine, so I swam away to see if what he said was true or if I should add him to my list.
…
I was pissed. Making me run was unacceptable, even if it was my fault for trusting a bunch of pirates not to try something like this. I should have expected at least that much when I walked into their den. I had overestimated their intelligence far too much.
Climbing onto my ship, I was met with Bronn's and Thoros' swords pointing at me. The water had washed away the blood, but the wounds were still visible on my body. I gave them a dead stare until they backed down.
"What the hell happened?" Thoros asked.
"People don't learn until they experience it firsthand," I replied, looking at a bunch of unfamiliar faces, the Silverhand's men. "I hope you rested enough. Gear up. We have people to kill."
The flames had sealed my wounds, leaving only burned scars. Since I felt no pain, it didn't bother me, even as Anguy looked concerned. I changed into new clothes and put on my armor. Black plated armor covered me as I prepared to kill all those fuckers who had dared to trick me.
Not long after everyone was ready, the Silverhand finally showed up. He glanced at us before smiling at me, seemingly pleased he'd chosen the right side. At least he was smart enough to realize it.
"Where is Morgan?" I wanted to take the last of those idiots before anything else.
"Looking for your body," the Silverhand replied. "They don't think you survived."
"Then they're in for a surprise," I said. "But before that, why don't we talk?"
Before he could answer, Cleftjaw seized him by the shoulders and sat him down. The others blocked the path of the Silverhand's men. I stood over him and made sure he didn't do anything stupid.
"Why are you here? What do you want?"
"I already told you," the Silverhand replied, but I didn't let him off easily.
"What about the others? Your pirate way, if you could call it that?"
"They grew comfortable," the Silverhand answered. "They had the strongest crews and best ships, but they failed to realize that while they could take every ship that crossed their path, others wanted more."
"Others?"
"You weren't the first to offer to hire us," he explained. "Someone named Davos Seaworth came offering a deal to sail for King Stannis. A few Lannister boys also approached us with gold for our services. There were others, too. Each time, the Pirate Empress and the rest refused."
"You think differently?"
"Not only me," he said. "I'm no hoarder like them. They're afraid to risk what they have, but they'll take the first chance to backstab each other for more. I'm different. There are many like me, but Morgan, Big Mom, and the Pirate Empress silenced them. I pretended to work with them, trying to change their ways, until you came and I saw where the wind is blowing."
"Follow the wind, huh?"
"Aye. Now only Morgan is left. Once he is dead, the others and I will have full control over the lesser captains and their crews. Trust me, every single one of them wants a piece of the Seven Kingdoms. War brings opportunity, and it was a damn shame we were denied it."
He could be lying, but it was too complicated to untangle. He'd already lost his chance to turn on me. He looked useful, and I needed him. Since the wind was blowing this way, I could do nothing but follow it.
"You know where Morgan is, don't you?"
"Aye."
"Good. Prepare yourself and your men. We're going to get his head."
There was no need to complicate things further. Get Morgan, make the Silverhand head of the rest, and take everything over. The Seven Kingdoms must miss me by now. Who was I to deny them of me?
…
Was my body tired, or more injured than I thought? It was hard to tell when I didn't feel pain. I only felt the heaviness and sluggishness of my limbs as I climbed onto Morgan's ship from the side.
With a hook thrown and fixed in place, the rope supported my weight. I probably shouldn't have expected it to be easy; my wet full plate armor weighed a lot. I was just glad I wasn't struggling as much as Cleftjaw and the others.
"IN—"
A man looked down over the board, only to find my sword sticking into his open mouth. Thankfully, nobody noticed as he went overboard and fell into the water. There was already too much commotion for anyone to care.
Finally on board, I found dozens of men arguing and preparing hurriedly, probably to meet me in battle. As the Silverhand and his men probably walked through the streets of his shithole, announcing to everyone who had ears and eyes that he was coming. Too bad, I couldn't wait.
"What? Who are—"
Another man received a brutal fate: my sword was driven through his mouth. When did people start asking questions before drawing blades? The pirates had fallen from what they used to be, or from what I expected them to be.
"INTRUDERS!!!"
Someone finally noticed me. Any longer and I was going to get the feeling I hadn't been important enough to draw any notice from them. That would be quite humiliating. Too late now, Harras and Bronn came on board just after me.
With the three of us, a bunch of thugs was nothing, especially when we wore heavy armor. One tried to test it with his sabre against my iron. I was disappointed he didn't target my joints. For his poor technique, I rewarded him with a gauntlet to the jaw.
They were not experienced fighting knights. They were thieves who'd only ever faced merchants and run from anyone bigger and more armed. Now they had nowhere to run.
I swept a foot out from under another and stomped on his neck, walking deeper into the ship. Three already lay on the deck. The remaining couple of dozen could only watch in fear as Bronn and Harras added more to the pile. And more of us kept coming aboard.
"What are you doing?" I asked, cleaving another head from a poor sod's shoulders. "Run."
And they did. As expected, Morgan inspired little loyalty. Especially when men who seemed to come from nowhere started killing them like they were nothing but rats.
"A devil."
"That's a bit cruel to call me that, isn't it?" I asked, blood dripping from my sword, gauntlets, and feet. Only my eyes showed from within my helm. "I am far worse than a devil."
"Ahhhh!"
I left the screaming, soiled man on the floor and walked into the captain's cabin. The wooden floor creaked as I opened the doors, only to be met with an axe to the face.
I managed to block with my sword, but Morgan was a head taller and twice as broad as me. His strength was formidable. With his axe-hand, he hooked my sword and wrenched it from my grasp, leaving me defenseless.
"Die, you fucker."
"Oh no, what do I do?" I asked, stepping back theatrically. "Someone, please save me."
"My king, let me come to your rescue," Harras laughed.
"No, my king, let it be me," Cleftjaw chimed in.
"Oh no, who will save the King? We need a hero," Gormond cried.
"Hundred gold coins, my king, and I will step in," Broon said.
"How cruel that coin comes before their King," Thoros added. "Where have honor and faith gone? Only greed remains."
"Shut up!" Morgan got furious as he swung his axe-hand, completely missing me.
I couldn't agree more enough of the farce. Since Morgan didn't want a quick death by my sword, he would have to die the hard way. A punch to his wide-open stomach stopped him, but not me. Holding his axe-hand with one hand, I pummeled his gut with the other.
He tried to wrench free, but it was useless. He tried to punch me in the head, but it did nothing. I felt nothing and kept punching until I heard rib cracks, and stopped as he vomited blood on me.
As he fell to his knees, I looked down and continued to pound his head, still holding his axe-hand so he wouldn't collapse to the ground. First, I broke his nose, then his jaw. With each punch, his head jerked back further and further until his neck snapped, and it didn't come back.
"Well, it was more disappointing than I expected," I said, finally letting the famed Morgan the Axe-hand drop lifelessly to the floor. "Clear the ship of any rats. See if there's anything worth taking and set it ablaze. I'll let him burn with his ship, that's the least respect I can show to him."
While my men dragged a few hapless men from their hiding places before killing them and looting anything not nailed down, I watched the harbor for the Silverhand's approach.
"It's already over?" he asked as he climbed aboard. "Well, it seems I was right about you. A devil of the sea could not be brought down by the likes of us, lowly humans."
"What now?" Bronn asked, still wary of Silverhand.
"With all of them dead, only I am left," he said. "It's time to gather everyone else. Give me five days, and you will have a hundred crews sailing with you. Thousands of men are coming to reap what the war in the Seven Kingdoms has sown. Where you go, we will follow. We will kill and burn anyone and everything in our way. Then our names will be heard and remembered. The era of fear of the pirates from the Stepstones shall begin."
A.N. As always, thanks for reading and supporting me, so I can continue writing without any concerns, and if you want more, up to 7 more chapters and 28 chapters in total with all my other stories, you can support me on pa treon. com \ ironwolf852.