Megumi turned and vomited over the side of the rocking boat for what felt to her like the thousandth time in the past week that they had been out to sea. She just couldn't get over the sea sickness and everyone just kept staring at her in awe as though they were amazed her small body could produce so much vomit. 

Fuck you all! Gods I hate fucking boats! 

She groaned aloud and wobbled over to the cabin, her legs feeling like rubber. According to the captain, they were now only a couple more days remaining until their long voyage across the sea was over. Megumi couldn't wait to get off the damned boat and onto solid ground again. Her legs felt like rubber as she entered the cabin and found her way to the bed. 

How do people live like this? Fishermen are more masochistic than any other kind of person Megu has met! 

Megumi felt like she was going to be sick again as the boat heaved to the side. She wouldn't make it outside this time, and so she reached for her handy vomit bucket and let loose once more; all the while doing her best to keep her hair out of it. Three weeks! Three weeks, they had been out at sea and every day was the same. The fisherman and Poro-tan would find a spot seemingly at random to her and pull up nets and nets full of smelly fish that they carefully stored below deck. She was so tired of eating fish, dried salted meat, and over ripe fruit. She hadn't been able to keep much of anything down, anyway, but the problem was that the stuff was even worse coming back up. Could she catch scurvy in this amount of time? 

Hideki had been learning the ropes of sailing the whole time, an effort that she considered to be a vast waste of time, but she let him do what he wanted so long as he kept the fishermen happy. The captain had told her on multiple occasions how happy he was that Poro-tan was such a good worker and that he seemed to never tire. She almost laughed when he had said that.  

The only silver lining so far on the whole trip had been that Vinhammer had been kind enough to give her, the only female on board, his personal cabin. And for that she was eternally grateful. The men's quarters were just a bunch of cots strapped to the walls that folded up during the day. The captain's cabin, however, at least had a proper bed. She shoved her face into the pillow and closed her eyes tight. 

Why can't this nightmare end faster? Megu can't take much more of this! It's amazing this little boat even stays afloat out here. This rocking is so horrible!

It would be time for her to go cook dinner soon. She had been relegated to the esteemed position of the ships cook, not that there was much cooking to be done as most of the food they ate was dried, but she did her best. Maybe it was her fault that the food tasted awful? It was true that she never bothered cooking at home for herself. Why bother with that if you can go out and have someone who knows what they're doing do it for you? Her stomach churned again at just the thought of having to cook more fish up tonight.

Just a few more days. Just have to hang on a little longer, Megu.

Out here in the middle of the ocean, she had to keep her temper in check, and so she had to keep up her cute facade nearly 24/7: it was exhausting! Honestly, she didn't know how she had been able to keep on going with the cutesy act inbetween bouts of heaving up vomit every five mintutes, but she had. She grabbed the bucket next to her bed and threw up yet again after a large wave hit the side of the boat and sent her rolling to the side. She needed to go out and empty the bucket again. The last thing she wanted was for one of those waves to hit and for her to get splashed with the nasty stuff.

The only good thing that had come out of this grand plan of escaping across the ocean was that she got to make Bridgeport collapse in itself politically. It gave her a deep sense of satisfaction to know that those lofty nobles who played their little games were killing eachother. It didn't hurt that she and her toy had both gotten levels out of the whole ordeal as well. 

Megumi had to admit to herself that she was sorely lacking in defense against magic. Her individual magic resistance was high, but she needed something more to be on the safe side. That ball of electricity would have surely done both of them in. With a sigh, she decided to do the practical thing and placed her most recently acquired TP into something that wouldn't directly result in the explosion of bodies for once; Spirit Barrier. It allowed her to summon the souls of nearby dead enemies and solidify them into a magical barrier that would protect against spells. As for Poro-tan, she bought the Fortify Health passive and also put a point into the sword fighting skill, Turtle Style. 

The boat rocked so hard all of a sudden that she tumbled out of the bed onto the floor with a thud. Luckily, her bucket of vomit had miraculously stayed more-or-less in place. 

What the fuck was that? 

She slowly climbed to her feet and wobbled out to the deck on legs that felt like rubber even after all this time spent at sea. What she saw was less than ideal. Another ship had pulled up next to them and smashed into the side. Pirates were jumping across onto her ship and the fishermen were holding their hands up to signal surrender. 

Why didn't anyone tell me we were under attack? She stood on the deck while leaning against the cabin door and watched as a man, who must be the pirate captain, stepped across a plank that had been dropped to serve as a crude bridge between the two vessles.

"We do be just a poor fishing vessel nothing fer ye to pluder here," Vinhammer said to the pirate leader.

"Even fisherman have a few coppers to rub between their fingers, and these be desperate times, mate. Not to mention, it looks like you have more of value than mere coppers. That fine little lass right there, will fetch a good price on the black market."

The man pointed straight at her and she scowled at him. Good fucking luck with that. 

Just as she started to reach for her bag, Vinhammer answered, "Ye cannae have the lass. The coin ye may take, we haven't much, but you cannae have the girl, not without a fight."

When she glanced around she saw that several of the sailors had dropped their hands and had retrieved knives from somewhere on their persons. Others were holding various pieces of fishing equipment as though they were weapons. The sailors would lose a fight, of course, but they would take some of the pirates down with them.

These idiots would really fight, and probably die just to save Megu? Chivalry isn't dead after all. 

For some odd reason, the idiotic act of bravery that these men were showing touched her. She decided that letting even a single one of these men die for her woudl be unacceptable. She just hoped that Poro-tan had indeed learned a lot from the weeks on this ship. He had been so obsessed that he had even studied the maps and charts at length every night. She guessed he just wanted to take his mind off being undead, but maybe she could put that to use. The workings of a plan began to form in her head.

"Please! Don't hurt them, Megu will come with you, so long as my brother can come too!" 

Vinhammer turned towards her with a look of utter shock on his face. "Don't do it lass, we can fight this rabble. We couldn't call ourselves men if we let these pirates take you. They do horrible things to girls. Don't throw yer life away!" 

"Megu has decided! Don't hurt the fishermen and we will come willingly! No one has to die today. Please!" 

The enemy captain who had watched the exchange silently finally spoke up. "Hand over all your coins as well. We will take the girl and her brother. No blood will be shed today if you comply."

Vinhammer ground his teeth and moved to step forward offensively. Megumi dashed in front of him and stood between him and the enemy. She looked at him pleadingly, "Megu will be okay! Don't worry! Megu can endure this to save your lives."

The enemy captain grabbed her arm and held her in place, probably in case she changed her mind. The pirate winked at her and then dragged her back onto his ship while the underlings collected the loot from the fishermen. They even kept their word and let Poro-kun come along as well. She stared back at the small vessel as the pirate ship pulled away. The captain dragged her towards the cabin and then stopped to introduce himself.  

"I be captain Hergyle, captain of the Black Spider," he said before shoving her over to one of the other pirates. "Search them and take them both to the brig. We be settin' sail for Crocodile Cove! This girl will fetch us a handsome price! Her brother looks to be strong as well, he'll make a good slave and sell for a good price too. Today has been a great day, boys!" The captain laughed and went to the helm of the ship as the other pirates let out a cheer. 

Megu and Poro-tan were searched and their items were removed before being taken to the brig. 

Good thing they won't be able to get past the enchantment on Megu's bag easily. Megu will have her treasures back soon!

Four stinky, burly men escorted them down into the depths of the ship where the brig lie. She and Poro-tan were placed into a cramped cage and one of the pirates laughed at her, "Enjoy your stay. We hope you enjoy our five star accomodations."

Poro-tan turned to her shortly after the pirates left. "I can't believe you came willingly. Did you really care about saving those fisherman? That's honestly the first time you've not done something horrible."

Although she did care, just slightly, she shrugged that off and gave him a small giggle, "Gods, no! This ship is a lot more stable. It's a lot bigger than Vinhammer's ship. Megu feels better already!"

"They took your weapon and the bag with all our stuff! Not to mention my new sword! Fuck, woman! We should have fought them before they took everything!" he growled.

She stifled the urge to make him pay for speaking up like that and explained. "Even without her staff, Megu is strong. We will leave here and have a whole crew to sail us wherever we want. Hopefully your time sailing has paid off. Do you know the basics of how to sail a ship?"

Her pet paused for a moment and then gave her a slight nod. "I've got the basics down. If we have a large enough crew to run the ship, I can at least point us in the right direction. I've been learning everything I can over the past few weeks and this isn't my first time at sea, actually. I have been out with my uncle on a fishing boat a few times before I became an adventurer. I should have taken his advice and stuck with it rather than adventuring." 

She almost couldn't believe her luck. It would be a simple matter to have some undead work as the crew. Several hours passed and no one came to check on them. She wasn't too surprised, but they would have to come eventually. She knew that Crocodile Cove was nearly all the way to the southern continent, and they wouldn't want her to starve if they planned on getting a good price for her. They just needed to be patient. "Megu is going to sleep. Wake me if you see someone coming."

Poro-kun just nodded sullenly and leaned against the bars of the cage. He seemed to be contemplating his life choices or something. She didn't really care. The boat continued to rock as it traveled, but at least it wasn't nearly as bad as the smaller boat had been. Megu was able to drift off to sleep after a while and when Poro-tan poked her awake later, she actually felt like she had gotten the first good amount of sleep since she stepped foot on a boat. 

A solitary man walked down towards them carrying a tray. He was barefoot and his beard was scruffy. He grinned when he saw them staring at her and she could see he was missing several teeth. She fought the urge to hold her nose at the stench that wafted off of him as he approached.

"Got some delicious fish-heads for you, princess." he laughed as he came closer. "Step to the back of the cage, big brother," he said and Poro-tan did as instructed.

The pirate wasn't taking any chances with Poro-tan and she couldn't blame him seeing as they had all marveled at the sword he had been carrying when they took it. Megumi went over and reached out, brushing her delicate hand against the man's rough one before placing it on the tray.

"I bet you've been at sea a long time, Megu has been lonely down here with just her big brother. Maybe we can have some fun?" she winked at the man through the bars.

She took the tray and handed it back to Poro-tan before turning back to the man. He was eagerly removing his pants and she reached out of the bars and placed her small hand on his chest. She looked him in the eyes and smiled as she cast Eldritch Blast. The man slammed against the wall of the narrow room and slumped to the ground, his chest burning with the green flames.

That was so easy! 

She cast Raise Undead on the corpse and the former pirate stood back up in front of her ready for command. She had it pull its pants back up and then ordered it to give her the keys. Once she and her pet were out of the cell, it was time to get to work. "It's time to gather the rest of our new crew. Let's go."

She had Poro-tan take the pirate's rusty scimitar and then ordered the undead pirate to go ahead and see if there were others up in the next level. They followed along silently and when they came upon two pirates in the next room, they had been so shocked by the sight of their former companion that they hadn't even had time to pick up their weapons before Poro-tan cut them down. Just like that, she gained two more minions and continued on her merry way. 

They scoured the bowels of the ship room by room like a plague and by the time she opened the door leading to the fresh, morning sea air, they had fifteen undead fighters at their side. A shocked crew stared incredulously as a horde of undead charged out towards them immediately after reaching the deck.

"What be the commotion! Get yer belly-achin' arses back to w—" the captain started to say before he realized the gravity of what was happening on his ship. 

Megumi just looked up at the man who was still standing at the helm with an innocent grin. "You have such a nice ship here, Megu will gladly take it off your hands."

The pirates fought with everything they had, but every enemy that Poro-tan or the zombies slayed added to their number and before long only the captain and two of his cronies were all that were left. He had been fighting at the helm and he currently held Poro-tan's cursed sword, which had unfortunately helped him slay 8 of her minions so far, but it was clear he was getting tired. She had already managed to amass close to her maximum of undead minions. They had no chance of victory at this point, and they knew it.

"You dinnae know how to sail, lass. I doubt those... things do, either. In exchange for our lives, we can tell you how to get to whatever port you desire."

Megumi thought about it for a moment. Could she trust that Poro-tan really knew what he was doing? She decided to trust in her minion, even though there was a chance he would screw her over out of spite. Megumi just had to trust that the threat to his immortal soul would keep him honest.

"Megu declines your kind offer. We'll manage on our own."

Minutes later, Megumi was now captain of her very own pirate ship. She had even gained another level for both herself and Poro-kun while doing it as well. Not only that, but she successfully gained an additional TP through Sanguine Infusion. Today was going to be a good day. She smiled as she stared out at the hoirzon. She put on her best pirate voice and said, "Set sail for Oleander, mateys!"