Devil's Luck Pirates

Everyone panics a little as they see Ragnar's body hit the floor with a loud thump. It signals that this Volt guy means serious business.

Pearl and Duros immediately rush toward Volt to finish him once and for all. Volt without missing a beat does the same by throwing a punch that's skillfully blocked by Duros. He braces himself for the incoming shock, but it seems that he needs to recharge after his devastating attack against Ragnar.

Pearl sees an opening and slides underneath Duros' legs. Slashing Volt right in the groin with her claws, forcing him to take a step back. Verona takes this opportunity to aim at Volt's leg, but the bullet only grazes him.

Duros and Pearl keep up the pressure. The barrage of punches and kicks coming from Pearl leaves his head spinning. But he's not going down yet.

Volt suddenly punches Pearl's stomach with his metal arm; making her spit some blood. But before he could continue, Duros steps in right on time; bashing Volt with his shield and making him lose balance, dropping to the floor.

The man starts to get up, but a heavy mace to the face takes the last of his energy and he falls unconscious. Blood coming out of his broken nose covers his ugly face.

-That's enough – He says with heavy breathing before shifting his attention to Pearl – Are you alright?

-Yeah… I've been through worse. – She assures him with a light chuckle.

The two of them regroup with the rest of the crew (and Atom) who are now looking over Ragnar.

They tried to wake him up but to no avail.

Since none of them know how serious of an injury an electric discharge of that caliber can be –and even less on how to treat it, William decides to take extreme measures.

-I hope this works – William mutters under his breath as he takes out his flintlock and point's it at Ragnar's head and before anyone could protest, he pulls the trigger as the memories of killing the old man on the shack come to his mind.

The shot reverberates through the mostly silent walls of the cave with Ragnar waking up as if coming out of a nightmare.

-UGH… What the hell happened… – He asks confused. There is no sign of a bullet hole on his head.

-Oh Ragnar! I'm glad you're alright, my friend! – Duros celebrates while patting his crewmate on the shoulder. The rest of the crew also let out a huge sigh of relief.

-That's a very weird power. – Verona comments almost nonchalantly.

-It sure is… – William responds, holstering his gun with a shaky hand.

After Duros helps Ragnar stand up, he notices Volt lying unconscious on the floor.

With no consideration, comment or question, he cuts off Volt's head with a clean strike of his ax.

Everyone is taken aback by this. They've seen Ragnar do things like this before. But the expression on his face was somewhat different. Serious, but at the same time full of anger – That's for burning my village and taking my family.

A couple of seconds pass in silence.

-You do know that he's not Valve, right? – Verona inquires wondering if taking a bullet to the skull messed up his memory or something.

-I know. – Ragnar responds – But I'm sure this bastard was there. – He complements spitting on Volt's face.

-Right… But we still need to find Valve… – William seems to be trying to say something...

-And you killed our best and only lead. – Pearl blurts out the thing William was trying to hint at.

Ragnar doesn't say anything. In fact, if they could see his face right now, they would see the expression of a man who knows he messed up.

-Don't worry Ragnar. – Duros reassures his friend – I understand why you did it. We just need to keep looking for him! – His positivity is very much welcomed.

-And how yall pretend to find the bastard, huh? – Atom comments rather annoyed – It's not like a lead will drop out of the sky, right?

The moment he finishes, the black hole appears once again at the exact stop as before, spitting out the pirates that were consumed by it. Most of them are alive but visibly shaken by the experience.

The group witnesses this with a straight face. The timing couldn't have been better.

-Well, we can just ask them. – William says walking past Atom and his dumbfounded face.

-Huh… This is the first time anything came back from that… – Verona comments while also walking past Atom.

-This might be our lucky day, I suppose. – Duros following Verona.

-CHAHAHA! You guys were just messing with me! – Ragnar says going toward the group.

-You were saying? – Pearl taunts Atom with a cheeky smile while also walking past him.

Atom takes a deep breath from his cigarette and puffs out a cloud of smoke – You lucky bastards…

-Is that all? – William asks the man he's holding by the collar.

-Y-yes! I s-swear! That's all Commander Volt told us! – The man responds while trembling and with a panicked voice. A reaction that's shared by everyone that came back from Verona's black hole.

William lets go of the man's collar. He drops to the floor and appears to go unconscious. After interrogating all of those who came back alive, the crew regroups to share their findings.

-Looks like Valve and the rest of his crew are heading towards the Tarako Kingdom. – Verona says.

-Which is something not all of them were on board with since they tend to sell the people they kidnap to said Kingdom. – William adds.

-So that means… – Pearl says before being cut off by Ragnar.

-That my family might still be alive. – He declares with the most serious face the crew has ever seen on him.

-Well, we were planning on going there sooner or later. – William says after a sigh – But before that, let's their stuff and out of here. I hope Gravy has our victory meal ready.