Ch. 6
Captain Ken O'Tucky was the opposite of a coward. The fact that chickens were associated with cowards was something he was planning to remedy soon enough. But his men were different. They had all taken several steps back when the stranger had suddenly appeared on the bow of the ship. He himself was disconcerted. One of his men had noticed him from a distance, and he had failed to mention a ship.
Which meant there was not a ship...
How did one get across the seas without a ship???
He knew about Devil Fruits, and he was well aware the man who had boarded his ship was most likely in possession of one that allowed him to fly or teleport. Nevertheless, the stamina needed to sustain such ways of travel was nothing short of impressive. His tone and words had been respectful, and for a moment, he nearly considered hearing him out.
That was until one of his beloved chickens pecked at the man's robe, which resulted in the man KICKING AWAY one of HIS BELOVED CHICKENS!!!
He gritted his teeth. The man did not even seem to understand what he had done. He simply turned to them and started talking about "buying information" and finding an "appropriate price." None of that mattered to him, however. The fate of this... this MONSTER was already set in stone. He would have his chickens peck off every bit of skin off the man's body. This "Eins" would not live past this day. His crew had obviously noticed his anger, and some of them were exchanging worried looks, while others were looking forward to the massacre that was soon to come.
Eins himself seemed to have noticed something was off, as he fell into silence and seemed to nervously look himself over, perhaps for a gift to deescalate this precarious situation he was in, or perhaps even a weapon to defend himself.
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"What's wrong with him? Why is he shaking?"
Ainz was panicking. Worriedly checking whether he had left himself exposed or if the humans in front of him had managed to recognize him as an undead, whatever the case, it was clear to him that the man in front of him was terrified. He quickly checked but found that it was not his aura of despair before opting to finally simply stay silent and wait until the man would find the courage to speak.
A few seconds had passed, and then the man finally regained his ability to speak. (although the shaking did not stop)
"You, youuuuu... Do you know what you have done?"
The question was not louder than a whisper, and the men surrounding the captain stepped even further away from their captain.
To say that Ainz was confused was an understatement. He had landed on the bow of the ship, introduced himself, and stated his purpose. There was not much you could do wrong with that.
Unless....
"Are you referring to the chicken? It seemed to..."
"WHAT ELSE WOULD I BE REFERRING TO?"
The man in front of him lifted his head to stare at him, due to Ainz being nearly twice as tall as the man. It was then that it hit him.
'He is not scared.'
He started noticing other details. The feast in the background, the cage with the people inside. The behavior of these people. It was something that was copied in movies and video games whenever they tried to emulate piracy.
But his eyes remained fixed on the prisoners.
"Honorable Pirates..."
He had to spit out that word.
"I see that you may have something that might interest me."
An emotion was rising.
"Hand me the prisoners."
Not a request, but an order.
Palpable Rage in His Voice.
The man in front of him seemed surprised at the growing rage he was hearing. He was going to capitalize on that.
"Ohhh. Is one of them perhaps a family member of yours? Is it one of the guys... or one of the WOMEN!"!
He had taken on a suggestive tone when mentioning them, and his men around him broke out in laughter. The women in question simply stared at the whole commotion with wide eyes.
Ainz's eyes were fixated on them. He understood a lot more now.
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There would be no negotiation.
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Meanwhile, Ken'O'Tucky was waiting for the reaction. He could clearly see that he had struck a nerve, and while he couldn't see which of the women it was that might have a relation with him, he was enjoying the anger Eins was feeling. He heard an exhale.
"Disgusting"
[Nega-.
A shockwave traveled through the ship. Captain Ken'O'tucky gritted his teeth at his action, but the tone he had heard when the man had started talking screamed danger. He pulled back the fist he had sent into the mans face with growing unease.
The man had not flinched. With the full strength of his punch connecting with the mask, he had not flinched.
"I suppose that the [high-tier physical immunity] still works. It means that you are too weak to harm me."
The voice was devoid of emotion. As if someone had been so disappointed that he did not bother to put any feeling in his words. The hair at the back of his neck stood up when he suddenly jumped back. One hand had tried to grab him. He had not moved with any sense of urgency. And had just tried to grab him in a casual movement.
Behind him, his men were watching. They felt the uneasiness in the air, but their faith in their captain was not so easily shaken. Their weapon drawn, they waited for further orders. Their captain wasn't someone who liked it when someone intervened in his battles. Yet this time things were different.
"GO GET HIM, BOYS."
Captain Ken O'Tucky's transformation was taking place. Feathers were emerging from his skin, and a beak grew on his face. His boots were ripped open by sharp talons as he grew into what looked like a 2m tall chicken. His men hesitated only for a moment before rushing in, and the first one who reached Ainz tried to go after his kneecaps in hopes of getting him down to eye level.
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[Gale]
A strong gust of wind appeared out of nowhere. As the pirates were immediately thrown back, only a few of them managed to land on their feet.
Ainz was still staring at the women. He did not know what it was that bothered him so much about it. He had worked for cruel corporations in a merciless environment. He knew that the women who worked alongside him had... to do things... in order to get somewhere in life. He had always considered that disgusting, but the Suzuki Satoru could not intervene. He could not help. He could not change things.
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Ainz Ooal Gown could.
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The pirates rushed at him again. He turned his head as the oversized chicken seemed to be reaching him first. It held a sword in one of its claws and somehow managed to run like that. He was, however, not in any mood to think about that captain's transformation. He simply watched and allowed the captain to jump at his face.
He regretted his decision in that very moment. The captain had used his free claw to hold onto his shoulder, or rather, his shoulder pauldron, and slashed at his head with the sword while stabilizing itself with its wings.
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The claws of that filthy chicken were holding on to HISdivine class equipment.
[NEGATIVE BARRIER]
Rage and indignation were palpable in the voice of the Overlord. The chicken captain had no time to run as it simply let out a cluck and withered away. The pirates froze. A voice emerged.
"Captain?"
No answer came as the dried corpse of a chicken was dispersed by a small gust of wind.
"Captain!"
This time more urgently. Desperation filled the voice.
The undead stared. He had not expected that. To get so angry over his divine-level robes. He calmed down the moment after casting his spell.
"Well, who is next?"
The pirates were split into two groups. One half yelled out loud and lunged at him while the other retreated to the other side of the ship.
[Fireball]
An explosion shook the entire ship. The bow had exploded in flame, and it looked like most of the attackers had been wiped out, with a few injured crawling away with burn marks on their skin. The fire slowly spread, but Ainz did not bother to extinguish it, instead walking towards the cage and simply bending it open with unfiltered strength.
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Emi had been a rather happy girl growing up. She lived her whole life in a coastal village, in the vicinity of a marine outpost. The Marines interacted with the villagers frequently, and given the weakness of most pirates in the East Blue, it was more than enough to keep them safe.
A raid had changed that. The first thing that happened was the loss of contact with the Marine outpost. The Marines who commuted to the village every week did not leave any message and simply disappeared. So the village sent out someone. They were usually not allowed to enter the outpost, but the villagers wanted to know what was going on. The messenger came running back saying that the outpost was in ruin.
There was only one answer to that.
Pirates.
The villagers considered abandoning their village but dropped that idea.
They instead opted to put out the lights and cover their port in tarp in hopes that no one would see the village from the sea.
It made no difference.
In a single night, the entire village fell as the Pollo pirates killed the elderly and took the young ones along with all their possessions.
9-year-old Emi did not fully understand what was to be. She had cried a lot and even more so when the pirates took away her mom. She had only stopped crying when her mom was brought back into the cage, but she was too young to notice her own mother's distress. Her mother simply kept soothing her to the best of her abilities.
Days had passed. The pirates had gotten a few of the neighboring villages and had started a feast. Emi had stopped crying and simply stared. She did not know what it was she was staring at, but she thought she saw something standing in the air.
It disappeared in a blue flash when she pointed at it.
The prisoners suddenly turned around. A man, 3m tall, had appeared on the deck and introduced himself.
She looked towards her mom. Her mom was frozen and locked eyes with the strange man. She noticed that he had a weird mask. Red with green drawings and a weird grin. She tried to listen to what was being said, but it was difficult to understand because of the distance.
She heard more noise. Violent noise like the pirates had done to the male villagers. The noise of a fight. Her eyes filled with tears when she was suddenly thrown to the ground by a strong wind. She didn't see what was happening, but she heard steps and screams.
She finally managed to stand back up and look towards the commotion.
She froze.
The big man stood in front of her, not looking right at her but at the entire cage. She was barely bigger than his knees in height.
He reached out to grab the cage. And he pulled.
The iron bars of the cage separated and opened wide enough for her to pass through. For her mom to pass through. She looked back at her mom. She stood there frozen. All of the prisoners did. She wanted to move but found herself unable to do so when staring at the gigantic man.
"Trauma? Or are they just wary?"
The voice of the man was deep, and it sounded exasperated. He did not seem to know what to do and then simply walked away towards the Helm (Where the shipwheel is) of the ship. She did not move, and neither did her mom. One of the men was the first to move. He stood left of her mom and took a step outside of the cage with shaking feet.
It was what broke the dam, as every single prisoner rushed out of the cell and gathered around the remains of the feast.