After chasing Elsa and convincing her that they'll forget whatever just happened, they arrived at Arendelle's shore.
Convincing Kai about it took some time, but considering Henry would be with her and his trust in him had soared these past few days, Kai allowed them to go out as long as Elsa wore a hood to hide her identity.
As of now, only a few Arendellians were aware of the matter that happened a few days ago. At the same time, the rest remain ignorant of it.
According to Kai, now that Elsa is healed and ready to shoulder her supposed responsibilities, Arendelle will soon reopen its gates, reconnect with its past relationships with other Kingdoms, and last but not the least, Elsa will be crowned as the Queen of Arendelle.
"It's so beautiful here," Elsa muttered to herself, a gleam passing in her pupils as she stared at the distant sea.
Henry smiled softly, "I know right?"
"….So this is where you two usually meet? Just to talk?" With a hesitant expression, Elsa asked.
"Yeah. As I said earlier, there are pirate activities going on around the area so her father banned her and her sisters from leaving the palace. We probably won't be seeing her for now."
"That's….unfortunate." There was a hint of disappointment in her tone.
"Maybe you'll be able to see her somed—" Before Henry could finish his sentence, the entire sea suddenly trembled, and that includes the very ground they're standing on.
Rumble!
Henry was quick to move and held Elsa close to his chest, preventing her from accidentally falling on the ground.
"Earthquake?" Henry murmured to himself, his brows creasing in confusion. On the other hand, Elsa was busy with another matter.
'H-He's so close to me…' Her face turned into a blushing mess as the manly scent invaded her nostrils.
Thankfully, the earthquake didn't last long, perhaps only a few seconds before calmness came back.
Just as Henry—reluctantly released his hold on Elsa, there was a sudden splash on the surface and a familiar fish emerged.
"Flounder?" Henry raised a brow in surprise, his earlier confusion about the earthquake disappeared.
When Flounder saw him, his eyes widened in surprise followed by excitement as he eagerly spoke, "Henry! Something happened to Ariel! You need to help her!" As soon as he finished his words, Henry's expression turned grim.
He quickly approached the sea and crouched, "Tell me everything."
Flounder nodded his head and started narrating. Going on from Ariel's intention to escape through the familiar pathways that only she knows to their encounter with the trapped marine creatures inside a net.
When he finished the story of how Ariel managed to make a small gap through the net—allowing smaller fish to escape except for a few ones and the ending of Ariel staying with them until the net pulled them out of the water, Henry's face took a grim turn.
Elsa, oblivious to what Flounder was talking about, was confused by the fish making a weird noise and Henry responding with nods and clenched fists.
When the fish turned silent, Elsa took that as a cue to ask, "What's going on?" Perhaps it was the curiosity for the unknown or just concern after seeing Henry's expression, but Elsa had the urge to be included in whatever was happening.
At first, Henry was hesitant but seeing the determined expression on her face, he reluctantly retold the story to her.
"She was caught by the pirates? We need to go save her then!" Elsa's face turned into anger as she couldn't imagine herself in Ariel's situation.
Everyone knows the notoriety of pirates, especially those with established names.
Henry agreed with her but shook his head, "I will go and save her but you should stay here, Elsa. The sea is dangerous and King Triton must be angry right now."
"What? Why am I supposed to stay here? Those pirates are near Arendelle's waters, it should be my responsibility to take care of them as Arendelle's future Queen!" Elsa pouted and crossed her arms, daring Henry to say no to her again.
Henry deadpanned at her, "That's my point, they're in Arendellian waters, if we both leave, who can protect the Kingdom when their entire crew invades, worse what if this is the doing of more than a single pirate crew?" He then continued, "Think about your sister, are you sure you want to leave her alone right now when there's a great pirate out there on the loose?"
Hearing him, Elsa stopped pestering and started contemplating.
Before she could make her decision, Henry decided to strike the iron while it's hot, "Now, don't get me wrong. Your ice powers would be a tremendous help on the sea but right now, your number one responsibility is keeping Arendelle safe."
With a grin, Henry then flexed his arms, "Besides, trust me. Do you really think a bunch of pirates can harm me?"
"…Just…Be careful out there, please?" Elsa fiddled with her fingers and asked to the point of begging.
With a smile, he answered, "I'm always careful, Elsa." However, that smile soon got extinguished when Elsa suddenly leaned forward and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"Take care, my hero." She whispered before once again making a run for it, leaving Henry frozen in place.
Meanwhile, behind him, Flounder witnessed everything and when he saw the cheek kiss, he murmured, "Ariel is not going to like this…"
———
With Flounder's guide, Henry swam under the sea, and with the help of his Water Bubble spell, he remained underwater for past an hour.
"It was over here. The ship is gone by now." Flounder muttered to himself as they emerged from the waters.
On the other hand, Henry was looking around, trying to see even a small glimpse of a ship but to no avail, there was nothing in sight.
'Dammit. This can't be it…There's gotta be something, someone who can lead me to her…' Henry gritted his teeth, clenching his fists in helplessness.
Perhaps he should head back and ask Grand Pabbie for help. But the troll's vision is simply limited to the forest, anything beyond the island and Arendelle is out of his league.
Just as despair starts to cloud them both, Flounder's eyes suddenly gleamed when he saw something or someone familiar from the skies.
"Scuttle! Quick! Over here!"
"Flounder? What's wrong?" Up in the sky, the seagull heard his name being yelled, and seeing it originating from a familiar face, he dove down and shamelessly perched on Henry's left shoulder, "Excuse me for a bit, young man."
Ignoring Henry's twitching lips, Flounder explained the situation before asking, "Have you seen a ship? A large one with a skull on its flag? It should be around here a few moments ago."
"Well, you're just in luck! I stumbled upon that very same ship just 30 minutes ago. They seemed to be celebrating about something, though now that you told me what just happened, I think I already know what they're celebrating about. Come on, follow me. I know the way."
If it weren't for the seagull being their only way to find Ariel, Henry would've smacked the bird for claiming Polynesia's spot on his shoulders.
Scuttle immediately took off and picked a certain direction, "This way!"
———
In the middle of the sea, Regor's large ship was flanked by two other but smaller ships. However, don't get it wrong. The man is not under attack.
Regor simply regrouped with the rest of his crew, whom he sent to separate from the main fleet to broaden their search. But now that they've caught a mermaid, he rendezvous with them earlier.
"Let me see what a mermaid looks like, cap'n! I heard mermaids are beautiful!" A man with crooked teeth grinned in excitement as he rubbed his palms together, lust emanating from his eyes.
A few pirates behind him also reacted the same way. It's been a long time since they've touched a woman, much less tasted one.
Regor snorted but didn't stop them. Instead, he unveiled the cover of a cage, revealing Ariel slumped on the ground with fear in her eyes.
"Feast your eyes, men! You may look at her but no touching. Our clients are quite a bit…demanding when it comes to exotic goods…" Regor flashed a crooked smile as he faced the shivering Ariel.
"Why so afraid, lil lass? Aren't you happy that I freed your friends in exchange for yours? You should be grateful my heart still bears a small shred of kindness to throw them back out to the sea." However, his words were soon retorted by Ariel.
"Liar! You killed them first before throwing them to the sea!" Teary-eyed, she pointed her shivering finger towards the man, "Y-You're a heartless monster! I hope you sink in the depths where not even the stars can reach you!"
Regor snorted, "Is that supposed to scare me then? But I'll give you one for originality. It's my first time hearing them. Perhaps it's only something you mermaids would say?"
Unfortunately for him, his question was met with a silent glare, "Ah, playing hard to get, I see. No worries, once we get to Pirate's Bay, you'll open up in no time."
Once those words are said, the cage was once again covered in a tarp sheet, engulfing Ariel in darkness alone inside, her silent cries for help reaching no one but herself.
"Please help me, Dad. Sniff! Henry. Anyone. Sniff! "
———
A few miles away from Regor's fleet, Henry's face was starting to turn redder and redder as time passed. They've been swimming in the sea for the past few hours and so far, no sign of ships.
Not to mention, Scuttle kept changing directions, as if unsure of where he was flying to. Sometimes even muttering about forgetting or wrong ways.
At this point, Henry no longer hesitated and threw a massive fireball towards the seagull, "You goddamn useless bird!"
The fiery ball of flames purposely missed the seagull in hair's breadth, only letting a small patch of his feathers to catch on fire.
"Ahh!~" Amidst the seagull's cry as he lost flight and summerdived towards the sea, Henry ignored him and even Flounder did the same.
Even in the films, Scuttle was shown to be unreliable. Heck, even when Henry was drowning and Ariel asked for the nearest island, Scuttle led her to the furthest one instead.
"What're we gonna do now. Scuttle just made things worse!" Flounder breathed heavily as anxiety filled his nerves.
Henry contemplated for a few times before coming to a decision, "I'll go back to Arendelle. I'll grab a ship and ask for a competent crew that knows their way around the water. Meanwhile, I want you to go back to Atlantis and see if you can convince King Triton not to take drastic actions, after that, gather information on any possible locations that a pirate can restock without facing punishments. I'll find her and make sure to bring her back safe and sound."
Even though Flounder was reluctant and wanted to insist on searching for the ship, however considering their speed and the size of the entire ocean, reaching another island would take days and even weeks of non-stop swimming.
Henry is right. They need experts and proper ship for this. Henry would even forcibly try to learn some sort of tracking spell in the middle of searching.
"O-Okay." Flounder nodded his head and dove back down under the sea, swimming towards the location of Atlantis.
Meanwhile, Henry turned to Arendelle's location and started swimming. Thanks to his sharp memory, he could vividly retrace the paths that Scuttle led them from.
———
Meanwhile, the entire Atlantis has entered a state of alert. All mermen and marine creatures were called upon by the King to search for his kidnapped daughter.
Even the most fearsome and humongous creatures were called upon by the demigod of the sea.
The Kraken, the Scylla, and even the Charybdis were forcibly pulled out of their resting nests to find the missing daughter.
At first, they were reluctant and even snapped back at the demigod King but a simple smite of his trident and a glare of an angered father made them timidly do as the demigod said.
Not only that, but to hasten the search. King Triton left the palace himself and with the power of his divine blood, enhanced by the trident's inherent abilities. The entire ocean's tide rose to another level, with some islands even getting partially drowned by it.
Kingdoms reacted, small settlements panicked, ports were immediately alerted and some sailors' wives and children were left praying to the gods for the safety of their loved ones.
In just a single day after the pirate Regor kidnapped the youngest daughter of King Triton, the ocean trembled and the continent was submerged in widespread panic.
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[I feel like there's something wrong with my writing in this chapter. I'm not sure. The quality dropped perhaps? What do you guys think?]