Load the Rum

Spike watched from one of the mainmast’s ratlines as the Flying Dutchman fell miles behind them. “They’ve given up!” he shouted cheerfully. The whole crew cheered joyfully, and Pintel and Ragetti danced a jig, along with Usopp, Sanji and Chopper.

Luffy walked up to the quarterdeck to Perseus. “My mom, is on that ship. If we can outrun her, we can take her. We should turn and fight!”

“Why fight when you can negotiate?” Perseus smiled. “All one needs is the proper leverage.”

Perseus placed the jar of dirt on the banister and petted it, but then the Dark Luna shuttered and came to a halt. The jar fell off the banister and smashed onto the main deck below.

Perseus frantically jumped over the banister and scurried through the dirt, but the Heart was gone. “Where is it? Where is the thump-thump?”

One sailor looked over the side. “We must’ve hit a reef.”

Luffy realized it immediately. “No. It’s not a reef!” He then pulled Nami away from the railing. “Get away from the rail!”

“What is it?” Nami said nervously.

“The Kraken. To arms!”

“Load the guns, defend the mast!” Justin shouted.

“It’ll attack the starboard, I’ve seen it before.” Luffy drew out a sword and ran down to the gun deck with the gun crews, including Scratch, Jacoby, Pintel and Ragetti. “Roll out the cannons and wait for my signal.”

Following Luffy’s orders, the gun crews loaded their cannons and rolled them out of the gun ports. The Kraken’s tentacles began to creep up the Dark Luna’s sides. “Easy, boys.” Luffy said to the gun crews.

Scratch and Jacoby looked out their gun port. One of the Kraken’s tentacles was creeping over the gun’s muzzle, suction cups pushing around it.

Nami was on the main deck with other crew members who either had firearms or harpoons in their hands. “Luffy?”

“Steady! Steady.”

“Luffy?”

“Hold. Hold!”

“I think we’ve held fire long enough!” Pintel said impatiently.

“Luffy!” Nami shouted.

“Fire!” Luffy shouted. And with a will, the gun crews lit the fuses of the cannons and the Kraken’s tentacles were blown out in big chunks.

One tentacle came down towards Nami, but she dove out of the way. The tentacle instead smashed the longboats and rolled back into the sea.

Luffy came up to the main deck. “It’ll be back. We have to get off the ship.”

“There’s no boats.” Nami said.

Luffy saw a barrel of gunpowder roll across the deck. “Pull the grates; get all the gunpowder onto the net in the cargo hold.” He handed Nami a long musket. “Whatever you do, don’t miss.”

“As soon as you’re clear.” Nami said.

The grates were pulled out, and the crew began to stack barrel after barrel of gunpowder onto the net. But it stopped as soon as it started. Big Mac called out to Gibbs to tell him their problem.

“We are short-stocked on gunpowder. Six barrels!”

Gibbs grabbed Luffy’s shoulder as the boy ascended up the stairs. “There’s only a half a dozen kegs of powder.”

“Then load the rum!” Everyone stopped completely and stared at Luffy for a second. Then they turned to Gibbs.

They would have to sacrifice all the rum and use it to defend the Dark Luna. After some hesitation, Gibbs sighed.

“Aye, the rum, too!” Everyone was about to mourn for the loss of the rum. But even so, the crew began to stack the barrels of rum onto the net.

Nami turned to Mutt. “Step to.” But as she took out her Clima-Tact, something far out in the distance caught her eye.
It was the Flying Dutchman, sitting idly by miles away.

As the crew worked to load the net, another tremor rocked through the ship. “Not good.” Spike said to Mutt.

The Kraken was far more vigorous this time. It jabbed its tentacles into the Dark Luna’s gun ports and wiped out the heavy guns. Knowing that they couldn’t slow it down much longer, the crew began to hoist the gunpowder and rum out of the hold immediately. Luffy clung to the net as it lifted into the air.

“Haul away!” he shouted.

“Heave!” Justin barked. “Heave like your being paid for it!”

The Kraken was wreaking havoc upon the Dark Luna and her crew. Down below in the gun deck, one sailor was pulled through a gun port, right between Scratch and Jacoby. The Kraken was throwing sailors about and smashing everything in the bottom holds.

Perseus was high above the topmast, trying to find a weak point in the Kraken to destroy it. Unfortunately, he could not find one quick enough, and deep down, buried deep inside, he was afraid that the Dark Luna had lost her final battle.

Justin was trying to grab a sailor away from one of the Kraken’s tentacles. “Don’t let go!” the sailor panicked.

“I gotcha! I gotcha!” Justin shouted. But Justin couldn’t hold on much longer. He was getting weak.

He tried his best to pull the sailor free, but the Kraken wretched the sailor from Justin’s grasp.

Nami ran to grab her musket when the Kraken smashed the capstan bars. Luffy foundered in the net, fending off the Kraken’s tentacles with his sword.

“Hyah! Come on! Come and get me! I’m over here. Come on!” Luffy didn’t know what to expect next. The Kraken upset the net, leaving Luffy’s leg tangled in the ropes. Luffy would never accept defeat, so, reaching down in his jacket, the boy took out his knife to free himself.

Nami tried to aim but hesitated as Luffy was still stuck to the net. “Shoot!” Luffy shouted to her. “Nami, shoot!”

But then, a tentacle took Nami’s footing from right under her and dragged her through Perseus’s office. Nami was scared to die, and knew her life was over, until Ragetti brought down an axe and severed the tentacle.

Nami scurried back up to the quarterdeck to grab another musket lying on the deck, but a foot stepped onto it as she was about to pick it up.
Nami looked up, and standing in the bright light of the sun was Perseus. Rukia helped Nami up and moved her behind Perseus as he picked up the musket and took aim.

Luffy finally severed the rope that was holding his leg and he fell free of the net. Lining the sights, Perseus took a deep breath and made his shot. The bullet made a direct hit on one of the falling barrels and the whole load erupted in a massive fireball.