162 The never-ending rain.

Luckily, however the howling winds had not whipped up a true storm; though it was intense, it did not require much attention from the whole crew. Fawkes was below deck cooking us a warm and tasty lunch that would warm up our cold and rigid bones.

Sorren was in the small medical bay, looking over Terrick's condition making sure that his body was not overly stressed before the tender muscles returned to their supple fitness.

Scipio was in the captain's quarters, analyzing the information that Mimir had provided to me.

Angella and Barts were in the room that had only recently been converted into a wine cellar (It used to be a secondary cabin, but since no one was occupying it they had decided to saturate it with their concoction). They had managed to brew a sample within the three barrels within using some fruits that they had obtained from Sphinx.

Rein was aiding me while he trained. He had gained enough control over his devil fruit's abilities now, that I could finally infer what he had eaten.

I was quite surprised with what I found.

"Captain! Stray winds from the south! We're going to have to pivot to the opposite direction to stay on course!" He called out as he yanked the ropes that connected to the slightly tattered sails.

I shot a quick glance over to the compass embedded into the wheel. The needle had been wobbling maximally ever since we had left the island. Though it was an eternal pose, the magnetic forces that the islands all around emitted were enough to mess with it a little bit.

Marco had warned me about something similar, the older the eternal pose was the more the magnetic forces around would affect them. That being the case however, he was sure that it would work for what I had in mind.

Now seeing the swaying needle begin to steady I could finally breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed we had finally cleared the inner and most intense crest of the magnetic waves that an unknown island was emitting.

With a quick twist, I got us back on course, nodding at Rein indicating my gratitude for his quick judgement.

Over the past few weeks that he had been sailing with us, he had gotten quite used to reading the weather and was able to make quite accurate prediction of them when needed. He was still a novice at interpreting the New World pose however, so he could not take over officially as the crew's navigator. (True I could double as the crew's navigator, but it was not my place to occupy every role that the ship required)

With a quick leap, he yanked at a rolled up piece of cloth that had been installed above the doors that opened out into the stairs. Quickly he fastened the cloth to the wooden floor with a hook.

Our temporary out-doors picnic spot!

Fawkes raised his eyebrows at him as he exited the doorway, his polished shoes tapping at the wood as he settled down, uncaring of the splotch of wetness that formed at the bottom of his formal pants.

With a chuckle, I walked over, settling down almost instantly.

"The others?" Rein asked as he conspicuously slurped in some stray saliva. Fawkes smiled knowingly as he removed the lid to one of the six dishes that he had on his tray.

Instantly we could hear the bounding and boisterous steps of our crew's doctor. "Scipio! Get your ass here, Food!" I yelled out not batting an eye as I grabbed the bowl of soup that had been offered to me.

"Coming!" The young Caput said as he exited the dusky captain's cabin, a line of parchment on his knees as he walked over, his black hair mopped over his face.

Within moments, that crew had gathered, and though it was quite stuffy we could all fit underneath the cloth umbrella setup that we had assembled.

Instantly the mood of the group took off, for as the women entered they held a small closed tankard in hand.

"Sample?" I asked towards Barts as I handed over a bowl to Angella.

She nodded mutely before firing a look at her female companion. "Angella refuses to let me get a taste!" She whined as a gentle hand slapped the back of her head.

"This is the only bit that's been properly fermented. The last thing I want is you drinking it away, you stupid alcoholic!" Angella chided, before taking the tankard from her and dissipating it into six tiny shot glasses that Fawkes handed to her.

We silently began our lunch, chugging the small glass of aromatic wine before we began to dig in, comfortable in each other's presence.

That was when the ringing began.

My head split painfully as a huge gush of water raised from beside the ship. Instantly the crew had dispersed, the food safely tucked underneath the sheet.

For the first time in three days, the winds began to pick up. Sleets of rain began to fall, and the resilient sun that had so far cheered us on sunk into the dark cover of the foreboding clouds.

All the while, sounds of cannons boomed around.

BOOM!

A mountain of water rose, right beside us. We could see neither who followed us, nor where they shot from. The sleets of rain made it too hard for us to see, and the angry rumbling of thunder in the background only added to our overall panic.

Suddenly, we could see a ship viciously cresting a wave right in front of us its canons toting at us evilly. With an audible thump, we could see the cannonball hurtling at us dangerously, and as the smoke and fog cleared, we could see we were surrounded.