"W-What are you going to do with us now," Ramone shivered. "Are you scallywags gonna make us walk a giant plank into the ocean!"

"That sounds awesome!" Chloe exclaimed. "The King of the Pirates would have a ginormous plank!"

"No," Big Joe Rogers said. "I don't have a giant plank!"

Vinnie put his hands in his belt and smirked. "Heh heh. Big guys like dat are always all talk and no plank!"

Monica slyly grinned. "Like you, senor?"

Big Joe beat his fists together like a gorilla. "This is not a plank measuring contest!" he roared. "There is an immensely skilled woman of the law loose in my domain. She's put hundreds of pirates seven feet under! As the patriarch of my men and women in Buccaneer City, I demand that you scallywags purge the city of this killer!"

"Or...matey?" Abacab asked boldly.

"Or!" Big Joe hollered. "You will swab the deck of every ship in my fleet...with your tongue!"

"Oh my! Splinter me timbers!" Laura gasped in her southern sea accent.

Everyone turned their eyes to Chloe. "Well, my queen," Ramone asked. "Do you agree to this hoodlum's deal?"

Chloe was silent. Ramone continued to babble nervously to her.

"He certained strong armed us into it. I mean, look at those bulging biceps! So uncouth!"

"We're doing this," Chloe said with a look of determination on her face.

"We are?!" her crew all gasped. Even Rosemary's demon eye swiveled wildly in her head.

A bright white grin slid across the young queen's face. "A true pirate queen never backs down from a challenge. Whether it be from the Sea or a rival pirate, she always faces it with her head held high."

For the first time since he thought of defeating her, Big Joe smiled. "I like this gal's moxy. She didn't balk at facing me in arm wrestling and now she does it again! I'm startin' to get a bit o' respect for her."

Chloe's demon eye turned towards Joe, causing him to jump and whimper. "Jus' please get a patch over that crazy eye of yours, girl. Its wonkiness is really starting ta freak me out!"

"That's the point," Rosemary snickered. "Hey wait, what are you doing, child?"

Chloe removed a patch from her dress and tied it around her eye. "There we go," she said. "Now Tiny here won't have nightmares."

"That's good," Big Joe laughed. "Now I can take you to where you'll be staying tonight. You can meet my hardy crew!"

Chloe's mouth dropped open. "Whoa, hold the shell phone! The crew of the pirate king?! You're gonna show me...them?!"

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Chloe began to breath loudly through her mouth like she was a pufferfish.

"Is that kid okay?!" Big Joe asked.

Ramone chuckled. "Excuse my queen. She's wanted to be a pirate all her life so she's got starfish in her eyes!"

Big Joe chuckled. "Heh. Happens to all first time swabbies!"

***

Big Joe lead the Whaleboat's crew back to the Scoundrel Saloon. What Chloe didn't know, was that beneath its hardened exterior, the salty pub was also a bed and breakfast. But when they entered, there were several unusual men and women sitting in all manners.

"Behold," Big Joe exclaimed. "My crusty crew!"

He gestured to a man with two eye patches over his eyes and enormous ears. Big Joe placed his hands on his shoulders. "This be Buckeye Burns. The greatest blindmarksmen on the sea. ""Get out!" Chloe exclaimed. "How can he shoot someone?"

A bang sounded and a bullet whizzed over her head. Chloe's eyes widened in amazement as Buckeye clutched a smoking pistol.

Buckeye twirled his pistol and blew on it. "Scallywags with big mouths!" he answered in a squeaky tone.

Big Joe strutted over to an hourglass shaped woman with bright orange hair and a treasure chart in her hand.

"This be Navi, the Navigator!" Big Joe announced. "She draws the sea charts for my crew!"

"Hubba hubba!" Chloe said with her cheeks red. "She already knows the way to my heart."

Vinnie the Eel growled. "Ey kid! You stole my pickup line!"

Big Joe approached a handsome man. He clutched two sabres and grinned mightily. His hair was jet black and slicked and his skin as brown as coco. "Antonio Sabreheart!" Big Joe said, presenting the man. "A master of the loveblade and a skilled champion at winning ladies hearts."

Monica trembled over his handsome veneer. "Oh my," she smiled as he winked at her. "This guy sure knows the way to mi corazon!"

Vinnie stomped his feet. His face turned beat red. "Hey, senorita! Dat joke doesn't even work because he's not da navigator."

"Doesn't matter," Antonio Sabreheart said in a suave accent. "Things you say don't make sense when you're in love!"

Monica's eyes dilated and a wobbly smile stretched across her face. "Mi corazon! Oh how it beats!"

"Save your ladykilling for after the introductions," Big Joe said to Antonio. "For now you have to meet my cook! The greatest flapjack chef in the Four Great Seas, Flipper the Dolphin Man!"

For some odd reason, Chloe hadn't noticed there was a large, breaknosed dolphin sitting at one of the tables. He wore a chef hat and reclined on his tail fin. He uttered a squeak.

"His natural flippers help him flip flapjacks like a pro!" Big Joe grinned. "And he's never been defeated by anyone!"

"Argh!" Captain Abacab screamed and pulled a spatula out of his trousers. "We'll just see about that!"

And this," Big Joe nodded and walking over to a large horned man sitting in a tuxedo. To Chloe he looked like an enormous buffalo man. "Is Gino Taur! Not only is he our seamstress, but he is the finest fashionista in all the seas!"

Gino Taur let out an enormous grunt as he pointed to Ramone's hand stitched suit.

"What did that ruffian say?!" Ramone gasped.

Big Joe smirked. "He said, 'who is that walking coatrack?!"

Ramone balled up his hooves and invisible flames in his eyes. "I say, you are speaking to the GOAT of fashion good sir! If anyone is a coatrack, it's you, Mr. Antlers!"

"Umm excuse me, sir," Laura asked kindly. "Do I have a personality equivalent here too?!"

Big Joe put his hands on his hips. "Do you mean? Do I have an annoying little clown girl with a pet lion? Sorry kid! I don't want to irritate my crew too much!"

"Good idea," Laura giggled. "But who knows! Maybe one day you will."

"I pray not," Big Joe remarked wryly.

"Well," Big Joe laughed. "That's about everyone. Perhaps you all should settled down before tomorrow. You're gonna be spending all of tomorrow searching for this pirate killer, so I want yee all to be well rested!"

Chloe nodded. "Will do!"

The Whaleboat's crew headed upstairs, but as they did, Chloe couldn't help but catch a glimpse at Buckeye. When Big Joe wasn't looking, he followed his gun at Chloe's head.

"Uh Big Joe," she rasped.

But when she turned around, Buckeye was eating his oysters.

"Something's funny here," Chloe remarked. Her eye narrowed. "And it isn't that ex clown girl."