Josiah rushed to the quarter deck and leaned over the side as he squinted, he saw just on the horizon a silhouette of a large ship, he'd kill for a telescope right now. best he could see the sails were black which made him quirk one of his white eyebrow upwards, pirates perhaps.

Sooner than later the ship was just a few leagues away, and after a few more minutes he could see the black flag, a skull with what looked to be crossed scythes, the ship was a huge fucking man o war at that, and to his concern, it had massive ballista's, all pointed at his ship, he saw an utterly massive man of at least eight and a half feet in height with dark tan skin with a large brown beard smoking a large cigar the thick as a stick of peperoni, he came up to the bow of the ship and lean and look at him, he smiled down at him revealing a row of golden teeth. "Lovely day ain't it ya monster?!" He called down, despite his words he seemed genuinely happy to see him, which was downright unnerving.

Josiah nodded. "It is indeed, though I am afraid we don't have much on board worth wasting a ballista bolt for." He said, and it was mostly the truth.

The captain roared in laughter which was also unnerving. "I can see that." The captain seemed to focus behind him. "What happened to the village?"

Josiah looked over his shoulder to the massive mudflat with debris and broken limbs sticking out of the muck, that used to be the village. "I did."

The captain looked at him, the mirth that was pervading him gone. He took a long drag from the cigar, the tip glowing so brightly that it actually caught flame before petering out, he exhaled a large cloud of smoke and looked down at Josiah. "you did all of that?"

Josiah nodded. his fingers tracing the embroidery on the saber's hilt.

The captain frowned, taking another drag from his cigar. the pair looked at each other for nearly a minute regarding eachother. "What are you?"

Josiah considered lying, then shrugged. "I'm Neshi's paragon, Captain Blackwood, was thinking of becoming a pirate."

The man's golden smile returned. "that, I can help ya with."

Before he could say a thing, the captain leapt down to the quarterdeck and Josiah actually felt the ship rock.

The massive man stood up straight and walked down the sairs down to the deck and into his captains quarters. Josiah followed, he could tell that this was a power move but he didn't care. or, he didn't, until he walked in to see him digging around in his office throwing shit around. "What the f-" "AHA!" The man's booming voice interrupted him, as he took a large bottle out from a hidden compartment in the bedframe, shit, this guy knew his ship better than he did.

the man sat down, not in his chair. "I knew you had some of the good shit." He bit the cork and ripped it out with a loud pop.

Josiah sat down in his chair, he gave a shrill wistle, and Reirshi walked inside and he told him to get them a pair of cups, big as they come. He turned to the large man as he heard a loud splash of Reirshi leaping off the side of the ship. "Got a name?"

the man's golden grin broadened. "Name's Admiral Irons." the massive man shifted his bulk in the comparatively small chair and he actually heard something in it crack. He watched Reirshi come back inside a pair of iron mugs in hand. "Best I could find captain." Reirshi set them on the table and Josiah waved him out.

Josiah grabbed the bottle and poured the alcohol into both iron mugs, before setting it down, the label faced him, Kharne's original, amber whiskey. Kharne, that was the name of the village he'd just destroyed, meaning this was the last of many bottles, bottles that were no longer in production.

Josiah clanged mugs with him and took a drink, he noticed the man watching him, so, not an idiot, good. The man downed the mug in one drink. "Mmmmm, nothing like a whiskey, rum's nice, but it's like all I have to drink on my ship, frankly I don't even taste it anymore." He took the bottle and poured another cup. "So, I've sponsored up and coming pirate captains before, some turned out good, others disappointed me, disappointments don't live long."

Josiah thought it over, this was a genuine pirate admiral... interesting. "Why're you offering this to a lowly Neshi follower like myself? I was under the distinct impression that my kind were hunted."

Irons' grin dipped a bit. "I noticed the arm, but if I'm being honest you could be a demon that crawled out of Karthages ass crack, but I'd still offer you this deal, I'm hunted by every kingdom and empire with a rowboat to spare, I'm not inclined to follow the beliefs or the prejudice's of men who would see me swinging from a hook."

Josiah blinked. "A hook?"

Irons nodded, his mood a bit more somber. "That's the preferred way of execution around here in the Hadrian empire, they put a hook through your chin and around your jawbone and hang you from the gallows, either you choke on your own blood or your jaw bone breaks and you die a slow painful death unable to eat and if you're lucky you'll die of infection before you live the full two weeks... I've had many friends and comrades die that way."

Josiah spat his drink. "Christ on a stick... that's inhumane. where I come from we just put a noose around their neck."

Irons nodded. "It'd be twice as harsh on you, they'd hang you over the sea and wait for something to leap up and eat you, be it a coral crab or a ripper eel or some other sea creature of ridiculous size." He poured Josiah more whiskey.

Josiah took a drink, he felt he might actually need this one. "So, what can we offer each other?" He asked, from around his cup.

Irons slammed a hand on the desk and flew into roaring laughter that was probably heard in the poles. "That's the first time someone's asked me that, usually it's what can I can offer them."

Josiah shrugged. "I'm not dumb, I've dealt with criminals before, I know it's a give and give relationship, both parties give and both parties benefit." He set his mug down and looked the big man in the eyes. "I'm from a place that someone called Midgard, I was also told that people from Midgard almost never come here."

Irons nodded. "That's true, I'm from here, though I'm only half fire giant." He took a puff from his massive cigar and sat back in the chair, that was the last straw and the chair crumbled beneath him, this to Josiah's surprise didn't cause Irons to miss a beat, he didn't flip his shit or burst into a laugh that'd cause tidal waves, he just continued on like nothing happened, this must happen a lot. "I'll start, I can get you started off, weapons, men, contacts, jobs. in exchange I would like you to give me a thirty percent share and a favor."

Josiah stroked his chin, before nodding. "That sounds fair enough, but I have plenty of men already, honestly I need more ships to house them."

Irons nodded. "Like that white fish fella, I see... I also see you have ambition to be an admiral yourself, but, ships don't just grow on trees, but I do have a clan of ship builders on my island, but ships are expensive, you'll be covering the cost for all of it, ambition is expensive."

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Josiah tapped his finger on the desk, he nodded. "Yeah, alright, how much for a man O war?"

Irons snorted. "fifty thousand."

"and a sloop?" Josiah asked.

"one thousand." Irons said.

Josiah looked at him. "a frigate."

Irons stroked his beard. "Twenty five thousand."

Josiah started to write the respective prices down. "Galleon?" He asked.

"thirty five thousand." He stopped answering at that point and wrote it all down before handing it to him.

Josiah set the charcoal down and looked at the captain. "If you don't mind, I need to ask one more thing."

The pirate admiral's patience was clearly wearing away. "What is it?"

Josiah made possibly the most critical deal of his pirate career. "I would like to buy some rocks from you."

Irons started roaring laughing, he rolled on the floor, man this guy loved to laugh, eventually he wiped tears from his eyes and kept blinking like he was trying to reboot his eyes. "Man kid, you sure you want to be a pirate? You'd make a killing as a jester! But seriously? Rocks? like... gems? diamonds and rubies?"

Josiah shook his head. "Not sure how to describe the second kind but I know how to describe the first. Yellow, and a bit soft, you can find them near volcanos, and they have a tendency to stink like rotten eggs, the second is a whitish rock that grows in caves, not marble or quarts. He wasn't about to say you could get it from feces he didn't know how to extract it from fecal matter and frankly didn't care to try."

Irons looked at him. "Alright, that sounds..."

Josiah set a mid sized bag of gold which he had stashed away. "I'll pay this."

Irons nodded. "I'll procure the rocks you want... but might I ask why you need them?"

Josiah grinned a Cheshire smile. "Because I can make something very fun with them."

Irons frowned at his comment. "Where can I find you to deliver them?"

Josiah nodded. "you can find me running around here bringing destruction along the outer villages of this island."

They walked back out onto the deck, Josiah raised a gangplank between the ships and Irons walked up onto his ship. Josiah leaned back against the rail of the quarterdeck and watched him go. another few seconds and Irons raised a big black bag over the side of his ship and threw it over to him. "Here you go! can't have someone like you running around in rags like that."

Josiah opened the bag and his eyes widened and looked up at him, and gave a curt nod. "Thank you."

the ships parted ways and Josiah looked over to the island, his arms crossed, he'd be getting Sulfur and Potassium Nitrate soon that leaves... "Burn the jungle!" He called out to the crew who were coming out of the water where they were hiding.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

it took a while because of everything being absolutely soaked, by a while he meant nearly three days. in that time Neshi had taught him how to change his tentacle arm into something that somewhat resembled a human arm... if human arms had fins, claws, and scales. needless to say, he'd be clipping his nails and wearing gloves from now on. luckily the clothes he'd been given by Irons came with a pair of leather gloves. and he'd been mistaken when he thought it a bag, it was a black flag, he just needed some way to dye it...

Josiah heard footsteps and the clicking of claws. he looked up and saw Reirshi. "You wouldn't happen to know how to make white dye would you."

Reirshi nodded. "Yes, but I'd need ingredients."

Josiah motioned toward the island. "Go get em."

Reirshi looked at him. "Are... you okay?"

Josiah nodded. "Yeah, it's... I haven't slept since... god, four days."

Reirshi nodded. "Your body can go a little longer than a humans but it has limits, Go, sleep, we'll take care of what needs taking care of."

Josiah walked down the stairs and into his quarters, he sat down on the bed and sighed. "Fucking hell... what have I gotten myself into." And then he laid back on the bed and closed his eyes, the rocking of the ship made him sleep like a damn baby.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Josiah felt himself in the void of the sea once more, he looked around and couldn't see anything, so deep in the ocean that even the sun's all seeing eye could see. He grabbed for his sword but it wasn't bloody there, not even a sheath, he couldn't even see his own body, not that a sword could do jack fucking shit, he was... dreaming. then as if a phantom from the deep a woman floated toward him, her pearlescent hair glimmering from some unknown light. he floated there watching her come closer for what felt like seconds and yet years. when she got home her motherly face gazed upon him with what looked like unfathomable kindness. "You're doing well, so well in fact that you've attracted the attention of one of the other gods, Hadriel, the god of dragons and storms, you might have seen him, big man with a spear, large dragon sleeping behind his onyx throne."

Josiah couldn't nod, but he thought in the affirmative. "Yes... I remember he insulted me."

Neshi smiled. "Yes, well he's sending his own paragon after you, actually this is how three other paragons of mine died."

Josiah projected annoyance through his bond. "You keep using that word, Paragon, what the fuck is that?"

Neshi's smile morphed into a look of dopy forgetfulness. "Ooohhhhh right... A Paragon is the hands of a god, a god fuses a part of their power and soul to a paragon, and they serve their god by instilling their will upon the nine realms, each god has nine paragons one for each realm, none of my paragons last long, especially in the realm you're in, that realm is Muspelheim."

Josiah projected confusion. "I did some research into Norse mythology when I was a teenager, Muspelheim is a fucking cesspit of fire and brimstone."

Neshi frowned. "No... I mean, there's a bunch of volcanic activity in the realm but it's mostly tropical near the sea."

Josiah looked at Neshi, "Okay, off track a bit. Do I have a chance of beating this Paragon?"

Neshi smiled sadly. "Not as you are now. I can give you more power but... it'd demand a price, it would take more of your body, more than just an arm."

Josiah felt immense fear, no terror at the thought of having that done to him again. "How long do I have until this person gets to me?"

Neshi frowned in thought. "He's on the other side of the realm, it'd take atleast two weeks by dragon flight, especially since dragons need breaks."

Josiah was concerned, and considering taking her deal when he remembered he was getting that shipment of potassium nitrate and Sulphur in at least a few days, he wasn't about to extract the former from Neshili shit. "I have another idea."

She tilted her head, her white hair swirling in the sea water. "The cannons?" she asked.

"How did you know what I had Voku-" Josiah was about to ask then realized he was asking how a sea goddess knew what sea people were doing. "Right, the cannons."

"it could work, but your friend is having difficulty finding potassium nitrate. and cannons fire once and then need to be reloaded."

Josiah laughed. "Who said I'm just making cannons?" He asked.