I stepped outside on the deck with Yuri, feeling the chill of the midnight breeze immediately, making me fix up my captain’s coat and clench my fists. “Yuri, check in on Yoona about the status of The Atlantic Compass.” I mumbled to her as I glanced at my Pilot on the bridge. [Bridge = one end of a ship where they have the helm: where you steer and control the ship]

 

“Right away, Captain.” I still proceeded to walk across the main deck as Yuri turned to Yoona who was standing right in front of the wheel. “Yoona!” Yuri shouted. “Is everything to order?!”

 

“Yes, Ma’am! Anchor is stable and all damage from our last battle has been repaired!” I heard her shout back. My heart felt a bit more of comfort as I knew that even if she was going to attack, my ship was ready to stand.

 

   Yuri walked back to my side, saying, “Everything has been handled, Captain.”

 

   I nodded and we both continued walking to the right-end of our main deck.

 

 Through the evening mist, I could still see the equally humongous ship next to mine and it was the only ship that would make me want to throw cannon ball right in its core so badly…and the captain of this vessel was the one person that could make my blood boil in 2 minutes.

 

 I took a few more steps forward before my sight finally cut through the fog, giving me a look on their main deck. And there she was, leaning against the railing of their ship as she rested her chin on the palm of her hand with a smirk as devious as the Cheshire cat. “Aye Aye, Cap’n Taeyeon!” She greeted as her other hand gave a wave. “I see you also brought your First Mate with you!” And my eyes turned to the person behind her, whom, if I recall correctly, was named Jessica.

 

 I kept my strong figure, standing straight with a confident expression as I replied, “What do you want Tiffany Hwang?”

 

   “Aww, c’mon, Tae. Don’t be so cold to me~” She complained, pouting. I gritted my teeth together. I hate the way she teased me. Especially with that never-ending flirty tone of hers.

 

   “Don’t call me that.” I commanded her.

  

   “Don’t call you what? Tae? What’s wrong with that, Tae? I think it’s quite cute.” She smirked. “Or would you prefer ‘Taengoo’?”

  

   I looked away, not letting her get the best of me since the blood in me was already boiling.

  

She giggled loudly, sending echoes to the sea. “It’s so fun to tease you as usual, Tae. You make it too easy.” I turned back to her, finding to be grinning widely. “I saw your ship while passing by this area so I just thought I’d remind you about our little planned battle tomorrow that’ll take place at any time.” And with that sentence, the smirk she had before grew back. “I won last time so I’ll be starting everything off.” She winked.

 

  “How can I forget the event of me destroying your precious Poseidon’s Gem to pieces?” I answered back, placing my hands on the railings while I still kept a confident expression.

 

 She chuckled, looking at me with a sly smirk. I just wanted to wipe it off her face. “Don’t be too cocky now.” She waved her finger back and forth at me.

 

 Before I could reply back with a clever comment, her pilot, Sunny came running down their bridge and talked to Tiffany with a voice too low for me to hear…but once they were done talking, Tiffany turned back to me, saying, “Oops, I have to go, Taeyeon.” She winked. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She waved flirtatiously.

 

The last thing I saw was her turning to Sica, mumbling something about taking up the anchor before I turned my back on her, heading back to my quarters with Yuri following me.

 

“What is your strategy this time, captain?” Yuri asked.

 

I glanced at her, analyzing her determined expression as we entered my quarters. “…Yuri.” I said, staring at the miniature version of my ship on my table. “Call Yoona and Sooyoung here and let’s have the strategy meeting.” Yuri smiled at me, knowing that I had an assuring plan already in my head.

 

~~~

 

At the brink of dawn, my ship and crew were already on full alert as we were already positioned into the usual location of every battle Tiffany and I had: Right in the middle of the crystal waters at Portland Bay.

 

These fights were common between the both of us. Ever since we’ve crossed paths at sea a year ago, we’ve been having battles 4 – 5 times a month at who was the strongest ship of the Atlantic Ocean.

 

The rules are:

1. All battles take hold at Portland Bay.
2. Whoever won the last match shall have the honor of having the first hit to their advantage. If it was a tie, the two captains have to have a sword-to-sword combat, at which whoever drops their sword first will lose.
3. The match shall be considered won if the captain of either ship has been considered trapped or captured by the other captain.
4. The time on which the battle takes place is randomly decided by the previous winning ship and so, the other captain has to stay alert the whole time until the first hit has been declared.

 

I looked through my spy-glass as I stood on the bridge of The Atlantic Compass, searching for any sign of her. Even if she had the advantage today, I could still do my best to steer out of her attack range with any means necessary. “Tch…” I couldn’t see anything through this morning mist.

 

“Any sign of her, captain?” Yoona asked while keeping the helm in her control.

 

“Not yet, Yoong.” I sighed and turned to her. “This is the one of the parts I hate, waiting for her.”

 

She smiled at my comment, probably finding it kind of funny. “Name another part then, if you don’t mind saying.”

 

“Seeing her face.” I grumbled. And at that sentence, Yoona chuckled while she still steered the helm around the bay.

 

Yuri appeared at top of the stairs, walking towards me. “Cannons are loaded and the crew is prepared to fight.” She announced.

 

“Thank you, Yuri. There are still no signs of her, though.” I mumbled, straightening out my coat.

 

Yuri smiled at me with assurance, saying back, “I’m sure she’ll turn up sooner or later—“

 

Boom!A cannon was shot, sending a steel ball right in the middle of my bow. The rest of my crew sprawled out of the berth and my quartermaster ran up the stairs, towards us. “Where is she, captain?!” She asked with her mind being all alert. [Bow = the forward part of the ship. Berth = where the mess, sick bay, living/sleeping quarters were found.]

 

I ran to the right side of the bridge and through the fog, I saw the very familiar pink flag raised right on a masthead. I looked farther into the ship and gripped the railing as I saw her waving at me with a grin on her face while she stood on her main deck. All of her members were hard at work, prepared to fight and arming the cannons.

 

I turned to Yuri and Sooyoung, telling them, “She’s on starboard, Sooyoung, tell the crew to man their stations and the carpenters to get their materials and tools ready for all the damage Tiffany will be inflicting. Yuri, on my command, we’re going to execute our plan, stay close.” [Starboard – right side of the ship.]

 

“Yes , Captain!” They both answered before Sooyoung ran down to give the orders and I turned to Yoona.

 

“I’m counting on you, my friend.” I said to her, patting her shoulder.

 

She smiled in return of the friendly encouragement. “We’ll win this time, Captain.”

 

~~~

 

            The sound of cannons firing and the disturbed waves of the water filled my ear. It’s been an hour and both ships were still standing, even though they were both equally damaged and cannon balls were still launching at an alarming rate. If this keeps up, it’ll only be just a battle between who has more ammo.

 

I still stood on the bridge, watching the battle in a clear view. I sighed, gripping the wooden railings, seeing as this fight won’t be won without the strategy.

 

I grabbed my spy glass from my coat and extended it to its maximum capability before looking into it. I looked for Tiffany and her first mate on every part of the ship before I finally found them entering the Captain’s quarters. I smirked and kept the spy-glass back in my coat then turned to Yuri. “Let’s go, Yuri.” She smirked back.

 

We both ran down the bridge and went to my quarters, grabbing a sword and threw one to Yuri which she expertly caught. I grabbed another one and slid it in the sheath that was connected to my leather belt then grabbed two pistols and slid them in the two holsters hidden in my coat. “Need a gun, Yuri?” I asked, holding up the chest that was filled with guns.

 

“I’m fine. I should be able to do this with just a sword.” She grinned cockily, making me laugh.

 

“I trust your swordsmanship, dear friend.”

 

~~~

 

Yuri and I jumped off the port-side of the ship, not visible to the enemy. It was a good thing that both Yuri and I were strong swimmers, it made it easier to swim through the strong waves and currents our battle was giving. Especially since we had to board Tiffany’s ship without anybody noticing.

 

We climbed in by the ladder on side of its hull. We were both careful not to cause any disturbance…everybody was busy attacking our ship but that doesn’t mean their ears and eyes were closed shut.

 

 Both of us hid behind a couple of stacked crates, gaining our breaths from all that swimming. “You…okay, Yuri?” I asked, giving a grin.

 

“Ready to attack, Captain…” She replied, grinning back.

 

I leaned against the crate as I peeked, seeing as everybody was too busy to turn their backs. “Go!” I whispered to Yuri before we both ran for Tiffany’s quarters.

 

We stood in front of the door, looking at each other with determined eyes. “Remember to just handle, Jessica, okay?” She nodded as we pulled our swords from our sheaths.

 

We barged in, slamming the door open and found Tiffany standing right in front of her desk, looking at us surprised. “Hi there.” I smirked, raising my sword at her.

 

 “Hello, Tae.” She smirked back. I looked at her confused, what was she smirking about?

 

“No greeting for me?” An icy voice said before I heard a sound of a gun being loaded behind my head and Yuri’s. I sighed, still not lowering my sword and so did Yuri.

 

“I never expected you to be behind us, Jessica.” I mumbled.

 

“I didn’t expect you to be charging in Tiff’s quarters like a bunch of fools either.”

 

“Neither did I.” Tiffany chuckled, grabbing a sword that was hanging on the wall before pointing it at me. “Did you miss me that much, Taengoo?” She smirked. I glared at her as she continued to say a bunch of flirty nonsense.

 

“Don’t joke with me, Tiffany.”

 

“Aww, you really did miss me.” She giggled.

 

“Tch.” I continued to glare at her. “Yuri.” I whispered.

 

“Yep.” She whispered back and in a blink of an eye, she turned around, pushing both of Jessica’s guns downwards before she pulled both triggers, averting the bullets downwards and I lunged at Tiffany. However, Tiffany quickly parried my attack and Jessica pulled out a sword to face Yuri properly.

 

A battle between the captains and first mates.

 

I turned my full focus on Tiffany, knowing that I could trust Yuri with a sword. It was annoying me that she still kept a smirk with every attack I threw at her and the fact that she could handle a sword well.

 

I lunged, making our swords clash and pushing Tiffany against the wall. Our faces were so close while both of us had a match of strength, trying to push each other’s swords away. Both of us looked at each other for a second with a blank expression...I don’t know about her but I couldn’t help but examine her face more clearly.

 

Was she always this pretty?

 

But as soon as I saw that smirk of hers again, I got back to my senses. “Falling for me, my dear Taeyeon?” I scoffed at the comment before she pushed me away, continuing our battle.

 

I exerted a lot of forced into my blocking, pushing her sword out from her hand as she charged her sword at me. She tried to grab her sword back but I quickly got out my gun and shot it away. I turned to her with a victorious smile, pointing my sword at her. “Well…” I said, grinning widely.

 

She gritted her teeth, refusing to look at me. I grabbed her arm and pulled her towards me, securing her capture by holding both her hands and a sword pointed at .

 

“Tiffany!” Jessica exclaimed, seeing as I’ve just won the battle.

 

Yuri grinned at me before making Jessica drop her sword and captured her as well. We both went outside, revealing to Tiffany’s crew that we have won.

 

Once everyone noticed, a roar of victory washed over my ship, every one of my members cheering while Tiffany’s crew just stared at the person in my arms in disbelief. “Well, that was fun, wasn’t it, Tiffany?” I asked her with a smirk as she still refused to accept her defeat by not facing me.