The Investigator Pirates: Betrayal at the Sea God's Crown
The Investigator Pirates. "The Investigator Pirates, that was the name," Zan de Radgerda murmured. For a full decade, they'd carved their legend across these vast seas back when she was still in her twenties. Nesil Geitor, now the navigator, had been a mere eleven-year-old apprentice sailor.
A black-haired youth in a tricorne hat had boldly declared to the pirates plundering ships from the All Gods Temple, "If pirates are swarming the seas and hurting the temple anyway—let's head out to sea ourselves. Hell, let's seize control of the entire ocean!" With grand ambitions, he'd shouted, "A man needs dreams that big to be a real man!"
They started with just six crew members or so. Zan was among them, along with Mortis in the thick of her rebellious phase. Tired of a life bound by priesthood and paladins and gods, she'd thrown her Dullahan body toward the open sea for the chance to see a wider world. She got called a weirdo Dullahan for it, and the initial crew were a total ragtag bunch—total misfits who didn't mesh at all.
They didn't know how to steer, read the wind, or even handle basic sails. They were absolute idiots who plunged into the ocean with nothing but guts and bravado. No wonder even the kids saw them off from the temple saying stuff like, "Big bro and sis are dummies?"
With zero expectations, the amateur pirate crew set sail... only to hit a typhoon and nearly sink. They barely survived, but by the time they dragged themselves to a pirate tavern on Monster Island, their initial bravado was gone. The terror of the sea and nature's fury had crushed their spirits.
All except their captain—the man who'd first rallied them. 【Edward Bristol】. He alone kept his fire, vowing to one day conquer the seas.
That's when they met their new comrade at the tavern: a Daynos with a fierce face mismatched by his gleaming golden hair. A seasoned pirate at 33, he'd hopped ships as a navigator, earning nicknames like "Wandering Navigator" or "Cursed Navigator Who Sinks Every Ship" after his last crew disbanded amid navy raids and mishaps.
It was their first encounter with Hornigold.
"They say you handle ships well. Join us as navigator!"
"Why the hell would I board a broke-ass ship full of random brats?"
"Because I'm the man who's gonna conquer these seas."
Hornigold first saw Edward as a lunatic and recoiled. If another ship had been around, their paths might never have crossed. But intrigued by the Dullahan aboard, he boarded their ship when it returned to the tavern a week later.
At Bristol's brag about surviving the storm, he scowled, "It wasn't your sailing—it was the damn good ship." He nagged them for dragging around a vessel way above their league.
He could've overpowered the greenhorns and taken captaincy, but he said watching a clueless fool get his comeuppance sounded fun, so he settled as first mate.
With a navigator aboard the grandly named Neptune's Revenge, the Investigator Pirates swept through the seas like a storm. Curiosity for the unknown, unyielding grit against massive sea beasts, constant clashes with imperial navy—they built infamy as mad pirate-slaughtering pirates.
They amassed treasures, witnessed the unimaginable, and chased endless grand adventures across the boundless ocean.
"Got maps from the Trust Union, Empire, Holy Eagle Kingdom—even the elves'!"
"Kyahahaha! You're the only lunatic picking fights with elves!"
"If you're scared of elves, you ain't a man!!"
Their captain, Edward Bristol... in one word, he was a man blessed with absurd luck. Even against elves, freak typhoons and currents helped him steal their maps and escape. Those elves unluckily crashed into sea disasters and giant monsters, getting dragged into the ocean's demon realm and shattered.
He boasted he'd uncover the secrets inside that perpetual storm someday, combining every nation's maps into a massive sea chart. He distributed copies willy-nilly, babbling about how no rivals meant boredom.
True to his rep as a man the sea loved, he seized Monster-back islands, drove out pirates, and showed them he could truly become king of the seas.
"[Triton of the Sea]! With that, we can punch through typhoons and reach unknown waters no one's seen!"
Chasing legends of the sea god Neptune—said killed by elves—and the ruins of Montagu, the colossal underwater kingdom that ruled the waves, they claimed treasures, ancient relics, even Epic Chronicles.
Back then, the Investigator Pirates' fame pierced the skies, known in every nation. Trading fleets begged for deals, imperial navy fled in fear, pirates formed alliances to sink Neptune's Revenge—but none could match a crew forged in disasters. They sank instead, losing everything to the depths.
──Those were joyful days. Just reminiscing made her heart pound like she was young again.
Their endless journey. A new king of the seas after Hero Captain Eagle. Everyone at sea already hailed him Pirate King.
But Edward wasn't satisfied. He wanted to be a free man who could shout it himself, not just bask in others' praise. The fool chugging rum mixed with gunpowder──was murdered pointlessly by his first mate.
On a stormy day, they transcended the sea. Riding reverse-gravity currents up, plunging down sheer ocean cliffs──dodging the colossal Titan, threading narrow channels as Neptune's Revenge half-sank, they finally set foot in the demon realm.
In that uncharted land, following traces left by dying Montagu survivors, they found the [Sea God's Crown].
Whoever held it became the kingdom's king, inheritor of the sea god's will—the legitimate ruler even gods acknowledged.
In crumbling ruins, hidden where elves couldn't reach amid piles of Montagu skeletons:
"Cough, cough..."
Edward Bristol approached the crown, coughing blood. Hornigold's cutlass pressed against his back.
Sensing the cold metal, Bristol slowly turned atop the stairs, gazing down at his long-time comrade. Looking up, Hornigold shouted,
"I'm betraying you. Our bond ends here."
Did he declare it aloud out of respect for their history? At words that could've ended with a stab, Bristol burst laughing. Yanking his harpoon free as the crew gawked in confusion, he roared,
"The perfect rival at journey's end! Betrayal's a pirate's daily bread, eh, Hornigold?!"
"Kyahahaha... No more of your endless yapping."
"Then come at me like a man. I'll entertain you."
"Last time, so I'll laugh it off!!"
Shady comrades—recruited by Hornigold?—drew blades. Half the original six and loyalists belatedly armed, backs together. They weren't eager for fight but pirates nonetheless. Threats to drop weapons or die.
"Hornigold──!!! I'll rip out your spine and beat you to death!!!"
Mortis raged. Betraying ten years of brotherhood? Furious, she charged, hoisted an ex-comrade, snapped his neck, and tore head from body.
As she rampaged berserk, eyes rolled back, former allies swung cold steel. Zan warned allies to scatter from the rampaging Mortis, glancing back at Bristol.
"──That guy was poisoned by Cancer Mushroom spores."
A B-rank monster mushroom inducing malignant tumors from the lungs via inhaled spores. Worst for Daynos like him with damaged lungs. He endured via regen, but breathing was agony—yet he smiled, swinging his harpoon at Hornigold without complaint.
Harpoon clashed cutlass; Bristol dominated from the stairs, but Hornigold roped his leg, yanked him down, and lunged. Merciless against the dying man, he pressed—only to lose an arm to the harpoon and stagger back.
"Huff... huff...! Still strong! Come on, Hornigold!! Kill me and take it all!!"
"Damn, even half-dead you're a monster...!"
"Heh... If I weren't like this, you wouldn't have tried?"
".......That ain't manly."
"Kek."
They clashed again—the winner, Hornigold, piercing Bristol's heart as luck finally ran dry.
Grabbing the falling Bristol, cutlass in chest, he laid him on the stairs. Zan and Mortis stared in dazed horror at their captain's death.
But what enraged them more was his next act.
".....The reason Cancer Mushroom is just B-rank? A single potion lets Daynos regen past it."
Mid-sea resupply was tough; no alchemist aboard. No potion meant no cure despite pleas. Bristol insisted on treasure hunt anyway. Did he sense his fiery life's end? Or know the betrayal? Unknowable... but Hornigold had hidden a potion. He could've at least eased the pain.
"You elf-bastard!!"
Mortis, livid, bashed blocking traitors' skulls. Kicks exploded bodies; swings obliterated forms. Elf-slaying combat race ferocity as she stormed the stairs, bellowing,
"You hid that potion to save your own sorry ass!!"
His bitter face at her curse:
"I wouldn't drink this potion even in death."
Clutching the vial like treasure, recorking it one-handed. He seized the [Sea God's Crown]──and dove into the sea.
Hornigold, obsessed with sea witch Circe, Montagu history, even studying useless lost runes. Surely a comrade... but convinced the crown waited at journey's end.
If not, no betrayal.
"Uwaaaaaah!!!!"
Mortis, slaughtering 40 ex-comrades, roared at the shadowed sea before her captain's corpse. Vow of vengeance──but impossible.
Limping home on half-sunk Neptune's Revenge, many died. At temple: of 37 loyals, only 12 survived. Disease, festering wounds untreatable.
"Mortis sis."
"......"
Parting in tears and sorrow. For 50 years after, distant glimpses, silent welfare checks.
She, hating priesthood, became priestess anyway—listless, emotionless, detached. Zan aged slowly in her temple home.
Then, a letter from an old comrade: impossible request to watch his pirate-aspiring grandson. A final testament, no reply possible.
As comrades died off, in empty life──spotting a Bristol lookalike stunned her beyond words. Wearing his hat too. Regret she couldn't die peacefully.
"In the end, I took to sea again. Fifty years on land's nothing to sea time. Damn, pirate till death."
"Yeah. Could've griped a bit by then. Consistent to the end, that man."
Shark admiral tossed his lit cig into sea like incense, no prayers or regrets for the rival he'd fought over a decade. Relieved laugh, then pocketed hands: "I'll share a fun tale too."
"Empire lost slave ships to Hornigold. Not once. Nobles whined after losing pricey slaves, demanded we retrieve. Even enslave islanders who betrayed Empire for Pirate King."
"Hah, then send navy aid. What's islanders' crime?"
"Exactly... Old dogs gotta die. Think the troublesome prince would take me too?"
"Kuh... Sure. Till next island."
Zan shrugged it off, heading to captain's quarters. Shark pressed down on stunned Bartholomew's hat, lost in grandpa's tale.
"She says it's nothing, but everyone has stories. Don't sweat it—not your business."
"Why not...?!"
"Don't flip if Hornigold recognizes you. Don't wanna see youth die before me."
"......"
Hornigold—man to topple for Pirate King dreams. Never imagined this karma. Shocked, Bartholomew clutched his hat, pocketed hands, retreated to room. Knew of Investigators, not that captain was grandpa—or betrayed by decade-long mate. Complex, heavy face.
"......Uh... We'll sail together awhile. Ask about Empire?"
"How to handle this mood? Won't Mortis go berserk meeting Pirate King?"
"She will."
"Bro, what do?"
Castella prince and Lemon Hyacinth awkwardly fist-bumped "let's be pals" amid tension. Hyacinth despaired at Mortis's past—"we're screwed!"—glancing to Radamu for help.
Arms crossed, staring sea... Radamu uncrossed, hands on hips, half-lidded sigh.
"......In a pirate novel, he'd be the protagonist."
"Fair, but bro's the hero. Snap out."
"Don't wanna be rabbit-eared crossdressing hero damsel for dudes...."
"Blame the constellations."
Why so many needing pep talks? Exhausted, Hyacinth patted Radamu: "Drink and forget." To galley.
Best to booze and bury it. Castella tagged uninvited: "Empire booze awaits!" Hyacinth eyed him: Friendless too? Zipped it—don't add another.
