"You should really ask him that question," Odysseus replied fishing the rest of his rum before sighing, "we are always out of rum."
"You sure it's a good idea for you to-" Percy started to speak but stopped when Odysseus narrowed his eyes at him, "ah-I mean what a nice view," Percy whistled looking out at the sea, "just beautiful."
"Huh, you learn fast kid. Anyway now let's teach you how to use your bloody powers to give us a lift," Odysseus walked to the stairs and turned, "well? You coming or what?"
"Aye aye captain," Percy saluted following the greek hero towards the bow of the ship. The Bow was carved the form of a giant dragon whose wings projected downwards making it look like it was ascending upwards, hence the name: Ascension.
The head of the dragon was large and stood at the very tip of the bow and was wide enough for a person to stand. Odysseus pointed to the platform, "get on."
"Ah, okay?" Percy replied confused before getting on top of the dragon's head. He looked ahead at the sea as the sound of water hitting the boat dominated his sense of hearing. Percy slowly felt himself being drawn to the ocean, like a bird being drawn to the air or a fish to the sea.
"You can feel it can't you?" Odysseus said leaning back on the side of the ship, "the call of the sea."
Percy nodded, "I've felt it before, at different times. Sometimes it was weak, other time it was barely there, but now....now it's so loud I think I'm going to go deaf."
"The more deeper into the sea you are the louder the call will be," the greek hero said looking out into the ocean, "there in lies your power Percy. You have an inbuilt connection to the sea and everything in it. Your power little one is the sea itself. Now you need to access this power and use it to get us a boost in sailing."
"How do I do that?"
"Simple, the call pulls you in. You have to pull back."
"But how?"
"Just close your eyes and relax, it'll come to you. It always does."
Percy raised an eyebrow at the last sentence and did what the captain said. He closed his eyes and focused. Gamer's mind cleared his head and allowed his to focus clearly on the task at hand. Slowly Percy felt the pull drag him closer and closer to the edge of the bow. Each step he took was a battle he lost against the call of the sea, but at the very last moment he got hold of it.
It felt like a rope of water tied to his chest and the moment Percy figured out what it felt like, he could control it. Percy pulled the rope of water and suddenly;
Ping!
Percy opened his eyes and in front of him was a notification he had never seen;
You have accessed the power of the sea! You may now control it to varying degrees and also may control vessels or any other items on the sea with great precision!
Percy could feel power flowing through him from the rope of water and through that he could control everything in the sea. He could feel the essenes of the ship he was on, it felt....incomplete. It felt like a shoe with it's laces untied, so Percy pushed and felt the laces tying themselves.
Mana— 3,000/3,700
"Well isn't this a surprise," the captain said causing Percy to look back. The deck of the ship suddenly the ship seemed to spring to life as ropes and different parts of the ship began to move on their own. The sails were quickly opened out while the anchor seemed to pull itself up with no help. All the broken parts the crew had been trying to fix repaired themselves restoring the ship to it's full function. The ropes then began tying themselves away while Percy looked on in surprise.
"D-Did I do that?" Percy asked the stupid question on his mind.
"Yes, yes you did. Though it was a lot quicker than most children of Poseidon," Odysseus admitted with a smile, "now use your control to give a little starting push will you?"
Percy nodded and turned back to the sea. With the sails now open the boat began moving forward with it slowly gaining speed. Percy focused on his connection to the sea and searched for the boat's essence again. The moment he found it Percy commanded the ship to charge ahead and suddenly a huge drain of mana hit him;
Mana— 1,345/3,700
Percy felt the ship jerk forward pushing him backwards where Odysseus caught him by the collar preventing his fall. "Careful there little one," the hero said helping Percy to his feet, "that always has a bit of kick to it."
Percy nodded and watched as the Ascension slowly moved faster and faster. The sails were battered by the winds as the ship sailed quicker than any normal sailing ship.
"I don't know how long this speed is going to last," Percy admitted.
"Doesn't matter, for now we need to focus on getting your strength up. I still remember how this used to tire out other children of Poseidon," Odysseus said walking to the stairs leading to the upper deck, "come, let's get some food in you."
The upper deck had a door which lead to a hallway. To the right was a huge dining hall with a kitchen to the side while the left had a door leading to the captain's quarters. Percy and Odysseus walked into the dinner and sat down on a bench. Odysseus put two fingers up and motioned to the chef behind the kitchen counter.
"So how long do you think we will be at sea for?" Percy asked as a tall man in a chef's uniform walked over with two bowls of soup.
"I think with your added boost we might take 1 day and 12 maybe 15 hours to reach Nassau," Odysseus said grabbing a bowl and digging into the soup.
"Really?! That's pretty quick!"
"Yes well when a child of poseidon sails on a boat the sea god tends to be very cooperative with the winds," Odysseus said before turning to the chef, "thanks for the food Zeff."
The blonde haired chef nodded and walked away leaving Percy to Observe what food he got;
Tomato soup;
It's tomato soup, best eaten with bread. It is very good for health and it is highly recommended for men with....problem in bed.
Consume to gain +5% of your total MP back.
Percy shrugged and quickly drank the soup in one swoop. It tasted alright, Percy didn't really mind the metallic aftertaste.
"Damn little one you drank that quickly!" Odysseus exclaimed looking at Percy with a grin, "must have been very hungry huh?"
Percy smiled and the two began talking as Odysseus got Percy another bowl of soup to have. The son of Poseidon spent the entire day just sitting and talking with the living legend as the man told stories about all the things he had been through. Did you know Black beard, yes that Blackbeard was actually Odysseus? The other guy, Edward Teach, just kind of took on the identity after Odysseus and his crew got bored.
Soon however Percy came to the question that had been bothering him the whole day, "why don't you hate me?"
Odysseus looked surprised, "blunt ain't ya?"
"It's a curse."
"No, that's a good thing really. It's simple really, I don't blame you for your father's faults," Odysseus smiled, "I actually knew quite a few children of Poseidon in my time. They were all very nice, unlike you dad."
Percy smiled, "yeah, he's kind of a tool," suddenly the sea started to shake as water hit the boat harshly shaking it roughly. "Sorry dad!" Percy replied causing the waters to return to normal.
"Haha! Never seen a child of Poseidon so openly flip their dad the finger! I like you even more lad!" Odysseus smile grew wider, "so any other questions?"
"Ah....how are you still alive?" Percy asked.
Odysseus looked up from his newly filled cup of rum and smiled, "never give up do you?" Percy smiled and shook his head. "Right," Odysseus sighed putting down his mug, "well...it all began after my death."
"Your son Telegonus, the one you had with Circe."
The king nodded, "aye, not a bad way to go if I do say so myself. After then however I was taken to the Underworld, like any other soul, and was sent off to Elysium. I didn't stay there for long though."
"You chose rebirth?"
"Hahaha!" Odysseus hit the table in laughter again and again, "no chance in Hades I would ever chose that! What type of idiot do you think I am? Being forced to forget everything I am and have accomplished just to get a shot at the Isle of the Blessed? No way! Plus who wants to sit on their ass for the rest of eternity?"
Percy nodded, "yeah...guess that would be kind of boring."
"So I escaped. I just walked right out of the Underworld, passed Cerberus and bribed Charon to bring me back to the land of the living," Odysseus said with a grin chugging down some rum. He then turned to Percy who simply looking at Odysseus with a neutral mask.
"Then what happened?" the son of Poseidon asked.
"Ah....wait wait wait, back up. I just told you I snuck out of Hades and basically bribed my way to immortality and all you have to say is, 'then what happened?'"
Percy shrugged, "well it is impressive I guess. It's just that I literally did the same thing last year soooooo....."
"PFFT!" Odysseus spatout his mouth full of rum right on Percy's face, "what the fuck?! You did what?! How old are you?!"
"13," Percy rubbed his face clean cringing at the smell of rum, the alcohol brought flashbacks to Saturday nights with Gabe, not a good place to be.
"So you were 12 when you walked out of the Underworld?!"
"Yup. Hades had my mom as prisoner, so I went in tied him up using the chains of Hephaestus and gave him to Persephone to torture. The goddess was so grateful she freed my mom and I just kind of left. Oh, and then I came back to the underworld and saved the souls of my 36 demigod friends and threatened Charon to ferry me across the Styx."
The hero of Troy blinked once, twice, [how did you threaten Charon?] he asked in ancient Greek.
[I used Zeus's lightning bolt.]
The captain blinked again before getting up and grabbing another mug full of rum. He sat back down and chugged the enter mug down before narrowing his eyes at PErcy, "whole story. Now. Don't skip any details."
And so they spent the rest of the day swapping stories. Percy told the living legend everything he had done in his time as a demigod and Odysseus always tried to one up Percy with a heroic tale of his own.
Later at night,
Percy walked down to the sailor's common quarters and the entire place was changed. All the hammocks were pushed to the side and a ring bordered with rope was cleared out in the center of the room. The entire crew was here each having a cup of rum and a plate of hot food to eat.
"Percy down here!" Percy turned to see Marc waving to him. Percy waved back and walked over to the french man.
"Hey Marc," Percy said "what's going on?"
"Oh it's fight night," Marc explained as he took a swing of his mug.
"What's that?"
"It is essentially a night where we all get into a big fight and people bet on who's going to win. It's one of the few entertaing things we can do while out at sea."
"Wow, you guys must get really bored out here huh?" Percy said looking around at the huge gathering.
"Yeah, we don't really get to have much to do these days," Marc explained with a shrug, "so we got to find ways to entertain ourselves."
Just then the crowd parted away and Galen, the grumpy Quartermaster who hated Percy for no goddamn reason, walked into the ring.
"Alright lads you all know what time it is!" Galen roared out.
"Fight night!" The crew shouted back raising their mugs high in the air. Percy looked around as slowly everyone came around the ring.
"Now who's going to be tonight's first match?" Galen asked as two men walked in. They both were dressed like English sailors and had swords on their side. As soon as the they walked in however they took off all weapons and their shirts.
"Alright you two you know the rules," Galen yelled out as he walked out of the ring, "no killing and no weapons, anything else goes! Now.....BEGIN!"
As soon as Galen gave the signal the two men charged at each other. They pounded on each, fists hit on skin as the men hit the other until they drew blood. The fist's flew not with speed but with power as each blow gave off the very distinct sound of flesh slapping on flesh. Percy watched as the two men hit each other until finally one one remained standing. His face was bloodied and his fists were covered with the blood of his enemy, but he was still standing.
Glane walked into the ring and raised the winner's hand up in triumph, "the winner: William!"
The crowd burst into cheers for the victor as the loser was dragged out and thrown to a hamper to sleep his wounds off. The winner walked around a lot enjoying the crowd cheering him on. Suddenly however he sneezed and out of his nose came a wad of glitter and smoke.
The crew laughed it off and acted like everything was alright but Percy was confused. He turned to Marc, "hi Marc what's wrong with that guy?"
The frenchman looked, "oh William? Nothing much. He just had unprotected sex with a unicorn that's all."
Percy looked surprised and wanted to ask more questions but before he could Galen spoke up, "now who want to go next?!,"
Percy smirked and turned to Marc, "think I should give it a try?"
The frenchman looked at Percy and sighed, "if you are an idiot, sure why not."
Percy shrugged, he had been meaning for a good fight. He raised his hand up, "I want to fight."
The crowd went silent as Percy took off his jacket and shirt walking into the ring. Galen narrowed his eyes at Percy before smiling, "okay than brat," he turned to the crowd, "anyone want to teach this little shit stain some manners?!"
"He's just a kid!" Somebody from the crowd yelled out.
"That's not what your mother said!" Percy replied sending a ripple of laughter through the crew.
Slowly a sailor walked into the ring, the same one who called Percy a kid. He was skinny and well built. His skin shined with a healthy tan as the man had already taken his shirt off.
Galen smirked, "good a challenger! Alright brat you ready?" Galen asked Percy who nodded, "are you ready Fiaser?" The tanned man nodded as the two came to the center of the ring while Galen walked out, "okay then, BEGIN!"
As soon as Galen spoke, Fiaser charged forward. He reached Percy in a flash and drew his fist back. He launched it at Percy's face but before the fist could even connect Percy moved to the side and activated his Body Form;
Body Form Activated: Right arm
And sent a gut wrenching punch into Fisher's stomach causing the sailor to fall over the side holding his stomach in pain.
The crowd went silent as slowly they took in what they just saw. Nobody spoke until Marc stood up and yelled, "fuck yeah Percy!"
The crew exploded into cheer as they dragged Fiaser away leaving Percy alone in the ring. Galen walked in and raised Percy's hand, "the winner: Percy Jackson!"
