3Sorry for the random start read to the end to understand what happened.
For the other ship it was probably the most devastating blow it had ever received in its own career. When the barrage was done the ship looked like it had been put through a blender there were around twenty nine holes in the side of the ship, a fire raging on the deck, and one of the mast had taken a direct hit, which meant it wouldn't be able to take the full strain it normally would with a hole in the middle of it.
Thinking quick Aragorn yelled over to Boromir to have the Anchor lifted, while at the same time preparing to have the ship boarded. Looking over to where the other ship was he also realized that they were well on their way to being turned so that both ships were facing starboard to starboard. He knew that if the other ship made that turn then they too would be broadsided. Looking back over to his men he quickly called out for them to brace themselves as the enemy was about to return fire. He was not a moment too soon as the other ship had finally made its full turn to starboard. As he suspected the other ship immediately tried to pull the same trick as his men, only this time several of the cannons were simply cut, or shot out of the air as all of the commanders on board took action to keep as much damage from the ship as possible.
Unfortunately for them there were around forty cannons on that side of the ship. So even though the seven commanders and the captain took out two to three cannon balls a piece they still didn't stop all of them from making contact with the ship. On the bright side though, the ship was so big that the damage was comparatively small. This managed to bring another small smile to Aragorn's face as he then realized that even though he had given the command to fire at will his men were still waiting for him to give the order to fire again so that they could once again completely broadside the enemy, and hopefully this time finish this skirmish.
Putting his sword in the air above his head Aragorn dropped it to where it pointed to the other ship, as he yelled to his men "FIRE!" this time it seemed as if the entire ship rocked back at how unanimous the assault was. The effects were overwhelming, as this time it seemed as though every last one of the cannon balls managed to land against the ship. To add to the damage done to the other ship the entire mast was destroyed this time making it look like nothing more than a pile of junk that was floating on the ocean. However, this pile of junk had just had its mast dropped down onto Aragorn's ship.
"Crap" was the only thing Aragorn thought as he turned to look at the damage done to his own ship. Realizing that nothing had really been destroyed he turned to his men and yelled for them to cut the mast free from his ship so that they could get the hell out of there. This was not to be though as one of the elves at the front of the ship called out "Sir there are others like that dark lord man." He was looking at the side of the other ship where nine men were standing and all of them were quickly turning white while black robes were covering their whole bodies so that they were completely covered from the light. The weird part was that between those nine, and the dark lord the entire ship seemed to be covered in darkness; and at the same time a sense of dread was rolling off of all ten of them easily making it across the span of water to touch the hearts of the men onboard the Fellowship.
Looking at them Aragorn seemed to realize that this could be trouble for his men. Looking to the front of the ship Aragorn called to Boromir "How long before that Anchor is raised? We are kinda running out of time here."
With a bit of a grunt of anger Boromir yelled over his shoulder "This is going to take a moment it isn't exactly the smallest or lightest piece of this ship sire." With that said he turned back to his job of helping lift the anchor with several of his strongest men.
Aragorn was getting a little worried now as he saw the other ships occupants starting to throw grappling hooks across to the Fellowship. Looking over to Gimli, who was now waiting for someone to hop on the deck, he said "Gimli cut that mast off of our ship quickly; I don't want to be stuck here when the rest of that fleet arrives!"
Looking over his shoulder Gimli nodded his head seeing the wisdom in that course of action. Turning to where the mast lay on their ship he pulled his axe back and chopped at it hoping to cut it with the wind displaced by his blade. It almost cut completely through it in the first blow, but unfortunately for Gimli, as he had dropped his axe a small knife had hit the haft with just enough force to keep it from cutting through the entire mast.
Aragorn seeing this yelled for his men to start firing at will. This caused one more near complete blast from the cannons on the ship which caused the other ship to groan as it started to slowly sink into the ocean. This had a reverse effect though as it seemed to cause the inhabitants of the other ship to start swinging over to the fellowship. For a few moments those that swung across all met a similar fate of death; but within a few moments the numbers started to increase and the enemy started to get a foothold on the ship. It was at this time that the fighting seemed to break out from the controlled areas along the railing and in the outer rigging of the ship to the rest of the ship.
Stepping towards the closest fight Aragorn started cutting down the corsairs as they made it past his soldiers and sailors. As one soldier ran at him from his left he knocked the man's sword away from his body and brought his sword back across the pirate's throat.
Aragorn then brought his sword back across his body and down into another man's thigh as he ducked the man's clumsy blow with a cutlass. He followed this up by stabbing the man in the chest after he fell to the decks wood.
Looking around Aragorn pulled the knife from his belt, and flicked it at two more pirates that were attacking him killing one of them in mid-step. The other one just continued towards him while giving a war cry. He was cut down when Aragorn blocked the strike from the man's club at his head and then stabbed him through the chest. Aragorn then saw some of the pirates heading towards the hold of the ship so that they could silence the guns that were still bombing the other ship even as it sank beneath the waves to speed up the process, hopefully in time to keep those weird monsters from boarding their own ship.
Thinking fast Aragorn had his ten man personal guard follow him to the hold of the ship where he told them to keep anyone from getting below decks. Spinning to his men he said "Alright everyone make this your final stand here no one can get below decks this spot must be held at all costs, otherwise this battle is going to be a lot harder."
Having said his piece Aragorn then looked back to the battle around him. He was once again just in time to save himself from being skewered on another corsair's cutlass as it was thrust at his stomach. Parrying the blow Aragorn then brought his sword across the man's stomach causing him to drop his sword. Aragorn then pulled his sword back and struck at the man in the jaw with his left fist knocking the man out.
For a while the battle went like that as the other ship was sinking more and more of the other ships crew used ropes, and small bridges to get across to the Fellowship, where they were then caught up in fights, or killed. For Aragorn it seemed rather monotonous, every few seconds another pirate would come rushing up to him where he would then kill the pirate with ease. This continued until the only men left alive on the other ship were the nine men that hadn't moved since the first changed, and the dark lord of Mordor.
At this point the fighting seemed to slowdown, and those who found themselves with a chance to breathe started to look over to the other ship to see what was going on. Everyone knew that if they got caught in the water they would most likely sink and die due to their devil fruit powers, unless they were saved by another ship. Aragorn had just finished his latest opponent, and was deciding whether to go help others around the ship, or watch the last opponents to have not crossed when they finally made their move, and made his choice for him.
It seemed like they had all been given a hidden cue by some mysterious source. For all at once the nine men on the ship all jumped the twenty feet across open ocean onto the Fellowship's deck. In that instant every fight stopped as every man tried to see what would happen next even the corsairs stopped to see what would happen. Then there was a crashing sound behind them, and the parted ranks with four to the left, and five to right as the dark lord made his appearance on the ship. He walked right up to the first row of soldiers in front of him, and without hesitation swung his massive mace into them.
That first swing was one of complete shock to those that were watching as the entire row of men along with three others men behind them were thrown across the deck with ease. All of them were dead. Before anyone could react to this power though the nine men behind who had taken up a semi-circle behind him all leaned forward, and screamed at the men on deck. The scream itself caused was one full of power, and evil, and it seemed like every man on the ship started to try to run from them. At which point they started to chase down opponents and kill them. They simply plowed through anyone that got in their way, and the worst part was they were doing it with apparent ease, as none of them had yet to be hit by anything, not even a stray arrow.
Seeing this Aragorn gave a battle cry, and charged the closest one. His first strike was a horizontal slash at his opponent's neck that was intercepted on his opponent's sword. He followed this up with a kick to the man's groin, and a solid shot to the jaw. This seemed to take his opponent by surprise as he then fell back a little. Everyone around them stopped running when they saw this it was a complete surprise that one of these monsters had actually been stopped for a moment, it also seemed to give the men a bit of courage as they stopped running around the ship like chickens with their heads cut off, and started to take on the corsairs and pirates again though, they still did their best to avoid the nine dark men, and the dark lord.
Aragorn seeing this yelled to his commanders, to start attacking the nine men. Even he wasn't sure that he could take on the dark lord of Mordor. With that taken care of Aragorn then turned to his opponent and blocked his opponents return strike.
Gandalf was amazed at his wards stupidity, he had watched from a distance as the young prince had declared that all commanders were to take on the nine dark men. He had also watched as his stupidity of attacking an unknown devil fruit user had actually saved the battle from becoming a slaughter. Chuckling slightly to himself, Gandalf then attacked two of them at once. Normally he wouldn't ever be so bold, but he knew the men needed to see something inspiring. The men on his side of the ship which had barely seen any action up to this point, took this as a charge signal from Gandalf as they all gave a battle cry and charged out to at least kill off the last of the pirates.
Gandalf on the other hand was thinking to himself, "Oh the stupid things I do to help my king." As that thought passed through his head he was ducking under another cut towards his head. Bringing his staff up he spun in clockwise at the enemy that had just struck at him and followed that up with a slash of his sword from the man's left shoulder to his right hip that the man dodged. Gandalf didn't stop there though continuing through by spinning on his right foot he brought his staff around and smacked the other opponent in the face when he wasn't prepared for it. However, before he could go in for a finishing blow he was pushed back by the first guy as he swung at Gandalf now open left side, causing him to continue his spin and block with his sword. This gave the other his chance to get back into the fight as he swung his sword, and nicked Gandalf's wrist.
Jumping back Gandalf took the moment to reassess the situation that he had just gotten himself into. Thinking quickly he realized it might be time that he revealed himself as the wizard he was, but didn't get the chance when he was set upon again by his two opponents. Swinging his staff at them he forced them both back , then jumped back himself, so he could get as much distance as possible then pointing the tip of his staff at them he started uttering a language neither had heard ever before. They soon found out the power of his words when both of them were blown back into the wall of the captain's cabin nearly caving the wall in. Seeing them both in pain Gandalf smiled as he took the moment to look around the ship and see how his comrades were doing.
Boromir was getting a little pissed off today had started great he had found himself winning the money of several soldiers in a game of poker that they had been having below decks, and he had almost managed to clean them out. Now though, he was fighting some devil fruit user that kept trying to cut his head off. Add this to the fact that he had just barely had time to finish raising the anchor out of the water before this had happened, and he had been tired from that, and you got a tired man who had lost all of his money and was now being attacked by a homicidal maniac.
"What an absolutely freaking fantastic day!" Boromir couldn't help but spout at his opponent as he blocked another blow with his shield for what felt like the fifth time that minute. But it didn't stop there no the guy just was stopping, it seemed like he had gone berserk by this point just hitting at the shield in front of him as though it was going to break under his onslaught. "This is getting on my nerves," Boromir grunted "I think I have had just about enough of this he yelled as he went from blocking with his shield to parrying the next blow away from both him and his opponents body with his sword. With this done Boromir took the opportunity to smash his shield into the other man's face, causing him to stagger back several feet.
Deciding he wasn't done with him yet Boromir shot after him swinging his sword from his opponents left shoulder to his right hip. To his mild surprise he actually connected with the guy, laughing Boromir watched as his opponent stumbled away again this time with blood flowing out of the large gash in his side.
Being a captain of Gondor's finest soldiers he decided to let his opponent catch his breath and make the next move. This turned out to be a big mistake as his opponent took this opportunity to literally catch his breath, then screaming at Boromir with that banshee scream of the nine. Boromir had heard it before, but having been nowhere close to it then had not realized that it was actually fear inducing. Falling back away from his opponent Boromir dropped his sword, and cried out in fear as he fell to his knees.
It took him a few seconds to figure out that his opponent had actually taken advantage of the situation and was now standing over him in mid swing at his head. Diving to the side Boromir cursed his own stupidity swung at his opponent only to discover that he had indeed dropped his sword onto the deck. He was not given any time to look for it either as his opponent decided to start from square one again and started to hit at Boromir's shield.
"This is now officially the worst day I have ever had." Stated Boromir from where he was now doing his best to hide behind his shield to escape being decapitated. Thinking fast Boromir realized he did still have one helpful tool on his person that might help save him from a screaming opponent. Smiling as he reached to his belt Boromir grabbed his horn that his father had given him before this assignment. Next he knocked the black clad man's sword away from him almost in the exact same way he had a minute ago with his sword. He then chuckled as he lunged straight in past his opponent's defenses and said "Here have a taste of your own medicine!" With that having been said Boromir put the horn to his lips and spun to where it was right in his opponent's ear and blew with all his might.
Boromir's opponent stumbled away from him clinging to the side of his head as though it had been hit with a bat. Seeing this Boromir smiled and thought out loud "Now where did I drop my sword?"
Faramir was in trouble, and he knew it. One minute he had been in the rigging trying to get down to the deck where he could help his fellow commanders in their fights against devil fruit users. The next he was trapped swinging from one grappling hooks rope to the next around the ship as two of those very monsters chased after him.
He was no master swordsman; at best he was above average. But he knew that there was no way in hell that he could take on the two men following him together. His brother might have been able to, but not Faramir.
"How the hell did I get in this situation?" Faramir asked himself as he kept swinging around the ship. Looking over his shoulder Faramir was just in time to block a stab that was aimed at the small of his back from the first cloaked man he had fought. He only knew this because he had somehow managed to cut the man's sword arm when they were fighting. He was returned the favor now as he had to block the man's sword with his bare hand. It was not his best choice, but it was better than being skewered in the air.
Deciding he had had enough of this Faramir let his grip on the rope loosen enough so that he slid down towards the deck at very dangerous pace. He managed to slow his decent down a little about ten feet off the ground, but when he had reached five feet, the second cloaked figure came by after the first and cut his rope causing him to fall the last five feet. Hitting the ground hard he managed to soften the impact by rolling backwards to take some of the force.
Looking up he saw that both of his opponents were now sliding down their respective ropes to get back to their opponent. "Ahh come on!" Faramir muttered under his breath as he started to run away before his opponents could catch back up. Thinking on his feet Faramir pulled his bow out and shot an arrow into one of his opponent's knees as he landed, luckily for him it was the one he hadn't hit earlier. But, it hardly seemed to slow him down at all as he just ran right after his opponent again.
Seeing this Faramir muttered "What are these guys made of? I've never seen anyone take an arrow to the knee and just keep going before." With that thought out he turned to keep running only to find that he had run into a wall, there was nowhere to go. "Dammit." Faramir muttered as he turned back to his pursuers while drawing his sword he said "If today be the day I day then know this I will not go alone."
Both his opponent's seemed to find this funny as they both started making some sort of hissing sound that sounded almost like laughter, but Faramir couldn't tell. "Well said young," one of them said in voice that was somewhere between raspy, and wispy, "but you will die alone, and cold just as all men do."
As the statement was made both of the men jumped at Faramir with their blades pointed right at his chest.
They were both caught by surprise though when out thin air a woman appeared, and parried both blades with a small sword and a knife. "You can't kill him today boys." She said as she jumped at the one on the left pushing him back.
The other was caught off guard a moment later as Faramir stabbed him in the chest, but not deep enough to do any real harm sadly. As his opponent stumbled back in shock Faramir took the quick opportunity to thank his savior by saying "Thank you lady Eowyn." With that said he then went back to attacking his opponent.
Gimli was having the time of his life again. Usually he needed to be drunk with a good strong bit of dwarven ail to have this much fun, or at least be sparring with one of the other commanders. This was different though he didn't feel the need to hold back at all. Facing the man in black Gimli just felt himself going wild. A smile was gracing his face through his beard that was bigger than any he had had in a long time.
He couldn't help it he started to laugh. Turning away from his black clad opponent for just a moment he swung his axe into one of the pirates backs as he was about to stab a soldier he had just knocked down. The blow killed him instantly as it severed his spine, and nearly cut him in half. Gimli didn't stop there though; he immediately spun back around to where his first opponent was, and blocked a thrust to his eye. Continuing through with his spin he pushed the sword to the left off of his blade while bringing the blade around in a wide circle to cut his opponents legs out from underneath at mid-thigh. He wasn't caught by surprise at all when he didn't hit anything as he saw his opponent jump over the blow.
Landing a few feet away his opponent seemed to hiss at him while turning back to face him. Gimli was having too much fun to notice this though, as he jumped right at where his opponent was bringing his axe down in an overhand chop. This caused the black clad man to block the attack that would have pierced his chest at an awkward angle. This turned out to be his undoing in that moment as he was thrown away from Gimli.
His flight was abruptly ended when he landed on a harpoon that had been sticking out of the ground, and piercing his side.
Gimli frowned he hadn't really wanted the fight to end so soon, but he wasn't about to complain since he had a job to finish. With that thought Gimli ran off to where the ship was still being held in place by the enemy's mast, and finished chopping it off. Having finished his job Gimli then ran into the fight hoping to finish this fight so he could have some ail.
Eomer had been caught by surprise it was not often that he actually found a worthy opponent in this day and age. Needless to say Eomer was just a little nervous. Not that he would lose, no he was just worried how long it would take him, and he knew that he needed to finish this fast so that they could make their run for their own defense line that was not far away at this point.
Taking the time to look Eomer noticed that the dwarf had finished off his opponent, and finished cutting the mast. He knew it was turn to finish his opponent, and then turn the ship for home, and safety.
However, when he turned back to find his opponent that he had knocked away a second ago he was surprised to see that he was not where he had been. A moment later he felt a burning sensation in his leg, and turned to see his opponent had thrown a dagger at him from the side, and was now running at him. Eomer just leaned against the steering wheel for support as he brought up his shield hoping that somehow he would be able to finish this quickly before he passed out from blood loss now.
Grimacing he managed to knock away his opponents first strike at his already wounded leg, and retaliated by bringing the pommel of his sword around into the side of the man's head. Dazed the man stepped away knowing he wasn't about to be followed by his opponent anytime soon. This only pissed Eomer off as he watched his opponent start to get away, but then a thought occurred to him.
Stabbing his sword into the deck at his feet, he grabbed the knife that was in his leg, and ripped it free. He then hurled it at his opponent's back as he stood up. Unfortunately for the black man he turned around for round three only to get the knife in his chest rather than his back. He collapsed to the ground unmoving immediately.
Eomer just smiled at his good fortune, as he turned to the wheel and started sailing the ship for the harbor defense line. He noticed though, that due to the sheer amount of extra weight on the ship that it was slowed down considerably. Seeing this he looked back to see how much time they had lost in the fight, and realized that the enemy was almost on them, it would only be a few minutes at most, fortunately they were now making progress in their journey.
Legolas smiled, he could feel the ship turning towards their own lines, and knew that it wouldn't be too long now. He also knew that it couldn't last too much longer either. Everywhere he looked the men were winning, except for where the dark lord was, and he was doing damage already there seemed to be a mountain of corpses that followed wherever he went. Legolas could only watch as his destruction continued though. He was too busy with his own opponent to actually stop him.
That thought brought his focus back to the present where he noticed his opponent lunging at him again. Bringing his knifes up he blocked the sword with one and struck out at his opponents face. At first he thought he may have actually managed to get a hit in; but then realized that even though his knife had gone into the shadow of his cowl, it had not managed to strike flesh. Cursing his short knives for what felt like the fifth time in the last ten minutes, Legolas jumped up high and over his opponent's return blow.
Landing Legolas grabbed his bow from off his shoulder as he sheathed the knifes he turned around shot a couple of Arrows at his opponent, hoping the arrow would fly through his defenses, and actually pierce him. As he watched time seemed to slow down. Legolas had seen this exact moment many times in the last few minutes, and every time his arrow was about to hit his opponent he would simply scream at the arrow and knock it away with the air needed for the scream.
This time though the banshee didn't scream, and the arrow sunk into his right breast. Looking down at the arrow in his chest the man collapsed to his knees, and his body started to fall back until it hit the railing behind him.
Legolas was shocked; even though he had hoped that this would happen he hadn't really expected it to do anything other than buy him some time as he thought up a new strategy. Legolas was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth though as he grabbed another arrow, and started to take down the men around him until he had enough safety to take a shot at the last real threat on the ship.
Aragorn was surprised after that first bout between him, and his opponent he hadn't managed to even touch him. Of course that went both ways as his opponent couldn't land a blow on him either. They just stood there in the middle of the chaos exchanging blows. Nothing seemed to work though, and Aragorn was starting to get frustrated.
Jumping at him Aragorn tried a thrust at his midsection, but that was only a feint as he pulled back at the last second thrust his sword down at his opponent's foot. He was not caught by surprise when the foot slid back about a foot. He immediately brought his sword back up blocking the retaliating strike to his face. Aragorn then slid his sword down the length of his opponent's sword while dropping the point to where it was pointed to his face. At the last second though, the man dodged swiping his blade out to drive Aragorn back.
It worked, and as an added bonus to the man he actually hit Aragorn giving him a slight cut across his face splitting his nose in the middle, from left to right. Luckily for Aragorn it wasn't deep it just stung like a crazy. No matter though, Aragorn couldn't lose focus in this fight. Looking back he noticed the man standing there staring at him. "Good hit, but what's the matter let's continue this." Aragorn stated.
"Tie your wound otherwise it will get in the way of our fight." said the man in that raspy voice of his, as he turned his sword point down to the deck. Aragorn was taken by surprise but, he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth so he took a strip of gauze out of his pack and tied it around his face.
Looking back to his opponent he said "Tell me what is your name sir?" showing respect to his opponent.
"My name?! I have no name. People call me the Witch King of Angmar, but that is all I have ever been called." Finishing that statement he picked up his sword and got in the ready position. Aragorn just chuckled and got ready to fight.
With that they both rushed at each other struck at the others throat. Aragorn seeing that they were both about to kill the other ducked. Not realizing that his opponent did the same thing, they both ended up colliding as they ducked under the other's strike. Groaning both of them fell to the ground; Aragorn managed to stand back up first, but waited for his opponent out of respect, waiting for his opponent as he had been waited for earlier.
As he stood up he nodded to Aragorn, and they both started in more slowly this time so as not to embarrass themselves in front of all their men again. As they both approached, they started trading blows again, a shot at the chest here, a scratch at the arm there. Most of the hits didn't do much damage other than to cause the other to flinch or to squint their eye, at some point Aragorn somehow managed to cut his opponent chest rather deeply. At another point He had managed to catch Aragorn's calf muscle.
Each time one of them got a large cut that did significant damage the other would let them bandage it before they continued. Before long they though, they were both annoyed at how long this was taking. Aragorn said "Ok let's finish this in blow I'm tired of waiting, and from what I can see we are probably the only ones left fighting other than your dark lord."
The other man said "I agree let's finish this in one blow the faster and stronger one shall walk away from this one battle to fight the next one."
Having decided both men got into their stances, and charged at each other. When they got close enough to each other they both swung, but just before they collided the black clad man slipped on a puddle of blood from a dead body nearby. His blow went wide but, it was too late Aragorn was already too far into his own strike to stop now, and he ended up catching the other man in his side under his arm. For a moment neither moved just standing there, before the man started to laugh quietly.
He then noticed the look Aragorn was giving him, smiling the man explained "You are the most skilled, and blessed opponent I have ever gotten to have the pleasure of fighting with. Thanks for the time." As he finished his statement he fell off of Aragorn's blade at his feet.
Looking around Aragorn saw that Gandalf was the only one still fighting as everyone else had received help from one of the ones who had finished off their opponents first. This was soon rectified as Gandalf ended his fight by knocking both of his opponents off balance and then launching both of them off of the ship onto another pirate ship that was passing by with some blast from his staff.
This meant the only fight left was the dark lord. However, when he looked around for him he noticed that he couldn't see him. He was starting to get worried; what if he went below decks he could destroy the entire ship with one well-placed blow. Aragorn quickly threw that idea out as he realized that the man was a devil fruit user, if he destroyed the ship he would go down with it and die. That left the question though, where was the giant?
"Legolas" Aragorn called as he kept looking around "Where is the lord of Mordor?"
Looking around Legolas was dumbfounded he too couldn't seem to find him on their ship anymore. Running down to the lower decks, all he saw was a bunch of dwarves shooting cannons, at all of the ships as they came alongside them. Going back up to the top deck of the ship he called out to Aragorn "He's not below decks either, I can't seem to find."
"I see him Aragorn!" cried out Gandalf. "He's on a different ship, and look he took every last one of his captains with him. It seems he is content to sit where he is for now; sir this is the chance we have been waiting for let's make a shot for our lines while we have a chance. We are almost there." As Gandalf called out that last part every soldier left on the deck cheered.
Aragorn smiled outright when he heard that part. "Alright lads let's get to the defense line. For Gondor!"
A moment later Aragorn's cry was taken up by the entire crew, as they sailed back to the harbor defense
So here it is Chapter two as I pointed out in chapter one this was actually all supposed to be one chapter. This was all supposed to explain the rest of the story kinda like a romance dawn. I'm hoping you all enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoy writing it. Feel free to review the story. I really appreciate them either way, and hope that you all realize you can say anything you want to about the story.