With Oliver's eye in the sky, Captain Sterling carefully timed their approach to when the two ships were farther apart and sailing in opposite directions- the lack of instant communication between the ships an easily exploitable flaw.

"Just out of curiosity," Oliver said slowly, never taking his eyes off the screen as he kept watch on the ships through his drone. "If you guys are so worried about this Chegor asshole and his ship, why are we trying to pass closer to him than the other ship?"

Hands folded behind his back, the Captain projected the very image of confidence as he watched his crew- though Oliver knew he was feeling anything but confident at the moment. Still, a leader such as him knew that the image he presented was more important than his actual feelings when it came to reassuring his crew. "It's a matter of speed. The Inexorable, for all its reputation, is a much larger ship. With double the cannons and more than twice the crew, they are an absolute terror in a fight."

"But that much bulk means a loss of speed and maneuverability. Once we are past them, it is basically impossible for them to catch up."

Oliver winced at the declaration and shook his head at the Captain. "Please don't say things like that; You're practically tempting fate to prove you wrong."

"I don't believe in fate."

A soft sigh slipped from Oliver's lips as he shook his head again. "Yeah, and the Titanic was unsinkable..."

"What is the 'Titanic'?" Lily asked, suddenly at his side, her eyes wide with curiosity. "Was it a ship on your world?"

"Yep." Oliver chuckled softly at the Demon Princess's eagerness to learn all she could of Earth. "One of the most famous ships in history. There's actually a famous quote where one of the people involved in its creation said that 'God himself could not sink this ship'..."

"It sank, didn't it?" Lily asked, her excitement dimming at the grim tale.

Seeing the Captain listening as well, Oliver nodded to the man to emphasize his point. "Yeah. Its considered on of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history, with something like fifteen hundred people dead in a single night."

"Like I said, better not to tempt fate. Declaring something impossible is just asking for it to happen."

Twin looks of disbelief turned his way, though it was the Captain that spoke. "Did you say fifteen hundred people? You have ships that can transport that many? That's-"

Wanting to quickly push past the grim atmosphere he had created, Oliver interrupted the Captain. "Oh, no. The Titanic actually held over two thousand, which was impressive for its time... A hundred years ago. We actually have modern ships that can hold six or seven thousand called cruise ships..."

"And a lot of cruise ships also have restaurants, theaters, and casinos on board."

"Restaurants. On a ship." The Captain said slowly, struggling to regain his calm demeanor. "Your world sounds... Impressive."

"Yeah, I guess so." Oliver shrugged... But, thinking about restaurants brought up a thought, and he turned a concerned look towards Poli who was waiting nearby. "Hey, do you know where Henrietta is? I haven't seen her since breakfast..."

"I haven't seen her, either." Poli shrugged, to which Lily agreed. "Maybe she's with Jal? Or playing around below deck?"

"I mean, how much trouble can she really get into on the ship?"

At full sail, it didn't take long for the ship to pass the invisible line of the pirate blockade.

Unfortunately, the pirates had already spotted them and turned in pursuit.

"Well, that's it." Oliver sighed. "The chase is on."

"You sound unhappy." Prince Dorrim rebuked softly. "Does the plan succeeding and us avoiding unnecessary bloodshed truly displease you so much."

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Oliver eyed the prince impassively for a moment, aware that Lily watched from the side, her whole body tense at the possibility of conflict between the brother she loved and the man she expected to marry. "No, it's not that at all."

Shifting sightly, Oliver leaned against the rail and sighed. "It's more that I'm in a weird spot." He said slowly, lifting his hands and shifting them up and down like a scale. "On the one hand, if the plan works... Then I'm basically just standing here feeling useless- and I don't care for feeling useless..."

"But, on the other hand... If I do end up being useful, that means we're about to have that bloodshed you want to avoid."

"So, yeah. It sucks feeling useless and just standing around bored, but it's obviously the better option."

"I see." Prince Dorrim said slowly, nodding at his prospective brother-in-law. "I apologize for misjudging you."

"Ah, don't worry about it." Oliver shrugged indifferently. "Considering all the mayhem I've caused the pirates since I arrived, it's pretty easy to see me as just a bloodthirsty psycho or something..."

"And, while I don't consider myself bloodthirsty... Well, there's just something about fighting for my life that makes me feel... something." Oliver shrugged, unsure how to express how the excitement and adrenaline truly made him feel. "So, maybe I am a little crazy..."

"I hate to interrupt- again- but we may have a problem." Captain Sterling said stiffly as he lowered the binoculars in his hand- a rather basic pair, though more advanced than anything his world had created, that Oliver had gifted him recently. "I believe that they are gaining on us."

Oliver bit his tongue to keep from saying 'I told you so', and turned to gaze over the sea behind them- and he easily saw what the Captain meant, as the Inexorable loomed larger in the distance than it had before. "Fuck. I'm not even an expert and I can see it. I thought you said they were slower?"

"They are." Sterling grunted, clearly frustrated and annoyed at having his words thrown back at him. After a second, he sighed and shook his head. "At least they should be."

"I have no idea how they are managing it."

"Let's see if I can find out." Oliver shrugged, eyes already fixed on his phone screen. With a swipe of his finger, he sent the drone diving towards the Inexorable. As the small, silver orb approached the pirate ship, he engaged its stealth drive with a grimace- the stealth drive, being such a power hog, cut his flight time down from four hours to just thirty minutes... And he had already had it in the air for a while...

He would need to find the answer quickly if he wanted to keep his eye in the sky.

A soft whistle slipped from his lips as he took in the ship from close up- the captain hadn't lied about them having twice as many cannons, and the number of Devils swarming across the deck was almost intimidating. "That is a big ship... But I'm not seeing- hold on!"

"Take a look at the screen!" He snapped out even as he brought the drone down for a closer look.

"Why would one of our kin help these Devils?" Prince Dorrim exclaimed, voice tight with anger.

"But... Why does he look so... different?" Lily's voice was filled with surprise and confusion.

"I think..." Poli said slowly, studying the image on the laptop screen. "That this Demon is from a different world..."

Standing on the deck of the ship near the wheel was a Demon, his blood red skin- mostly hidden by the black robes he wore- stood out in sharp contrast to the pitch black of the surrounding Devils. His skin, horns, and sharp black nails marked him were similar enough to Dorrim and Sterling as to make little difference...

If it wasn't for the dense fur covered legs that ended in cloven hooves, or the huge, leathery bat wings folded behind his back.

"There are Demons on other worlds!?" Lily asked excitedly before remembering that this particular Demon appeared to be working against them- at least, judging by the fact that he stood unbound on the deck of the pirate ship and conversed freely with the Devils around him.

Dorrim and Sterling simply looked concerned by this development.

"Why does he look... like that?"

"Who knows?" Oliver shrugged. "I mean, there are myths and such from our world Demons that look like that- evil creatures spawned from the pits of Hell and all that... Though, I guess they could really exist..." He pondered that thought for a moment before waving it off. "Well, with everything I've seen so far, he could just as easily be from a completely different world as he could be a Demon from Hell..."

"Demons... are evil on your world?" Lily asked softly, sounding hurt by the statement.

Poli leaned in, hugging the Demon Princess from the side. "Oh, hon, not everyone believes that. It's really only a few religions that say stuff like that..." Sh trailed off, not wanting to mention that said religions were some of the largest in the world. After a second, she shrugged and pushed on. "And that's probably just because some asshole like him showed up on our world thousands of years ago and did something to earn that reputation..."

As soon as the unplanned words were out of her mouth, she exchanged startled looks with Oliver.

"You know... that makes sense." He said thoughtfully. "I can't remember which religion it was, but one of them from the Middle East has a whole thing that is basically Angels helping humans fight Devils... It makes you think, doesn't it?"

Opening his mouth to continue the thought, Oliver froze as the very Demon they were talking about turned his head... to stare straight at the drone flying above. A small, smug smile tugged at his lips, revealing rows of pointed teeth like a shark, and the Demon raised his hand to point at the invisible drone.

"He can fucking see my drone!" Oliver exclaimed, his instincts screaming at him to act. Fingers shifting rapidly, he set the drone on an evasive escape path- and just barely dodged the blade of wind that erupted from the Demon's hand.

"And he knows magic!"

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