Chapter: Fighting Pirates

Joe was supposed to be right. Perhaps the gang really should have picked a better time to leave. Luckily it was the middle of summer and that's why the sun allowed them a few hours of light before it finally disappeared from the sky, but then it slowly got hairy and Joe thanked God on his knees for the invention of the lighthouse, because we would be without it she probably never landed in the harbor on the next island but crashed on some insidious cliff in between. Joe would have preferred to call his parents from there so that they could pick him up the next morning, but he didn't want to do that to Bunny. If he moved her the second time, she would probably never speak to him again. Still, he wasn't quite sure whether he would rather do that than die miserably at sea.
This first setback didn't seem to have bothered his female captain that much. Whistling happily, she and Buster wandered the streets of the city to look for a place to stay for the night.She remembered that an old friend of her father's lived on this island, but she didn't want to ask him, because he would definitely try to persuade her to turn back and that is exactly what Bunny was definitely not going to do. So they rattled off some of the inns together. But without much success, because most people thought their story was a stupid kid's joke or would rather notify their parents than give them a place to sleep. Only when even Bunny was about to give up and suggested sleeping somewhere out at the harbor, which Joe stubbornly resisted, they came to a small guesthouse near the outskirts. The owner was a kind hearted old lady who, with her snow-white hair and a kind smile on her face, looked as if she had come straight out of a storybook. Bunny told her a slightly modified version of her story, in which her trip on the high seas somehow sounded more like a little day trip and the woman immediately invited her over and even cooked them a delicious supper.That night Bunny slept peacefully and even Joe, who had so many worries going through his head, was so exhausted by all the paddling that he fell asleep immediately without any problems.
His concerns came back as soon as he got up, when he remembered that they had next to no money to pay the lady for her hospitality. However, she was gracious and forgave them the debt after Bunny had helped her with the dishes and Joe had dug up her flower bed. To say goodbye, she even gave the children a basket with fruit and home-baked bread and a few bottles of lemonade, and so they set off again on the same day with new provisions.
The food ration of the nice lady kept the gang above water for two whole days, during which they paddled aimlessly across the sea without encountering a possible point of contact. After they had slowly run out of bread, Joe had the glorious idea of ​​catching a few fish when they were now sitting right at the source, but unfortunately he had also proven that he had no talent as an angler.Now it was up to Bunny to come up with something and so she had tried to develop her very own fishing technique. Whenever she saw a fish swimming past the boat, she would shoot a small surge of electricity into the water, which had an effect similar to throwing a switched-on hair dryer into the bathtub. So she had already caught a few fish and Joe had noticed that it was a pretty stupid idea to put his feet in the water during this maneuver. Slightly "shocked" by the action, the poor boy hadn't even noticed at first that Buster had already started to gnaw at his leg out of sheer hunger.
"Ouch! Damn Buster, I'm not a dog bone!" He squeaked a little later and rubbed his aching leg. You could even see the dog's bite marks on it.
"Hey Joe, if you keep rocking like this, you will soon be able to swim again!" Bunny scolded and held onto the boat as a precaution, which had swayed threateningly due to Joe's sudden uproar."It can't get much worse than it already is. We're stuck here on this nutshell and have almost nothing left to eat. Your stupid dog wants to eat me for lunch, but what worries me most is the yawning emptiness in ours Drinking bottles. If we don't get fresh water somewhere soon, we'll be done for! "Joe cursed. Was he really the only one who was worried here? His counterpart didn't even seem to notice him, but just stared past him while he listed further weak points in their oh-so-great battle plan.
"In addition, a storm can break out on the high seas from one moment to the next and then this pile of junk probably doesn't offer us very much protection, and ... Hey Bunny, are you listening to me at all?" more and more like a nagging wife.
But instead of answering, Bunny looked at him with wide eyes in amazement and then pointed with her finger at something behind him.Slowly Joe turned around and then he saw the reason for her behavior. Another ship was exactly on a collision course with her boat. It was a relatively large ship and, unlike their means of transport, moved quickly. It would get to them shortly. Joe caught his breath. What should you do now?
"Yeah, finally a ship. We're saved Joe! Hello! Here we are !!", Bunny cheered exuberantly, and began to wave her arms wildly without paying attention to the renewed swaying of the boat.
"How can you always be so naive? How do you know that they want to help us? Maybe they want to rob us!", The boy replied worried.
"Or they just want to ram us ...", he added and his voice took on more and more panicked features.
"And why do you always have to see everything so black? This thing doesn't actually look like a typical battle ship. Don't you think so?" Bunny replied with a grin.
Okay, his captain must have gone mad now.He would have to help himself all by himself. Maybe they would spare him if he offered himself to them as a slave. Shivering, he turned his gaze back to the enemy. The ship had now come ominously close and Joe could finally take a closer look. Strange ... Bunny was right. This was really not how he had imagined a battleship. He had never seen anything like it before. The supposed enemy ship was painted a bright pink. The figurehead was a woman with a blonde perm, a pink ball gown and eye-catching green earrings and on the port side someone had painted the name "Dainty Lady" in ornate letters. But there was actually a pirate flag dangling from the top of the mast.
"Hey, do you want to put down roots down there? Come on!", Bunny's voice came over him. Joe looked up to see that the strangers had lowered a hanging ladder and that Bunny was already climbing up with Buster in her arms."Bunny, do you still have them all? You can't ... Who knows what they'll do to you ...", Joe stammered completely perplexed. He didn't want to imagine what kind of plans the crew of such a ship had for them.
"You come up here too, you mussel, otherwise I'll come down and get you!", Thundered a loud voice from the deck of the other ship. The beefy head of a man with a wild red mane and a matching red beard appeared on the railing and looked at him with dark eyes.
Joe decided to obey this clear order immediately and crawled awkwardly up the rope ladder. Almost at the top he was grabbed by the redhead and set down on deck. The guy seemed to have bear strength and he was also wearing a kilt ... After his astonishment at the man's extravagant taste in fashion had subsided, the panic rushed into Joe's mind again. This was clearly an insane killer!
"Hello, I'm Captain Bunny D. Kate and this is my 1st.Mate Joe Porter. Nice to make your acquaintance, Mr. ... uh ... ", Bunny started to greet the killer and held out her hand in a friendly way. Joe slumped noticeably he would probably bite off her hand right away, but he seemed to be up to something else, because he now took Bunny's hand in one of his huge paws and shook it vigorously.
"Captain, eh? Wonderful ..." he chuckled and then began a roaring laugh that reminded Bunny a little of Santa Claus.
"And that down there is probably your splendid ship, isn't it? The latest fashion from overseas, huh? Could maybe use a new coat of paint.", The giant roared and wiped the tears of laughter from the corner of his eye.
"Well, pink is not for everyone ...", Bunny replied cheekily and the other person fell silent. Had she gone too far? Had she offended his taste?Now even Bunny was getting a bit queasy. This colossus could easily crush them with one finger.
"Look, I am ...", she wanted to apologize quickly, but the booming laugh of the guy drowned her out completely. Now he was laughing out loud and his fat belly wobbled in time.
"That was good, girl. That was good ...", he gasped and after he had calmed down a bit, he continued: "That's right. The" Dainty Lady "wasn't my first choice either, but you get used to it to the color. Something different. Oh yes, my name is Haggis. Haggis McMutton. I come from an old Scottish noble family. ", he added when he saw the big question mark in Bunny's eyes.
"Well, Captain McMutton, we ...", Bunny started again, but the other laughed again.
"Nah no little one, I'm not the captain here. Me and my boys are just the normal crew.", He giggled and pointed with one of his fat fingers at two other men who were standing on deck a little further to their right and were just in an intense conversation seemed to be deepened.One was skinny and tall and wore a smart uniform and the other was short and plump and had a wooden leg.
"These are my buddies Edward van Helgen and cutthroat Bill. Hey men, greet our guests," he called over to the two of them, who immediately lifted their heads and waved friendly towards the newcomers.
"Oh, that's a cute dog! And he's wearing such a fancy hat !!" Haggis whistled enthusiastically. He had discovered Buster and was now lovingly scratching his ears, which Buster enjoyed to the full.
"For a pirate you have a pretty good fashion sense.", Giggled Bunny.
"Well, actually the boys and I are also hairdressers on