[OP: "Solider, Poet, King"--The Oh Hellos]

It was probably true that the kidnappers/sailors were no match for real shinobi and the heroes.

Even so, they were a little nervous about attacking.

Temari used her wind attack to turn the middle ship, and the others climbed up the sides, still hiding themselves in the fog and sea spray.

The rogues figured out pretty quickly that it wasn't a normal headwind that had just slammed them.

They yelled:

"Intruders!"

"Shinobi!"

"Man the deck!"

at each other.

Sai sent out his rat art animations to find the prisoners, and Ino began to attempt to sense them.

She wasn't nearly as accurate as Karin was--she sensed plenty of people's mental energy, but picking out prisoners...

Still, the ship wasn't that big. It wouldn't take long.

The bad guys came running at them, holding weapons, some of which might have been poisoned (here was an odd cast to the metal).

Choji grew, though not to his largest size, and swatted a bunch of them over the edge.

But the boat also tilted precariously when he did that, and a few of the rouges slid before they thought to stick to the deck...or they didn't have that skill.

The trained shinobi, who did of course, easily caught them and took them down.

Samui only used her sword, but she was fast with it.

Karui zapped a few with lightning as well as using her sword.

Shikamaru looked for the captain. He didn't know who it would be, but he did see someone at the helm, and he used the shadow of the mast to grab him by his feet and then shadow-stitch him in place. 

"Ino, get inside his head," he said.

Ino hesitated. "Is that really necessary?"

"What do you mean? We need information. Do it before I run out of chakra!" Shikamaru said to her roughly.

He didn't mean to be rough so much as he tended to get tunnel vision when he planned and not consider how he sounded.

And really, many ninja didn't have a problem with that in a leader.

But Ino felt pressured, and that made her feel both guilty and annoyed.

But she pursed her lips and held up her hands.

"Choji, watch my body," she said.

Choji was used to this. He gave her a thumbs up.

Ino collapsed.

The helmsman's mind wasn't shrouded in genjutsu, thankfully...but though Ino sensed his willpower was present, she couldn't get any real image of what he was after.

It was like an empty darkness...

Then suddenly, walls of what looked like paper, with the same strange writing as had been on those memory/sound-absorbing tags they'd found, rose up in front of her, behind her, next to her.

Ino whirled around, as her mind-self.

"Going to trap me," she realized. "I'm getting close in."

The markings were so weird, she couldn't really read them, but it seemed like the same one over and over again... Only, the longer she looked at it, the more it jumbled together and seemed chaotically spread out, like someone had just thrown the markings on with the end of a brush handle, not actually drawn them....

Ino began to reel from looking at it, and she felt as if even mentally her eyes were spinning looking at it.

She moved to release her jutsu.

"I have to get out," she said to herself, confused. "Get out!"

The paper and markings seemed to close in tighter, like they were winding around a corpse.

"Let me out!" Ino started to scream.

In the real world, she suddenly started to scream the same thing.

As if she'd only partially released the jutsu and part of her mind was still in it.

"What's going on?" Shikamaru turned, which made the sailor turn, but it didn't really matter.

"I think something is wrong," Choji said. "Maybe that was a bad idea."

"Why is she yelling?" Karui covered one ear.

"I don't know," Choji said. "Her Mind Transfer Jutsu must be being attacked. This has only happened a few times before."

Karui took Ino by her shoulders and shook her. "Hey, wake up!"

"I don't think that will work," Shikamaru said. "Where's someone who knows how to break this stuff off?"

Temari glanced down from up in the crow's nest, where she'd been attacking from to avoid hitting them with her wind.

Then she jumped down, easily enough, to where they were.

Some of the crew who was left tried to run for it while she was distracted.

"No, you don't!" Tenten threw weighted nets at them.

Sai and Zoe flew across the ship to the side that Team 10 was on.

"What's wrong?" Sai looked spooked.

Temari put a hand on Ino's head. "Come on, wake up... How do they do it? I command it to release you."

Ino whimpered. She was twitching like she was trying to get up, but she couldn't seem to snap out of it.

Zoe made a weird sound, and then she flew suddenly at the helmsman.

Shikamaru got yanked forward as she crashed into him and screeched angrily.

Choji grabbed Shikamaru before he could dash his head into the outer wall of the ship's cabin.

He released his Shadow Possession Jutsu after that.

"Zoe, wait! What if Ino is still in there?" Sai tugged at Zoe's feathers.

Zoe stomped her talons at the helmsmen.

Temari watched, and then she turned back to Ino.

"Let her go," she said firmly. "I know you're in there. Get out of her head!"

Whether it was either or both of them who finally did the right thing, who knew? But suddenly Ino's eyes popped open.

She gasped, looking around. She was breathing hard.

"Can you hear me?" Temari asked.

Ino's eyes focused. "I--yeah..."

She sat up. "There...was a trap...inside his mind... I saw markings... It was like the tags... I don't know what it said."

"Mabui could read it, right?" Temari said, looking up. "Where is she...? On the other ship... Can't you link up with her telepathically? Ask her what it meant."

"She just was attacked mentally," Choji reminded Temari.

Temari nodded. "Right...but it's not the same power, right?"

"No..." Ino rubbed her head. "But I don't know if I'm up to it... I've heard of genjutsu traps that make sure someone isn't interrogated, but we're supposed to know how to get around them in the Yamanaka clan. But this wasn't normal. It didn't feel like it was his will. It was like it was just there, independently."

"Like the other stuff then," Karui scowled. "I hate genjutsu."

Zoe flew up and dropped the helmsman in front of them. He was awake now also.

He looked at them in terror.

Karui held out her sword. "You want to tell us what's going on?"

"Don't know anything," he said. "Call off your devil bird!"

"She is not a devil bird. Why do people keep saying that?" Sai said irately, sliding off her. "Ino, are you all right?"

"I think so..." Ino didn't know if she was, but at least she was awake. She rubbed her head. "I don't know if I can...keep doing that." She said it so low, most of them couldn't hear her over the waves.

Choji heard.

"Doing what?" he asked.

"Mind Transfer,." Ino shook her head. "My ability has changed... Sometimes it seems like the change is helping, but...other times it's just making it more painful to use it. I'm afraid...I won't come back out one of these days. It's always been a risky jutsu anyway, but especially in battle. What if I can't do it?"

"Maybe in the middle of battle wasn't the right time." Choji put a hand on her shoulder. "But you can't just give up."

"Yeah." Ino swallowed. "I guess."

Sai had been going to say more, but it looked like Choji had it in hand, literally.

Still, he was a little put out. He wasn't sure why, but he thought he'd have liked to do something to make her feel better. Though he had no idea what would.

Choji knew best, right? They'd been friends their whole lives, and Sai was a novice to both friendships and the concept of comforting anyone.

But knowing his own lack of skill didn't necessarily make him feel better... In fact, he might have been starting to experience shame over it, consciously, for the first time. Till recently, he still had only vaguely known what that was like...but it was getting more clear.

Temari yanked Shikamaru up. "Why did you tell her to do it? It could have been dangerous anyway, and we know they used genjutsu."

"I thought she could handle it," Shikamaru said. "It's the clan's special talent."

He tried to pull free. "It was a mistake maybe, but we all take risks in a fight."

Temari dropped him so he stumbled back.

"Maybe," she said firmly. "But your lack of any apparent concern for her safety is more than just a calculated risk."

"I am concerned!" Shikamaru said.

"Does she know that?" Temari shot back.

Shikamaru swallowed.

"Hey," Samui broke in. "Not to interrupt, but we've run out of enemies, except for this one. They all seem to have jumped ship."

"Didn't we just take them all down?" Karui said.

"No," Samui said. "We took down at most maybe 15, but the rest just left on their own. They wouldn't get far in the open water, I'd think, but they seem to have run across it. I don't see them."

"Seems a little suspicious." Temari looked over the side. "Is there a trap?"

Some of Sai's rats appeared, squeaking at them.

Sai held out his blank paper, and the rats jumped onto it and became markings.

Which was pretty weird for Samui and Karui to see up close.

"The prisoners are in a hatch hidden in the deck and in the hull," Sai said. "Two places. The hull has more. None of them are trying to escape."

"Are they bound?" Temari asked. "I mean, they would be, but they might still at least try."

"My scouts aren't that specific unless I ask," Sai said. "They can only perceive so much."

Zoe made a sound.

"I wish Jugo was here. I think she's trying to tell us something," Choji noted.

Kankuro walked up. "Found the captain," he said.

"In your puppet?" Sai asked.

"No...he got away, substitution jutsu. He went over the side, but there were some log books in the cabin." Kankuro held up a stack. "Might be useful."

"We have to get the prisoners off of this ship or at least ready to be taken back to shore," Temari said. "Ino, when you're ready, you need to ask Tsukura-san about what you saw. Might be important."

"I think I can now." Ino felt sick almost, and the motion of the boat wasn't helping with that, but she pulled herself up. "It's not the same, right?" She put a hand to her forehead.

"What exactly went wrong?" Karui asked Choji.

"The Mind Transfer Jutsu is hard." Choji shrugged. "If the other person is extra resistant to it, or has genjutsu on them, I guess it can affect the caster. I thought Ino could break almost anything, but they use stronger genjutsu than we're used to. It's not like Leaf's."

"Not like Cloud's either," Karui said.

"Really?" Shikamaru said, with a knowing look at Choji. "What kind does Cloud use?"

Karui looked down. "Not the kind they use. Let's leave it at that."

Interesting, Shikamaru thought.

Ino reached out telepathically to the other ship.

* * *

On this ship, things had gone a bit different.

Team 7 and Hinata were having an easy enough time taking on the goons. Most of them weren't even as good as Konohamaru, Naruto's friend-mentee in Leaf, was.

Dabi couldn't fight much on the ship without risking setting it on fire, so he was more of watching their backs.

Shine knocked over a few bad guys, but she was focused on finding the prisoners more, and Hinata was also guiding her toward where she saw the life energy of some people below deck.

Mabui had gone for the captain's cabin. She wanted to get evidence.

Unfortunately for her, when she used her justu to get the door open, the cabin was dark.

She stepped in.

Then she sensed someone was behind her and whirled just in time to duck a dark figure swinging what was like a cutlass at her, but it was a bit shorter and more knife-like than sword-like.

The captain hadn't been able to disguise his presence well, or she'd probably not have noticed it right off.

"A Cloud?" the captain said. "What a surprise. Never expected them to show up this far north."

"Life is full of surprises." Mabui backed up more, feeling for a kunai. "I take it you're the leader of this questionable enterprise."

"Not even close," the captain snorted. "But it doesn't matter. I need to get out of here, and I figured the only way is a hostage... I was waiting for one of you fools to come in here."

"You'd not have enough hostages already?" Mabui didn't want to show fear.

The captain spat. "Useless vermin now. That genjutsu is supposed to be such a great asset, but if you ask me, it takes all the fun out of it if they don't even know you're there."

Mabui didn't want to think about whatever he meant.

"I wonder, why would you use it if you think it's less rewarding?" She noted there was a table in the cabin that had drawers that might have papers in them.

"Orders are orders," the captain said. "Trying to see an escape route? There isn't one." He was in front of the door. "You could just surrender, put that knife I know you're drawing away. Trust me, you won't get close enough to use it."

"Who says I need to be close?" Mabui threw it at him without any warning.

He ducked, not nearly as fast as a Cloud would have, and the rocking of the ship made the knife hit the wall a little sooner and bounce back at his head.

It didn't cut him, to her chagrin, but he did flinch.

Mabui took the chance to grab a heavy paperweight off one shelf and throw it at the porthole in the wall that was letting in some filmy sunlight.

The glass broke. Ay would have been proud.

"Why did you do that?" the captain cried. "Do you know how expensive those windows are?"

"Yes...I have an idea." Mabui couldn't help saying in a dry voice, though it had nothing to do with her impending danger.

"Now I'm angry!" The Captain lunged at her.

Mabui shoved more objects at him, which he nearly tripped over.

She managed to duck around the side of the cabin and dart out the door.

The captain was right on her heels.

She pulled the door handle shut and gritted her teeth.

He yanked on it.

"Open up, you dumb broad! You can't possibly keep me in here for long."

Mabui concentrated. She'd seen a key around his neck while he was talking.

It appeared over her hand, and she grabbed it, trying to keep the door shut with one hand.

She was boosting her strength with chakra a little, as ninjas did, but it wasn't much help for a much bigger and beefier man.

But she got the key in the lock and clicked it shut.

She hears the captain cursing, then saying, "This won't keep me in for long."

Mabui believed that.

"What happened?" Hinata was there all of the sudden. "I heard glass breaking."

"I caught a rat." Mabui straightened. "There's probably evidence in the room, though. But, he seemed dangerous."

The man yanked the door, and the hinges began to jolt loose. It wasn't in that good shape anyway.

Hinata held out her hands, focusing her eyes. "Just keep his attention," she said in a low voice-- almost inaudible with her voice.

Mabui stepped back but kept herself in full view of the door.

Hinata jumped over it, lightly, sticking to the wall.

The hinges finally broke out of the wall in one motion.

The captain twisted the door aside and came into the grey lighting.

"Nice try," he said, holding out his cutlass.

Hinata motioned to hit him in the chakra point from behind--but suddenly, blueish energy, which was the light of chakra, rose up around him as she moved.

Her hand went through it, and she suddenly gasped.

The chakra turned a weird purplish color as if it was intensifying, and Hinata dropped to the deck.

Mabui had no idea what he'd just done, but it made her skin prickle.

"A Hyuga? I heard there were some out here." The captain looked at Hinata.

It was his mistake that he let his find distract him.

Mabui suddenly summoned the door, and it fell on his head.

Unfortunately this didn't fully knock him out, but he did fall over dizzily.

Mabui pulled Hinata up by her arm and yanked her across the deck before the freak could recover.

"What did he do, Miss Hyuga? Are you all right?" she asked.

"I feel so weak," Hinata said faintly. "It was as if my energy drained out of me. I've never felt anything like it before."

"Did it hurt?" Mabui stopped by the mast.

Or where it had been. At some point, Sakura had ripped it off.

"No...it was almost worse that it didn't. It was like being a leaky bucket," Hinata said.

That was a humorous analogy, but Mabui wasn't laughing under the circumstances.

"Something about it sounds familiar," she said. "I--ah!"

She finally felt another presence in her mind, which would have scared her far more if she wasn't an Intelligence Shinobi and hadn't been in the war when they'd used that method.

But that was almost why it unnerved her; it was so like Inochi Yamanaka, it was like having his ghost in her mind.

"Miss Tsukura," Ino's voice said, sounding odd because it was mental only, "can you hear me?"

Mabui had gone pale, Hinata noticed.

"I...yes, I can," she answered.

"I think he's getting up." Hinata looked towards the captain.

The other enemies seemed to be mostly occupied with Sasuke's speed and Naruto's clones.

"I entered one of their minds and found an image," Ino said. "It looked like the same thing as before... I'm sending the image to you."

A picture opened in her mind.

Blurred markings...but then they sharpened as Ino focused on what she could remember.

Unintentionally, though, she sent some of the fear and panic she'd felt with it.

Mabui recoiled.

"What is it?" Hinata asked, using the stump of the mast to push herself up. "Hey, we should move."

The captain was staggering towards them now, looking. They weren't that well hidden by the mast.

Mabui leaned on the stump also, shaking.

She ran the image through her mind. The script wasn't as clear as on the tags, but...

"'Absorb' again," she said. "Always 'absorb'...and then...'energy'? 'Soul'?... 'Personality'? 'Will'? The kanji could be a few different things."

"'Absorb will...'" Ino answered. "Or absorb any foreign will trying to take over?"

"Not all of the marking was clear, Ya--Ino, but that's my best guess." Mabui didn't notice Hinata trying to signal her to move. She couldn't hear her over the voice in her head.

The captain found them right then and reached for Mabui's arm.

The blue energy appeared again.

Mabui thought there were marks in it also...though they moved too fast for her to decipher them.

Just as Hinata had described, it didn't hurt...but the feeling was repulsive anyway...as if someone had turned her over and poured her energy out of her like she was a jar.

"Stop!" Hinata pushed her away from the captain.

They both tumbled onto the deck.

Mabui felt Ino's voice waver. "What...what was that...? I felt the weirdest feeling--"

Then she broke off.

"Too easy." The captain raised his sword.

"I'm getting so tired of this." Dabi finally showed up. "Every freaking time you girls get into trouble, I have to fight. I don't even like doing it."

"And who are you?" The captain paused.

"Let's skip the small talk," Dabi said. "Just shut up and fight."

"Don't...touch him," Hinata warned.

The captain moved towards Dabi. "It won't be much of a fight."

He reached out, and his blue energy reappeared...stronger than before, even.

But Dabi just stood there.

The captain frowned and moved closer, holding his cutlass out.

Dabi held out his hand, and fired encased it.

"Enjoying yourself?" he asked.

The captain snarled. "What are you doing? No one is immune to this."

"Yeah, whatever." Dabi shoved the fire closer.

The captain backed up, feeling the heat so close it felt cold. Then he swung his cutlass wildly, cutting across Dabi's jacket.

Dabi didn't even think he was actually cut, till he felt a stinging sensation in his arm.

He stepped forward, and the captain backed up again. His blue aura disappeared, as it wasn't doing him any good.

Hinata reached out a hand and swiped it under his feet. He tripped and fell onto the deck.

Dabi suddenly stomped on his blade, and fire blazed onto it, and it melted into the deck in what was...a pretty weird-looking metal puddle.

The captain was pretty freaked out now. He held up his hands. "Don't hurt me!"

"Ugh." Dabi was so done with it.

Hinata pushed herself up on her hands and knees... The deck wood was hot just from being this close to Dabi's fire.

She kicked the jerk in the head, and he was conked out.

Dabi lowered his hands. "That was easier than I expected." He took Hinata's arm and helped her stand again.

Hinata was surprised by the gesture being more helpful than he usually was...but hadn't Dabi been acting a bit more helpful lately, come to think of it? He'd protected her and Hanabi, and even Mabui, more often.

Maybe he did have a nice side under all his fiery snark.

"Took you long enough to step in." Mabui was sitting up weakly.

"Is that how you show gratitude?" Dabi scoffed.

"When I say I'm grateful, you usually just say something disagreeable in reply," Mabui answered flatly. "So what's the point?"

Hinata almost laughed. It was so true.

Dabi looked as if he couldn't think of a retort.

"Whatever...so what was that blue stuff? I didn't feel a thing." He automatically took Mabui's arm to help her up too.

She seemed surprised but didn't fight it.

"I don't know exactly what it was, but there was something in it..." She paused oddly.

Hinata realized that Dabi was still steadying her. He seemed to have forgotten he could let go now.

"Uh, Dabi," she said aloud.

Dab glanced at her. "Oh, right...chakra..."

He let go.

Hinata thought he looked a little red, but maybe it was just because he'd used his power so long.

"You don't feel overheated, do you?" she asked, concerned.

"What? No," Dabi said too quickly. "I mean, the fire wasn't that big."

"How big does it have to be?" Mabui asked curiously. "Also...again, how do you not use chakra?"

Dabi looked away. "Not important."

"It is important!" Mabui was getting tired of the same answer. "It makes you immune to so many attacks--it drained our chakra, that's obvious. If you used that, it would have affected you also. So how does your team do it? I don't care if you keep saying you can't be sure you can trust me, I already kno--"

"Shh!" Dabi suddenly put a hand over her mouth. "Are you crazy?"

He looked around.

The girls remembered then that some other enemies could still be on the ship, though they saw none left.

Mabui pushed Dabi's hand away. "I apologize... That was foolish. Just the same...we're not done talking about this."

"Trust you for that," Dabi grumbled. "Where did Cotton Candy and Cactus Boy go? And your boyfriend." He meant Hinata.

"I wish you'd stop calling him that when it's not true," Hinata said sadly. "He'll get confused."

"What, oh, shock, he might--'gasp'--actually think you like him?" Dabi said sardonically.

"That's not how I want him to find out," Hinata said.

"Is this the time to discuss your love lives?" Mabui said.

"Just hers," Dabi said. "Don't make that mistake."

"Dabi has no time for things like that." Hinata wanted to get him back--but she couldn't be too mean. "He's too busy focusing on his goals."

"I suppose that's not uncommon," Mabui said. "So why did you bring it up?"

"Well...nevermind. Our team has a bit of a gossip problem," Hinata sighed.

"Are your magic eyeballs still working?" Dabi cut in again.

"Please stop calling them magic eyeballs..." Hinata attempted to turn them on, and her head pounded. "I don't know if I can manage... It was only a few seconds, but somehow most of my chakra is gone. Of course, I used some already fighting."

"I have news." Mabui recalled her conversation with Ino. "The others found another strange jutsu with the absorption markings involved... This time inside someone's mind."

"How do you put markings in someone's mind?" Dabi asked.

"I don't know. Some seals can be absorbed by inanimate objects, but it's harder with a person, so I'm told. Not something we do in Cloud though," Mabui said.

Dabi really couldn't picture Cloud ninjas wanting to control anyone in that particular way. Somehow, they did seem more blunt and in the open about their manipulation.

Funny, the only thing about them that was less messed up than the other Villages.

(This was not exactly fair, but it was still a concession from him, even unspoken.)

"How do you know about it if you don't do it?" Hinata asked.

"I study a lot of different things," Mabui said. "It pays to be aware of your enemies' abilities."

Shine suddenly appeared out of a doorway that led to the lower decks.

"I found the prisoners," she said. "And I've been cutting them loose...but something is weird about it. I'll need to move them. Hinata, can you help scan them? Naruto, I need your clones."

"Yes, Miss Likstar." Naruto had been fighting along the far end of the ship, but he came back now. No enemies seemed to be lingering now.

Sasuke had chased some down deck, but they had rushed out of a large window that they'd broken.

Sakura had discarded the mast onto the deck, after hitting a bunch of people off the ship with it, and was prying open one of the hatches in the deck now, which hid more prisoners.

Hinata and Naruto joined Shine in the lower deck.

Sakura pulled out about 6 prisoners.

"Not as many as I expected," she said.

Sasuke looked at them narrowly. "Why are they all still staring into space? They're free now."

Sakura had undone the ropes holding them.

"I don't know," she said oddly. "I sense genjutsu but not a lot of turmoil."

The people were grey and thin, but the worst was their eyes were vacant. They looked like living dolls...but not nicely dressed ones. More like rag dolls.

"Creepy," Dabi said. "Where's Blasty?"

"Bakugo chased some of those scalawags over the other side and into the water," Sakura said. "He's probably still blasting his way out there."

Bakugo was, in fact, still over the water, but the enemy had given him the slip using the mist.

"Despite the unpleasant company, this was too easy," Mabui said. "Something is wrong... Something is wrong with them also."

"What tipped you off?" Dabi said sarcastically.

"There's really no need for that tone!" Mabui said hotly. "I'm just stating the problem clearly."

"That's obvious. It would be on topic to ask why the bad guys just gave this ship up so easily," Dabi said.

"And do you have any ideas?" she replied.

"Can you cut it out?" Sakura asked. "You sound really childish right now."

They stopped, but only because Sasuke suddenly said, "Someone's coming up the side."

Turned out a few of the kidnappers who'd fled the other ships had decided to come to this one.

Sasuke moved to intercept them.

This was easy enough for him; none of them could match his speed, but, with so many, he couldn't get them all without using lethal force--or fire, but on a ship he didn't want to risk that too much.

He knocked some over, but before he could incapacitate them all, one of them made some hand signs.

Sasuke turned to stop that one, of course seeing them easily--and they kicked a bucket at him.

This was such a stupid weapon that Sasuke never even thought of taking it seriously. He sliced through it--and that was his mistake because he didn't realize what was in it.

It was tar. So it splattered onto his sword, but also it moved unnaturally and splattered over his face also.

The person had probably directed it with their jutsu, a small enough attack--

But Sasuke vaguely remember someone in Stone, one of the bandits, had used tar in their attacks--it had been a disastrous thing for Temari's weapon.

But it was worse for him, because the stuff plastered his eyes shut--thankfully he'd shut them before it could get in them, or he might have been blinded.

Hinata thankfully was below deck with Shine still, so they did not have the chance to try this on her.

Sasuke could still sense them, and he ducked before either could spring on him.

Even not seeing, he was pretty good at knowing his surroundings, and he was able to run down the deck without killing himself in the process...but attacking them was out of the question now. He could never be as fast when he couldn't see.

He didn't want to scream for help and make them think he was actually afraid of them, but he wished someone would do something.

Naruto was down deck also though.

Sakura was on the far side. Bakugo was still over the water, of course.

Sakura was trying to flag him down.

"Get back here!" she called. "We have prisoners to move. You could actually help!"

Bakugo yelled at her something that was probably cursing.

"Miss Haruno," Mabui said, "I don't think Uchiha is fighting off those brigands."

Sakura glanced back. "Sasuke didn't? They should have been easy for him."

"We've really gotta stop assuming every fight is easy just because he's OP," Dabi said. "But what can I do? If I shoot fire across this ship, we'll all be in trouble."

"I can't do anything." Mabui was still drained.

"Of course it's up to me," Sakura said, annoyed. "Always when you've run out of other options." [Literally what the writer says every time he uses Sakura to do anything...I assume.]

She picked up the mast she'd discarded.

"You might want to duck," Dabi told Mabui.

"Why? We're not on the same part of the ship as the enemy," Mabui said.

"Sakura's chakra control and her self control don't exactly align. I'm not standing up straight while she's swinging around a huge wooden mast." Dabi ducked.

Mabui didn't really even have to duck that far to be under Sakura's arm range--which kind of annoyed her.

The kidnapping pirates had by now noticed that they were all just standing there, and they turned from Sasuke for the moment and started running toward them.

Maybe they hoped to strike them all and try to take back the ship. Who knew?

Sakura didn't give them much of a chance.

"CHA!" she yelled.

Dabi had his hands over his head, but he was looking up, and he suddenly cried, "Sakura, wait!"

It was too late--she was already swinging it.

The problem was that Sasuke, not seeing this--and he couldn't sense the mast, as it had no chakra attached to it--had just veered back onto her path while trying to dodge one of the bad guys.

The bad guys on this side tried to skid to a stop when they saw the mast coming but were too slow to duck.

Sakura hit all 4 of the ones in sight back off the ship--but the mast also hit Sasuke in the side of the head.

Sakura hadn't even seen him--he blended in more with the ship's coloring than the brightly clad shinobi did--but suddenly she did, and she dropped the mast with a cry of horror.

"Ouch," Dabi winced in sympathy. "That one hurt him."

"A blow like that could be lethal!" Mabui sat up. "Where did he come from? I thought he was along the side."

"He's fast. He must have not seen--but how would he of all people not see it?" Dabi said.

Sakura had rushed to the other side of the deck to find out.

They followed, confused.

Bakugo landed on the deck at this moment. "What did I miss?"