"Kousaka Honoka is the captain of the dangerous 'Otonokizaka' pirate ship. No one ever dared to oppose her and even prayed to never meet their path one day. But what if…? [All-female universe, Hinted for HonoMaki at some point, AU]"

A/N: It's an "all-female universe" also means "404 No men", or literally "no men" or "all living things being female" in this universe.

[-x-x-x-]

It was a peaceful day at the port town of UTX and the folk were either busy at the market or just doing whatever the heck they felt like it. The sun was high in the sky and few clouds were decorating the endless sea of blue sky. That day, the port was rather busy as merchant and battle ships were stopped to get revitalized.

Everything seemed perfectly calm as the childrens were playing at the outside, when the sky suddenly turned dark, thunders booming from afar. The air became heavy and fear started building up inside the citizens who took their childrens and fled home. Even the soldiers and sailors fled their ships to find shelter as a mysterious rain started to pour, followed by maniac girly laughs.

Not long after, the silhouette of a massive ship could be seen sailing at the East of the town. It went full speed toward its next direction: UTX, its Jolly Roger placed on tip of the highest pillar of said ship. A skull eating bread and being trusted by a pair of saber in both sides was the motif on the flag and the violent wind made it wave in all directions.

The citizens started locking their door and window from inside, praying whatever Gods they believed in to save them as the gigantesque floating coffin sailed in their direction. And just like that, without any summation, the ship arrived at the port with a loud boom, knocking few other ships away, be it a merchant one or battle one.

Atop the highest pillar, a lone figure could be seen watching through a telescope. Upon closer view, it was revealed to be a girl in her 16s with wavy long blue hair and wearing a white-and-blue sailor outfit – composed of a white sailor fuku top, a blue knee-length skirt, a long barrel gun and a saber at her back. She placed the telescope down and looked down at the other crew. "No enemy in sigh! It looks like they all locked themselves in their houses."

The other girl who was in her 16s as well, who had past shoulder ginger hair and wearing an oversized orange coat over her sailor uniform, smiled as she tightened the grip on the wheel. "That's nice!" She moved at the side and walked forward to have a better view of the town, while her second-in-command – who had past-ear ginger hair and wearing the same attire as the other members of the crew – took the wheel and made the final maneuver until anchoring.

Another girl with long ash-gray hair, who was wearing the standard outfit and had a pair of guns attached on her belt, walked beside the captain. "So, what are the orders this time?"

The ginger remained silent an instant as she watched the dark stormy sky, before turning to her first mate with a smile drawn on her lips. "We are almost running low on supplies and gun powder. We need to revitalize as fast as possible."

That last sentence picked the curiosity of another girl – who had shoulder-length honey-blonde hair and unlike the others was wearing a total blue uniform, her weapon of choice being a pair of sharp pocket knife. "As fast as possible?" As long as they could remember, their captain wasn't the kind of person to hasten on things, unless something very important was about to happen.

The ginger just nodded and motioned the crew to disperse with her hand. The other young pirate girls jumped out of the ship and landed on the soil before walking toward their favorite spot while anchoring: the clothes shop. Only the captain and the brunette stood alongside the few members responsible of cleaning. "Did you hear, Hanayo?" The ginger's eyes were fixated at the town while the younger girl walked beside her. "They apparently sent three new Admirals to track after us."

Hanayo just stared at the horizon as well. "That might be true, but as long as I could remember, no one ever has managed to defeat us, be it alone or in group." There was a brief silence and the brunette turned to the captain. "Honoka?"

Said ginger let go of a sigh and closed her eyes. She then lifted her head to see the dark clouds while the rain was pouring direct on their faces. Honoka opened her eyes and let go of a heavy sigh. "Maki is among them."

The brunette gasped at that sentence. "Say what?" She couldn't believe that someone who used to be childhood friend with them would join the navy and track them. "But why would Maki do something like that? Weren't we childhood friends?"

Fortunately, just as Honoka was about to let go of another sigh, the blue-haired girl from earlier stepped beside them. "The truth is that Maki wasn't totally like us. Unlike us, she was born in a noble family from the capital, but was forced to adapt to our way of life after the ship they were sailing with wrecked, leaving her as sole survivor." She turned to Hanayo to see a confused look. Umi patted her head and started walking toward the stair leading out of the ship. "In other world, her family was supposed to go on a vacation when a band of pirates attacked them and slaughtered everyone but her. That was all thanks to our mothers having motherly instincts and brought her into our island, raising her with us."

"I see…" The brunette was still slightly confused, but at least she got an idea of the truth. "So, in other words, our mothers attacked their ships and killed everyone but Maki and decided to bring her into our island."

Umi nodded her head. "That's right!" The two of the arrived at the land and started walking toward the market. "Unlike us daughters of Pirates, Maki was forced to adapt."

Meanwhile, Honoka was still busy watching the dark sky, few things racing inside her mind. "Maki… What if we meet again? Will you point our weapon at us?" The ginger then walked toward the commander's cabin and took her soaked coat off before sitting on a chair. She grabbed the locket attached on her neck and opened it to reveal the photo of two young girls – in their 8s and 9s smiling at the camera while making sign of peace with their hands. The taller one had shoulder length crimson hair and violet eyes while the other one was ginger and had baby blue eyes. The two were hugging each other on top of a grassy hill, the clear emerald seas as part of the background.

Honoka smiled at the picture before closing it and looked at the ceiling. She soon realized that her head was in pain and that was only worsened as she sneezed. Realizing that her condition weren't that good, the captain of Otonokizaka stripped of her current attire and changed into a baggy white shirt and dark mini short before laying flat on the bed. She didn't wrap the cover around herself, but just hugged a pillow tight in her arm and fell asleep not long after.

[-x-x-x-]

It was a hot summer day and the young girls at the remote island of µ's were waiting for their mothers to return from their raid. True enough, it was a pirate's island and small where few cabanas were built. It was a grassy island and the volcano at the middle of it was totally asleep and wasn't about to wake up again anytime soon. Overall, they lived in peace… if people don't consider the life piracy as peaceful.

Six girls around 7 to 9 were sitting at the seaside while watching the horizon. Sure enough, the total number of resident of the island was of these six girls and their mothers that make it 12 people living there and they were happy as they were. The adults only went on raid when necessary and the older among the group have to take the lead when they were gone.

The short ginger that had yellow pair of eyes was happily playing with the water, not far from the others since they weren't supposed to be too apart from each other. Alongside her was her twin sister who had honey-blond hair and violet eyes. The two of them were clad in one-piece swimsuit that their mother found while raiding an exploration ship few months earlier.

Sitting on the warm sand were two girls. The one with ash-gray hair was braiding her sister's hair while the bluenette was happily enjoying the feeling of Kotori's fingers taking her hair and doing her magic. Standing next to them was the oldest girl of the group, even though she had the tiniest figure among the small group. She had long raven hair and a pair of crimson ruby eyes and her role was to have an eye on her younger sisters.

True enough, they were not all sisters in blood, but since their parents were very close friends, they always considered themselves like sisters. Some of them though are really related like Rin and Hanayo who were both born by Ms Koizumi's tummy, just like Ms Minami gave birth to Kotori and Umi while Nico and Honoka were slightly different. The ravenette was born from Ms Yazawa and said woman made Ms Kousaka pregnant few years later. That was when the energetic ginger was born. Talking about Honoka, she was busy collecting shells while clad in an orange one-piece swimsuit.

After another hour under the blazing sun, a silhouette could be seen at the horizon and the daughters of Pirates cheered as they recognized its Jolly Roger. "It's Mama! Mama is back!" Rin cheered.

As the ship came closer, they could see six figures standing on the large ship's bridge while waving at them. That was the clue and the six girls turned back toward the sandy beach and waited until the massive construction anchored. The women immediately jumped out of the ship and hugged their daughters – the woman with dark-red hair and teal eyes going for Nico, the raven-haired tall woman with ruby eyes lifting Honoka in her shoulder, the blue-haired woman patting Kotori's head, the ash-haired woman with ember eyes smiling at Umi since the young girl wasn't very found of direct body contact.

The two remaining women, much to the others' surprise were the last to descend from the ship as they took a stair to go down, mostly because Ms Hoshizora was carrying a young red-haired girl in bridal style. The others walked near her to have a closer look at the sleeping beauty and couldn't help but to comment. "Wow! She's so cute?" The energetic ginger smiled and poked her face.

The red-head blinked from the impact and opened her pair of violet eyes… only to let go of a very pitchy scream later. The others had to cover their ears due to the young girl's powerful scream. Talking about which, she took the opportunity to escape from Ms Hoshizora and ran to the side. "W-who are you people? Where are Mama and Mom? And where are we?"

The other slowly removed their hands that were covering their ears and looked at her. The girls were confused as to why their mothers brought someone into their island. That was the first time such thing ever happened and both looked at their mothers for an answer. "Mama?"

The six older women looked down with guilt written all over their faces. The atmosphere became heavy and gloomy as the youngest of the group became confused since it was the first time the older women were acting like that. "Mama, is something the matter?" Nico, being the most mature of them decided to shake Ms Yazawa.

"The truth is…" Ms Koizumi started, still averting eyes from the seven girls. "The raid didn't go as well as planed."

"Well…" Ms Kousaka continued. "It so happened that they were armed and as we were about to abort the mission, they started chasing after us and ended up engaging against each other."

The raven-haired woman gritted her teeth as she stood up, but still refused to make direct eye contact with anyone. "And like the proud Pirates we are, we fought without holding back… but it was soon revealed that none of them had any experience in using weapon…"

"And it ended up as a massacre…" Ms Hoshizora finished. "We realized it too late…"

"But then there was a girl sleeping in the commander's cabin." The woman with wavy blue hair and golden pupils continued as she started leading the way toward their cabanas. Maki was slightly confused, but decided to follow them. They arrived in front of one of the residence and took an open shower to get rid of the sand and salt on their clothes. Even the foreign red-head agreed since she didn't feel comfortable with her sticky soaked dress.

The thirteen of them then got inside one of the buildings and changed into more casual clothes and sat around at the living room. There was an awkward silence until the red-head finally decided to speak once again. "So…" She looked down. "Mama and Mom are gone?" There was no response.

Fortunately for them, Maki was a person of the mind and was very clever and somehow managed to get over it. The Pirates, feeling guilty decided to adopt her and took care of her as if she was one of them. They eventually trained her to become one of them and took profit of the fact that Hanayo and Rin didn't remember these events as to hide the real truth to them.

The red-head somehow managed to become very close with the other girls and ended up smiling at the end… even if deep inside, she was still saddened by her parents' fate. Several years later though, Honoka and her became a lot closer… closer than she ever thought would have been possible. It all started with the childhood friend always staying together, then Maki caught in the rain while hunting at the top of the hill and the ginger saving her. They were caught in the middle of a storm and had to take refuge in a cave… They eventually talked a lot about their passion and their point of view in life and it ended up with the older girl doing a confession and a promise.

"I really like you, Maki! You're cute and very interesting, especially when you talk about things you like. Also, I really enjoy spending time with you. You've taught me a lot until now and I cherish them all."

The red-head's face reddened at these words. The two of them were wrapped in a blanket inside the cave, a fire lit in front of them while the storm was ragging outside. "B-but h-how could you say that? W-we are still 13, should I remind you."

"Yeah, I know that!" The ginger rested her head on the younger girl's shoulder. "In that case, let us make a promise!"

"A promise?"

Honoka lifted her head so that a pair of baby blue eyes met up with amethyst ones. The red on Maki's face deepened as the shorter girl leaned closer until their forehead met. "…A promise that someday, we will get married and sail at the horizon, looking for treasures and mysteries that are yet to be discovered…" She closed her eyes, and so did her best friend. "Even if we fall apart, we will always find our way back toward each other… and to be together until death do us part when we reunite again."

The two reopened their eyes, the blush on Maki's face has disappeared and they stared once again at each other's eyes. The red-head could have sworn she saw the shorter girl's eyes sparkle and smiled at that. "Yes, I promise!"

"Really?" The two separated, but only of few centimeters. "I'm so glad! One day, we will leave this live of Piracy behind and start everything anew as explorer of this world. I know that I am not very good in navigation, but I will try my best and the two of us alone will discover what's hidden behind the horizon."

The red-head smiled once again at these beautiful words. "You're really a weird one…" The two giggled at that statement and then stared once again at each other's eyes, until Maki leaned closer and brought their lips together. They parted after few seconds, their faced beet red. "T-take this as a mark of my honesty… You better respect your promise of leaving this life behind, I say."

Honoka's lips curled into a huge smile and she jumped at the red-head to take her in a bone-crushing hug. "Ow, thank you, Maki! I will do my best!"

[-x-x-x-]

"Honoka… Honoka…"

A pair of baby blue eyes slowly opened as a gentle voice was calling for her. While the owner's vision focused on the person who woke her up, she realized it was Hanayo who was in panic. Honoka understood and quickly jumped from the bed and grabbed her – now dry – outfit.

"We're under attack!" The young brunette said as the commander was busy changing. "It is Tsubasa leading a militia fleet. They appeared all of a sudden from the south."

"Fools!" The captain put her oversized coat on and walked out of the cabin to be greeted by a torrential rain and the sound of multiple canon firing. "Let's teach them what it cost to attack the µ's ship."

Not long after, everyone on the dark ship ran into their post and started countering fire with the cannons. The crew responsible for navigation too regained their respective post and made some maneuvers and ultimately smashing their huge ship against the rebels.

Their opponents were led by three girls—militia—who were fighting pirates who happened to travel in the surrounding. They were rather popular and well-known bounty hunters and many fear them… That however was still not enough to intimidate the crew of Otonokizaka.

As the two navires collided, the girls from both side readying their weapons—guns, sabers, axes, spears and knives—and just waited for their captain to give orders. Honoka stepped in the middle. "Tsubasa, Anju and Erena I presume…"

The brunette who was clad in a dark blue suit and white skirt nodded. "We are just common citizens, but we can't stand such barbarism against the weak."

The girl with orange hair who was standing beside her and who was clad in the same attire as the captain grabbed her long barrel riffle. "We have decided to take the arms and fight the scum like you who are abusing the weak. You might have some targets that you think are good, but we can't allow our beloved town to be destroyed."

"We were never planning on doing such thing." Umi stepped beside her captain. She was still busy commanding the cannons few minutes prior and was finally able to move at the front. Her job was to convince the opponents to surrender without any loss. "We are just here to resupply and will leave as if we were never there in the first place."

"You piss me!" The last girl who was co-captain of the A-RISE ship—who had long dark red hair but wore a white sailor shirt as a top for her attire—pointed her sword at the µ's captain. "I'm done with talking!"

And with that, gunfire, clash of iron and splashing blood were the only things that happened on the two ships.

[-x-x-x-]

A pair of emerald green eyes slowly opened lazily as its owner was regaining conscious. They however got wide quickly as Tsubasa realized that it was day—noon, judging by the sun that was on top of their head—and that she was on a ship she didn't recognize. Alongside her two co-commanders, she was bound by rope and was attached to a pillar in the middle of the ship. Erena and Anju were still unconscious.

A couple of young girls wearing µ's attire saw her awake and walked in her direction. She gritted her teeth. "Damn! So, we lost the engagement and were captured." She looked down as her eyes started to tremble. "Sorry, Mother, everyone… I wasn't strong enough to protect you all."

The girl with past-ear orange hair scanned Tsubasa from every angle and then smiled innocently. "Hello!"

That was enough to wake the two former commanders of A-RISE and the soon started scanning the area. "W-where are we?"

The pirate girl with shoulder-length brown hair just smiled. "You are aboard the Otonokizaka." The three militia turned to her with horror and Hanayo quickly continued to explain. "The battle yesterday didn't end well as the storm became stronger and at the end drifted both ship away. The three of you ended up with us and Honoka has decided to make you our prisoners."

"Damn!" Erena cursed under her breath before lifting her head as Rin untied the rope that was binding them. "What are you doing?"

The reply came into a huge smile from the cat-like girl. "Honoka said that it will not benefit anyone to have prisoners, so Rin is freeing you all. Honoka said too that she is willing to let you aboard until we arrive at the next port."

"But we're enemies!" Anju stepped forward as she was now freed from the ropes. "You are pirates and we are bounty hunters."

"It's no problem!" Hanayo just beamed another smile. "Honoka might not look like it, but she is a very kind person…and so are Umi and Niko." She then slightly looked down as her smile fell. "They are just scared to loose something dear to them once again." The brunette lifted her head and gave a gentle smile as to comfort the three former A-RISE. "That's why they are trying to look tough and emotionless, but deep inside, they are good people. To be honest, no one in Otonokizaka has ever killed anyone. We always heal our opponents after each battle and send them away. After all, they have family who cares about them, so it would be unfair if we took something that was important to them."

These words were enough to calm the three hunters. "Miss Hanayo…" Tsubasa felt a sentiment of guilt as a single tear ran on the other brunette's cheek. She reached her hand forward and whipped it. "We got it! In other words, you are not pirates who destroy and steal for wealth and power."

"That's right!" The pirate with short hair hugged her sister by the side. "Our Mothers were pirates before us and we were wanted dead since our childhood. Umi, Niko and Honoka have decided to build our band to allow the youngers like Hanayo, Kotori and Rin to live by protecting each others and adventuring on the unseen lands behind the mountains and the islands at the horizon."

Anju smiled at the words. She turned to Erena, who nodded at her, and then the two of them turned to their leader. The brunette understood what her friends wanted. "We know that the actual government is ruled by corruption. That's why the number of pirates sailing the sea are numerous. Our objective by building A-RISE was to defeat them and bring peace back on our beloved land…" She took a breath before eying at the ginger, a bluenette and a ravenette who were walking in their direction. "But now, we understand that there are other people who have the same objectives as us."

"Then, does that mean you are going to sign a non-aggression pact?" Umi asked while her lips curled into a smile.

"It is more like we are going to join us!" Erena continue while looking straight at Honoka.

The ginger folded her arms for a couple of minutes. Cold sweat ran on Tsubasa's forehead. She was intimidating. After what seemed like hours, Honoka finally unfolded her arms and for the first time smiled while offering a hand to shake. "It's all right! Welcome to the Otonokizaka! Our objectives are to sail freely on the world while following our dreams. We do not abuse the weak. We do not seek for more than what we can take. We always pay for what we take on each town and our main target is to bring peace back on the world."

Tsubasa smiled and accepted the offer. "Let us do our best!" Her smile then fell. "But just so I warn you. If you ever break any of our rules, Anju, Erena and me are going to kill you. Understand?"

Niko and Honoka just giggled at that comment. "All right! I will keep that in mind." The raven-haired girl replied before turning on her heels and started walking away, soon followed by Rin and Hanayo.

The five remaining girls then walked at the dock to discuss more matters like chores and the three newbie were given new uniforms. They then spent the afternoon talking to the other crew members and cleaning the dock. Everyone in Otonokizaka were nice girls. Anju smiled to herself as they were having a collective diner on a huge made-up table in the middle of the ship to celebrate their new members.

[-x-x-x-]

I don't know if this should be a one-shot or a multi-chapter story…

Also, nothing related to it, I was banned from washing the dishes…