As night fell on his first day upon K. Rool's Galleon, the raptor gazed up at the stars with arms throbbing slightly.  They felt dead and heavy from the swabbing, as he sighed wearily.  He could barely see the deck itself in the dim light of the ship's various lanterns, swinging from mast hooks in sync with the ship, as well as the internal lights from the captain's room and down below.  Thankfully, he was soon relieved by one of the guards striding up to him, who had the build of a rugby player.
	"Alrigh', you did good fer yer first day Rex, you can go an' git sum sleep."
	"Ohhhhhh god, thank you."
He replied to this wearily as he put his bucket and mop down, with arms hanging floppily at his sides, giggling slightly from such.
	"Wow, you knew my nickname pretty quick."
	"Ship may be big but word travels fast round 'ere, keep that in mind.  Now go on, piss off an' sleep."
Thankful to be relieved of his work for sleep, he suddenly remembered himself to ask:
	"Uhm...where do I sleep exactly?"
	"Oh that...shit, forgot to tell ya...uhhh...oi, Kruz, yer off duty as well, go show Rex where we all sleep."
A light-brown slender Kremling with a hook for his left hand came down from the rigging, nodding cheerfully as he took James' hand towards the hold with his remaining one, introducing himself quickly.  As they traversed the decks, which became slowly more and more familiar to the raptor, he asked Kruz:
	"So...what happened to your hand man?"
The croc replied in a swarthy accent.
	"Ehh, got tore off during a storm an' it got caught in the rigging, ripped straight off mah wrist."
	"Eeeesh.  I broke my arm once when I slammed into a wall."
	"Ooohohoho, well I dunno what doctor you went to but I wouldn't know."
	"Thanks.  So...who exactly are these primates that the captain hates so much?"
	"You don' know?  Wow you are from far away arentcha?  Those Kongs are famous around here, always keeping us off their stupid island, hogging it for themselves."
	"Pffft, assholes."
	"I know, seriously, they think it's only for themselves, the whole family."
	"So what, it's some kind of private island you want?"
	"Totally, an' more than that, I hear they got a secret treasure hoard filling a whole cave, but we're gonna clean it alllll out."
	"Hahahahaaaaa, awwww I bet they'll be all whining about it huh?"
	"Oh you bet, the big 'un of the lot'll be soooo pissed."
James made a small monkey dance and put on a stupid voice especially.
	"Ooooh lookit me ahma monkey, we got thumbs first to shove up our asses, hooray for us!"
	"Ha ha ha ha, exactly!"

Eventually the two reached the crew's quarters, where rows upon rows of cots were placed.  It wasn't even the only area where the quarters were, but James was surprised to see that each Kremling had their own special compartment and bed for personal use.  And not even hammocks, but proper bunk beds.  He lowered his voice to not disturb any of the off-duty crew, as Kruz walked him down the aisle of cots to find an empty bed for him.
	"Wow..."
	"Never seen a place like this before, Rex?"
	"Well I expected just rows of hammocks, not your own little spaces and beds, damn I'm gonna like being a Kremling."
	"Hehehe, good.  Ohhh yeah, there's even better news for ya."
	"Hmm?"
	"The one under me's empty, so it's all yours."
	"Oooh nice...was there a guy before me who owned it?"
	"Yeah but he's dead now, so hey nobody else using it."
	"Ahhh...kay."
Despite being not so certain about sleeping in a bed once owned by someone now dead, he gently climbed into it, ducking under the above bunk.  As he bent over, he was given a bold smack to his butt, which made him gasp and hold himself from yelping.
	"H-hey!"
	"Hehehe, sorry, couldn' resist."
	"Cheeky bastard..."
The raptor crawled in eagerly with tired arms as Kruz climbed into the one above him, giving another slower pat to the rump, keeping his hand upon James more firmly.
	"You uh...tryin' to tell me something, Kruz?"
	"Oh...just admiring the view."
	"You...wanna see more of it?"
	"Mmmmm whatchu implyin'?"
	"Uh...n-not sure if I can ask."
	"If you're not sure, I won't make ya."
	"Well we did just meet and all...lemme get my bearings first huh?"
	"Alrigh'.  Night Rex."
As his bunkmate went to sleep, James slept off into his new bed, with ideas coming to his head.  A ship, full of only males, all of whom were scaled like him, practically understanding each other's needs perhaps, and one of them willingly up and rubs his pert lean rump.  It was natural, hell statistically expected that at least one or two of them would prefer males from either loneliness or natural preference.

James was not a raptor of restraint.  He was willing to be with mostly anyone sexually.  But he felt so new to the crew that he wasn't sure if he could even be part of anyone in such a way yet.  Something was holding him back of late in that aspect.  In his younger days he was an active young rogue on both sides of the field, moreso with males due to how much easier it was for two males to connect, compared to a man and a woman.
Then there was the fact that he was more picky about ladies than he was with men.  He preferred his girls older certainly, to be wiser, he wanted them to lead him in an odd sort of passive dominance.  He blamed it on Sarah, sighing and ignoring anymore of those issues for the next day, deciding with more confidence what he would do with Kruz, at least.
Morning came with a clanging of pots and pans, startling everyone to get up as a voice screamed through the corridors.
	"UP YOU FUCKERS, COME ON, TIME TO GO TO WORK FOR ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL FUCKIN' MORNING!"
The crew scrambled out of their beds with clothes all ready, James heading out with the rest of the crew for his duties.  Once again he was ordered to swab the decks, groaning to himself on the fact he had to do it again.  Kruz had passed by him in the halls with a friendly hello, already warming up to the intriguingly different raptor, and all James could do was enjoy the sea breeze as he kept his cleaning.  He was slowly regressing into the life of a seaman, with this sort of manual labour a little more exciting than something as mundane as farmwork.
Soon lunchtime had come, and he searched out for Kruz to sit with who waved at him with a shiny hook hand.  He was surprised to see that for pirates, they had quite a mixed staple diet of cheese, biscuits, bananas and salty meat.  Seeing the fruit, one of the crewmates near him remarked:
	"Hey look, we DO know about fruit, how 'bout that?!"
James could only smirk and continue talking with Kruz, asking him:
	"So how did you end up here then?"
	"Ohhh like anyone else, wanted to see the world, get away from homelife.  Everyone got a story here of how they joined up.  Klaus over there lost his family to a pirate attack an' been on a quest for vengeance ever since."
	"Damn, I can sympathise with that...uh wait why is he WITH pirates?"
	"Ehh...damn I never thought that, that is a li'l weird.  Anyways, there's him with his problems, yet Konner over there had a pretty good life at home and he just got really damn bored of his life, wanted to do somethin' exciting."
	"Ahhh huh."
	"Kreak with the leg-springs there always felt useless havin' been in a wheelchair most his life, but we offered him a li'l something more excitin' and dangerous, and lookit him now.  Part of the crew like anyone else an' just as useful!"
	"Hah, awesome!"
	"An' me...well, bad family life made me leave."
	"How bad?"
	"Ehhh, abusive, assholes the rest of 'em, was the family bitch, just saw the ship and left one night with everythin' I had."
	"Hah...yanno, I did the same thing."
	"Yeah?"
	"Well my foster family weren't bad but, rumours flew around about them not being fit to keep me.  Asshole neighbours basically.  Social services came round, I had enough of being pushed around so I slash one of 'em in the legs and ran to the docks."
	"Hah, nice.  Pretty good to live yer life free ain' it?"
	"Hehehe, yeah...course I had another home afterwards I'm trying to get back to."
	"Oh?"
	"Mmhmm...kinda got lost, thrown away elsewhere, ended up here after getting lost."
	"Yeah, we found ya on a buncha rocks in the middle of the ocean sunbathin' like a snake, hadya picked up.  Kinda glad we did."
	"Awww thanks.  So...I was thinkin' about last night."
	"Yeaaaah?"
	"...well...I like you, yer a nice guy and-"
	"Just say yes or no, we don' beat around the bush here."
	"Well...yes then."
	"Hah, sweet, in our bunks or...?"
	"R-really?  But...what about anyone sleeping or-"
	"Pfft nobody'll bother."
James was not entirely sure what Kruz meant, cocking his head to one side in the midst of his biscuit nomming.
	"Trust me, we'll be fine.  Lot more nicer than over a barrel right?"
	"...ehh, true enough.  Say...uhhh...oh what the hell, tonight then?"

After lunch, they returned to their duties, with James cleaning the deck and Kruz handling the rigging.  He would look up now and again to try and see his bunkmate high above, managing to lash together ropes with surprising dexterity in one hand and one hook together.  He knotted with finesse, clearly having done this for years.  The raptor watched the brown kremling swing back and forth across the masts, testing the rigidity of the ropes, making sure that they were not too tight to snap, but not too loose to slacken the sails either.
Clearly this entire ship's gotta be run well, thought James.
He knew that a lot of work was involved in running a galleon but he couldn't even imagine this much literal activity being involved.  He never saw anybody on break, maybe talking a little to another crewmate but never actually stopping.  Whether it was cleaning the cannons, swabbing the deck, changing the lanterns, handling the rigging, tying down crates, or carrying supplies back and forth from below deck to above.  He wondered how much more activity was involved down below deck.
He was also told that the crew was only fed two meals per day, or one if supplies were low, with portions evened out between who had the most enduring work compared to others.  Those like James who were merely mopping floors had the least portions, something that would be more suitable to lunch but enough to keep him full.  Others such as the heavy lifters of supplies had the largest meals, with large steaks and such, full of protein to keep their strength.

Sometimes James would see the captain himself merrily greeting his crew members, always with a smile, his eyes cheery yet disturbing, and yet he was never able to trust that bloodshot expression.  He was tempted to ask somebody, but it never occurred to him enough to do so when he would get distracted with his chores.  K. Rool even once came up to him with a hearty pat on the back, and complimented his work ethic for someone so new.
James also noted that the captain never ate with his crew, no doubt having his own delicious meals in private.  The funny thing was, he also never saw the bodyguards out either, no doubt also guarding him with their own foods.  He also saw during those two meals that the captain would invite a possibly lucky crew member to dine with him.  Kruz mentioned that this always happened around lunch time, and that it was always for private business.  Usually for such business they would meet with the first mate, a seasoned dark-green corsair with a massive scar across his chest, and crooked teeth who went by the name of Krook, naturally.
Maybe the captain's just that nice a guy, he thought.
He was surprised to see that whatever private business it was, the crew member would leave with a vigorous smile upon his snout.  He was starting to think that maybe he'd had the wrong impression about K. Rool.  Perhaps he was a father to his men, a caring and compassionate leader who would always listen to anyone's problems.
Then came his time to sleep, and with his mop and bucket placed down, he joined Kruz in heading down below deck for their private interlude.  Even though he realised that there were perhaps 300 or so kremlings on this ship, he was confident...sort of.  They made their way to the bunks, as James gently climbed into Kruz's bunk, lying underneath the brown crocodile before starting to lick across his neck and chest slowly.
Kruz did the same, soft throaty sighs emanating from him as the licks turned into kisses, a friendly warmth coming from each other.  James slid his hands along his bunkmate's back, restraining his moans, slowly groping at the kremling ass, pushing him down against his crotch to make them grind hardening bulges against each other.  Eventually they slipped their slacks down together, kicking them carefully off each other as James whispered:
	"Sure we won't get caught?"
	"No one'll mind, believe me."

Taking that enough as permission to continue, the raptor held Kruz closer and lapped hungrily at the bare pectorals, murring as he rubbed his snout upwards to the croc's.  They rubbed both snouts together, as well as their arousals which grinded hard against each other, both of them with ball-less feral cocks like true reptiles.  Kruz however noted the strange anatomy of his new friend, the cock fully external with a foreskin-like sheath, yet with presumably the rest of his genitals internal.  The kremling's dick had sprouted from a slit, a thick upwards-curving member with a large base, as if a gourd without handles had been stuffed into a hole.
	"Huh...never seen a dick like that before," said Kruz.
	"Mmmm just the way I am...you don't mind right?"
	"Hehehe, you got no balls, that says reptile to me man."
	"Hehe, balls, we don't need 'em...overrated anyway, right?"
	"Mmmm totally..."
The two began to kiss deeply, suckling each other's tongues with a voracious lust while trying not to moan, an exercise in vocal restraint but without physical limit.  Their cocks grinded harder together, precum pulsing out as their tongues slurped at the insides of their cheeks.  The raptor soon broke the kiss to lap at Kruz's neck, and suckle the throat causing him to shudder, before the kremling said:
	"Come on...suck my dick..."
Gladly doing so, Kruz laid back a bit on the bed for the newcomer to suckle the 7-inch flesh with all his lust, James trying not to moan despite how much he needed to be in the company of a male again.  As he tasted the precum starting to ooze from the Kremling, his head was pushed down dominantly.
	"Thassit you bitch suck it good, wanna get it all wet for yer ass."
Gasping at the thought of being dominated upon, James made sure to slide all the way down and up again to make it fully wet, deepthroating quite well with the help of a snout.  He could hear Kruz trying to not pant heavily from the eager sucking.

Soon James slid the cock from his mouth and tightly turned around in the bunkspace, showing his willing tailhole to Kruz.  With a growl of lust, the bunkate noted how tight it was, and slickened up one or two fingers before tenderly pushing them inside the raptor's rear.  James bit his lip in trying not to moan, tail fully raised to let himself be fingerfucked more widely, realising that it'd been quite some time since he'd had this happen to him.
	"Ooohh...yer a tight 'un aintcha?" murmured Kruz.
	"Mmhmm...h-h-h-hhhhh..."
	"Hehe...not for long..."
Pushing a second finger inside to widen him even more, the kremling smirked at his bunkmate trying not to moan.  Grabbing the sheets hard and panting, begging to be taken good, looking behind himself with a sweet pouting face for being teased as the raptor's cock dripping underneath himself.  Soon Kruz felt he had widened him enough, and began to mount him doggy style, slowly penetrating the raptor who made a strangled gasp of bliss.  As he felt the hot croc meat screw him juicily, deep whispers of dominating words given to him.
	"Yeah...you love that dontcha?"
	"A-ah...god I missed this...."
	"Hehehe, you been beggin' fer it a long time, bitch."
Slowly but surely, Kruz was hilting him over a good length of time.  James could feel every inch of that veiny kremling dick spread him a little bit more from its thickness, sliding out with every thrust to push another inch inside.  The kremling savoured the time it took to hilt the raptor at last, hearing that sweet gasp as James closed his eyes, to lose himself to the feeling of being fucked to the hilt.
Kruz soon began to use his entire length, the two of them trying not to make too much movement in case of arousing suspicion, as well as keeping their breathing to a minimum.  The kremling bent over his new friend, kissing the brown-scaled cheek, fucking ever stronger to see James sneer and gasp silently in bliss.
	"You wan' more?"
	"Y-yes...please...h-harder..."
	"Mmmmm, you asked for it."

And with that, he thrust more strongly inside, the raptor laying his head on the sheets, biting his lip more strongly as both of their precum spewed out onto the bed.  He raised his ass for better penetration.  In the darkness of the cabins, James imagined the feeling of being watched, a strangely strong feeling of someone observing them, his eyes opening suddenly to try and see in the dark.  Had they been found out?  Was their little fun about to be interrupted?
He had no idea what the crew thought on such actions, yet the possible danger made it all the more exciting and arousing, loving the feel of being taken for pleasure.  His eyes closed as he embraced his lust, smiling with the tiniest of whimpers as Kruz suddenly made a snarling gasp, pumping the raptor rump full of hot croc cum.  He grabbed James by the chest, his hook hand pushing one of James' arms down.
The two of them sighed happily together, until Kruz noticed that James had not climaxed yet, so he grabbed the raptor cock and jerked him off against his will.  James tried to resist and squirm, wriggling underneath the croc, gasping and not knowing where to put his hands as he struggled to not squeal before he shuddered out his orgasm against the sheets.  He milked the cock in his ass more by doing so, with tightening muscular reflex.
	"Ohhhhh f-fuck, you bastard..."
	"Hehehe, only fair to you.  Sleep tight, boy."
The raptor left the bed of his bunkmate to go under to his own bed, sleeping off the weakened arms and slightly stinging tailhole.  He was now fully relaxed as he wriggled under the sheets, the feeling of being watched now gone, but still making him wonder.  Thankfully he was too tired to care.

The next morning, James woke up with a fresh-hearted smile, while Kruz followed behind him.  As the crew dispersed through various ways, the two headed throughout the various deck levels waving to various crewmen about their daily chores.  A few were even returning to bed from their nightly duties, the croc giving the raptor a grope of the ass secretly, making James turn around a little panicked.
	"Wh-what the-don't do thaaat."
	"Hehehe, what?  Afraid of being caught?"
Kruz merely grinned and shrugged nonchalantly.
	"Well I don't want rumours flying about, I dunno what they'll do to me."
	"Oh I know what they'd do, hehehe...trust me, yer gonna be fine.  I been here longer than you."
	"Yeah?  How old are ya?"
	"About thirty, you?"
	"Twenty-six."
	"Ooooh I was right to call ya boy last night eh?"
	"A-a-aaah doooon't!"
James blushed heavily which made Kruz laugh and pinch his cheek, the raptor trying to push him away awkwardly until they were bumped from behind by a huge grey Kremling.  He was slightly less muscular than K. Rool's bodyguards, but nevertheless intimidating with the stench of gunpowder around him.  He grinned at the raptor and walked past them.
	"Wh-...who was that guy?"
	"Oh that's Kegger, he's a wild one."
	"Kegger?  Kind of a weird name."
	"Well he's like a powder keg.  Built like one, smells like one, and as sensitive as one so watch yer words around him."
	"Alright...uhhh what are we gonna do?"
	"Back to swabbing upstairs of course!  Come on!"
Taking Kruz's lead, James ran with him to the upper deck, embracing the salty morning air once again where they were greeted by Krow, Kruz's chief.
	"Ahhh you two, glad you found yer way up 'ere again.  Rex, we 'ad some mildew over at the bow so deal with it."
	"Yes sir."
	"Kruz, the mizzenmast's buggered up again with the knots, you 'andle that."
	"Yessir!"

They parted ways as James headed towards the front of the ship, given his mop and bucket to swab away with as he tried to forget the time and let himself be lost in his work.  He knew from experience it was the only way you could work, by not thinking of anything else, being almost absent-minded like a robot, the body merely following an unconscious command.
He was having a problem maintaining this however, when he would be given several grunts of interest and pats on the ass by other crew members, which at first he felt weirded out by.  He understood one guy, fair enough, but five of them at least were giving him the lustful eye and he turned more nervous, trying to scrub the mildew away with all of his strength.  The most intimidating offer came from one of the gunners.  A brown-scaled brute with a big yellow gut, wearing a bandolier of ammo around his waist as well as a military helmet, who gave him the offer of a poker game.
James knew quite clearly that there would be no cards involved in this, and he did his best to refuse politely.  The clear look of nervousness in his eyes made the crew understand his disposition, and somehow not bother him anymore.  He didn't want to assume.  Maybe it was a navy thing, maybe he was just not sure about all the lingo, but he didn't want to take any chances.
Days would pass with his time with the crew, and offers became less numerous but still regular enough that he would worry, at least once a day.  He felt like he was in some sort of internet chatroom, constantly getting hit on.  But was it really such a thing?  Or was he being given a chance to learn a new trade?  Maybe they saw potential in him to be something more than a seaman, perhaps a gunner or rigger.  He wasn't sure to ask, and instead he spent the next several days keeping close to Kruz, sitting beside him at a sunset-laden dinner.
The ship gently rocked back and forth as they stared upon the sunset, a glimmering orange hue being laid upon the galleon, darkened seas slowly caressing the hull.  Faint amber rays slanted through the portholes of the ship, bathing both James and Kruz.

	"How's your first week going Rex?" asked the kremling.
	"Ahhhh not bad.  I wonder when I'm gonna stop swabbing decks though."
	"Heheh, well usually takes a month on this ship, but it all depends on where they think you'll fit.  We got a lotta jobs an' all to deal with, an' we wanna make sure that if yer given a new position, then you can actually do it.  Sure you look like you'd be good at riggin', hell I think you'd be great for it."
	"Really?"
	"Oh yeah, that figure of yours is perfect for swinging around on the masts.  But do you have the reflexes, and more importantly, can ya tie knots?"
	"Ahhh...well I never really done that before so-"
	"I'll teach ya then!"
	"R-really?"
	"Yeah!"
	"...uh...you sure you're the best at teaching me how to tie knots?"
James eyed the hook hand cautiously, which made his friend smirk.
	"Haha...listen, if I can tie 'em with just one hand, imagine how good you'll be with knots when I teach you to do 'em with BOTH of yer hands."
	"...aaaah good point.  So when ya wanna do that?"
	"Ahhh we can have a shot at it before we go to bed tonight, quiet place in a corner to use some rope and-"
At this point they were interrupted by a lean rigging kremling coming up to ask James something.
	"Hey uh...sorry, but wuz wonderin' if you wanna come somewhere quiet for a li'l...breakin' in?"
	"Ahhhh...thanks but Kruz here's gonna teach me how to handle the ropes tonight."
	"Oooh...lucky you, I'll catch ya later then."
With that, the rigger walked off with a smirk and the raptor just shook his head in confusion.
	"Th-...seriously, that's like...the fifteenth person to ask me to do something with them!"
	"And...you're complainin' why?"
	"Well...okay, I just don't wanna make any assumptions but I NEED to ask you this."
	"Shoot."
	"........is everyone here gay?"
Kruz just smirked widely in response to the question.  James was taken aback, eyes widening back as he replied:

	"....you're kidding."
	"Wellllll I wouldn't say EVERYONE is, we got a few guys who aren't interested, I think at least two of 'em got like no sex drive at all but...most of us are pretty eager."
	"You gotta be kidding."
	"Can't make it up if I tried."
	"EVERYONE?"
	"Almost everyone.  Hey it's like three-hundred of us guys on a ship alone, what you think would happen?"
	"Even K. Rool's bodyguards?"
	"ESPECIALLY K. Rool's bodyguards."
	"And the captain himself?"
	"Well...you could go ask him, but I wouldn' dare ask him meself.  He'd be interested in you, I bet he was at the sight of you."
	"...okay I need to ask him this."
	"Woah woah woah, you don't get to see the captain.  The captain sees you."
	"Don't give me that wizard shit, I wanna ask him about this whole...situation."
	"Okay...what you gotta do is make an appointment with his first mate, he'll be done with his dinner soon, you can go up deck and wait for him at the captain's door, then ask for an appointment."
	"Why can't I just go in?"
	"...you HAVE met our captain right?  You don' wanna be rude to him, an' he's a very busy guy."
	"Uhhhh...okay."
With that, James walked up to above deck and waited beside the door for the first mate, who exited several minutes later looking rather satisfied, before staring down at James.  Krook was quite intimidating for a first mate, what with his chest scar and being one of the tallest of the crew, almost as tall as K. Rool himself at 7 feet standing.  He sneered down at James slightly, as if he'd just caught a strange scent.
	"Can I help ye, swabber?"
	"I need to see the captain, can I make an appointment please?"
	"Whassit about?  Business or pleasure?"
	"What?  Uhm...business, I need to ask on...stuff about the crew."
	"Alrigh'."
Krook pulled out a small logbook from his pants pocket and jotted down several notes with a grimy pencil, before he saw a suitable spot.
	"Ah here you go, early morning tomorrow before you start workin', you can speak with him then."
	"Thank you sir."
With that he did the rest of his duties before heading to bed immediately to sleep earlier, informing Kruz that he had an appointment with the captain tomorrow, and as such had to cancel his training with knots.  Kruz understood with a wink and a pat to the butt before they slept.