Pirates vs. Ninjas

A short fiction story for you:
The dreaded pirate ship Poseiden's Rage discovers a lush island while racing to the east to avoid the Dutch India Trade Company. The crew decide to tie off the ship and explore this unkown landmass, their minds bent on making a decent meal of the local wildlife and having a good rest.
The first jolly boat to land on the island contains the quartermaster, first mate, boatswain and gunner, their boots touching soft, white sand for the first time in ages. The bucaneers laugh and shout about their fortunes, unaware of a hidden terror watching them in the forests beyond the beach. The quartermaster leads his three shipmates into the woods in search of food, all the while making merry of their surroundings. They can smell dropping of animals, meaning that there is food nearby. They draw their razor-sharp cutlasses and hack and slash at the long, thin trees, shredding them like paper.
Suddenly, a glint of silver rushes past the quartermaster, first mate and gunner, making a quite whoosh sound as it passes. The three turn to see the boatswain, his eyes wide with terror, collapse backwards with a palm-sized silver star protruding from his chest. The metal star has pierced his heart. Blood flows from his wound, staining his white shirt. His death takes only seconds.
The pirates turn to face the origin of the shruiken. The quartermaster draws his flintlock pistol and quickly cocks the hammer while the first mate and gunner raise their cutlasses. Then, an explosion, like a small hand grenade, detonates in front of the first mate, engulfing him in black smoke. The quartermaster turns and hears a soft noise like a sword leaving its scabbard. The gunner reaches his arm through the dark mist and grabs the collar of the man's shirt. He pulls the first mate from the darkness to find that the man is missing his head.
The first mate's arteries spray crimson blood, covering the gunner's face. He lets out a terrified howl and turns to flee into the woods. The quartermaster orders him to hold his ground, but he stumbles into the trees. The quartermaster takes aim at the middle of his shipmate's back and fires, sending a tiny musket ball sailing through the air and into the gunner's back, severing his spinal cord and perforating his heart, killing him instantly.
The quartermaster, now alone, draws his cutlass and turns again to face where the throwing star that killed the boatswain had emerged. He has seen many battles both in and out of the water and he is a man not easily rattled. He knows that his foe is human, like himself, which means he can be killed. He knows that his foe is highly trained and skilled, but so is he. His senses become heightened. He can hear the roar of the ocean, smell the scent of the trees, see the buzzing insects flying randomly amongst the branches.
Suddenly, he hears a slight shift in the bushes to his left. He turns and brings up his cutlass just in time to parry a long, thin sword that had emerged from the underbrush, aiming for his heart. Now the quartermaster can finally see his foe, a short man clothed entirely in black including a black mask that voers his forehead, nose and mouth. His eyes are Asian and his stance is tiger-like, every muscle ready to spring, ready to kill.
The assassin aims another slash at the pirate's head, which he once again parries and answers with a quick thrust to the chest. The black menace quickly jumps back to avoid the bucaneer's attack.
They continue to fight, the clang of their weapons resounding throughout the forest. The assassin, the quartermaster noticed, is strong, fast and cunning, all traits of a deadly adversary. But ahe is also inexperienced in combat. No doubt this is his first duel with an enemy. Finally, the quartermaster manages to parry a thrust attack by the ninja and responds with a thrust of his own which pierces his foe's chest. The pirate breaths a sigh of relief as he removes his weapon from the ninja and watches as he slumps to the ground, dead.
Than, the quartermaster hears from behind him the same sound he heard when the first mate was decapitated. He cannot turn quick enough as a silver metal blade appears from his left shoulder and runs itself across his throat. The blade then disappeared from whence it came while the pirate's severed veins and arteries spray his life force across the earth. He falls to his knees and from there, to the ground. He bleeds out quickly and as he dies, he sees the feet of his killer break into a quick run, heading for the shore where he and his fallen shipmates had landed.