My friends are all pirates

"That can't be done. Their boats are about the same size as ours. If they use our kind of sails, they will capsize."

Asherid nodded, indicating that he was educated.

His understanding of sailboats used to come from various film and television works. His intuition was that the bigger the boat, the better, the more masts, the better, and the more sails, the faster.

I didn't understand such details.

As the Imagination began to ride the wind and waves, the appearance of the opposite sailboat gradually became clear.

The ship, which was zigzagging against the wind, placed itself downwind in another turn, and began to sail in the opposite direction, with the main and stern masts fully spread.

"It seems that our disguise was not successful." Henry's laughing voice resounded across the deck, "The next is the real contest, brothers, don't lose to the opponent, raise the flag!"

If the pretense fails, then stop pretending.

The sailors tore down the canvas bunkers, lowered the meaningless fancy flags representing ordinary civilian ships, and hoisted the pirate flag. The background color of the flag was black. , representing the sufferings of the Ysera people.

Flying the pirate flag is usually the first signal of a pirate ship - if you don't stop, you will be killed.

But the pursued merchant ship did not stop because of this obvious signal from the Kinkau.

The chase lasted for several hours, showing that the opposing crew had excellent sailing skills, but the speed disadvantage of a brigantine of the same size to a sloop made the distance between the Imagination and the merchant ship keep getting closer.

During the period, some of the crew of the Imagination even took the opportunity to take a nap on board to recover their strength.

When the binoculars were no longer needed and everything on the opponent's deck could be seen clearly, most of the people on the Imagination had fully recovered their physical strength and were ready for battle.

The height of the main gun was lowered, and the four cannons arranged on the port side were pushed into the gun positions. All of them had been loaded, and only one order was needed.

On the merchant ship that was overtaken, the crew gathered on the deck under the leadership of the captain. They held knives and guns and seemed not to give in.

"Fire a cannon to see their determination." Henry ordered.

The gunner lit the match, and stepped aside before the propellant could ignite.

The four-wheeled gun mounts recoiled violently amidst the roar, and the discharged shells whizzed into the sea near the merchant ship, and the splashed sea water rushed to the top of the merchant ship.

Seeing the frightened look of the merchant marine crew, everyone laughed threateningly.

But two gunshots sounded on the merchant ship soon, and the captain expressed his determination by firing guns.

At the same time, the cannons on the merchant ship also fired, but of course they were completely inaccurate.

Leaving aside the anti-personnel rotary guns and other small-caliber guns, the number of cannons on both sides is pitifully small, and there are not even ten guns in total. Nothing happened, it was all lonely.

"Lean over and get ready to board the ship." Henry shouted indifferently.

Artillery?That's impossible. The gunners on the Imagination don't have this kind of quality, and the other side is obviously half-baked. They use the cannon as a gun within the visual range, facing the dense shells and the opposite side. Make it into meat sauce, just think about this kind of thing.

In terms of self-comfort and practicality, what the pirates want is to occupy the opponent's ship as soon as possible to avoid damage to the hull and cargo.

On the Imagination, two crew members moved out the weapon box from the cabin, and everyone took out knives and guns from it, and those who were confident in their arm strength even used throwing weapons such as grenades and stink bombs.

In terms of staffing, there is actually no difference between armed merchant ships and pirate ships. Many armed merchant ships are ready-made pirate ships, but armed merchant ships of the same tonnage are still at a disadvantage when facing pirate ships.

Whether it is cannons or manpower, there are not as many serious pirate ships. After all, more space is needed to load goods, and the acceptance of combat intensity is also different.

In this case, if the captain of an armed merchant ship can mobilize his own sailors to fight against the pirate ship by force, he must either be personable at ordinary times, or have just the right amount of brutality, both of which can bring enough prestige to the sailors to overcome The fear caused by the gap between the two sides' paper data.

"Look at them, they are very nervous about their cargo." Henry held the cable with one hand, stood on the bulwark, and laughed loudly, "Brothers, since you are out at sea, you will be poisoned by food if you are not poisoned by wine. , snatch them!"

After finishing speaking, he fired first and shouted to the opposite side: "Friends! Welcome to the great channel!"

His shot was very accurate, and a merchant sailor who was still on the mast fell with a miserable howl and fell heavily on the deck.

At this height, even if you don't burp, it's useless, even if you fall into the pile of goods that can act as a buffer.

Asherid was with his companions, and he received a flintlock pistol and a grenade that had been loaded in advance.

The grenade looked like a spherical iron bottle with a cork on its mouth, and a piece of cloth was tied inside the cork as a fuse. Anyway, its appearance had nothing to do with the word "advanced".

The stink bomb looks similar, and as for the formula...it can be used to deceive children into saying that it is the list of spell-casting materials of the evil witch.

There were also a few people in the crowd who were armed with large weapons like flintlock rifles.

At this time, the two sides have entered the process of shooting each other, and as the distance between the ships continues to shorten, the damage caused by the messy gunshots also begins to increase.

However, most of the injured were on the merchant ship. After all, there was a big difference in the number of people fighting on the deck between the two sides, and Henry had been organizing the crew to shoot in batches, and the firepower was much denser than that on the merchant ship.

Soon, a series of grappling hooks tied with ropes were thrown from the Imagination, and most of them successfully grabbed the bulwarks of the merchant ship.

The "grenademen" on the Imagination also began to show their power.

Everyone, including Asherid, threw the grenades in their hands.

More than a dozen grenades exploded on the deck of the merchant ship, and the nearby sailors were so blown up that they cried and ran away, and a few unlucky ones were taken away by a wave.

In the confusion, the crew of the Imagination pulled hard on the rope, causing the Imagination to lean against the merchant ship.

Between the two parties, there are no barriers to passage.

Henry took the lead and was the first to jump onto the deck of the merchant ship.

"This is what you asked for." He looked at his opponents who had lost their courage but still planned to continue fighting, and let out a grin.

The pirates made all sorts of weird noises and rushed onto the merchant ship, getting entangled with the merchant sailors.

The gunshot of the flintlock pistol is the first sound, the second sound is often the sound of a person being hit on the head by the handle of the gun, and the sound of drawing a sword is the third sound, which is very sequential.

As soon as Asherid knocked down a sailor with the butt of his gun, he saw another buddy rushing towards him screaming and holding a knife.

He got close to the opponent before he made a slashing movement, grabbed the opponent's hand and crushed his hand bones with force.

The buddy immediately screamed loudly, and Asherid hit him with the shoulder again, and he flew out.

When fighting, there is no need for strength control or something.

The battle on the deck was fierce, but the opponent's crew really didn't play the role of pigs and tigers. It can be seen that the strong are really not that boring, and they have to find a place to hide and wait for the show.

The battle ended very quickly.

On the deck with limited space, there is not much room to move around. It only takes a few strokes to decide the winner. Even if someone hides in the cabin and throws a few stink bombs, they will be smoked directly. They can only come out and catch them .

To be honest, the person who dropped the bomb was not willing to go down because of the smell.

The captain of the merchant ship was very skilled, so he was just knocked to the ground by Henry, but because of this, Henry put a knife on his throat and had to declare his surrender.

Chapter 8 The so-called era of great pirates

On the merchant ship, the captain of the merchant ship sat on the deck dejectedly while watching the pirates searching for the cargo on board.

Pirates' "soft persuasion" activities are not necessarily successful every time, but because they usually don't hurt those who surrendered at the beginning, the first reaction of merchant sailors who have no vital interests to see pirates is to surrender, and lose a ship The goods are also not a traumatic loss to the shipowners. Large trades are completed by spreading the goods across multiple ships.

The bullshit weather on the Great Channel is the biggest source of risk for maritime trade. Shipowners don’t even think it’s the worst case for their cargo to be snatched by pirates. Anyway, most of the pirates have excellent navigation skills and are eager to cash in their cargo. If there is a chance to redeem, the cost is actually not much higher than normal transportation.

Only the captain is the one who will suffer heavy losses. Unlike other people who receive a fixed salary, the captain is appointed by the shipowner. In order for the captains to perform their duties, the shipowner will give a certain percentage of dividends, which constitute the main part of the remuneration. .

At this time, although the captain saved his life, he was still very discouraged by his loss.

The sailors were reunited. They were generally indifferent to the pirates' plunder, but some showed eagerness to try.

Compared with the high-pressure working environment on merchant ships, pirate ships with higher income and more comfortable environment are always very attractive to many sailors who have been at sea for a long time.

But they were doomed to be disappointed. The Imagination was a ship of the Brotherhood of the Coast. This group of people only engaged in internal recruitment and did not accept outsiders at all.

Coincidentally, the crew of the Imagination were also very disappointed, because after searching, they did not find any particularly expensive goods, and the most valuable thing was more than [-] bags of sugar.

There are quite a few guns, bullets, shells and gunpowder of all kinds.

As for the deterioration of fresh water and food, the degree of deterioration is worse than that on the Imagination, and the only thing that can be taken is wine.

"You dare to fight against us with just this little thing?" Henry saw the captain of the merchant ship sitting on the ground, so angry that he kicked him upside down.

"Dice!" cried Henry, "get his logbook!"

The captain of the merchant ship, who had just gotten up from the deck in a hurry, was ashamed when he heard these words.

He is an experienced captain, of course he knows that when a pirate wants to read the logbook, it is a very bad signal.

After all, it is something that can reflect the captain's "ruling" style.

Perhaps it is because most of the pirates came here as merchant sailors, most of the pirates have a strange sense of "justice", and they will judge those captains who are cruel.

As for how to define "brutal", it is very flexible.

So the merchant captain was a little panicked.

All his subconscious reactions fell into Henry's eyes, allowing Henry to confirm his judgment.

Many members of the Brotherhood of the Coast have also worked on merchant ships. They also have such a tradition. Even if the other party resists, the captain and the others will try their best to save their lives, because they have to save it until the end to decide how to deal with it.

After a while, the first mate Diss came over with the logbook.

Henry couldn't wait to grab it and started flipping through it.

Soon, he made a "tsk tsk".

"This Mr. Smith, I didn't see the boy you whipped on it, I didn't see it on your ship."

After Henry's words were heard by everyone, their reactions varied.

Some of the sailors of the merchant ship looked like "there is a good show to watch", while most of the pirates looked disgusted or quite playful.

Ashred was surprised.

This Mr. Smith looks simple and honest, but he is actually a "tyrant" type captain.

Sure enough, one should not underestimate anyone who makes a living at sea, stereotypes are bad.

The captain of the merchant ship named Smith swallowed, feeling very nervous.

"Sir, he disembarked at the last port."

"Really? I think you sold it?" Henry's eyes were playful, "Let me see, you also brought some goods for others, but it didn't say what it was here. I guess it must be a slave." Right? That's why you have so many guns and ammunition on board?"

"Just to protect myself, sir." No one knows if Smith is blunt, but no one cares.

Ordinary merchant ships often have limited armament and crew numbers, but this ship obviously exceeds the standard in terms of number and firepower, and there are not many reasons that can explain it.

To put it all together, it is basically either slave transport, slave capture, or part-time pirate work, neither of which is a serious activity.

"Let's talk." Henry closed the journal, "You will tell me, right? You look like a nice person."

Smith groaned in his heart. In fact, he didn't want to write these things that were questionable at first sight in the logbook. Unfortunately, he didn't care about such things. The logbook was recorded by another person appointed by the shipowner.

As for that person, he was shouldered into the sea by a thin-looking pirate during the previous battle, and he never climbed up again.

In his opinion, the pirates he encountered this time were a bit formidable, not to mention the skill of manipulating the ship, they were very organized in the battle, and they actually knew how to deploy firepower, otherwise the ship should not have been captured by the opponent so quickly.

"It's really gone, you all found it." Smith said tremblingly, "We were forcibly recruited by a kingdom before, and we were forced to help them fight pirates, so we have such a gun."

"But you can't explain the number of people." Henry sneered, "It is recorded in the log that there were 75 people on board at most, and they were almost catching up with us. Normally, there are more than 40 people on a ship like yours. It seems that you are not A nice guy."

After speaking, Henry looked at the merchant sailors gathered in a pile.

"Is there anyone willing to provide a little bit of information? Everyone is a seafarer, and there is no need to suffer for the property of those rich people. As for Mr. Smith, you don't have to worry, he is dead."

"I say! I say!" Smith yelled hastily.

According to the requirements of the shipowner, and based on his own interests, he tried to reduce the transportation cost as much as possible along the way, which meant that the treatment of the sailors would not be particularly good, that is, to maintain a level that would not cause riots.

But the luck of this trip was not very good. If he hadn’t promised the sailors that the shipowner would pay an additional salary of the same amount after arriving at the destination, some of these sailors might have already started plotting riots.

Now that the cargo has been completely lost, he doesn't think that group of sailors will keep secrets in order to protect his not-so-generous captain.

With Smith's confession, the crew of the Imagination found something he wanted to hide, but it was just a ticket.

"I didn't lie to you, you see." Smith looked at the pirates with unkind faces, and hurriedly explained, "We didn't get cash, the other party was a deal with the chamber of commerce, and we can only share dividends from it, but that We have to wait until the chamber of commerce cashes this bill on land.”

"Who are you going to cash in?" Henry lifted him up, "Say it!"

"I only know that the other party's boss is called 'clown' and he is from Beihai. My chamber of commerce is also in Beihai and has business dealings with him. If you really want to find information about the other party, you can ask my chamber of commerce."

He actually wanted to say that the news had to be purchased, but considering that this word was a bit harsh for a group of pirates, he changed it from the heart.

"No need, I know the name." Henry threw Smith onto the deck in a bad mood.

The big pirate who made his fortune in the North Sea and is also famous in the great waterway, Don Quixote Doflamingo, is one of the most active players in the underground world, and he uses the nickname "Joker".

The Brotherhood of the Coast has also done business through the intermediary channel of "Joker" in the underground world.

With its reputation and power, the big pirate can always exert influence in many fields. All living beings on the sea will become part of their huge kingdom unconsciously. "In the territory of the forces, it was naturally wrapped in this giant net.

Of course, the nickname of "Joker" alone is not enough to prove that this bill was issued by Don Quixote Doflamingo's organization, but with the addition of the two key words Beihai and slave, the probability reaches More than 90.00%.

But this is Asherid's judgment. People in the Brotherhood of the Coast may not know that "Joker" is Doflamingo, they only know that he is the boss of the underground world.