Chapter 28

For a moment, apart from the sound of the waves in their ears, the ship was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

The pirates who had been clutching their buttocks and howling in pain just moments ago seemed to have all lost their voices in the previous second. They stared at each other with wide, frightened eyes, as if trying to discern something different from each other’s expressions—

“Oh my god, a woman! Is my hearing failing me? Who brought a woman on board?”

“This is cursed! Who wants to kill us all? Thank goodness the captain found out quickly! The ship hasn’t even left the dock yet!”

“Find her! She must be hiding—get the people on deck moving—the rest of you come with me to search the wine cellar and storage rooms!”

“Don’t forget the crew quarters!”

All the men pulled up their pants, cursing as they dispersed, determined to turn the entire ship upside down. Miguel, who had been stumbling along with the flow of people, suddenly made a nimble turn as he passed the stairs and quickly darted up to the second deck, sidling up to Big Dog.

“You go find someone too,” Caesar frowned slightly, saying indifferently.

Miguel ignored him, simply taking out a roll of gauze from his belt, unwrapping it, and holding it high above his head. The light gauze immediately fluttered in the sea breeze. The young man’s pitch-black pupils were fixed on the fluttering white gauze, occasionally reaching out with his other hand to grab at the air.

“What the hell?” Unable to stand being next to the seemingly insane navigator, Caesar frowned and stepped away.

“Shh,” Miguel whispered, “I’m working, listen, the wind is speaking—”

“You’re out of your mind.” Smuggling women or children on board was a serious crime, and the captain’s mood was understandably foul.

“…” Putting down the gauze in his hand and casually rolling it up before stuffing it back into his belt, Miguel pouted, “I can’t hear them anymore, you’re too scary, you scared them away.”

Caesar: “…”

He shouldn’t have spoken to him in the first place.

After stowing the gauze, Miguel patted his waist and casually asked, “Do you really believe that women and children bring bad luck to the crew?”

“…” After a brief silence of about ten seconds, the man’s deep, magnetic voice sounded in the sea breeze, “No, most of the time I’m an atheist. But most of the crew believes in that, and the presence of women and children during the voyage will make them panic, which isn’t good for the crew’s morale.”

“Is that all?” Miguel asked with a smile.

“On this voyage, we’re going to seize that shipment. Since those merchants sought protection from Leoza, a sea battle is inevitable,” Caesar said lightly. “Sea battles are commonplace for pirates. I could be standing here one second, and the next, a cannonball could come from nowhere trying to blow my head off—do you think it’s appropriate to have children or women on board in such a situation?”

After speaking, the man slightly turned his body, his amber eyes unusually bright in the night. Miguel looked up and unexpectedly met his gaze. The sea breeze scattered the man’s voice in the air, making it seem both near and far, while his handsome, resolute face was right there, close at hand. Licking his lips, Miguel clearly heard the sound of himself swallowing saliva…

Caesar: “If you dare to lean in and kiss me now, you’re dead.”

Miguel: “…Oh, you caught me.”

Caesar snorted noncommittally, his eyes, which had been brewing with anger, slightly softening. Taking everything in, Miguel lazily leaned against the second-deck railing, propping his chin up as he grinned foolishly at his Big Dog—the pleasant atmosphere didn’t last long, though. After about five minutes, Miguel suddenly exclaimed, pointing to the deck below, “Looks like they found her.”

The man’s hand on the railing twitched slightly. After exchanging a glance, the two of them looked down simultaneously.

Under the moonlight, the pirates, who usually had messy habits, were unusually quiet for a moment. Two of the burlier men among them were holding a woman in a simple dress—her messy brown curls and dirty dress dragged across the deck, splattering mud. Amid the woman’s loud protests, the two men gently threw her onto the deck.

“I don’t want to get off the ship! I want to be with my man!”

The woman sitting on the deck wailed loudly, her cries shaking the heavens. What was most surprising was that, under the moonlight, everyone could clearly see the woman’s protruding belly—she was pregnant.

“She’s so loud,” the man complained, rubbing his ears. “Someone shut her up—wait, first have her tell us who her man is.”

The pirates on the deck below obeyed, pressing the woman to repeat Caesar’s question—and obviously, this was a smart woman. She seemed well aware of the punishment that awaited a crew member who smuggled a woman on board. After a moment of silence, she quickly scanned the crowd of men standing around the deck, and amidst their stares, she trembled, her lips quivering as she quickly pointed upward—

The men turned their heads in unison, following her finger.

Miguel: “Me?!”

“Heh,” the man beside him chuckled with amusement.

Miguel: “What a joke! Lady, I only get hard for our captain!”

Caesar: “…”

Everyone who had just learned something shocking: “…”

Caesar, furious: “Hey, why are you all making those faces? It’s not what you’re thinking, damn it, you perverted fisherman, what the hell are you talking about!”

Miguel also exploded: “Dammit, Laozi hasn’t touched a woman in a year! Don’t wrong me!”

On the deck below, the woman stood with her hands on her hips, crying and cursing rapidly in Italian, as if she were truly a woman abandoned by a heartless man.

“Ah,” Caesar, annoyed by the woman’s crying, his face darkening, pushed Miguel overbearingly, “Say something, then get your woman to shut up.”

“My wife isn’t talking! He’s pushing me to make another woman shut up!” Miguel snapped.

The slave’s audacity made Caesar widen his eyes slightly. He sneered and was about to say something when, suddenly, there was a new development on the deck below—

“Selina! This is my fault! Don’t wrong anyone else!”

A rough voice rang out from the crowd, and the people on the deck suddenly parted in unison, making way for a muscular, burly sailor who stepped forward. At the sound of his voice, the woman immediately stopped crying. Her eyes widened, her lips, cracked by the sea breeze, quivered rapidly, and then her whole body began to tremble helplessly—

The person who came out was someone Miguel remembered—he was the ship’s gunner, responsible for long-range sniping, an old crew member whose shots were accurate whether near or far.

“It’s my fault, Captain,” the man said, helping the woman up and holding her in his arms. He turned to look up at Caesar on the second deck, his face, smeared with black gunpowder residue, was very calm, “I was momentarily blinded by love. Selina is about to give birth, and women can be a bit willful… I couldn’t talk her out of it… In short, it’s my fault, and I’m willing to accept punishment.”

The ship fell into silence once again.

Everyone looked up at Caesar, waiting for his verdict.

Only Miguel didn’t look at him. At this moment, the black-haired young man was leaning against the railing, staring motionlessly at the couple tightly embracing in the center of the deck. He noticed that the woman had completely fallen silent, only her nails digging deeply into her lover’s muscles betrayed her emotions.

The boy blinked, then, in a place where no one could see, he kicked Caesar.

“…First, take this woman back to the dock.”

Finally, as if waking up, Caesar slowly spoke—everyone, for some reason, breathed a collective sigh of relief. Across the ship, Rick let out a long yawn, “What a farce.” After this simple comment, the red-haired first mate dragged his feet and walked away from the ship’s side.

With three steps and a look back, the woman named Selina was sent back to the dock.

On the second deck of the Wind Fury’s main ship, the captain lazily propped his chin with one hand, watching the not-so-moving farewell scene with disinterest—when he indifferently ordered the gangplank to be raised, separating the star-crossed lovers, the woman’s crying made Miguel involuntarily glance at Caesar… He inappropriately thought of that damned bald monk, Fahai.

The sailors returned to the deck.

“Gunner Jack, violating Article Six of the Charter, according to the rules, is to be punished by keel hauling, to be carried out at dawn.”

On the deck, the man’s deep, enchanting voice rang out in the night breeze. After a pause, everyone saw those long, elegant hands gently leave the railing, and the Black Sea Wolf left everyone with only a departing figure.

“Set sail.”

…

The infamous “keel hauling,” with a punishment time of twenty-four hours. A rope is passed under the ship’s keel from the starboard side to the port side, and the punished person is stripped naked, tied by the feet, and fixed to the rope under the ship, dragged from the port side to the starboard side, causing friction against the keel. Most wooden ship bottoms are full of razor-sharp splinters and fragments—if the dragging speed is too slow, the person will drown; if it’s too fast, they are likely to hit protruding parts of the ship’s bottom—most people who undergo this punishment bleed to death during the process, and those who somehow survive usually die of infection in the following days.

Historically, almost no one has survived this punishment.

After Caesar left, the deck fell into half a minute of silence, as if in silent mourning.

Only the man named Jack, who was about to undergo the punishment, remained calm.

After half a minute passed, someone in the crowd suddenly repeated, The captain said… set sail.

It was as if everyone had just woken from a nightmare—amidst the shouts of preparation for sailing, it was hard to discern what had just happened. The sailors pulled the ropes with all their might, their arms bulging with veins as they roared out in the chaotic shouting.

Only they themselves could hear the powerful beating of their hearts in their chests.

In the captain’s cabin.

“…Just like that, you’re going to keel haul him?” Sitting on the fur-covered armchair, Miguel yawned, “No seniority benefits?”

“This is a pirate ship, not a convent,” the man standing by the window, arms crossed as he gazed outside, said calmly, “Regretting it? This is what it’s like on a pirate ship. To be able to shoulder the role of captain, I’m not some benevolent saint.”

“…” Miguel fell silent for a moment, then, as Caesar turned to look at him, the black-haired young man gave him a clear, foolish grin, “Did someone really think you were a benevolent saint at some point?”

The man turned his head away, shifting his gaze, and let out a light snort from his nose.

“What are you snorting for.”

“You’d better have already made up your mind, you perverted fisherman.”

“Or what?”

“Knock your teeth out one by one, then tie you tightly to the chair under your ass with a rope covered in barbs, and throw you into the sea, either to sink or to be shark food.”

“…”

“Once you’re on my ship, you’re mine, and anyone who doesn’t obey will die.”

“…I want to get off the ship.”

“The ship has already set sail, ah, what a fine night.”

“…”

“Get down there and ask those idle navigators how far behind we are from my prey.”

“Aye aye, Captain.”