WOOSH!
The strong waves reeled the pieces of wood planks and materials away from the Birex-X, which now was no more than a shipwreck.
On a large piece of wood plank, Martin laid half his body while his eyes focused on his ship and his crew, as they were getting killed one after another by the wicked pirates.
"Ahhh! Save me!"
"P-Please, spare me! I beg you!"
"I don't want to die. I don't want to die."
Chants of unwillingness, begging to be spared, crying for mercy, screaming in pain and shouting for help– he heard it all.
Martin felt his legs go numb, his arms losing their strength, his body asking for rest and his eyes dimming away slowly.
With repeated gust of winds, waves pushed the plank he was on to a direction of unknown. It would be a miracle if he survives in the sea with his current condition.
* * *
On Daisy, Corpse sat down on the stairs to the quarterdeck and looked at the loots being transported on board by his crew members.
"It's all gold! Real gold! We are rich!"
Jackson inspected the golden coins inside a treasure box found in the merchant ship's vault and cried out in joy. There were at least two hundred gold coins inside.
And even better was that all these gold coins were unmarked and untainted. Gold was one of the most expensive materials in the world for many reasons. It never rusts or corrodes. It's full of golden luster and can be shaped into anything.
Lastly, gold was the recognized and respected currency of the world. Gold can be traded, exchanged for any currency in different empires.
In the [Augustus Empire], a single piece of gold coin containing 10-grams of pure gold is worth 10.000 Tahka notes. 'Tahka', is the currency of [Augustus Empire].
"Blind, there's even more!"
Seeing Jackson hop in joy, one of the pirates laughed and pointed towards the gold bars around the corner of the deck. If gold coins were a fortune, gold bars were a sign that says, "You are rich."
"Ahhge! My heart!"
Unable to contain the extreme happiness, Jackson fainted and slammed on the floor. Roberto quickly pulled him to the side and leaned his body on the taffrail.
"Hah! It's my first time seeing gold bars."
Roberto walked and crouched down before the gold bars gathered in a corner. Some pirates were still bringing more gold bars from the merchant ship.
He picked one up and found it to be quite heavy. Each one of these gold bars were about 1 kilogram in weight and worth at least 1.000.000 or 1 million Tahka notes.
A small sailing ship, used by most of the pirates, cost 7-8 million Tahkas. A Birex-X was priced at 23 million Tahkas and the most expensive ship known to the world was worth 112 million Tahkas.
In this Era of Pirates, the cost of owning a ship was expensive. That was the reason most people choose to be sailors and not captains. Most times, a captain was the one who owned the ship.
TANG
In his hand was a compass made of gold and silver, Corpse flipped it open and checked the inside. The single pointer in the middle spun and stopped towards the direction of the North. A long gold chain was attached to it.
"A good compass."
Whispered Corpse. He closed it and hung it on his waist with the white cloth. Stepping up on the quarterdeck, he strolled for some time and waited until all the loots were transported on the ship.
Below, the blue sea was dyed red and various kinds of small fishes could be seen swimming in the water around the hulls of both the ships.
Dead bodies of the sailors, some floated on the water surface, some sank and some left on the deck of the merchant ship. There was the pungent smell of blood and gunpowder in the air.
Flames raged continuously, black smoke rose up in the sky forming a small black cloud. The pirates had been careful and avoided being burnt by the furious flames.
After a few hours of hardwork in looting the merchant ship clean, all the pirates came back on deck and waved their hands to the dying Birex-X.
"Fellas! On my mark."
The ones appointed to the cannons, got to their positions and loaded the cannonballs in the cannons. Corpse gave a last look at the Birex-X, with some pity, then turned his gaze away.
"Blast her."
BOOM!
As soon as the words left his mouth, the crew members lit the cannons and fired them at the merchant ship without any delay.
BOOM!
Whatever was remaining on it, burst in explosions and scattered in the sea. The large merchant ship broke down to the last piece and sank underwater.
Roger, Roberto and many more hurried to the taffrail and watched the scene with unknowing emotions in their eyes.
For some it was their first, for some it was their life, but everyone had to agree, such scenes one could never get used to.
"Pull the Anchor! Let the sails free! Me crew, we move on our path!"
Corpse roared at his crew and commanded them to handle the sails and lift the anchor up so the ship could sail forward.
He held the wheel with his left hand and moved his eyes to the sea horizon. On his right hand was the compass, using it he directed the ship's course to the correct route.
SWOOSH!
With the sails open and spread, the winds did their work and pushed the ship forward. Their Jolly Roger was taken off because keeping it up invited many troubles in the sea.
Strong bounty hunters traveled, many had their own ship and crew. Their main targets were famous pirates with heavy bounty on their heads.
Almost every bounty hunter was an experienced individual when it came to killing. A whole crew of such individuals was deadly for Corpse's crew at the moment.
'A bounty on my head, I wonder how much it would be?'
Corpse chuckled at the thought. It was inevitable and he could do nothing about it.
"I fear none but me! I will wait for the day I am hunted to show who the actual predator is."
* * *
Day had turned to night, the bright sky with the blazing sun hid behind the dark void full of twinkling stars and silver moon.
Inside the captain's cabin, Corpse sat on his chair behind the long and wide table. The windows were closed with wooden boards as usual. The candle lights provided the needed illumination in the dark room.
"A-Apple. I-I want to e-eat an apple."
Corpse muttered in a stuttering manner as the language he was speaking wasn't the Nimo language spoken in the [Augustus Empire]. It was the Giant Tongue language, spoken in the [Pili Empire].
He might not have been to a school for higher education, but he was no less than a scholar in knowledge. Most of the time in his life was spent on studying books and building his beloved ship.
There was little time for enjoyment. Others might say his life was gloomy and lonely, but he knew he was happy with what he had.
"I wish to eat an apple."
As he read further, his words came out more fluently and in an appreciative manner. The stuttering at the start didn't occur again.
Turning the pages, he began reading the language book like a novel. Each word trapped in his mind as he wanted them to be. So far he could speak, read and write three different languages.
The Nimo language, the official language of [Augustus Empire]; Zira Ba language, also from [Augustus Empire] but not official, and Harsha language, the official language of [Marry Empire].
It was difficult to memorize these languages but Corpse was determined and strong willed so he kept on studying and learning. He wished to be able to speak, read and write every language that the world has to offer.
After learning the Giant Tongue language for a while, he decided to take a quick break and relax his mind.
Closing the book, he placed it on the table. Then proceeded to stare at the huge world map on the wall to his left.
The world map showed the five mainlands, far away from each other they were, not to be related and let the seas separate them.
Corpse stood up and walked before the map, his eyes scanned through the map and read all the names printed there.
"Somewhere in this world, is that place I am looking for. I will find it, then I will see it for myself. Was it worth all the effort?"
He rhymed with his deep voice, his pale white face glared widely at the map.
"Augustus' World Map. Will it show me where that place is?"
Questioned Corpse. That very second, the entire room rippled in waves of vibrations. The loots that have now been brought to his cabin, trembled and produced metallic echoes in the room.
As silence followed again, Corpse smiled and nodded in understanding.
"It seems even you feel the same. We can only hope for the best that the map has what I want it to have or I might just burn it to ashes in an outburst."
He stepped back to the table and sat down on his chair to resume studying. Learning the Giant Tongue wasn't easy as it was completely different and had no similarities to any other languages he knew.
The pronunciation, letters and the way it forms sentences– nothing matched. It was like the language of another world in space.
But almost every language felt like that when he first started learning them.
"If I had people who could interact with me in different languages I could have learned them faster. Unfortunately most people are illiterate and don't know more than one language."
He said in Nimo. Hours passed and when he felt exhausted and stressed, Corpse decided that he should probably go to sleep.
He went and picked a few gold bars and gold coins, then took them to his tiny bed so he could sleep with them.
What do pirates love the most?
It wasn't their life, which was in the second number in the list of loving.
The thing that pirates loved the most in the world more than their own lives was gold. Pure Gold.
Gold coins, gold bars and things made of gold.
Nothing was weird about Corpse's action of going to sleep with some gold coins and gold bars. Not just pirates, but anyone would love to be in his place and hug these tiny gold pieces.
"Nighty Nighty."