Several hours later. The Marine warship saw another ship in the distance.
While the Marine ship was made from some kind of stone and wood, the ship in the distance was solely made from durable-looking wood.
It was in light brown color, with the ship's sails having a symbol of skull and crossbones. At the top of the mast, a pirate flag was waving around.
It looked like a skull and crossbones with the words "Hard" carved into the skull's forehead.
After the ship appeared in their vision, the soldier on top of the watch tower shouted.
"PIRATES, AHEAD!"
That sound caused the marines to stiffen their bodies and enter a state of alarm. Marine Captain Leeway left indoors and saw the pirate ship sailing away.
'Hard Work Pirates…' Leeway went to the deck and started barking orders.
Then, several soldiers went indoors and began moving cooks, chefs, and chore boys into the lower deck. Where they should stay safe.
…
"Whew…" I wiped my sweat and saw the clean floor in front of me. I could even see my reflection, showing my dirtied face.
Then, hurried footsteps came from outside, and a soldier with a justice coat draped over his shoulders appeared with a severe look.
While the cooks and chef understood what it meant, I kept standing dumbly until the soldier shouted at me to follow after them.
The soldier took us to the lower deck, where everyone was already gathered. Everyone seemed relaxed, except Peter and Ox.
Their initial excitement had faded away, and they finally understood that they were about to fight against pirates!
I got seated at the top of the barrel. Then, a deafening sound echoed throughout the ocean.
BOOM!
"Ahh!" Peter cried out and covered his eyes. Even Ox flinched but tried to keep his tough act, even though his legs trembled like newborn babies.
BOOM!
Another sound came.
The cannons fired and sent a rain of cannonballs across the air. Unfortunately, their reach wasn't enough, and they missed the pirate ship by a little bit.
The barrel of the cannons let out a cloud of smoke. Then, they were reloaded, and soldiers began waiting for the order to fire again.
Marine Captain Leeway shouted to increase the speed of the ship. They had to enter firing range, and soon, the sail's finally picked up enough wind to increase the speed!
The pirate ship was getting nearer, and the distance was less than a hundred meters.
Then, the cannons located at the front of the ship were aimed at the back of the pirate ship. They lit up the fuse, and soon, the fire reached the bottom of the cannon.
BOOM!
Another hollow shell explosively left the cannon. The shell was crammed with gunpowder, and that made it very heavy.
Soon, the shell began descending and landed perfectly on the pirate ship's sail, breaking it apart, and causing a fire to start spreading.
CRASH!
The pirates began screaming, trying to kill the fire. However, soon, they noticed that it was a lost cause.
Then, they turned to look at the Marines. They looked at each other, ruthless glint reflected from their eyes.
They unsheathed their swords and prepared for close combat.
On the board of the Marine ship, Leeway shouted, "Prepare for combat!"
Soon, the two ships were side-by-side. Then, the pirates leaped over the board and screamed die while their swords slashed across the air.
Leeway unsheathed his sword and lunged forward. With one slash, he sliced through several pirates.
The rest of the Marines took their weapons and lunged forward. Soon, the deck was filled with screams and the sound of weapons clashing.
Currently, in the lower deck. Peter and Ox covered their ears. A slight trail of urine trailed through their groins and stained the floor below them.
'Fuck… I hope I don't have to clean that shit.' I shuddered from that thought alone. I was surprised that the chef and cooks were relaxed. They didn't seem too faced. It seemed like they had gotten used to it.
The sound was getting quieter, and the battle seemed to have been scattered around the ship.
Then, loud footsteps came from the other side of the door, and it was soon smashed into pieces. The broken parts of the wooden door flew across the dimly lit room.
"Eek!" Peter and Ox hugged each other while letting out a scream.
The Chef stood up with a grim face. He was unarmed, but his fists had several scars. It seemed that he had been quite a fighter back in the days.
The one who broke the door was a pirate with a long tongue and a scar going over his right eye. A thick-bladed sword was in his hand, and a wicked grin stretched his mouth open.
"I am Porlo, from Hard Work Pirates!" He lowered his body and gave a small bow, "We will achieve our dreams by working hard for them!"
"Today… You all…" He licked his lips and raised his sword overhead, "Will be killed by my hard work!"
The chef took a step forward and tried to grab the sword. However, the pirate swung his sword, did a linear cut that went straight through Chef's clothing, and created a sizeable gash on his torso.
"Ugh!" The chef spewed a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground. The cooks cried out and surrounded him. They saw a sword wound on the chest that was dripping with blood.
"Hehe." Porlo grinned and licked the blood from the blade. Then, he turned to look at the three chore boys.
"Ah… Chore boys, I enjoy killing you!" He took a step forth, which alone caused Peter and Ox to pass out.
"Pfft." He snickered and saw only one still standing on his path, "Oh… Who are you?"
After getting spoken to, I kept my mouth shut and looked at the sword.
"Sigh, rude little shit." Porlo extended his hand forward, trying to grab the black-haired man's neckband.
However, at that moment, my hand moved like a streak of lightning, and I managed to grab the pirate's hand that was holding the sword.
Porlo's brows furrowed, and he slammed his foot deep into my torso.
"UGH!" I fell to my knees with a mouthful of saliva flying out of my mouth, 'What the fuck, that hurts!'
The air left my lungs, and I felt like my soul left my body for a split second. The pain was as real as it gets.
'What the hell is this?!'
[-10 HP]