The fuses grew shorter after being lit until the small flame set off a chain reaction.
The gunpowder ignited creating a loud bang which sent a large cannonball flying off towards its target.
It flew across the sky until it was brought down by gravity towards the side of the ship hitting it perfectly.
There was a loud crash which was heard from farther away as the cannonball did a lot of damage to the ship as it crashed through the side and continued onward through other obstacles in its path until it finally came to a halt.
More cannons opened fire from the ship that Pixel had taken control of but not every one of them was completely accurate.
Those fired by Micah had been very much on target and had done a lot of damage to the enemy ship which quickly took on heavy damage.
The gaze of Micah was careful and precise as the golden mark on his forehead had shone brightly as if to show off his symbol of good fortune.
Each movement he made was calculated and aimed carefully allowing his next shot to deal more damage to the enemy ship than the last shot fired. "Fire!"
More cannons fired under his careful guidance after some minor adjustments which had sent many cannonballs flying through the side of the enemy ship.
It seemed like minor damage from the holes created at first but a change suddenly took place among the places that had been hit.
A light shone beyond one of the holes created and grew even brighter until a sudden explosion took place resulting in many casualties and massive damage to the ships structure.
A fire had started resulting in it spreading until it reached the more flammable and volatile supplies stored away.
The fire became fiercer and stronger despite the attempts of the Marines to put it out until everything exploded.
The ship stolen by Pixel positioned itself better as cannons fired one final round. "Fire!"
The Marines onboard had began to gather their allies together in an attempt to salvage the damage that had been done but the continued spread of the fire and increased damage and casualties had let them know that everything could not be salvaged.
"Abandon ship!"
"Save as many as we can!"
"To the life boats!"
Each of them ran towards one side of the ship as they began to quickly lower the smaller wooden boats into the sea along with those that had boarded them.
The ship had blocked the cannon fire from the the other side so it allowed them little time they had to drop down safely as they did their best to use the cover of the ship to avoid being harmed further.
Their medics worked hard to treat those wounded with the little supplies they were able to salvage before making their way to the smaller wooden boats.
They began drifting at sea hoping that the strong waves would not capsize them or sweep them into more dangerous waters.
Meanwhile the ship belonging to Pixel's group was being pursued from behind by another ship and was set for a collision with the ship it had been attacking.
With a slight adjustment it had turned a little allowing for her ship to pass by its left side pushing her ship on the outer part of the formation.
What was once a closed encirclement had turned into something similar to a game of snake.
One Marine ship went up in flames as her own stolen ship had passed by followed further behind by another Marine ship on her tail.
Outside of the circular formation was where the ship was safer and could begin to move towards the next target.
The first link was destroyed so it moved around the destroy the second link of the enemies tail until only the head remained.
The second ship was within view as more cannons were fired far more accurately than the previous times while the Minks onboard had made every effort to fend off incoming cannon balls in order to reduce the damage on their side.
Tactics and experience did not always win in every situation.
There were always times when brute force beat everything that could be thrown at it.
Other times it was that the other side was just too adaptable, talented or had greater instincts to be able to overcome the harsh reality facing them.
The Minks were inexperienced at sea.
They were outnumbered.
They were outgunned.
They lost their ship during their attempts to flee peacefully.
In order to survive they had to work so much harder and to tap into everything they had available to them.
Their every reason to hesitate about holding back against the Marines that were just doing their jobs had gone once their lives were truly in danger.
Their desire to survive had pushed them forward as they adapted to their harsh reality.
The Minks were naturally talented combatants and relied on their instincts to fight.
There were lessons they were taught to develop them further and work on tactics for battle but it was better to let them experience everything for themselves to truly adapt and master their instincts.
The danger of death had created such an environment where they had to succeed and had to instinctually feel out which was the next best path to take.
The first ship was taken down but that still left others that could regroup so instead of heading straight out of the circle and forward towards the location of Zou, the ship circled around the outer circle of the formation that was trying to regroup itself.
Each ship passed by had been under fire and retaliated but the Minks onboard the ship had already adjusted to how their enemy had fought against them.
Whatever advantage the Marines had was lost as more ships belonging to them had caught fire, exploded, lost its ability to sail or sunk deeper into the sea one after the other until fewer ships remained.