This was it. This was the first legitimate act of piracy for me.
"LAY ABOARD YOU MAGGOTS! IF I SEE ANY OF YOU SHYING AWAY FROM BATTLE I WILL PERSONALLY GIVE YOU A HUNDRED CUTS WITH A KNIFE AND ASSIGN YOU TO LATRINE DUTY!"
Hooks were thrown to the merchant ship and drawn closer and closer. Despite her size, Queen was deceptively fast so the ship we were boarding didn't expect us to catch up so quickly.
During our voyage to the Golden Bay, we actually came about multiple sunk ships, pirate and otherwise. Almost all of them were attacked by Hyrisian forces. Weirdly though? I still haven't come across any of them personally and have only seen their aftermath.
Anyway, most of those ships had people who were willing to join and those who would have refused in normal circumstances had to sign a contract or be left stranded in deep waters.
Our numbers have risen to 170 people so far and Queen has absorbed the remaining ships. She had new oars now that increased our speed even in low wind conditions.
I watched on from the side of my ship and watched as my crew took over the ship one guard at a time. Looks like nobody ran from the fight either.
I reacted with my observation haki and tilted my head slightly to the side. There was a gunman who was hurriedly trying to reload but kept fumbling.
I was reminded of a saying about gun handling from my past life. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. You keep rushing shit and you'll keep making mistakes but if you take things slow and do them methodically you'll eventually get shit done without mistakes.
When all the commotion drowned out someone brought a plank and put it between the ships for me to walk on. I slowly walked up to the captives on their knees.
They looked scared and rightfully so. We had their life on our hands. Most likely the captain of the merchant ship looked at me angrily as tried standing up with a knife in hand just to be brought to his knees and held by his shoulders.
"Good day, gentlemen. Great weather we are having yes? My name is Captain Edward Newgate. You may call me Captain Newgate. Now I'm not going to stand on ceremony for too long. You have 2 choices. One is that you can pay me 10 years of your life span. Don't ask me to tell you how I'll just have to kill you faster if I do."
The captives looked at each other confused but pushed through their curiosity to ask the more pertinent question.
"What's the second option sir?"
I nodded my head in satisfaction.
"Option two is that you walk the plank and dine with the fishes. Or to be more precise the fishes dine on you. So, what will it be?"
"We don't make deals with damned pirates you scumbag. The blessing of the merciful Goddess will protect us. Even if we die today your soul will burn along with all the beasts among you."
Ahh yes, the 'beasts'. This man must be from the Theocrasy. All the knowledge I gathered from my crew revealed that the Theocracy was human supremacists and my crew had a few demi-humans. They were all from a tribe of monkey demi-humans that joined up with pirates to escape from slavery.
Predictably they ran from the Theocrasy as they had the most active slave trade market. The Kingdom had them as well but they only made people slaves as a criminal punishment and released them after they served their sentence.
The Theocracy on the other hand targeted only demi-humans and even called them beasts to further disassociate them from humans.
"Hmm... interesting choice of words captain but I can't help but inquire. Is the rest of the crew of the same opinion?"
One of the captives spoke out.
"No sir. We're just sailors sir. We have nothing to do with the Theocracy. It's only the captain. If you will spare us I'll pay with my lifespan."
Quite a few people agreed. Only a few refused my offer. I didn't care though. I conjured out of nothingness a contract parchment and some ink to get fingerprints. Honest folk they may be but even these guys didn't know how to read but fingerprints were acceptable too.
The captives got the same contract that my crew got though instead of asking for subservience I asked for 10 years of lifespan and secrecy about the contract they signed. The only thing I allowed them to tell this time was that they made a deal.
Whenever these guys talk about this situation they will speak of Captain Edward Newgate and that they made a 'deal' with him to escape death.
When the last person signed, I drew a cutlass and slit the throat of the captain myself. This might have affected a regular person but the Essence of Sound Mind and Soul provided me with infinite willpower to push through anything, and that kind of iron will allowed me to come to terms with the act of killing quite easily.
Not that I became a remorseless murderer all of a sudden. I just didn't have any qualms with it if I had to.
When the rest of them who refused were executed, my crew started looting the cargo. I made sure they were left with enough supplies to survive a voyage to civilization.
While Sailing past them I stood next to my new Helmsman Donny 'The Silver' Merlock and called for my Quartermaster.
"Helga come here."
She came up to me and stood at attention, waiting for orders.
"Yes, captain?"
"What's the haul this time?"
She gave me a list of all the cargo and I was once again disappointed.
"That's all sir."
"Why is the rum always gone?"