Chapter 46 Battle at Sea Part 1

The crossing from Cerulis to the island where the tournament was held, would last five days.

Two nights and one day had passed since the fleet had departed from Cerulis's harbor.

Inside Daniel's cabin, Heimart, Ligart and Daniel had spent the past day and a half talking, and becoming acquainted with each other.

Unfortunately, no matter how long they waited for, they didn't have a single chance to interact with the fourth passenger of their cabin, as he seemed to move from his bed only when the three weren't present.

During the second morning at sea, Daniel and the two cousins were playing cards on the small table within the cabin.

Daniel had found a pattern within the interactions between the two cousins. The game the two played seemed to be a simple game of strategy and luck, but the truth, was that most of the times, Heimart would ensure the win thanks to a few sleights of hand.

Although he would never cheat when money was at stake, his winning streak had more of a purpose of establishing leadership between the two, instead of being a way to win money.

Daniel was untalented in many things, but dexterity wasn't one of them.

In fact, he could always notice and avoid falling for the older cousin's tricks, and ensure his victory. To a point, where the younger cultivator had started to root for him, as his personal champion of vengeance for the many humiliating defeats of the past.

The three played for the entire morning, when finally, it was time for lunch.

The ship they had boarded wasn't the most elegant, but it still had a dining hall and a kitchen within the hold.

Close to becoming a habit, right before leaving the cabin, Heimart patted on the top bed a few times, and asked "We are going to eat, want to join us this time?"

But as usual, he received no response.

After the expected response, the three left their cabin. They had been caught up in the game, so they had remembered of the dining hall opening hour a little too late. Causing them to need to walk through the many crowded corridors that separated their cabin and the dining hall.

Hundreds of people packed the corridors tightly, and slowly walked towards the dining hall in disordered rows.

Many, in order to avoid the chaos of lunch and dinner time, had opted for storing their meals in their luggage, and eat them in the spacious deck.

Daniel, was one of those people. He had purchased many rations from the shops of the harbor, and had stored them within his spatial rings, but since he didn't mind waiting in line for a bit in exchange of some company, he decided to follow the two cousins during meal time and eat together.

Unfortunately, they had underestimated the waiting time for being this late for the lunch.

An hour slowly passed, and they still hadn't managed to leave the corridors with the cabins.

Unwilling to wait any longer, Daniel looked at the two martial artists, and said "I have some ready meals in my spatial ring, want to go eat on the deck?"

The two, sick tired of standing in line, quickly accepted the proposal, and made their way towards the closest exit for the deck.

Finally out of that death trap, they inspired a large breath of sea air, then found a place to sit.

Daniel took three wrapped sandwiches out of his spatial ring, and handed one to each of the two cousins.

Once again, the three started to eat and chat peacefully, but before they could even start to relax, Daniel noticed a few members of the ship's crew run frantically to one side of the ship.

They were all looking at something in the distance, right behind the backs of Daniel and his two companions.

With half of a sandwich in his hand, and his mouth still full with his last bite, Daniel turned around.

Before he managed to swallow, he saw a huge warship just a few hundred meters away from the fleet, and it was rapidly approaching.

Daniel looked at the scared expressions of the crew members, and suddenly, he heard one of them screaming "PIRAAAAAAAAAATES!"

The ten ships which traversed from Cerulis to the tournament's island, usually didn't have powerful cultivators on board.

Each ship belonged to a different company, and aside from the weak crew and a decent captain, the only cultivators on board, where those who had embarked the ship to reach the tournament's island.

On this warship's black and tattered veils, one could see a white skull which held a knife in its teeth, and in its empty eye sockets there were red flames.

This particular group of pirates was known as Bloody Sea Pirates, and was a vicious group which attacked the various ships that set out from Cerulis's harbor.

Their overall strength wasn't high, but their expertise with navigating the seas had made hunting them down a really hard job.

The group's captain was a pirate at the fifth rank of martial cultivator, and was known as 'The Red Painter'. A name much more refined that its owner deserved.

In the past couple of decades, hundreds of ships had fallen under the hands of the Bloody Sea Pirates, and not many had survived the encounter.

After the first crew member shouted, a series of similar shouts resounded in the air, and a few moments later, many cultivators started to emerge from the entrances of the hold.

Daniel and his cabin mates were already on the dock, looking at the approaching warship.

The pirate ship had no intention of sinking them, they would instead approach a ship, and board it. They would then kill, **** and rob to their heart's content