tively.

Nevertheless, the pursuing s.h.i.+ps no longer dared to employ skilled pirates to operate their sails, with the amount of individuals managing the sails naturally plunging substantially. Thus, both sides remained on even grounds.

Furthermore after the Hill Maiden’s restructuring, her cannon ports had all been sc.r.a.ped off. In their place, were twenty rowing positions! Therefore, the disparity between the propelling impetuous of both s.h.i.+ps became greater with such circ.u.mstances. If Sheyan wished to throw them off, it would be as easy as a matter of seconds.

Witnessing themselves falling into the opponent’s snare, the pursuing contestants were all incomparably enraged; as they commenced crazed a.s.saults against Sheyan’s s.h.i.+p. A contestant in particular even spared no efforts in raising a guided missile launcher, a.n.a.logous to the FIM-92 Stinger, and unleashed it towards the trio!

BOOM! A thunderous explosion resounded, as thick smoky fumes spiralled out of the Hill Maiden; a three metres wide hole had been exploded out at the s.h.i.+p’s stern. Fortunately, a third rate s.h.i.+p boasted of over 30,000 points of durability, and wouldn’t be so easily sunk.

At this instant, Sheyan immediately ordered to hasten the s.h.i.+p’s velocity. After leaving the attacking range of his rivals, Carpenter Spike was naturally dispatched.

Spike was indeed worthy of his reputation. With adequate a.s.sistance and a commotion of ‘Ding ding dang dang*’, he only required roughly ten minutes to completely mend the s.h.i.+p’s hole. Sheyan then immediately commanded for a ma.s.sive detour, intending for a sudden thrust from the lateral side.

(TL: *sound effects of nailing and hammering)

The opposing contestants didn’t appear familiar at all to naval warfare tactics, and didn’t even utilize their crow’s nest for lookout. Instead, they only foolishly fixated onto their front, and were caught off guard by Sheyan’s speeding s.h.i.+p from the left. Due to this, Brother Black managed to silently dispatch off an additional 3 pirate sail operators before being discovered!

When the furious contestants wished to retaliate, the Hill Maiden had already swiftly pulled away with its supreme speed. In such a manner, this to-and-fro tussle dragged on till dusk. By now, the pirates of the opposing contestants had suffered severe casualties, and none was willing to step up to the masts to control the sails. This signified they had utterly abandoned the s.h.i.+p’s flexibility!

After numerous rounds of tussles, some could already sense things were turning awry, where one of the third rate s.h.i.+p having fled earlier on. After a discussion between the contestants of the remaining s.h.i.+p, they decided to wholly focus on defence; propping up defensive artillery boards by the hull of the s.h.i.+p. Akin to a rigid dead fish, their lonely s.h.i.+p drifted flatly along the ocean surface; releasing an impression of true misery. If they hadn’t harboured malicious designs to pursue and pillage Sheyan, then they wouldn’t have degraded to this state.

By this point, Sheyan wouldn’t turn soft-hearted, but allowed Brother Black to slowly carve away at the meat with a blunt knife. After his ma.s.sacre deterred the remaining pirates from resurfacing, he followed up by targeting the main mast of that s.h.i.+p. Still, a sniper was present within that s.h.i.+p, but was still relatively lacking in that particular field. With every released gunfire, the sniper had to wait for nearly a minute before being able to take another shot.

With Reef and Sheyan alternating in protection, that sniper could not offer a single threat to Mogensha! During the latter stages, that sniper even ceased his futile a.s.saults. Besides, his sniper rifle ammunition required costly utility points to purchase.

After persistent chiselling of half an hour, the three masts of the opposing third rate s.h.i.+p had snapped and toppled clamorously; offloading into the sea with a soaring splash. Nonetheless, Brother Black had expended several thousands worth of utility points in ammunition to deal such severe damages onto the s.h.i.+p. With its tragedious state, even a professional carpenter like Spike would require 2-3 days to fully mend it. What more those contestants who probably didn’t possess such a crew mate?

All in all, it would minimally delay the contestants a precious 48 hours, for them to slowly sail their broken mast s.h.i.+p back to Tortuga. Factoring in the collaterals of dozens of pirates, that was equivalent to 10,000 gold guineas of damages. To them, the actual valuation of 10,000 gold guineas would inevitably be more than 10,000 utility points.

Indeed, this was a harsh reprimandation that Sheyan had issued to them – to refrain from provoking those they couldn’t afford to! In Sheyan’s perspective, the hardest phase had yet to come. By beating those contestants into fear, they wouldn’t dare to impeded whatever plans he had for his future affairs! Of course, if those contestants failed to remain tactful and provoked him, then he would vilify himself and murder them for their keys.

The following voyage was implemented at maximum pace. With the restructured Hill Maiden in addition to experienced pirate sailors, its speed had minimally been raised by 30% as compared to its first entry into Tortuga. Hence, even though the distance between Port Royal and Tortuga spanned over thousands of nautical miles, the Hill Maiden arrived within 20-30 nautical miles of Port Royal after smooth sailing for two days and two nights.

Naturally, with the Hill Maiden being a former active wars.h.i.+p of the British Royal Navy, it was still absolutely impossible to swagger freely into Port Royal. Fortunately, Port Royal was accoladed as a s.h.i.+pping hub, which resembled the ‘Quanzhou’ and ‘Guangzhou’ of China’s Song Dynasty.

Thus, there were certainly existence of smuggling piers and harbour nearby Port Royal. Leaving behind those savage pirates who had ill.u.s.trious reputations that could be easily identified to safeguard their s.h.i.+p, he brought along Joshamee and another 7-8 mates who were familiar with the terrain, before they ascended ash.o.r.e onto the smuggling ports. Afterwards, they rode a carriage and headed off for Port Royal.

In comparison to Tortuga, Port Royal had an amplified beauty and elegance; white sandy beaches, green coconut and palm trees, layers of buildings with neat perimeters, and even a lofty and impregnable fort and battery. Everything present annotated discipline as well as prestige. Apart from that, marines could be seen patrolling occasionally.

Those marine guards were adorned with honorary uniform, with its most striking decoration of glamourous red and white; particularly impressive were their white wigs and red outer coats. Their cutla.s.ses s.h.i.+mmered bright as snow, as were their slender stockings. Viewing with a pair of present day eyes, those stockings appeared like high thick leather boots of females. They marched arrogantly like roosters with their erected chests, and ushered an impression of extreme profoundness.

If Sheyan had brought along Philip and others, their hearts would sting with bitterness upon seeing their former colleagues.