"Captain, the Red Skull is gone!"
A sailor burst into the captain's cabin.
"Gone?" Elland raised his telescope, scowling as he studied the calm sea, just in time to see the *Red Skull* disappear over the horizon.
His brow furrowed. He couldn't understand why this had happened at all.
In his opinion, the firepower of the *White Agate* shouldn't have been able to directly scare off the Red Skull pirates. The two sides would have to circle each other dozens of times, exchange several volleys, and only then would the enemy find the nut too hard to crack, not dare to linger, and logically withdraw.
Could it be that the *Red Skull* was just passing by and had no intention of plundering? But if not to plunder, why would they enter this shipping lane? This was the easiest place to be cornered by the Navy fleet and Church ships. Even the Four Kings and Seven Generals would try to keep a low profile when passing through nearby waters... Elland was filled with doubt. He felt that things were not so simple.
Caution spares one from disaster; one cannot afford to be careless... Elland put away his yellowish-brown telescope and paced back and forth a few steps.
He half-raised his hand and said to the navigator:
"We'll dock at Bansy Harbor tonight.
"Report the encounter with the pirates to the Navy and the Church."
According to the normal plan, the next stop for the *White Agate* was to be Tiana Port. It would take about three days of sailing at 13 knots to get there. From Tiana Port, they would head directly to the final destination, the capital of the Rorsted Archipelago, the Generous City of Bayam.
There was a faster way to travel from Pritz Harbor to Bayam, which was to make only one stop, at Bansy Harbor, which was 120 nautical miles from Damir Harbor.
................
"Did the Red Skull really leave?" Donna's father, Urdi Branch, walked to the window and gazed into the distance.
Clevis nodded calmly:
"Yes."
As soon as he finished speaking, a sailor's shout came from outside:
"All clear! All clear!"
Upon hearing the official confirmation, the siblings Donna and Denton finally relaxed and mustered the courage to approach the window to survey the situation outside.
"Are the Red Skull pirates very strong?" Donna opened her eyes wide, looking for the ships that had already sailed far away.
"Very strong." Clevis gave his answer.
"How strong?" Denton immediately followed up.
On the other side, the bodyguard Teague tidied his hair and chuckled:
"Even not counting the ship's cannons and the hundreds of pirates, just Captain Johansson and First Mate Anderson are already very formidable.
"Anderson is nicknamed 'One-eye'. The Kingdom's bounty on him is 500 pounds. All of us in this room combined, with the help of a few sailors, might be able to defeat him in a skirmish. But Johansson, nicknamed 'Sea Wolf', could easily handle such an opponent. If they boarded, no one could stop the 'Sea Wolf'. His bounty is a whopping 900 pounds, close to 1000!"
"Is that a lot?" Donna was both shocked by the power of the "Sea Wolf" and "One-eye" and surprised by their bounties.
In her memory, her father's annual income was a full 1500 pounds!
"It is a lot. This is the bounty you can directly claim for them or their heads. The items on them, the things they loot, also belong to you. The Kingdom will buy them at market prices, and you also have the chance to get bounties from other countries," Cecil explained beside them. "At sea, pirates with bounties over 300 pounds are already quite formidable. Those close to or exceeding 1000 pounds are at least very famous in their own sea area. I mean large seas like the Sonia Sea or the Fog Sea."
"So, the Four Kings and Seven Generals are famous across all five seas?" Donna asked, slightly naively.
Clevis replied seriously:
"Yes."
"Then, is the Red Skull pirate group very famous throughout the entire Sonia Sea?" Donna asked logically.
"Right." Teague nodded.
"But why did they run away?" Donna blinked.
"Not necessarily running away..." Cecil himself wasn't too sure of the reason either.
Clevis looked out the window again, a frown creasing his brow:
"Maybe there's another reason. Maybe they didn't intend to plunder at all this time, just encountered us by chance."
Another reason? Amidst her random thoughts, Donna suddenly had a guess.
Could it be that Uncle Sparrow's gentle messenger, as tall as a house, scared them off? Mhm! It really is scary! Donna's mind bubbled like boiling water, fizzing with excitement.
She excitedly turned her head, looking down and to the side, and found her brother Denton's eyes also shining.
They both pressed their lips together at the same time, immediately understanding that the other was thinking the same thing.
"Let's go out to get some fresh air, just on this deck." Donna found an excuse and pulled her brother out of Room 305.
Once outside, Denton lowered his voice and said:
"We're going to find Uncle Sparrow?"
"Correct answer!" Donna smiled energetically. "I saw him go into 312 earlier."
................
Inside Room 312.
"Blazing" Danitz, no longer mentioning the "Iceberg Admiral", looked back at the *Red Skull* which had turned around, clicking his tongue and chuckling:
"They must have been scared by the Navy's boasts of giant ships and cannons and the news of other pirate groups being destroyed. They risked entering this shipping lane to plunder, hoping to make enough money quickly and leave the sea.
"Hah, what does it matter if they have giant ships and cannons? The Navy and the Church have had many powerful things for a long time, and it didn't make pirate operations impossible. If we can't beat them head-on, we can always run, right? It's not like they can escort every merchant ship forever, can they?
"I know, ironclads are getting bigger, the steam engines installed in them are getting stronger, and their speed will break 18 knots, 20 knots one day. Once they catch your trail, you can only wait to be caught up to. But the sea is so vast, thousands or tens of thousands of ships cast into it wouldn't fill a single corner. There are still plenty of unexplored sea areas. Do something, hide in those places. Dangerous, yes, but full of opportunities too."
This guy really is the talkative type... Don't you think a crazy adventurer wouldn't care about these things at all? — Klein averted his gaze and swept his eyes across the room.
His gaze finally landed on his leather suitcase, and then he jerked his chin towards it:
"Wash the dirty clothes in there."
Danitz, who was about to launch into a long speech, immediately froze, wishing he could burn the whole ship down.
He felt his anger was like a gush of steam, pushing against the floodgate of reason.
Danitz opened his mouth, took a breath, then opened his mouth again, and took another breath.