Chapter 16: The Great First Step!
After receiving the kindness, the civilians' guard against Sag decreased sharply. One of them, after swallowing a piece of meat in two or three bites, said:
"Captain, we're from Compass Town."
"Compass Town?" Gin was startled.
Sag looked at Gin.
"Captain Sag, Compass Town is a famous place in the East Blue. The canvas they produce is very popular," Gin said.
"That's right."
The civilian said: "We are a transport merchant ship from Compass Town. We were originally transporting a batch of canvas, but we encountered pirates on the way. They stole all our canvas. The captain and the guards wanted to resist, but they fell into the sea and are missing."
"They left a barrel of water, so they showed some mercy," Sag nodded.
"No... they didn't take anything except the canvas. The food was destroyed by cannon fire," a civilian raised his hand and corrected.
*You're pretty proud of that, aren't you...*
"Um, Captain..."
The civilian who spoke first said weakly, "I know this might be presumptuous... but could you let us off at the next inhabited place."
"I have no interest in making civilians pirates."
Sag glanced at him and asked Gin, "Are the canvases from Compass Town valuable?"
"The canvas they produce sells for twenty thousand Berries per bolt."
Gin glanced at the sailing ship. "Based on the cargo capacity of this ship, it can carry fifty bolts at a time."
That's one million Berries.
That was a high number.
Sag and his adoptive father had toiled for a year farming, and they wouldn't have made that much. These people made that with one trip.
"What about the defenses?" Sag continued to ask.
He asked this, and Gin understood.
"Compass Town itself doesn't have high defenses, but there are frequent Marine patrols. The branch is nearby."
Sag nodded. "Lily..."
Lily thought for a moment and said, "We can try."
Sag smiled at the civilians. "Then, I'll take you back."
"Take, take us back..."
The civilian's face turned pale. "You want to..."
Sag bared his chillingly white teeth: "I'm a pirate, of course, I'm going to rob."
Anyway, they had to rob. Robbing a merchant ship was robbing, and robbing a town was also robbing.
A town with such economic value must have a lot of money.
Why rob poor people when he could rob a rich town?
"Captain, are we going to rob the town directly?!" Pearl asked excitedly.
"That's right. Turn the ship around and head for Compass Town."
Sag stood up. "Lock these people in the cabin. When we get to the town, we'll let them off."
Several pirates followed the order and escorted the group of civilians down.
Sag then went up to the second level of the deck structure. The second level was usually the captain's quarters. He pushed open the door and saw that various things inside were overturned, and scattered books and papers were everywhere.
He grinned, not caring about the mess, stepped over it, righted the chair, and sat down.
"Awesome!" Sag said with satisfaction.
"What's awesome?"
The wooden door was pushed open again, and Lily walked in. Seeing the messy captain's quarters, she frowned. "Is there a nautical chart in the captain's quarters?"
"Lily!"
Sag grinned. "Our pirate career is booming!"
"How is it booming?"
Lily replied, crouched down to search, and her eyes lit up. "There's a nautical chart here."
"You see, this is strong evidence of a booming career!"
Sag laughed loudly. "As a navigator, you got a nautical chart. As a captain, I not only got subordinates, but I also stole my first ship, and I'm going to rob. These are all good things!"
Lily pursed her lips and said tactfully, "Sag, this ship... won't last us for long voyages."
"It doesn't matter!"
Sag waved his hand. "What matters is that we've taken the first step!"
It couldn't sustain long voyages?
Wasn't she just saying it was a broken ship?
Sag didn't care at all.
A broken ship was still a ship. In short, Sag had finally stolen a ship.
As long as he took the first step, it was a great achievement.
Because in his previous endeavors, he had never taken the first step.
Plants wouldn't sprout, fish wouldn't bite, he couldn't get hired as a bodyguard, he couldn't participate in battles as a mercenary...
He even wanted to be a *yangge* star, but he didn't even have the chance to do those stupid things.
He even had a feeling that even if he went to haul manure, he wouldn't find any!
What?
This world had toilets?
Then he couldn't even haul manure!
The bounty hunter career, which had some hope, he did catch pirates, but they had no bounty. He had wanted to persevere, but after taking the blame in the Oykot Kingdom, it was basically over.
But now that he was a pirate, he had actually taken the first step.
No wonder it was the hottest career trend on the sea!
Sag spread his five fingers, then clenched them tightly, as if he had grasped everything around him in his hand.
The wealthy landlord dream was within reach!
"Haha, hahahaha!" Sag laughed wildly.
Lily, holding the sorted nautical charts, sat beside him and began to look at them one by one.
The pirates outside seemed to be infected by this laughter, and they all laughed out loud. Pearl knocked on his shields, his footsteps stomping on the deck in rhythm. The pirates followed this rhythm, linking arms and singing pirate songs.
Gin, watching these happy pirates, couldn't help but smile.
After so many days of failure, they were finally back on a ship!
The rickety ship, accompanied by these strange sounds, rode the sun in the sky, raising waves on the sea, sailing towards the distance.
...
Two days later.
The ship finally reached Compass Town.
Compass Town was not far from here. Gin and the other veteran pirates also knew the sea route in the East Blue. If it weren't for the ship being so badly damaged, they could have arrived in one day.
The town was on an oval-shaped island. The island had no natural barriers around it and was a large plain. The island's specialty was high-quality cotton and flax, which was why the canvas here was so well-made.
The town was on the east side of the island. The broken ship was currently sailing there.
Sag was now standing on the railing of the second level, with Lily standing beside him, looking at the pirates on the deck who were drawing their swords and grinning ferociously, as well as the civilians waiting in the corner, ready to disembark.
One of the civilians looked up at Sag, gritted his teeth, and stepped forward. "Captain, maybe you should give up. You saved us. Compass Town has well-equipped guards, and the Marines will arrive immediately. You only have thirty-some people. It's definitely not enough! Let us go, and I'll give you a new ship!"
A single-masted sailing ship was only worth sixty to a hundred thousand Berries. They could pool their money and get it.
After these two days, the pirates hadn't mistreated them. Instead, they would invite them to come up and eat on time. Apart from not sleeping well, it was like they were treating them as guests.
In the words of this Captain Sag, they were all unlucky people, so there was no need to treat them differently.
This was a bold captain.
Although he was a pirate, he was worthy of respect.
Sag smiled faintly and looked at the pirates below. "Lads, he's telling you to give up."
*Clang!*
Lily drew her rapier at this time, her gaze becoming cold.
"Captain Sag, we are pirates!"
Gin gripped his staff tightly and laughed loudly. "Pirates don't accept charity. We just take what we want! Men of the sea don't fear life or death!"
"Well said, Captain Gin!" The pirates shouted in unison.
Sag didn't remove Gin's position as combat captain. The pirates naturally followed the old practice.
This way, he didn't have to worry about leading these ordinary pirates.
"That's right!"
Sag pointed forward. "Since we've chosen to be pirates, we'll do things the pirate way. Those things you mentioned..."
He clenched his fist fiercely and grinned. "I want them all!"
Pool money for a ship?
He was so unlucky, what kind of ship could he get by pooling money?
It was safer to rob it himself.
Besides, since these people were so confident, it meant that the town was even richer, and even more worth robbing.
The ship followed the island's boundary, approaching the landing point of Compass Town. This town was naturally a port town. As long as they got close, it would be fine.
The town was getting closer and closer, and the pirates were eager to step onto the edge of the ship, waiting for the ship to dock so they could jump down.
But when the ship arrived, and they could see the town clearly, they were suddenly stunned.
Compass Town was a prosperous large town. The harbor was almost always busy with loading and unloading cargo, and the streets were full of people... but now, the scene they saw was completely different.
The sea surface of the harbor was full of shipwrecks. Extending inward from the harbor, the ground was cracked and full of holes. Buildings were damaged, either half-destroyed or completely collapsed. There were black scorch marks everywhere.
The entire town had been half-destroyed!