Captain Gold rested his hand on the curved sword at his waist, gazing from the bow at the distant three-masted clipper.
The fat captain of the Bandit Gull once said that "rchant ships with wicked thoughts turn into pirates, and honest pirates running ships are rchants," but this ti he was wrong. Because robbery was not Captain Gold's hobby—it was his full-ti job. "Good Fortune" Gold was a full-ti pirate of the inland seas, specializing in the promising industry of mariti robbery.
The reason why "Good Fortune" Gold acquired his nickna was because the Goddess of Luck always smiled at him.
Many pirate ships would often get caught by the Alliance navy, but he always managed to escape. When faced with tough prey, after a bloody battle where every surviving pirate was wounded, he would co out unscathed every ti.
Sailors said: Bullets would curve around "Good Fortune" Gold. There were also whispers spreading quietly in the cabin: Good Fortune Gold had made a deal with the devil, and evil black magic protected him.
However, Gold's luck had indeed always been excellent, so much so that he even nad his ship "Good Fortune."
Like now, if it weren't for the wind stopping, there was no way a galley like the Good Fortune could ever catch up to the three-masted clipper ahead. But just as luck would have it, the wind stopped and thus the ship, no matter how many sails it had, could only beco the prey of the Good Fortune.
Gold saw that after he raised the black and red flag, the small ship ahead had already lowered the naval flag and raised the white flag.
The ease of scaring the opponent into surrendering owed much to the large cannon on the bow of the Good Fortune. This large-caliber stone cannon was Captain Gold's prized possession, acquired through a fortunate coincidence and a high price.
Nobody on the Good Fortune knew how to use the cannon, but fortunately, it wasn't necessary for actual combat. Just loading the gunpowder and stone shot and firing a shot was enough; upon hearing the cannon fire, even the toughest prey would surrender.
A large-caliber stone cannon could dispel any rchant ship's fantasies of boarding combat.
The rchant ship on the opposite side raised the Vineta naval flag, not softening at the knees just from a blast of the cannon? As for that naval flag, Gold didn't care much.
He was aware of the details of the various Alliance navies; there were many rchant ships registered with the navy. The weaker and less capable a rchant ship was of defending itself, the more it preferred to register with the navy of different countries, paying a protection fee and getting a naval flag in return.
A naval flag could possibly scare away ard rchant ships with malicious intentions, but it could not scare away Good Fortune Gold.
In the inland seas, ships co and go, why would I be afraid to rob you just because you hang a Vineta naval flag? Besides, on this vast sea, if I rob you, would the Vineta navy even know? And even if the Vineta navy knew, what could they do to ?
Moreover, this ti, Good Fortune Gold ca specifically for the naval flag. Three masts, a light vessel, registered under the Vineta navy, appearing here at this ti—all the intelligence confird it. No mistake, it was this ship!
Seeing the opponent had already raised the white flag and surrendered, the corners of Captain Gold's mouth almost split to his ears, and he was bursting with excitent: "I've struck it rich! This ti, I've struck it rich!"
Gold could hardly wait to board the ship ahead. To him, the Good Fortune's speed seed as slow as a turtle, and the rich prize within arm's reach made him anxious. He called to his first mate, "Do the rowers want to die? Are they not putting in the effort? Why are they rowing so slow? Go make them row with all their might!"
The first mate heeded Gold's command, grabbed a whip, and walked down to the open deck, starting to lash those wretched rowers on the lower decks.
Like the Bandit Gull, the Good Fortune had two decks, but both decks of the Good Fortune were above the waterline.
In fact, rather than saying the Good Fortune had two decks, it would be more accurate to say that the Good Fortune was a flat-bottod tub with an illegally added layer of a through-deck building acting as an open deck.
The rowers on the Good Fortune were positioned on the second deck, each with one foot chained next to the oar, without even space to turn around, they could only row.
The rowers weren't the pirates of the Good Fortune; no free man would willingly beco a rower. The rowers were sailors from the rchant ships that Good Fortune Gold had robbed.
The cargo was taken, the ship was sold, so of the sailors were sold off, and so were kept to row on the Good Fortune.
The rowers were shackled, eating, drinking, relieving themselves, and sleeping all next to the oar. Even when the pirates went ashore to rest, the rowers wouldn't be released.
With poor food, bad sleep, and high work pressure, even a strong man wouldn't last long in such conditions.
But luckily, there were always new victims to replace them. The rowers were just replaceable parts of the Good Fortune, needing replacent every so often.
For the rowers, there were only two ways out: die next to the oar or sohow manage to beco a pirate.
On the Good Fortune, there were ten rows of oars, each oar manned by two rowers, totaling forty rowers. Together with the more than fifty pirates, that was the entire crew of the Good Fortune.
Almost a hundred crew mbers for a ship of Good Fortune's size seed overly bloated. Thus, the Good Fortune had very poor self-sustainability, and it had to dock again for supplies and rest after only one or two days at sea.
Ordinary galleys had sailors who doubled as rowers. But on the Good Fortune, with the free labor from human beasts, the pirates naturally didn't want to also be rowers; they wanted to save their strength for possible hand-to-hand combat.
The Good Fortune closed in on the Bandit Gull until they were only a few ship-lengths away. Captain Gold directed the Good Fortune to intimidatingly circle around the Bandit Gull.
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