Chapter 68:Victory is Paul, Defeat is Paul
Translated by: Chua
Edited by:I and Elkassar
Sheyan remained perplexed after much thinking, he started to get ready to return to the deck. Undoubtedly, once he blended in with the pirates, then his safety and security would be guaranteed. When he strolled over, he roughly understood how this group managed to become part of the Flying Dutchman. That should be being a ‘scraper’ on this ship. This so called ‘scraper’ is a familiar term in the present world to Sheyan, but he wasn’t sure what the pirates in this caribbean world addressed this class as. He could only confirm the contents and nature of this job.
Because when a wooden ship voyages out for a time frame, even if it was extraordinarily constructed, there would still be abnormal growth of organisms from the warm, humid and moist nature of the ship. Examples of these are moss/algae, oysters, balanus other sea organisms. These organisms latch onto the bottom but do not affect much, after long periods it can result in a massive hidden danger. Therefore, these people are needed to cleanse the ship of these organisms, and thus they are called ‘scrapers’.
Of course to clean and safeguard the ship, the best solution is to enter a large scale dock, and isolate the ship completely from seawater. Followed by thoroughly cleaning and painting a layer of lacquer over the wood. But this era of maritime technology still has a long way to go, the only place that have large scale ship maintenance are at famous port cities, British Royal Navy ships enjoys such benefits, but pirate ships cannot. Therefore this ‘scraping’ job, requires people to submerge themselves into the water to accomplish it. This was no doubt an excruciatingly exhausting process.
However, this torturous process was essential, people who carried out ‘scraping’ duties are already used to hard work. Normally they were unwilling to work for the pirates because even striving so hard, they may not receive their remuneration. This wasn’t like the present world whereby there is a legal system and contracts. What more, these were greedy and cruel pirates who placed their brains in their pants. If they confronted them for money, it would most of the time result in their heads rolling.
But under such circumstances, these bunch of contestants announced their willingness to be ‘scrapers’, and did not want to be given high status. Therefore, being a temporary low grade crew member of the Flying Dutchman would not be a problem. Based on Sheyan’s experience, cleaning such a huge ship like the Flying Dutchman would require at least 7-8 days, and this only included the bottom part and not the sides of the ship. To those contestants, such a long time frame was definitely enough!
When Sheyan distinguished this information, he rounded a few corners and ascended up the stairs to the deck. No matter what these contestants wanted to do, blending in with the pirates would definitely be the safest option for Sheyan. Presently, it was roughly 3 in the afternoon, the sea breeze was gentle and the glaring sun rays caused his eyes to gradually squint. Unknowingly, a relevant phrase infiltrated his mind like the sun rays:
“I swear on my soul and blood, collaborating together from tomorrow, even our off springs will live in peace for many generations. Anyone violating this would have their blood vessels boil, breathing ceased, their flesh will decay under the scorching sun, and the breath of the earth will shackle their footsteps.”
“Bernard Fokke”
“Cooper Jones”
In this instance, Sheyan suddenly halted, and stood rooted as though struck by lightning. The originally warm caribbean breeze suddenly carried a murderous pressure, slashing against his skin. Initially those disorganized and disoriented thoughts suddenly started linking up together. The enshrouding fog concealing these contestants suddenly completely dissolved in front of Sheyan!
“Damned…..” Sheyan gritted his teeth exclaiming. He raised his head to look at the faraway captain’s room of Davy Jones. “This secret was meant for me to use in the future, never expected you guys to actually grasp this message……”
“Furthermore developing it to this extent! How could I allow you to have your way. Once you bunch of fools succeeded, then wouldn’t my invisible gain would receive a huge blow?”
Sheyan immediately started sprinting! Presently the deck was filled with pirates, but he did not care much as he knocked and brushed past them until he reached the captain’s room. He then grabbed hold of a pirate urgently asking.
“Is the captain in?”
That pirate was a confidante of Davy Jones. He instantly brushed away Sheyan’s hands, organizing his semi-crumpled collar and angrily said.
“Something cropped up, I reckon there’s a problem with the gunpowder. Boss went down to take a look.”
A gunpowder storehouse is naturally necessary in a pirate ship. If not, once they engage an enemy, they would be at a disadvantage without the explosive support of far range assaults. Instead, this gunpowder storage can likewise be a fatal component of a ship. Once an enemy’s blazing cannon ball smashes into the gunpowder storage, then undoubtedly the battle will abruptly conclude! Therefore, in this era, a battleship’s most protected and stringent place is not the cargo hold, but the gunpowder storage. Once there are any movements there, even a small problem would invite the personal attention of the captain.
After listening, without hesitation Sheyan sped down. Without caring for anything else he sprinted. In order to save the few precious seconds, he even ruthlessly broke open a railing and jumped down.
Regrettably, when Sheyan landed after smashing the wooden railing, he saw the back of Davy Jones standing metres away as he carefully inspected the lock of the gunpowder storeroom. Yet the youth that looked like little Lord Fokke was hiding in a narrow corner behind Davy Jones, the gap between them was roughly 15 metres. That youth had a black mask covering his face, he looked somewhat like Zorro as two contestants accompanied him.
Suddenly that youth stood out impulsively, his right hand holding onto a common flintlock musket in this era. He coldly laughed as he aimed at the back of Davy Jones, and pressed the trigger……
Bang!
In the instance of the gunfire, Davy Jones concurrently spun his head round. Looking at this arrogant demeanor, he seemed like he was looking at pathetic worm. He clutched the sabre on his waist, his eyes filled with murderous intent! Sheyan frantically shouted out.
“No! Boss! That’s the Fokke Family’s……”
But at this moment, Sheyan witnessed the contestant standing beside the youth turning around. His eyes….. That pair of clear abundantly penetrating eyes, stared into Sheyan’s eyes which reached into his heart! Although the appearance of the owner had changed, but the bizarre captivating magic within the pupils remained, causing people’s will-power to utterly collapse and their mental state to degenerate!
Sheyan could feel like the air around apparently stuck to his skin! Looking at this person’s action was like watching a slow-mo movement in the movies. That contestant raised his right hand, using his spotlessly white palm to face Sheyan! Although there wasn’t any tangible sign, Sheyan could feel an indescribable invisible wall surging forward!
He instantly covered his front with his hands, but still felt like a waving tremendous hammer smashing in. Sparks emerged in his sight, as he flew backwards from the impact, a spicy fishy smell shot up his throat and a searing pain electrified from his back. He could hear a series of wooden rustling sounds in his ear, obviously a few layers of the cabin wall had met with a calamity.
But before Sheyan flew backwards, he caught a glimpse of Davy Jones’s face changing greatly before he was about to counterattack. The initially beheading blade slicing through the air suddenly slanted, and chopped against the wall beside them causing wooden bits to spray forth everywhere and a piercing crackling sound. A gigantic scar of about 7-8 metres long resulted! It was like two invisible hands had swiftly smashing against the wooden walls! If the youth received this blow, half of his corpse would not even remain!
Simultaneously, a lead bullet ejected out from the flintlock musket in the Fokke family’s youth hands, mercilessly penetrating into Davy Jones’s chest! But with Davy Jones’s overwhelming strength, the tip of this lead bullet would only pierced his skin. Even so, Davy Jones nevertheless avoided to the side, this thick and violent pirate’s movement was displayed an alarming agility that left one speechless. One could tell that Sheyan’s shouting had given him ample warning.
Concurrently, Sheyan received a notification: Davy Jones friendship level + 20/ Caribbean pirate reputation + 2000/ Additional + 2000 from the crew of the Flying Dutchman.
Following the opponent’s last-minute failure, the pocket-size fishbowl in Davy Jones’s left hand suddenly jolted and extended out a tentacle!
When the tentacle extended out it was still fairly minute, but its reach was endless. Finally it transformed into a sharply red tentacle as thick as a human’s arm, its suckers covering the entire surface. This tentacle wrapped around Davy Jones’s body, the tip of the tentacle wriggled like human fingers, it looked like a little kid gently and cautiously fumbling around a marble with their fingers.
This tentacle’s target, was surprisingly that incoming lead bullet!!!