As the Captain's order was given, the Sailors became busy. The square sails on the three masts were taken down one by one. Immediately after, a tremor came from beneath the ship. Lex went to the ship's edge to look down, but saw nothing. He only saw the waves near the ship suddenly grow larger, as if some heavy object had fallen from inside the ship, creating ripples.
"What is a flywheel?" Edward's voice came. He was wearing a white linen shirt paired with beige trousers. If not for the recent tanning and roughening of his skin, even in such simple clothing, Edward's combined aura of a Poet and a painter would make it difficult to associate him with pirates.
"That's a man-powered device," Frank answered, not Lex. "The Wavebreaker has several massive flywheel devices at its bottom. In situations like this, the bottom plates open, allowing the flywheels to enter the Sea. Then, people manually pedal to make the flywheels rotate, allowing them to replace the sails, like a carriage traveling on the Sea."
Edward was greatly surprised, "There's actually such a device! How do you know about it? Have you seen it before?"
Frank shook his head and said, irrelevantly, "Just professional habit."
Lex guessed that after he boarded the Wavebreaker, he probably 'toured' the entire ship, inside and out. After all, he was a Thief, and it was normal for a thief to scout a place first.
Soon, Lex felt the ship move. He looked at the Sea, and the Wavebreaker was kicking up a wave, chasing the Intis merchant ship ahead at an even faster speed against the wind.
A moment later, the Intis merchant ship was already close at hand.
The Captain stood at the bow and shouted, "Ship ahead, listen up! I am Iron-Blooded Commodore Ken Angus. I order you to stop. This is for your own good."
"I don't have a habit of indiscriminate killing, so if you cooperate, I can guarantee that I will only plunder valuables, not kill anyone, nor abduct any of your personnel. But if you don't cooperate, then don't blame us for being impolite."
Although he shouted this, the Captain still made the 'prepare to fire' gesture. Second Mate Vincent, seeing this, immediately issued an order: "All cannons prepare, deterrent fire!"
"Three, two, one, fire!"
Boom, boom, boom—
Amidst the deafening roar of cannons, water columns erupted around the merchant ship. This was deterrent fire; the cannonballs only landed in the Sea, not directly hitting the ship.
However, the merchant ship still showed no intention of stopping; it seemed the Captain intended to put up a struggle.
Ken chuckled twice, picked up a megaphone, and yelled to the Sailors in the bottom cabin, "Lads, put in the same effort you would chasing a lady! Give it your all, let's catch up!"
The Wavebreaker immediately increased its speed, breaking through the waves, and pressed towards the Intis merchant ship, preparing to pull alongside its hull.
Lex vaguely heard someone on the opposite ship shout, 'Hard to starboard!' The merchant ship began to turn, to avoid exposing one side of its hull to the many muzzles of the Wavebreaker.
Ken no longer held back and made a gesture.
Vincent immediately roared, "Fire! Shoot!"
This was no longer a deterrent attack. Cannonballs flew across the water, hitting the merchant ship's deck, shattering its mast, and eliciting cries of alarm and screams from the ship opposite.
The Wavebreaker aggressively pulled alongside. Sailors who had prepared earlier on the deck immediately placed the wooden planks with hooks onto the hulls of both ships, then jumped onto the planks and rushed towards the deck of the opposite ship.
Lex, Edward, and Frank also followed the Sailors to the opposite merchant ship. Quincy was nowhere to be seen, likely having jumped off the ship earlier to infiltrate through the bottom cabin.
Upon landing on the deck, the merchant ship's guards were still resisting. Lex and his companions hid behind some cargo. Edward glanced at Lex, then began to recite a poem that could induce sleep.
Amidst the gunfire and cannon fire, Edward's poem drifted across the deck. Lex, hiding behind the cargo, immediately heard a series of thuds as people fell to the ground. Standing up, he saw that most of the merchant ship's guards had fallen, and the rest were struggling against the Sandman, looking like they could collapse into sleep at any moment.
"We surrender."
A tall, Bearded Man, clearly with Feynapotter racial features, placed a revolver on the deck: "Please don't harm us. Take whatever you want, but please leave us some food and water."
So decisive?
Lex thought he had misheard, because this Bearded Man was the merchant ship's Captain and the owner of these goods.
If you were going to surrender, why did you resist just now? I thought we were in for a big fight.
"What do you say?" the Bearded Man asked again.
Lex looked towards the Wavebreaker. It seemed Ken had completely left the matter here for Lex and his companions to handle. Even though the merchant ship had surrendered, the Captain showed no intention of coming over.
He looked at Edward and the other two, and seeing that they had no intention of taking over the conversation, he could only step forward and say, "No problem. As long as you cooperate, you will not be harmed."
"Are you the Captain?"
"Yes," the Bearded Man nodded.
Lex then said, "Then, call out all your people. I need to see every one of them on the deck. I don't want any interference when we move the cargo."
"Alright, please wait a moment." The Bearded Man turned around and called a tall, strong man.
His nearly two-meter height reminded Lex of Nafi, and he thought that this man must be the 'Warrior' among the three Beyonder on board.
"Go call everyone up, including that guest in my room," the Bearded Man instructed.
Guest?
What guest?
Lex looked towards the cabin, and suddenly had a strange feeling, as if something in the cabin was calling him.
He narrowed his eyes slightly and took a step forward: "Wait."
The Captain and the 'Warrior' both looked at him.
"I'll go down and check. You two stay on the deck, control the helm, and lower the sails. Don't let them escape." Lex gave instructions to Edward and the other two, then walked alone towards the cabin.
As he passed the Captain and the 'Warrior', he warned, "You are not to follow. Otherwise, you will bear the consequences."
Blood Praise was already in Lex's hand. He entered the cabin, descended the stairs, and arrived at the deck below.
Turning a corner, Lex saw a dimly lit passage. At the end of the passage was a staircase leading to another floor.
He trusted his spiritual intuition and, guided by his feelings, walked towards a room ahead.
On the door of that room hung a small ship's wheel. It looked like it should be the Captain's room.
When Lex reached that door, he suddenly jumped back. At the same time, a gunshot rang out from inside the door, and a bullet hole immediately appeared on the door.
Lex was not idle either. He pressed down his elbow, firmly gripped his revolver, and fired into the door and the wooden planks serving as the wall.
Bang bang bang bang—
So on the deck, everyone heard a burst of gunfire coming from inside the cabin.