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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Twenty-Three: Hunting
"Captain, what should we do?"
On the Merchant Ship, everyone was in a panic upon realizing that the attacking Pirate Crew was the Dominique Pirate Crew.
"Should we run?" Jozef asked the captain, his eyes fixed on him.
The captain shook his head and said, "No, let's not. We shouldn't repeat what happened last time when we tried to escape. Dominic and his crew boarded our ship and killed two of our men. It's better not to provoke them."
Seeing the Pirate Crew early on and avoiding them was not a viable option.
Even if the Pirate Crew caught up with them, as long as they negotiated in time, most of the time it wouldn't lead to murder.
If there were killings, they would report it to the Navy, which would significantly increase the chances of being listed as wanted. The bounty on them would rise, and they might even be actively pursued.
However, if it was just a robbery, often it was better to avoid trouble. The Merchant Association would only file a report, and pirates wouldn't be taken seriously.
Thus, facing the ruthless Dominique Pirate Crew, the Merchant Association had no plans to leave.
"Then let's just hand over the goods to them. It seems we're going to lose some of our profits again."
Jozef said regretfully, then turned to Marcel and said, "Marcel, you should go below deck."
"I-I’m not afraid," Marcel shouted loudly.
"This isn't a matter of fear."
Jozef rubbed his head and said, "When you see them, you'll feel sorrow."
Marcel shook his head and replied earnestly, "I won't feel sorrow again. I will remember their faces, and sooner or later, I will kill them to avenge my parents."
"Alright then, but you need to stand back and not get too close to them."
Jozef sighed and cautioned him, pulling Marcel to a distance.
The Merchant Ship lowered its sails, no longer attempting to escape.
Before long, the Dominique Pirate Crew approached, with pirates on board brandishing their blades, their faces fierce as they uttered strange sounds.
Bang.
The Pirate Ship collided diagonally with the Merchant Ship, and one by one, the pirates jumped onto the Merchant Ship, the last being an extremely overweight man who bent his legs slightly as he boarded.
Thud.
His body crashed onto the deck with a muffled sound.
This was Dominic, the leader of the Dominique Pirate Crew. He was stout and menacing, dressed in a vest with three knife scars across his chest, wielding a massive cleaver in his right hand.
Following him, two individuals boarded the Merchant Ship.
One of them was tall and thin, with a Moxi hairstyle and an extremely ugly horse-like face, carrying two Katanas at his waist.
The other was robust, holding a Firearm in his right hand.
The arrival of the three made the surrounding pirates part ways.
"Is it you?"
Dominic spotted the captain, raised an eyebrow, and burst into laughter. "What a coincidence! I ran into you half a month ago. Since you have experience now, why don’t you just carry the goods out and hand them over to me?"
"Lord Dominic, please consider that the time interval is too short. Could you show some mercy and let us go? Last time you robbed us, each of us faced punishment from the Merchant Association. If you take our money and goods again this time, we really won’t be able to hold on any longer." The captain stepped forward, wearing a mournful expression.
Dominic squinted and replied, "Are you suggesting that we make this trip for nothing?"
"Not at all."
The captain quickly responded, "Lord Dominic, we hope you will leave the goods for us. We are willing to offer a reward for retrieving them this time."
"Stop wasting words."
The tall, thin man couldn't help but interject, drawing a knife and glaring at the captain. "We want the money, and we want the goods."
“Leo.”
Upon hearing this, Dominic patted him on the back and remained silent for a moment before saying, “We shouldn’t rob you too many times. Hand over the money you have, and I’ll let you go. Oh, and the wine too. Give us the wine you brought.”
“Sure, thank you, Lord Dominic.”
The captain quickly replied and instructed everyone to take out their money to hand over to Dominic.
“This is too little.”
Leo frowned, but Dominic waved his hand dismissively and said, “Forget it; they have it tough as well.”
“Bring the wine to Lord Dominic.”
The captain ordered some men to bring out four or five crates of wine from the cargo hold and placed them on the deck.
“Not bad. Take it back.”
Dominic glanced at the wine, nodded, and instructed the pirates behind him to carry the wine back to the Pirate Ship.
“Well then, we’ll be on our way.”
Dominic waved his hand, and the remaining pirates retreated back onto the ship.
Dominic walked to the edge of the ship, just about to leave when he lightly said, "Hey, why are you looking at me so fiercely?"
Accompanying his words, Gunner raised the Firearms in his hand, aiming at Marcel in the distance.
Hearing this, Marcel froze in place, and Jozef quickly shielded him with his body.
"I'm sorry, Lord Dominic. He's just a child; I hope you can forgive him," the captain hurriedly said.
"Hmph."
Dominic snorted coldly, waved his hand dismissively, and turned to board the Pirate Ship.
Leo and Gunner followed him onto the ship, which then started up and slowly departed.
"Marcel."
The captain glared coldly at the boy in the distance and said, "You almost got yourself killed, do you know that?"
"Yes, I'm sorry."
Marcel lowered his head, his eyes reddening.
"Your actions could very well endanger others."
The captain spoke with some anger, but then he remembered that his father had been killed by Dominic right in front of him on this ship. He sighed and said, "Marcel, you need to control others; never let your hatred show to the enemy."
"I'll remember that," Marcel nodded, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand while Jozef patted his head beside him.
...
"This time, the haul was too little."
On the Pirate Ship, Leo complained, "Boss, why did we let them go this time? The ship was heavily laden; there must have been a lot of valuable cargo. Why didn't we seize it?"
"Let them go? Johnson, I didn't let them go," Dominic sneered.
Leo's eyes brightened as he asked, "What do you mean, boss?"
Dominic replied, "Let me ask you this: if we take their cargo, what good will it do us? Most of it is daily necessities in large quantities. We can't use it all or sell it; keeping it would only be a waste. What’s the point of taking it?"
Johnson thought for a moment and said, "Last time, we sold the cargo at a discount to a black market dealer from Goa Kingdom and got very little money in return."
"So we should wait until they convert it into cash and then go seize it?" Leo asked excitedly.
Dominic nodded and said, "Anyway, we know the location of the Shining Gold Consortium and where they are headed. After seven or eight days, we'll ambush them and take all their money."
"Boss is brilliant," Leo flattered from the side.
"They're such fools for believing the boss," Johnson chuckled.
"And there's more!" Dominic said with a grim expression. "Next time we encounter them, we need to kill that bastard. I don't like being looked at like that."
As he spoke, a cruel smile appeared at the corner of Dominic's mouth.
But just then, from afar beneath the water, a dark shadow rushed toward them.
"You are my prey; just stay here."
Black Fish approached the Pirate Ship, its massive head crashing directly into the side of the vessel.
Boom.
A loud sound echoed as the wooden planks of the ship splintered, creating a large hole.
The details have been revised:
Some readers asked if fish have eyelids. Fish do not have eyelids, but the protagonist does. In Chapter Seven, the protagonist develops eyelids primarily to defend against fish attacks, and this setting has been maintained.
However, the question made me realize that this could be an issue. The protagonist would not have developed eyelids in their environment, nor could they grow eyelids by consuming fish. There is also no necessity for them to develop eyelids; if it were due to inherent evolutionary genes, it wouldn't be required.
Therefore, I removed the description of eyelids and replaced it with the nictitating membrane of sharks, which can retract to protect the eyes.
The nictitating membrane is part of the eyelid and is present in sharks, amphibians, animals, and humans.
Sharks and amphibians have a nictitating membrane similar to that of kingfishers, which can close horizontally.
Of course, eyelids will appear later and will evolve based on the nictitating membrane.
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