Chapter 1 Armand

Captain Armand was already somewhat skeptical of Fang Senyan's claim to be a sailor from the East—even in the real world, employees exaggerating their abilities during job applications was commonplace. However, after seeing his performance, he immediately dismissed his doubts. No matter how well someone could feign it, in the face of the sea's power, the stability and calmness possessed only by veteran sailors could never be faked!

On the other hand, that unlucky fellow Kerry's leg injury hadn't fully healed, and the rocking of the ship made him vomit so badly that he nearly brought up all his bile. However, Kerry's previous insistence on his close relationship with Fang Senyan now played a significant role. Ben Mogan, who had suffered the most at Fang Senyan's hands, scurried around serving him, seemingly adopting a roundabout strategy, hoping that this cousin/lifesaver would say a few good words to Fang Senyan and prevent the tragic fate of being kicked out of the cabin to sleep outside again.

The wind on the sea gradually grew stronger, and the waves rose and fell in layers. Just looking at the momentum of the ups and downs gave one a sense of the irresistible power of heaven and earth. Looking down from above, the Bell and Goblet, displacing six hundred tons and carrying two hundred people, resembled a falling leaf, floating and sinking in the vast ocean, seemingly on the verge of capsizing at any moment.

But at that moment, a huge flash of light suddenly appeared in the distant sky! It was as if a dazzling lightning bolt had pierced the sky in an instant. In that instant, the skin of everyone who looked at the lightning was stained with a layer of luster, as if the lightning had come to life and was wandering on their skin, even their pupils were desolate. And the lookout Buvat on the mast was already shouting loudly:

"The Flying Dutchman is signaling!"

"The enemy is to the west, eleven nautical miles away!"

Fang Senyan knew the origin of the light just now, because he had heard people in the bar say that Blackbeard, the captain of the legendary pirate warship Queen Anne's Revenge, was proficient in black magic. This was the striking warning mark he released, but this magic had no attack power at all and could be regarded as a Caribbean pirate version of a large firework. By the time of Pirates of the Caribbean 4, Blackbeard was even able to put legendary pirate ships like the Black Pearl into a rum bottle as a collection, which shows the brilliance of his black magic abilities.

Seeing the fireworks, Armand's body was as straight as a gun, and he had put on a deep black commander's hat at some point. With a "铮" sound, he drew out the rapier from his waist and shouted:

"Hard to port! Raise the jibs, full speed west!"

At this time, Armand's whole body flashed with dazzling white light. Under the direction of his sword, the entire ship was shrouded in a faint white light. Obviously, the ship's special ability: Slipstream has begun to take effect, greatly increasing the speed when sailing against the wind! The speed of this pirate ship increased again, accelerating towards the west. According to Fang Senyan's visual estimate, the increase in its movement speed was at least 30%!

Although the ship accelerated forward, by the time it entered the battlefield, it was already in full swing! Without a doubt, the Black Pearl, the king of speed in the Caribbean, was always the first to arrive at the battlefield and launch an attack, followed closely by the Endeavour, which also had acceleration abilities. The two warships of the invincible fleet were forced to appear to meet the challenge. Immediately afterwards, the Flying Dutchman arrived and sent out a signal. When the Bell and Goblet broke through a huge wave and rushed into the battlefield, three merchant ships were already exposed like undefended lambs!

"Ready~~~~fire!" Armand raised his silver rapier again! With that forceful downward swing, the Bell and Goblet leaned to the right, while ten tongues of fire spewed out from the left! White mist filled the air, and the ten carronades installed on the port side began to fire. But the Spanish merchant Fernandez was notorious for selling slaves in the early days, so how could he be an easy target? His three ships were no less inferior to warships in terms of water displacement or tonnage. They were veritable armed merchant ships. The ten cannons fired by the Bell and Goblet successfully hit at most two or three shots, which did not pose a major threat to the thick-skinned armed merchant ships at all!

However, Armand didn't seem to have placed too much hope on his ship's shelling in the first place. After firing a few symbolic rounds, he directly ordered to get closer, preparing to board! For the captain of a pirate ship, this was also their favorite approach, because once the boarding was successful, they would not only be able to plunder as much wealth as possible, but also capture the entire merchant ship. Of course, the risk of boarding and the sailor's attrition rate were also quite alarming.

Despite the towering waves and rolling white waves, the Bell and Goblet relied on its extremely fast speed to quickly sail parallel to the clumsy merchant ship on the left, and the distance between the two rapidly shortened! Seeing that boarding was about to succeed, Fang Senyan suddenly felt a huge pressure coming straight from the left. This pressure was invisible and intangible, but it was overwhelmingly fierce. Not only was it difficult to resist, but even a touch would immediately shatter one's bones!

Fang Senyan immediately pounced out and lay prone on the deck. He took the opportunity to pull down Kerry, who was at a loss next to him. This guy had just recovered and wanted to come out of the bottom cabin for some air. As a result, Fang Senyan grabbed his ankle and dragged him down, falling face first into the mud, his nose bleeding profusely, and even knocking out almost two front teeth. This guy was whimpering and barely raised his head, wanting to burst into swear words, but in that instant, he saw in horror that the ship's planks on the left facing this side suddenly opened with a crackling sound, revealing a row of neat and unparalleled black muzzles, densely pointing over. When everyone was still a little at a loss, a full thirty-seven brand-new heavy cannons produced by the Sesk-Zippolyovska arms factory simultaneously spewed out terrifying flames!

In that instant, the Bell and Goblet, which was sailing at high speed, suddenly trembled, and was forcibly shifted laterally by seven or eight meters, as if an invisible giant hand had heavily pushed it from the left. At least twenty heavy solid cannonballs successfully bombarded its hull. It could be clearly seen that a large cloud of dust erupted from the starboard side of the Bell and Goblet, a tragic scene composed of a large number of shattered wood fragments and even flesh and blood! The owner of this merchant ship, Fernandez, was so good at forbearance that he didn't reveal his trump card until this moment!

This salvo caused truly heavy losses to the Bell and Goblet. Because of the imminent boarding, at least 70% of the pirates were gathered on the deck with excitement. This painstakingly planned salvo killed or injured at least one-third of the manpower, and some pirates were even pushed into the sea alive by the air waves set off by the cannonballs. Among the people who were reduced and fell down was the first mate, Scarface Henry. This burly and forthright giant was hit in the head by a piece of ship plank the size of a washbasin because he was trying to help his companions. Not only did his head instantly become a river of blood, but he also fell into a coma, not knowing whether he was alive or dead.

Fortunately, the cannons of this era were still in a relatively backward state. After firing once, they had to go through complex and cumbersome procedures such as cleaning the barrel and reloading the gunpowder. Moreover, for Fernandez, his job was still a merchant, not a soldier, and the sailors he hired were not skilled professional gunners, so the firing interval during this period was relatively long. This undoubtedly gave the battle-hardened Armand enough time to counterattack!

"Turn the rudder seventy degrees!"

Armand's body was still standing upright, only his eagle-like eyes were particularly sharp and vicious. His voice whipped the pirates next to him like a whip! Making them immediately jump up instinctively to carry out the order.

"Sail three! The starboard side is exposed to the wind!"

"Lower four sails!"

As this series of orders were issued, Armand strode to the main mast, raised the rapier in his hand and flicked it. The huge mainsail slid down in an instant, with a hulong peng sound. The silver rapier in Armand's hand emitted a dazzling white light, covering the entire ship and echoing the ram at the tip of the ship. The entire Bell and Goblet began to move sideways in an instant! When it was hit by the cannon, it was parallel to this merchant ship, so this sudden change of direction now formed a T-shape with this merchant ship!

In that instant, the waves crashed head-on like a wall, but the Bell and Goblet broke through the huge waves at this moment, splashing up a sky full of water. Relying on the high inertia that had not yet been eliminated, it crashed headlong into the enemy ship!

If the Bell and Goblet was like a drifting and tenacious slender willow leaf in the vast ocean, then at this moment, at this moment when its captain completely dominated it! This pirate ship transformed into the sharp blade of the silver rapier in his hand! Slender, elegant, cruel, and indestructible! Aiming at the enemy's abdomen with a reckless madness, it stabbed in headfirst!

..............

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