At this moment, 'Skinny' Dako, who had been in a daze for a long time, jogged over with a fawning smile.
"Boss, I've long prepared!"
As he spoke, he kicked aside a wooden plank beside him. Within the lower cabin, there was a fish pond that couldn't be considered too small. Dozens of fishes were swimming within it.
Sheyan nodded with a stiff expression as he put on a pair of gloves. Then, he mechanically stuffed a gold coin into the belly of the fish. Naturally, the fish was in extreme agony. Sheyan then took out a wooden stopper and stuffed it into the mouth of the fish. Then, he tossed the fish into the sea.
Naturally, this half-metre long unlucky fish was doomed to die. However, the agony of death would cause it to frantically swim a hundred nautical miles, two hundred nautical miles? Actually, that wasn't important. What was important was that the Black Pearl had to divert its attention to hunt down these 'escaping' gold coins. That was Sheyan's objective.
After issuing the order to set sail, Sheyan continued working on the ship's bow. For some unknown reason, his every movement felt somewhat stiff. But since he didn't want to talk about it, it wasn't convenient for others to ask about it either.
Relying on his military rank privilege, Sheyan had already paid 10,000 utility points to obtain a crucial piece of information.
That was because the pirates of the Caribbean only had a general sense of the Aztec gold coins. They were unable to pinpoint the exact location of the gold coins. At most, they could only determine the approximate location of the gold coins within a few hundred square metres.
For example, Sheyan had 821 gold coins here, and a fish 300 nautical miles away had a gold coin in its belly. Thus, they could only determine that Sheyan's current coordinates contained a gold coin, while the fish 300 nautical miles away also contained a gold coin. They had no way of knowing that capturing Sheyan's location was the most efficient method.
Following the release of fishes with gold coins in their bellies, the crew of the Black Pearl were evidently at a loss. To them, every single Aztec gold was something they had to obtain. This signified that for a long period of time, they would have to switch professions and become fishermen.
After releasing seven fishes, Sheyan halted his actions. With the addition of his own Dingyuan, the bewilderment was sufficient. What they needed to do now was to sail for another 100-200 nautical miles before releasing another 7-8 fishes. After that, they would continue sailing towards the nearest continent to Treasure Island.
Previously, there were also pirates who intended to seize the opportunity while the dugongs were being slaughtered, to plunder the treasures of the Black Pearl. Instead, they were ambushed by the dugongs not long after they entered the water, and suffered disastrous deaths. They could only sigh deeply, as they departed with the Black Pearl. Fortunately, Sheyan managed to scoop up a few valuable items, such as the Heart of the Ocean, which occupied a small area but had a high value ….
*****
Twelve hours later.
The Dingyuan had long left the region of the Sea of Disorientation. The blue sky, white clouds, and the boundless sea presented itself before everyone's eyes. The heavy bow of the ship cut deeply into the blue ocean, splashing a large amount of white waves. The oarsmen by the side were divided into three shifts, as they forcefully pulled the two meter long oars, propelling this heavy ship swiftly into the distance.
At present, after the Dingyuan's speed had been enhanced, it was basically comparable to an ordinary merchant ship. In other words, if there weren't any external disturbances, it would only require two days to traverse 1300 nautical miles.
"It's about time." At present, Sheyan stood at the ship's bow and spoke with an expressionless face. "If the Black Pearl is truly as miraculous as Mister Shawen described, then it's definitely 50 nautical miles behind our butts."
At this moment, another cage appeared by Sheyan's side. Within the cage were seabirds. Sheyan then placed gold coins into a tiny leather pouch, before tying the leather pouch to the seabird's claw.
"Fly, my friend."
Within a short span of time, 10 seabirds carrying gold coins and 10 fishes that were forced to swallow the gold coins were released. They all flew in different directions, and would undoubtedly bring immense trouble to the mighty Captain Barbossa and the Black Pearl pirates.
"If we do this, Barbossa and his crew will have no chance of catching up to us." Brother Black couldn't help but exclaim.
Instead, Sheyan shook his head and replied.
"That's not necessarily the case. Initially, we can obviously confuse Barbossa. But when we're halfway through our voyage, Barbossa will definitely be able to deduce from our course, that our objective is to reach that new continent. By doing so, we can stifle the Black Pearl's greatest advantage. When that happens, they can only pursue the gold coins that are moving towards the new continent. Under such circumstances, relying on the Black Pearl's formidable speed, the distance between both parties will definitely shrink. If my estimations aren't wrong, the truly difficult voyage will be within the last 100 nautical miles of the new continent! "
Brother Black suddenly suggested.
"We can threaten them by tossing the gold coins into the deep sea. That's what the female pig did in the movies."
"She can do that, but we can't." Sheyan calmly replied. "Don't forget, this is a world of magic. A gold coin dropped into the deep sea can be retrieved by sea creatures. But I reckon that will probably consume a great deal of Barbossa's energy. More importantly, the reason Barbossa compromised with Swan Elizabeth was because he suspected Swan Elizabeth's blood was the final step to breaking the curse. Therefore, what Barbossa was truly afraid of was Swan Elizabeth committing suicide, and not the gold coins!"
After listening to Sheyan's reply, Reef gazed at him. After a brief pause, he finally asked.
"Why do I feel like you've become strange?"
Sheyan lowered his eyes and refused to look at him.
"Do I?"
Reef sighed and frowned as he sized up Sheyan.
"I can't pinpoint what's strange about you, it's just …... probably because you've been too nervous recently."
Sheyan's lips twitched slightly. For some unknown reason, this action of his was inexplicably reminiscent of a withered leaf falling down.
"Yes, you've been too nervous."
*****
It was less than sixty nautical miles away from the new continent.
Less than half an hour after the trio released ten birds and ten fishes, the sails of the Black Pearl could be seen afar on the distant sea surface.
Under the surveillance and judgement of the naked eye radar, Barbossa, the old sea wolf, was no longer bewitched. He latched onto the Dingyuan tightly.
It was black and abrupt, as if it wanted to pierce into the sky.
It was like a dark cloud that was about to cover the sea.
The Black Pearl had arrived!
Party Ace had, in fact, done their best to sail all the way here, but it was still too early to say that all their efforts were in vain.
The atmosphere on the ship instantly turned solemn. Standing at the bow, Sheyan calmly issued a series of orders.
"Bring Shawn up here."
"Red Beard in position. Gunner in position."
"Sailor in position."
"Nannuke in position."
"All oarsmen, get in and paddle at full speed."
"… …"
"Rumble rumble rumble!!"
A short minute later, the 16 curved cannons that were pushed to the stern of the ship simultaneously sprayed out tongues of flame. This was the first test fire organized by Red Beard!
This time, the majority of the cannons landed around the Black Pearl, stirring up sky-high splashes. One could tell that the cannons that Sheyan had painstakingly assembled weren't useless.
Red Beard's hoarse voice resounded once again.
"Hinge.... all hands reload with hinge shells!"
Hinge shells were specially designed to deal damage to the masts and sails of enemy ships. The cannons were similar to meteor hammers, consisting of two iron balls and a 3-5 metre long iron chain. Once fired, it would tighten in mid-air before spiralling at high speed; extremely incisive.
"Boom boom boom!" After the muffled cannons sounded out, black smoke pervaded the air. Fortunately, the sea breeze dispersed it in a flash. The combined might of 16 cannons was truly terrifying. One could observe that one of the masts of the Black Pearl had collapsed, while the sails beside it were ripped apart. In a flash, the ship's speed plummeted.
Yet at this moment, an ear piercing whistle resounded through the air. The Black Pearl wasn't willing to passively receive a beating and had begun retaliating. 2-3 plumes of black smoke billowed out from the bow of the ship. Very quickly, several water columns could be seen soaring out from 200 metres away from the Dingyuan. Naturally, in terms of cannons firing range, the Black Pearl was inferior to the Dingyuan.
Soon after, the lookout reported that the Black Pearl was undergoing repairs to its masts with astonishing speed, and was rapidly recovering its speed. Shawn sullenly replied.
"I suggest splitting half of the cannons to aim at the Black Pearl's bow. Once it's struck, it can't be repaired with the ability of carpentry. It can only be allowed to slowly and automatically repair itself. This process will take up to 12 hours, and will instantly reduce the movement speed of the Black Pearl by 15%."
Sheyan instantly accepted the suggestion, leaving only 4 cannons to continue bombarding the Black Pearl's sails with chain cannons. Then, the remaining 12 cannons switched to solid cannons to concentrate their firepower on the bow of the ship!
After a tenacious 10 minutes of suppressive firepower, a plume of black smoke finally billowed out. The crew of the Black Pearl scurried around like ants, as a mournful shrill resounded from the sea surface. The bow of the Black Pearl appeared to have been struck by a 5 pound solid lead bullet, as faint white smoke billowed out. Then, it congealed into the bust of a mermaid, before it distorted and dissipated. Evidently, it had suffered considerable damage. (To be continued. If you like this work, I welcome you to cast your recommendation votes or monthly votes at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
