Chapter 43: Real intention is revealed in the end
Translated by: Chua
Edited by:I and Elkassar
Currently, people still highly valued oaths and contracts. After seeing the signal flare, pirate ships immediately leaned over to aid. However, the legendary pirate ships, Queen Anne’s Revenge and the Flying Dutchman unusually chose to take a neutral stance, raising their sails sailing away into the distance. Although many pirates flogged over to help, the Black Pearl’s Captain Old Jack and chief officer Jack Sparrow did not surface. This caused the pirates to sink into an individual battle, a group without a head giving rise to a particularly chaotic situation.
Ammand had also stepped out to the deck, resting his hand on the hilt of his silver sword. He stared at the white haired rider on the Black Pearl as his eyes leaked out a murderous gaze, his ambitions on the verge of bursting forth! A few days ago when battling against the Paragon fleet, Ammand’s reputation had rose to number 1 just beneath the other 3 legendary pirate ship captains. Ever since, he was like the head of the pack, if he could oppose the Tortuga’s owner by himself and lead the masses to a victory, then his reputation would surely not be second to the likes of Blackbeard, and Davy Jones. Surpassing them in the future would definitely not be a difficult thing!
Just as Ammand had decided to give his orders, Sheyan took a deep breath and called out.
“Captain! If I didn’t see wrongly, the one on top of the Black Pearl should be Little Lord Fokke right?”
Ammand tilted his head, his eyes glimmering as he replied.
“That’s right.”
Sheyan glanced at him without fear saying.
“Although we don’t know the reason for Little Lord Fokke’s fanatical attacks on the Black Pearl, but right now the whole Tortuga nest had come out, their guarding forces are extremely thin!”
Till here, Sheyan’s eyes exhibited a greedy flash, lowering his voice and schemingly asked.
“Why don’t we make a little fishing trip?”
Ammand’s heart was stirred, he swept the battlefield again with his eyes. Currently, there were at least 5-6 ships that responded to the call, completely sealing the waters around the Black Pearl. Fire sounds from the muskets boomed in multiple successions, smoke had engulfed the area and the hand-to-hand combat was at its climax. The spectacle was desperate and chaotic. If they rushed over, there would be difficulties for the Bell and Mug to close in, why not assault Tortuga castle, which was staying clear of the enemy’s main force and striking at its weak point! If they could force Little Lord Fokke to return, then no doubt the credit would be his to take. Even if Little Lord Fokke was stubborn and persisted on, they would still fish up bountiful loot!
In short, plundering was more pleasurable than rescuing.
Even though his heart had already acknowledged Sheyan’s suggestion, Ammand purposely paused for a moment. After deliberating through thoroughly, his hungry eyes emitted a verdant ray, using a greedy expression and declared.
“En, that is my exact sentiments.”
The pirates simultaneously cheered! They were ready to bleed and strive, but on one side after risking their lives in a wild slaughter they would only receive a word of thanks from their ally. On the other side, they could avoid the chaos, and carry their plundering. Even a fool would choose the better path.
Ammand’s wit was profound, just a light sentence was needed to steal Sheyan’s suggestion as his, he completely marginalized him.
“Xiaer, Matt.”
“This time you guys lead the way, bring a few young guys with you! But don’t bring too many to prevent other bastards from catching onto us, the quick-footed will climb up first.” After calling out these two names, his lips curled into a sinister grin!
“The peace has been established for far too long, they actually made the first move against the pirates! Let them have a taste of blood and steel!”
Electing Xiaer was not at all by chance, logically it should be the chief officer Harry that should lead, however his head injury from the Paragon fleet battle had not healed completely. Therefore, Xiaer was naturally the next in command, but for Blind Matt this vice crew head, his election seemed to be random but was actually considered. The Fokke family had governed Tortuga port for an entire 70 years, the riches it contained should probably pile up like mountains, once breaching through, the rewards would be immeasurable.If he did not have his trusted aide in Blind Matt to keep watch, how would Ammand let Xiaer go in peace?
Ammand as a ship’s commander had already elaborately considered, as a future pirate lord, Ammand was obviously not someone that would be easily blinded by riches. Although Tortuga castle’s hidden 70 years of wealth was simply alluring, tonight’s events were extremely strange. The Black Pearl was actually assaulted by Little Lord Fokke, according to logic, both like-minded legendary pirate ship actually chose to spectate. At least half of the pirate ships were also biding their time. Under such circumstances, risking danger and attacking is essential, but more critically they had to first locate a retreating route for the Bell ad Mug! Furthermore Ammand’s perceptive sensing was outstanding, he could feel a faint feeling of extreme danger in his heart. Thus, he calculated that he should not step out of his own ship tonight.
From Ammand’s perspective, by staying guard on this ship, then when the pirates return from a rewarding journey, they would return to the Bell and Mug. Furthermore if there was an unforeseen hazard, Ammand could immediately raise his sails and flee. This ship was specialized in speed, if their pursuers were neither the Black Pearl nor the british royal navy flagship, they had nothing to fear and could easily escape! Therefore, keeping watch is Ammand’s exceptionally shrewd behavior, it was a brilliant move that could easily attack or retreat.
Time rapidly sped by, very swiftly almost 2 hours had past. The battle atop the Black Pearl continued, Ammand’s good pirate captain friends sent bits and pieces of reports overtime.
In the report it mentioned that during 5 in the afternoon, Tortuga castle had dispatched its butler to invite the captain of the Black Pearl and its chief officer Jack Sparrow to attend a banquet. Saying that they needed to negotiate about this year’s sugar cane quota. However only Old Jack attended while chief officer Jack Sparrow did not.
Another report mentioned that someone spotted the chief officer Jack Sparrow at the west of the island.
The last piece of report mentioned that somehow Tortuga castle had obtained news of the pirates wanting to revolt against the port and ransack it. Therefore, they took the first strike.
All this information was extremely messy, truths and false could not be differentiated. This witty Ammand actually sunk into a period of deep thinking. Attempting to connect such a messy picture and seek for the truth now was simply an arduous and unrewarding journey. There was one crucial point: Sheyan may not be the only person that thought of Tortuga castle’s slim defence at the moment. The reason why Sheyan’s primary reaction amidst this social upheaval was because he already had some sort of mental preparation for this situation. Furthermore, triggering this atrocity of plundering Tortuga castle and even thousand of other scenarios were earlier swirling through Sheyan’s mind previously. Therefore, he appeared calm and cool-head in the face of such an event.
Visibly, a few pirate ships had already begin to raise their skull flags, and started to send their subordinates to rush into the familiar streets of Tortuga, except this time they frantically brandished their sabres and held the identity of a pirate instead of a civilian. Instead the merchants or workers in the port were also not sitting ducks, thus in a brief moment, the entire bustling tortuga port was thrown into a smoky bloodbath.
Ammand towered at the tip of the Bell and Mug, his back was perfectly straight. He folded his hands and gazed at the distant and chaotic tortuga port, his gaze had gradually intensified. Standing beside him, Sheyan was also breathing deeply in the faint traces of smoke brought about by the breeze of the Caribbean sea. It seemed like he was concerned, but deep within his heart was a cold grin.
“Things were actually going as planned….”
To the Sheyan who single-handedly constructed this storyline, he could clearly guess what Ammand was worrying about. It was obviously the small plundering task force that comprised of Blind Matt and Xiaer. Based on the time, if things went smoothly for the task force, they should have already sent back a report, any delays would undoubtedly mean two possibilities:
A possibility: After successfully infiltrating into the defenceless Tortuga castle, they looted an immense amount of treasure.
B possibility: The infiltration was not smooth, casualties were heavy.
If possibility A arises, then the pirates enroute back to the Bell and Mug had lost control due to the chaos happening on the streets of the port. After those red eyed greedy pirates had noticed Xiaer’s group carrying the huge loot, even fools could guess what they would do! Xiaer’s group would definitely be surrounded and suffered heavy casualties!
No matter what the outcome, this dispatched pirate task force would definitely suffer from the lack of manpower! This was definitely not what Ammand hoped to see, the Bell and Mug had already recently lost too many capable members. Once this dispatched task force met with any accidents, Ammand’s personal powers could no longer be described as heavy injuries, it was like sliding down by 1 grade. This was not inclusive of the spoils of war that they successfully looted.
In a moment, the surrounding people all recognized Ammand’s hesitation and hard-pressed predicament, but nobody said anything, nobody dared to say anything. This scenario had sunk into an embarrassingly silent situation, only the sound of waves and muffled fighting was clear to the ears. Ammand gazed at the blazing red Tortuga night sky, his right hand subconsciously pressing onto the hilt of his sword, clutching it tightly and loosening his grip. Clutching again and loosening, it seemed like a decision was tough to make.
Suddenly Sheyan gasped.
In the gathering dusk, the sea humbly swayed.
Sheyan stood at the edge of the ship, his body apparently blending into the deep and boundless sea. It brought an unexplainable mysteriousness and peculiarity.
His gasp sounded like correlated with the ocean’s tide, after awhile he finally said a sentence.
This sentence was directed while looking into Ammand’s eyes. It was extremely sincere, coming from the bottom of the heart.
But only a well-informed person could decipher the degree of shamelessness carried in this phrase! This phrase had been planned for a long time, painstakingly with much effort. But this phrase completely striked the crux of this puzzle, thus completely revealing his real intentions of this set up at the end!