The seawater was crystal clear. A gentle warm breeze scattered the rain clouds overhead, revealing the boundless sea below.
A man wearing a White Star Robe was slowly swimming through these waters.
He had been swimming for a long time, yet the endless ocean around him still had no visible edge. He felt somewhat helpless. The organization had only told him there were fluctuations from Talismans here; there were no other clues at all.
Taking a deep breath, he did not dare stop. As for why he was not standing on the water's surface, it was simple: it was not that he did not want to, but that he could not use Chakra. As for the reason, it was inconvenient to say. A ninja without Chakra was not much stronger than an ordinary person, so he had to remain extremely vigilant.
Gentle sunlight spread across the sea. A few white seagulls occasionally flew over the glittering waters, while a wooden three-masted sailing ship drifted on the surface.
The three-masted ship was over twenty meters long, with a slender, streamlined hull. It did not carry many cannons, because maintaining high speed required reducing its draft. Cannons could be taken from other ships, and only one kind of people used this sort of vessel: those who preyed upon the weak wherever they went.
This kind of fast ship had many flaws. Its long, narrow hull sacrificed the transport capacity and stability a ship ought to have, while its lighter weight made it difficult for it to withstand even several rounds of cannon fire. Yet those flaws also gave it exceptional mobility. Pirate ships were meant to raid merchant and supply vessels in the first place, and those ships were not heavily armed. By the time escort ships arrived, pirates could already slip