Speak Your Mind, That's My Ninja Way!

Waiting and waiting.

Urging, urging, and urging again.

Minkler endured day after day, pacing around the coastal compound like some modified worker who had slipped out of Zero Workshop. After Lu Feng had cursed him out all the way and bailed him out of the Security Team several times, he finally received word that Ji Jue was ready to depart.

And then Minkler's world came crashing down.

"What is this?"

At the secret harbor outside New Spring, at the smuggling dock, Minkler stared dumbfounded at the rust-covered, creaking thing before him, which looked like it might fall apart in a gust of wind.

Ji Jue answered calmly, "A ship."

"You call this a ship?"

Minkler was nearly losing his mind. He raised a hand and knocked on the hull, only for rust flakes to come raining down with a clatter.

Just look at it—one kick and chunks would fall off. Forget rough seas; a slightly sharp turn might make the whole thing come apart! Even if you'd brought a speedboat, I'd have called it a case of swift troops winning the day!

He reached out and scratched at the hull, easily peeling away a huge sheet of paint. His face grew paler and paler. "Don't tell me it'll sink before we even reach Seven Cities!"

"How dare you! This is the Coast's elite force—stout ships and mighty guns!"

Ji Jue flew into a rage. "Don't go mistaking treasure for trash! I've brought out my best hidden stock!"

No matter how Minkler pleaded and reasoned with him, Ji Jue would not budge. There was only this one ship, only himself, and this was all the reinforcements there would be. Take it or leave it—there was nothing else.

If that didn't work, he could give Minkler a broken plank and two oars