You Actually Want to Oppress Me

Perhaps it was Pauline's "reward" that gave Berdon the motivation. After boarding the ship, Berdon went to the captain's cabin and talked with the captain for a long time. The captain finally agreed to make a detour and head to the area with the most pirates.

"However, Captain Oboyinu believes we most likely won't encounter any pirates. Because we are a steamship, we create tall plumes of smoke as we sail. The pirates can see us from a great distance. Then they will disguise themselves as peaceful merchant ships." That evening, in Pauline's room, Berdon sat solemnly in a chair beside Pauline's bed and spoke to Pauline, who was taking a bath behind a curtain.

"Wouldn't it be better at night?" Pauline asked casually as she showered. The bathroom light cast her silhouette on the curtains, making Berdon somewhat uneasy.

"Maybe, maybe. But we might not be able to find them at night either," Berdon stammered, suddenly feeling a sharp thirst in his mouth.

Just then, the curtain moved, Pauline, wearing a bath towel and with her hair loose, swayed out. She walked past Berdon, her long hair brushing against his face.

Pauline sat down on the large bed in front of Berdon, less than half a meter away from him. Pauline leaned slightly forward, looked into Berdon's eyes, and smiled, "What are you daydreaming about? Hmm, why don't you go take a shower?"

Berdon said, "I..."

"We're brothers, and your room doesn't have a bathroom or hot water. We're brothers, right? Besides, didn't I say I'd reward you? Hmm, my bathroom is really comfortable; I'll reward you with a hot shower. Go on, oh, there's a towel inside, that's yours."

Berdon slowly stood up, and Pauline leaned back against the large pillow on the bed, completely ignoring the fact that the towel wasn't wrapped tightly around her.

Berdon went into the bathroom. Although it was a luxury suite, space was limited since it was on a ship, and the bathroom was quite small. Berdon began to take a shower, while Pauline leaned against the pillows and chatted with him casually.

After a while, Berdon came out wrapped in a bath towel. Pauline looked at him and suddenly said, "Berdon, lie down here, let's talk some more..."

So Berdon lay down next to Pauline. Then, someone flipped a switch, and the lights in the room went out. There were some noises in the darkness, followed by Pauline's dissatisfied voice. "I treated you like a brother, and you actually tried to oppress me... No matter what, it should be me oppressing you..."

The next morning, Pauline, unusually dressed in women's clothing, held a small umbrella with an ivory handle in one hand and looked at Berdon with the other, as they went to the bow of the ship together.

"You're lucky, Berdon. You actually got such a good hand." Pauline took the binoculars Berdon handed her, saying casually, "But you probably won't fit into most of my clothes anyway, you're too tall. But if I had a suit made and got you a wig, haha, you'd definitely charm a whole bunch of young men."

For a moment, Berdon was at a loss for words.

"I wonder if we'll encounter any pirates today," Pauline added.

However, just as Captain Oboyinu had predicted, the smoke from the "Imperator" scared away the pirate ships, or at least made them temporarily law-abiding citizens. The "Imperator" saw several ships at sea that day, but none of them were pirates. Pauline was initially very enthusiastic, but soon grew tired of the sea and dragged Berdon along, along with her girlfriend Eva, into the room to play cards.

Pauline did not encounter any pirate ships, but the France fleet, which had begun patrolling the area, soon made a catch.

The brand-new "Free Trade" supercruiser, traveling at a speed of up to twenty knots, blocked the path of a merchant ship flying the Spain flag and identified itself to the vessel using a loudspeaker.

"We are the French Navy. We are boarding and inspecting your ship. Lower the sails and stop immediately, or you will face our military action!"

"Captain, is there something wrong with this ship?" First Darlan asked Captain Berti in the captain's cabin.

"Yes, let's make a bet, I'm sure it's a pirate ship. Look, they've hung that Spain flag upside down," Berti replied.

The "Spain ship" obediently lowered its sails and anchored. The speed demonstrated by the Free Trade " earlier made everyone on board realize that escape was impossible. Although they could reach a shallow area that the France dared not easily enter if they sailed another half day, given the speed difference between the two sides, they certainly couldn't reach it. As for armed resistance, seeing how large the opposing ship was, the " Spain ship" didn't dare to do so.

Seeing the Spain ship stop, the Free Trade also slowed down and launched several small boats. Each boat carried fifteen Marines armed with pump-action shotguns, who would be responsible for quickly taking control of key positions on the ship and inspecting it.

The small boat approached the "Spain ship," and the people on board threw down a rope ladder. The soldiers then climbed up the ladder.

The first to board the ship was Marine Jacques. As soon as he jumped aboard, he saw several bearded men. Jacques immediately raised his shotgun and shouted, "Don't move! Back off! Back off!"

The bearded men might not have understood French, but they knew what the guns meant when pointed at them, so they obediently raised their hands and took a few steps back. At that moment, more Marines climbed up.

The soldiers quickly took up key positions, and after a brief search, they discovered that the ship was entirely populated by infidel sailors; there wasn't a single Catholicism or Spain- speaking sailor. More importantly, the cargo holds were completely empty.

A merchant ship would never sail empty-handed. Whether they were traveling from Spain to Italy or Italy, they would certainly load the Spain with as much cargo as possible, never leaving empty-handed. Moreover, there was no logbook on board. Therefore, it is now entirely certain that this ship is a pirate ship.

The problem was that they didn't find a large number of weapons on the ship. So the North Africa insisted that they were just out at sea and that they were flying the Spain flag only because Spain ships didn't have to pay tolls.

If this were the 21st century, such an explanation might actually work. The most basic tactic of Somali pirates is to throw their AKMs and RPGs into the sea once they are surrounded by warships, and then they are no longer pirates.

But such civilized things didn't exist in this era. Despite their repeated explanations, they were still imprisoned and their boat and people were towed back to Toulon to be handled by the police and the court. As for the evidence, if the Ministry of Ministry of Police couldn't even handle such a small matter, then they were truly just wasting their time.