Mark

The world was cruel.

Most things with no solution did not produce miracles simply because one persisted.

Hawkins had understood this principle long ago, so after spending half a day studying Black Knife to no avail, he decisively gave up on researching Black Knife's abilities any further.

For now, he would define Black Knife's ability as "hard."

Truly "hard."

It absorbed no heat, conducted no electricity, could not be damaged, and was the hardest substance Hawkins had ever encountered.

The next two days passed without wind or waves.

Joyce still had not come looking for him.

But that was hardly strange. Joyce and Julian had originally split up to search the entire sea.

Their search directions were completely opposite, so unless Joyce discovered that he could no longer contact Julian, there was no way he could find Black Knife so quickly.

"Son of Pirates, the humiliation you inflicted upon me—I will repay it a hundredfold sooner or later!"

Though Julian had gone hungry for two days, he was still full of vigor. His furious roar could be heard dozens of meters away.

While eating grilled fish, Hawkins said innocently, "You couldn't hold your own urine in. What does that have to do with me?"

"I'll kill you!" Julian roared in humiliation and fury.

Hawkins swallowed a piece of grilled fish and sighed. "Could you at least be a little more creative? You've said that thirty times already."

He did enjoy talking with people, but Julian only repeated the same few lines over and over. There was truly nothing worth talking about.

Just then, his ears twitched. He looked to the left, and as the shape of his pupils changed, he saw a ragged man soaking in the seawater in the distance, constantly waving toward Black Knife.

He immediately controlled the marine soldier to turn the helm, and Black Knife sailed toward the man.

A moment later, Black Knife reached the man's vicinity. Hawkins threw down a rope ladder, and the man hurriedly grabbed it and swiftly climbed aboard Black Knife.

"Thank you."

Julian seized the chance to say, "Civilian, get off this ship. This is a pirate ship. If you accept a pirate's help, you will bring shame upon your ruler!"

"A pirate ship?"

The man froze, then looked up and saw the black canvas on Black Knife's mast, along with the white skull pattern upon it.

After a moment of astonishment, he said in delight, "Wonderful! I've long wanted to become a pirate. Captain, do you still need a fighter?"

"Civilian, you are courting death!" Julian shouted furiously.

Hawkins ignored Julian and smiled. "My name is Hawkins, captain of Black Knife. I think I do need a qualified fighter!"

"Captain Hawkins, my name is Storm-Mark. You may call me Mark. I am a homeless wanderer." The man immediately gave a slight bow.

Hawkins asked curiously, "How long were you soaking in the sea?"

"About a month. This sea is truly vast. It was my first time seeing such a huge ocean." Mark still felt lingering fear.

Julian sneered. "Nothing but lies. If you had soaked in seawater for a month, you would have died long ago."

"I nearly did die, indeed. Good thing I met Captain Hawkins." Mark glanced at Julian, wholly unconcerned.

Hawkins smiled. "Just call me Hawkins. Go change into some dry clothes with this marine soldier. We can talk while we eat. You must be hungry, right?"

"Alright. Thank you again."

Mark nodded in acknowledgment, then followed the marine soldier and headed toward the cabin.

"Aren't you hungry or thirsty? It's been two days, yet you still have the strength to talk," Hawkins suddenly asked.

Julian stared fixedly at Hawkins and said nothing more. Stirring the pot once was enough. He believed that even if Hawkins appeared unconcerned, a seed of suspicion would sprout in his heart.

A moment later, Mark returned to the deck in a set of hemp clothes.

"Thank you again. If I hadn't met you, Hawkins, I might truly have fallen this time." Mark walked up to Hawkins and gave a slight bow. This was his third expression of thanks.

Hawkins smiled. "Perhaps this is fate. Let's talk while we eat."

The two sat down, and the marine soldier swiftly brought over all kinds of grilled fish.

After thanking him, Mark began wolfing down the fish. Hawkins discovered that he could even crunch up and swallow the bones directly. After eating an entire fish, he did not spit out a single bone.

Only after consecutively eating five large fish did Mark stop. Smiling, he said, "I'm full. Hawkins, don't you have any questions you want to ask me?"

"It doesn't matter. If you are willing to speak, I think I would be happy to be a listener." Hawkins slowly ate his eighth fish as he replied.

Mark was slightly surprised, because Hawkins was vastly different from the pirate captains he knew.

He had dealt with quite a few pirates in the past. Those pirates were either crude or sinister, and they were basically scum rotten to the bone.

But Hawkins was completely unlike those pirates.

Hawkins was tall and handsome, dressed cleanly and neatly, with no strange odor on him whatsoever. Rather than a pirate, he looked more like a nobleman.

"Interesting person!"

"No problem. I can hire you for ninety days, at a daily wage of one silver coin. No problem with that, right?" Hawkins did not refuse. Instead, he nodded seriously.

A marine soldier on Vitalia Island earned twenty silver coins a month, while Hawkins offered one silver coin per day—roughly thirty silver coins a month—which far exceeded a marine soldier's pay.

Mark nodded. "Very reasonable."

"Son of Pirates, I never expected you to be so naive. You dare take him in without even knowing his origins? Be careful not to capsize in a gutter!" Julian took the chance to sow discord.

What he had actually said was not "capsize in a gutter," but "Ma Dan's iron hammer," an allusion from this world whose meaning was roughly the same.

Mark looked at Julian and said unhappily, "Captain, don't you think this little Bat is rather noisy?"

"It's not too bad. Just think of him as a talking parrot. It should feel a little better that way." Hawkins smiled.

Mark shrugged, then rose to his feet. "After soaking in seawater for a month, I'm truly exhausted. Captain, I'll return to the cabin and rest first."

"Go ahead." Hawkins nodded.

After Mark left, Julian gave a sinister laugh. "Sure enough, there's something wrong with that fellow. An ordinary person would have been scared to death upon seeing me talk. Son of Pirates, you will definitely regret taking him in!"

"Who knows?"

Hawkins neither confirmed nor denied it, then continued eating fish.

Of course, he knew Mark was no ordinary person. The moment Mark boarded Black Knife, he had discovered that Mark weighed five times as much as an ordinary person. Moreover, Mark had glanced at Julian the instant he came aboard, yet had not made a great fuss.

Julian was currently maintaining his Bat form. A talking bat would certainly leave an ordinary person utterly astonished, yet Mark had not displayed any abnormal reaction from beginning to end.

Furthermore, after the marine soldier led Mark to the cabin, Mark had not spoken to the marine soldier at all. He seemed to have seen through the fact that the marine soldier was Hawkins's puppet, so he had no intention of communicating whatsoever.

From these details, Hawkins could determine that Mark was no ordinary man.

Elsewhere, Mark lay on the bed with the same faint smile on his face. While Hawkins had been observing him, he had naturally been observing Hawkins as well.

Hawkins did not seem like a pirate.

And through further contact, he had discovered that Hawkins's physical strength might even surpass his own.

The moment he left home, he had encountered such an interesting person. He felt that being driven out of his home might not have been a bad thing after all. What came next should be even more interesting.