New Recruits

Rowing the boat, his body rising and falling slightly with the swell of the waves, Xifa shifted his gaze from the naval patrol boat gradually receding behind them to Boatswain Roger.

Roger was not particularly tall and looked to be nearly forty. His skin was very dry, probably because he had spent so many years at sea. This gentleman's pale yellow hair was cut very short, apparently by himself, without the slightest sense of style.

He wore a gold earring in his left ear, making him look flashy and flamboyant. No wonder blue-haired Quincy thought he looked more like a pirate.

Xifa also noticed a scar like a "centipede" extending from Roger's neck beneath his loose collar, vanishing inside it. It seemed this gentleman had once taken part in some brutal battles.

Why were they rowing a boat?

"Where exactly are we going?" Quincy, with his dark blue hair, clearly was not the sort who could sit still. After they had left the dock for a while, he could no longer resist asking.

Shielding his eyes from the sun with one hand, the boatswain sat leisurely at the stern and said, "Just row your boat, soldier. Let me give you your first lesson."

"Never question an officer's orders."

A moment later, when the small boat rounded a bend, they saw a three-masted sailing ship about the same size as the patrol boat anchored on the other side of Vila Port. Sunlight shone on it, allowing Xifa to see the cast-iron cannons mounted along its three gun decks, as well as a flag fluttering in the wind bearing a trident embraced by waves split to either side.

"That's our ship, the Wavebreaker."

Roger introduced it as though reciting from memory. "The Wavebreaker is nine meters long, eight meters wide, and displaces