Encounter with the Hunting Knife Pirates

This was the twenty-fifth day of wandering in the waters of Four Seasons Island.

Morale among the Recruits on the Training Ship was very low because they had consistently failed to find any trace of the Hunting Knife Pirates, and even the naval intelligence department had failed to transmit any news.

If not for the resounding victory back at Chunyu Town at the very beginning, the morale of these Recruits probably would have been even worse.

Although somewhat helpless, this was simply the norm for marines executing missions. The ocean was vast, and trying to find a pirate crew was easy to say yet difficult to do.

Faced with this situation, Zephyr could only offer encouragement and comfort. Although he was also anxious, his many years of naval career had long since accustomed him to this process, but the Recruits in the training camp were not like that; seasoned veterans like Carl were a rarity.

While everyone else was depressed and had nothing to do, Carl was happy as could be.

He neither ran into Weevil nor missed out on happily slacking off; this was simply the naval life he had dreamed of for a long time, and it would be even more perfect if a beauty accompanied him.

After twenty days of accumulation, Carl had successfully pushed his physique from C-rank to C+, and his mastery of techniques related to the Six Powers had reached the realm of pure perfection.

Simply put, everything Lucci could do, he could do; everything Lucci could not do, he could also do, and he was even barely inferior to Zephyr. The only difference was sheer force, and nothing more.

"Hoo~ Big Brother Carl, how can you be so happy every day? Clearly, our training mission is almost about to fail!"

Ain watched Carl, who was leisurely fishing while sitting on the guardrail, and complained helplessly, not knowing how frustrated she felt inside.

Originally, they had wanted to make a great display of skill during their training mission instead of scrubbing the deck and maintaining the ship every day, but Carl was an exception.

No, he seemed to have always been like this.

"Hahaha, Ain, you joined the navy recently so you don't understand. This kind of situation is the norm for the navy!"

"Aside from special missions, capturing pirates is all about intelligence. Without intelligence, you can only trust to luck."

Ain pouted in distress, sat down beside Carl, and gazed at the blue ocean.

"Sigh! I really envy your mindset!"

"Heheh, you'll get used to it, you'll get used to it! Wait, I got a bite!"

Carl hastily pulled up his fishing rod, and a half-meter-long sea fish fell onto the deck, flopping incessantly. Ain's eyes lit up.

She hurriedly rushed over, grabbed the fish, and handed it to Carl, only for the fish to continuously shrink during the process. By the time it reached Carl's hands, it had already turned into a tiny little fish.

Looking at Carl's stiff, handsome face, Ain covered her mouth and chuckled, seemingly very happy about pulling a prank on Carl.

"Twelve o'clock direction, trouble ten nautical miles away! It's a pirate ship!"

A loud shout came from the Lookout Tower. All the Recruits were stunned at first, and then their spirits surged—trouble had finally arrived!

Ain's expression turned serious, and she quickly said to Carl, "Big Brother Carl, stop fishing, the pirates are here!"

On the distant sea surface, a pirate ship was sailing rapidly across the ocean, and the ship was in utter chaos.

"Damn it, these marines are truly like lingering ghosts! Little ones, pass down my order: full speed ahead, ignore those damned marines!"

The speaker was none other than Zacur, captain of the Hunting Knife Pirates, with a bounty of 24.5 million Berries. He was originally a bounty hunter who later switched professions to become a pirate, earning his name by virtue of a superb mastery of swordsmanship.

"Captain, this is bad! These marines are chasing after us! Our ship is not as fast as theirs!"

Zacur knitted his brows into a hard knot, and finally made up his mind. He grabbed the saber at his waist, lifted it high, and shouted loudly.

"Since the marines are in relentless pursuit, no matter how we run it's useless. We are the Hunting Knife Pirates after all! Little ones, fire the cannons!"

"Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh!" "Kill the marines!"

On the Training Ship, Zephyr slowly lowered his binoculars, a smile touching the corner of his mouth.

"Have they given up running? Hmph! How presumptuous."

"Carl!"

"Sir!"

Zephyr turned his head to look at Carl, who was wearing a white naval uniform, and said in a deep voice, "You will be in command of this operation. Do not let this old man down."

"Yes, Instructor Zephyr!"

Carl's expression turned serious. Seeing the anticipation... and eagerness filled in the eyes of these Recruits, Carl sighed helplessly—perhaps this was what being a wet-nurse captain was all about!

"May the Holy Light bless you!"

The Recruits couldn't help but close their eyes, feeling the surging power and exuberant vitality welling up inside their bodies, and together they let out a roar: "The navy will prevail!"

"All hands, full speed ahead! Gunners, immediately adjust the artillery coordinates and await my command!"

"Yes!"

The Training Ship immediately increased horsepower, accelerating forward toward the pirate ship, as a few wildly inaccurate cannonballs landed in the distance from the Training Ship and splashed up water.

"Pirates will always be pirates! Opening fire at this kind of distance—how could they possibly hit anything!"

Carl watched the chaotic scene on the pirate ship through his binoculars and chuckled, quietly waiting for the pirate ship to enter their strike range.

"Gunners ready... Fire!"

Bang, bang, bang!

The artillery fired in unison, and the black cannonballs flew toward the pirate ship with a piercing shriek like a death prayer. Although several still fell into the sea, more of the cannonballs exploded thunderously upon the pirate ship.

A few extra holes instantly appeared on the pirate ship, and fragments of the hull scattered across the sea surface.

"Damn it! What on earth are you all doing? You fired so many cannonballs and didn't hit a thing, yet the marines' very first salvo battered our ship like this!"

"Useless trash, a bunch of useless trash!"

Zacur raged as he looked at the battered vessel, scolding his minions with spittle flying from his mouth.

"Zacur, why don't we pull the ship alongside and have a real hand-to-hand fight with the marines? Maybe we'll still have a sliver of a chance of survival." The speaker wore a calm expression and seemed to be the brains of the pirate crew.

His words carried weight, and under his persuasion, Zacur quickly calmed down.

"You're right, we can't just sit here and wait for death; we might as well make a desperate gamble. I want to see if the navy can block my Karasu!"

Lake, the first mate, looked at the pitch-black long saber in Zacur's hand, a trace of envy flashing in his eyes.

He was also a swordsman—what swordsman didn't hope to possess a fine blade?

The Karasu in Zacur's hand was precisely a famous blade, one of the Fifty Skillful Grade swords: Karasu. It was by virtue of its sharpness that Zacur had been able to carve out his formidable reputation.

"Little ones, bring the ship alongside!"

At Captain Zacur's command, the hull creaked and groaned as it pushed forward toward the Training Ship.

"Oh? These pirates want to board us! Are they insane? Hear my order, fire!"

When you can easily and leisurely resolve enemies with cannons, why bother with boarding actions? Carl didn't want to fight that way anyway.

Hand-to-hand combat in land warfare was unavoidable, but to still do such a thing out on the sea was a bit much.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to wait until their ship was blown to pieces and the pirates were flailing about in the water before making a move?

Bang, bang, bang! The cannons fired once more.