Naval battle

"Captain, a ship is coming up behind us."

The Golden Tangerine's lookout quickly spotted the approaching Black Pearl and informed the Golden Tangerine's captain.

Owen, captain of the Golden Tangerine, was a Navigator with a creature level of 8. He had been trading in these waters for nearly ten years. Close to the Storm Sea, this stretch was an essential passage on the shipping route connecting the New World and the Old World.

So even operating an ordinary merchant ship brought in a decent income.

Owen was quite content with that.

Hearing the lookout's report, Owen immediately raised his spyglass and looked astern.

The first mate, Henry, a Wave Chaser with a creature level of 10, soon joined Owen.

"It's the ship that arrived at Greenleaf Island yesterday," Owen said, looking at the distant Black Pearl through his spyglass. "They just came out of the Storm Sea and set sail after less than a day's rest. Odds are they're coming for us."

"Can we shake them off?" Henry asked with a frown.

Unless they had no choice, neither Henry nor Owen wanted to start a fight with an opponent they knew nothing about.

"I'm afraid not. Their ship is far better than ours. Even throwing all our cargo overboard wouldn't buy us much time," Owen said helplessly.

"Then there's nothing for it. Notify everyone. Prepare for battle." Hearing that the fight was unavoidable, Henry's expression turned fierce, and he issued orders to the sailors beside him.

Those who made their living at sea had no shortage of courage to fight. In a battle at sea, as long as no Third-Tier Professionals were involved, no one could say for certain who would win.

Clang, clang, clang...

Before long, a continuous alarm rang out aboard the Golden Tangerine, signaling battle readiness.

Carried on the sea breeze, the faint alarm from the Golden Tangerine reached Dunn and the others, letting them know that the Golden Tangerine had spotted them.

From a distance, they watched the Golden Tangerine slow down, deliberately adjusting its heading as it sailed until its eight broadside cannons pointed toward the Black Pearl.

Judging by its posture, it would probably open fire the moment the Black Pearl entered its range.

"They've spotted us and made preparations. At our current speed, we'll soon enter the Golden Tangerine's cannon range. We should prepare for battle too."

Seeing them draw ever closer to the Golden Tangerine while Dunn still gave no orders, Annie could not help reminding him.

"No need. Maintain full speed and prepare to board." Dunn flatly rejected Annie's suggestion.

"What! What are you thinking? Sure, this will get us close to the Golden Tangerine faster, but we have more cannons than they do. We'd definitely have the upper hand in a cannon battle. Why give up that advantage and take several rounds of fire without shooting back just to board them!"

"What's more, we have fewer crew than they do, even if we have the advantage in Professionals."

"But clearly, a cannon battle is a better choice than boarding!"

Hearing Dunn's orders, Annie immediately grew anxious and reminded him with a look that said, "Is there something wrong with your head?"

"Both sides suffer losses in a cannon battle," Dunn told Annie calmly. "We'd have the advantage, but we can't afford to lose our crew. We only just gave them their classes. Every one of them represents gold coins."

"Losses are unavoidable. Even if we charge at full speed, we'll still take several rounds of fire without shooting back. That will cause losses too," Annie said, somewhat speechless.

"Don't worry. I have my preparations," Dunn said confidently.

With Dunn saying that, Annie could only give up trying to persuade him.

In fact, in naval cannon battles between wooden sailing ships like these, the chances of sinking an enemy vessel directly with cannon fire were very low.

Moreover, cannon accuracy at sea was not particularly high to begin with.

Unless a lucky shot hit the powder magazine, solid cannonballs would, at most, punch large holes through the hull.

Of course, cannonballs that could easily punch through a hull could tear apart a fragile human body with even greater ease. Even the vast majority of Second-Tier Professionals would fare poorly against a cannonball head-on. Only truly transcendent Third-Tier Professionals could completely ignore the damage from cannonballs.

Of course, with Dunn's current constitution, which ranked among the best even among constitution-focused Third-Tier Professionals, he could also more or less ignore damage from cannonballs.

"Everyone, find cover and get ready to avoid cannon fire," Annie warned the crew as they were about to enter the Golden Tangerine's range.

The veteran crew who had survived this long all had some sense of self-preservation, and the newly recruited crew were seasoned hands who had spent years making their living at sea.

By now, all of them had taken cover well in advance.

At this point, apart from Dunn, who stood steadily at the bow, even Annie and Green had found safe places to hide.

Boom! Boom! Boom! ...

The moment the Black Pearl entered the Golden Tangerine's range, the long-prepared Golden Tangerine eagerly opened fire.

But the Black Pearl kept charging with its bow pointed straight at the Golden Tangerine, greatly reducing the profile facing the cannon muzzles and lowering the enemy cannons' already poor accuracy even further.

Although they missed the Black Pearl, the cannonballs that fell into the sea threw up huge sprays of water that splashed down onto the deck, creating a tense atmosphere.

Whenever a few solid cannonballs came straight toward the deck, the ship's ropes moved without any wind, striking the cannonballs precisely with a crack and knocking them off course into the sea.

Watching this from her hiding place, Annie's eyes brightened slightly.

She could not help approving of Dunn's decision a little more.

This was the effect of Dunn's class ability, Ship Animation. After Dunn used this ability on the Black Pearl, it gained certain living qualities. The ropes aboard, for instance, could swing like tentacles and possessed considerable strength.

However, since the Black Pearl had no consciousness of its own, Dunn still had to control it with his mind.

As the Black Pearl charged at full speed, the distance between the two ships kept shrinking. But as they drew closer, the cannons aboard the Golden Tangerine also became more accurate.

Even with Dunn doing everything he could to control the Black Pearl's ropes, turning them into tentacles to intercept the shots, he still could not keep the Black Pearl from being hit.

With a boom, a large hole appeared in the Black Pearl's deck, sending wood splinters flying.

Damn it! If I had Annie's perception or Green's agility, not a single cannonball could hit us even if there were twice as many! Dunn thought fiercely, glancing back at Annie and Green in hiding.

Fortunately, the distance between the Black Pearl and the Golden Tangerine had narrowed to within a few dozen meters. The people on either ship could almost make out the faces of those aboard the other.

During this time, another two cannonballs struck the Black Pearl before they could be intercepted.

Luckily, there were no casualties.

"You two, look after the crew. Don't let them die."

Dunn turned and shouted to Annie and Green.

As the two stood there utterly bewildered, he leaped up with his saber in hand, repeatedly stepping on the air in a motion resembling a frog's leap.

Under the dumbfounded gazes of both crews, he crossed the dozens of meters in an instant and arrived above the Golden Tangerine.

Then he dove down, swinging the steel saber in his hand viciously at the Golden Tangerine's sails.