Arrival

Whoosh, whoosh...

Creak... creak...

The sounds of wind and rain mingled with the groaning of the Black Pearl's timbers, filling everyone's ears.

The raging storm was extremely dangerous to any ship sailing the seas.

The ink-black seawater rose into an endless chain of towering peaks. The Black Pearl was like a ball, lifted from one "peak" to another without end.

The torrential rain seemed to turn the sky into another sea, inverting sea and sky. Amid the constant pitching, the crew of the Black Pearl felt as though they might fall into the "sky" at any moment, never to surface again.

Fortunately, the Black Pearl held firm each time.

This storm, which seemed like a natural catastrophe, brought a grave look even to the usually unruffled Dunn's face. Having lived a comfortable life inland in his previous life, Dunn's understanding of natural disasters had been limited to the news and his original body's memories.

Now, caught in this howling storm, Dunn felt deeply the helplessness of facing the forces of nature. Though he had become a professional and transcended the ordinary, he still felt insignificant before this tempest.

Even in this supernatural world, perhaps only legendary professionals could completely disregard a natural disaster like this.

Or rather, those legends were themselves a kind of natural disaster.

At that moment, Dunn stood in the Captain's Quarters, watching the pitch-black sea through the porthole and silently hoping the storm would end as soon as possible.

"Dunn, there's something very wrong with this storm." Annie pushed open the door to the Captain's Quarters and came in. Until then, she had been observing the storm from the deck.

"What do you mean?" Dunn asked, raising his eyebrows slightly at her words.

"I suspect this storm wasn't formed naturally, but by some sort of ability or spell."

"Why do you say that?"

"This storm hasn't moved at all. Rather than saying we encountered a storm, it'd be more accurate to say we plunged straight into it."

Annie's words startled Dunn. "Even a third-tier professional would be nowhere near capable of something on this scale. It would probably take at least a fourth-tier professional."

"An outstanding one, even among fourth tiers." Annie's expression was grave as well.

"So," Dunn looked through the porthole at the White Shark, faintly visible in the distance ahead, "this Pirate King's treasure really exists?"

"Captain, there's an island ahead!"

The lookout's excited cry carried across the deck.

The pirates aboard immediately grew excited. Though they had only been in the storm for a few short hours, they had spent years at sea and knew very well that a storm of this magnitude could wreck their ship and kill them all at any moment.

They were dancing on a knife's edge, so to speak. The slightest carelessness could wipe them all out.

In those few short hours, several crew members had already been flung overboard in moments of inattention. If Dunn hadn't controlled the ropes in time to catch them, these newly recruited sailors would already have suffered losses.

Now that an island was in sight, they finally had somewhere to take safe shelter.

Hearing the lookout's cry, Dunn came out of the Captain's Quarters with Annie.

Just as the whole of the seemingly sizable island came into Dunn's view through the dim haze of wind and rain, a bolt of lightning flashed past, as though it could cleave the sea apart.

It gave Dunn a relatively clear view of the entire island.

"What's the White Shark doing?"

"The White Shark is heading for the island," the lookout immediately replied.

"Good. Follow the White Shark," Dunn ordered.

Then, suddenly remembering something, he added, "Watch the White Shark's course. Follow its exact route."

With an uncharted island like this, the greatest threat before landing was the reefs hidden underwater. Such reefs were difficult to spot even in calm seas under bright sunshine.

In this storm, spotting them was even more impossible, so the safest choice was to follow the same route as the White Shark, which had already been here once.

Soon, under the sailors' handling, the Black Pearl slowly approached the seemingly sizable island along the White Shark's route.

The other pirate ships independently made the same choice as the Black Pearl.

The five pirate ships followed a single route, entering a sheltered bay to anchor as though lining up.

The instant they entered the sheltered harbor, the wind and waves visibly subsided.

The sailors aboard immediately cheered.

"Hahaha, we survived!"

"Praise the captain!"

"..."

The experienced sailors all understood that every encounter with extreme weather at sea was a death sentence.

How could the sailors not be excited after escaping that sentence this time?

After dropping anchor, lowering the sails, and securing the ship, Dunn assigned Hans, the boatswain, to watch the ship with some of the sailors, then took most of the sailors ashore in small boats.

At the same time, the pirates from the other four ships also reached shore.

At last, the five captains met as a group for the first time.

Feishman, captain of the Flying Fish, a second-tier agility-based professional, a [Martial Artist], with a total bounty of 330 gold coins.

Astor, captain of the Blood Bird, a second-tier agility-based traditional professional, an [Assassin], with a total bounty of 350 gold coins.

Hawkins, captain of the Chasing Waves, a second-tier strength-and-intelligence-based professional, a [Wave Chaser], with a total bounty of 430 gold coins.

Grant, captain of the White Shark, a second-tier perception-based professional, a [Beast Speaker], with a total bounty of 380 gold coins.

Across the four pirate ships, the captains and navigators made eight confirmed second-tier professionals. Beyond that, judging by the captains' bounties, each ship should have another two or three second-tier professionals, though they probably weren't particularly strong.

Adding the ordinary sailors, each ship had around fifty to a hundred people, depending on its size.

That should make roughly twenty second-tier professionals in total, along with no more than four hundred sailors.

Dunn silently tallied the fighting strength aboard the other four ships, gaining a clearer idea of where things stood.

After briefly introducing themselves, everyone got to work. After all, rain was still pouring down on the island, and the most important thing was to find a campsite that offered shelter from it.

Though they were professionals and had no fear of getting drenched, the vast majority of their crews were ordinary people. In this era, under these circumstances, falling ill from the rain would probably mean another death sentence.