BBYW Vol. 3 Chapter 30 (WN)
Chapter 30 – White Wings and Red Flames
The Lion King pirates sent on land to siege the Brutos governor’s palace had been annihilated by the mercenary guild’s ambush.
On the other hand, the main forces’ ship, moored at the port, had turned into a bloodbath: the captain, Bartolo Blutleid, also known as Cristina, had been slayed too.
The winner of the battle was clear: there was no escape anymore.
Starting from the ships closer to the stage of the massacre, shock and confusion gradually spread to the 200 vessels-strong pirate fleet.
“Hey…what are we supposed to do now?”
Standing on a large ship not too far from Cristina’s, a pirate whispered, dumbfounded.
He had witnessed the slaughter perpetrated on the fellow pirate ship and had utterly lost any will to fight.
Facing a man who had mowed down 100 pirates, with a single sword in hand, was sheer insanity.
“Hell if I know…shouldn’t we get out of here?”
“…I was thinking the same.”
The loss of Cristina, the fleet commander, made Brutos’ capture impossible. There was no reason to fight anymore.
The pirates could not be faulted for thinking that escape was their best available option.
The two intimidated pirates, however, were promptly struck by their superior’s iron fists.
“Ouch!?!”
“Quit spewing bullshit! You damn maggots!”
“B-But captain!!”
The captain in charge of the ship had indeed come down to set the two straight.
He glared at Cristina’s ship and snorted spitefully.
“Just you try going back after this mess. The boss will have our heads on a platter.”
“T-That’s…”
The pirates pictured the Lion King pirate crew’s supreme commander, who was also the king of the Lion Kingdom, and turned pale as sheets.
Strength and fear ruled the pirates’ hierarchy: being seen as weak was a death sentence.
After suffering such a defeat, the Lion King pirates would be ridiculed throughout the seas for at least 10 years.
Especially because the fleet commander, Cristina, had been killed. It was highly likely that the other pirates would be forced to take responsibility in her place.
“If we don’t at least bring that man’s head back with us, we’ll all become shark feed…we can’t run away now!”
“B-But…how can we kill a monster like that!?”
The pirate subordinates were visibly trembling.
They would hate to be fed to the sharks, naturally, but facing that demon-like swordsman was just as terrifying.
“You idiots! We don’t need to fight him directly. We can just blow him up from here!”
The captain grinned to his fidgeting crew and slapped the “Overthrower” cannon equipped on his ship.
They could blast a cannonball on the enemy ship and sink it from a safe distance: even the strongest swordsman could not stand against such an offensive. There was no need to fight fair and square.
“B-But that ship is one of ours! We can’t just destroy it…!”
“We’re not getting out of this any other way! It’s better than being captured, fool!”
The captain shouted down his frightened subordinate and set up the gunpowder for the shot.
“Signal the surrounding ships! We’re going to blow up that bastard!!”
“A-Aye!!”
The subordinates hurriedly acted on the captain’s orders.
They waved the signals to the other ships with flags and prepared gunpowder and cannonballs, then flaming arrows and other explosives too, to sink the ship that had been stolen from them.
The captain confirmed the enemy’s presence on the ship with his binoculars: he saw a young boy wiping the swordsman’s bloody face.
It was the boy who had delivered a message to the pirates at the port.
Thinking about it now, that boy had probably been sent to locate the ship Cristina was on and assassinate her.
“…look at you, fucking taking it easy, huh…? It’s gonna cost yer life!!”
The captain gnashed his teeth and growled.
“Captain, all ready here!!”
“Good, then let’s…!?”
The captain was about to send the signal to attack, but froze in his tracks.
Because, through the binoculars, his eyes had met with the swordsman’s.
“ — — — , — — — ?”
The swordsman was looking in his direction. He grinned, shrugged, moved his lips.
The captain could certainly not read lips, but nonetheless understood that he was being insulted.
“Shoot’em dead! Blow that man up!!!”
“A-Aye!!!”
The captain was bright red, fuming.
The pirates jolted at his sudden screamed orders, then proceeded to light the “Overthrower” fuse on fire.
But then, mere seconds before they could…
“Hm?”
“ — — ——!”
Beyond the binoculars, the swordsman raised his hands next to his ears and pointed upwards. The captain unconsciously moved away from the lens and looked up.
“Eh…?”
Several seagulls were perched on the mast. It was not an unusual sight for seasoned seafarers, but the captain felt there was something off this time.
He squinted his eyes and noticed that one of the seagulls had something in its beak.
The birds cried louder, and the “thing” dropped; they then spread their wings and flew away.
“Hey!! How the hell…!?”
As soon as the captain realized what the “thing” was, a chilling fear possessed him.
He desperately stretched his right arm, but there was no way he could reach.
“Hey!! You lot!! Catch that!!”
“Huh? What’s gotten into you, cap’n?”
The captain shouted hysterically, but the subordinates looked at him perplexed. They hadn’t noticed the “thing” yet.
The “thing” was a piece of rope, about 10 cm long. Incidentally, one of its ends was burning red.
A piece of rope that had been dropped exactly over a crate filled with gunpowder. And the moment it landed…
BOOOOOOOM!!!
An enormous column of black smoke rose to the blue sky, as the pirate ship was engulfed in violent flames.