Less than a day after the last battle, the Jackdaw was once again engaged in intense pre-battle preparations, but the crew had no complaints.

The main reason is that the pirate side of the previous war was too aggrieved, and the vast majority of people were in a state of confusion, and they didn't know what was going on, so they were caught and beaten by the navy that suddenly appeared in front of them, obviously their own strength was not weaker than the other party, but they didn't have the power to fight back at all.

Such a defeat is unacceptable to all.

Therefore, when they heard Zhang Heng say that he wanted to take revenge on the other party and grab enough fresh water and food to return to Nassau, everyone immediately broke free from their low mood and rekindled their fighting spirit.

The sailors were all mobilized, and all the guns on the ship were dismantled as quickly as possible, only one stern gun was kept, and the food in the cabin and the remaining fresh water and everything else that could be dismantled were also moved to the island, and in the end, Zhang Heng only left twenty sailors, which was almost the smallest manpower that could maintain the normal navigation of the Jackdaw.

The new Jackdaw's cabin was empty, with nothing left but half a day's worth of food and fresh water, but in exchange for a drastic drop in the waterline.

…………

The target came faster than expected, and the Jackdaw had been on the island for less than two hours before the lookout saw the dark shadow of the ship in the distance.

Zhang Heng's previous speculation was correct, this time the navy obviously wanted to wipe them out, but killing five pirate ships could not make Walden satisfied, and there was still a shipload of pirates who could escape from under his nose when he had a huge advantage, which he couldn't accept anyway.

So after the storm, he sent men to hunt down the Jackdaw.

And Zhang Heng met an old acquaintance near Coral Island this time, and the Miranda, one of the two armed ships that pursued him for the first time, was also the armed ship that persevered to the end, but after all, he had to choose to return because of too much wind and waves.

Walden didn't say anything, but as captain Ford, he was haunted by it, and this was the first time in the years he had been a pirate hunter that a prey had been brought to his mouth and slipped away.

So he and his Miranda join the hunt, and Ford is desperate to take the Jackdaw to make a name for himself and prove that he is still one of the best pirate hunters in the seas.

However, because it was a scattered search and each ship chose a direction, Ford actually didn't have much hope, but what he didn't expect was that Lady Luck really favored him again.

Upon spotting the Jackdaw, Ford immediately ordered the ship's crew to be put into combat readiness, and this time he vowed not to let his prey run away again.

At the same time, Zhang Heng also saw the menacing Miranda, put down the binoculars in his hand after a while, and said to the sailors on the ship, "Do it according to the plan." ”

After the Miranda chased some distance, Ford noticed that the Jackdaw began to lower its top sail and pick up speed, as it seemed to want to escape, but the effect was limited, and the latter had a clear hole in the mainsail, which should have been left from the previous battle, but for some reason it was not repaired.

However, this does explain why they met the Jackdaw early, and according to Ford's calculations, they would have caught up with the Jackdaw in a day at the earliest.

Now that the two sides met in advance, it was a surprise to Ford, who didn't plan to waste his brain cells thinking about what happened on the Jackdaw, anyway, as long as he took this opportunity to sink the Jackdaw, everything would be solved.

Since Ford dared to do the job of a pirate hunter, his Miranda was naturally a first-class clipper, which was not far from the Jackdaw, and now that the speed of the Jackdaw could not be improved, it was time for the Miranda to play.

The two sides started a new round of competition on the sea, and the strength of the person at the helm of the opposite ship was also very good, which Ford had noticed when he fought in the harbor before, and this time the opposite side performed equally well, but there was a natural difference in speed between the two sides, so the distance between the two ships was also getting closer at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Standing on the bow of the ship, Ford could now clearly see the busy figures on the deck of the Jackdaw, even without the help of a telescope, and he could feel the blood in his heart boiling.

Like most pirate hunters, Ford was born in the navy and was hired as a captain for merchant ships for a while, making a lot of money, but unlike his peers who became pirate hunters because of robbery, Ford was not robbed by pirates when he was a merchant captain.

He became a pirate hunter purely because of the adventure blood that flowed in his bones, and in addition to the bounty and honor, what he is doing now reminds him of his childhood when he hunted in the woods with his father, and the feeling of constantly battling wits with his prey and then enjoying the harvest was something he could not have experienced as a merchant captain.

But just then, the first mate beside him opened his mouth and reminded, "Captain Ford, there's an island ahead. ”

"Huh?"

"Judging by the nautical charts, it should be a small uninhabited island called Coral Island," the first mate hesitated, "do you think they escaped here on purpose?" ”

"For what?" Ford raised an eyebrow.

The first mate was dumbfounded, after all, the pirates had just ambushed the Spanish treasure ship on Parrot Island, and he instinctively became vigilant when he saw the island, but then he thought about it, the current Jackdaw has no ambush capital at all, and the six pirate ships of this joint operation have been destroyed by them, and only one ship of the Jackdaw escaped by chance, even if he wanted to ambush, there was no companion to cooperate.

However, the first mate thought of another question, "This area is marked as dangerous on the nautical chart, and there are many reefs nearby, will they try to lure us to run aground." ”

Ford frowned, "This possibility...... They don't have time to explore this place, and unless they have someone on their boat who is very familiar with the area, they risk more than we do when they sail into the reef, but we don't have to fight their luck with them, telling the helmsman to follow them and only go where they go, so that if they want to hit the reef first. ”

Ford paused, then snorted coldly, "They used the storm to get rid of us before, and this time they wanted to scare us away with the reef, do you really think that our guts are only so small, if they run away again this time, then we don't have to do this business." ”