Chapter Ninety-Four: Three More
The wind whistling against the sails of ships, and the weather at low tide is no milder for a ship sailing on the surface than it is during a tsunami. Waves crashed against the wooden sides of the ship, and splashes fell on the deck like a rain of arrows. The sailors, who were either shirtless or wearing only a single coat, had to grit their teeth and endure the terrible baptism. Whenever they felt that they were about to run out, the sea-seekers would turn their heads to the steering wheel on the high platform behind the ship, where the helmsman stood in an over-decorated coat and a tattered and large comical wide-brimmed tricorn hat with a golden bird feather stuck in it, and he was the captain of the ship.
The captain's efforts to press his hat to his head with one hand in the rough sea breeze, and the other hand to hold the steering wheel to keep the ship balanced, may seem rather casual, but anyone with sailing experience knows how much the steering wheel carries in such storms. The captain's arm holding the rudder had bulging muscles, and the sea snake tattoo on it with dark cyan tattoos wriggled as if it were alive. The placket of his chest was opened, revealing skin covered in sludge, salt grains and scars, not to show his past with scars, but simply to feel the direction and intensity of the wind more intuitively. He shouted in a hoarse and unpleasant voice, "Turn the sail at forty-five degrees east! You bastards can't tell that the mast is about to break! First mate, take someone to put the mainsail away, and if we go on like this, we'll be blown back into the sea, damn it, this time we must be the first to stand on the Bay of Lost Hearts!"
The sailor, who was hanging on the railing, heard the captain's instructions and immediately repeated them to the crew in a louder voice, and the sound of the waves and the sea breeze made it difficult to communicate in the language during the voyage. Fortunately, the crew of this ship has been getting along for some time, and even if they are swallowed up by the sea breeze, they have heard the key words in the captain's order and acted quickly. The man, known as the first mate, was shirtless, revealing his dark and muscular muscles, and his head was wrapped in a turban to prevent his hair from flying in the wind, and also to cover his right ear piercing, which had no ears. The first mate received the order, loosened the rope beside him, and walked towards the mainmast on the bumpy deck, casually patting the shoulders of several sailors on the way, "You, you, you and you, follow me to collect the mainsail!"
Five sailors, including the first mate, gathered around the winch under the mainsail, and the first mate foamed twice into the palm of his hand, and then finished communicating with the other sailors with his eyes. "Push!" "Squeak!" The gut-wrenching sound came as the five sailors pushed the winch, and the heavy iron chains were attached to the cable of the mainsail under the pull of the winch, and the sail did more harm than good to the present situation. But just as the mainsail was about halfway closed, a huge wave came from the starboard side of the boat, and with a loud "boom!" pushed the entire right side of the hull high!
"Hold on!" roared the first mate, but it was too late to be reminded, and one of the thinner sailors did not grasp the handrail on the winch in time, and the whole man slid to the left. "Help!!" cried the emaciated sailor, hoping that a companion would hold him, his hands clutching at the sloping deck, but the slippery deck, which had been flooded with water, could not help at all. His last chance was to grab onto the fence at the edge of the deck as he fell out of the hull. But fortunately, when the sailor had seized the fence and breathed a sigh of relief, a dark shadow overshadowed him, and he looked up to see a human-like object thrown out by the waves, over the top of the ship, and smashed down on his face.
"Boom!" The last screams were drowned out by the sound of crashes and falling water, and few sailors even noticed that one of their companions had fallen overboard, and they were still too busy to take care of themselves. However, the captain standing on the high platform witnessed this, and he leaned his body against the rudder to increase his connection to the hull, and his left hand clung to the brim of the blown hat, so that the hat, which symbolized the captain's qualifications, would not be carried away by the sea breeze. "Hell, what the hell is that. "The captain was certain that the thing that had thrown his crew off the ship was a mermaid, but the problem was that the trajectory and texture of the thing was more like some kind of statue than a living creature. But how can there be a statue in the waves?
Before the captain could figure it out, another wave came up, this time bigger than before, almost lifting the hull of the ship at a dangerous angle close to ninety degrees to the sea. This time, there was more than one crew member who was carried off the ship by the waves, and nearly half of the crew was washed off the deck in the waves. Even the captain gave up his hat and clung to the rudder in front of him to survive. He watched his crew being washed off the deck one by one, his eyes closed, thinking that this time was the end, he didn't expect that he had been crisscrossing the sea for many years, and finally he was killed by the waves at low tide, it was really unlucky, if he became a water ghost after he died, he was afraid that he would not be laughed at by others for I don't know how many years.
However, things always turn out unexpectedly, just as the first wave came without warning, and after the second wave, the sea quickly calmed down. The captain, who had not waited for a long time to feel the ship being overturned, opened his eyes and stared at the sea with some incredulity. What is this? Could it be that the god of the sea looks down on my broken ship?
"Captain, man!" the first mate's voice woke the captain, who was still a little stunned, and he immediately saw his own crew on the surface struggling to signal their position to their companions on deck. The first mate and the rest of the crew all looked at the captain, and according to the rules of the sea, leaving the deck without the captain's instructions and rebellion were equated with it. "What are you doing in a daze! Catch up all the people in the water!"
The sea breeze gradually calmed down, and it seems that the impact of low tide on this sea area has become smaller. The sailors who had been swept into the sea were laid out in a row on the deck vomiting the seawater, and the ship's doctor diagnosed them with a medical skill that he did not understand. The captain stood on the high platform, and his first mate walked up with the captain's hat that had been scraped off before. "Your hat, sir. ”
The captain took the hat and fastened it to his head, but unexpectedly, a weed in it hung down to cover his left eye. After he hurriedly removed the aquatic weeds in his hat, he looked at the first mate who was holding back a smile and said, "How many are missing?" Like the wind and waves just now, the crew who was swept off the ship was already lucky to be able to recover the six achievements, and the captain was ready to hear a number of attrition that made him feel distressed. You know, it's hard to find a few trustworthy sailors at a reasonable price in Heartless Bay these days.
Who knew that the corner of the first mate's mouth had a strange expression, and said, "No less, even one more!"
"What are you talking about?" the captain raised his eyebrows when he heard this, and his right hand subconsciously grasped the scimitar hilt at his waist, he suspected that this was the first mate who was going to rebel, and the one more person was him.
Seeing this, the first mate hurriedly stepped back, and spread out his hands to show that he had no weapons, "You misunderstood me, sir! I mean, we have two fewer people, but we have three new ones! Moreover, there is still a fish in these three!"