Chapter 54: Ajin, William, and Jeff
"William Pirates!"
Looking at the pirate ship approaching in the distance, Coles murmured softly.
For this pirate group.
Coles is no stranger.
Likewise, the rest of the navy soldiers present were no strangers, because they encountered the William Pirates on their first day as recruits, which was even the fear and nightmare in these people's hearts!
With his hands tied, Ah Jin turned his body lying on his back and looked hard at the pirate ship in the distance.
In his blurred vision, Ajin seemed to see Captain William and Vice Captain Jeff.
A flood of long-ago memories emerged.
…
About ten years ago.
Crunch, crunch!
The wooden board made a clear buzzing sound.
In the darkness of the cabin, a dozen children were shackled and imprisoned in this dark environment.
These children were all in their teens and were in a very weak condition because the people on the boat would only throw in a few cold black bread from time to time.
This kind of food can only barely keep the children's bellies filled, and while hanging on to their lives, there won't be much resistance.
As for the reason, it is naturally because these children are kidnapped slaves.
The guards outside are human traffickers.
Human traffickers are responsible for transporting kidnapped slaves to special places for sale in exchange for more valuable benefits. This is how they make money.
This cabin room dedicated to holding slaves was dark, damp, and smelled extremely bad.
The thin Ah Jin sat in a corner in the dark with his arms curled up, waiting quietly.
Being kidnapped by human traffickers, he still couldn't clearly understand his fate.
As a clear and harsh door opened, the light was almost blinding.
Some food had been thrown in by traffickers and scattered on the stained planks of the cabin.
As slave children, they had no right to be picky. Driven by hunger in their bellies, they immediately burst out with strength to snatch the food.
Maybe it's out of good intentions.
Today the food traffickers throw to them is no longer brown bread, but steamed corn.
When the slightly hot corn was held in his hands, Ah Jin felt completely fulfilled.
The door was closed again.
The room fell into darkness again.
Ah Jin grasped the corn tightly as if it were a treasure, and then slowly returned to his previous seat. There was a gurgling sound in his stomach, and the severe pain in his stomach meant that he was very hungry.
Ah Jin was about to eat this rare corn, but his eyes suddenly fell on a young man next to him.
This young man is about the same age as Ah Jin, twelve or thirteen years old. He has blond hair and slightly whiter skin, like a child from a noble family.
I don't know why, the blond boy didn't grab the food, maybe because he was physically weak.
After all, the blond boy's lips were extremely chapped and he was severely dehydrated.
Maybe it’s because kindness remains in my heart.
Ah Jin suddenly chose to break the corn in his hand in half and gave half of it to the blond boy who had not eaten for a long time.
"Thank you." The blond boy opened his eyes, looked directly at Ah Jin for a while, and took the half of the corn without refusing.
Ah Jin didn't say anything more and started to wolf down the remaining half of the corn.
The warm corn entered his mouth, and Ah Jin immediately felt a hint of dry and sweet moisture.
Eventually, the energy from this half of the corn began to give Ah Jin's body some strength again.
After eating corn.
Ah Jin continued to sit in the corner. He knew that after eating these foods this time, the next food might not be available until a day or two later.
In the silent darkness, the blond boy asked softly.
"My name is William, what's yours?"
"Akin."
After that, the two stopped talking and continued to wait quietly in the dark room.
Waiting for an unknown future.
From time to time, the sound of crashing waves can be heard by the ears, and the hull of the boat will become bumpy due to the ups and downs of the sea surface.
Ah Jin has long been accustomed to these.
In the darkness, Ah Jin slowly fell asleep. When he woke up again, he was awakened by the quarrels outside.
Through the wooden walls of the cabin, Ah Jin could vaguely hear some conversations and curses. It was probably that the slave ship had encountered a pirate ship.
The two parties did not agree on some interests.
Then fighting broke out.
The slave boys in the cabin became alert. After about ten minutes of fighting, the noise outside gradually subsided, and there seemed to be only one survivor.
Da da da!
A burst of heavy footsteps came from outside the door, and the sound of opening the door with a dull sound reached everyone's ears, and the wooden door suddenly opened.
Through the blinding light.
Ajin found a stout man with a beard standing outside the door.
This is the owner of this slave ship.
The hope that arose in Ah Jin's heart disappeared.
The slave ship owner glanced at all the slaves in the room and threatened in a cold voice: "You all should be honest and don't think about escaping. There is still a way to survive if you stay here. Leave this ship. Haha, with your abilities, you can only wait for death." "
However, the slave ship owner responded with a cold gunshot.
Ah Jin turned his head in confusion.
Because the person who fired the gun turned out to be the blond boy named William next to him.
Where did he get the flintlock?
Ajin could not know these doubts, but with the death of the slave ship owner, no one could stop these teenagers from leaving.
William found the key from the dead slave ship owner, unlocked the shackles on his body, and also gave the key to Ajin and other teenagers.
A moment later.
William found a small boat and food, and asked the temporarily liberated teenagers: "I want to survive on my own, do you want to follow me?"
It is definitely not possible to stay on this slave ship, because there must be more than this group of these traffickers, and there will definitely be new people to pick them up later. If you continue to stay here, you will still become a slave.
But as the slave ship owner said, the vast ocean, relying on only a small boat.
The chance of survival is slim!
In the end, only Ajin and another teenager chose to board the boat.
The three of them paddled into the boundless sea while gradually getting familiar with each other.
William asked another boy with messy hair: "What's your name, why are you tied to the slave ship?"
The boy sneered and answered.
"My name is Jeff. I was not kidnapped. I was sold by my parents. They had too many children and could not afford to support them, so they sold me to human traffickers at a low price."
The boat fell into silence for a while.
Afterwards, William asked Ajin: "Ajin, what about you?"
Ajin answered without hiding anything.
"My father is a fisherman. He encountered a shipwreck while taking me out to sea to fish. I don't know whether he is dead or alive. Although I was lucky enough to survive, I was hit by a slave ship and became a slave waiting to be sold."
After hearing Ajin's experience, Jeff couldn't help but look at William who rescued them.
"What about you, William?"
"I, I am just a down-and-out nobleman." William smiled bitterly.
...
The boat drifted on the sea, and the fate of the three teenagers was gradually united.
It's a pity that they were not lucky enough to find land and islands at the beginning, but they were unlucky enough to meet a pirate ship.
In desperation, the three could only join the pirate group and become trainee pirates.
A few years later, the pirate group was hunted by the navy and eventually disintegrated.
William and his two companions escaped the pursuit of the navy and landed in a place called Shimotsuki Village.
After studying at the famous Isshin Dojo, they settled down temporarily.
In Isshin Dojo, the three met Master Koshiro who taught them swordsmanship, and also met Senior Brother Kahn who was peaceful to others.
Later, William's swordsmanship talent unfolded and he made great progress in the dojo. Akin and Jeff did not have such talent, and the gap in strength was quickly widened.
After learning, because of William's ambition, the three returned to their old business and returned to the road of pirates.
A few years ago, Akin was assigned by William to secretly sneak into the Click Pirates, step by step to gain the trust of Click.
Not long ago, William sent a message that he was going to attack the Click Pirates tonight, and asked Akin to secretly cooperate.
But he didn't expect it.
The Click Pirates encountered a naval patrol ship in advance and were destroyed by Coles alone.
-------Off topic------
Thanks to Broken D for the 500 starting coins.