"William Pirates!"
Looking at the pirate ship approaching in the distance, Coles murmured softly.
For this pirate group.
Coles is no stranger to this.
Likewise, the rest of the naval soldiers present were no strangers to them, because they had encountered the William Pirates on their first day as new recruits. That was once the fear and nightmare in the hearts of these people!
With his hands tied, Ajin turned over his body, which was lying on his back, and looked towards the pirate ship in the distance with difficulty.
In Mo Hu's sight, Ajin seemed to see Captain William and Deputy Captain Jeff.
A long-lost memory came back.
…
It was about ten years ago.
Crunch, crunch!
The wooden board made a crisp buzzing sound.
In the darkness of the cabin, more than a dozen children were shackled and imprisoned in this dark environment.
These children were all in their teens and in very weak condition, because the people on the boat would only throw in a few pieces of cold black bread from time to time.
This kind of food can only barely fill the children's stomachs, keeping them alive while preventing them from having much power to resist.
As for the reason, it is naturally because these children were kidnapped slaves.
The people guarding outside are human traffickers.
Human traffickers are responsible for transporting kidnapped slaves to special places and selling them in exchange for more valuable benefits. This is how they make money.
This cabin room, which was specially used to hold slaves, was dark, damp and smelled terrible.
The thin Ajin curled up his arms and sat in a dark corner, waiting quietly.
He was kidnapped by human traffickers and had no idea of his fate.
Following a clear and sharp sound of a door opening, the light was almost blinding.
Some food was thrown in by the traffickers and scattered on the stained wooden planks of the cabin.
As slaves, the children had no right to be picky. Driven by hunger, they immediately burst out with strength to snatch the food.
Maybe it's out of kindness.
Today, the food the traffickers threw to them was no longer black bread, but steamed corn.
When Ajin held the slightly hot corn in his hands, he felt completely fulfilled.
The door was closed again.
The room fell into darkness again.
Ajin held the corn tightly as if it were a treasure, and then slowly returned to his previous seat. A rumbling sound and severe pain in his stomach meant that he was very hungry.
Ajin was just about to eat the rare corn when his eyes suddenly fell on a young man next to him.
The boy was about the same age as Ajin, about twelve or thirteen years old, with golden hair and slightly paler skin, like a child from an aristocratic family.
For some reason, the blond boy did not try to grab the food, perhaps because he was too weak.
After all, the blond boy's lips were extremely chapped and he was seriously dehydrated.
Maybe it’s because there is kindness in my heart.
Ajin suddenly chose to break the corn in his hand into two halves and gave one half to the blond boy who had not eaten for a long time.
"Thank you." The blond boy opened his eyes, looked at Ajin for a while, and took half the corn without refusing.
Ajin didn't say much and began to wolf down the remaining half of the corn.
When the warm corn entered his mouth, Ajin immediately felt a hint of dry and sweet moisture.
Eventually, the energy from this half piece of corn began to give Ajin's body some strength back.
After eating corn.
Ajin continued to sit in the corner. He knew that after eating the food this time, the next food might not be available until one or two days later.
In the silent darkness, the blond boy uttered a very soft question.
"My name is William, what's yours?"
"Ajin."
After that, the two stopped talking and continued to wait quietly in the dark room.
Waiting for the unknown future.
From time to time, you can hear the sound of waves hitting your ears, and the ship will become bumpy due to the ups and downs of the sea.
Ah Jin has long been accustomed to these things.
In the darkness, Ajin slowly fell asleep, and when he woke up again, he was awakened by the quarrel outside.
Through the wooden walls of the cabin, Ajin could vaguely hear some conversations and curses, probably because this slave ship had encountered a pirate ship.
The two sides failed to reach an agreement due to 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 it seemed that there was only one survivor.
Da da da!
A heavy sound of footsteps was heard outside the door, and the sound of the door opening with a hoarse sound reached everyone's ears, and the wooden door was suddenly opened.
Through the blinding light.
Ajin found that the person standing outside the door was a sturdy man with a beard.
This is the owner of this slave ship.
The glimmer of hope that rose in Ajin's heart disappeared.
The slave ship owner glanced at all the slaves in the room and threatened in a cold voice: "Behave yourself and don't think about escaping. You still have a chance to survive if you stay here. If you leave this ship, haha, you will only die with your abilities."
However, the slave ship owner was responded by a cold gunshot.
Ajin turned his head with some confusion.
Because the person who fired the gun was the blond boy named William next to him.
Where did he get the flintlock
Ajin had no way of knowing these doubts, but with the death of the slave ship owner, no one could stop these young men from leaving.
William found the key from the dead slave ship owner, unlocked his shackles, and gave the key to Ajin and the other boys.
A moment later.
William found a small boat and some food, and asked the temporarily liberated teenagers: "I have to fend for myself now. Anyone want to follow me?"
It is definitely not possible to continue staying on this slave ship, because there must be more than one group of human traffickers, and there will definitely be new people coming to pick them up. If you continue to stay here, you will still become a slave.
But just like what the slave ship owner said, there is only one small boat in the vast ocean.
The chance of survival is slim!
In the end, only Ajin and another teenager chose to board the boat.
As the three of them paddled into the boundless sea, they gradually became familiar with the place.
William asked another young man with messy hair, "What's your name and why were you tied to the slave ship?"
The young man sneered and answered.
"My name is Jeff. I was not kidnapped. I was sold by my parents. They had too many children and couldn't afford to support them, so they sold me to human traffickers at a low price."
There was silence on the boat for a moment.
Then, William asked Ajin: "Ajin, what about you?"
Ajin did not hide his answer.
"My father was a fisherman. He was taking me out to sea for fishing when we were shipwrecked. We didn't know whether he was dead or alive. Although I was lucky enough to survive, I was later encountered by a slave ship and became a slave waiting to be sold."
After hearing what happened to Ajin, Jeff couldn't help but look at William who rescued them.
"What about you, William?"
"I, I'm just a down-and-out nobleman." William smiled bitterly.
…
The boat drifted on the sea, and the fate of the three teenagers was gradually linked together.
Unfortunately, they were not lucky enough to find land and islands at the beginning, but instead had the misfortune of encountering a pirate ship.
With no other choice, the three of them could only join the pirate group and become trainee pirates.
A few years later, the pirate group was hunted by the navy and eventually dispersed.
William and his two companions escaped the navy's pursuit and landed in a place called Shimokatsuki Village.
After studying at the famous local Isshin Dojo, they were able to settle down temporarily.
In Isshin Dojo, the three met Master Koshiro who taught them swordsmanship, and also got to know Brother Kahn who was a peaceful person.
Later, William's talent in swordsmanship unfolded and he made great progress in the gym. However, Ajin and Jeff did not have such talent, and the gap in strength quickly widened.
After learning the skills, due to William's ambition, the three of them returned to their old ways and became pirates again.
Several years ago, Akin was assigned by William to secretly infiltrate the Click Pirates, rising step by step and gaining Click's trust.
Not long ago, William sent a message that he was going to attack the Click Pirates tonight and asked Akin to cooperate secretly.
Just didn't expect it.
The Click Pirates encountered a naval patrol ship in advance and were destroyed by Coles alone.