novelraw Chapter 64 : Fire
Chapter 64 : Fire
Chapter 64: Fire
He had been sleeping soundly when a fire suddenly broke out.
The pirates, startled out of their wits in the middle of the night, rushed onto the deck.
Crackle crackle.
“Eek! Fire!”
“Help me! Somebody help me!”
The scorching heat and the passengers’ screams.
Looking down at the cabin where the passengers had been locked up, the flames were truly raging.
Amid the panicking pirates, one man shouted at the top of his lungs.
“What are you all doing! Bring buckets or cloths and put it out, now!”
Following the man’s orders, the pirates each grabbed something and went down to the cabin.
Robin carefully observed the man who had given the command.
‘Someone high-ranking. Could he be the captain?’
He had been watching the captain’s quarters the whole time, but the door never opened.
Figuring he must be about the second-in-command of the ship, he slit the throat of the pirate he had seized.
“Ghk. Grrrk…….”
With everyone’s attention focused elsewhere, no pirate noticed that a man had died.
From here on, moving swiftly was what mattered.
He counted the number of pirates going down to put out the fire.
‘14, 15, 16…….’
When only about ten pirates remained on deck, Robin shouted.
“Close it!”
The Admiral, who had been hiding his body and waiting only for Robin’s signal, shut the iron-barred door.
Thud.
“W-what is this!”
“Who is it!”
The remaining pirates threw away the water-filled buckets and drew their swords.
They tried to rush toward the Admiral, but Imelda blocked their path.
Calming her trembling hands, Imelda displayed the swordsmanship she had learned until now.
Clang clang clang!
Seeing Imelda holding off multiple swords, the second-in-command pirate shouted.
“She’s no ordinary woman! Everyone, rush her together!”
Clatter.
After locking the door and sealing it shut, the Admiral joined Imelda.
Though it was two against ten, astonishingly, the standoff continued.
Robin brushed past the two and said,
“Please hold on just a little longer.”
Imelda nodded slightly.
When they saw Robin, the pirates’ gazes changed.
They had realized where he was headed.
“Stop him!”
“How dare you!”
Kagaang!
Two stepped in front of Robin, but it was futile.
With nothing more than swinging his sword with both hands, he drove the pirates back and ran.
His target was the captain’s quarters.
The pirates chased after Robin to grab him, but they missed their timing due to Imelda’s fierce attacks.
Facing the captain’s quarters at the stern, he smashed the sword hilt down.
Crash.
After striking the doorknob several times, it broke off, and the door opened at the same time.
Before it fully opened, Robin instinctively bent his waist back.
Swoosh.
Confirming that a bolt had been fired, he immediately snapped his body forward and entered the captain’s quarters.
The captain, throwing aside his crossbow and drawing his sword, swung it at Robin.
As befitted a rough seaman, the blow carried strength, but to Robin’s eyes, its trajectory was perfectly clear.
Without even needing to clash swords, he kicked toward the captain’s groin.
“Kuh-heok!”
Grabbing the captain’s head as he knelt foaming at the mouth, Robin pressed his sword against him.
Toward the man who was gasping and barely able to breathe, he said,
“It’s over. Surrender.”
“Heh heh… what do you think you can do with just three people.”
Thud.
The sword was driven into the captain’s instep.
The captain convulsed and writhed in pain, but Robin did not let go.
“Guhhhh… everyone, stop!”
The captain, on the verge of rolling his eyes back, did not realize it, but Robin had already come out onto the deck with him as a hostage.
The pirates surrounding Imelda and the Admiral halted their attacks.
Robin slowly walked to the center of the ship.
Ragged breathing greeted him.
“Put your weapons down.”
“Nonsense! You’d better let the captain go instead.”
When Robin nudged the captain lightly, he opened his mouth.
“Do as this guy says! He’s not normal.”
“But if we leave it like this, the ship will burn.”
“Burn? Why?”
At Robin’s words, the pirates’ gazes gathered toward the cabin below the deck.
The black smoke had vanished, and no heat could be felt.
The fire was out.
They had prevented the ship from sinking, but doubt arose among the pirates.
‘There’s no way they could know that all preparations to put out the fire were already finished.’
Before coming up to the deck, Robin had instructed Serena and the passengers.
Light a fire so that smoke billowed, but prevent it from growing out of control.
Decide the space to light the fire in advance and block it so that it could not spread outside.
If they did that, the pirates would put out the fire themselves.
In case of an emergency, he had Serena and one passenger standing by.
“Aren’t you afraid that innocent passengers will die because of your recklessness?”
“Who’s going to die?”
The pirates sensed something amiss.
More than a dozen of them had gone below deck.
If they had instead taken the passengers hostage, they could have escaped the current situation.
Contrary to that expectation, the cabin was quiet.
“You’d better give up hoping something will happen down there. There’s a knight.”
“What……?”
“And he’s a very stubborn knight, so even if everyone here rushed him together, you wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“Don’t lie. Where would a knight come from here!”
“If you don’t believe me, I’ll show you.”
Grabbing the captain by the back of the neck, Robin walked to the door connected to the cabin below the deck.
He passed through the pirates, but they did not dare rush him.
Looking down past the iron lattice bars of the door, the captain clenched his teeth.
“What is this…….”
All the pirates were sprawled on the ground.
Collapsed around the clearly charred marks, they looked unreal.
The terrified passengers were huddled in one corner.
They had turned their heads away, trying not to make a sound.
‘Looks like the elder did well.’
It had been the most uncertain part of the plan, but it worked out nicely.
There was something he had learned while traveling with the old man.
No matter how unsound his mind might be, the old man’s swordsmanship remained intact.
Though his mind was worn, the old man’s body still responded.
In other words, if a threat was directed at him, he would not let it slide.
‘Judging by the elder’s eyes, he’s fine right now.’
If an unexpected situation arose, there was nothing to worry about as long as the old man was there.
Confirming that Serena was also safe, he felt relieved inside.
Imelda and the Admiral approached Robin.
At a glance, there were no visible injuries.
The Admiral’s martial ability was better than expected.
In contrast, the pirates’ expressions gradually twisted.
“Don’t worry too much. If you just do as I say, I’ll let you live.”
“What do you want?”
“Things going back to how they were.”
Robin slightly pulled the sword away from the captain’s neck and said,
“We’ll retake the trade ship.”
�����* * *
The disarmed pirates stared blankly as the trade ship approached.
Because of the boy who had suddenly appeared, some forty pirates had been neutralized.
Just as the boy had said, the captain slowed the ship and closed the distance with the trade ship.
“Just do exactly as I said. If you mess up even one thing, your head will go flying.”
At Robin’s vicious threat, the captain swallowed his saliva.
From the trade ship that had come alongside, a man who seemed to be a representative shouted.
“What’s going on over there! Why has your speed slowed down!”
Robin discreetly pressed his sword against the captain’s side.
As the cold blade touched him, the captain hesitantly opened his mouth.
“The ship’s broken! We need manpower!”
Imelda and the Admiral waited tensely for the trade ship’s response.
How the trade ship would react was a gamble.
Robin also pretended otherwise, but he was just as anxious.
“For heaven’s sake, broken? Fine, wait! I’ll send people over!”
A long wooden plank that people could cross was laid between the pirate ship and the trade ship.
‘Got it.’
Robin clenched his fist tightly.
If pirates crossed over from the trade ship, they would be sent down to the cabins and detained.
He didn’t know how many would come over, but the more the better.
Reducing the enemy’s strength as much as possible would broaden his options.
They could take the captured pirates hostage or interfere with the trade ship’s navigation.
As he was forming various plans, a whistling sound rang out.
Piiiii.
The sharp sound carried past the pirate ship and reached the trade ship.
The source of the whistle was the captain.
Robin immediately pricked the tip of his sword lightly into the captain’s side.
“What are you doing.”
“Heh heh heh…….”
The captain let out a laugh without answering.
The moment Robin sensed something was wrong, an arrow was fired skyward from the trade ship.
Shiiiiik.
Pahng.
The surroundings instantly grew bright.
Because he hadn’t expected this, Robin was taken aback.
Thanks to the blazing light in the sky, the situation of both the pirate ship and the trade ship was revealed.
On the trade ship, around twenty crossbowmen and dozens of sturdy men were holding swords.
“You’re dead.”
The captain turned toward Robin with a greasy smile.
Without even time to respond, an arrow flew toward him.
In time slowed by accelerated perception, Robin’s sword moved.
Clang.
When he knocked the arrow aside, the captain’s eyes went wide.
The pirate who had fired the crossbow also gaped in shock.
But only for a moment. An order came down from the trade ship.
“Fire.”
The crossbowmen all aimed at Robin at once.
Robin finished his judgment in an instant.
He threw aside the captain he had been holding hostage and shifted his body to the side.
Swaeaeaeik.
The arrows approached slowly, drawing straight lines.
Unlike before, there wasn’t just one.
Five arrows simultaneously targeted his body.
Robin moved both hands to knock the arrows away.
The trajectory of the sword in his right hand became a plane, blocking like a shield, while the sword in his left hand moved only at the wrist, grazing the arrowheads.
Kagagagang!
Without even time to catch his breath, ten arrows flew in next.
He casually knocked three aside with the left-hand sword and hurled his body to the right, where the captain was.
Pubububuk.
The sound of arrows embedding into flesh assaulted his ears.
Judging by the lack of pain, they hadn’t lodged in Robin’s body.
When he lifted his head, the captain, pierced by several arrows, trembled violently.
“Faithless bastards…….”
Those were the captain’s last words.
The captain, his breath gone, collapsed.
‘Of course. There was no way things would go exactly as planned.’
“He’s no ordinary bastard! Everyone, rush him together!”
Pirates crossed over from the trade ship via the wooden plank.
Just counting those immediately visible made around twenty, and including those waiting, there were more than fifty.
Robin smiled bitterly.
When he looked back toward Imelda and the Admiral, even the pirates who had lost their weapons chose to fight.
Slice.
Thud.
“Gyaaah!”
Imelda was busily reducing their numbers, but she wouldn’t last long.
Just in case, Robin shouted toward below deck.
“Elder! The pirates are coming over!”
“Yeah. I’ll guard this place well, so go raise some hell.”
He was wrong.
The old man had no intention of joining this melee.
Swaeaeaeik.
At the second volley, Robin’s sword moved in a dizzying blur.
Because they fired five arrows at a time with slight delays, he managed to knock them all away again.
The deflected arrows struck the pirates standing in front of Imelda.
The one commanding the pirates muttered,
“…So there was a monster.”
Robin’s sword was so fast and precise that an ordinary person couldn’t even track it.
Seizing the moment, Robin spoke.
“Shoot all you want. You won’t hit me.”
“I see. You lot, aim for the woman.”
Imelda was engaged in close combat with the Admiral and the pirates who had crossed over from the trade ship.
If arrows were added to that, she wouldn’t be able to block them.
The crossbowmen swiftly loaded their bolts.
Without even thinking, Robin ran toward Imelda.
“Get down!”
Swaeaeaeaeik.
The third volley.
This time, twenty arrows flew in simultaneously.
It was because they had seen Robin knock aside the arrows twice before.
Unlike earlier, Robin wrapped himself around Imelda and threw them both to the deck.
Pububububuk.
At the sound of arrowheads tearing into flesh, Imelda’s eyes widened.
She carefully pushed Robin, who was sprawled over her.
Robin’s eyes met Imelda’s.
“Damn it…….”
Robin’s expression hardened like stone.