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"Huh?" The three pirates saw Kaito and Lala on the deck.
The three pirates were stunned for a moment, but then reacted and pointed their swords directly at Kaito and Lala. They also drew the flintlock pistols from their waists, aimed them at the two, and placed their fingers on the triggers. These actions were executed swiftly, showing their excellent tactical discipline. Then, the strongest-looking pirate asked Kaito and Lala coldly, "Who are you? How did you get on the ship?"
Lala blinked. She wasn't surprised by the attitude of the three.
From her perspective, she and Kaito had entered someone else's territory without permission. It was natural for the owner to be upset. So, as long as she and Kaito explained things properly, the misunderstanding could be resolved.
So Lala smiled and greeted them, "Hello!"
The burly pirate's face immediately darkened. Even after boarding their ship, they seemed indifferent and casual, as if they didn't take them seriously at all. He then made a signal to the two pirates beside him. One of them took the whistle hanging from his chest and blew it. The sound of tweet-tweet echoed through the entire ship, and in the next moment, heavy footsteps rang out.
Dozens of pirates rushed out from various places.
They all held swords and muskets. After appearing, they surrounded Kaito and Lala. Then came more heavy footsteps. The pirate captain appeared—long sword at his waist, a captain's hat, a single eye, and a golden hook on his left arm. His cold gaze landed directly on Kaito and Lala.
Kaito looked at the pirate captain with surprise. The man looked exactly like a stereotypical captain, with all the necessary features.
You wouldn't even need makeup if he were acting.
"Who are you?" asked the captain coldly.
Lala blinked and whispered to Kaito, "Kaito, is this guy the pirate captain?"
She too felt that the man coming through the crowd looked like the captain in the picture book she had read.
"Probably." Kaito nodded with a smile.
Lala exclaimed in awe, "That's so cool!"
He really looked like the pirate captain from her storybook.
The captain noticed that not only did the two ignore his question, but they were also chatting casually, completely disregarding him. This made him feel his authority was being seriously challenged. On a pirate ship, the captain's authority must not be questioned, and so his face darkened significantly. He pointed his sword at Kaito and Lala and shouted, "Kill the man! Capture the woman! We're short on a slave!"
"Aye, Captain!" The pirates around him immediately cheered.
The sound of clashing blades echoed as they tried to boost their morale.
Then came the vulgar voices:
"Captain! That woman's so hot! Can we enjoy her before locking her up?"
"Idiot! Of course, the Captain gets to enjoy her first!"
"Hahaha! That's right! Captain first! He's gonna love her!"
"Hahaha! I can't wait to hear her scream!"
"When it's our turn, I'm gonna have a blast!"
The disgusting jeers continued, and the friendly smile on Lala's face disappeared. She turned to Kaito and asked, "Kaito, do you think I can beat them?"
Kaito's expression also darkened. He nodded, "Of course."
"Beat us? Little girl, you have no idea what's going on! Don't worry, big bro's gonna teach you—no, he'll love you real good!"
"Hahaha!"
The pirates laughed mockingly, not taking Lala seriously at all.
Lala's expression turned cold. She clenched her small white fists. "Now I'm angry!"
She dashed toward the pirates like lightning, her punch landing squarely on one of their faces. With a loud bang, the pirate flew like a spinning top. Then another punch—another scream, and another pirate flew. The rest shouted and swung their swords, but Lala dodged them effortlessly. She moved like a tiger among sheep, knocking out pirates left and right. Those nearby panicked and drew their pistols.
Gunshots rang out, bullets flying toward Lala.
But she dodged them as if she had eyes on her back. The bullets flew past her and hit other pirates instead. Screams followed as they fell. Lala rushed at the shooters, and with a few punches, sent them flying off the ship.
The pirate captain snorted and swung his cutlass at her.
Lala dodged easily, and the blade smashed into the deck, splitting it with a crash.
Seeing their captain fight, the remaining pirates felt emboldened and charged at Lala again.
Kaito also snorted, then stretched out his hand. A ring of golden sparks formed beneath several pirates. Before they could react, they fell through the portal into the sea with a splash. Then the portal vanished—and the massive ship crushed them. There wasn't even time for a scream. Kaito raised his hand again, and a spark portal opened beneath the captain's feet just as he was about to chase Lala. He too fell into the sea without reacting.
The pirate ship ran him over, and he died instantly.
Kaito kept opening portals. One by one, all the pirates—except those Lala had knocked out—fell into the sea.
The deck fell silent, and the ocean beneath the ship turned red with blood. Still, the ship continued forward, slowly leaving the red water behind. All the pirates had been defeated, leaving only Kaito and Lala on board.
Kaito's face looked a bit grim. He had just made those people fall straight from the deck into the sea. It had been a subconscious reaction—he simply thought it was faster and more convenient. But now that everything was over and he saw the sea stained red, he realized those people were all dead.
He had killed someone.
Taking a deep breath, Kaito calmed his turbulent emotions and slowly let go of the fear that came with taking a life for the first time.
"They were the ones who tried to kill us first. I just acted in self-defense. I didn't do anything wrong," Kaito murmured to himself. "And they wanted to sell Lala, too. Talking about human trafficking like it was nothing… it clearly means they've done it before. So dying isn't even a tragedy for them!"
Even if human traffickers died a hundred times, it still wouldn't make up for their sins.
After comforting himself like that, Kaito finally felt a little better.
He breathed in the salty sea breeze again, and his mind slowly settled.
Lala approached at that moment, still looking a little upset. She was extremely bothered by the filthy words those people had used. Even though she had knocked them all away, her mood hadn't recovered. Kaito turned to her and said, "Don't worry, they've learned their lesson."
Lala pouted, still in a bad mood.
Then Kaito said, "Let's go check our loot. This ship is ours now, too."
Lala's eyes lit up the moment he said that: "Then can we play pirate adventure?"
Kaito blinked. "Pirate adventure?"
Lala smiled and nodded. "We've taken over a pirate ship and now we sail across the seas, escaping the navy, right?"
"That sounds fun!" she said with a grin.
Kaito seemed a bit helpless but eventually nodded. "Alright."
Might as well have some fun.
"Yay!" Lala cheered, and her sour mood instantly vanished.
Kaito smiled, and the two of them entered the ship's hold together. The stench of sweat hit them immediately, and Kaito almost threw up. Lala wrinkled her nose as well. They both rushed back to the deck and took several deep breaths before recovering. Lala covered her nose and said, "Kaito, it stinks in there!"
Kaito nodded. "Any ideas?"
Lala thought for a moment, then took out her flip-phone and tapped a few buttons: "Come out! CC Cleaner!"
CC Cleaner, wearing an apron and holding a broom and bucket, appeared on deck. Lala pointed to the cabin and said, "I'll be counting on you, CC Cleaner!"
CC Cleaner saluted Lala and ran into the cabin. Soon there was a loud whirring sound, and a thick black smoke puffed out from the ship's rear—it was the smell being purged. After the noise stopped, CC Cleaner returned and saluted again. Lala smiled and nodded. "Thank you, CC Cleaner!"
After storing CC Cleaner back, Lala beamed at Kaito. "All clean!"
Kaito nodded, and they went back into the cabin.
Now the air inside was fresh, like a purifier had been used. The room smelled pleasantly floral.
"Impressive!" Kaito smiled.
Lala giggled.
Then the two began searching the ship's compartments. They found a stash of grenades in the powder room and a large supply of food. Of course, the most abundant item was wine. Freshwater was rare during long voyages, and even stored water would spoil over time. Wine didn't have that problem, making it essential for long journeys. It could be kept far longer than water, effectively serving as a long-lasting freshwater substitute.
But Kaito didn't drink, so he simply ignored it.
They checked other rooms and found various weapons and equipment in the crew's quarters, along with some treasure—namely, gold and jewels. Kaito and Lala gathered the valuables into a 20-centimeter chest and went to the captain's quarters, where they found a nautical map and a small desk with miscellaneous items. Kaito examined it and found paper, ink, a half-finished chart, and a telescope. Kaito nodded and commented, "This captain might've been in the navy."
He seemed like a capable guy.
But since he was already dead, Kaito didn't think much of it.
He looked around again and saw hooks on the wall with clothes hanging on them, as well as swords and muskets.
"Kaito! There's treasure here!" Lala suddenly called out.
Kaito walked over, curious, and saw that Lala had opened a hidden compartment in the captain's room. A golden glow shone from within. Kaito and Lala squatted down to look inside and found a large stash of gold and jewels. When they tried putting it all into the 20cm chest, they realized they would need ten of them to fit it all. As expected of a captain—his wealth far exceeded that of his crew.
"So much gold!" Kaito smiled.
He wasn't sure about the purity of the gold, but even if it wasn't the best, it was still valuable. After all, gold prices were high nowadays.
"Kaito, is this money?" Lala asked, holding something curiously.
Kaito took a look and found it resembled paper money—similar in size to RMB, with handwritten numbers. It read "10,000 yuan." It reminded Kaito of Japanese yen, so he nodded. "This must be the currency of this world."
Lala smiled and hummed. "We've got money in this world now!"
"Yep." Kaito nodded with a smile.
After packing everything up, they returned to the deck. The ship was now sailing with the wind. Kaito and Lala knew nothing about navigation, so they had no idea where it was going or how to steer. They just ignored it, found some chairs, and lay down on the deck to enjoy the sea breeze and sunshine.
"Come to think of it, this is the first time I've ever seen the ocean in real life," Kaito suddenly said.
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