"What a con!"
"Swindling pirates out of their hard-earned money—absolutely shameless!"
Walking out of another self-proclaimed wizard's tent, Fang Yuan couldn't help cursing under his breath.
Although he had no mana right now, his eyesight remained; these so-called wizards were obvious fakes.
"Really?" Sakazuki sounded surprised. "I thought that one was pretty accurate—he said I'd have good luck on this voyage, and then I ran into you, Lord Black King."
Fang Yuan was instantly awestruck by Sakazuki's boot-licking prowess.
With flattery that smooth, who else but Sakazuki could rise so fast?
Still, it made Fang Yuan curious: with skills like that, why had the man ended up a pirate instead of thriving somewhere else?
So, while heading to the next Witch's camp, Fang Yuan asked him about it.
The ever-grinning Sakazuki froze, then sighed.
"I was actually a marine first," he began.
Fang Yuan nodded; just hearing the name Sakazuki made it believable.
"At first I shuttled cargo routes between the Americas and Africa and did pretty well—until we got a new trade supervisor and everything changed."
He mentioned a name Fang Yuan knew all too well: "That damned Beckett—he ordered the whole fleet to smuggle slaves for him!"
"Cutler Beckett?" Fang Yuan asked.
The first mate nodded. "You've heard of him, Captain?"
"Only that he's a scoundrel."
Of course Fang Yuan knew; Lord Beckett was the big boss of the first three pirates of the caribbean films, later becoming chairman of the East India Company and wiping out pirates wherever he found them.
Worth noting, he shared a deep history with Jack Sparrow, the absolute soul of pirates of the caribbean.
In his youth Jack worked for the East India Company—right under Beckett—who valued Jack's talent. But Jack soon discovered his cargo was slaves; his conscience flared and he freed them, infuriating Beckett.
The pirate brand on Jack's arm was burned there by Beckett himself.
Not content with that, Beckett also sank Jack's beloved ship, the Wicked Wench, right before his eyes.
Later Jack sought out Davy Jones, bargaining thirteen years of freedom for a century of service aboard The Flying Dutchman, so Davy Jones raised the Wicked Wench and even enchanted her, making her one of the fastest vessels on the sea.
Thus was born the famous Black Pearl.
You could say Beckett was directly responsible for Jack Sparrow turning pirate.
Fang Yuan hadn't expected Sakazuki's story to parallel Jack's so closely.
"So you discovered Beckett was trafficking slaves and refused to play along, ending up on bad terms?" Fang Yuan asked.
"Huh?" Sakazuki shook his head. "Of course not."
"Slave trading is crazy profitable—who in their right mind would turn that down?"
The real reason, Sakazuki admitted, was: "I was secretly smuggling slaves, damned Beckett caught me, and booted me out of the navy."
Fang Yuan's mouth twitched.
He'd overestimated this pirate.
By then they'd reached their target Witch's camp.
At the entrance Fang Yuan's expression turned serious; the aura here felt completely different from the previous two.
Once inside, he understood why.
"Heart, spleen, lungs, kidneys?" Fang Yuan pointed at glass jars hanging overhead. "Are you a wizard or a Doctor?"
"Spell components," the Gypsy Witch proprietress retorted. "You a Doctor yourself?"
"Oh, no." Fang Yuan waved a hand. "Just studied a bit."
The Gypsy Witch's face changed instantly—clearly she'd pegged him as some deranged killer.
"You know witchcraft?" Fang Yuan asked straight out.
Realizing business had walked in, the Witch brightened: "Of course. What do you need?"
"Blessing, divination—or maybe a curse on someone?"
"Teach me!" Fang Yuan blurted.
"Huh?" The Witch blinked.
Who just barges in trying to steal someone's livelihood? My trade secrets are—Fang Yuan tossed her a pouch of gold coins.
The Witch's face switched instantly; she snatched the pouch.
"First things first—witchcraft isn't for everyone," she cautioned. "I can't guarantee you'll learn."
Translation: if you fail, it's definitely your fault.
"No problem—just teach me seriously." Fang Yuan waved it off.
He was confident; after all, he'd been personally tutored by the Sorcerer Supreme. If he failed, it'd be the Witch's ineptitude.
"You don't need to tag along," Fang Yuan told Sakazuki. "Go enjoy yourself on the island."
Sakazuki agreed readily, though his departing look was oddly suggestive.
What kind of respectable pirate studies magic with a Witch—unless he's after the Witch herself?
Noticing Sakazuki's odd expression, Fang Yuan finally studied the Witch's looks: Gypsy complexion just a shade darker than white, decent figure, though face paint obscured her features.
"Go take a bath first," Fang Yuan suddenly said.
"Huh?" The Witch looked puzzled.
But the customer was king, so she complied.
She really wanted to refuse the hassle, but Fang Yuan simply offered too much.
When she finished bathing and revealed her true face, Fang Yuan's eyes lit up slightly.
This Witch was rather attractive, with a wild, untamed beauty.
"Actually, you're right." Fang Yuan smiled and spoke. "I really am a Doctor."
"So, before you study witchcraft, let me give you a physical check-up."
Witch: "..."
Of course—don't get the wrong idea—Fang Yuan did examine the Witch thoroughly first, making sure she had no random diseases before relaxing.
After all, this is a pirate haven; plenty of people carry all kinds of ailments.
Fortunately, the Witch truly was fine, not just "Mei" fine.
So witchcraft lessons would have to wait for another day.
It was also scientifically sound; after some in-depth communication, the Witch would surely teach him more wholeheartedly.
Sure enough, when formal instruction began the next day, the Witch held nothing back—though her teaching skills were… worryingly poor.
"Nasser, you mean whether witchcraft works depends entirely on… um… feeling?" Fang Yuan asked, black lines running down his head.
"Exactly!" Witch Nasser nodded, leaning into him. "You can also use existing chants, runes and such, but they don't succeed every time."
"Only those with talent can learn it; otherwise you have to rely on magical items."
Fang Yuan set Nasser upright; after tasting him, this Witch had become incredibly forward.
Drawing on his understanding of the mystical side, he quickly figured it out.
Caribbean witchcraft had no system at all. The so-called "talented" were like Isabel—Psychics born with special sensitivity to the mystical, able to touch esoteric realms.
As for the chants he'd seen, some Psychic had once happened to cast a spell and then treated the random words muttered at the time as gospel.
That caused the chants to work for some people and fail for others.
Anyone else might have given up learning witchcraft at this point.
But Fang Yuan was different; only now did he realize how wise Ancient One had been to make him study magical theory for so long.
As Ancient One said, magic is like an application, assembled from source code such as chants.
This World had a mystical side but no theoretical foundation. Happily, Fang Yuan knew magical basics; though not fully compatible, it was enough for him to dig out this World's source code and compile a basic theory.
"I said Ancient One's teaching was poor, but looking back it was actually pretty good," Fang Yuan mused, rubbing his chin.
He didn't know whether Ancient One had foreseen this, but it proved immensely useful to him.
Excavating from scratch would be hard, but Nasser had given him a great inspiration—magical items!
This World lacked magical theory but had all sorts of magical items—ready resources. By studying them he could reverse-engineer the correct way to cast spells.
"Looks like I'll have to rely on pirates!" Fang Yuan understood.
Magical items were precious; no one would simply give them away, so he would have to help himself.
Fang Yuan stood up, pocketed Nasser's witchcraft notes, and headed straight for the tavern.
As for Nasser?
She couldn't even stand; best she stay put.
Fang Yuan found Sakazuki, who was just sobering up, and ordered, "Three days' rest. After that, get everyone back to work!"
"Load every cannon, gun, keg of powder, and shell we have; patch up all the ship's damage—we're going hunting!"
Sakazuki answered loudly, "Aye aye!"
Seeing Sakazuki much more awake, Fang Yuan went on, "Change the pirate flag; I'll draw the design. And recruit some able crew—twenty-odd men won't cut it."
"No problem, Captain!"
Sakazuki grinned. "Everyone in port knows we split a fat pile of coin—they're scrambling to join us!"
"By the way, Lord Black King, we need to rename the pirate crew—please choose!"
A good First Mate, indeed—so considerate.
Fang Yuan answered without thinking: "Black Emperor Pirates!"
Sakazuki looked as if he'd expected it; he skipped his break and ran off to prepare.
As First Mate he was second-in-command on the ship, his share second only to Fang Yuan's; news of setting sail again filled him with enthusiasm.
So by the third day Fang Yuan's pirate ship looked brand-new.
Rotten planks were repaired, and the cannons increased to thirty—respectable firepower among pirates.
The flag's emblem had also changed; anyone from a World that knew CF would recognize the silver-white skull on the black banner as CF's headshot icon.
"Let's give the ship a new name, Captain," Sakazuki asked eagerly.
Fang Yuan smiled slightly and spoke the name he'd long had in mind—
"The Jackdaw!"
It embodied his hopes for this vessel.
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