The colossal wave, like a wall of water, seemed to devour everything.
Time seemed to slow down at this moment.
Terror was frozen on the pirates' faces, and Gibbs's single eye was filled with despair.
Even Captain Barbossa, usually so arrogant, gripped the cutlass at his waist, his palms slick with cold sweat.
They were all desperadoes who licked blood from the blade, never blinking an eye in the face of an enemy.
But now, facing this irresistible might of nature, they felt a fear that came from the depths of their souls.
They were doomed.
This was the shared thought of everyone.
"Hoist the foresail! Hard to port! Meet it head-on!"
Just as despair settled into a deathly silence, Roger's roar, like a clap of thunder, exploded in everyone's ears.
Everyone froze, instinctively looking at him.
Roger was gripping a rope tightly, half his body drenched by the waves.
His face was pale, but his eyes were frighteningly bright, filled with an unquestionable resolve.
"What are you standing around for! Do you want to die!"
Roger roared again.
"Quick! Hoist the foresail! Just a little bit is enough! We need speed to get through!"
His roar was like a bucket of cold water, waking up the stunned pirates.
"He... what did he say?"
"Hoist the sail? Isn't hoisting the sail now suicide?"
"But... but that wave..."
The pirates murmured amongst themselves, no one daring to move.
Their experience told them that hoisting a sail in a storm was tantamount to suicide.
Captain Barbossa also stared intently at Roger.
His mind was racing.
This unknown young man had been saying things contrary to their common sense ever since the storm began.
First, he said they couldn't furl all the sails, then he said they should meet the waves head-on.
Now, he was actually telling everyone to hoist the sails?
He was mad, this kid was absolutely mad!
But... if they didn't do as he said, watching that giant wave approach, the result would also be certain death.
Take a gamble?
Or trust his decades of experience and leave it to fate?
"Captain!"
Gibbs also reacted.
He looked at Barbossa, his eyes filled with inquiry and a hint of expectation that even he hadn't noticed.
Barbossa's Adam's apple bobbed up and down.
He looked at the approaching giant wave, then at Roger's eyes, which seemed to see through everything.
Damn it!
Desperate times call for desperate measures!
"Do as he says!"
Barbossa gritted his teeth and roared.
"Quick! Hoist the foresail! Helmsman, hard to port! Give it all you've got!"
The Captain's order finally came down.
Although the pirates were filled with doubt and fear, the Captain's authority was absolute.
The pirates closest to the foremast immediately rushed over, fumbling to untie the ropes, trying to raise the small triangular sail a little.
The old pirate at the helm also seemed to have received a divine decree, using all his strength to turn the heavy rudder wheel.
"Creak—"
The old rudder let out a groan of protest, unable to bear the strain.
The sea serpent's bow began to turn with difficulty, aiming directly at the colossal wave that pressed down like a mountain.
"The sail is up! Just a little!" a pirate shouted.
Now!
Roger's heart was in his throat.
He could feel that after gaining a little momentum, the ship's speed had noticeably increased by a fraction.
It was this tiny bit of speed that would determine everyone's life and death.
"Hold on tight!"
Roger shouted with all his might.
Before his voice faded, the giant wave crashed down fiercely.
"Boom—!"
With a deafening roar, it was as if the whole world had collapsed.
The sea serpent's bow lifted sharply, almost vertically, as it surged up the crest of the wave.
Everyone on board felt as if they had been thrown into a tumble dryer, though they didn't know what a tumble dryer was, as the world spun around them.
Countless tons of seawater rained down from above, crashing onto the deck and onto everyone.
Roger was flung out by the immense impact, his back hitting the mast hard, the pain almost making him pass out.
He felt as if his bones were about to shatter.
The ship lingered at the wave's peak for what felt like an eternity, then plunged violently downwards, slamming into the sea along the backside of the wave.
"Bang!"
Another deafening crash.
The ship vibrated violently, letting out a groan as if on the verge of breaking apart.
But... it didn't fall apart.
It had made it through!
As the ship gradually stabilized from its violent rocking and the seawater on the deck began to recede, the surviving pirates dared to slowly open their eyes.
They were still alive.
They had actually survived that giant wave that could have capsized anything!
The deck was a mess, with broken planks and debris everywhere.
Several sailors were injured, groaning on the ground.
But no one had been swept away, and the ship hadn't capsized.
Everyone was gasping for breath, their faces filled with the wild joy and disbelief of having escaped death.
"We... we survived?"
"My god... it's a miracle..."
Gibbs leaned on the railing, trembling as he stood up, he touched his face, then looked around, his single eye filled with shock.
Captain Barbossa, on the other hand, was completely frozen in place.
He slowly turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the chaotic deck, locking onto the young man who was leaning against the mast, struggling to stand up.
It was him.
It was his command that saved this ship, saved everyone.
When everyone else was despairing and waiting for death, it was he who pointed to the only path to survival.
Who exactly was he?
How did he know to do this?
How did he know everything!
It wasn't just Barbossa.
All the pirates who were still conscious were now looking at Roger with eyes as if he were a monster.
In their gaze, there was shock, confusion, but even more, a spontaneous sense of awe.
This young man, whom they had treated as a pauper and free labor yesterday, at this moment, his image became incredibly tall and mysterious.
Roger leaned on the mast, enduring the intense pain in his back, slowly straightened his body. He glanced at the expressions of the pirates around him.
He knew in his heart that he had made the right gamble.
First step, he had established himself.
But before he could even let out a sigh of relief, he heard a horrified scream from the crow's nest.
"Captain! Ahead! Ahead is the Devil's Triangle!"
"We've veered off course!"
"Devil's Triangle"?
Roger's heart jumped, and he looked up.
He saw that at the edge of the storm, an even more turbulent and chaotic sea appeared before them.
The waves there were erratic.
Like boiling water, countless giant whirlpools were faintly visible on the surface of the sea.
That was the most famous death route in these waters, where it was said no ship ever came out alive.
And the sea serpent was being pushed by the storm, heading straight for that place of death.