"Through the Needle's Eye? You're mad, lad! We'll be toothpicks before the minute's out!"
The helmsman's hands were slick with sweat, his knuckles white as he stared at the two jagged pillars of volcanic rock Hugo was pointing toward. To the naked eye, the gap looked narrower than the Sea Serpent's beam. The water between the rocks was a frothing, churning white, hiding a hundred jagged edges that could peel the hull like an orange.
"Execute the order, Mister Luff!" Hugo's voice was like a gunshot, echoing off the stone walls. "I have the line! Trust the wood!"
"Do as he says, ye coward!" Barbossa roared from the quarterdeck, though his own hand was white-knuckled on the hilt of his sword. He had seen Hugo tame the Triangle; he was betting his life and his ship on the boy's "vision" once again.
Luff gritted his teeth and threw his weight against the wheel. The Sea Serpent swung, its bow plunging into the roar of the surf. For a heartbeat, time seemed to freeze. The black rock walls rushed past so close that the pirates on deck could have reached out and touched the barnacles. The sound was deafening, a grating, hollow boom as the swell squeezed through the bottleneck. The port-side rail groaned as it kissed a protrusion of stone, showering the deck in splinters.
Then, the world opened up.
The ship shot out into a relatively calm, deep-water channel. A ragged cheer erupted from the crew, though it was quickly silenced by the sheer scale of the labyrinth still ahead of them. For the next three hours, Hugo played the Sea Serpent like a fine instrument. He wasn't just navigating; he was utilizing the "Wreckage Analysis" foundations to identify the density of the shoals and the "Basic Seamanship" skill to ride the sub-surface currents. He found routes that appeared as solid rock on traditional charts, weaving the ship through the "bones" of the reef with a grace that bordered on the supernatural.
By the time the sun began to dip toward the horizon, casting long, bloody shadows across the water, the Sea Serpent had reached its destination: a hidden cove shielded by three towering limestone cliffs.
"Drop anchor," Hugo commanded, wiping the salt from his brow. "We're hidden here. The Trinidad lies two miles to the southeast, but we'll need the longboats to cross the inner shallows."
Barbossa let out a long, shaky breath, looking at the secluded bay with newfound respect. "You've brought us to the very center of the graveyard, Hugo. I've never seen a man sail like that."
Just as the crew began to prepare the longboats, a sharp, panicked whistle came from the crow's nest.
"Sail ho! Starboard quarter! Out of the mist!"
Barbossa was up the ratlines in a flash, his spyglass snapping open. His face paled beneath his tan. "Damn. Spanish colors. A patrol frigate. She's twice our size and carrying twenty-four pounders if she's carrying a pound."
The Spanish ship, the San Carlos, was a formidable sight. It was a sleek, two-masted hunter, its white sails stark against the bruised sky. It appeared they were on a routine sweep of the outer reef, unaware of the pirate sloop tucked into the cove for now. But the San Carlos was tacking inward. In minutes, they would have a clear view of the Sea Serpent's masts.
"They'll trap us here like rats in a barrel," Gibbs hissed, his lone eye darting toward the narrow exit. "If we run, they'll catch us in the open. If we stay, they'll blockade the mouth of the bay."
"We don't do either," Hugo said, his eyes narrowing as the System's golden vectors began to map the battlefield. "They are at the disadvantage, Gibbs. They are a large ship in a small, jagged world. We are going to use the reef to cut them down."
"Fight a frigate with twelve guns?" Barbossa slid down to the deck, his expression grim. "That's suicide, Hugo."
"It's not suicide if they never get a broadside off," Hugo countered. "We're going to bait them into the 'Devil's Throat', the narrow channel to the west. Captain, tell the men to double-load the starboard cannons with chain-shot. We're not looking to sink them. We're looking to break their wings."
Barbossa hesitated, looking at the looming Spanish ship and then at Hugo's unnerving, cold clarity. He realized Hugo wasn't just a navigator; he was a tactician who saw the ocean as a series of levers and pulleys.
"Do it!" Barbossa barked. "Clear for action! Chain-shot to the starboard battery! Belay the pride, men, we fight on the lad's word!"
The Sea Serpent crept out of the cove, its presence suddenly "revealed" to the Spanish. The San Carlos spotted them instantly, the signal flags fluttering as the frigate adjusted its course, its crew likely sensing an easy prize.
"They're taking the bait," Hugo whispered.
The Sea Serpent fled, leading the Spaniard into a channel that narrowed sharply, flanked by submerged limestone "teeth." The Spanish Captain, overconfident in his vessel's strength and his crew's discipline, pressed the pursuit. To him, the pirates were simply trying to disappear into the rocks.
But once the San Carlos entered the Throat, its size became a liability. The frigate couldn't turn; its deep draft meant the captain was constantly fighting the pull of the shallows.
"Now!" Hugo roared. "Hard to starboard! Drop the anchor to pivot!"
It was a violent, modern maneuver. The Sea Serpent performed a "club-haul," dropping its anchor to force a sudden, ninety-degree turn in the narrow channel. The ship swung around its own axis, its starboard side suddenly facing the San Carlos's bow. The Spanish frigate, unable to stop its momentum, was heading straight for them, exposed and unable to bring its own broadside to bear.
"Fire!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The six starboard cannons erupted in unison. The chain-shot, two iron balls linked by a heavy chain whistled through the air, spinning like a deadly saw. It tore into the San Carlos's rigging, shredding the sails and snapping the foremast like a dry twig.
The Spanish ship let out a sickening, splintering groan as its power vanished. Without its headsails, the frigate lost steerage. The current took hold of the crippled vessel, dragging its bow straight into a submerged reef.
RUMBLE.
The sound of the impact echoed through the cliffs. The San Carlos shuddered, its hull grinding against the rock, and then it listed heavily to the port side. Spanish sailors were thrown into the churn, their shouts lost to the roar of the sea.
The pirates on the Sea Serpent stood in stunned silence. They had crippled a naval hunter in under ten minutes without taking a single hit.
Gibbs looked at Hugo, then at the wrecked frigate. "By the powers... you didn't just sail us through the reef, Hugo. You used the reef to kill 'em."
Hugo didn't smile. He looked at the system notification flickering in his vision.
[Combat Analysis: Victory. Influence +50.]
[Structural Weakness Identified in Enemy Vessel. "Wreckage Analysis" Leveling Up...]
"Don't celebrate yet," Hugo said, his voice cold. "The Spanish will have friends, and the Trinidad is still waiting. Secure the deck and ready the longboats. We have a treasury to rob."