7th September 1698
Vijay stood on the deck of a Ramachandra Class Battleship at the port of Mangaluru, clothes fluttering in the wind. In his hand was a large gun engraved with tiger and elephant patterns and trigrams, but this gun was neither a lethal firearm nor a new pistol; it was the newly developed flare gun. Looking at the surroundings, where dozens of ships were peacefully floating on the sea, he did not hesitate anymore and pointed the gun towards the sky and fired a flare to signal the start of the journey.
"BLARE!!!" A high-pitched sound was heard from various directions in unison, making the people on the harbour flinch and break out in applause in the next moment.
