Sitting upon the mast, holding a piece of broken wood in my hands, just like what I'd done with the stone a few days ago, I focused my space mana on it and repeatedly poked it; though, of course, nothing happened. It wouldn't be this easy.
'Do I need to force more mana?' Furrowing my brows, I decided to add even more space mana, an excessive amount, causing the wood to ever so slightly warp, but even so, it didn't change anything; it would always stop my finger.
I continued for another hour, only ending my training when Tite, the harpy, perched beside me atop the mast. "Alexander, lunch is being served." "Lunch? Alright, I'll join you guys." Glancing at Tite, I nodded before tossing the piece of wood into the crow's nest and standing up. As Tite left, I stretched my stiff body before walking off, falling towards the deck, performing [Air Jump] just before landing, lest I wanted to crash through the deck.
Taking the stairs down into the ship's hull, or the second floor, I headed to the kitchen, grabbed a piece of bread and a bowl, which I filled with a few scoops of stew, before returning to the deck, where I approached the others. "Only a few scoops, Alexander? A man as strong as you surely won't be filled off such a little amount." Finley, the Orc, smirked while gesturing to the bowl and bread in my hands.
"Strength doesn't have much to do with my appetite, Finley; as a human, I should never be able to outeat an Orc." "Haha, well, you're not wrong." Faintly smiling, I found an empty barrel and sat atop it, forming a circle with the others as we ate and chatted.
"Alexander, if you don't mind me asking, what weapon do you use?" Kazer, the Ice Demon, gestured to me while taking a bite of his bread, prompting the others to quiet down as they shifted their focus to me. "Yes, I'm also curious." "Do you perhaps use your fists?"
Chuchkling, I shook my head. "No. I mean, I could, but I don't. I use a pair of greatswords." My words must've confused them, given they'd never seen me carrying any type of weapon, much less two massive swords. "Dual greatswords? Are they hidden in your space pouch?" "Nah; they're somewhere out in the ocean. They were being annoying, so I tossed them."
Dismissively waving my hand, I took a bite of food while glancing at the others, and if they weren't confused before, they surely were now. "I-I see." With a forced smile, Finley nodded, only to shift the topic to something everyone understood.
When we finished eating, the six of us separated, doing our own stuff; as for me, I returned to the top of the mast, where I continued my training for the next couple of days.
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A Few Days Later
While training atop the mast, my repeated actions of poking the piece of wood, having made a fent dent, I happened to notice a few ships off in the distance, causing me to stop as I focused on them using [Heroes Gaze] to get a clear picture.
Practically zooming in on them, the ships were full of rough, dirty men with an unkept appearance; unsurprisingly, given our location, most were demons. 'If I didn't know any better, I'd assume they were refugees.' Shifting my gaze upwards, I looked at the top of the mast, eyeing the flag, which was a jolly roger with a snake wrapped around it.
With how far they were, I didn't say anything and just kept an eye on them, as they might not have been heading towards us; however, I suppose that was just wishful thinking, as after ten minutes, it was clear as day they were heading directly for us.
'Welp, that's just great.' Clicking my tongue, I tossed the wood into the crow's nest and walked off the edge, landing softly thanks to using an air jump. Heading to the captain's quarters, I knocked before entering.
"WHo-Ah, Sir, Alexander, what can I help you with?" The Captain's anger immediately vanished when he realized it was me, covering it with a harmless smile. "A group of pirates has their sights on us." His face instantly went sour at my words as he stood up and exited his quarters while I pointed in the direction of the pirates.
"They're coming from the North." Stepping by the edge of the ship, he had to squint his eyes to see, though when he spotted the vessels, his expression dropped even further.
"Tch, sons of bitches! Sir Alexander, can you make out their jolly roger? I hope it's not the Axe Pirates, they're so cunning and annoying to deal with." "It's a normal jolly roger with a snake coiled around the skull." When I finished speaking, the Captain froze in place.
"W-What d-did you s-say?" "A normal jolly roger with a snake coiled around the skull." I practically saw the life escape from his eyes as he leaned against the railing. "O-Oh dear. It's them." "Who?" "S-Serpent Pirates." "Serpent Pirates?"
He didn't elaborate and instead turned around, shuffling to his quarters, where he grabbed the rope tied to a bell just beside his door. As he rang the bell, there was a bout of silence before the ship came to life as sailors dashed throughout the deck while the guards gathered next to me.
"Pirates! Pirates! Pirates!"
"Alexander! Do you know what's happening?" Finley approached me with an urgent expression, prompting me to relay the same information I'd told the Captain to him, causing him and the four others to sport ugly expressions. "Serpent Pirates?" "Great." "Fuck."
Scratching my head, I glanced at the approaching ships before shifting my gaze back to them. "Is the Serpent Pirates that scary?" "Scary? They're terrifying." "Not a single ship that's been attacked by the Serpent Pirates has gotten out alive." "They'd steal everything and kill everyone except a few, so they could inform others of their deeds." "They're parasites of the sea."
It was understandable that they were scared; the Serpent Pirates sounded terrible. "You guys do know I'm here? I'll obviously fight." I was expecting them to be greatly relieved, but their expression hardly changed. "E-Even if you do, it won't change anything, Alexander. Not even A-rank adventurers have managed to survive them."
"Hmm, I see. Well, do we know how they fight?" Furrowing my brows, I rubbed my chin before glancing at Finley, who clicked his tongue and shook his head. "No one knows." Frowning, I didn't push the question as he would have no reason to lie.
Shifting my gaze to the ships, I extended my hand, summoning Zartha and Trina. "If we don't know, we should take the initiative to attack rather than wait for them; if I'm going to die, I've got to give it everything I've got. Tite, can you carry me to them?" Glancing at Tite, who seemed taken aback by my question, she hesitantly nodded, perched herself on my shoulders, and wrapped her talons around my arms before she took to the skies.
"Are you sure about this, Alexander? You don't have our weapons." "Not yet, I don't." Although Tite wasn't as fast as Talis, we still arrived above the three whips relatively quickly. "Thanks for the ride. Now drop me." Hesitantly, Tite released me, causing me to fall towards the frontmost ship.
As I dived-bombed to the ship, I wasn't attacked once, surprising me, but I welcomed it; just before I crash landed, I stopped myself and grabbed the mast, ripping it from the ship before hurling it at one of the other ships, piercing its hull.
'That felt too easy.' Landing softly, I looked around, eyeing the pirates staring at me in fear, causing me to furrow my brows; if they were truly as terrifying pirates as they were made out to be, they shouldn't be scared of me.
"C-Captain! Intruder! Intruder!" Standing still, one of the pirates banged on the captain's quarters, prompting a fat, unkept demon with horns to exit. "Intruder? Who dares to intrude on my ship!? Do they want an early death!?" Grabbing his shaking subordinate with a furious expression, he eventually notices me, though I was once again hit with a wave of confusion.
'That dude is the Captain? He's pathetically weak!' He was so weak that even Jasmine would be able to defeat him. "Heh. So you're the fucker who intrudes on my ship? If you wanted an early death, you've come to the right place!"
With a bloodthirsty grin, the Captain reached down, grabbing a chain that was connected to a massive hatch, before pulling it open, only for several massive snakes to emerge. 'Wait. That's not a snake.'
It wasn't snakes, but the head of a snake, nine to be exact, and each head was connected to one singular body. Now, I wasn't the most knowledgeable, but I would never mistake this creature. "A hydra? Well, aren't you nearly 16 years too late; I don't need your heart anymore."