Back to the time when Light explained his plan to Scarn:
"No! No! No! How are you actually serious? There is no way. Are you genuinely insane? You want me to sail my main ship into that damn whirlpool? WHILE I AM INSIDE IT!?"
Light looked at Scarn's angry expression and replied with a sigh, "I understand why you are worried, but that's the only chance we have."
The lieutenant violently shook his head. "No! You just don't understand how unrealistic this plan is, there are so many variables and loose ends. It just seems like a recipe for disaster. And I am NOT hungry for calamities."
"Sir, believe me, I have thought about every scenario there is, and the plan I came up with seems like the only plausible way out of our conundrum. Sooner or later, Ter's ship was going to escape our sight.
"And us losing his trail would be the end. We wouldn't even be able to guide the replacement crews to pursue that wretched pirate and his crew either. He might escape our grip forever and continue wreaking havoc over the seas," Light replied with a facade of sincerity.
Scarn gritted his teeth and stared at him with intensity, but he did not say a word, prompting Light to continue.
"Our pursuit was already doomed, but this whirlpool came just in time to put the final nail in the coffin… or so we thought." Light took a second to clear his throat and continued.
"The whirlpool is as much of a deadly threat as it is an opportunity. What I meant by sailing into its inescapable maw was to use its rotational power to our own advantage.
"What I envision is using our main ship and its anchor rope as a sling… the power of the whirlpool as the spinner… a secondary ship tied on the other end of the anchor rope as the projectile that would be propelled out—in the direction of Ter's Pirate Ship."
Scarn didn't reply, but instead just narrowed his eyes and lingered for a second. Then he said, "You're still crazy."
…
Present:
Water whirled within the crimson vortex of the dusk ocean. Its roaring sound was too loud for the duo of sailors to hear each other's words. But there was nothing left to speak about. The plan was already in motion, and it was already too late to turn back.
The two sailors—Lieutenant Jangwar Scarn and Marine Recruit Murphy Rayburn—looked at each other and gritted their teeth. Without lingering for another second, both went on to do their jobs.
Scarn went into the Main Vessel's steering room to steer the ship onto the edge of the colossal crimson whirlpool, whereas Light, who was now Ray, was standing on the pitch black secondary ship. He kicked off the main vessel and used that push to drive the pitch black ship away.
He then used paddles to get as far from the main ship and whirlpool as possible. The huge anchor rope tied to the two vessels rolled out more and more as the duo of ships parted further and further…
While making the plan, Light initially thought he could just send the main vessel into the whirlpool unmanned. But doing that could have led to disaster. The unmanned ship could have plummeted directly to the epicentre of the whirlpool rather than swirling around its edges, pulling the pitch-black ship with it to the depth of the bottomless ocean as well.
Which is why Scarn's job was to steer the ship, and let it sail on the whirlpool's edge while revolving around it for as long as possible before being swallowed into its maw. On the other hand, all Light had to do was paddle away.
Both tried their best to do what they were supposed to. The crimson vortex was unrelentingly sucking them in. Even the winds were getting vacuumed in its boundless stomach. But regardless the two infinitesimal humans struggled on through the roaring waves, assaulting rain and brutal wind.
With decades of experience in being a helmsman, Scarn somehow managed to steer the ship on the right path. It was tough though, because the writhing waters had already flooded the deck of the main ship. Even in the steering room, water was up to Scarn's shins.
Just a few moments later, the main ship's nose was already peaking near the abyssal depths of the crimson vortex, almost on the edge of a deadly descent.
But rather than continuing down, the ship wobbled on the edge of the swirling whirlpool and started to turn away from the steep fall.
Even though visibility was near nil, Scarn carried on with a calm expression. He gritted his teeth and turned the steering wheel with all his strength.
The ship continued turning, and with each passing second it got closer and closer to plummeting straight down to the ocean floor. But at the last moment, just before everything was over… the ship completely turned to the right, parallel to the curve of the crimson whirlpool's edge.
Almost instantly, the ship's speed massively accelerated. It was now boosted by the rotation of the whirlpool by travelling close to its edge. Although it was still being pulled into the centre, because of Scarn's steering and the centrifugal force generated from the main ship revolving around the whirlpool, a thin balance between the two forces was achieved.
This equilibrium was not going to last forever. A single mistake in Scarn's steering, and the ship would instantly get sucked in without mercy…
As the main ship revolved around the curve, the thick anchor rope connecting it with the smaller pitch-black ship rolled out completely. At first, it was loosely hanging in an arch, but as the ships separated further, the rope progressively grew taut.
Light gulped in fear and anticipation. He had tied himself to the pitch black ship with the use of a small rope, but that wasn't enough to make him feel safe.
A few seconds passed, and the inevitable happened. The rope was fully taut and became as straight as an arrow. Water droplets settled on it and instantly erupted off. The immediate pull from it jerked the pitch-black ship hard enough to make Light stumble on his feet.
The pitch black boat creaked but held. It was being pulled towards the whirlpool's edge at a frightening speed. Light tried to stand up but stumbled again upon immediately witnessing the steep slope to the centre of the whirlpool.
Then Scarn grimaced and swiftly steered the main ship at an angle. The main ship was slightly slanted and started drifting on the edge instead of sailing straight.
This caused the anchor rope to tighten even further, and just before plunging into the whirlpool, the pitch black ship was pulled sideways to revolve around its edge instead. The main ship's forward drifting momentum dominated the suction of the whirlpool.
Light's legs trembled as he slowly stood up on the rapidly accelerating pitch black ship. Heavily gasping for air, he leaned on one of the cannons for support. 'F**k! This is insane… no, I am insane. How the hell did I even think about doing this?
Light ignored his own thoughts and locked in. He struggled to keep balance, but slowly walked forward to the front of the deck. Then he finally saw the silhouette of the far bigger main ship through the rain and wind.
It was closer to the edge than the pitch black ship it pulled behind itself. The secondary ship revolved around the whirlpool in a wider orbit.
Regardless, both vessels were moving at terrifying speeds, and still accelerating.
In just a few moments, the two ships curved around the edge and completed a half revolution of the whirlpool's perimeters.
At this point, the speed of the pitch black secondary ship was so great that rather than simply floating on the waters, it was skiing.
The centrifugal force of the revolution had caused it to almost come side by side with the ship it was being pulled by.
The anchor rope was rocking under the pressure, even though it was regularly used to secure ships, it still could only barely withstand the forces acting upon it today.
But even through all this, Light was smirking. 'All is well.'
He was smirking because he saw Scarn. Seeing his lieutenant on the deck of the main ship was a sign to the fact that his plan was going perfectly…
For now.
…