While Jonah was trying to calculate the appropriate amount of ration one should consume, Michael and Logan were sitting leisurely on the ship's ledge with a fishing rod in their hand. Michael's expertise in fishing came from watching others do in the movies while Logan had no expertise at all.
"Some say fishing will calm your soul"
"It is kinda relaxing, Logan" the full moon in the sky, the sound of the ocean, and the slowly moving sail ship made fishing relaxing regardless of Michael's inexperience in fishing. In his previous life, he never had time to enjoy such activities. Plus, he always liked to spend his little bit of free time playing video games, improving his skills as well as watching movies or tv shows. Only since he came to this world, he was able to enjoy simple things in life like fishing.
Even if he couldn't catch a single fish, he was enjoying peace and calm.
The little chit-chat with Logan gave him an idea about the Southern Continent.
"I heard cultivators don't sleep or eat. It's weird, but you don't have to scrounge the god's green earth just to fill your belly huh"
"It's bs, it's not that cultivators don't eat or sleep, it's that we don't need to eat or sleep to sustain our body. Take me for example, I eat and sleep back there like you people here"
Logan started to pour out all the questions about cultivators and cultivation as Michael answered his questions one by one. He answered Logan's questions in a manner that would tempt Logan to try to become a cultivator. Currently, it wasn't impossible for the Southerners to become cultivators after leaving the void area aka the Southern Continent but most of them tend to have extremely slow cultivation speed as it would be difficult for their bodies to adapt to the new environment.
The time flew quickly as the sun started to rise on the horizon, painting the sky in bright orange with its golden rays. The upper deck slowly began to get filled with more and more crew members. After sleeping last night with an empty belly, they all seemed weak and exhausted.
The sun wasn't the only thing Michael saw on the horizon, he could see a merchant galleon ship
"Look! A ship" One crew member shouted, his voice contained joy. Even Logan began to grin widely looking at a merchant ship. Merchant ships were usually filled with rations and they could buy rations to fix their current situation.
Michael put down the fishing rod on the deck as Ross came out of the captain's cabin with his daughter. Despite the mess she caused, Maria looked refreshed after a beauty sleep. It was obvious Ross gave his potion of ration to his daughter as any good father would do.
Looking at the crew members bouncing in excitement, Ross took out his monocular to examine the merchant ship approaching them. The first thing he examined was the flag flying above the sails. The white flag had a symbol of lotus,
"Esmail merchants" Ross recognized the ship's flag, so did H. H heaved a sigh of relief as they would be able to buy rations from the merchant ship but Ross had black lines on his forehead,
"They are far away from their usual routes"
Everyone had a relieved look on their faces except Ross. He knew Esmail merchants and their usual routes, this area of the ocean was far away from their routes. Hence he was skeptical, unlike others.
After talking to the team as well as some of the crew members, Ross realized one thing, they all blamed Maria for their situation. They were right to do so. He knew he can't keep her absolutely safe all by himself, he would need the team's support in keeping her safe after entering the island. If there was bad blood between them and Maria, keeping her safe would be a difficult task.
Because of his love for Maria, he ignored all his doubts about the merchant ship. Slowly but steadily the merchant ship approached them while the crew members waved their hands at the merchant ship, calling out for help.
Since Michael had no idea about the merchant ship or its routes like Ross, he too felt relieved to see the ship approaching. Although the fishing was indeed relaxing, at the end of the day he had to eat.
"I'll go get the coins" H walked back into the captain's cabin to bring the coins. The merchant ship was now only fifty meters or so away from them. Ross's tensed body loosened a bit looking at the crew members on the merchant ship. They were all wearing a shirt with the Esmail merchant logo embroidered on their chest.
Michael was watching the ship approaching from the far end of the ship with Logan. Little by little, the merchant ship's shadow darkened the deck as the merchant ship stopped beside them. The merchant ship was perfectly aligned sidewards
Soon, a wooden plank dropped from the merchant ship to their ship. After the merchant ship came to a halt, Michael was able to see the faces of everyone on the ship clearly. As he looked at them, he couldn't help frowning. They all seemed tense, slightly trembling. Even the one walking the plant to them had no smile on his face which was weird because a merchant would always typically smile.
Michael stared at the old man approaching them, he was partially bald and like most of the merchants, he too had a fat belly. Looking at the sweat on the old man's face and the way the merchant ship perfectly aligned sideways, he began to have a bad feeling about this.
"Pirates!" the moment the old man stepped onto the deck, he shouted.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
But it was too late as the merchant ship bombarded their ship with cannonballs. Logan was thrown away by the force of the impact near him as Michael jumped away to cover himself.
"Open fire!"
Ross leaped towards the helm to move the ship after shouting an order at the crew. The sudden attack caught the crew members completely by surprise as a few of them were blown to pieces by the cannon fire.
The air reeked of gunpowder and wooden splinters flew everywhere, inflicting major and minor wounds to the crew.
Logan was crawling somewhere to hide behind a cover yet the gigantic sledgehammer on his back slowed down his movements.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The merchant ship started their second-round while Ross's crews were busy running chaotically around the deck to save their lives.
"I want everything valuable on the ship!" Michael heard a shout as he looked at the merchant ship to see a middle-aged man with a greasy red beard at the helm. He wore a long red coat with two sabers hanging on his waist. Like every pirate he met in this world, he was dirty, spoke in a thick accent, and chugging rum like water.
"Hahahaha" also he laughed like a maniac looking at the carnage he was causing. Following his mad laughter, pirates who were previously hiding in the lower decks began to swarm out of the ship to pillage Ross's ship.
"Watch out!" H shouted at Logan as Michael turned his gaze away from the maniac on the opposite ship to see one of the sail poles falling in the direction of Logan.
The speed of pole falling was much greater than Logan crawling away, therefore, if one didn't stop the pole or help Logan, he would die. Right at the moment, everyone was fighting for their lives and unable to help the others like Logan. The reason for Logan's state was the first cannonball that landed just near him, the force knocked out Logan. If someone else was in Logan's place, the force would have killed them.
The pirates easily jumped onto the ship and began to attack everyone they saw. Michale quickly took the Doombringer from his back, not to kill any pirates but to save Logan. He threw the Doombringer aiming at the sail pole that was about to crush Logan.
The Doombringer soared through the sky,
"Shit" Just when Logan was about to accept his death, he saw the sail pole blasted into smithereens.
Thud!
He covered his eyes to prevent the wooden splinters from blinding him but he clearly heard a loud thud noise amidst the sound of battle. When he opened his eyes, he noticed Michael's Doombringer lying on the floor.
"Get your ass up, big guy" Logan saw David reaching his hand out to help him up.
Logan didn't waste any time as he quickly stood up before another disaster hit him.
"I owe you one"
Michael just nodded, "let's kill some pirates' ' He clutched the Doombringer tighter. Logan also took his huge sledgehammer from his behind with a blood-thirsty look on his face. Since they almost killed him, Logan wanted to pay them back ten times back by crushing them with his sledgehammer.
Even though there were many people on the ship, one pirate picked Michael as his target. With a curved saber on his hand, he rushed at Michael.
Looking at the pirate running towards him, he swung the Doombringer as fast as he could. His speed caught the pirate off guard, the Warhammer hit the pirate's rib cage before his saber could cut Michael. The pirate's rib cage caved as he was sent flying off the ship. The blood, bone, and pieces of lung splattered across the deck. His death was horrible, even surprising Michael.
Until now, Michael only used Doombringer to kill Netherels. This was the first time he killed a mortal. When he attacked the pirate, it only felt as if he was crushing a bag filled with nothing but eggshells. There was no resistance as the Doombringer crushed the pirate without an effort.