Chapter 22: The Red Skull Pirate Crew

Chapter 22: The Red Skull Pirate Crew

A Beyonder was allowed to leave the fleet?

Without Danitz needing to explain further, Klein easily understood why he found it strange.

In a Nighthawks team, even purely clerical personnel were subject to strict restrictions. Normal resignation required signing a lifelong confidentiality agreement. Without approval, one could not leave the jurisdiction of the Nighthawks team to which one originally belonged. After receiving permission to relocate to another city, one had to register with the local Church of Evernight at the first opportunity.

From such regulations, one could see the official attitude toward extraordinary powers and corresponding matters. A Beyonder who had consumed a potion could not simply leave an organization so easily.

Klein clearly remembered that Miss Justice had initially possessed channels and methods to become a Beyonder, yet had been unwilling to try. Her stated reason was that she did not want to lose her freedom.

Similar thoughts circled through his mind but did not become words, because the polite yet cold Gehrman Sparrow would not be interested in such rumors.

“So what?” Klein looked at the cutlery on the table and calmly asked in return.

Do you even know how to hold a conversation? Blazing Danitz secretly drew in a breath and squeezed out a smile.

“Haha, I just find it strange. We all suspect that he joined MI9 and is using his identity as captain to monitor matters along the route.”

That is possible… Klein picked up the glass of plain water and took a sip.

The dishes he had ordered began arriving one after another according to their categories. The restaurant also presented them with two glasses of sweet, bubbling, pale-golden aperitif.

Klein stopped speaking and focused on enjoying the food, feeling that it was indeed far better than the second-class dining room.

The violin music flowed elegantly. The faint contact between knives, forks, and porcelain plates sounded here and there. Outside the window, the blue and open sea quietly rippled. Everything seemed so beautiful.

Just as Klein entered the dessert stage, a crewman came running in with loud steps, heading straight for Elland’s table.

“Captain, there is a pirate ship!” He did not hide his voice.

Most of the passengers were startled and stopped eating.

Klein lifted his head. His eyes, dark and cold, turned toward Danitz opposite him.

Blazing Danitz stiffened for a second. A bitter smile rose to his face, and he lowered his voice.

“If I say this has absolutely nothing to do with me, will you believe it?”

Klein relaxed the eyelid muscles that had nearly twitched from the performance and slowly drew up the corners of his mouth.

“Guess.”

Guess your mother! Danitz was overwhelmed by anger and nearly cursed out loud.

Maintaining his smile, he said, “Your wisdom is enough to judge everything.”

At this time, Elland had quickly clarified the situation. He stood and addressed the somewhat panicked first-class passengers.

“There is only one pirate ship. We have enough ability to handle it.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please return to your rooms in an orderly fashion and wait for good news. Believe me, the damage caused by chaos far exceeds that of a pirate attack. I do not want rumors to spread in the future saying that although the White Agate successfully repelled pirates, five, six, seven, or eight passengers injured themselves by falling.”

Under his arrangements, and with the crew maintaining order, Donna and the others left the dining room one by one and returned to their own cabins. This included Klein and Blazing Danitz.

“I thought you would temporarily take over the White Agate and strive to protect the ship from any harm.” In Room 312, Danitz closed the door as he asked with the attitude of someone watching a play.

The fact that he had thrown out an olive branch the moment he found a suitable candidate, and had gone on at length about principles and treatment, was enough to prove that he was, by nature, an extroverted boatswain who enjoyed conversation.

Klein glanced at him, walked to the window, and looked outside. At the place where sea and sky blended into one, a large ship flying a red skull flag was sailing toward them. It had both a smokestack and sails.

“Do you know them?” Klein stood behind the thick glass window with both hands in his pockets.

Danitz came to stand diagonally behind him, gazed out for two seconds, and said, “The Red Skull Pirate Crew. A small-to-mid-sized force.

“The captain is Sea Wolf Johnson, bounty nine hundred pounds. The first mate is One-eyed Anderson, bounty five hundred pounds.”

In the pirate world, bounty amounts were an important reference for identity and status.

Considering that he currently did not possess any good ability to move underwater, and that allowing pirates to board the ship could easily cause casualties among innocent people, Klein remained silent for a few seconds.

“Do they know you?”

“Of course!” Danitz instantly straightened his back. “They have the qualifications to attend pirates’ grand gatherings. I once kicked their asses.”

As expected of a famous pirate worth three thousand pounds… Klein’s expression did not change as he asked again, “Do they have telescopes?”

“That is an essential item. Even after taking control of a ship, sailors will still stand on the lookout platform and use telescopes to observe the surroundings, preventing sudden attacks.” Danitz answered with hidden disdain.

He had roughly figured it out. This dangerous fellow was a newly minted adventurer, and very likely one who had come to sea for the first time.

Was he once a famous bounty hunter? A member of some secret organization? Danitz instinctively began guessing at Gehrman Sparrow’s past.

“In this kind of situation, would the captain and first mate use telescopes to observe this side?” Klein had originally wanted to refer to them as nine hundred pounds and five hundred pounds, but felt that would be somewhat impolite.

“Definitely. They must constantly grasp the situation of the target they intend to plunder,” Danitz answered, somewhat puzzled.

He did not understand why Gehrman Sparrow was asking these questions. In his own opinion, if he possessed strength as powerful as the other party’s, he would certainly allow the Red Skull Pirate Crew to approach, find an opportunity to board their ship, and kill them all.

Klein turned his head to look at Danitz and revealed a refined, warm smile.

“That is good.”

What are you trying to do? Do not smile like that! Danitz suddenly panicked and mustered the courage to resist with all his might.

“Take off your wig,” Klein instructed calmly.

Ah? Danitz was confused, but slowly removed the wig from his head.

Klein took out a specially made bottle of hydrosol from a concealed pocket in his clothes and handed it over.

“Clean your eyebrows and face.”

This was the mysticism-type “makeup remover” he had prepared for Clown disguises before advancing to Faceless. He had used it while besieging the Wraith of the Rose School of Thought.

The current Klein naturally no longer needed such a thing, but he had never been willing to throw it away.

“…” Danitz grew even more bewildered. But before the other party launched any actual attack, he was unwilling to force things to the point of no return. He could only follow the instruction and wash away the disguise on his face, restoring his original appearance.

Taking back the small metal bottle, Klein pulled open the window, allowing the sea wind outside to pour in.

“Stand here, facing outside.” He pointed to the position directly behind the window and said to Blazing Danitz.

Danitz, both confused and wary, walked over and stood firmly behind the window.

Klein examined him for a few seconds, then said calmly, “You have two choices. First, climb out by yourself and hang there conspicuously. Second, I grab you by the collar and hang you there conspicuously.”

“What are you trying to do?” Danitz blurted out.

Klein once again revealed an amiable smile.

“Show you to the people on that pirate ship. The fourth boatswain of Vice Admiral Iceberg should carry enough weight to persuade them to retreat.”

“No, you cannot do that!” Danitz instinctively refused.

He could imagine exactly what judgment the Red Skull Pirate Crew would make upon discovering him. Either Blazing Danitz had been captured, meaning that a terrifyingly powerful person was on the ship, or the White Agate had already been targeted by Vice Admiral Iceberg and other pirates should immediately stay away.

And the posture in which I am hung outside will determine which direction they think in… Danitz thought sorrowfully.

Klein’s smile grew ever more kind.

“I am a very easy person to get along with. Truly. As long as you do as I say.”

In that instant, Danitz once again felt that indescribable hunger. He felt as though a chunk of flesh from his body and a piece of soul from within him might be torn away at any moment.

After weighing it for a second, he half raised both hands and forced a smile through clenched teeth.

“I will do it myself.”

Suppressing his anger and humiliation, Danitz turned and climbed out the window. Relying on the balance and strength he had trained over many years, he used his elbows braced behind him as support and hung outside the cabin.

“Do not try to escape. I am not a patient person,” Klein reminded him gently, his expression turning cold.

Whew… Danitz restrained the urge to release his elbows and jump down directly.

On the pirate ship in the distance, the crewman responsible for observing the White Agate passed a message to Sea Wolf Johnson.

“Boss, there is a strange fellow hanging himself outside one of their windows!”

Johnson froze for a second, lifted his telescope, and pressed it to his eye.

He quickly spotted the strange fellow his subordinate had mentioned, because the man’s position was simply too conspicuous.

Th-this is Blazing Danitz, isn’t it? Johnson’s brow twitched as he recognized him.

Why would he appear on the White Agate? What does it mean that he is hanging outside? Is this Vice Admiral Iceberg’s prey? After a series of questions, Sea Wolf made his judgment.

He raised his right hand.

“Attention, everyone. Leave this sea region at once!”

…

In Room 305, Cleeves tightly gripped his revolver and stood by the window, preparing for the possible boarding battle.

Donna’s family was somewhat afraid. Instead of returning to their bedrooms, they sat in the sitting room, waiting for the shelling to begin. Cecile and the other bodyguard, Teague, guarded them nearby, fully on alert.

At that moment, confusion appeared in Cleeves’s weathered eyes.

After several minutes passed, he stepped back, lowered his gun, and said to everyone, “The pirates have left.”

“What?” This development left Urdi Branch and the others both astonished and puzzled, completely unable to understand what those pirates were thinking.

…

Room 312.

Blazing Danitz climbed back in and could not restrain a snort.

“You are borrowing our captain’s reputation! She absolutely hates that kind of thing!”

Just wait until Vice Admiral Iceberg teaches you a lesson! Danitz thought with resentment.

Klein quietly listened, then asked thoughtfully in return, “I remember her bounty in Loen is twenty-six thousand pounds?”

…This lunatic… Danitz had no words with which to respond.