B2 Chapter 12: A Pirate’s Life Is Not for Me (Patreon)

The sailors who rowed to the island were all grim men carrying weapons. A couple of them held modern-looking bolt action rifles with bullet-filled bandoliers across their chests, while the rest had swords and axes. One man wearing a pirate hat and honest to god cutlass strode forward. He was clean-shaven but with a weather-beaten face. He carried a serious demeanor as he tossed a pair of metal manacles at my feet.

“Put those on,” he said.

“Why?”

A few of the men stiffened as if we were about to fight, but the man who’d spoken, that I mentally viewed as the captain, was unperturbed.

“It’s the only way you’re getting off this island. Unless you feel like waiting for another ship. Though I have to warn you, it might be a while before you see another.”

Some of the men chuckled at that.

I sighed and picked up the manacles. There was a decent length of chain between them, so they wouldn’t impede my range of motion too much if I needed to bring out one of my knives. It wasn’t ideal, and I didn’t trust the men in front of me, but if I wanted to get off this island, then I need to play by their rules for now.

As soon as I clamped them onto my wrists, the men all relaxed and a new System message appeared.

[Suppression Manacles] Activated.

*Item Identified* [Suppression Manacles, Grade: D] – These nifty little devices are used to capture and restrain others. They lock down inventories, abilities, and other effects, which makes them handy for when you need to transport somebody with powers.

In a panic, I reached for my inventory, but nothing appeared. Next, I tried to reach for the blood in my bracer cache and barely felt the connection at all. The manacles had nullified my powers and perhaps even lowered my stats, though there was no way to test that part out with the men watching me.

“Am I your prisoner now?” I asked.

He shook his head. “It’s just a precaution. Can’t risk having someone unknown with crazy powers on the ship. It’s too dangerous for my men. Don’t worry, once we get back to town, you’ll be free to go.”

Town? So this was a foundational floor, but if it's anything like the last one, then there might be more than one town on it. It was difficult to figure out just how large a foundational floor was. I don’t think anybody had ever reached the end of one.

I reluctantly accepted that the manacles had to stay on and let the captain lead me to the boat. Thankfully, they didn’t expect me to row, and I was placed at the end next to the captain, who didn’t row either.

The trip back to the ship was swift, as the crewmen were strong and dedicated. Up close, the pirate ship was far larger than I’d realized. There was also a man I hadn’t noticed before, sitting up in the crow’s nest with a long rifle that had a scope on it. He watched us through his scope, following our path to the ship. He probably had a bead on me since the men arrived on the island and would’ve killed me if I tried anything.

When we reached the ship, a rope ladder was thrown down, and I was ordered to go first.

Climbing up it felt easy enough, which made me hope that my stats hadn’t been suppressed. Not that it would help me much. Unless all these men had just arrived on this floor like I had, then they were certainly all at a higher level than me. The fact that they had a ship and knew how to sail it suggested they’d been here a while too.

I asked one of the sailors who was walking past with a coil of rope how long they’d been on this floor.

The man glanced at me and then spat over the side before moving on.

I frowned. They seemed to be committing to this whole pirate thing a bit too much, and I decided to wait until I could direct my questions at the captain since he’d been the most communicative so far.

Once everyone was back onboard and the rowboat was secured.

“Raise anchor!” the captain yelled.

Someone repeated the order along with some other instructions that I couldn’t understand. I followed the captain into his private quarters that were situated at the front of the ship.

“Where are we going?” I asked him.

He pored over some maps on his desk and grunted. “To town. Like I said.”

“And what floor is this?”

He looked up at me and frowned. “Why do you keep going on about floors? We’re in the ocean, lad.”

“So the System, the tower, elevators? None of that means anything to you?”

He gave me a blank stare. “Should it?”

Oh god, the System has created NPC’s for this floor. At least I hope they’re NPC’s. They could just as easily be other humans from Earth with their memories erased. I wouldn’t put it past the System to put other humans here to use as fodder. I guess that explains how they know how to sail a ship.

“What level are you?” I asked.

“Level 68, but if you think you’re strong enough to break out of those manacles and take me on, you’d be sorely mistaken.”

So they still had levels, stats, and so forth. Perhaps inventories as well. I’ll have to be more careful with my questions in the future. Anything about the tower or the System seems to anger or confuse them. I can’t afford to metaphorically rock the boat now that we’re heading to a town. It’s likely the closest thing this place has to civilization. If there’s any chance of finding answers, other tower residents, or getting to an elevator, it’ll be there.

The captain gave me a look of concern. “How long were you stranded on that island for?”

“Not long,” I replied, keeping things vague. I couldn’t tell him an alien portal dumped me there the other day.

He nodded, looking understanding. He didn’t ask how it was that I ended up there and instead said, “the native animals can be harsh out here, but you appear to be in good health. I’m assuming you’re a decently high level yourself? Normally, we’d let you join our party, but orders came down that its crew only after we ran into some trouble.”

He looked like he didn’t want to talk about it, so I didn’t press. Instead, I changed the subject and asked, “so how far are we from town?”

He shrugged. “Only a few days if the wind is fair. You’re lucky that we saw your smoke and came to investigate. We’re right on the border of the Golden Serpent’s territory.

“Golden Serpent?”

He nodded. “I’m surprised you haven’t heard of them. They’re one of the wealthier groups operating out here. They sink unaffiliated boats on sight these days and we are very much unaffiliated.”

“So who should I be thanking for rescuing me?”

“We are the Black Corsairs,” he said with a hint of pride, before turning to his bookshelf.

There was a map laid out on the captain’s desk. Curious, I leaned closer for a better look to try and get a better sense of where I was. However, when the captain caught me looking, he snatched the map away and rolled it up. He didn’t seem angry, but there was a tension in his shoulders that wasn’t there before.

“We’ll find you a room down below where you’ll be more comfortable,” he said.

And likely so that I can stay out of his way. He was being cautious. He was responsible for an entire ship's worth of people and I was a largely unknown element being introduced to that environment. Other than having to wear the manacles, the man had been far more reasonable than I’d been expecting. Since we’d be sailing together for a few more days, I can afford to be patient with my questions and work to gain his trust.

This foundational floor seems to have a heavy pirate slash sailor theme. It would be smart to earn the favor of a pirate crew. They could be useful in future challenges or quests and I’ll likely need to use a ship again for transport at some point.

I was feeling good about my chances of eventually finding the others when the captain and I walked back out onto the deck. Some of the sailors however were giving me weird looks and one of them approached the captain.

“Captain, what if he’s like the other one?” the crewman asked, casting furtive glances my way.

I had no idea what he could mean, but the captain took the concern seriously. He told me to wait there while he returned to his private quarters. An awkward minute of silence passed before he returned, holding a thick sheet of paper.

The caption shook his head. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner. Take him,” he ordered.

“Hey!” I exclaimed as two men seized my arms from behind.

“Put him down in the hold,” said the captain.

“What’s the meaning of this?”

The captain snorted. “As if you don’t know. You’re a wanted man, Lucas Hudson.”

I stopped. I’d never told him my name.

“How did you…?”

The captain turned the sheet he was holding over to let me see before they dragged me away. It was a wanted poster with my name, a perfect likeness of my face, and a reward for 30,000 printed on it.