Chapter 209: The Black Pearl (Part 3)

Night finally fell completely, and the Black Pearl, with its black hull and sails, blended seamlessly into the dark sea.

As a smuggling ship, Eddie and all his sailors had extensive experience in nighttime navigation. He immediately ordered the crew to adjust their course in the dark, heading in a completely different direction from before. At one point, they drew very close to the white sails of the two warships, so close that they could even see the lights on the ships and the silhouettes of crew members running back and forth. Fortunately, they weren’t detected and managed to slip away silently, just a few hundred meters from the enemy ships.

When the wind picked up again, Eddie regained his confidence. 

“One night is enough for us to get two hundred miles ahead. They won’t catch us.”

“But what if there are more ships waiting for us ahead?” Ram said, worried.

Smuggling patrol ships rarely pursued a single target so persistently. These two warships were clearly dispatched specifically to capture them. To catch them in the vast sea, who knows how many ships Sentalus had sent out.

“We should be near Port Turledo now,” Eddie said after fiddling with a sextant-like instrument for a while on the bridge.

“We’re only halfway there,” Red Moon Yue said. “And there are more ports ahead, increasing the chances of being spotted. We need to find a place to switch ships.”

“Can we modify the Black Pearl’s appearance somehow? Paint it a different color?” Wu Qingsong asked. 

How did those pirates in the Age of Exploration evade capture?

“We’ll definitely need to do that after we drop you off,” Eddie Aifre replied reluctantly. “Repaint it, change the sails, rename it, and swap out the figurehead, but all of that needs to be done in a shipyard, not at sea.”

“Is there any Dark Moon territory nearby?” Ram asked.

“To find a reliable ship, we need to head to Port Polopolore,” Red Moon replied. “We have other ships at sea, but we can’t determine their location or contact them.”

Simply switching to another ship wouldn’t work. They would need to spread out to avoid detection, which would make things less secure. Besides, this whole area used to belong to the Sentalus Duchy, so taking a land route would be suicidal.

“There’s another option,” Eddie said. “But it’s dangerous.”

“What option?” Wu Qingsong asked.

“Cross the entire Storm Sea and head to Tifernal. From there, we can switch ships and sail north. Sentalus’s influence shouldn’t reach that far.”

“What’s the danger?”

“Storms, getting lost, and mermen,” Eddie said. “I’ve crossed this route before, but that was years ago. As long as there are stars in the sky, I can guarantee we won’t get lost. But this sea is no joke. If we encounter warships or mermen, we might find a way to escape, but if we hit a storm, then it’s all up to fate.”

“If everything goes smoothly, how long will it take to cross?” Wu Qingsong asked.

“Crossing the Storm Sea? With favorable winds, it’d take three days. Normally, it takes at least five to seven days.”

Wu Qingsong looked up at the sky. The stars seemed close enough to touch, and the deep blue night sky was clear without a single cloud in sight.

“What if we use the same ability we used during the day?”

Eddie hesitated for a moment. “Then three days should be enough.”

“What do you all think?” Wu Qingsong asked.

Continuing along the planned route, hugging the coastline northward, had a high risk of being spotted and pursued by Sentalus’s warships. But if they could use the cover of night to reach a nearby port and disembark quietly with small boats, they might be able to understand the situation better.

Of course, this approach was risky. Being discovered and pursued was a significant danger. The closer they got to the shore, the higher the risk. Additionally, the Black Pearl couldn’t wait near the shore indefinitely. Once they disembarked, they’d have to find another way. If the situation was worse than they anticipated, they could be walking right into a trap.

Ling intermittently used her ability during headwinds and calm conditions, resting when the wind was favorable. Eddie was full of praise for her power, even expressing a wish for her to become a sailor, though he knew it was impossible. He didn’t know Wu Qingsong’s exact identity, but he knew that anyone accompanied by Red Moon herself couldn’t be an ordinary traveler.

From the second day onwards, they gradually stopped seeing any other ships. According to Eddie, the only vessels in this area were from the pirate group on Mourning Isle, which had some connection with Dark Moon. These pirates reportedly used an abandoned merman island in the center of the Storm Sea as their base, evading naval pursuit and launching attacks on merchant ships in all directions. However, even Dark Moon, with their long-standing relationship for fencing stolen goods, didn’t know the exact location of this island.

“It would be convenient if we could encounter them,” Red Moon said. “We could use their ship to land on the west coast of the Storm Sea and find a way back. They know this area inside and out, and the Black Pearl could be modified and repaired in their shipyard.”

However, luck didn’t seem to be on their side. By the morning of the third day, they still hadn’t seen any ships, nor had the western mainland come into view.

“Where did we go wrong? We should have arrived by now!” 

Eddie felt deeply embarrassed, continuously fiddling with his instruments, trying to determine their exact location.

Meanwhile, Liuli stayed perched at the top of the mast for an extended period, hoping to spot land at any moment.

People began to feel anxious, but theoretically, even if they had strayed off course, as long as they kept heading west, they would eventually see the shadow of the southern continent.

“Damn it!” Eddie finally looked up.

“What happened?”

“I… I made a calculation error from the beginning.” Eddie’s face was ashen.

“So where are we now?”

“We might be somewhere south of the Storm Sea, probably not far from the southern continent,” Eddie mumbled.

Suddenly, Liuli screamed loudly.

Everyone looked in the direction she was pointing. Directly ahead of the ship, a massive wall of dark clouds was rapidly forming and clearly rolling toward them!