Lucy gazed at Walton and his crewmates, studying their character status in hopes they would be weaker than Charles.

Walton Hazel Level: 13 Race: Persian (Cat) HP: 130 Non-player character Scarp Level: 17 Race: Bobcat HP: 170 Non-player character Tuff Level: 17 Race: Bobcat HP: 170 Non-player character Boldy Level: 17 Race: Bobcat HP: 170 Non-player character Gory Level: 17 Race: Bobcat HP: 170 Non-player character

Walton was the weakest among his crew, but his companions had higher levels than him. And based on their triangular burly bodies, the cat pirates could crush Charles into two pieces. Clearly fighting them would give no victory to Lucy and Charles.

Charles got up from his stool and crossed his arms, keeping his confidences straight. “Do you want to know why I cheated?”

Walton sneered while aiming his pistol at the wolf. “Yer excuses will nah save yer skin. I whether loot it 'n hang yer corpse down th' street.”

Charles held up both his fingers. “On the contrary, I whether keep my skin and hang naked. But I cheated because you cheated. As they say, if your scrub one pirate’s back, he has to scrub your back next. Get it?”

Walton laughed. “'Tis too late t' say sorry, ole heartie. They also say if ye piss off a pirate, th' pirate will loot a piss on ye.”

Lucy lowered her eyebrows into a V above her widened her eyes. “What?”

Walton held up his arms with a shrug. “'Tis jus' a figure o' speech, lass. I wouldna piss on Charles like a drunken idiot. But he still needs t' pay th' consequences!”

Charles stared at a large oil lamb chandelier hanging on the ceiling. Then he slowly reached into his back pocket under his coat. Lucy assumed what he was about to do.

“Then this is goodbye, old friend.” The wolf pulled out a small knife and tossed it straight toward the chandelier. His blade cut the rope and the chandelier crashed in front of Walton and his crew, releasing a wall of fire.

The bartender dropped his mouth at the fire. “You are going to pay for that!”

Charles saluted him. “Thanks for the drinks!”

He grabbed Lucy and rushed toward the window. “Jump!”

Both of them crashed through the window and landed into a wooden boat, hanging on two ropes connected to small cranes on the tavern wall over a slope below. The boat was part of the tavern’s decoration, although it wasn’t a swan.

Charles swung his sword, cutting the ropes. The boat fell and slid down the slope across the cobblestone through the town.

Lucy held on to the boat’s gunwale sides, screaming through the air.

“Look out!” Charles pulled the boat to the right, sliding past a cabbage cart.

A sheep couple in white dresses leaped out of the way, and a kitten boy in a sailor suit dropped his ice cream as the boat shifted past him.

After a bump, the boat continued through the market square, although the street was flat. Lucy has nothing to stop the boat with. It might as well keep sliding until it loses momentum. But the chances of them crashing were very high.

“Get out of the way! Get of the way!” Lucy shouted at the crowd.

Foxes, deers, and cats ran from the speeding boat. They pushed vendors out of the way, dropped their belongings, and fell to the ground. Lucy didn’t dare turn the boat, not risking to crash into a person. Everyone was moving clearly out of the way, although they left a mess in the market.

“How can we make this bloody thing stop!?” Lucy shouted.

“No worries, lass!” Charles shouted behind her. “Let the boat go until we reach the harbor!”

Lucy spotted a shop at the end of the street. No was no other path around it. “Oh, crap!”

A mouse in a brown leather jack and glasses spotted the incoming boat. He opened the doors, allowing the boat through without crashing.

The boat glided past shelves and shelves of glass jars, full of candy. Toward the end, the boat bumped into a wall, sending Charles and Lucy flying through an open window.

Both of them tumbled down a grassy slope. Lucy’s whole world rolled as grass and dirt rained around her. When she hit the bottom of the hillside, Charles landed on top of her. His snort nearly touching her muzzle.

“Thanks for saving my fall,” he whispered.

Lucy blushed for the moment and pushed him off. She rose and caught her breath. “You almost got us killed!”

Charles got up and brushed himself off. “I’m sorry about that, but I did what I needed to do.”

Lucy shook her hands in the air. “What makes your ship more special than the other ships here?”

Charles glared and pointed his claw at Lucy’s nose. “It isn’t just a special ship! It is-”

An explosion roared from the highest level on the hillside. Black smoke bloomed into the dark sky like a mushroom growing from the ground.

Lucy gulped. “Was that-”

“The Dusty Swan? I believe so,” Charles answered. “Come on. The authorities will crawl all over the place.”

Lucy followed him through a small grass field below the hillside toward the next town. How could getting a ship could be so hard to do? Of course, the vessels were expensive, but if Lucy and Charles got simple jobs to earn gold, Charles’s ridiculous stunt wouldn’t have happened. Not only he angered a band of pirates, but the entire town would also soon gang up on him for ruining their peaceful evening. And poor Lucy would share his punishment with the island’s authorities. But to avoid punishment, they must escape as fast as possible.

Through the town, they reached the harbor and stopped to look around the docks. There seemed to be a hundred ships floating around the docks with their sails, blocking the moonlight sky. All of them nearly looked the same from brigs to barques.

“Which one is your ship?” Lucy asked.

Charles strolled across a dock through the bay, glancing around at the parked vessels. “Bollocks! I should have asked Walton before he betrayed me!”

“You are the one who betrayed him!”

Charles glared at Lucy. “He did that first before he took my ship! I have been wanting my ship back ever since he took it!”

Lucy placed her hands on her hips. “Was that your plan all along when we came here?”

Charles rubbed his hand through his short hair. “It was before I tried to take your father’s map. Walton ended our friendship when he crossed me. It took me a year to find him, but it was worth it. Now I can finally get my ship back. So help me find it.”

Lucy rolled her eyes. “You are a scoundrel, just like the rumors said about you.”

Charles held up his finger. “Not all the rumors are true about me.”

“Is that so? What about when you ratted me out to Walton? I helped you so I wouldn’t become Walton’s scratch toy!”

“And I thank you for that. But if your eyes were clear, you should have noticed I-” Charles paused and looked over Lucy’s shoulders. “Oh, no…..”

Lucy looked back and saw Walton and his crew racing down the dock toward her. There were more of them, about forty. Where did they all come from?

“Prepare t' sleep wit' th' fishes, Charles!” The fat cat shouted while waving his sword through the air. “N yer lass belongs t' me!”

“Bollocks!” Charles grabbed Lucy’s hand and raced down the dock while dragging her along.

He beamed his eyes forward and smiled. “There it is!”

Lucy glanced straight ahead while running behind Charles. They were approaching a large ship with five-floor levels. Three sails on different deck levels connected by ratlines and a bow strip stood at the front over a dog lady figurehead. It has eighteen cannons on its side. Maybe more on the other side.

As Lucy came close toward it, a notification appeared in her vision.

Iron Maiden Type: Brigantine Level: 20 HP: 200 AP: 50 Strength: 10 Speed: 5 Cannons: 40 Crew: 0

Lucy never saw a ship’s status before while she lived at Oyster Haven. Of course, she has seen many vessels sailing in and out of the seaport. Only the players and NPCs who owned a ship could see their data. “It’s huge!”

“I know, right?” Charles climbed up the rope ladder on the ship.

Lucy climbed up next, not daring to see how close Walton’s pirates were on the dock. “How in the water god’s name can you sail this thing out?”

"One person can sail this ship alone, but a crew makes things a lot easier to manage the ship.” Charles held out his hand to Lucy. "Come on!"

She grabbed his hand, and he pulled her up to the main deck. A longboat rested on the center, and six cannons faced the right and left sides.

Charles picked up a cannonball and loaded it into the cannon, facing the dock. "Untie the ropes, lass!"

Lucy untied the ropes keeping the ship close to the dock. "What are you doing?"

Charles aimed the cannon toward the center of the dock. "Giving us time to escape!"

After she freed the ship from the dock, Lucy watched Charles fired the cannon toward the stampeding cats. Her heart dropped, fearing Charles was going to kill his ex-comrade.

But the flying cannonball didn't reach too far. It landed in front of the cats and exploded. Half the dock sunk into the water while the cat pirates remained on the other side. None of them could reach the Iron Maiden now.

Charles ran up to the sterncastle deck and twirled the ship's wheel. The Iron Maiden sailed off toward the open sea.

“See yah, mate!” Charles shouted from the sterncastle deck.

“Ye ship lootin' bastard!” Walton shouted from the dock. “Aft we get another ship, I shall hunt ye down t' th' ends o' th' sea!”

“You can try! I already got a head start!”

“Chaaaaaaaaaaaaarles!!!”

The wolf laughed, waving goodbye to the cat.

Lucy giggled, although she couldn’t understand why Charles stealing his friend’s ship was kind of funny. She stopped when a notification appeared.

Congratulations and your crewmate has successfully stolen a pirate ship [The Iron Maiden]. Therefore, you received the class [Pirate]. Enjoy your new life of buccaneering and looting against the Imperial Empire.

Lucy checked her character status to make sure the notification wasn’t treating her.

Lucy Longsilver Level: 10 Race: Cocker Spaniel (Dog) Class: Pirate HP: 100 MP: 0 Experience Points: 0/1000 Proficiency Points: 0 Strength: 5 Speed: 3 Intelligence: 3 Charisma: 6 Computer Player

Lucy couldn’t believe her eyes. After serving as a bartender, she has become a pirate, just like the players and the rogue NPCs.

Now she was a pirate, she felt like freedom has finally found her.