Martial Arts Worlds

The rain started falling harder and harder, making the visibility in the sea pretty much nonexistent.

The pirates rushed inside their ship for cover from the storm.

At the current moment, inside the recovery cabin, Ambrose walked to the window with steady steps and looked around the raging sea.

"Whew!" He whistled before sitting down on a chair that was sliding back and forth. "What a storm, aye? I hope you two know Sea Steps; otherwise, you aren't moving much!"

"I don't," Kiernan said with his arms crossed. "Is it hard to learn?"

"Hmm~" Ambrose scratched his chin. "Depends on your level of talent, but eventually, you will definitely learn it, and you should. You're risking your life in the sea if you can't walk without falling."

"Yeah, yeah, why have you brought us here?" Julian questioned with a frown.

"Impatient one, you are." Ambrose crossed his legs and said, "I thought it was a shame, simple as that. Shame that you two were slaves. I can see a bright future in you two."

"Bullshit!" Julian said. "We weren't cheap, right? You wouldn't spend that crazy amount just for that reason."

"True, it was not my entire reason." Ambrose said. "I brought you here to work under me as pirates."

"Pirates?" Julian's eyebrow twitched.

"…" Kiernan's eyes looked cold. "From slave to pirate? This was not what I had in mind when I came to the World Seas."

"Haha, don't act like it is the end of the world!" Ambrose laughed. "At least you're free… somewhat. However, good news: you can purchase your freedom!"

"Oh, really?" Julian chuckled. "How much, and how can we trust in your word that you really set us free?"

"We, pirates, follow the pirate code," Ambrose said. "It's must as we pirates are being hunted down and killed. Without the pirate code, we would be disorganized and would have already been destroyed.

"To continue our lifestyle of freedom, we listen to the pirate code as if it were our bible. Those who refuse to listen to the pirate code are hanged and killed. We don't need those who are not willing to follow our ways."

"So, the pirate code has a section that tells you to free your purchased slave if they're paying the price for their freedom?" Kiernan asked.

"Correct~" Ambrose said. "I know you must be thinking that pirates are horrible people; they wouldn't respect such a deal, but you'd be surprised."

"And how much do we have to pay?" Julian asked.

"I bought you because of your talents, and I believe you two would be very powerful pirates in the future. So, I invested in you two quite a bit already, so it's quite costly."

"How much?" Kiernan asked.

"You two cost 25,000 gold coins. Then, I used a quite expensive medicine to heal you two. Without my medication, this white-haired kid would have perished, and your leg would have been shattered, rendering you a cripple.

"Also, I saved your lives from Galahad. The total cost is 90,000 gold coins."

"90 thousand…" Julian laughed and lay down on his bed. "I think my parents had total savings of 20,000 gold coins after working for thirty years!"

"And let me guess, we're Cabin Boys, so we're not earning anything from robbing?" Kiernan asked.

"Correct~" Ambrose laughed. "70% of the money will be split equally among the crew, and the 30% remaining will be used to maintain the ship and its equipment."

"Split equally, but Cabin Boys aren't getting anything." Julian said with a twitching eyebrow.

"Yeah, Cabin Boys are basically trainees." Ambrose said. "Maybe in a year or two you would be promoted to Seaman!"

"What are our jobs as "Cabin Boys"?" Julian asked while massaging his temples.

"Cleaning, running errands, and helping whoever needs it~" Ambrose stood up, and with Sea Steps, he was easily able to walk over to the door. "I heard our cook is in need of a new pair of hands."

Julian and Kiernan exchanged glances. They were both thinking about the same thing.

"And by the way…" Ambrose turned to them one last time. "Be careful here, alright? The crew is quite rowdy, and they have a habit of fighting among themselves~"

With that, he left and closed the door on his way out.

"Can we swim to the shore?" Julian asked as he stared out of the window. "Whenever there is land in sight, we jump over the railing and swim to the shore."

"You know the seas better than I do. Can we survive?" Kiernan asked.

"With this storm, absolutely not. However, if it's smooth waves, we will be discovered by these shitty pirates even if we try. Also, these seas are filled with human-eating sharks."

"Also, we have no idea what kind of martial ability this guy has…" Kiernan said and crossed his arms. "I don't want to do anything before knowing everything about him."

"Yeah, I happened to hear that this guy is Pirate King…" Julian clicked his tongue. "Any pirate would be pissing in joy for knowing that they're part of the Pirate King's crew."

"How're you doing?" Kiernan asked suddenly. "I know you wanted to go to the Pirate Kingdom to find out more about that Ethan fellow."

"I was foolish." Julian shrugged his shoulders. "I thought I could just waltz there and do whatever I wanted. It would've been suicide. I thought I could just go there and kill that bastard, but…"

"Hmm…" Kiernan nodded thoughtfully. "Sorry, but I am a pretty impatient one. I don't think I can wait for years before we can purchase our freedom."

"…" Julian looked at him and said, "He said that we're worth 90,000 gold coins. Thus, 45,000 gold coins each. I don't mind if you purchase your own freedom and leave."

Kiernan turned to him.

"I know you have an actual life." Julian leaned on the wall and put his arms behind his head. "I can help you to purchase your freedom."

"And leave you here?" Kiernan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Haha, I got nothing over there either way." Julian said and let out a yawn.

"…" Kiernan lay down on his bed and closed his eyes. "I'll think of a plan that allows us to earn that 90,000 gold coins quickly. Just give me a minute." Explore new worlds at empire

"Hah, you say it like it is easy." Julian said. "Even earning that 45,000 gold coins in less than two months is pretty much impossible."

Kiernan shrugged his shoulders.