Codex Pirates

Chapter 84: Human Heart (Part 2)

Inside the ship of the Morgan Pirates.

The bilge of the ship is full of various sundries, and the smell of distiller's lees mixed with the smell of the sea permeates this somewhat dark space. In such an environment, it will cause greater mental stress to people, especially in the case of being imprisoned.

Selkirk and his men were trapped here, bound tightly by iron chains and ropes, and the scarcity of food and poor conditions made them haggard.

Frederick Barbarossa should have held captives before. He transformed the bilge into several simple cells. The cells were closely connected in a row and separated by walls. The people inside could only see the outside world through the iron grille door.

William sat on a chair brought by his men, just in front of the prison door, smoking slowly in a place where several prisoners could see.

He crossed his legs, narrowed his eyes slightly, and looked at the prisoners behind the prison door through the smoke, making it impossible to understand his inner thoughts.

Two pirates came to the prison door and provided food and water for several captives, but in order to prevent them from recovering their strength, neither food nor water was available, only a small piece of bread and half a bowl of water.

And because their bodies were trapped by iron chains and they couldn't use their hands, these prisoners could only lie on the ground when they ate and drank water, let alone draining water, so that there was a stench near the cell.

A pirate prisoner of the Swordfish Pirates overturned the plates and bowls containing food and water, ran to the prison door, glared at William bitterly, and shouted at him: "If you want to kill us, do it as soon as possible!" , don’t humiliate us here!”

Look at the way he is trying to squeeze his head into the gap in the fence, as if he wants to get out of it and bite William.

William didn't seem to have heard it, and was unmoved at all. After the pirates gave the prisoners food and water, he smoked two more cigarettes before leaving the bilge. He didn't say a word to the prisoners from the beginning to the end. explain.

When William came to the deck from the bottom, Crowe and Harden greeted him.

Crowe asked William: "Do you want to keep these people locked up like this? You have already got the devil fruit."

William pointed to his temple with a finger between cigarettes: "They came back from the great route and crossed the windless belt. The things in their minds are no less important than a devil fruit."

"They are just a group of deserters. I didn't expect you to value them so much." Crowe curled his lips. The value of the devil fruit is needless to say. In his opinion, Selkirk and others are just a group of defeated soldiers. Going around to get off the boat and almost starving to death on a deserted island is really stupid, and there is no comparison with Devil Fruit.

William glanced at him and said lightly, "That's why I'm the captain, and you're just a quartermaster."

Crowe stopped talking for a moment, and Harden, who was on the side, couldn't help laughing hoarsely when he saw Crowe deflated. He asked William, "Then how do we deal with these prisoners?"

"Separate them and lock them up alone. Don't let them have the opportunity to communicate with each other. I want to isolate them psychologically," William ordered as he walked towards the captain's cabin, "then reduce the food supply and continue to starve. They have been working for a few days, and now they still have the strength to scream, it seems that they are not hungry enough."

William thought for a while, and ordered the prisoner who had just said insulting him: "After feeding them tomorrow, we will separate them. The person I mentioned will not be fed. Let those who have food see."

It has been known from the information obtained from the interrogation that Selkirk and others were born in the North Sea and have traveled to the Great Sea Route, which will be of great help to William in understanding other sea areas. In addition, these people are not natives of the East China Sea. The sea area is still unfamiliar to the people on this ship. After the surrender, it will just change the personnel structure on the ship.

When they arrived in front of the captain's room, they found that the helmsman Digo was waiting there, looking around, quite sneaky.

William couldn't help laughing when he saw this: "Why are you still sneaking around like this on our own boat?"

William's tone is quite affectionate, and his words are also skillful. The words "we" and "my family" also show that they are close.

In fact, before William became the captain, the relationship between Diego and William was not particularly close. It was far inferior to the old man Hutcherson who was familiar with the situation on the ship with William, who was still a newcomer, and the second officer who had the experience of fighting against Zhepu together. Harden et al.

However, William's attitude made Digo very useful. At least he was more polite than when he first wooed him. When he saw that he refused to give a conclusion, he turned his face and left. Felton, who was stingy and took away the drink before leaving powerful.

Digo wasn't as relaxed as William showed, otherwise he wouldn't be able to highlight the seriousness of the situation and his contribution to the whistleblowing. He said somewhat seriously: "Captain, Felton is a little restless."

"Oh? What's wrong with him?" William said with a smile that did not change, "Let's go into the room and talk."

Diego followed William quietly, and actually admired William's city in his heart. If it was Barbarossa or Felton in front of him, he might have asked himself angrily what Felton did. Diego even I suspect that even if William heard that the fleet was surrounded by the navy, he would not show too much negative emotion.

As an old pirate, Diego certainly would not simply believe that William is as relaxed as he looks on the outside, but this kind of "calmness" is sometimes very important to the members of the ship. At least Diego feels that William is always so calm. A confident captain is much stronger and more secure and confident than a captain like Felton who is small-minded and easily overwhelmed by anger.

After William brought them into the captain's cabin, he didn't rush to ask questions. He took four wine glasses, poured a glass for Crowe, Harden, and Diego himself, and finally poured a glass for himself before he sat down at the desk. , and casually asked, "What did that idiot Felton do?"

Harden and Crowe, who were still a little nervous because of Diego's words, relaxed after William's methodical behavior and looked at Diego.

Digo said, "He's been wooing some old pirates on the ship recently, and he wants to pull them away from our pirate group. He just contacted me."

"No brains," William commented disdainfully after taking a sip of his drink, "and not enough."

When William rebelled against Barbarossa, he did not say that he was blatantly engaging in series on the ship, and William was the only navigator on board.

William was going to wait a while before dealing with Felton and his group, but he jumped out early as if he couldn't wait to be dealt with by William.

William, a person who is good at poaching people's corners and gathering power, will let others poach his corners?

He shook his glass and smiled at Crowe and Harden: "It seems that besides recruiting those captives, we need to clean up the unstable factors on the ship first, and then 'unite' us crew."

Crowe has almost tied William's interests together, and Harden is similar. He has been busy with William these days, dealing with things on the ship. The Morgan Pirates basically regard him as William's confidant. .

The two basically followed William's lead, and Harden asked without hesitation, "How?"

"What did I say on deck?" William asked back.