The captain of the guard gritted his teeth, roaring orders to counterattack.
However, the merchant ship was only equipped with two old cannons at the stern.
The panicked gunners fired their shots, but the cannonballs all plunged into the sea, not even grazing the pirate ship.
Within minutes, the pirate ship had pulled up right alongside them.
Barbed grappling hooks were thrown out like rain, firmly latching onto the merchant ship’s railing.
“Boys!
Charge!
The treasure, the women, they’re all ours!” Hal laughed maniacally.
He was the first to sprint across the ropes and leap onto the merchant ship’s deck.
His massive sawtooth broadsword swept out with a sharp whistle, slicing through the air.
Two guards who rushed forward couldn’t even raise their weapons to block before they were cleaved to the ground.
From the very beginning, the battle was a completely one-sided slaughter.
Most of the merchant ship’s guards were retired Marine recruits or obscure bounty hunters.
They were barely adequate for dealing with petty thieves on a normal day, but against this crew of hardened cutthroats who lived by the sword, they were utterly defenseless.
Relying on his brute strength and ruthless swordsmanship, Hal rampaged across the deck.
In just three strikes, he shattered the guard captain’s sword and struck him down into a pool of blood with a backhanded slash.
Splattered blood covered the deck.
The sharp clashing of weapons, the muffled groans of the dying, and the maniacal laughter of the pirates twisted together into a chaotic symphony.
The guards retreated step by step as men continuously fell.
In just over twenty minutes, only a handful of guards were left standing.
Forced into a corner at the stern, their swords trembled uncontrollably in their hands, their eyes filled with nothing but despair.
The battle was completely over.
Stepping on the guard captain’s corpse, Hal spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto the floor and bellowed his orders.
“Search the ship!
Move all the gold, silver, and cargo in the cabins onto our ship!
Tie up the men to be used as slaves, and don’t let the women and children go either.
Selling them at the Sabaody Archipelago will fetch us another fortune!” The pirates roared with laughter and scattered, kicking open the cabin doors and storming inside.
The screams of women and the wails of children instantly erupted.
The entire merchant ship had completely devolved into a pirate’s playground.
The stench of despair drifted across the distant sea on the ocean breeze.
The wooden cabin doors were kicked to splinters by the pirates.
Wood chips flew through the air alongside the piercing screams, turning the merchant ship into a floating purgatory.
On the deck, the few remaining guards who had surrendered were forced to their knees in the sticky pools of blood, their hands bound behind their backs.
A pirate missing his front teeth grinned viciously as he swung an iron rod, smashing it ruthlessly into their knees.
The crisp sound of fracturing bones echoed out, followed by a series of heart-wrenching shrieks.
The guards collapsed one by one, their bodies convulsing in agony.
Yet, the pirates simply stomped on their heads, dragged them to the railing, and tossed them into the sea like garbage.
A blinding crimson instantly churned in the seawater, attracting schools of sharks that began circling the ship.
The pirates leaned over the railing, roaring with laughter at the sight.
Some even pulled out their flintlocks and fired wildly into the water, treating human lives as a mere game for their amusement.
Hal leaned against the doorframe of the captain’s quarters, toying with a freshly looted gold-plated pocket watch.
Beneath his boot lay the merchant ship’s elderly captain.
The old man’s hands had been brutally crushed underfoot, and blood continuously poured from his mouth, yet he still glared fiercely at the pirate.
Hal’s smile only grew more sinister.
He lifted his boot and ground it mercilessly into the man’s broken hands.
Listening to the agonizing screams, he casually instructed his subordinates, “Search carefully.
Don’t leave a single needle behind if it’s worth anything.
Anyone who dares to hide something gets their hands chopped off and thrown to the fishes.” The cargo hold was already a complete mess.
Wooden crates filled with gold and silver coins were hacked to pieces, sending shiny currency rolling across the floor.
The pirates frantically stuffed the coins into their shirts, shoving whatever wouldn’t fit into their pockets.
Over a single pigeon-blood ruby, two pirates even drew their swords and slashed at each other on the spot, splattering blood across the scattered silks and precious spices.
Barrels of rations were kicked over, spilling pristine white rice all over the floor to be ground into the filth beneath their boots.
Sealed casks of rum were smashed open, leaving liquor and blood to pool together on the ground.
The pirates hugged the casks and chugged wildly.
Once drunk, they casually hurled the barrels against the walls, letting the expensive alcohol flow freely.
The scene in the passenger cabins was even more gruesome.
The accompanying families of the merchants huddled in the corners.
Women shielded their children tightly in their arms, their bodies trembling like leaves in the autumn wind.
A gray-haired old merchant tried to protect his teenage granddaughter, only to be kicked in the chest by a heavily scarred pirate.
The sound of his ribs snapping was sickeningly clear.
The old man coughed up a mouthful of blood, collapsing paralyzed onto the floor.
The pirate, however, grinned wickedly and reached out, violently ripping the pearl earrings right off the girl’s ears.
Her earlobes tore, and blood trickled down her neck.
The terrified girl burst into tears, but the pirate simply grabbed her by the hair and slammed her brutally against the wall.
Those who resisted were cut down on the spot, and those who submitted couldn’t escape the torment either.
Women had their jewelry violently snatched away and their hair pulled into disarray.
The slightest hint of defiance was met with a flurry of punches and kicks.
Men were tied to pillars, forced to watch their families be humiliated.
They roared with bloodshot eyes, but their cries only earned them more brazen mockery and beatings from the pirates.
A child, no older than four or five, had their ragdoll snatched away by a pirate and began wailing in terror.
The pirate sneered, throwing the doll to the floor and stomping it to pieces with his boot.
He then pinched the child’s face, forcing them to watch as their only toy was reduced to a pile of shredded stuffing.
Across the entire ship, there was nothing but splattered blood, wails, and agonizing screams, all drowned out by the pirates’ unbridled laughter and foul curses.
They unleashed the darkest, most despicable greed and brutality of human nature upon these unarmed people without reservation, completely transforming a merchant ship full of livelihood and hope into a sunless hell.
The heavily scarred pirate sneered, grabbing a woman by the back of her collar.
Like lifting a broken ragdoll, he slammed her viciously onto the deck.
The wooden planks let out a heavy thud.
The woman groaned in pain, but before she could even try to get up, the pirate planted his boot on her back, pinning her firmly to the ground.
“Nina!
Don’t come over!” she screamed hoarsely at her daughter cowering in the corner.
Before her words even faded, her red-eyed husband lunged forward.
Gripping a broken oar, he swung it at the pirate’s head with every ounce of his strength.
But in the next second, a cold light flashed.
Hal’s first mate swept his sawtooth broadsword outward, instantly cleaving the man’s body in two at the waist.
Dark red blood and viscera spilled across the deck, splattering all over the little girl’s face and body.
“Daddy!!
Mommy!!” Eight- or nine-year-old Nina threw herself forward like a madwoman, hugging her father’s still-warm upper half.
Her tiny body trembled like a leaf.
Tears streamed down her face, mixing with the blood and grime.
In those once-bright eyes, nothing remained but overwhelming despair and terror.