Goto Islands, Crescent Bay.
After the last raid, Cortez had devoured several more large ships, and the explorer had undergone earth-shattering changes.
The most intuitive change was that the hull became sturdier and the draft deeper.
Time, too, is the only standard for testing a team's cohesion.
First week.
The pirates on the explorer were still immersed in the ecstasy of promotions and raises.
They polished every brass fitting on the ship until it gleamed.
Billy even used his own ribs to deep polish the cannon barrels and applied for a patent; whoever used it had to give him a copper coin.
The deck was scrubbed cleaner than Elizabeth's face; one had to walk on tiptoes, fearing that a footprint would affect their performance review.
Ron, who was captured, spent his days sitting on a small stool, forced to admire the fancy antics of these skeleton pirates.
He was also required to cast his sacred vote in the daily "Employee of the Month" selection.
If he dared not vote for Buck, Buck would kindly give him a cervical spine relaxation massage with his enormous fists.
If he didn't vote for Billy, Billy would give his face a deep cleansing… Roger was very comfortable.
His daily routine was to lie in the Captain's Cabin, drink the stolen liquor, eat grapes fed to him by Yumi, and listen to Elizabeth recite sonnets in her aristocratic English accent.
He felt that this simple and unpretentious retirement life was his ultimate goal.
Second week.
Calm seas.
Sam's ransom fleet was nowhere to be seen.
The pirates' enthusiasm began to fade at a visible rate.
The ship was polished to the point where it couldn't be polished any further; rubbing it more would make the keel develop a patina.
Thus, the direction of internal competition began to become strange.
Hanson and several pirates began to research how to use their undead bodies to dive for pearls without equipment.
Although they were crushed into bone fragments by the underwater pressure every time.
But as long as they could retrieve one, they could exchange it for ten copper coins from Gibbs.
Gibbs, meanwhile, opened a pawn shop on the ship, specializing in collecting various strange bones and marine creatures.
He called it "stocking raw materials for the Captain's alchemy experiments."
Roger started to get a little annoyed.
He hung Ron on the main mast, letting seagulls defecate on his head every day, calling it "increasing bargaining chips."
Ron went from cursing profusely at first, to numbness, and now to despair.
He had even started chatting with the monkey named Jack.
Third week.
The pirates were completely insane.
Due to a lack of new business, copper coins could not circulate, and the entire economic system of the explorer fell into severe deflation.
They began to gamble using their body parts as stakes.
"I bet a phalanx from my left little toe! I bet the next seagull that flies by is male!"
"I'm in! I bet my third right rib!"
Buck, his eyes red from losing, slammed his head on the table. "I'm all in! All in!"
Roger looked at this group of thoroughly hyped-up employees and felt his temples throbbing.
If this continued, this hard-won wolf-like team would turn into a beggar's guild.
"System, get out here!"
Roger roared in his mind.
"What's going on with this Sam?"
"He has no integrity in business! He said three days, and it's been almost thirty days!"
"Host, please calm down."
"Based on historical data analysis, ancient communication and transportation efficiency were extremely low. Perhaps your messenger encountered a shipwreck on the way, or was eaten by a sea monster, or simply got lost."
"How about you wait a little longer? Or, you can choose our 'Expedited Collection' paid service. For only 998 gold, we can directly transmit the collection notice into Sam's dreams."
"Get lost!"
Roger felt his blood pressure skyrocket to 280.
One month!
A whole month!
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