[Boat — South Deck — 4:22 AM]
The captain's reinforcements arrived in five minutes.
Not more boats.
The nine Red Bones ships approached simultaneously — the containment formation becoming an assault formation, the hulls closing the distance to the team's boat until the space between them was enough to jump directly from deck to deck.
And they jumped.
Sixty additional pirates — the best from each ship, the ones who had been waiting while the forty from the first assault tested the team's defenses. Levels between 78 and 88. No lesser Marks — these didn't need them. They had maritime techniques developed over decades, enchantments carved into their bodies like scars, and the coordination of people who had fought together long enough to anticipate a comrade's movement before it happened.
One hundred pirates in total now.
On a boat designed for four people.
