Chapter 2115 - 502: Naval Battle, Chen Jie: Have I Become the Pirate King?

The blazing sun hung high as the crashing waves slammed against the ship’s side, shattering into snowy foam that scattered across the deep blue sea.

The fishy sea breeze brushed past his cheeks, bringing with it a peculiar sensation.

Looking as far as the eye could see, the sea was as blue as a slab of crystal, stretching from beneath his feet all the way to the distant horizon. From time to time, silvery-white schools of fish leapt from the water, only to be snatched away by the seagulls circling in the sky.

Most of the seagulls at this moment were wheeling around the ship’s mast. The lookout stood on the mast, tossing grains of rice around the seagulls before him—this was probably one of the few amusements he had.

On the deck, Chen Jie lay on a reclining chair, a fishing rod in his hand, fishing in bored idleness.

Once the initial excitement of putting out to sea had passed, what remained was aimless drifting.

From Quanzhou Port to Songkla Port in Siam, the voyage took nearly twenty days, and that was only if the winds and waves stayed calm. If they ran into bad weather, the journey would take even longer.

During this stretch of time at sea, it was still rather novel at the beginning: the sea was blue, the sky was blue—everything seemed interesting.

But after ten days, that sense of novelty was gone without a trace, leaving only purposeless boredom.

And boredom wasn’t the worst of it—the truly dreadful thing was that some people got seasick.

"Oooh..."

Du Xiong was clutching a large wooden bucket, vomiting for all he was worth, to the point his bile was almost coming out. Chen Jie hadn’t expected that Du Xiong, the burliest man among them, would actually get seasick.

At first it wasn’t too bad, but last night they met a small squall. Though such a squall was nothing in the eyes of the old sailors, something you could sleep through without worry, it still made the ship rock much more.

Du Xiong, who had just begun to adapt to the motion of the sea, ended up getting taught a harsh lesson by that little storm; when he got up this morning, he couldn’t stop throwing up.

Seeing his miserable state—a big strapping fellow, who in just ten days aboard had already grown noticeably thinner—one could tell what he’d been going through.

Du Xiong retched desperately while Zhang Dingbian, his close big brother, attended him at his side. The other veteran sailors of the Divine Dragon Sect all went about their own business; they were prepared for the dull routine of life at sea.

This time out on the ocean, Chen Jie was truly coming to grasp the vastness and immensity of the sea; it was nothing like the Mianshui River he had lived beside since childhood.

Now Chen Jie lay on the deck sunbathing. The tedious days had left him completely slack, with nothing in particular to do.

Just as Chen Jie was idling away his time, he saw Fang Susu walking over from not far off, with the ship’s boatswain following behind her.

They were carrying water jars, and when they reached him, Fang Susu said, "You’ve been fishing for an hour. Any fish yet?"

At her words, Zhao Facai beside him held up his rod and said, "Nope. These fish are really hard to catch."

Hei Ligu said, "There are too many seagulls here. The fish in the sea see the seagulls and don’t dare bite easily. I’m afraid we’ll have to sail out of this area if we want to catch anything."

Chen Jie asked, "There aren’t any fish that aren’t afraid of seagulls?"

Hei Ligu replied, "That would be only the big fish. Only big fish don’t fear seagulls."

Chen Jie said, "Then let’s fish for the big ones."

As he spoke, Fang Susu said, "Enough, fish later. Have some water."

She handed each of them a bowl, and the boatswain behind her poured a bowl of water for everyone, swallowing his own saliva as he did so.

As an old sailor, once he put to sea, his intake of fresh water was strictly regulated. On a voyage, the most precious resource was fresh water, so the ship’s supply of it went first to these honored guests, especially the one inside who kept vomiting.

That one was wasting a good deal of fresh water, since he had to replenish constantly; otherwise he could easily become dehydrated.

And the few distinguished guests before him absolutely couldn’t be allowed to lack fresh water, so he kept tight control over the sailors—fresh water was not something you could drink whenever you pleased.

Chen Jie took the bowl the old sailor handed him, glanced at the sailor’s dry, cracked lips, then immediately passed the bowl back to him and said, "Here. Looks like you need this more than I do."

The old sailor was clearly startled. With Chen Jie’s current level of cultivation, his endurance against hunger and thirst had greatly increased, so he wasn’t really thirsty.

The old sailor stammered, "Th-this isn’t proper. The honored guests should drink it."

Chen Jie said, "Go on, you drink it."

The old sailor looked at Fang Susu. When she gave a slight nod, he at once took the bowl and gulped a mouthful of water—but he didn’t swallow immediately; instead, he gently swished it around his mouth.

This was a habit among the sailors: in this way the water could moisten every spot in the mouth that needed wetting. Only then did he take small swallows, then another sip, and so on in a cycle.

Such a way of drinking only becomes second nature when fresh water is extremely scarce—that’s the mark of true deep-sea sailors.

Watching him drink, Chen Jie asked, "Let me ask you something. Out at sea, what do you usually do to pass the time?"

The old sailor blinked and said, "Well, everyone has their own tasks: some watch the sails and the wind, some steer the helm, some move cargo. Every job is quite demanding."

"Not to mention we have to stay alert for pirates who might appear at any time on the sea, so we don’t need to ’pass the time’."

Chen Jie’s eyes lit up. "Pirates!"

"Now that’s interesting. Where do these pirates come from?"