Episode 11: Boy in the Barrel

Scarn stayed up all night preparing everything for the eventual execution of their plan.

Light, on the other hand, had taken a good night's sleep.

After completing his morning routine, he walked towards Scarn, who was filling a barrel with many glass bottles of rum. When the barrel was almost full, he covered the top with multiple layers of cloth and shut the lid.

When he realised Light was walking toward him, he immediately said, "Perfect timing. Come help me move this load onto the secondary boat."

He stood at the edge of the ship's deck near a ladder that led to the sea. He pointed downwards, and Light's eyes followed the direction.

Below them was another smaller vessel, one completely made of wood, unlike the main Navy vessel, which was covered with reinforced layers of iron. This smaller ship was categorised as a rescue ship, but it wasn't exactly the same. Because it was grand enough to be considered an independent vessel that could sail through the seas while also being small enough to be attached to another Navy vessel. It had a single retractable mast with sails readily attached, with minimal storage space under the deck.

But the most interesting aspect of the ship was the fact that it was painted completely pitch black.

Gazing at it, Light smiled in satisfaction and said, "You did a better job than I could have possibly hoped for, sir. Now this would be completely undetectable in the darkness of the night."

"I'm Glad it's up to your standards. We usually carry some black paint on all major marine ships. It's usually used to cover the Jolly Rogers of newly confiscated pirate ships. Luckily, it was useful for our plan as well, " the lieutenant replied.

Light gazed at his blackened hands and sighed, "Before I went to sleep, I watched you work on the ship. Why were you painting in the complete dark, though? And why is the ship mostly dark at night as well?"

Scarn looked back at Light's expressionless face and laughed. "Haha! Even at times like this, you've got jokes, huh? Well, good to keep up some morale. Only if sailing the seas was that easy, right?"

Light narrowed his eyes, 'Joke? What the hell is he talking about?!"

Scarn went forward to pick up the barrel, but then stopped. He turned to look at Light and asked, "Wouldn't it be better if we loaded the cannon onto the ship before we tied the barrel to the deck?"

Light broke out of his reverie and replied, "Yup, it would be bad if we tied down the barrel full of glass bottles first, just for the heavy cannon to fall on it while loading."

Then they walked away from the barrel and into the armoury. Among all the cannons there, Scarn immediately spotted the largest one and started to load it onto a moving crate with wheels.

Watching him struggle with a cannon twice his size, Light almost giggled, but then he immediately swallowed his laugh upon seeing the cannon actually move a bit. 'What the hell? How can this middle-aged man even move such a weight? It must at least be a few hundred kilograms, or maybe even a ton…'

Looking back at the comical expression on his apprentice, the lieutenant scoffed. "Moron, how long are you just gonna stand there? Come help this old man."

Light shook his head and walked forward to help, but before he could, he suddenly stopped. After waiting for a second, he said, "Wait, I don't think we should take this big guy."

"What? Why? You know how huge that wretched ship is, right? And even for its size, its own artillery and cannon power is almost supernatural. You'll only need the best and the strongest weapons to stand even the slightest chance." Scarn replied.

Light nodded while rubbing his chin, "You're absolutely correct… IF Our goal was to damage Ter's ship with cannons. But it's not." Light turned and looked at two much smaller cannons and pointed at them, "Let's take those two instead."

…

They took everything they needed from the armoury, including the two smaller cannons, a few guns, and ammo, and loaded them onto the pitch-black vessel.

While checking the ammo, Light sighed with disappointment, 'all that ammo but none fits in the revolver… oh well, it is what it is, I guess.'

After settling all the tools, they turned to the cannons. The two cannons pointed forward and stood side by side. But rather than just having the two cannons sit on top of the deck, the duo drilled them onto the deck, making the two cannons inseparable from the pitch black ship.

They threw the drilling tools into the small storage space under the deck and went back up onto the main ship's deck.

"Ahh! I forgot to tell you, before sleeping last night, I carved some of your wooden plates. But a lot is still left. Can you help me carve the rest-" Before Light could finish his sentence, he shivered under the unrelenting gaze of his superior. He coughed and changed the topic. "Uhm, I meant to say please just observe the whirlpool and keep checking our sail route."

With that, he turned and quickly ran away, back to his room.

… 

In the next few hours, Light continued to carve down Scarn's precious Wooden cutlery to make them lighter for his plan. At the same time, the lieutenant made some last-minute adjustments to the pitch black ship, observed the whirlpool just a few hours ahead of the journey, and steered the ship.

They were getting concerningly closer to the giant whirlpool.

In the latter half of the afternoon, they were finally done with most of their preparation. Light took one last look at the dozens of wooden plates he had carved down; they were much lighter and thinner than before, yet very sturdy due to the high-quality wood they were made of.

'I can see why the lieutenant would be upset at losing these...'

He put away the old pirate's sharp dagger he had used to carve the exquisite wooden plates, and brought them onto the pitch black ship.

Scarn was right there, beside Light. He looked at the carved-down, previously beautiful wooden cutlery with a sullen expression but said nothing.

Light coughed then said, "Uhm, sir, please just paint wooden plates pitch black like you did to the ship as well. I'll do... Something else by then." With that, he quickly walked away, not intending to see Scarn's crash out.

He went back onto the main ship's deck and then walked to the storage. He first filled baskets with as much food and water as the secondary ship was going to be able to store. He also took a lot of utility items with him, like bundles of rope, latches, hooks, etc.

By the time he returned to the ship, he saw all the carved wooden plates drying on the deck, drenched in black paint. But surprisingly, Scarn didn't look as disheartened as Light had expected; rather, he was nonchalantly humming while working on the sails that were being hoisted up on the mast.

'Interesting...'

"What's with the jolly mode, sir? Aren't you sad about the loss of your precious plates?" Light said.

Scarn stopped for a second, then answered while looking him up and down, "Acceptance, I guess, I am going to lose everything anyway, so what's the point in being sullen over a portion of that?"

Light looked down and sighed, "I'm sorry, only if I could've thought of a better plan, we might have been able to save the ship."

Scarn shook his head in dejection. He pulled on a rope, and then the sails lowered themselves to the mast. He jumped down and locked eyes with Light, "It's alright, I can just ask for recommission in damages for lost goods from the Navy anyways haha, though don't tell them what I lost wasn't exactly...essential okay?! It is... It was essential to me." He pressed his hand on Light's shoulder and looked west, towards the setting sun, "If it lets me kill that fu*ker Ter and sink his nasty ship, I'll throw all my collectables in the ocean myself."

Light looked toward the lieutenant and smiled. He put his hand forward, and Scarn returned the gesture. They clasped each other's hands with strength, their eyes burning with an indescribable flame.

"Let's hope your crazy plan works."

"Let's hope it does."

With that, the lieutenant went onto the main ship's deck. He then picked up a huge metallic object. Even the strongman Scarn himself struggled to pick up that weight, but somehow he managed. The gigantic metallic object was almost as big as him, yet he walked forward while holding it on his back.

With great struggle, he threw the metallic object down onto the pitch black secondary ship.

The entire secondary ship shook, and the water below it erupted.

'Goddamn!' Light somehow managed to keep the smaller ship stable.

The metallic object was the anchor of the main ship, and a rope as thick as a man's thigh connected it to the anchor's tail.

The rope's other end was directly tied to the main ship's rear, inseparably attached.

Scarn leaned on his knees, gasping for air. "Oh boy! That's heavy duty alright."

"That it definitely is." Light agreed.

"Well, better tie it up with many smaller ropes, well, don't want its grip to get loose on the ship. The two ships must be perfectly tied together with the anchor's rope for your plan to work."

"Roger!"

After saying that, both of them turned to look east. The sun was halfway submerged into the horizon behind them, and the setting sun's rays tinted the heavens and seas with a crimson gloss.

And in front of the duo of ships was a colossal crimson whirlpool, devouring everything that reached its humongous maw.

The two infinitesimal humans gulped in fear as the roaring sound of swirling waves assaulted their ears while the erupting water washed them down with brutal rain.

They looked into the distant depths of the abyssal whirlpool and saw no end. Their skin trembled as a sense of impending doom dominated their soul. 

But regardless, they did not turn back.

The duo of ships sailed straight into the jaws of the colossal crimson whirlpool.

...