"Hmm, the battle situation looks a bit anxious..."
Blackbeard stretched his neck to look at the battle on the other ship, constantly stroking his beard, a large part of which had been burned off.
And commenting from time to time.
"Captain, if you block my view again, I can't guarantee who the next bullet will hit."
Anne said with a smile, but anyone attentive could see the veins popping on her forehead.
It seemed Anne's tolerance for Blackbeard wasn't infinite either.
"Ah haha, don't be so fierce, Anne-chan. I'll just move aside..."
Seeing Blackbeard acting coy like a woman, even lifting his pinky finger, Anne finally couldn't bear it anymore.
Bang!
"Whoa! Don't be so angry! I'll move, I'll move!"
Blackbeard dodged the bullet Anne shot at his chest by a hair's breadth, running away with a head full of cold sweat and a sheepish smile.
But seeming unable to switch his voice back in time, Blackbeard's voice was still very coy when he said this.
So what responded to him was still Anne's merciless bullet.
Bang!
Blackbeard dodge awkwardly again, hurriedly finding a suitable position to hide.
Seeing Blackbeard behaving himself, Anne then continued to aim and attack the Golden Wild Hunt.
She fired several times in succession.
But she found that her attacks were all seen through by Drake; not a single shot hit.
"Should I say as expected of that Francis? Just in terms of marksmanship, she seems about the same as me..."
"—I really need to get closer."
Anne sighed helplessly.
When mentioning firearms, everyone might think they are more effective for attacking from a distance, but the truth is that guns still need to be closer to be fast and accurate.
Especially for the musket in Anne's hand. At such a distance, unless she used her Noble Phantasm, it would be difficult to threaten Drake.
"So do you know what to do? Captain~"
Anne turned to look at Blackbeard, smiling brightly.
"Yes! I will get the ship alongside as soon as possible!"
Blackbeard stood at attention again.
But then Blackbeard realized something.
Wait, isn't the captain of this ship me?
Why am I being ordered around?
Blackbeard puffed out his chest, intending to reprimand Anne immediately.
What exactly did I do to make you disrespect me so much...
"Hmm?"
Then Blackbeard saw the cold light in Anne's eyes.
Blackbeard shrank his head.
Woo, Anne-chan clearly looks gentle, but why does she feel even harder to approach than Mary-chan—
Forget it, better find someone easy to bully to give orders to.
Blackbeard cast his gaze on Eric Bloodaxe, who was standing stupidly nearby.
"Eric! What are you still doing there? Hurry up and board the enemy ship for me, snatch the Holy Grail back!"
Blackbeard put on a fierce face and kicked Eric after speaking.
Eric, whose [Madness Enhancement] rank was also not low, blinked ignorantly.
It took two seconds for him to react.
"Holy Grail... Retake!"
Eric raised his axe covered with ominous blood-colored patterns and jumped into the water with a splash, swimming towards the Golden Wild Hunt.
"Idiot! At this distance, just jumping over would do, right? You—"
Looking at Eric's stupid appearance, Blackbeard was rarely so exasperated, almost calling Eric back to jump again.
While the Queen Anne's Revenge was approaching the Golden Wild Hunt at full speed and Eric was swimming with all his might in the sea.
On the other side.
Hector, who was engaging Takumi, had already felt how difficult this seemingly ordinary Master was.
Clearly, Takumi's footwork and combat skills could be called unbearable to look at for him, a great hero active in the Age of Gods.
But guess what?
He actually fought for so long without knocking Takumi down!
If Takumi knew what Hector was thinking, he would definitely say it was all thanks to Romulus's teaching.
After all, in the Second Singularity, Takumi was beaten miserably by Romulus. Even when two people attacked together, they were beaten running around like balls, with no power to fight back at all.
This was even the result of Romulus going easy on them.
Then Takumi realized.
Since he couldn't attack, then don't attack; just focus on defense, right?
So no matter what flaws Hector exposed, even if Hector tripped in front of him, Takumi wouldn't attack actively.
Instead, he would stare at Hector even more vigilantly.
This made Hector, who didn't hesitate to lose face to sell flaws, very depressed.
"Young man, I've gone this far; don't you plan to fall for it even a little?"
Hector, climbing up from the ground, was thoroughly convinced by Takumi. This guy didn't get carried away at all.
Takumi looked at Hector as if looking at an idiot.
"Do I look stupid?"
Takumi retorted.
"Sigh..."
Hector felt helpless and had to engage Takumi again.
Fighting Takumi for so long, Hector also figured out Takumi's abilities.
First was that most tricky acceleration ability.
Hector wasn't clear about the limit of Takumi's acceleration ability either. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow; anyway, it always allowed Takumi to block him in time.
At its fastest, even Hector couldn't quite react, occasionally breaking out in a cold sweat.
Second was that ability to nullify all attacks.
Although Takumi used it for a very short time each time, it indeed allowed him to escape from his spear more than a few times.
Also a very tricky ability.
Furthermore, it was probably Takumi's reaction speed and observation skills.
Especially reaction speed, which was also the point that amazed Hector the most.
Takumi's combat skills were indeed weak, but his reaction speed made up for this part.
No matter how Hector attacked, even if the attack was halfway out, it would still be blocked by his acceleration and excellent reaction and observation skills.
And this was under the premise that Takumi didn't foresee how Hector would attack beforehand.
Takumi's reaction speed reminded Hector of his old rival Achilles—no, maybe even faster than Achilles!
After all, that guy's martial arts had undergone thousands of temperings, which Takumi couldn't compare to.
So Hector could conclude that if Takumi had enough time to hone his martial arts, relying on this reaction ability, he would definitely be a terrifying opponent.
Whether he could be this relaxed then would be hard to say.
As for the last...
Hector's gaze shifted to the flag in Takumi's hand.
This was a Noble Phantasm, and a rare one that could be activated without chanting its True Name.
Hector saw more than once that Takumi's flag just lit up slightly, and a light enveloped an ordinary pirate on the same ship, helping him block Mary's attack.
He even had the energy to cast defense on others on the ship!
As a dignified warrior, encountering Takumi's situation, he should be angry.
Angry that Takumi actually didn't put all his energy into fighting him.
But Hector not only wasn't angry, but he also felt a bit creeped out.
"Hey, young man, are you sure you want to continue like this? Fighting like this won't last long."
Seeing Eric had already boarded the ship and started slaughtering with his axe raised, Hector couldn't help advising.
Takumi didn't speak; the flag in his hand glowed again.
Applying defense to a pirate who was about to be hacked by Eric.
"That shirtless guy has strong destructive power; don't fight him head-on! Watch his attacks and stall him!"
Drake also noticed this scene and hurriedly commanded loudly.
Takumi looked coldly at Hector, his eyes bloodshot, gasping for breath.
As long as I can still move, I won't allow you to hurt anyone on this ship—
That's right! This is it!
It was this desperado spirit that made Hector feel most creeped out!
And that gaze, like a starving beast treating this "hunt" as a life-saving straw, ready to devour people. Hector even suspected that if there were a chance, Takumi would pounce and tear a piece of meat from his neck.
Hector could see that Takumi's special ability consumed a lot for him.
But even panting heavily with a splitting headache, he would use his Noble Phantasm to protect other pirate crew members without hesitation.
Even if this would expose flaws for Hector to find and force him to use his ability again.
"So why let a slacker uncle like me fight this guy..."
Hector had a mournful face.
To be honest, what Hector hated most was fighting this kind of person.
Too desperate, too persistent.
...
Drake, who paid attention to this side from time to time, could obviously see Takumi's struggle.
Without thinking, she knew how much pressure was on Takumi. After all, even she had been protected by Takumi using his Noble Phantasm, let alone others.
Takumi's desperation could be imagined.
The current situation was that Hector was stalled by Takumi, while Eric and Mary were stalled by herself and her little brothers, barely achieving a balance.
But Blackbeard's warship was about to dock with the Golden Wild Hunt. If they really waited for them to come up, the situation would probably become one-sided, right?
However—
"Phew, fortunately, everything is ready..."
Drake looked at the sky and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Saying so.
Something fell from the sky.
Dripped onto Takumi's hand.
This is... rain?
Takumi looked somewhat dazedly at the rain falling from the sky, becoming denser and denser. In just a few seconds, the ship's deck was wet.
Dark clouds covered the sun's light at some point, shrouding the entire sea area in dimness. Gale winds swept through, and the originally calm sea surface instantly became turbulent, waves churning.
Under this chaos, the originally approaching Queen Anne's Revenge had to gradually move away.
But it was clearly sunny just now; how could it suddenly become like this?
Everyone's gaze involuntarily shifted to a certain navigator.
"Since you all say this thing can cause miracles, isn't it normal for me to cause a storm?"
Drake held the golden Holy Grail in her hand, a dashing smile on her face.