The Pirate's Legacy: New Identities

Chapter 37: The King's Court

Dread Pirate Robin sailed to Pirata with his ship repaired and the ranks of his crew replenished. The new men were a hardy bunch, a prerequisite that the captain had specifically instructed his first mate to find in his next recruits. Many had heard about or seen for themselves the Pirate King's vain attempt to convince the High Council of Representatives to have the pirates fight with the Politickan navy ships. It was for the same reasons Dread Robin had struggled to make his case for the pirates that these new additions wanted to sail under his flag.

Three days later, The Jolly Roger sailed into Port Harbor's dockyard. Dread Pirate Robin noticed that the gun towers on either side of the long stretch of harbor were guarded heavily. The men behind the guns and guarding the towers had their eyes constantly on the invisible line that separated air from sea.

During the process of berthing The Jolly Roger at an empty dock landing, someone on the main deck gave an excited shout.

"Be that the Siren I see to our starboard side!"

"An' look there!" another exclaimed. "Righ' next to her! It be the Black Panther!"

"Black Death is here?"

"I heard he once captured and held Silvertide Island for three wee—"

"Back to your stations, you gaggle-eyed women!" Dread Robin bellowed from behind the great steering wheel. He glared at his first mate beside him, who winced at the silent reprimand. "Take the wheel and keep them in line," he threatened before they switched places. Roger took his telescope out from the inside of his grey overcoat and pointed it at the direction his crew had been ogling.

Three dock landings to his ship's right were indeed Bonny Jane's and Black Death Mewbaran's ships. Their colors were raised, just as Dread Robin's, but the two other notorious pirates of the Faethm Ocean didn't seem to be on their vessels. The two separate crews milled about on or around their ships.

A slow, sinking feeling overcame Roger when he couldn't recognize anymore ships belonging to other powerful pirate captains. A peer at the left side to his ship showed no more promising results. He saw the Cradle Robber, Baby Face Kidd's vessel. Another ship named the Goliath not far away, with two large long toms at the bow, belonged to Oh Henry Golomorth.

Michael noticed the small crease between Roger's black eyes. "There could be more arriving later?" he suggested.

The telescope disappeared into the grey overcoat. A snarl contorted the scar. "None are here now," Dread Robin said.

When he disembarked from his ship, silence descended upon the docks surrounding The Jolly Roger. As more and more eyes fell upon him, the thick tension spread to the other crews farther down the dockyard. Dread Robin's blank face never moved an inch as he headed into town. Underneath his left arm were a map and the hellburner schematics.

The air was rife with fear. Roger could scarcely see Port Harbor's usual black market sellers on the streets, and even less captured by the eye were the town's residents. Windows were boarded up. Barely anyone dared to make a sound louder than a low murmur. Those people who ventured outside appeared tense and crazed with wariness to all passerby. Every once in a while, Roger caught someone turning his gaze toward the horizon as if waiting for danger to appear, sailing toward the town.

Dread Robin took the familiar pathway, starting from the main square to the oldest part of Port Harbor, to Calypso's pantheon. The High Priestess of Calypso stood inside the portico. Relief washed over Roger to see a large basket in her arms filled to the brim with an assortment of weapons, from daggers to pistols to hand grenades. The pirate captains were inside, and the holy retainer made sure none entered armed. Still, it didn't mean that Roger was content to see her.