847 Auction (1/2)
Blood Mary Port.
A bird's-eye view of the port would reveal its U-shape, which suggested its geographical advantages.
There were numerous batteries arranged on the hills on both sides of the port, with many frightening cannons aiming at the sea. Giant chains and other apparatuses were also in place to defend the port against any enemies.
After observing Bloody Mary Port, Fang Yuan had to acknowledge that this port was not a few times larger than Dearborn Port, even if he had ten times the amount of men he had now, it would still be difficult to attack and take over this place unless he did so at full strength.
When Fiery Lotus just arrived at the line of defense, there was some commotion on the batteries.
Obviously, if the Jolly Roger with flames of negative karma had not declared their identity, the pirates would have thought that a navy was here to capture them.
After clarifying their identity and making them pay a huge sum for mooring fees, a dinghy slowly led Fiery Lotus into Bloody Mary Port.
”A busy and dangerous place…”
Fang Yuan heard a gunshot as soon as he disembarked from the ship.
”Lad, don't run! How dare you steal from Dark Crow! I'll mince you into meat jam…”
When Fang Yuan just passed the port entrance, a skinny figure dashed past Fang Yuan while a pirate wielding a cutlass chased after him.
”Bloody Mary Port doesn't forbid personal fights. Only a few places like bars, hotels, and auction venues are protected by Blackbeard. Anyone who makes trouble at those places will be skinned as punishment!” Bill explained to Fang Yuan in detail and pointed at a huge wall near the port.
The human skins swayed in the breeze like kites.
”This is a good method. Pirates are an unruly bunch of people… To ban fights completely is to cause trouble for oneself…”
Fang Yuan nodded. ”We'll settle down in a hotel first and then have a day of free activities to collect information about the auction!”
Seemingly because of the well-known auction, all the hotels in Bloody Mary Port were full, and even the prices of drinks increased by fifty percent.
Fang Yuan had to let the majority of the crew stay on the ship, checking in at a bar named Roaring Flame and Iron Hammer with only Butcher and a few other trusted subordinates.
This bar also ran a hotel as its business, and it only had a few empty rooms at this moment. Of course, they could expect the rooms to not be very comfortable.
What surprised Fang Yuan slightly was that the boss of the bar was a dwarf who was less than four feet tall and had extremely stout arms and legs.
The row of dwarven warrior guards at the gate all wore leather armor and held huge hammers, axes, and other heavy weapons, giving the guests a sense of security.
Although they had already known that there were different species on other continents, Bill and some others still looked back at the dwarves curiously, causing Fang Yuan to stop and scold them.
As far as he knew, the dwarves in this world had a temper, especially when others sized up their heights.
In Roaring Flame and Iron Hammer, Fang Yuan and his subordinates occupied a table and ordered a meal.
Dwarves were quite good at cooking. There were roasts, wheat tortillas, and honey wine. Bill and Butcher both greatly enjoyed the meal.
But Wilson looked worried and kept frowning, as if he could not wait to collect intelligence outside once he finished the meal.
Fang Yuan took a few bites of the roast and then held a wine glass, drinking honey wine in a leisurely manner.
Given his sharp senses, he could hear all the whispers among the pirates and get a lot of intelligence:
”The Pablo Pirate Team encountered a storm and suffered heavy losses!”
”Blackbeard intends to head to the Gold Ocean to battle with the Pirate Prince. His final aim is definitely to take over Pirate King City and become the new Pirate King!”
”A new batch of good targets is approaching from the sea route to the East. Rumor has it that a caravan with an entire ship containing gold and silver from the East was plundered!”
”The Octopus Marauder Team returned and vanquished their enemies! Surprisingly, their original third officer, Orlando, is a really capable person. He's become the leader of the pirate team and annihilated the Fierce Shark Pirate Team that had driven them out of the Nightmare Ocean. Now he has three huge ships, and the official bounty for his arrest has reached twenty thousand gold coins. Sorcerer Orlando's name is spreading all over the Nightmare Ocean…”
”I swear I saw Giant Octopus together with that giant octopus at the dock just now! It seems to have betrayed its original master and become Orlando's contract partner!”
…
He heard all sorts of information, but Fang Yuan paid more attention to the last piece.
”The Octopus Marauder Team, I've heard of them!”
This topic was not as sensitive as the news about Blackbeard, so the pirates discussed it loudly. Bill heard it as well and whispered to Fang Yuan, ”Their warship is Giant Octopus. Rumor has it that their leader had the ability to summon a giant octopus, but they were ambushed by the Fierce Shark Pirate Team and had to retreat and recover in inshore waters. It's surprising that they made a comeback so soon…”
A pirate who had only one pirate ship was totally different from a pirate who had three.
Of course, Fang Yuan had not had sufficient time to develop, nor did he have enough men working for him. Earlier, he even had to sink both Mockingbird and Merchant Ship Rose.
And now that he was in a real pirate port, he could finally get lots of supplements.
The Nightmare Ocean was pirates' heaven.