Chapter 2 - 1
Chapter 2 – 1
Somewhere in the middle of the raging Roguish sea a gorgeous beauty gently sailed under the serene starry skies. The roaring waves bashed against her smooth russet hull but the ship sailed with great stability unfazed by these insignificant waves.
Her sails were pearl white with a vivid overbearing vermillion dragon fluttering with the cool sea breeze creating a picturesque scene worthy of a priceless painting. The inky starry night engulfed the vast sea darkness with the only source of light coming from the infamous Red Bane with multiple lanterns lighting up its deck like a Christmas tree.
A few crew members were gathered around a creaky table rolling dice subsequently hauling insults at each other. One cultured brawny pirate who had been fully engrossed in a book suddenly yelled at them to quiet down as they were disturbing his reading time.
The group would have taunted him for even reading a book but considering the man's giant body twice their size, they piped down quietly rolling the dice like high schoolers passing notes in class in fear of being caught by the teacher. The most curious out of them walked over to see what this giant was so attentive to.
Expecting to see some complicated scholarly book with confusing words, the skinny pirate peered at the book. He was stunned when he saw beautifully drawn pictures with cloud-like circles filled with words floating on the lively figures. "What the fuck is this? Here I was thinking Big Hei was planning on writing the imperial exam," said the brazen man leaning in to take a closer look.
The giant named Big Hei smacked the back of the mouthy bastard's head scolding him, "Don't be so disrespectful. Young master Ji Yao drew this by hand. He says it's called a comic," without taking his eyes off the masterpiece in his hand.
"Really," said the skinny pirate just as the others crowded around Big Hei to see what their young master created. Ji Yao was actually the Pirate King Ji Wen's only son. He was handsome, smart, powerful and in their eyes perfect in every aspect except talking.
The teenager wasn't mute or anything, he just didn't like to talk. He did more fighting than he did talking choosing to blast lightning at whoever was stupid enough to offend him. That is to say his temper was also terrible.
This comic was possibly the only thing that shed light on this boy's character hiding underneath that shell. This is why a group of six men squeezed in to catch a glimpse of this rare treasure.
While their eyes were glued on this piece of art, the subject of their fascination was seated in the captain's cabin flipping through an old tattered book with his father peeling an apple on the opposite end of the table.
From the way, he was peeling the apple you could tell he was trying to provoke some form of reaction from his OCD son. The knife dug deep into the flesh of the apple peeling off the skin with a good portion of the juicy flesh.
The discarded peels were scattered around the table literally making Ji Yao's eye twitch. Though fixing his eyes on his book you could tell it was bothering him as he clenched the book tightly to keep himself from reacting.
Ji Yao heaved a sigh of relief when the peels stopped flying thinking Ji Wen had finally given up but he was wrong because two seconds later apple peels were flung inches away from his book.
This was the last straw. He cleaned up the mess without saying a word while Ji Wen nervously laughed while coaxing him, "Are you still upset with me? Come on haven't I apologized several times but who could blame me when you look good in a dres-" he said before a sizzling thunderbolt struck near his pocket watch as a warning.
Why was Ji Yao angry one might ask? It was because Ji Wen was involved in a childish fight with his arch-nemesis Zhang Li. Instead of blowing up each other's fleets or duelling like how normal adults resolved their disputes, the two chose to steal each other's valuables whenever they met.
Ji Wen had already been robbed of his adorable corgi, Brute, the last time they met. This time Ji Wen retaliated by stealing Zhang Li's precious legendary sword that he flaunted everywhere he went. But to do that he had to strike when the man was less vigilant and the only place he could possibly relax was at Peachtree brothel in the coastal city named Lang.
To infiltrate the brothel and steal the sword, Ji Wen literally nagged the hell out of his son Ji Yao till the boy's brain ached in agony. Knowing his father's character, he would never be at peace for the rest of his life if he didn't do this for him. So Ji Wen dolled up his sixteen-year-old son and sold him to the brothel without a hitch.
All Ji Yao had to do was serve drinks to Zhang Li and his rowdy crew but given his appearance, Zhang Li's son Zhang Ci fancied him and groped his ass.
Well, with Ji Yao's temperament you can imagine how that turned out. Ji Wen got what he wanted but his already taciturn son was icing him out even more making him feel helpless. "Yah, Yah don't be mad at your dad anymore. It's been a week already and look your dearest father has even grown a few grey hairs in worry," he said in a pleading tone while leaning forward to show him the few grey strands sprouting from his scalp.
Ji Yao, "…."
The boy couldn't help but wonder who exactly was the parent in this relationship. If Ji Wen's entire armada only knew that the commander of the entire roguish sea was selling meng just to suck up to his son they would most likely jump ship and follow Zhang Li instead.
"You are blaming me for that? Those strands had already turned white way before that. Blame your frivolous wife not me," he suddenly spoke stunning Ji Wen. This was the first time Ji Yao had spoken in the past seven days and he had said a huge chunk of words at that.
After the shock wore off, Ji Wen suddenly recalled his sore spot being poked by his unsympathetic son and complained saying, "Sure, sure, it is my fault that I couldn't keep your mother around. Blame it on me for falling for the queen of vixens. Do you think it doesn't hurt knowing that I got cuckold by that ordinary human prince Rui? That bastard, I am going to beat him to death, disembody him and feed him to the beasts at the bottom of the sea!" By the time he finished speaking his eyes were already bloodshot as he trembled with rage.
Prince Rui had been born a normal human being despite having a Nocru mother. The only thing he inherited from the Nocru beast race was his handsome face. His father cast him aside after finding out his mother's true identity as what they called ungodly vile creatures that crawled out of hell.
Unresigned to his fate and gain advantage to secure his claim to the throne he secretly sought after women of the Nocru race sleeping with them to conceive powerful offspring.
Like any woman, Ji Wen's wife Tang Wei couldn't resist his charms and fell for prince Rui leaving behind her newborn. Of course, their so-called romance didn't last long but Tang Wei never came back and no one knew her whereabouts.
Ji Yao who hadn't intended to upset his father felt horrible. He silently raised his hand and patted Ji Wen's shoulder twice before withdrawing it with his eyes fixed on his book once more. This was a clear indication of the end of the conversation but an excitable Ji Wen couldn't end things just like that so he asked, "What are you reading that's more important than me?"
Ji Yao had already receded to his normal sullen mood and didn't feel like talking anymore so he raised the book to show him the title but Ji Wen suddenly burst out in laughter.
"The Shao god's treasure? Hahahaha… that book was written by a quack. None of it is real. As pirates, we are naturally addicted to treasure but some treasures are just figments of someone's overactive imagination… and that is one of them," said Ji Wen casually leaning back into his chair.
"Says the guy who believes in outer space aliens," said Ji Yao almost rolling his eyes in annoyance.
"Wow, today you are extremely talkative… Say something else, your voice sounds nice," he earnestly beckoned him but was soon disappointed as Ji Yao rose to his feet exiting the room while slamming the door with a loud bang.
"Yep, he took after his mother, not me."