# Chapter 2: Sand of Misfortune
Inside the ship's hold, Su Xiao walked forward, needing to first understand the situation on this pirate ship.
Arriving at the front of the lower hold, Su Xiao climbed up the wooden ladder and soon reached the deck. The sounds of the previous battle had been minimal, masked by the crashing waves, and hadn't alerted the pirates on deck.
Three main masts, nearly 1 meter thick, were distributed across the deck and stern, hung with sails. Rigging lines were taut, some secured to the deck, others tied beneath the gunwales.
A slightly salty sea breeze blew in. Su Xiao felt the ship swaying with the waves, the motion not too intense. His sailing experience was decent enough that he'd long adapted to this feeling.
"You..."
A middle-aged man in aristocratic clothing and a tricorn hat stood on the foredeck, staring dumbfounded at Su Xiao. His noble attire was somewhat worn, and paired with his yellowed teeth, he gave off an incongruous impression. He was the captain of this slave ship.
With a whoosh, Banishment shot toward the tricorn-hatted captain. The captain drew the cutlass at his waist, raising it to block before his neck.
Clang!
Sparks flew. The tricorn-hatted captain stumbled back a few steps before steadying himself. He advanced toward Su Xiao with quick, short steps.
Banishment spun midair, stabbing at the captain from the side. The captain immediately halted, his cutlass slashing horizontally.
Zheng~
The blade cut through the air, the strike incredibly precise—seemingly from some specific school of swordsmanship, equivalent to Blade Grandmaster Lv.3 to Lv.5.
Undoubtedly, this was just a minor leader. But don't forget, this was the Demon Sea, a place that ranked even among Eighth Rank locations.
The tricorn-hatted captain's gaze turned cold as his cutlass slashed toward Banishment, the blade striking precisely against Banishment's tip.
With a crack, Banishment shattered—not broken, but actively splitting apart. Shards of crystal fragments flew past both sides of the cutlass, heading straight for the captain.
The captain's eyes widened. Cracks appeared in the wooden deck beneath him as he leaned back, preparing to leap into the sea to evade Banishment's attack.
Pfft, pfft...
Crystal shards embedded themselves into the captain's body. Blood splattered. His body began trembling, and the next moment, his arms dropped limp.
Shouts came from behind Su Xiao—the other pirates on deck had noticed something amiss at the bow. Though Su Xiao and the captain had only exchanged blows for less than 1.5 seconds, for pirates who made their living at sea, that was enough time to react.
Su Xiao leaped onto the foredeck, sitting on the wooden railing before the helm, looking down at the gathered pirates below.
"Isn't that the cargo?"
"The captain's injured. Something's wrong with that cargo."
"Careful, he might be an imperial hyena."
The pirates drew their cutlasses or scimitars. One pirate was unarmed, his body covered in white tattoos, with gold rings through his septum, earlobes, and both cheeks.
"Don't... come closer. I, I think..."
Before the tricorn-hatted captain could finish, he gripped his cutlass and charged toward the pirates.
"Captain, what are you—"
Pfft!
The cutlass slashed diagonally. The captain's face twisted in anguish. The pirate struck had his entire chest laid open—a wound that, if deeper, would have cut him in two.
"Horse!!"
The captain roared, then slashed horizontally. Clang—three cutlasses crossed together barely blocked his strike. As the pirates retreated, the wooden planks creaked beneath them. A shockwave spread, snapping nearby ropes with a crack.
Three pirates stumbled back. The captain stepped forward, thrusting his blade upward—it entered beneath one pirate's chin and pierced through the top of his skull, the tip stained with blood.
"Cut off my hand!"
The captain shouted, tears and saliva flowing together. His body was no longer under his control. Something inside him was manipulating his movements.
A scimitar swung toward him. The captain's face showed joy, but in the next instant, his left arm raised to meet the incoming blade.
The scimitar cut into the captain's left forearm, but as it cut deeper, his arm began rising, lifting the blade upward.
With a swish, the scimitar passed over the captain's head, slicing off the top of his hat. His cutlass twirled in a flourish, then swept across the neck of the pirate before him. A head flew up, face frozen in shock, blood spraying from the severed neck and staining the sails.
With a crash, a pirate was flung aside, the flesh torn from the back of his neck. He slammed into the gunwale, twitched a few times, and went still—this was one who'd tried to circle around the captain to attack Su Xiao.
The battle ended after 15 minutes. Bodies lay scattered across the deck.
The tricorn-hatted captain hunched over, gasping for breath. He was covered in blood and wounds, one eye gouged out.
"You... demon."
The captain looked at Su Xiao, blood dripping from his chin.
Hearing this, Baha shot back: "Stop your bullshit. You pirates who deal in slaves, don't act all righteous. If you're going to be whores, spread your legs wider."
"You—"
The captain was choked up, glaring hatefully at Baha.
"I'm Ern of the Duke's Raiding Party. The Duke will find you. An eye for an eye is the law of the Demon Sea. The Duke will come."
The tricorn-hatted captain grinned, teeth stained with blood. The "Duke" he mentioned was likely a major pirate.
With a thud, the captain collapsed. He wasn't quite severely wounded enough. To use [Dark Redemption], the enemy needed to be heavily injured. As for the enemy's malice—right now, the captain's malice toward Su Xiao was nearly off the charts.
[Entering World: Demon Sea.]
World Difficulty: Lv.53 ~ Lv.77 (Primordial World)
World Source: 0%.
World Introduction: Desired things are always so out of reach. Once obtained, they are lost again.
[Navigation Calendar Year 279: Little land remains. The Demon Sea seems about to swallow all land, until that one ship appeared. The sailors aboard were all navigators yearning for land. They had no noble ideals, no grand ambitions—they just wanted land.]
[A five-masted ship named "Wave Breaker" set sail, riding the wind and waves, heading straight for the great whirlpool at the "end" of the Demon Sea.]
[Navigation Calendar Year 280: Wave Breaker returned to port carrying a full cargo of bones. The captain stood firm at the bow, still standing even as a skeleton, clutching a sea chart in his hand—the chart to reach the great whirlpool.]
[Loss and fear spread across the few remaining landmasses. Wave Breaker had failed.]
[Navigation Calendar Year 376: Decades passed. Wave Breaker gained a new captain—young and fortunate. He renamed the ship "Fortune," "inheriting" the first captain's will, and set sail. The farewell ceremony was not enthusiastic. People had already prepared to live at sea—why risk the great whirlpool? Besides, who could prove the legend of the great whirlpool was real?]
[Fortune, carrying the hopes of some, disappointed people again. The young captain was a fraud who only wanted wealth and women. Land being submerged? That might be centuries away—nothing to do with him.]
[Navigation Calendar Year 377: The fraud died horribly. Those who witnessed the tragedy couldn't sleep for nights. The fraud was castrated and skinned by a great pirate, covered in black ants, and screamed for hours before bleeding to death.]
[Navigation Calendar Year 392: The great pirate who killed the fraud seized Fortune. He took his sailors and headed for the great whirlpool. No one knew this great pirate's name, nor why he did this.]
[Rumor has it that the great pirate sailed Fortune into the whirlpool. No one knows if it's true, but a year later, the sea receded, revealing three large landmasses. Though these three continents weren't even a tenth of the Demon Sea's size, they were still vast.]
[The legend was gradually forgotten. When people no longer recited the great pirate's deeds, letting him sink into the cold depths of the sea, he could no longer suppress what lay beneath. Fortune... no, Doom surged back to the surface.]
[The "undead" hiding within Doom fought over the hull—they were the original sailors, navigators yearning for land. Now, with vast lands appearing, they couldn't set foot on land due to the Demon Sea's binding. How ironic and helpless.]
[Calamity descended. Doom, with unstoppable momentum, slaughtered every living thing at sea. Even sea monsters could only tremble on the ocean floor, eventually enslaved by Doom, becoming nightmares of the sea.]
[Perhaps out of pity, the Demon Sea swallowed Doom, sinking it to the bottom. But... Doom already had a new master.]
[Two Major Factions in This World: Imperial Faction, Pirate Faction.]
Four Great Pirate Crews: Four pirate crews legendary enough to be remembered. They occupy territories, dominate sea regions, monopolize trade, burn and plunder. The ships under their command can form entire fleets.
Below are the captain profiles of the four pirate crews:
West Sea King: A domineering great pirate, ruthless and decisive, who hates the Imperial Faction.
Tip: Due to the Hunter's Charm Attribute, West Sea King's relationship with you is Neutral · Friendly.
Black Witch Doctor: Mysterious and unpredictable. Even his vice-captain fears him.
Tip: Due to the Hunter's Charm Attribute, Black Witch Doctor's relationship with you is Neutral · Friendly.
Twin Towers · Empress: Navigates all sides, entangled with both the Imperial Faction and the other three legendary pirate crews, playing all sides.
Tip: Due to the Hunter's Charm Attribute, Twin Towers · Empress's relationship with you is Hostile.
Duke: The Duke was once a noble but chose to become a pirate. His entire fleet consists of raiding ships. The pirate crew has strict hierarchy.
Tip: You are now Hostile with Duke.
Hunter's Faction: None
Warning: Do not mention anything about Reincarnation Paradise to beings in this world. If the warning is ignored, execution will be carried out after verification!
Tip: Due to this world's characteristics, food and fresh water resources have been sealed within the storage space.
Tip: You have obtained [Sand of Misfortune]. Using this item at the designated location will free Doom from its restraints at the bottom of the sea.
Tip: In this world, some Contractors have chosen to form their own pirate crews or have initial identities as members of a pirate crew.
Tip: The Hunter must quickly obtain a ship of their own or join a pirate crew, otherwise the main mission cannot be activated. After 3 natural days, you will be forcibly removed from this world.
[World, Begin.]
PS: (Recommending a friend's book, title: Ancestor Emerges from the Coffin. Giving some love to Waste Mosquito, haha~)