While the Silent Reaper was engaged in a battle with the Striker, Gibson was snoring regardless of the loud cannon exploding sounds on his tiny little bed that barely had enough space to support his whole body. One could see a couple of empty rum bottles on his hairy chest. His once first body now turned flabby, fat covered most of his muscles. A particularly notable feature was his missing limb. He lost his right leg when he was serving under Her Majesty many years ago. At that time, he wouldn't even have imagined a pirate life yet here he is, sleeping in a pirate ship.
Chap!
He slapped his own cheek in sleep to find a peanut stuck in his bushy sideburns. The empty rum bottle on his chest reflected a round face with a softly shaped jaw, a straight nose, and two sleepy brown eyes. His medium-length hair was all over the place as some of the strands were running into his mouth.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
"What now?!" Finally Gibson couldn't take any more of violent shakes or the loud booming sound. He picked his body from the bed before fitting the wooden leg to substitute his lack of right leg.
"Even a curse couldn't cure the hangover of mine, hehe" Gibson chuckled, throwing away his empty rum bottles. He then picked a small leather drinking pouch,
"Thank god" he smiled seeing that there's still some rum left in the pouch.
Pulch!
On top of his hangover, the shaking ship made walking in a straight line pain in the butt. While he was stumbling forwards, a broken splinter of wood exploded from the hull and stabbed him in his shoulder.
one would expect him to scream or atleast flinch but he didn't even notice the six-inch splinter sticking out of his shoulder.
"We are cursed yet here we are, destroying who knows what" Gibson mumbled taking a short sip from his leather pouch. None of the crew including the current Captain Bull knew the full extent of the curse.
The curse stripped away their sense of touch, smell, pain, and touch.
On top of that, the curse occasionally made the crew enter a deep slumber that could last from a couple of months to several years and no crew of the Silent Reaper could leave the ocean, if their feet touched the ground, they would be painfully turned into ashes.
He was telling the crew that the curse is also making the Silent Reaper playing with the minds of the enemy crew but the pirates were too dumb or ignorant to listen to his theory.
If the pleasure of getting drunk was stripped away by the curse, he would have taken a boat to some island and killed himself. Other than drinking rum, there was no pleasure in his life. It would be a lie if he said he didn't love the life before the curse. He loved being a pirate, more than being a soldier in the royal navy under her majesty.
After the curse, the previous Captain started to pillage every ship he saw, not just for gold but for more information about the curse. He believed someone could tell them how to break the curse. Although it was highly unlikely to find someone who knew about a curse put by a sea folk elder, it was better than just aimlessly roaming the ocean.
"Surrender or Die"
"Here it goes," Gibson halted his steps to take some deep breaths. After this, he wouldn't have time to take a breath because he would be busy interrogating the hostages. Just because he was a soldier before pirates, the pirates gave him the job of interrogating. Somehow they failed to understand the fact that he was a navigator on a royal navy ship. For the pirates, everyone on a royal navy ship was a soldier.
"Pick yourself up Gibson," Gibson said to himself before taking a long sip of rum.
Stumbling through the bunk beds of his fellow pirates, he finally reached the stairs leading to the upper deck. Walking the stairs wasn't as easy as once it was for him when he had two human legs. Now the wooden leg made even the simplest thing like climbing the stairs a pain.
"Twenty more to go Gibson, only twenty more" he looked up at the twenty steps in front of him and sighed.
"Nineteen"
"..."
"..."
"Eighteen"
Eventually, after fifteen whole minutes of heavy breathes and long sips of rum, he finally made it to the upper deck. Gibson saw Captain Bull staring at a young man who seemed very out of place to Gibson. The young man looked cleaner than everyone else, he wore a long grey coat and black breeches. After many many years, Gibson saw a clean guy. The young man had the perfect jawline and features that would make any girl's heart beat faster. He was so handsome that he would make every prince Gibson had met pale in comparison. Even with his long coat, Gibson could see the muscles hiding within.
His eyes were so focused on the youngster that he failed to notice the girl standing among the hostages. Despite being surrounded by pirates, Gibson saw no fear on the young man's face, he saw only amusement.
"Right on time, Gibs"
"Yeah, ye be welcome to the seven seas o' livin' gibs"
"You three sheets to the wind bastard"
"It's time ye woke to the sky ye old fuck"
Gibson ignored his crew members' shouts as he saw the young man turn his sharp gaze towards him. Gibson felt like the Sea Devil himself staring straight into his soul. There was something in the young man's gaze.
"Here's my counter offer, Captain Bull," Gibson heard the young man speak.
"Agree to serve under me or I will kill everyone here," The young man paused for a second before continuing
"one by one until you accept" Everyone including Gibson was stunned. He was surrounded by sixty pirates and one monstrous-looking Captain Bull.
"Hahahahah"
It took the pirates a couple of seconds before bursting into laughter. Even normally serious Captain Bull chuckled in amusement after the young man's words. Not only the crew but some of the less affected hostages had a smirk on their faces.
"Now that there ye 'ave a comedian an' 3million worth o' pillage, can ye let us go?" after the laughter died down, Lars opened his mouth. Because of Lars's strong mental power, he was far less affected by the Silent Reaper than the rest of his crew.
Captain Bull however didn't answer Lars, he just stared at the young man. Gibson limped to the side to lean on a wall to see what's going to happen. Somehow he had a feeling that this young man was not kidding around.
"Ye want to be the Cap'n?" Bull asked as Gibson saw the young man nodded.
"Ye 'earrr that lads, 'e want to be the Cap'n o' our cursed Silent Reaper"
"Stop wasting my time Bull. Fall in line along with your crew or I'll kill you first to make a statement"
"'ahahaha, you'll kill me?" Bull laughed while the rest of the pirates stared at the young man with cold killing intent in their eyes.
"Alright, I'll let ye try" Bull took out his two cutlasses. The crew quickly cleared the center of the stage for Captain Bull to kill the young man.
"Give him a sword," Bull said to the short man but he saw the young man shake his head walking towards the center of the deck. Every pirate and hostage on the ship stared at Michael like he was the stupidest person they had ever met. By comparing their body alone they could tell that Bull could snap the young man in half. If he had taken the weapon, he would have at least had a fighting chance but now, he seemed like dead meat in their eyes.
"No need" the young man stood a few meters away from Captain Bull without a weapon in his hand.
"What is he doing?" Gibson asked himself looking at the young man.
"Are you gonna stand there all day?" Bull was provoked by his words and the careless look on his face. He clenched his two cutlasses tightly to leap at the young man.
The pirates and the hostages were expecting a gory beat down when they saw the young man calmly raise his hand.
Zzzz Rrrrrrrr!
Boom!
The next moment, they were stunned beyond words to see a thick bolt of golden lightning shoot out of the young man's hand. In a blink of an eye, the lightning bolt went straight through Captain Bull's head as his head exploded into a red mist.
"He...he...cast...spell…" Gibson's body went rigid while many people lost control over their bladders. They were scared shitless. For a long couple of seconds, they just stared at the headless body of Bull wandering around on the deck without uttering a word or moving a muscle.
It wasn't a long fight with fancy moves. In fact, the fight didn't even last for more than a couple of seconds. From Bull raising his cutlasses to his head exploring happened so quickly.
What shocked everyone more than Captain Bull's death was the lightning bolt shot out from his hand. They wanted to find another explanation except they simply couldn't.
"How did he cast a spell inside the Void line?" This was the question that ran inside the minds of many.
"Cap'n!"
"Ca...p..."
Words barely escaped from some of the loyal pirates. It had been a long time since the pirates felt fear.
While they were about to raise their cutlasses, Gibson heard the young man spoke again,
"I can break your curse"