"By the way, you are surrounded by me alone," Roger's words echoed through the sea breeze, amplified by the tin megaphone.
On Sam's flagship, there was a deathly silence.
Sam himself, once a formidable maritime hegemon who dominated East Asia and even troubled the Great Ming Navy, now stared blankly at the undamaged black iron ship in the distance.
His brain, like a ship's sail riddled by a Gatling gun, was full of holes and unable to think properly.
Surrounded?
One person, surrounded our combined fleet of over a hundred warships?
What the hell kind of a joke from hell is this?
But he couldn't laugh.
He glanced at the 'Endeavour' next to him, its main mast cleanly blasted off, now frantically patching itself up.
Then he looked at the vanguard chinese cargo ships in front of him, riddled like sieves, without even a single intact sail.
A chill ran from his tailbone straight to the top of his head.
"Mr. Sam," a cold and suppressed voice came from the side.
Cutler Beckett, the senior agent of the East India Company who always maintained his gentlemanly demeanor, now had a face so grim it looked like water could be wrung from it.
His impeccably tailored suit was still stained with a few drops of tea that had just been shattered.
"I think you owe me an explanation."
Beckett's Chinese was a bit stiff, but every word carried a murderous intent.
"The 'insignificant Eastern pirate' you spoke of seems to possess weapons that even the Royal Navy has never equipped."
Sam's face twitched.
He wanted to retort but found himself speechless.
"Fire!" Sam violently drew the saber from his waist, pointed it at the explorer in the distance, and let out a hysterical roar.
"All ships! Fire! Blast it to the bottom of the sea for me!"
He couldn't wait any longer! If he did, morale would completely collapse!
"Foolish," Beckett snorted coldly, but he still gave the same order to his adjutant beside him.
"Boom! Boom boom!"
In an instant, hundreds of ships of the combined fleet, nearly a thousand cannons, simultaneously spat out furious flames!
A steel storm composed of countless solid cannonballs, overwhelming, smashed towards the explorer!
That scene was enough to make any fleet tremble with fear!
"Captain! They've opened fire!" Hector roared.
"What's the rush?" Roger picked his ears, a look of disdain on his face.
"Let them shoot."
"Our ship just had a full-body wrap, it's a good time to test the effect."
The next second, cannonballs rained down.
"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!"
A dense sound, like hail hitting a tin roof, rang out.
Sparks erupted on the explorer's hull, which was covered with ten-centimeter thick forged steel plates.
And then, there was no 'then.'
Not to mention piercing it, it didn't even leave a decent dent.
The pirates watched all this, dumbfounded.
"Holy crap, this defense…" Billy touched his recently strengthened sternum, feeling the disparity for the first time.
"Captain, our hull is harder than my bones!"
"Nonsense," Roger rolled his eyes at him.
"I paid a hefty price for this hull."
The gunners of the combined fleet were completely dumbfounded.
They had emptied their first round of cannonballs, and the ship opposite them was completely unscathed.
How could they possibly fight this?
"Alright, courtesy demands reciprocity," Roger stretched, feeling like the warm-up was over.
"It's our turn."
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