Inside the central hall of Shipwreck Cove, whale oil lamps flickered in copper skull shades. Although daytime, they still illuminated the dark and mottled ship walls bleakly.
As the dirtiest but also most sacred place in the entire Bilgewater, the central hall of Shipwreck Cove had always been the only designated place for the Pirate Council to hold large meetings. Similarly, it was also the only place in the entire Bilgewater where using force to generate conflict was absolutely prohibited. Similar rules were not established by Gangplank, called the Pirate King, but existed long before Gangplank was born. And even when Gangplank was alive, even if he had no filter on his mouth, he would silently observe in behavior. After all, sometimes, the more chaotic the lawless place, the more importance attached to rules.
It was just this time Gangplank was destined not to come.
Wearing a gorgeous robe arriving late, Sir Harker looked at the two people who had waited for him for some time by the round table, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"I usually arrive early, but now it seems you came earlier than me."
"Better early than late, this is Bilgewater's virtue... flamboyant brat." Glancing at the young Sir Harker, an old man with dirty gray-white hair and beard said expressionlessly: "Looking pretty has no use in Bilgewater, kid."
Hearing the old man's words, Sir Harker narrowed his eyes, but didn't make any out-of-line moves.
Eater of countless tentacles, fisherman of golden narwhals, Bilgewater's most legendary Serpent Hunter, also the leader of the largest Serpent Hunter fleet, Captain Crow. Although hunting sea monsters, people making a living on this sea knew how ferocious sea monsters were. And those so-called Serpent Hunters sounded much gentler than pirates, but actually did business with heads tied to belts just like pirates and bounty hunters. And in fact, as long as there was enough money, these Serpent Hunters never minded doing some side jobs during the process of hunting sea monsters.
And sitting opposite Captain Crow was another legendary figure of Bilgewater, Crow (Raven/Swain reference but likely a distinct character here given context, let's stick to the text implied character or generic name if distinct). Although a bounty hunter without nominal organization, actually every person in Bilgewater knew that nearly thirty percent of bounty hunters and assassins in the entire Bilgewater were collecting life-selling money from this guy once a month. Although these killers and bounty hunters couldn't be as closely related as Serpent Hunters due to going out to sea collectively, in terms of killing someone, the tricks and methods they mastered were unknown how many times far beyond these Serpent Hunters.
And the reason Crow himself could reach today step by step was even more thanks to those superb interrogation methods. It was said that even the toughest Noxian legion veterans, under Crow's torture, would have all secrets in their minds dug out in pain, even those they had long forgotten themselves, begging for a neat death.
These two guys are old acquaintances...
Thinking this, Sir Harker's eyes dimmed slightly. He became famous by annihilating Bilgewater's thief group Crimson Blade, becoming one of the leaders of several most powerful gangs in the entire Bilgewater. Others didn't know, but actually Sir Harker himself knew clearly—what annihilation? Actually just pushed Crimson Blade when she finished enjoying herself on him and leaned on the balcony with her back to him.
Although successfully inheriting Crimson Blade's legacy through various intelligence rendering, now his footing wasn't stable. Turning hostile with these two old slicks at the same time was definitely not a good thing... But similarly, if showing timidity just like this, then he couldn't mix in Bilgewater anymore in the future.
Thinking this in his heart, Sir Harker laughed loudly. Immediately opening a bottle of rum with a completely indifferent face placing it on the table, pouring a full glass in front of everyone and drinking it all, saying completely casually:
"Whether useful or not isn't said with the mouth. Back then I used this hand to finish Crimson Blade, and until now, this hand is very beautiful."
Hearing Sir Harker's words, Captain Crow and Crow looked at each other. Then Crow shook his head and said: "Verbal conflict ends here. What we want to discuss is how to better dismember Bilgewater—Gangplank is dead, a power vacuum appeared here. Everyone is waiting for us to fight, waiting for an opportunity to reap the spoils without effort. If not wanting to become their stepping stones, better act right now."
While speaking, Crow also picked up the rum pouring a full glass. Before entering his mouth, he sensed with his nasal cavity—as an interrogation master, he was familiar with the smell of every poison. Especially alcohol's volatile nature would strengthen this smell dissipation. And now, after confirming there was no bad smell, Crow poured a full glass and drank it all.
And after tasting the flavor, Crow raised his eyebrows: "Taste not bad."
"Really?" Hearing this, confirming Crow was fine, Captain Crow also simply picked up the wine bottle stuffing it into his mouth.
Pirates—or rather people making a living on the sea in this era wouldn't be unfamiliar with alcohol.
No standards like don't drink and sail, relatives two lines of tears. Even saying, in Bilgewater and every coastal city in this era of Runeterra, except for city-states like Piltover which had already developed considerable productivity, requirements for sailors elsewhere were able to drink.
Reason being no other, on the boundless sea, freshwater resources were incomparably scarce. And whenever sailing far, even if oak barrels were sealed well, sooner or later unbearable rotten smells would be produced. Precisely because of this, rum, which tasted sweeter than other spirits and was brewed through squeezed sugarcane juice, became the best product for mixing water. Water with rotten smell mixed with rum, not saying how good the taste was, but at least under the effect of alcohol and sweetness, those bad smells would also be covered a lot.
It was just compared to the cheap sweetness of those cheap rums, Sir Harker's bottle of rum had obvious tropical fruit aroma to taste, also rounder in mouthfeel, definitely not comparable to those cheap goods.
Although just a small gadget, it invisibly softened the attitude of the other two.
Seeing this, Harker also laughed secretly in his heart. Then he said unhurriedly: "Plenty of good wine; I can send people to deliver a few more boxes to you two later, just making friends. But now, let's discuss how to deal with Gangplank's legacy, and... that guy from Piltover."