Chapter 109

Since Zhang Heng was scheduled to settle down here for at least ten years, so it was crucial for him to understand his surroundings better . To do that, he toured the entire Nassau for a few days, conversing with everybody . This included fishmongers in the market to drunkards from the taverns, the prostitutes on the street, shrewd businessmen in the trade center, and pirates that roamed the streets . The conversations could be either constructive or unpleasurable .

Nevertheless, throughout the entire process, Zhang Heng spent a total of 19 silver pesos . It was completely worth it, as it enabled him to peer into the window of life in Nassau .

To the eyes of many, pirates were a band of lawless thugs poised to commit all sorts of heinous crimes . Technically speaking, they weren’t wrong, were those who chose the life of pirates were not exactly ‘clean’ in the first place . This was a reason why outsiders automatically assumed that a city managed by pirates must be made up of sin and chaos .

After digging his feet and feeling the sands around the place for some time, Zhang Heng no longer agreed with this conservative view . With thousands of hot-headed pirates in town ready to pick a drunken fight with anybody, nobody expected the city to be peaceful . This had turned Nassau into a disorderly mess . However, if one was willing to look beyond all the street fighting, there was actually order amongst chaos .

Around 63 years ago, the first batch of European migrants settled on Nassau, soon turning the place into a city and even building a castle for their king . In commemoration of King Charles, the town was christened as Charles Town . Not too long after that, the island’s residents realized that city expansion and catching fish was far less lucrative than luring ships to the reef . When these vessels ran aground, they would plunder everything they came across . With the venture raking in massive profit, most men on the island began to turn to piracy . Soon, when that wasn’t enough, they headed out to hunt for ships instead of waiting for them .

At the same time, the geographical advantage of The Bahamas attracted other pirates here, where its maze of islands became the perfect camouflage from the navy’s prying eyes . It also proved a perfect stop for pirates from the Caribbean to stock up their vessels and in turn, disposing of all their stolen goods as well .

That was how the place called Nassau was born, a name inspired by an English prince . Ironically, it had now turned into a pirate sanctuary .

After years of development, Nassau came up with a unique trading system . Every pirate captain that docked in Nassau would sell their stolen goods to black-market merchants, who in turn laundered the goods and sent them to Charleston, New York, and Boston . Such an operation provided them an obscene amount of profit without them having to risk their lives .

And that was the main source of income for Nassau . Its brothel, casino, and taverns were mostly frequented by pirates . There were also professional appraisers setting shop on the island, responsible for evaluating the value of the plundered goods . Other than that, tipsters on the island would sell whatever information they had about merchant ships to the resident pirates . The fishermen on the island were mostly there to feed the pirates . Lastly, prospective arm dealers and slave traders were active on this island as well, if you knew where to find them .

When it came to the ruler of Nassau, there was none .

However, one organization on the island was responsible for maintaining its law an order . It consisted of black market merchants, pirate captains, and ultra-rich landowners .

Zhang Heng suspected that he had to be part of the organization if he ever wanted to build his own force . Unfortunately, this would prove difficult, to say the least . Excluding the landowners, the rest of the organization’s members were considered the pioneers of Nassau, owning swathes of plantations, workforce, and armory .

All he had right now was 20 silver pesos .

The same rules applied when becoming a black market merchant, where one needed deep political connections to smuggle goods abroad . Most black market merchants came with very impressive backgrounds, often using their family’s influence to mingle with the colony’s governor . A significant amount of money was also needed to bribe the officers manning the harbor . Achieving any one of those things would prove to be a tall order .

That said, becoming a pirate captain was definitely a more viable option . That, however, did not mean that it was going to be an easy task . Legendary pirate captains notwithstanding, a captain with the ability to convince pirates to join their ships would usually require an impressive set of skills .

Zhang Heng knew that it was going to be a long journey ahead of him . He decided not to rush it as he had plenty of time to learn everything he wanted to learn .

Four days later . The Sea Lion gathered its crew and prepared to set sail . This was Zhang Heng’s first time setting foot on a real pirate ship .

The barque he was on this time belonged to Frazer once, and it was one of Nassau harbor’s best vessels . It carried a proud complement of 30 cannons . 24 were 9-pound cannons while the rest were 12-pounders, powerful enough to defeat most who dared cross their bow .

For this voyage, the Sea Lion was on a mission to plunder a Dutch supply vessel and a Spanish merchant ship . Thanks to Zhang Heng’s prompt use of his gun during the raid, he managed to save three of his allies . This move had earned him the respect of many who were aboard . He could have run away to safety like what Marvin did, but had instead rented a house in Nassau .

All signs pointed to him becoming a full-fledged pirate! He was ready .

His heroic stint of saving his mates made him quite the star of the ship, continually receiving nods of approval from the crew . Seeing the opportunity at hand, he requested that Owen help him improve his close-quarters combat skills . Through other pirates, he found out that Owen had the best skills among all when it came to the dagger .

Owen was used to be a navy officer with a bright future . Due to an incident, however, he happened to offend a superior . In retaliation, he was sent to a hostile environment to complete an impossible mission . Out of frustration, Owen killed his superior . He was hunted down like prey, and in the end, forced to leave his hometown, eventually ending up in Nassau as a pirate .

Unlike his counterparts, Owen had the tendencies to be a little too upright at times, a remnant from his days in the navy . As a consequence, he found it really hard to fit in with the pirate community in the beginning . Once the pirates knew him better, however, they were more than willing to become friends .

In every combat, he was always first to charge at his enemies . His valiant ruthlessness was unrelenting, gaining him the highest respect of the pirates . When the previous pirate chief was killed in battle, everyone on the ship unanimously voted him as their new chief .