After shouting the first toast, Fang Senyan raised his glass again and called out loudly: "May God bless his wife and daughter with good health." This toast was something the others hadn't heard before, and its content seemed to contradict the earlier curses. However, since Fang Senyan claimed to be from the distant East, which, regardless of their impressions of the Orient, remained shrouded in a veil of mystery to Europeans, they surmised it must be a unique Eastern custom.

To show their broad-mindedness, they didn't echo this sentiment. But after taking a hefty gulp of wine, Fang Senyan raised his cup once more and roared: "May God bring me to his home!" The moment Fang Senyan shouted this, most people paused, then grasped the hidden meaning and burst into roaring laughter, raising their cups and shouting in unison: "May God bless his wife and daughter with good health!

May God bring me to his home!" After this performance by Fang Senyan, he smoothly integrated into the bar's atmosphere. However, when he seriously inquired how he could sign on as a sailor aboard the three great ships at the port, he was met with merciless ridicule.

It turned out that these three ships had already become legends of the sea, always returning brimming with loot. To put it plainly, they were dream jobs: ten-to-four hours, guaranteed earnings, two hours off for lunch, and expenses for drinking, gambling, and whoring afterward were all reimbursable.

The competition to become a sailor on those vessels was fierce beyond belief—more intense than becoming a glorious worker-peasant-soldier university student thirty years prior, and even more exaggerated than competing for a state civil servant position thirty years later. For an unknown sailor like Fang Senyan, possessing only potential, it was an utterly impossible task.

After paying the price of five mugs of rum, Fang Senyan finally understood he had two viable paths. The first was to first sign onto an obscure pirate ship, work his way up by achieving some notoriety, and then slowly maneuver his way onto one of those three legendary pirate vessels.

The second path was to go legitimate. Going legitimate, of course, didn't mean a sex worker earning enough money, getting reconstructive surgery at a renowned gynecology hospital, and marrying a naive sucker.

Instead, it meant joining the official fleet—more accurately, signing on as a rating aboard one of the two British warships anchored south of Port Royal. If Fang Senyan had looked back when he first entered this world, he would have seen the flags of those two warships fluttering in the sea breeze.

Choosing the first path was undoubtedly fraught with danger and challenge, but naturally, it offered greater opportunities. As for the second path, Fang Senyan guessed from the pirates' descriptions: a fixed salary, a regimented life, relatively lower risk, but an equal scarcity of opportunity.

Fang Senyan was not a man to settle for mediocrity, and more importantly, looking at the bigger picture within the Pirates of the Caribbean world, the British Royal Navy consistently played the tragic supporting role; in At World's End, they were even thoroughly suppressed by the Spanish Armada. In the grand scheme of things, making a wrong first step here could lead to a far more passive position later, requiring tenfold or a hundredfold effort to enter the core narrative.

Thus, viewed from a short-term perspective, choosing the state navy was a low-risk, decent-reward action, but from a long-term perspective, it represented a significant disadvantage. Having settled his mind, he hesitated no longer.

Scar-faced Henry, sitting across from him, seemed remarkably forthcoming. So, Fang Senyan directly asked for his help in recommending a ship that was short on hands, saying he was willing to earn his passage slowly and then figure out a way home later.

Upon hearing Fang Senyan's request, Scar-faced Henry laughed heartily: "Sailor Yan? You really want to sign on?" Fang Senyan offered a wry smile: "I'm out of options now.

What else can I do but stick to my old trade?" Scar-faced Henry gave Fang Senyan a deep look, stroked his chin, and mused: "We are short on hands for odd jobs on our ship. You'll have to handle sails, swab the decks, and certainly won't shy away from drawing a blade when the time comes.

The work is hard, admittedly, but our Captain Armand is quite generous. I wonder if you want to give it a try—but my approval isn't enough; anyone coming aboard still has to pass the trial according to old custom." Hearing the name "Armand," something stirred in Fang Senyan's mind.

This fellow seemed to have appeared in the plot of Pirates of the Caribbean 3, specifically as one of the Brethren Court, the Pirate Lord of the Black Sea, operating primarily in the Black Sea, commanding Barbary pirates to raid Christian trading vessels, and even successfully allying with the Ottoman Empire to control all regions from Morocco to Turkey. At this point, this man likely hadn't made his fortune yet.

But undoubtedly, sailing alongside someone who would one day stand as an equal to Jack Sparrow/Barbossa would significantly multiply his chances. "I am willing to try and pass the test," Fang Senyan stood up, his voice firm.

He knew clearly in his heart that if he hadn't earned Scar-faced Henry's goodwill through the arm-wrestling and drinking contests, his meager charisma alone would never have afforded him a chance to join the crew of The Bell and the Goblet. Scar-faced Henry exchanged a knowing glance with Madge behind him, a secretive smile playing on their lips.

The few off-duty pirates nearby, seeing Fang Senyan's 'job application' succeed, squeezed in to socialize, but were curtly rejected. Half an hour later, Fang Senyan was standing on the deck of The Bell and the Goblet.

It was a North Sea three-masted full-rigged ship, sized between a medium and a large vessel. Its slender hull was painted with broad stripes of gray and deep blue.

High masts held Latin sails meticulously sewn from canvas warp and weft. Dozens of thick, gray rigging lines crisscrossed in the setting sun, creating a feeling like a spider's web, ready to capture everything.

A few pristine white gulls preened and pecked on the empty crow's nest. The imposing cutwater jutted out high at the bow, unavoidably evoking the sharp point of a unicorn's horn.

The deck was laid with planks of Dipterocarpus that must have been at least thirty years old, providing considerable defense while reducing the chance of catching fire. The surface was scrubbed impeccably clean, suggesting Scar-faced Henry was at least a competent first mate.

A clean deck wasn't just visually pleasing; details dictated success. Violent pitching and rolling were inevitable at sea, and a dirty deck would double the chances of falling—a nightmarish start that could lead to the serious accident of tumbling overboard.

Undoubtedly, Scar-faced Henry bringing Fang Senyan aboard caused a minor commotion. The entire pirate crew lazily stirred themselves, gathering to watch the arrival of the strange new face.

These men, dressed in ragged, motley clothes, with cutlasses and knives hanging at their waists, lounged across the deck, arms crossed, scrutinizing the newcomer with thoughtful eyes. "God’s blood!

You’ve polluted our deck with a damned stranger without the Captain’s consent! Madge, you idiot, if you kneel and offer me your axe right now, I might pretend this never happened." The speaker had just emerged from the cabin—a man wearing a wide-brimmed felt hat adorned with two white feathers.

If not for his dark skin and deep wrinkles, he might have possessed the bearing of a nobleman. Fang Senyan also noticed that even the typically coarse Madge instinctively shrank back, clearly indicating this man held significant authority on the ship.

Scar-faced Henry stepped forward now, his voice booming like a bell: "Mr. Charles, as the First Mate of The Bell and the Goblet, I believe I have the authority to adjust things deemed improper on board.

Your duty is simply to get everyone where they need to be accurately, nothing more." Charles was momentarily silenced by Henry's retort but insisted stubbornly: "Only the great Captain Armand has the right to directly appoint crew. You can only recommend, and unless he passes the customary trial, I will absolutely not endorse such a stranger aboard!

The Bell and the Goblet will be afflicted by an unforeseen curse!" That last sentence drew a gasp of admiration from the crowd. Fang Senyan, as an experienced seaman, watched coldly and understood the situation perfectly: he had clearly been drawn into a vortex of power struggles.

Here, one must understand the primary composition of pirate ships during this era: First, the Captain is the supreme commander and principal decision-maker, bearing the greatest risk. In emergencies, he can manage everything, but usually, he manages very little.

The First Mate can be understood as the steward: managing internal affairs, assigning manpower, overseeing everything from food and drink to sleep, and managing cargo (one must calculate the center of gravity, ship stability, and load distribution—simply put, you can't load cargo that arrived first at the bottom, nor can you mix tea with fruit, as ripening fruit releases moisture that ruins the tea; nor rubber with oil drums, in case of leaks... If it's a general cargo ship loading dozens or hundreds of different goods at once, without a good First Mate, it's impossible).

Finally, there is the unique figure of this era: the Navigator. There was no radar then; positioning at sea relied solely on the stars, compass, and weather.

Plotting courses and charting required immense experience and specialized knowledge. The Navigator was the ship's eyes, guiding the correct direction.

Because they were generally more educated and responsible for chart drawing, they often doubled as priests or missionaries, counseling lonely and frightened pirates, resolving their spiritual distress, and spreading faith among indigenous populations. In simple terms, on the vast ocean, the Navigator served the functions of radar/glossy magazines/mobile phones.

(To be continued, please visit to read the latest chapters.)