A week later, our trap was set and we waited patiently as the ship we had targeted slowly floated into the area we had set aside to assault it. Our cannons unloaded as one and each was braced and targeted. The other ship's masts disintegrated and the rudder was destroyed after the first shots. The second shots disabled the rest of the ship and a white flag was quickly raised.

“YEAAAHHHH!” My crew yelled at the completely one-sided battle and the resounding success.

As we carefully approached, a few of the target's crewmen chose to ignore their own surrender and started firing at us. Another barrage from us silenced them and wiped out most of the crew. That was fortuitous, because it saved us from having to dispatch them or dropping them off somewhere.

The slaves watched us with fear and trepidation as we docked together, until I stepped out into view. My better clothing, my maid behind me, and my own slave on my other side, made them pay attention.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I believe your lives are about to improve significantly.” I said as the slaves on my ship cheered and swarmed over to the target and greeted the new slaves enthusiastically.

The crew swarmed past the impromptu gathering on the deck and entered the ship to dispatch any holdouts that were lying in wait for us. They didn't succeed in holding off my men, not with healing potions available and a feeling of recklessness it gave them. I had tried to curb their antics, only to learn that they enjoyed the confidence the healing potions gave them.

The risk was worth the reward to them, because a short time later, the ship was ours... as were the slaves it carried and the precious cargo contained in the holds. The crew cheered even more as the ship was quickly stripped and loaded into our holds. It's stores, sails, and remaining weapons and ammo were also salvaged. One immolation potion later, the wreck was burning down to the keel.

“Let's get out of here.” I ordered and the crew cheered as we made our way out of there.

The other ship we had scouted wasn't leaving the other port for another two weeks because their ship needed repairs. We had plenty of time to reach the next port, sell off most of our ill-gotten gains, and come back to the very good ambush spot to catch the next ship. The best part about the business was that ships changed crews a lot on the open seas and no one questioned why we were selling another ship's cargo.

The ship we were on was almost a completely new ship. Thanks to liberal uses of number ten potion, the hull was solid and quite a bit thicker. I couldn't make any fortifying potion, because the ingredients were apparently very expensive in other areas. So, I could only make waterproofing potions and treated everything on the ship.

The crew were amazed at the things I did, as if I was performing miracles. The food that I, Hanna and Ann made every day, made them happier than they had ever been. That they were still pirates and I never tried to make them not be pirates, raised their opinions of me that much more.

The problem we were having now, was sleeping arrangements. The ship was only rated for so many people and there was only so much room on the ship... or so they assumed. Thanks to my extensive construction experience and also having access to ship construction plans, the next port we landed at lost a significant amount of trees and lumber. Some we bought, some we stole, and some we cut down ourselves.

It was when I told everyone what I planned to do to the ship when we were back out of sight, that someone spoke up.

“You can't be doing that.” One of the slaves said and pointed to my hasty drawings.

“Why not?” I asked with a smile, because I didn't have to explain before someone pointed it out. The dining room was crowded with everyone there and they all looked curious.

“There's no way the ship can support its own weight if you add side rooms and then extend the back area where the captain's cabin is.” The slave man said. “You also can't cut into the hull. As soon as we take a hard turn, the keel will twist and bend like a snake and we'll be at the bottom of the ocean before you can say leviathan.”

“I'll only be adding a door in the hull between the ribs.” I said and drew out what I meant. “With my magic potion, the new additions will actually become part of the hull and strengthen it.”

“The ship will be twice as wide and it won't perform like it used to.” The slave man said. “What do you think is going to happen when we hit a hard cross wind in a storm and this extra wide top-heavy bitch decides that it likes tipping over more than it likes staying upright?”

I chuckled, because I had based the new design on my old flat bottomed boat. The new sections would actually make the ship more stable, not less, by displacing more water when it lowers down into the water. Especially if I stopped using magic on the weight enchantments I had placed in strategic places.

In shipwright terms, I was changing something similar to a galleon ship into a frigate without using a dry-dock. That just wasn't done and it made the ship expert we rescued nervous. The crew members on the other hand, were looking forward to having more room.

“This thing is barely going to rock, let alone tip over.” I said. “We're increasing the main mast and the mizzenmast by another sail each to handle the extra mass. Don't worry, though. After I work my magic on the ship, this bitch will be just as fast as it is now.”

“I'll believe it when I see it.” The slave man said and crossed his arms.

“Well, we'll be out of the main shipping lanes tomorrow. I was tempted to find a nice cove or something to do it, only there's no way we're going anywhere near land of any kind in these waters without having a port of call for protection.” I said and nearly everyone nodded.

“You never know what kind of trouble you'll find if you try docking in a virgin cove.” Jensen said. “We've all heard stories of lost crew, damaged ships from invisible shallow shoals of rocks, and creatures that make water beasts look like near-rabbits in comparison.”

Everyone nodded again. It was common knowledge by frequent travellers that the oceans were dangerous and held things hidden until it was too late to do anything about it. Even the smaller clipper ships had extra cannons on board for emergencies.

As for us, we had four cannons on each side with two backups, thanks to the last two raids. They were mounted below the top deck and inside the hull with the firing ports hidden behind hinged doors, so no one seeing the bare top deck knew that we were armed. The cannons would be moved into the expanded space and would free up nearly the entire under-deck for rooms and storage.

The amount of ammo we had was ridiculous as well. In fact, we sold some to the stevedore at the last port because we needed the room for extra bunks. He thought we were getting rid of them because we didn't have any use for them. None of us corrected him.

“We'll find a nice calm area and I'll start working to show you what to do. With my lost fingers and toes, I can't help as much as I want to.” I said and they nodded. “Is everyone liking the new tables and chairs in the dining room?”

“I licked one of the tables this morning!” One of the crewmen exclaimed.

“That's because you spilled your scrambled eggs on it and your tongue should be all splinters! Ha!” The slave next to him said and clapped him on the back. “If I hadn't felt how smooth they are myself, I wouldn't believe it.”

I smiled and thought about mentioning something to them, then decided not to. If I told them I could make the tables look expensive and they could be sold for a handful of gold coins and not several handfuls of silver coins, that would be all I would be doing. Pirates would never pass up such easy money.

“I'm still shocked you're actually paying us wages, even after sharing the spoils with us.” One of the other crewmen said.

His buddy whacked him on the side of the head with his hand.

“OW! What was that for?” He asked and rubbed the spot.

“He already told us why. This is a working man's ship.” The other man said. “Even the former slaves get paid for their work cleaning and keeping things maintained for us, so we can concentrate on the more important jobs that we used to ignore to do the cleaning and maintaining.”

“I know that.” The man said. “Who's paying him, though?”

That question made everyone turn their heads to look at me.

“I told you. I'm rich. I have been for years before becoming a slave.” I said with a shrug. “The only reason I needed money now was because this ship needed fixing up and I wanted better food for everyone.”

“Which means you're doing all of this for free.” Jensen said. “Why won't you take any money?”

“Like I said, once I bought the things I needed, I didn't need anything else.” I said. “Plus, I promised to make this the best pirate ship if you killed the old captain. Are we the best pirate ship yet?”

“No!” Everyone said, loudly.

“Then we'll keep working and upgrading this old bitch to make anyone that sees it, tremble in awe while in port. While out on the open seas and it's attacking, they'll tremble in fear.”

That made everyone grin and nod. It was a pirate's dream to cause both of those feelings.

“While we wait for a calm sea, who wants another sword fighting lesson?” I asked and nearly everyone put up their hands, even the women. “Then grab your chosen swords and meet me up on the deck. If you have armor pieces to wear, do so. The more practice you have wearing it while fighting, the better.”

“Yessir!” Several of the men, crew and slaves alike, said.

I left the crowded dining room and was followed by a bunch of others. There wasn't a lot to do on a ship while travelling, so any break of the monotony was a welcome one. I had bought several things for the crewmen to use for entertainment, or so the merchant said, and put them into a small room near the captain's cabin. Everyone was free to use them and a few did so.

I even bought piles of old books for cheap and fixed them with potions before putting them on a long shelf for anyone to borrow. The shelf was almost always empty and I suspected that it was the women reading them. The men didn't seem like the kind of people to sit for several hours to read, not even the former slave men.

“All right! You know the basic stance!” I shouted and the large group of people changed how they stood and held their swords out as if to attack. “Switch!” I said and they changed to a defensive stance. I walked over to a younger woman and moved her free arm to support her sword arm. “You need to get used to the heavier weight before you can fight effectively.”

“Y-y-yessir.” She said and blushed.

“I'll fix the blade for you when we come across a cheap forge.” I said, thinking I needed to reheat the blade to enchant it. I had tried several times to buy a forge at every port we landed and they were all ridiculously expensive and the investment wasn't worth it. “You still won't use a smaller blade?”

She shook her head. “I promised my father when he was dying that I would use this type of sword to get my revenge.”

“Then you need to practice the strengthening drills. If you can't hold the blade steady with one hand, you need to change blades or let me alter it.” I said.

She gave me an odd look, then stopped the pose and held out the blade. “Show me, please.”

A few of the crewmen chuckled.

“What is it?” She asked.

“You asked him to show off.” Jensen said with a grin. “You'll need both hands on the hilt for this.”

She blinked for a moment and then saw me draw my sword. She gasped when it glowed and she gripped the hilt of her own sword with both hands to hold it up and defend herself, despite it being awkward.

I took a step forward and swiped my sword twice along the length of hers before she could blink. Two thin half-inch slivers of metal dropped to the deck that were the same length as her sword. The crew burst out laughing at her shocked look, because she saw that her sword was now blunt on both sides.

“Now the weight is more manageable for you.” I said and sheathed my sword as the glow faded. “Attack Stance!”

She did it quickly and then her eyes widened because her hand didn't shake.

“Defense Stance!” I ordered and she switched.

She had to catch her breath, because once again, she didn't have to struggle with the blade and her free hand was posed to strike a punch.

“Much better.” I said and used my hand to try and bat her sword out of the way several times.

She braced and stopped me from knocking her off-center for more than a split second and returned to the ready to strike pose.

I nodded and stepped back. “Now you can see what an appropriate blade can do to help you fight.”

She nodded and stopped holding the stance as I walked back to stand in front of the group.

“We're doing full forward lunges today.” I said and saw a few people grin. “Before you think you can just throw everything you have into it, you need to maintain balance and can't over-extend yourself. Off-balance means sloppy. What does sloppy get you?”

“DEAD!” They all shouted.

“That's right. Just because you know how to fight, that doesn't mean you'll always win. Being prepared is better than losing your hand or your head, which is what everyone you fight will not be aiming for.”

That made a few people laugh.

The young woman I just fixed her sword for, raised a hand. “Why do you say that?”

“Most people fighting with swords will do one of two things. Always.” I said and everyone listened. “They will slash your sword arm to try and disable you or they will try for a torso shot, usually the chest and the heart.”

“Unless you're fighting another pirate or someone without a lot of experience.” Jensen said. “They just slash all over to try and hurt you.”

“The useless ones do.” I said and a few of the men frowned. “None of you are useless anymore. I've seen to that.”

The men exchanged looks and looked back at me.

“A few more weeks training with me and you'll be a force that can't be stopped in a normal sword fight. You'll be on par with a regiment's training by then.” I said and several of them nodded. “After that, it's just practice and hoping you don't meet someone with more experience than you.”

“How do you know?” Someone asked.

“They way they carry themselves.” I said and waved at myself. “Confidence, arrogance, and sure of themselves. They are dangerous and fighting them one-on-one is not a good idea. If you meet someone like that, run.”

That made a lot of the people there chuckle.

“Yes, I'm including myself in that, thanks to my maid and slave buying me these great boots.” I said and lifted one of my feet to show off a solid and thick sole with no visible heel, because it was inside the boot. I hadn't felt so solid and balanced in months.

“I hope you're planning on thanking them!” A woman's voice shouted from the back of the group.

“I had three baths yesterday. Before breakfast.” I said and that made everyone laugh. “Back to the lesson. As long as you block the shots to your sword arm, which some of you have by wearing armor pieces under your tops, and avoid the body shots that need to be heavy to damage you, you will be unstoppable.”

They all nodded.

“Sheath your blades and take stance three.” I ordered and they all did so, with their legs apart and one foot forward and one back, shoulder length apart. “If you're right handed, your left foot should be back.”

Three of them changed and posed properly.

“Good. Hold that.” I said and walked around. “When I say, take exactly one step forward with the back foot the same distance forward from your other foot.” I waited for a moment and spoke. “STEP!”

They all did so. Some were successful right away and most messed up.

“Stance three!” I said, loudly.

They all did so and waited.

“STEP!” I shouted and they did it again. A lot more got it and smiled. I repeated it three more times and they all were smiling. “Good. Good! You're thinking about your balance! I want you to keep practising that on your own. I want you to be so comfortable with it that when I shout 'step' at random times, you're going to do it!”

“Yessir!” They responded.

“For now, I'll show you the right sword hold to start with and where it will end when you step.” I said and nodded at my maid. She brought out a wooden training dummy and stood it up five feet away from me. I took stance three with my sword held down to the right. “STEP!” I shouted and took the exact step and shoved the sword forward with all my might at the same time.

Everyone made surprised and startled sounds as my non-glowing sword ran right through the three foot tree trunk torso like it was a hot knife through butter.

“That's with three months of basic army training and three weeks of specialized training.” I said and pulled the sword out. “How long did I say we have to train from now on?”

“Three weeks!” Some of them responded.

“Exactly.” I said with a smile. “I've already given you the basics and you all did spectacularly. Now it's time to make all of that hard work pay off for you.”

“YESSIR!” They yelled and started to do the step lunge without me prompting them.

“I think... I love you.” Someone whispered. They were too far away for me to tell who it was, with all of the shouts of 'Step' and 'Haa' coming from everyone practising.

I noticed that several of the more experienced people were doing it easily, so I took them aside and told then to use their blades. I had the maid bring out more training dummies and they grinned as they got to practice the full move. As more people achieved the right balance and did the move flawlessly a bunch of times, they earned their own training dummy and advanced to the full lesson.