"No way there are pirates right?" Saphandra asked. "If they are here then they should have heard us already and come for us."
"That's true," Ning said. "You did shout quite loudly back then. If they didn't hear us then they must be quite a bit further away… or in a place with a lot of noise."
"What place has a lot of noise?" Saphandra asked.
"What place is furthest away from us?" Ning asked.
"The back of the ship?" Saphandra asked.
"Yes," Ning said and immediately ran in the opposite direction. When he reached the back of the deck, he started furiously opening doors throughout the underdeck.
When he finally reached the end of the ship and opened the final door, it led to a massive room that was unfortunately empty.
"Well, I guess my guesses aren't entirely correct today," Ning said.
"Let's check," Saphandra said and immediately threw the pearl into the large room.
The pearl flew through the door, into the room, and suddenly hung in mid-air.
"What are you doing?" Ning asked. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚•𝙣𝙚𝙩
Saphandra smiled. "I am doing nothing," she said.
Suddenly, Ning felt moving through the floorboard beneath him and realized that someone was moving toward him.
He took a step back and suddenly a massive saber swung in front of his face, nearly hitting him.
Surprisingly, the saber was only visible once it was out of the room and not while inside.
Ning's vision changed as in a sea of black and blue, he saw human-shaped figures that were green, yellow, and orange.
"Ah, I should've known. They're invisible," Ning said.
"Kill them!" a voice shouted from inside the room and suddenly people started charging toward them.
The moment they left the room, their invisibility wore off and the two of them saw the pirates.
Long, scruffy hair, unkempt beard, faces that looked like they hadn't seen water for days, and clothes that were worse than all of those three combined.
Swords and Sabers struck at the two, but Ning simply stood in front of the pirates and took all the hits without taking any damage.
"Should I deal with them or do you want to work on your frustration so I don't have to get scolded once we go back?" Ning asked.
"You aren't getting out of it either way," Saphandra said. "But I will like to deal with them."
"Sure," Ning said and walked away.
The pirates that were attacking him were already surprised at how strong he was. So many sword slashes fell on him and yet not a single one was able to draw blood.
"He's a summoner, a really strong one. Be careful," someone shouted.
"Take his girl, he can't attack us then," another person shouted.
Ning looked at the rowdy bunch and then at Saphandra and smiled. "Don't kill them," Ning said.
"Why not?" Saphandra asked.
Just then a person swung a sword at her.
Saphandra moved her hands and the door swung open to slam directly onto the man's face. The man's nose was broken and bleeding, and it looked like the man was unconscious after that single hit.
However, Saphandra's eyes weren't on that man, but instead on Ning, waiting for an answer.
"I mean, they haven't done anything to us, so…" Ning said.
"They're trying to kill us," Saphandra said.
"Trying," Ning said. "You know they can't do it. Do you really feel right killing a bunch of weaklings when we can just get them arrested?"
"You killed many weaklings yourself," Saphandra said. "Why are you suddenly a saint now?"
"What do you mean?" Ning's eyes narrowed in a serious look.
A floorboard below Saphandra broke open and splinters of it were sprayed onto the pirates. Everyone that was in the front was stabbed in different places by those splinters.
They all cried out in pain, but Ning ignored them and looked at Saphandra. "What do you mean?" he asked again.
"Back in Genesis, you killed so many people that were just trying to survive. They were a million times better than these low lives that were going to kill and steal from us in a few hours."
"And yet you killed so many of them," Saphandra said.
"That is different," Ning said. "This is not Genesis."
"How is that different?" Saphandra asked while making a small group of people kneel on the ground and grovel in pain.
"I was forced to do what I did there. I'm not proud of it," Ning said. "Most of those people were just trying to survive and their blood is on my hand."
"But that was something that was out of choice for me at the time. It was Do or Die, in a sense," Ning said. "But this is different it's simply Do as there is no chance we die here."
"That's why I don't want to kill," Ning said. "I'm not saying we need to let them go. I'm not trying to be a saint here. I'm just someone trying to not get his and his friend's hands bloodier than it needs to be."
Saphandra stayed quiet for a second and attacked the men without looking at them.
Ning looked at her and asked, "Were the 3rd round to continue and you were going to be pit against me, would you have killed me?"
Saphandra stared at him. "Yes," she said.
"What about now? If you are angry at me now, will you kill me?" he asked.
"Of course not," Saphandra said. "I'm not a bloodthirsty… monster."
"Exactly, so maybe don't kill them just because you want to," Ning said.
"Besides," he looked at the group of pirates. "We don't really know what exactly they have done. For all we know, they are just people trying to feed their family and they attacked us simply because they felt threatened."
"Fine," Saphandra said and gestured her hands. In a single instant, Ning heard every single pirate in the hallway collapse to the ground.
Then, there was silence all around them. "They're unconscious now," she said.
"Great," Ning said. "I'll grab some rope and we can turn them in to the ship guards."