The one-eyed, scar-faced man looked at the bag of gold coins on the table.
Then he looked at Roger's overly calm face.
His Adam's apple bobbed up and down.
He had been in the black market for so many years and had seen all sorts of people.
There were arrogant pirate captains, and there were also insidious and cunning smugglers.
But it was the first time he had seen a buyer like Roger, who possessed both unfathomable professional knowledge and the extravagance of treating gold coins as if they were nothing.
"These eight cannons... and all the cannonballs..."
The scar-faced man swallowed, then tentatively held out five fingers.
"Five hundred... no, six hundred gold coins!"
He used the thumb of his other hand to make it six.
He had originally intended to quote a lower price.
But as the words came to his lips, seeing Roger's wealthy demeanor, he nervously raised the price a little.
"Deal."
Roger didn't even bother to bargain, directly pulling out another money bag from his embrace and tossing it onto the table.
Barraba's money wasn't his, so he naturally wouldn't feel bad about it.
Just spend it lavishly!
"Here are six hundred gold coins, you can count them."
"Also, I'll add another hundred gold coins for your men to safely deliver these items to the abandoned dock at the pier, and then install and calibrate them for me."
Looking at the mountain of gold coins piled on the table, the one-eyed, scar-faced man's breathing grew heavy.
The onlookers around him were practically bug-eyed.
Seven hundred gold coins!
Just to buy eight cannons and a pile of cannonballs!
Without even blinking an eye!
This wasn't someone who came to buy things.
This was someone who came to throw money around!
"No... no problem! Sir!"
The scar-faced man's attitude did a complete 180-degree turn.
He bowed and scraped to Roger, and the scar on his face seemed to contort into a fawning smile.
"Don't just say deliver to the dock, even if you want me to carry them to your bedside, it's no problem!"
The transaction was quickly completed.
Under the escort of the scar-faced man and his subordinates, eight brand new 12-pounder cannons, along with dozens of large crates of cannonballs, were carefully transported back to the dock where the explorer was located.
When Gibbs and Billy saw those eight gleaming metal behemoths, their mouths dropped open wide enough to fit a fist.
"My goodness... Brother Roger, did you... did you move the entire black market's armory back here?"
Gibbs stammered.
"These... these are 12-pounder naval cannons!"
"Can our small boat even hold them?"
"Don't fire one shot and have the boat fall apart first," Billy also said worriedly.
In their opinion, this level of artillery was usually only equipped on two-masted warships.
Their small single-masted sailboat simply couldn't withstand such recoil.
"Don't worry, I have my ways," Roger smiled.
He once again took out his precious blueprints.
This time, the blueprints depicted brand new gun carriages and deck reinforcement structures.
"Everyone, come over and pay attention."
Roger gathered everyone and began to explain.
"Our traditional gun carriages have too simple a structure, and most of the recoil is directly transmitted to the deck, which is why small boats can't carry large cannons."
"Now, we are going to build a new type of gun carriage."
He pointed to a complex structure on the blueprint.
"See here, we're adding a structure with a slide rail and buffer ropes."
"This way, a large part of the recoil from the cannon's firing will be absorbed by this device."
"The rest will then be evenly distributed to the ship's keel and ribs through this reinforced support structure."
"This way, our ship will be able to withstand the power of a 12-pounder cannon."
The pirates gathered around the blueprints, listening to Roger's explanation, each of them looking as if they were listening to a divine text.
Slide rail? Buffer? Mechanical structure?
They didn't understand a single one of these terms.
But they understood the ingenious, almost artistic, gun carriage design on the blueprints.
They also understood the professional gleam in Roger's eyes as he explained.
"Did everyone understand?" Roger asked.
The pirates looked at each other, then uniformly shook their heads.
Roger wasn't angry; he had expected it.
He smiled and said:
"It's okay if you don't understand, just follow the blueprints."
"Remember what I taught you before: dimensions, precision, every detail must be correct!"
"Start working!"
With the previous experience of repairing the hull, this time, the pirates were full of enthusiasm.
They wholeheartedly threw themselves into this brand new creation.
In the following days, the entire dock transformed into a bustling armory.
Wood was precisely cut into various parts, then assembled piece by piece into brand new gun carriages according to the blueprints.
Below the deck, several thick support beams were also added according to Roger's design, directly connected to the ship's most robust keel.
When the first 12-pounder cannon was steadily mounted on its brand new gun carriage.
And pushed into position, everyone let out a cheer.
This ship, in their hands, was undergoing a transformative change.
It was no longer an ordinary single-masted sailboat.
It was becoming a sea hedgehog armed to the teeth!
Billy caressed the cold, solid cannon barrel, feeling the aura of death emanating from its muzzle, trembling with excitement.
"Damn it... I feel like now, even if we run into the dauntless, we'd dare to fight it!"
His words resonated with everyone.
They looked at the explorer, which embodied their hard work.
Looking at those eight cannons, pointing towards the sky, full of power.
An unprecedented sense of pride and security welled up within them.
At this moment, in the hearts of all the crew members, Roger's position was already unshakeable.
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