A loose cannon
Running up the plank as silent and fast as he could, even using (Hide) to not get spotted, Jay jumped behind a pile of crates and boxes as he reached the deck.
It was the head deck below the forecastle he landed on, more precisely the gangway at the left side leading around it. The deck connected the entrance plank on Jay's right to either the scaffolding around the hull on the right side or a relatively wide door opposite to it.
Looking around while suppressing a yawn as it had gotten late at night by then, Jay decided it was best to first check the interior before barging in on the main deck and getting the brunt of all forces gathering on board.
Keeping himself hidden from the workers on the scaffolding, he snuck towards the door and opened it. To his surprise it wasn't locked but thinking over it, there was probably no one on board who had thought he would defeat their first Mate.
Jay knew fighting the whole ship was more or less inevitable, but his last experiences showed him that he wasn't unbeatable and so he took the slightly safer route to first check deck by deck.
Slipping through the door and closing it behind him, Jay looked around in the relatively wide room.
The wooden bearings looked overly sturdy and other than a set of stairs leading up and down to the next decks, there were numerous barrels and crates stored along the walls. Checking one of each he learned it was the storage for barrels full of gun powder and crates with cannon balls, as well as spare parts that were hung in nets onto the not too high ceiling.
On the right wall was another double door that, to his surprise, had glassed portholes mounted.
Peeking through one of them he looked into the wide and long first deck, stacked witch lots of cannons and equally many buccaneers between the rows. Some of them clearly were not caring for the cannons but on lookout for intruders, so it seemed his arrival didn't go completely unnoticed.
Jay pulled back quick as one of the closed ones looked towards the doors and waited for some seconds.
When he took a glimpse again he spotted the wide stairs leading up to the main deck but the hatch was closed off by a thick grid. This was the reason there were no open stairs leading there and this first cannon deck had so many people on lookout.
Glad he hadn't been spotted, Jay went to the stairs and down to the second lower deck. The room he ended in was another storage again to his luck.
Had it been an open deck, he would have had to engage combat directly, but that way he could check the cargo and then sneak towards the door again. This time it was a simple wooden door without porthole, so he had to peek through a small gap after opening it.
What he found behind it was the next cannon deck with lines of big cannons and occasional buccaneers in between. Jay had known it would be a cannon deck as he had seen the two lines from outside and all the more after he had again only found cannon parts and powder in the storage.
The relatively small number of opponents surprised him though.
As he didn't get seen until then, he activated (Hide) and slipped through the door. The first pair of buccaneers wasn't far and the moment he came withing reach, Jay made short work of them.
Pulling the one facing his back to Jay hard onto the Cannon between them so his head crashed against it, he broke the man's neck with an elbow drop to the chin.
Jay then jumped over the cannon and while still stemming on one arm, kicked the other buccaneer so hard to the side of his head, he flew sideways onto the ships hull giving off unhealthy sounds. A single strike onto the sternum sealed the man's fate and shattered most of his ribs.
After his last fights, mostly after he had thrown all his weapons onto the first Mate and stood there bare handed, Jay had thought he had neglected his martial arts skills and training for a little too long. That was the reason he decided to take out as many opponents on this ship barehanded.
He knew this would probably only work out on some decks, but that was all the more reason to start with it on this lesser crowded lower cannon deck.
Leaving the two corpses be for the moment as the rest of the men had seen his actions and came running, Jay received them accordingly.
The first got an uppercut and broke his skull on a bearing under the ceiling while the second stabbed his own throat with his knife thanks to Jay's help.
Some broken legs, heads smashed on thick cannons and twisted necks later, Jay stood at the other side of the long cannon deck and wondered why there were no more than twelve men on this whole deck. Pushing the door there open without wait, Jay left the room without even plundering any of the men.
He found himself in the next storage there, only this time there were stairs leading up on the left and down on the right of a square hatch. Other than cannon powder, some weapon stands and other crates had been placed there.
Just as he was looking around for a bit, Jay heard voices coming from below and the next moment a head wearing a red bandana popped up from the stairs.
Without wait he rushed over and kicked the head hard, what resulted in it crashing against the grid over the hatch and the person falling down the stairs.
Jay circled around just in time to see the woman he had kicked roll over another buccaneer that seemingly was behind her on the stairs.
Jumping down the stairs, Jay landed on the mans right leg, breaking it in the process. Grabbing the middle aged man's head, a single twist was enough to shut him up forever.
After a quick check if he had anything of worth on him, Jay rolled the woman around with his foot tip. She was not dead yet, but as she was far from a beauty and looking more like a seasoned worker, Jay kicked down on her throat and finished her off.
Only then did Jay take a more detailed look around.
This time the stairs up and down were mirrored to upstairs and the hatch in the middle had no grid but was open. The whole room he was in was a good portion smaller than the one upstairs, and instead of a door, there was only an open passageway in the middle of the wooden wall.
Going around after looking beforehand, Jay found himself in the quarters.
To both sides hung numerous hammocks and under them small crates had been placed.
This explained why the hidden caves had mostly been deserted: The majority of the bandits seemed to have had already migrated onto the ship.
Passing through the big first section, Jay heard sounds that were getting louder coming from the second section.
What he found there was a middle aged woman leaning forwards over a hammock and serving two younger buccaneers. One was doing her from behind while the other used her mouth. They were so occupied, none of them noticed Jay getting closer, not that they had a chance to, even if they weren't distracted as he was using (Hide).
Standing next to them, it looked like a cheap porn to Jay as the older and not in any sort special woman got pounded hard and her slightly chubby butt wobbled. Simply taking out the hatched Jay had hung at the back on his belt, he cut off the hammock from the hook.
The woman slumped down hard on the ground having no time to react and stop her fall. The men got equally shocked from what happened, standing there with their wet meat sticks in the open.
One of them, the one who got serviced by the woman's mouth had more of a bloody stump in the open as she seemingly had bit on her teeth from shock.
Jay of course released them from their shock when he twisted the closest man's neck from behind, then steeped forwards and with a single aimed punch shot the man's nasal bone into the stumped buccaneer's brain. With only the woman left, Jay fetched his hatchet that was still sticking in the wooden stand and then turned her around.
She really was nothing special and the blood still running from her lips sent a small shiver down Jay's spine.
Bringing down his sharp axe on the woman's neck while she was still slightly dazed from the sudden drop, he took revenge for the poor buccaneer's very little buddy and severed her head.
Checking the three of them, better said their clothes, Jay was a bit surprised he found a key ring with the woman's pant as well as a pouch with quite some coins.
The men only had change money and the basic sabers on their belts that Jay left there. He didn't check the shirts still on their corpses and went on towards the bow.
It was only a couple of yards to reach the next wooden wall with two doors, both having a small tag on them. One was reading "Quartermaster" and the other "Purser", so Jay took a peek inside but found both cabins empty.
Giving them a short glance over each, Jay left the rooms and walked back to the stern and the stairs there.
From there he went down once again and found himself on the lower most deck.
A single look at the shape of the outer walls, was all he needed to know when he stepped onto the wooden planks in the relatively small but pretty high space he found himself in. It was the lowest deck directly on the keel that was normally used as a storage.
And to the front, he looked at a thick grid that was separating him from the about half filled cargo area.
In the small room stood some crates and boxes at the sides, so he first took a peek at those. Jay found different kinds of fruits there as well as lots of ropes and fabric, most certainly the sails for when the Juggernaught was completed.
Remembering the small tags on the doors upstairs, Jay got an idea and took out the keys he had looted just before. Testing them both he opened the lock on the door in the grid and entered the cargo bay.
He then locked it again behind him and took his time to check the goods inside.
The first crates all held long lasting vegetables, various spices and some dried meat.
Some bags of salt and flour came next and then stacks of herbs and daily utensils.
From then on Jay found more interesting stuff like wine barrels and even some full of rum. He stored quite a few of them in his inventory, like he had already done with anything he found and fancied in this storage.
Walking on towards the bow, Jay got to another wooden door and again tried his luck with the keys. This time it was the other one that opened the heavy wooden door and so he stepped inside.
What he saw there surprised him quite a lot:
Behind some weapon shelves to both sides of the gangway, stacked with different kinds of weapons but mostly sabers and harpoons, he spotted a vault.
It was closed off by a thick metal grid and though not very wide, it was stacked with gold bars, big bags on the ground and smaller ones full of coins in some shelves on the walls.
Latter seemed more narrow in this section of the ship than in the cargo bay before, So Jay guessed the bow got reinforced as much as possible.
Hurrying to the door Jay tried his keys but none of them would fit and open the door. Those riches were in only about a yards distance but he still couldn't reach them.
Looking into the vault he spotted two bags to the side that he at least could reach.
Reaching his arm through a gap in the grids, Jay could barely reach the bags and so he pulled them towards him.
They didn't fit through the gap his arm reached through, but thanks to his inventory this was no issue. He simply stored them inside and then retrieved them.
One of them was holding two items that looked anything but normal. It was two matte silver and slightly glowing chains that he took out, so he analyzed them instantly.
__________
Chains of Binding (rare)
These chains block the use of any skills or abilities once
closed. They are close to unbreakable once closed.
__________
The chains were mostly self explanatory, so Jay stored them away and checked on the other bag. It held numerous stones that he analyzed as precious ores before putting them into the inventory as well.
Glad he at least found some precious materials and no longer had to fear a caught opponent to flee with the extraordinary chains, Jay turned around and left the vault.
His chances of finding the key weren't that bad and once he did, he could clear it later.
After a brief rest and eating some of the food in the storage, Jay made his way up to the first cannon deck. As he had regained most of his strength it was time to dispatch of some cannoneers.
Reaching the stairs on the second cannon deck leading up to the first, Jay carefully peeked around. This time it wasn't a separated room he ended in but the stairs at least ended behind a wooden wall taking up about a third of the ships width.
That didn't help him much though, as right behind him, to the side of the stairs two buccaneers had been securing a cannon directed out of the back of the Juggernaught. They unsheathed their daggers and came rushing the moment they spotted Jay.
Jay
To their misfortune he had noticed them directly and while Jay kicked the first back towards the cannon hatch, he disarmed the other man and broke his elbow in the process. Pulling the man once around himself grabbing the broken arm, Jay hurled him onto the cannon. As they hadn't finished securing it, the cannon got pushed and rolled forwards, squeezing the first buccaneer though the too small hatch.
Jay had barely enough time to kick into the other man's neck ad kill him when the pair from the cannon on the other side arrived. Grabbing the first mans weapon hand, Jay spun once and rammed his elbow into his ribs once his back touched the mans chest.
At the same time he had twisted his opponents arm so much that the next buccaneer got skewered by the first man's saber.
The two dead hadn't even fallen down when the next group arrived and Jay heard even more coming behind them.
Deciding it was time to use at least a bit of magic, Jay loaded his fists with lightning and continued.
Giving a short glance up the stairs that had been behind the wooden wall as he had mangled the next batch of buccaneers and passed it, Jay continued down the middle path through the deck.
It was his luck that those stairs to the upper deck had been placed there or he would have faced the whole deck at the same time. The walls to both sides of it blocked the sight from further behind.
At the same time the closed hatch stopped not only him from going up, but what ever men was up on the main deck from coming down to him as well.
Just as he was about to pass these central placed stairs, Jay had to jump to the side and hide behind one of the cannons.
Accompanied by a deafening loud bang, the stairs shattered and splinters flew all over. One of the more idiotic buccaneers had really fired a cannon inside the ship just to stop him.
That had completely blown his position and Jay could only be happy that the stairs and hatch got warped so much, it seemed unlikely it could be opened. With the lower decks cleared, Jay only had to watch for reinforcements coming from the front and behind.
Looking up from his cover to find out which loose cannon had done this, Jay saw the splinters had hit quite a number of his enemies and used this chance.
This time he loaded the hatchet with fire and disposed of the five closest men and women when he heard a female voice shouting "Prepare one of the big ones! And...cover!!!" from further back.
-BOOM-
And with this the next cannon got fired onto him...
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone