The design was unlike anything he’d ever seen, or could possibly have imagined. Protruding from the bow was the dragon itself, an immense figurehead large enough to contain a gun crew and a Heaven cannon that fired flaming shot. The armoured back of the beast was a curved roof of iron plates with vicious spikes thrusting up. Not only did this ‘dragon skin’ deflect cannonballs but it prevented the enemy from boarding the ship – grappling hooks couldn’t gain purchase and any boarder foolish enough to try would find their feet pierced by the spikes. This iron-clad roof completely enclosed the ship’s overhanging top deck and shielded the crew within. From a defensive point of view, the Wind Demons’ battleship appeared unassailable.

But it was also an attack vessel. On all sides there were gun ports, three to the bow and stern and ten down either side. The dragon’s twenty legs were powerful yuloh-style oars, projecting down from the overhanging deck, giving the ship not only speed but manoeuvrability. Its long tail turned out to be the main mast, which had been lowered to protect it during the assault. At the waterline was another carved face, one that Jack recognized. A twisted and scarred protrusion with hooked teeth and blood-red eyes, it was the battering ram that had hulled Captain Arashi’s atake-bune.

‘She’s named the Koketsu,’ remarked Tatsumaki proudly. ‘It means “Jaws of Death”.’

Jack thought it an apt name for such a fearsome vessel.

‘We captured her from the Korean navy,’ the Pirate Queen continued. ‘Only a handful have ever been built, so the Sea Samurai have never seen one before. That’s why they believe in sea dragons!’

She gave a throaty laugh and climbed on to the ship’s roof.

‘Welcome aboard,’ she said, offering her hand. ‘Let’s talk, while my men finish unloading the samurai ship of its weapons and supplies.’

Stepping up a gangplank, Jack followed the Pirate Queen along a narrow walkway between the rows of iron spikes to a wooden hatch. Clambering inside the belly of the beast, Jack found himself on the main deck. Unusually for a battleship, the deck was shared by both oarsmen and gunners. The twenty Heaven and Earth cannon were divided by twenty teams of hulking oarsmen, each so powerfully built they could have crushed a man’s skull with their bare hands.

‘These men are the pumping heart of the Koketsu,’ proclaimed Tatsumaki as her muscular crew bowed their respects. She indicated the two rows of cannon. ‘And these its teeth.’

As they headed for her cabin, Jack was surprised at how orderly and neat everything appeared. The Pirate Queen evidently maintained a disciplined ship. When she opened the door to her quarters, there came a screech of delight and a flash of fur landed on Jack’s shoulder.

‘Saru!’ exclaimed Jack, for once glad to see the little monkey. Saru chattered back in answer, happily preening his hair.