Then the pressure was gone, Dragon Eye’s hands no longer gripping him. He heard high-pitched screeching and angry shouts. Scrambling to his feet, Jack turned to see Saru tearing into the ninja’s face and remaining eye. Dragon Eye howled, wrestling to rid himself of the beast. He managed to seize Saru’s tail and fling her off. The monkey twirled helplessly through the air, bouncing once on the roof, before disappearing over the side.

‘No one harms Saru and lives!’ shrieked Tatsumaki, her expression one of thunderous fury as she charged towards the ninja, flanked by four Wind Demons.

Dragon Eye took one look at the fearsome Pirate Queen and leapt from the Koketsu’s roof on to the seki-bune’s deck. He pointed Black Cloud at Jack. ‘I’ll be back for you, gaijin,’ he promised.

Then before any of them could give chase, he jumped on to a piece of passing wreckage. Jack watched the ninja float away and disappear among the carnage of battling ships.

‘And I’ll be after you,’ vowed Tatsumaki, a tear streaking the black powder around her eyes.

Jack felt a lump in his throat as he tried to console the Pirate Queen. ‘Saru was a brave monkey. She saved my life.’

‘Just be sure you kill the ninja next time!’ she replied, staring wretchedly in the direction Saru had been tossed.

Then a small red face bobbed up from the roof edge. Having checked the coast was clear, Saru scampered between the spikes and leapt into Tatsumaki’s arms.

‘Saru! My little Wind Demon!’ exclaimed the Pirate Queen, rubbing her head affectionately. ‘I knew you were tougher than any ninja.’

Relieved Saru was alive, Jack glanced towards the other Wind Demons, who were all bloody and bruised.

‘Is Li Ling OK?’ asked Jack.

One of the pirates nodded. ‘She’s helping clear the deck of samurai scum.’

‘So you’ve beaten them?’

‘Not yet,’ replied Tatsumaki, gravely scanning the floating battlefield. ‘There’s plenty more where they came from.’

The Seto Sea was awash with burning boats and sinking ships. Bodies, dead or dying, floated past like shoals of fish. Vessels still seaworthy locked horns, their crews firing point-blank at one another before boarding and fighting hand-to-hand. Despite their superior cannon, the Wind Demons were being decimated by daimyo Mori’s larger and more organized force. Sea Samurai swarmed over the pirate ships, slaughtering the crews and seizing the vessels. Jack reckoned that the pirates must have lost nearly half their fleet.

Amid the devastation the Nihon Maru pressed forward, laying down suppressive fire, protected behind a defensive ring of seki-bune. Signal flags and the blare of horagai issued from its keep, directing the Sea Samurai’s formations and attack manoeuvres. Any weaknesses in the Wind Demons’ defences were quickly spotted and exploited. The tide of battle was rapidly turning against the pirates.