When the head gunner had been assured of their accuracy, Tatsumaki gave Jack the privilege of issuing the firing order. For a brief moment, Jack had hesitated. He’d questioned himself about aiding the Wind Demons. But with his survival and the fate of his imprisoned friends at stake, he’d realized there was no other option. Between the Sea Samurai and the Wind Demons, the Pirate Queen was the lesser of two evils.

The daejon arrows shot upwards, their tethers trailing out behind them. The Sea Samurai on the battlements ducked as the ten projectiles soared past. They entirely missed the Nihon Maru’s battlements. Jack could just imagine the relief on the samurai’s faces … and the utter shock and bewilderment as the iron-tipped arrows struck the Nihon Maru’s keep. They embedded themselves in the whitewashed walls up to their flights. A unit of samurai rushed to rescue their lord from the keep’s upper tower. But Jack’s plan wasn’t to kill the daimyo.

‘ROW LIKE THE WIND!’ he shouted and threw his weight behind the nearest oar with six other men as the drummer took up the rhythm.

The Koketsu surged away from the Nihon Maru, gaining speed with every oar stroke. Then the ship suddenly jarred to a halt as the ten ropes tied to its stern snapped taut.

‘Keep rowing!’ grunted Jack.

The oarsmen pushed and pulled on the yuloh oars, their muscles bulging, sweat pouring down their backs, as the Koketsu’s timbers creaked and groaned with the strain.

Jack glanced through the stern porthole. The Koketsu appeared dead in the water, all forward momentum lost.

‘ROW HARDER!’ he cried above the drummer’s insistent beat.

Like a tug-of-war between David and Goliath, the Koketsu fought against the monumental bulk of the Nihon Maru. But the command ship was immovable.

‘It’s not working!’ said Tatsumaki, glaring at Jack.

‘It will,’ he replied. ‘Just give it a chance!’

But doubts were being raised in his own mind too. However hard the Wind Demons rowed, they were simply not powerful enough to overcome the mighty Nihon Maru. The pirates plunged their oars in again and again. The ropes stretched to their limit. Then two of them snapped. Jack’s plan was fast unravelling.

‘COME ON!’ he roared. ‘FOR YOUR QUEEN!’

A tremendous burst of effort came from the Wind Demons and the Koketsu edged over a wave. Three more ropes broke. Oars dived into the water, propelling the Koketsu onward. Jack stared in desperate hope at the command ship. With its keep being dragged sideways, the deck was now heeling dangerously. The Sea Samurai, finally understanding what was happening, rushed to the port side to counter the perilous slant of the deck. But the Nihon Maru had reached tipping point.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall, thought Jack.