Crux’s eyes widened in horror as he was seized and his hands bound behind his back. The two guards dragged him over to the starboard bulwark. They tied a stout line under his arms and around his chest. The line had been threaded through a block hung from the lower yardarm and passed under the ship. The end of the rope on the port side was fastened to Crux’s ankles.

‘Hoist him,’ ordered the captain.

The two guards raised Crux off the deck and clear of the starboard bulwark. As he swung above the water, the other pirates looked grimly on.

‘May this be a lesson to you all,’ said Captain Arashi, indicating for the guards to let go of the line.

Screaming, Crux dropped out of view and plunged into the sea.

‘Are they drowning him?’ whispered Yori in alarm.

Jack, who’d heard of the punishment of keel-hauling from other sailors on-board the Alexandria, shook his head. ‘No, it’s far worse than that.’

The two guards pulled on the line until it went taut. Then, hand over hand, they hauled in the rope from the opposite bulwark. At one point, the line appeared to have stuck on the keel and they needed help to yank it free.

Crux eventually reappeared on the port side … or what was left of him.

Yori covered his eyes, nearly fainting from shock. Crux’s body had been dragged across the barnacles on the hull. The rough shells had grated the skin and flesh from Crux’s stomach, chest and face. The pirate was completely unrecognizable, his crucifix tattoo the only remaining clue to his identity. Blood poured from the open wounds.

‘A fitting punishment for a pirate,’ said Captain Arashi with satisfaction.

He let the tortured pirate hang there for all to witness the gruesome fate that awaited them. A spluttering of breath was heard from Crux’s torn lips. Half-drowned, the ninja pirate wasn’t dead yet.

‘And again!’ said the captain, indifferent to the man’s suffering.

The Wind Demons stood in sickened silence as their fellow pirate was hauled under the ship once more. This time, all that emerged from the sea was a ragged carcass of lifeless flesh.

Captain Arashi approached the next Wind Demon in line.

‘Where’s your pirate base located?’

Despite the grisly threat hanging from the yardarm, the pirate didn’t answer. It became apparent to Jack that the Wind Demons must have their own code of honour. Like bushido or ninniku, these men had made an unbreakable oath that bound them to silence, even in the face of torture and death.

‘Cut off his hands,’ ordered Captain Arashi, his patience at an end.

A samurai stepped forward, katana drawn. ‘Hold out your arms.’