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Work was now centred on the lower deck, with oars being put in, and benches being laid, so that they could row closer to the enemy at speed. This was text-book work for the Morojo’s and they proceeded without a hint of stress.

The rest of them kept up with their training as they waited. The sand underneath their feet provided a different dynamic for their footwork, so it was rather interesting.

The two women were, of course, included in the training. Rin continued to spar with Kitajo, whilst Akiko was placed with Enya, who was a good deal better than Ii.

Isabella had been invited to join, but having known that she had nowhere near their skill with the sword, she had let out a cold reply.

"Ha. A woman like me would never engage in such foolishness."

Morohira had laughed loudly at that, and thrown her a short wooden wakizashi blade.

"You’re an information girl, aye? What happens when you get caught, and you’re trapped by a man like me? Eh?"

He had then proceeded to charge her unarmed. She thrust out with her eyes closed, feeling a small glimmer of fear as he ran at her at such speed.

But it had been all too easy for him to dodge to the side, and he lifted her to his shoulders, before running toward the water.

"AH!"

She’d gasped as she was dropped into the cold water, and instantly soaked. There was not a single part of her body that had remained dry.

"Haha, see? No fun, eh? Still better than being dead though."

Morohira proved his point as effectively as he was able. The reason he was able to toss her around like a soulless toy was because she had no training. Had she had more experience, then it would not have ended up the way it did.

But it took her a while to realize that, and as she sat by the fire, shivering, she thoroughly hated his guts. Even Akiko stood up for her, thinking Morohira had gone too far.

"Miura-san... That’s no good! She’ll catch a cold, and won’t be able to train at all."

He had shrugged guiltlessly, and he and Rokkaku shared a laugh.

"She’ll be alright! Concentrate on training, Akiko. Unless you think you can beat me already, haha!"

She’d pouted in response to that. He was a bit of tyrant in his leadership, but that was his way. He was not an unkind man, but was simply impulsive. He acted based on instinct, and spared little time for thought. Though it happened more than once that as they reflected on it, his impulsive decision had proved to be the best course of action.

"Don’t bully Akiko! Or I’ll bully you for the rest of your life – after I get strong enough."

Rin proclaimed, coming to Akiko’s aid.

She had been progressing steadily, and Kitajo was no longer able to beat her quite so easily. Their bouts lasted longer. It was enlightening for Kitajo to fight the likes of her as well – her wild, unpredictable style, was like that of Morohira’s, except not quite as ruthless – not yet. The more she trained with the men, the more she neglected her formal training in a set style, and instead, she merely operated on instinct.

Akiko was quite the opposite. She took Jikouji to be something of an instructor, and under his guidance, her form became even more fluid and refined, as she executed strikes perfectly. Enya had to constantly fight at full focus, else she would wipe the floor with him, as she had ended up doing more than once.

Morohira had insisted that they train with the sword as well as the naginata.

"There will be times," he had said. "When you have nothing to fight with other than the weapon you take from the man who died next to you."

It was a situation he was rather familiar with himself. More like, it was how he fought in general. He would always take another weapon to fill his free hand so that he wielded two at once, ensuring maximum destruction.

It was not bad advice at all. And it reminded the rest of the men that they should keep their spear skills sharp. And so, they had nagged the Morojo’s until they had made them some makeshift spears to share, and trained with those at least once a day.

It was a pleasant few days for them – training, and relaxing – and the girls found themselves warming more and more to this sort of lifestyle. It was what they spent their time together doing anyway, only now, they had skilled opponents that they could fight against.

Isabella ended up taking Morohira’s advise, and began training with the small wakizashi. A sword or the like was pointless for her. She needed a blade that she could easily conceal, as she would never allow herself to be found on a battlefield.

"YAH!"

She let all her aggression out in a single strike, slashing towards Morohira’s midsection. But he – fighting her unarmed – had easily been able to dodge her strike, and seize control of her arm, forcing her into submission.

Perhaps it was a slightly unfair fight for her – not in a million years did she have a chance of winning – but Morohira had taken it as his personal mission to endow her with some amount of fighting skills.

She had, after all, proved useful. And if they were to keep up with their piracy career – with him in charge – then she needed to stay alive, and defend herself.

On her first evening with them, she had shared the information she had gathered, whislt they sat around the fire. It was her attempt at proving her usefulness, and it had largely succeeded, as what she told them was detailed and specific.

"The ship I think we should target is a trading skiff, like our own. It carries iron ore, to be processed from the mines of Suruga. It comes to the port every evening, bringing the material that they have worked free during the day, and then, four men come, and help them unload the material onto two carts."

She said, drawing arrows within the sand to accent her words.

"Mm, why do you think we should target this one, as opposed to the others?"

Jikouji asked, genuinely curious – not trying to test her.

But she misread his intentions, and responded more harshly than she should have.

"Because this ship comes daily. It would be a little upsetting if you were waiting for a ship that never arrived would it not? Granted, the amount of iron they bring each day changes. But we will still make a good amount should we sell it to local smiths, wouldn’t we?"

"I see."

The old man responded evenly, nodding. It was good enough for him.

"How are we going to do it though..."

Kitajo asked, nervously, as everyone turned to look at him curiously.

"What do you mean?"

Morohira questioned.

"Ah... It’s just... There’ll be a lot of iron and stuff won’t there? How will we get it all onto our ship before someone comes and notices what we’re doing? And where will we put it? We’ll be rowing on the lower deck so... I don’t mean to be pessimistic, it’s just better to know."

"No need to apologise, little man, your questions are good."

Morohira reassured him with a nod, though he did not move to answer them himself, and merely sat there looking self-satisfied.

"I’d say you could still fit a decent amount on the lower deck."

The shipwright, Morojo put in.

"And then we’ll just stick the rest on the upper deck, aye? See, Kitajo. It’ll be fine. We’ll just have to move quickly, and toss it over. If anyone comes... Well, we’re faster than everyone else, right Morojo?"

Morohira put in, seeking support from Morojo once more.

"Oh, without a doubt. Two masts on a ship of your size and weight? You’ll fly. Add the oars on top of that? You’re untouchable. Even those fancy European vessels won’t be able to catch up to ya."

Kitajo looked up at the old shipwright speaking so passionately about their speed, and felt a lot more reassured, allowing a nod.

"Alright, that’s good enough for me."

He decided.

And so everything in regards to planning had been cleared up. As soon as the ship was ready, they would set sail, and intercept the trading vessel on its way to Toyokawa. Isabella had proved that her information collecting abilities were reliable, and no one had anything to say in objection to her choice of raiding the iron ship.

The looming mission is what leant more fervour to their training efforts – especially for Akiko and Rin. They had not yet been out at sea on the ship, and did not know how difficult the swaying deck would make combat. And so, they threw themselves into training, learning as much as they could, and progressing as fast as possible, so that when it came time to fight, they would not drag the men down.

The three women were gradually becoming more integrated into their group, as were Morojo and his men. They all got on well enough with each other, and understood their roles. People were responding better to Morohira’s leadership better than might be expected. It was reassuring to see that his mannerisms hardly changed once he was given the role, but he still did his best to look after everyone, as overbearing as he was.

In evenings, he had developed a habit of sitting with Morojo, spitting various ideas at him, and having the bearded man tell him whether they were plausible or not.

"A giant cannon on the whole lower deck that destroys any ship with one shot!"

"How would you load it? The recoil would probably tear the ship apart."

Morojo had responded rather patiently, aside from the frown that he had.

"A big battle ram so we can crash into other sh.i.p.s. That’ll work, eh?"

He considered his suggestions seriously, as he stroked his beard. Sometimes it took someone from a different profession to come up with the out-of-the-box ideas that were needed for progress.

"Could work. Would be better if your ship was heavier though. Plus, if you were to sink the ship, then you wouldn’t be able to loot it, would you?"

"Mm... Good point. What about cannons that fire harpoons, yeah? If we get like three of those, we can pull the ship towards us using the rope, right?"

"...Hm. If you could get a small cannon, that wouldn’t have too much recoil on your ship, then it’s doable, and would probably be pretty effective. Dunno how to go about doing that, though."

"Ha! We’ll make that then. We’ll have the best boarding mechanism in the history of Japan, and we’ll be unstoppable!"

He said triumphantly, having finally got an idea past the old shipwright. He was genuinely serious about pursuing the construction of it. After seeing his son at work with various tools, he understood the importance of invention and new thinking.