They soon left the shoreline behind, and began on a trip that none of them had expected. Not once had any of them set foot on the deck of a ship. It was an entirely new experience, and they approached it like curious children.
"Give changing the direction of the sail a go, father."
They were out at sea now, and their destination lay west of their current position. The wind was currently driving them north, so the angle of the sail needed to be altered so that it would drive them where they wished to go. It had to be done steadily, however. Else the huge force of the wind hitting the flag was liable to capsize them.
When you reach Morohira's age, it is very rare that you have to learn an entirely new skill, so he was rather impatient as he played with the rope attempting to steer it into position.
"Can you do it a bit less aggressively? I feel like you might kill us."
Rokkaku complained, seeing the way in which he was attacking the rope.
"Shut up... I've almost got it."
He said through gritted teeth, before pumping his fist triumphantly, as he tied it off with the sail now into position.
"Perfect."
Gengyo said with approval. The ship gently changed it's course, spurred on by the new angle of the sails, catching the wind.
The waves were rather gentle in this part of the water, as they were still within sight of the shore. It made the journey rather comfortable.
They were able to admire the great blue stretch of water from an entirely different position, and were intrigued to see the ship crash through great waves, breaking them against it's hull.
It was a little unnerving how small they were when compared to the vastness of the ocean, but they soon grew more at ease, realizing they were not in any immediate danger.
"Where are we heading to, lad?"
Jikouji called out as Gengyo stood by the hull, enjoying the new experience to it's fullest.
"It does not have a name - at least, not on the maps. I only hope that it is unoccupied."
"Eh?"
Once more his questions were answered rather cryptically, as he struggled to guess what the lad was referring to.
But it did not matter, they would find out soon enough. They clung to whatever they could, to save themselves from being thrown overboard. They struggled to imagine raiding another ship with this unsteady deck beneath their feet.
Yet their leader could imagine it in great detail - more than that, he could see it working. But it required some alterations, some changes to the vessel that were currently residing on. It was too slow, that was the main problem. Also, it lacked any firepower. But placing cannons on a fragile ship like this would likely be counter productive.
The main strategy he hoped to employ was to get close to a ship before they even knew what was happening. They looked like any trading vessel might. Other sh.i.p.s would have no reason to fear them.
After a little while spent sailing, he brought them closer to the shore, so that they could pay more attention to the costal features, and keep and eye out for the point he had noted on the map.
For a while, stretches of small sand beaches played out, but that soon turned into walls of jagged cliffs that blocked any attempt at harbouring. He continued to stare at those cliffs, as the men wondered quite what he was looking out for.
"THERE!"
He shouted. It was easy to miss. In fact, he was surprised that such a place had been doc.u.mented at all. It was a small cove in between two cliffs that offered just enough passage for their small trading vestle to slip in.
On the map, it was marked as a tiny dip within the coastline, but it was the most promising point he could find within the shortest distance from Toyone. Now that he was seeing it up close, it was undeniably perfect. So perfect that it seemed unlikely that it was unoccupied.
But since that map was dated as 300 years prior to their current time, he hoped that it might have been forgotten about, or better yet, not paid any attention to at all.
They turned the sail gently once more, alterting their path so that they began to head towards the cove.
"This is the point you were looking for? Mm. It does look ideal."
Jikouji commented upon reviewing it. But the problem was getting in and out without damaging their vessel. There were only a few metres of leeway on either side, so they had to be rather accurate.
Currently, they were going far too fast.
"Ah, shit! Drop the anchor!"
Gengyo called out. Ideally, they would have unfurled the sail, but he had never done that before, and so did not want to risk it at such a tentative moment.
With Sasaki and Rokkaku on the job, the anchor was quickly thrown overboard, catching the ground below, slowing them down greatly.
As it happened, their aligning was all but perfect, so they made some final adjustments to the angle of the sail, and raised the anchor, continuing inside past the two walls of rock.
That instance where they passed through the mouth of rock was greatly unnerving. It was like going through a tunnel, except, the tunnel had every chance of putting a hole in their ship.
Soon, a sandy shore was in sight, and – though they threw the anchor down once more – they ended up crashing upon it with a worrying creaking sound.
"Shit…"
Gengyo cursed. Their lack of experience was so glaring. But as he hopped overboard in haste to check for damage, there did not appear to be anything wrong. And, in fareness, this worked out perfectly, as it allowed them to dismount the ship more easily.
With the ramp secured, the rest came down, admiring the isolated little cove. There was no one in sight. It was a small patch of idyllic waters, but it's imprisonment by the two cliffs was likely the reason most tended to ignore it.
"What a beauty!"
Morohira exclaimed, digging his hand into the sand, allowing it to run through his fingers. It was a picturesque location, and better still, it was the perfect hiding place for their thieves ship.
"Good find lad! All those hours looking at maps was not for nothing, it seems."
Jikouji praised.
Most of them were rather pleased to have solid land beneath their feet once again, despite only being at sea for a couple of hours. They were in no way used to the swaying motion of the deck, and it had rendered them rather queezy.
"So this is where we will keep this ship of ours, but it will also serve as a building space whilst we upgrade it."
"Upgrade it?"
Kitajo repeated.
"Yup. As it is, it is simply a trading vestle. We wouldn't have a chance at getting close to those European sh.i.p.s. They're too fast, and, if they get suspicious, we'll be blasted out of the water."
"And so, in terms of upgrades, I'm thinking we improve it's speed. Add an extra mast, and add some oars on the lower deck."
The men were nodding. Such additions should be easy for any shipwrights, and they were certain to give them the extra speed that they needed.
"But, I want the second mast to be easily removeable, and the oar holes to be easily hidden."
"…"
He always seemed to be asking the impossible.
"…Why?"
Jikouji dared to ask.
"We will wear black sails as well. Whenever we approach with the intention of boarding, that is what we will wear. Two masts, black sails, and oars. People will be on the look out for a ship of that kind, and so will be caught off guard when we approach looking like a common trading vessel."
Rokkaku started clapping, only stopping when he looked round and realized the others weren't. They shot him a funny look, wondering what on earth he was doing.
"What? It's a good idea!"
He said defensively. Gengyo smiled at his comical approval, but nevertheless was pleased to have it.
"Aye, it would work well, once we get it done. But finding someone capable of doing it to your standards… that will be tricky."
Jikouji lamented, knowing what his new job would be.
"I knew you would understand, Jikouji."
The young man said with a big smile.
Whenever they were to rob a vessel in future, they would always do so with those three attributes: black sails, two masts, and oars. This – whilst in the future would warn people of their intentions, as word of their ship spread – would become their trump card. Whenever they had completed a robbery, they only needed needed to remove those attributes.
And, once people were conditioned to fear the black sailed ship, they would approach using white sails, catching them completely off guard.
"Sigh… I have an idea where I might find one, but it'll take a while to get there."
"That's fine. Let's see if we can get up this cliff, and then we'll start walking home."
"Already? We're just going to leave it here?"
Morohira questioned, feeling uneasy about leaving there 1300 gold prize so exposed.
"Correct. It should be fine. If we ride north east of here, we should arrive back home before the end of the day. It's actually a shorter distance from here to Toyone than it is from Toyone to Toyokawa."
"You said we'd be a couple of days though, lad."
Morohira pointed out.
"I did. I added extra time just in case this cove was occupied, and then we would have to travel a little further, and check out another one."
"Well, I'm bloody glad it's here. I hate travelling."
He complained.
"Aye, well, let's get the horses off, and let's head home."
He instructed, making sure the ramp was firm before they began leading the horses off. The cove was relatively blocked in, with no real way of passing through even from the land. But there was an extremely steep path in one corner of the beach that offered a hope out.
The horses were sent up without a problem, but it was the men who struggled. They tried to tackle it with speed, but many of them still ended up flat on their face.
'We'd better put some stairs here in future.'
He thought to himself, making a mental note of the inconvience. They would carrying heavy goods, and at the very least they needed a good foothold.
Finally – with the help of both Morohira and Rokkaku – the large frame of Sasaki was dragged to the top of the hill to join the rest of them and their horses.
They bid their new vessel one last farewell, before beginning the journey home so that they might seek out a suitable shipwright who would prepare the ship for it's new career in piracy.
It was as Gengyo said, and with the aid of his map, they were able to get home in far more quickly than they had expected. They did not pass any noteable settlements along the way, as the coastline at this point appeared to be fairly abandoned. There was nothing there to make people want to stay. No fertile land. No fishing capabilities.
And whilst that might be unfortunate for some people, it was certainly not the case for them, as it allowed them free reign of the area, with no curious on-lookers, and no expectations imposed on them by nearby settlers.
From this little cove of theirs, they extended their promise to Imagawa. Not only would they set the land of his province in flame, but they would cause chaos upon the sea as well.