The feeling of a searing chase was over as soon as they entered the looming black clouds in front of them.
“The passenger ship will soon turn left. Break through the clouds and come out directly behind it.”
Once inside the clouds, orientation is lost. Only years of experience matter here.
Dora, who had slipped into the cockpit of the Tiger Moss, shouted “All right!” and headed towards the Flapter storage compartment at the rear of the cabin, putting on her goggles as she went.
Four Flapters were placed on two rails. Charles, Louis, and Henri, each with a pirate at the controls, were waiting.
Dora, her large eagle-like nose turned red from the cold, surveyed her sons. In such a situation, it’s no good for anyone to look down, avoiding eye contact. Her sons, as always, were different from when they were at home.
Once they jump out, it’s not about calculations anymore. Only a pirate’s courage, determination, and split-second decisions can be relied upon. Dora was satisfied with her sons’ expressions, and closing her eyes, enjoyed the beating of her own excited heart.
“They’re out.”
The flight was pointing its stern this way and was drifting away.
Charles, shouting, pushed out the Flapter and quickly jumped on. The other three followed without a moment’s delay.
The Flapters, seemingly blown away by a sideways wind, left the Tiger Moss and started flapping in the air as they fell, catching the air. The powerful continuous sound of artificial muscles, “Bee,” began to cut through the wind. Almost simultaneously, the four machines turned around and headed straight under the passenger ship’s stern.
They seem not to have been noticed yet. Once the passenger ship’s Gatling guns start firing, even Dora wouldn’t be able to approach easily.
Just a breath under the stern, the three brothers rubbed their faces against the ship’s hull as they reversed and ascended. Coming out directly above the ship’s hull, upside down, they released their hands hanging from the aircraft and one by one, jumped into the gun turret. It was a splendid dance of the “Dora Circus”.
Dora stopped in the air outside the cockpit window. The crew members, with strained faces, were running around as the alarm echoed throughout the passenger ship.
Pulling her hood up to her nose, Dora launched the launcher.
The window glass shattered, and yellow powdered mustard filled the cockpit. It was just “mustard powder,” but the crew members immediately choked and writhed in agony.
Dora leaped into the ship through the broken window. While knocking down crew members one after another with the launcher, the three brothers came running down from the stairs leading to the gun turret.
“Good, perfect timing.”
Dora left it to Charles, and with a glance, took Louis and Henri and headed towards the stairs leading to the salon.
Musca, who was in the room, having heard the alarm, had called his subordinates and had started to build a barricade in the hallway.
In the military alert area where an attack was unthinkable, Musca intuitively knew that they were the targets.
“Who could it be? This route should never have been attacked.”
A subordinate asked as he threw a sofa into the hallway.
“If it’s Granny Dora, she could do it.”
Musca bitterly remembered Dora’s face from the wanted poster.
The captain in the salon, when he heard the alarm, had just reached for his third brandy.
Reflexively standing up, he headed for the bridge like a fleeing rabbit. The handgun was in the cockpit.
As he began to climb the stairs, he heard the sound of the launcher exploding. It was too late.
“Damn it!”
The sound of footsteps could be heard rushing. The captain, backing away, ran into his room next to the salon.
“Don’t move, stay together in the salon!”
He pushed back the passengers who were trying to escape to their rooms.
In the captain’s room, there was a “spirit stick” made of oak wood. He took it out and was about to jump out of the room with his sleeves rolled up when,
“Boom!”
The sound of the launcher blowing away the salon’s chandelier resonated.
“Keep quiet!”
A rough voice filled with determination controlled the salon.
“Damn, it’s that old woman after all……”
The captain hid behind the room’s door, clutching the stick.
The sound of footsteps approached along the wall.
“You bastard!”
Dora easily dodged the captain’s desperate blow. While regaining her balance, she deflected the captain’s stick, which was coming at her again, with her launcher.
While deflecting, she glanced sideways at the barricade.
There, a handgun was peeking out. Muska’s subordinate couldn’t shoot because the captain was in the way.
Dora, while fighting the captain, skillfully approached the barricade.
At that time, Muska started to use the radio telegraph key. The fortress of Tidis should have kept this emergency channel open around the clock.
“Anyway, it’s just until the nearby military patrol boat, which should be there, arrives. Even if the barricade is broken and they barricade themselves in the room, it will hold for quite a while. It’s a dangerous method, but it’s okay to puncture the gas bag and make an emergency landing along with the pirates.”
While Muska was tapping the telegraph key, something unexpected happened.
Sheeta had been standing still all the while Muska was building the barricade. Already unsure of what to do about Muska and the others, now with “pirates” added to the mix, her head was nothing but chaos.
However, one thing was clear.
A perfect opportunity to escape had arrived.
The sound of intense fighting came from the passage. As if in tune with this noise, Sheeta moved stealthily behind Muska. Once she started moving, the fear disappeared.
Picking up a wine bin that was at her feet, she quietly approached Muska…
Dora, finally nearing the barricade, knocked down the captain.
“Ugh.”
The captain lay down in the passage, clutching at the air with a demonic expression on his face.
Dora quickly dodged the responsive fire from Muska’s subordinate. She pressed herself into the dent of the guest room door and shot an explosive bullet into the barricade. When the responsive fire temporarily ceased, Louie, who was behind, shot a mustard bullet at the hole opened in the barricade.
“Boom”
A distinct sound was made, and yellow smoke rose from the other side of the barricade.
Dora swiftly leaped over the barricade and, facing Kurtz, knocked down three men with black glasses who, while coughing, were still trying to shoot.
Muska’s room was locked.
Dora used another explosive to break the door and, with a determined kick, opened it along with the holding sofa, jumping into the room.
Dora, holding the launcher with both hands, saw an unexpected scene.
The room was bright, and a man was lying down, having lost consciousness, but there was no sign of the girl.
Dora’s objective was the “flying stone” the girl was holding. Anyway, it was probably already taken, so it didn’t matter if the girl was not there.
However, why was she not there…
“Louie, check the other guest rooms.”
Dora searched the luggage quickly, but it was nowhere. Nothing came out from the body of the man, probably Muska.
Dora was thinking about the structure of the airship she should know well.
Where could there be a space to hide the girl…
Engine room, between the gas bags… Impossible. That would require the cooperation of the ship. Muska, who was acting in utmost secrecy, wouldn’t have explained the situation to the captain.
“No way…”
Dora, while getting dizzy, rushed to the window and opened it fully.
Strong wind blew in, and the sound of the ship’s fabric trembling could be heard.
Below, the lights of the mines from WI could be seen.
Dora, leaning her upper body out and looking left and right, shouted.
“It’s dangerous! Don’t do something reckless!”
Sheeta was trying to escape to the next guest room by following the seams of the airship’s fabric and thin wires.
She reached out her hand to the wooden window frame.
“Stop it! It’s painted with varnish, you’ll slip! Come back!”
Sheeta only looked back a little but did not stop moving.
Dora, seeing the tear-shaped pendant hung around Sheeta’s neck, inadvertently held her breath.
<Is that the levitation stone…?>
However, it looked just like an ordinary stone, slightly different from what Dora had arbitrarily imagined.
The strong wind flapped against Sheeta.
“It’s dangerous!”
Dora placed her foot on the window frame, leaning out to follow Sheeta.
Sheeta released the thin wire and clung to the window frame with both hands. When she tried to pull herself up, her hands slipped–
Her whole body stiffened. The face of the screaming pirate, for a moment, seemed to freeze and recede.
Receiving the moonlight, the ship’s body spun round and round, and with a haze in front of her as the last thing she saw, Sheeta was dragged into the darkness.
