Black market boxing is not only intense but also bloody. Every year, a large number of wealthy people and gamblers from various star systems come with wads of cash to watch these thrilling yet savage and bloody matches. When I was nineteen, the boxer from our "Killer Bee" was beaten to death in the ring. The Pirate Alliance sent a message to Captain Sevenfingers, demanding that a new boxer be delivered within half a month, or else the "Killer Bee" would not receive any share of this year's underground boxing profits. As the end of the year approached, Captain Sevenfingers naturally wouldn't give up such a juicy cut; he had to pick someone new to send to the underground boxing training camp as a fighter.

Chapter Two

I remember clearly that day when Captain Sevenfingers walked up to us carrying a box with his right hand, which had only two fingers left. "Bang!" He threw the box in front of us, his gloomy gaze sweeping over every one of us. Then, with a flick of the laser knife in his hand, the lid of the box flew off. We all gasped in unison—not because of Captain Sevenfingers's knife skills, but because the box was filled to the brim with Rocky crystal ore. In the modern space age, what is most important? Money? No, it's energy! Without energy, even the most advanced interstellar carrier is just a pile of scrap metal. And the energy source of the space age is this crystal ore, discovered by the famous physical chemist Rocky in 223 BSE (Before Space Era) and named after him. The discovery of this crystal made large-scale human space travel possible. It can directly power modern spaceship engines, and its purity is extremely high. A box of Rocky crystal ore half a meter square like this is enough to keep the highest-grade carrier running for a week. Of course, Rocky crystal ore is also extremely valuable—its price is on par with the most precious metal, Euzia Gold. The value of a box like this is estimated to be around five million cosmic credits, about the same as the value of the "Killer Bee" pirate ship itself.

Captain Sevenfingers saw the greed in our eyes and a smug smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He shouted, "I know you’re unhappy with the rules I set—that I get half the loot! But you have no choice, because you don’t have a ship!"

He pointed at the box on the ground and said, "See this? This is the most valuable Rocky crystal ore! A box like this is enough for you to buy a ship just like my precious 'Killer Bee', or even better! Among you, is there really no one who wants to become a captain? No one who wants to stand above all, to command the winds and the rain? Do you want to spend your whole life as a lowly pirate?" Captain stood on his favorite high platform, stretched out the index finger of his left hand, his arm slanting downward, pointing at the crowd of pirates below and roaring.

Hearing Captain's words, my heart started pounding. No! I don’t want that, I don’t want it! I want a ship of my own, one hundreds of times better than the "Killer Bee", because I am hundreds of times better than Captain Sevenfingers! Captain saw the eager looks in the eyes of us young men and smiled again: "Ten matches! As long as you can fight in ten top-level matches, you can get everything you want!" Suddenly, we understood—it was about underground boxing. The older pirates left one after another, not because they were too old to fight, but because they knew that no one who went to fight ever came back.

I also knew how dangerous underground boxing was, but I didn’t want to give up. A nearly perfect pirate ship kept flashing before my eyes—golden side wings, a formidable main cannon, and a tail rudder as nimble as a swallow’s... "Come on! Step forward! As long as you can fight in ten matches, just ten matches, you can make your dreams come true! Drink the best wine in the universe, sleep with the most beautiful women in the universe, eat the most delicious food in the universe!" The devilish temptation of Captain Sevenfingers echoed in my ears again, and Uncle Brandon pulled me back.

"Don’t go!" As soon as we got back to the room, the first thing Uncle Brandon said to me was this. I was stunned. Uncle Brandon said, "I could tell from the look in your eyes that you wanted to go—you can’t hide it from me, I watched you grow up, I know you too well... Don’t go..." He repeated, "Ever since this ship started participating in underground boxing, not a single fighter has ever come back. The brutality of those matches is beyond your imagination!" "Let me think about it," I said. Uncle Brandon looked at me, and I met his gaze stubbornly. He nodded helplessly, "Alright..."

Should I go or not? That night, I tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. A beautiful pirate ship kept floating before my eyes, and Captain's words echoed in my ears again and again. Why can I only be an ordinary pirate? Why does Captain Sevenfingers get half the loot without ever fighting? Why do I have to take orders from others? I thought of Uncle Brandon—he’s already old, and maybe in a few years he won’t be able to go out and fight with everyone anymore. The fate of old pirates is tragic; with no source of income, they often die in hunger and cold. But Uncle Brandon won’t, because he has me. I won’t let him live like that; I’ll take care of him. But who will I have in the future? If I keep living as an unknown pirate like I am now, maybe my whole life will end up just like Uncle Brandon—only my ending will be more ordinary, not as lucky as his.