If you have been having a problem with the muggers in the forests
killing you, or taking you money. All you have to do is decrease your
reputation to "Horror of the High Seas". Do this by either working for
Santos as an assassin, or sinking a vessel you are escorting. Once your
reputation is "Horror of the High Seas", the muggers will still come up
to you, but tell them that you will not surrender your gold. And then
they will run away. Now if you want to still fight them, attack them
while they are running away.