Aldred got attacked by a bunch of sea monsters on the way back, but he killed them all. What Tulban said was right. Monsters would viciously attack anything that moves on the surface. If not for the immense battle that was going on right now, there would be more monsters chasing after him.
After he returned to The Mother of Destruction, Burchard reported that he had lost one cruiser and two destroyers.
Aldred slammed the table. "Fucking pirates! I will kill every single one of them if I have the chance!"
…
There was a skull island on the southern sea, veiled by mountains and thick mist, many went in but were never seen. But if a person were peering through the mist and traveling past the maze-like canal, one would notice a volcano in the shape of a skull. Both its eyes lit up red with bubbling lava within it.
It was said that a brave Commodore from the Ceraisian Empire once traveled to this land to eliminate the pirates, but his existence was long forgotten as he never came back.
Living on this island was the Red Skull Pirate.
Ships of all sizes and conditions docked nearby. Most of them were destroyed, and two out of three motherships were heavily damaged.
Inside the volcano, Marshton took a slow step forward as the guard pushed the gate of the throne room for him.
Sat upon the throne was a tall man. His face was covered by a red skull that barely hid his long, blonde hair.
It was said that Admiral York was a handsome man. So handsome that a noblewoman would forget about her dignity and throw herself at him.
"Admiral York," Marshton slightly bowed when he arrived six feet away from the throne.
There was pin-drop silence. Marshton gulped as he could even hear his own sweat falling to the floor. He had made a grave mistake this time, and he was worried that he might fall out of favor.
He had been York's commodore for years, but Marshton knew that York would remove him if he proved to be incompetent. The captains under him would replace him with a wide smile on their faces.
"This is the first time you disappoint me."
"I have no excuse for my failure. Please punish me however you see fit."
York stared at him. Marshton couldn't tell if he truly stared or not because the skull hid his eyes.
"Your punishment will be presenting me with treasures and fine women from Subiabiterbo."
Subiabiterbo was the name of the island that they tried to blockade, but failed because a powerful fleet with one mothership forced them to retreat.
It was a rich island with only one port city with the same name. Marshton had planned to attack that island for months under York's command, but he return with broken ships instead of chests filled with gold and jewelry.
In other words, York did not punish him at all. However, Marshton did not show any sign of relief. He knew he could die any time soon because he earned this position by witnessing personally how York had disposed of the commodore before him.
"I will learn from my mistake and fulfill your wish, Admiral."
York snapped his finger, and two guards dragged a muscular man before pushing him to the ground.
"Use him to strengthen your ship. He has thick skin so make sure you whip him hard if you need him to obey."
Marshton frowned, wondering who this man was. He grabbed the man's head and tilted it up. His eyes widened when he saw who the man was.
"Dobbs the Great Smith."
…
"Ahh! I will kill those damn pirates! My ships!"
"Relax, Aldred. You only lose three ships."
"Each of those ships cost billions to make! Billions! I cannot forgive those pirates! I will find them and sell their kidneys to replace my destroyed ships!"
Stella held his shoulder and looked him in the eye. "Calm down. Look at the bright side. You made great damages to two of their motherships, and you destroyed more than a dozen of their ships."
"That's right," Mareona joined in. "People said that an eye for an eye, but you took their entire heart out."
All of his women calmed him down and eventually, Aldred stopped raging.
"Burchard, can we scrap the destroyed ships and rebuild them?"
Burchard nodded. "We can, but the water here is deep, and we cannot swim far too down below or we will die."
"Don't worry about that. I have something to get rid of it."
…
"Up. Up. Slightly to the left. Good. Now drop it," Aldred instructed Xer Xai as she drop the scraps onto the cargo ships.
"Good job. Now go down there again and pick more scraps."
Xer Xai did not hesitate and dove into the water.
"You too. Go do something useful." Aldred looked at Pongo.
Pongo snorted and belched out two tons of metal scraps from his stomach.
Aldred spat on the floor. "Xer Xai can bring 150 tons of scraps at once."
Pongo glared at him and he leaped into the sea.
"Aldred! Where should I put this?" Stella asked with her hands glowing and a large bulk of scraps about 200 tons worth levitating above her.
"Just put it next to Xer Xai's scraps." Aldred gulped. He was slightly jealous of Stella's power that it could do almost anything from teleportation, levitation, buff, and even create a vehicle.
Stella slowly lowered the bulk of scrap and released her spell when it landed safely.
They had been diving into the sea and collecting scraps for a few hours now. Aldred also told them to collect the enemy's ships and recycle their material later. Since he defeated them, those ships can be considered his property now.
He was sure he destroyed about fifteen to twenty ships.
"Hehe, fighting pirates might be a beneficial activity. I can steal their ships and no one will think of me as a criminal."
While collecting the scraps, Aldred did not forget his real purpose: to sail to the east and find the next treasure.
But the battle against the pirates taught him that his fleet wasn't strong enough just to sail about anywhere. What if his enemies bring three motherships next time?
So he had to strengthen his fleet and create an effective strategy to fight more than a numerous and powerful fleet.
He had discussed this with Burchard and went to talk to the captains about this. Compared to the vast sea, they were merely small in power.
