Elsewhere, five pirate ships trailed at a distance of two to three nautical miles from each other. They were spread out widely, maintaining enough space to avoid interference. Four of them were under the command of the Pirate Admirals, while the last one had a background that was far more complicated.
"What's that?"
The helmsman of the Ludkin pirate ship suddenly pointed at a fast-approaching dark shadow in the distance, his face filled with astonishment.
Beside him, the second mate took a swig of beer and laughed heartily, "Isn't it just a cloud? Why are you making a fuss? Hm, it's just…flying a bit fast."
But then, his eyes suddenly bulged wide.
"That's not a cloud! It's a dragon!! A dragon!!"
WHOOSH!
Seconds later, a fire dragon the size of a pirate ship hovered above them.
Edward's figure appeared at the side of Anna's head, wearing a warm, sunny smile on his face.
"Good evening, everyone. I've got an announcement to make."
"Congratulations, you're being robbed!"
"Hand over your treasure, or your ship goes down with you on it."
There was a heavy silence that lasted for over ten seconds—
Then, a furious roar came from the captain's cabin:
"Dragon, my ass! It's just a damned beast! Shoot it down! Whoever kills it gets to keep its parts!"
Bang!
He fired the first shot himself.
The rest of the pirates immediately grew excited and drew their guns.
Bullets flew one after another, accompanied by attacks from a few hunters and sailors who had supernatural abilities.
Edward had long since cast the Iron Armour Charm on Annie (though dragons were naturally resistant to magic, the charm still provided some extra protection). For a short period, blocking the incoming bullets was no problem. Raising his wand high, he swung it with force—
"Fiendfyre!"
Boom!
Anna opened her maw and also unleashed a torrent of blazing flames.
Just as Edward had mentioned earlier, although he was merely a Sequence 7, with the combination of magic and a fire dragon, facing an entire pirate crew of dozens—including the Beyonders—on land would still be a tough challenge.
But the moment the first tendril of Fiendfyre licked the side of the Ludkin, the battle was already over.
"Damn it! What kind of fire is this?! It won't go out—ahhh!!!"
As the first pirate brave—or foolish—enough to fight the Fiendfyre was burned to ash, the rest immediately understood just how terrifying that flame was. Panic swept the deck as everyone scrambled to flee.
But they could run—the ship couldn't. And once the fire consumed the hull, whether they were burned alive or drowned in the sea, the end was inevitable. The nearest land was dozens of nautical miles away—how many of them could even swim that far?
"We surrender!"
"We surrender!"
When it came to life and death, nothing else mattered. The pirates threw down their weapons and cried out in surrender. Moments later, a bald, dark-skinned man burst out from the burning captain's cabin, waving a white flag with all his might.
Edward waved his wand once again, extinguishing the Fiendfyre. But by then, half the Ludkin had already been consumed by flames, and it was on the verge of sinking.
He still wore that pleasant, easygoing smile.
"Tell your backers—the one who robbed you is Captain Gehrman Sparrow. If they want revenge, they're welcome to come find me."
Ten minutes later, the Hook arrived and came alongside the Ludkin. The pirates gleefully jumped across and began collecting loot—anything wearable, pocketable or stashed in storage—everything was fair game.
Once the Hook's men had taken their fill, Edward quietly tossed out a few Imperius Curses, then rode the fire dragon toward the next ship, ready to replicate the operation.
Although the second pirate ship had managed to prepare in advance, they still couldn't withstand the Fiendfyre, and soon surrendered. They, too, waited helplessly for the Hook to come and plunder their wealth.
Next came the third ship, and then the fourth. The process was always the same—intimidation, robbery, and a few well-placed curses for good measure.
By the time they reached the fifth ship, the crew had already turned tail and tried to escape. But their ship was too slow. Watching the fire dragon descend from the sky, they dropped their weapons and surrendered without even attempting to fight.
When the Hook finally caught up, the captain of the fifth ship had already ordered all the treasure packed up and ready for collection.
Once again, Edward left behind the same message:
"Tell your backers—the one who robbed you is Captain Gehrman Sparrow. If they want revenge, they can come find me."
Then, with a beat of Anna's wings, they soared into the sky, climbing rapidly. Once they had reached nearly a thousand meters above sea level, Edward pulled out his suitcase and turned it upside down.
Anna's massive body twisted, shrank, and vanished into the trunk.
Edward then hopped on his flying broomstick and sped toward the Hook.
The pirates on board were absolutely delighted. No need to fight, no need to risk their lives—the captain did all the killing, all they had to do was shout "awesome!" from the sidelines and then pick up the spoils. This was the kind of captain they had only dreamed of.
Tap.
Edward landed softly outside the captain's cabin. Danitz walked up with a complicated look on his face.
"...Captain, I've been at sea for years. But I've never seen anyone do it quite like you."
Edward smiled. "Maybe I'm just not as 'by-the-book' as most pirates."
"By-the-book? You expect pirates to follow rules?" Danitz snorted. "Rules are made by the strong. As long as you're strong enough, you can break all of them."
"Oh? Should I take that as flattery?"
"Nope." Danitz shrugged. "I mean it. You've just shattered the rules made by some pretty powerful people. You'd better be ready for them to retaliate."
"I'm waiting," Edward said calmly, then turned to face One-Eyed Cage. "So, what did we get?"
"Captain, according to our estimates—cash, gold, treasure—converted into gold pounds, we've got at least eight thousand pounds!"
"That's it?"
"Uh...actually, that's way more than we expected. At least eighty percent of it came from the five captains. You know how it is—regular pirates never carry money on them."
"I see."
Edward recalled The Hanged Man, Alger. In the early days, even he barely had two or three thousand gold pounds on him.
With that thought, Edward picked up a stick and banged it hard against the deck.
"Everyone!"
The deck fell silent instantly.
"How do you all feel about tonight's operation?"
"Awesome!"
"That was amazing!"
"When's the next time?"
"Long live the Captain!"
Edward nodded with a smile. "Do you remember what I just told you? Who's the wealthiest on the seas?"
Everyone shouted excitedly, "Pirates!"
"Then, if we're short on money, who should we rob?"
"Pirates!"
"And what if the pirates refuse to hand over their money?"
"Burn their ships! Kill them all!"
"Very good."
With a pleasant tone and a warm smile, Edward continued:
"Now I declare—every single one of you here has just been robbed by me! Right now, this instant, hand over all the money you have on you!"
"???"
Everyone froze.
Their first reaction was that they'd misheard him.
Once they realized they hadn't…their reaction was unanimous: Are you out of your damn mind?
Feeling the subtle shift in potion digestion progress within his body, Edward felt reassured and continued, "Now, line up. One by one, hand over everything valuable you're carrying." He chuckled, "Of course, you're free to refuse. I won't do anything to you."
"But this ship belongs to me. And if I burn my own ship, that's none of your business, is it?"
A small flame lit at his fingertip.
"..."
A long silence followed.
Eventually, as the first pirate stepped forward, the few others who had thoughts of resisting quickly changed their minds. One by one, they lined up and threw the loot—whether they had just snatched it or saved it over time—onto the deck.
The pile grew larger and larger, and the pirates' eyes grew greener with envy.
"Help me pack this up, Cage."
"Oh, oh—" One-Eyed Cage hurried to gather a few crew members and began stuffing everything into crates, which they then carried over. Edward pocketed the most valuable items, then kicked over the crate, spilling the rest across the deck.
"Very good. The rest, along with this ship, are yours. Farewell."
He gestured for Cage and a few others to join hands, then clapped a hand on both Cage's and Danitz's shoulders.
In an instant, they vanished.
The pirates left behind glanced at each other. Their eyes began to flicker with greed.
Suddenly, a few of them pulled out guns and lunged toward the scattered treasure. The rest immediately retaliated.
Within moments, dozens of men were locked in violent combat, blood staining the deck red.
—Of course, much of the credit for this chaos went to the Imperius Curses Edward had thrown just before leaving.
———
Crack.
Nine figures abruptly appeared on a deserted beach on Bayam Island.
This second round of Apparition didn't affect Danitz much, but One-Eyed Cage looked a little dizzy.
Edward stretched lazily. "Alright, One-Eyed Cage, you're free now."
"…Huh?"
Still a little dazed, Cage blinked. Just minutes ago, he'd been dreaming about finally following a badass captain, thinking he had a bright future ahead—and now he was suddenly released?
But wait a minute…wasn't I already free before this?
"Consider your lives the payment for helping out today. From now on, do whatever you like."
Without caring about their reactions, Edward took Danitz and Apparated back to the Azure Wind Inn.
As soon as he entered the room, he quickly let Lilith out. The little one had fully recovered after her seasickness potion and long rest and was once again full of energy.
As soon as she came out, she looked around. "Oh? You're back? Miss Lilith still wants to defeat that 'Wobble-Wobble' thing!"
"Wobble-Wobble?"
"That thing that made me dizzy and want to puke and fall over! I couldn't even see it properly! But now Miss Lilith thinks she could take ten of them with one paw!"
Edward patted her head. "Okay, okay. Sorcerer Supreme Lilith~ You're the best."
"???"
Her little face was full of confusion.
Danitz watched Edward chatting with the tiny black cat like they were both mentally five. Then he thought about how the man had shot seventeen pirates dead yesterday with perfect precision…how he'd ridden a legendary dragon tonight to rob five pirate ships in a row…and then somehow robbed his own crew afterwards.
He was starting to seriously not understand this guy.
But whatever…as long as Edward didn't turn on him, Danitz decided he'd keep quietly sucking up. This guy is gonna be my future brother-in-law anyway!!
…Wait a minute.
Would he turn on me?
After some hesitation, he asked cautiously, "Captain…"
"I don't have a ship anymore. Call me Mr. Sparrow."
"…." Danitz inhaled deeply and forced a smile. "Mr. Sparrow, are you planning to just stay here and wait for others to come for you?"
"Of course…not."
Edward opened a can of cat food, placed it on the floor, and watched Lilith eat happily. "The sea is freedom. And so am I. Why would I just stay here?"
"But the whole show you pulled tonight…wasn't it just to draw in some pirates, then hunt them down and become a famed pirate hunter?" He cursed silently in his heart—he was a pirate too, damn it!
"I changed my mind."
Edward spoke flatly, saying something Danitz couldn't quite follow. "What did you think of tonight's game? Are you interested in playing it again?"
"…."
Danitz had a very bad feeling about this.
"I heard there'll soon be a grand trading summit organised by the infamous Pirate Admiral and even the Four Kings. How about we go raid that? What do you think?"
"???"
Are you insane?! That's suicide!
"Kidding." Edward waved it off with a grin.
…Though, if he were strong enough, he really would want to stir up that kind of chaos.
Unfortunately, let alone the demigod-level Four Kings—even against one of the Seven Pirate Admiral, he couldn't say for sure he could win in a one-on-one fight.
[Genius on the Left] could help him gain control over the future.
[Madman to the Right], though full of unknowns, could at least bring about a favourable turn in his destiny.
Right now, the most urgent issue was that after advancing to Sequence 7, his actual combat power hadn't improved that much.
He had to quickly find a "Mystical Text" that the Bookworm could consume.
———
[Note]: Don't forget to VOTE. It keeps me motivated.