"Chief! Why do we have to fight Black Skull and Tiger Shark head-on? Behind them stand Marquis Louis and the Bodhi Islands — they're not the kind of enemies we can afford to tangle with... Can't we just do what we did before and stay far away? The sea is vast enough — they'll never find us..."
A pirate with a sinister face stood up directly.
"Hook-Heel Ghost, are you questioning my decision?"
Raylin's voice dropped low, and the temperature in the great hall immediately plummeted.
This was the downside of Raylin staying at Morningstar Port to keep up appearances. Since he spent most of his time directing operations remotely, his grip over his subordinate pirates was somewhat lacking.
Especially this Hook-Heel Ghost — he hadn't been with them long, already had a few ships of his own before joining, and hadn't witnessed Raylin's ruthlessness firsthand. There was always that gap in his understanding.
"I wouldn't dare, but I do have to consider the brothers..."
Hook-Heel Ghost's momentum faltered, though he still grumbled the words out.
"Don't dare, does that mean you still do?" Raylin let out a soft laugh, and a burst of lightning erupted from his hand.
With his current strength as a ninth-tier mage, along with his extensive combat experience and superior technique, dealing with a mere tenth-tier classer meant he could kill in an instant.
Crackle!
Amid the violent surge of electricity, Hook-Heel Ghost had been reduced to several charred, broken fragments.
"Chief!" "What are you doing?!"
The lieutenants standing behind Hook-Heel Ghost drew their curved blades in grief and fury, only to be immediately overwhelmed by Ronald and his men.
"Ronald, go to their ship and take command!"
Raylin toyed with the crackling lightning in his hand — the sight that made all his subordinate pirates tremble with fear — and gave his order from his seat with an air of leisure.
"As you command, chief!" Ronald immediately led his men out, leaving only a hall full of pirate leaders sitting in their seats, shivering.
Only now did it truly sink in for them — the Crimson Tiger Pirate Band had been built upon this very chief's cold-bloodedness and cruelty.
His orders were to be carried out without question. There was never any other option, only a cold and merciless purge.
Faint sounds of battle drifted in — it seemed some small-scale skirmishes had broken out not far away — but Raylin paid them no heed at all.
Sensing the covert glances being exchanged among his subordinates, Raylin sneered inwardly: "Just as I expected. The ones who boldy speak up aren't the real trouble — there are far more of those who obey on the surface while defying me in secret..."
After a year of building his power, the earliest batch of pirates who had followed Raylin had accumulated considerable wealth and were now small leaders in their own right, each commanding their own operations.
Due to the shortage of manpower, Isabelle and Ronald had been forced to delegate authority again and again, to the point where several hidden factions had quietly formed within the pirate band.
Raylin's iron-fisted rule of blood and oppression — while it kept the pirates from openly rebelling thanks to his overwhelming strength — had only caused the grumbling in their hearts to grow day by day.
But once the fools who had resisted openly were all dead, the various forms of covert resistance shifted into the shadows and underground.
Merely paying lip service to his orders was the better outcome — among these people, how many might have already made contact with Marquis Louis, becoming traitors and planted agents?
Raylin sneered coldly to himself.
After all, the other party's openly displayed strength far surpassed his own, and even in terms of noble rank, the same was true!
This was the loneliness of the extraordinary — the world was like water, always corroding away those around him. To find companions who shared the same aspirations, how impossibly difficult!
"But even if I walk alone through the darkness, none of you can stop my will!"
Raylin's heart was as cold and ruthless as frozen ice, filled with the flavor of merciless resolve.
"Chief! The Hangman's ships have all been cleared out!"
At that moment, Ronald pushed open the door and entered, walking in haste, with traces of blood still on his body.
"Moreover, on his ships, we not only found several assassins from the Church of the Murder God, but also this!" Several blood-stained noble crests were hurled directly onto the long table.
"That's... Marquis Louis's family crest!" someone who recognized it cried out.
"Hang every last one of those assassins. Kill all of the Hangman's appointed deputies. Let them see what becomes of traitors!"
Raylin issued the order in a calm voice, deciding the fates of dozens of men in an instant.
"Do any of you still have objections?"
Swept by Raylin's lightning-like gaze, the assembled pirate captains immediately lowered their heads, not daring to meet his eyes.
...
After the meeting adjourned, though Raylin had forced the assignments through with his iron authority, the undercurrents continued to churn.
In the dead of night, several furtive figures crept together in the bottom of a ship's hold.
"Avoid Detection!" An expensive spell scroll was torn open, and only after the magic's glow had fully filled the space did these people seem to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Is it safe here?" a dry voice asked directly.