The moment Captain Mad Shark heard John agree to his request, his face lit up with wild excitement.
He laughed so hard that tears nearly came out.
Who would have imagined that he, who should have become a prisoner, would discover that the captain of this terrifying warship was actually one of their own?
It was like family fighting family by mistake.
Of course, Captain Mad Shark had overlooked one crucial point.
If John had truly recognized them as comrades from the beginning, why would he have forced them to surrender?
In the end, these pirates were nothing more than useful tools John intended to exploit.
Captain Mad Shark repeatedly shouted his approval.
He looked around the Golden Merry with overwhelming excitement.
"With a warship this powerful, we can practically dominate the entire Lothar sea region from now on!"
"Which of the other pirate crews could possibly be our match?"
"Even if we run into the Lothar Kingdom’s naval forces, we could crush them head-on!"
"The Gale Pirates are finally going to rise!"
His words immediately sent the surrounding pirates into a frenzy.
The thought that they might soon work aboard such a terrifying battleship filled them with excitement.
Just imagining the fear on their enemies’ faces made them feel incredibly imposing.
Woop, however, looked at John with a complicated expression.
For some reason, he felt that John had completely changed.
John was no longer the timid, cowardly little pirate who used to drift through each day without purpose.
Now...
he was the captain of one of the strongest battleships in existence.
Captain John.
Woop had thought that seeing his childhood friend alive again would make him happy.
Instead, he found himself feeling inferior.
And jealous.
He even began wondering—
if he had been the one captured back then, would the person standing in John’s place today...
the one commanding this legendary battleship...
have been him instead?
John quickly finished arranging the pirates.
He gave them only one order.
Lead the Golden Merry back to the Gale Pirates.
Once they were no longer restrained, the pirates began wandering around the Golden Merry like country bumpkins entering a grand city for the first time.
They stared at everything with wide-eyed curiosity.
The moment they saw the heavily armored deck, they became even more excited.
It was actually reinforced with double-layer armor!
Even large-caliber cannonballs would struggle to penetrate it.
Then they saw the hundreds of cannons.
That sight left them completely stunned.
Most were heavy cannons.
Their range was somewhat limited, but if one scored a direct hit, it could instantly cripple or destroy an entire merchant ship.
There were also high-arc cannons.
They possessed tremendous power and much longer range.
To the pirates, they were practically divine weapons.
They even counted the number of high-arc cannons.
There were thirty of them!
More than twice the number mounted on their old pirate ship.
The artillery aboard this battleship was enough to fill an entire weapons exhibition.
If hundreds of cannons fired a full broadside simultaneously...
the destructive power would be almost world-shattering.
Even the Sea God himself might have to fear such a volley.
They could not imagine what kind of warship could possibly withstand that level of firepower.
If they sailed back to Pirate Island aboard this battleship, every pirate there would undoubtedly be shocked speechless.
Captain Mad Shark was also carefully studying the Golden Merry.
After examining most of the ship, he slapped his chest and boasted to the others,
"Now that we have a battleship like this, I would dare raid even the naval forces!"
"Hell, I’d even dare sail straight toward the royal capital and loot it!"
The pirates nodded repeatedly after hearing Captain Mad Shark’s evaluation.
Many of them were filled with envy.
"John really got lucky."
"He shot straight to the top overnight."
"Heh. John probably doesn’t even understand naval warfare."
"He has barely gone out to sea a few times."
"Giving a top-tier warship like this to him is such a waste."
"If Captain Mad Shark—or either of the other two captains on Pirate Island—were commanding it, they could probably unleash the ship’s full power."
"That’s right."
"John is still too young."
"He lacks experience."
"How could he possibly compare with the three veteran captains?"
"We’ll talk about it once we get back."
"Let the captains decide."
"At most... John can serve as vice-captain."
"Vice-captain?"
"Are you joking?"
"A vice-captain needs decades of experience at sea."
"Can John really handle that position?"
Captain Mad Shark listened to the pirates’ discussion with a broad smile.
Deep down, he completely agreed.
Damn right.
In terms of experience, he had been a pirate for decades.
John had only gone to sea once or twice.
In terms of achievements, Captain Mad Shark had sunk hundreds of ships.
And John?
At most, he had captured one armed merchant ship today.
In terms of professional pirate skills and familiarity with every role aboard a ship, Captain Mad Shark was an expert.
John was nothing more than a rookie.
For a T0-class battleship of this quality to fall into John’s hands...
what a terrible waste.
If Captain Mad Shark could command this vessel himself, he was certain he could dominate the western seas without restraint.
Other pirates would tremble at his name.
Even the Lothar Kingdom itself would have to steer clear of him.
"John has many people around him, and right now we are still under his control."
Captain Mad Shark glanced cautiously at the squads of elite naval soldiers.
"When John returns to the Gale Pirates, I’ll discuss this with the other captains."
"We’ll take the Golden Merry from him."
He looked at the elite soldiers again and thought greedily,
"Just look at these men."
"What excellent troops."
"What a waste for them to serve John."
"They would be perfect under my command."
...
The Golden Merry sailed steadily across the sea.
Its destination—
the stronghold of the Gale Pirates.
The reason major pirate crews could survive within the Lothar Kingdom was simple.
Most of them secretly received support from rival kingdoms.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
That was one of the main reasons pirate forces remained so rampant and impossible to eradicate.
Some pirate crews were even powerful enough to openly challenge a kingdom’s naval forces.
They gave every nation endless headaches.
Naturally, the Lothar Kingdom did the same thing.
It secretly funded pirate organizations operating in the waters of rival nations.
Everyone had the same idea.
If you make trouble for me...
I will make trouble for you.
Among the pirate factions within the Lothar Kingdom, the Gale Pirates could only rank third.
They were still far from possessing enough strength to challenge the kingdom’s naval forces.
If they mobilized their entire crew, defeating an armed merchant vessel would be easy.
But a single pirate ship acting alone would struggle.
John raised his monocular telescope.
In the distance, the outline of an island gradually appeared.
As the Golden Merry continued approaching, more details became visible.
"This is the headquarters of the Gale Pirates."
John thought silently.
"And according to the identity this world assigned me..."
"This is also where I was born."
The first thing John noticed was a defensive barrier several dozen nautical miles from the island.
Wooden piles had been driven deep into the seabed.
Each one protruded roughly three meters above the surface.
Arm-thick iron chains connected them together.
This was an artificial sea barrier built by the Gale Pirates to prevent unauthorized ships from approaching.
Then John saw the coastal artillery positioned along the island’s edge.
There were more than one hundred shore-based cannons.
Traditional mortars.
Newer high-arc cannons.
Heavy cannons.
Every type was present.
The firepower was extremely formidable.
If the Golden Merry attempted a frontal assault, John believed they could still take the island.
But the battleship itself would probably require a major overhaul afterward.
"Good thing I have a pirate identity."
John smiled faintly.
"And good thing I ran into these pirates."