Headquarters of the Lion Shark Pirate group.
"Viper... did Ragetti send any message back. How much progress has he made till now?" On a chair sat the Commander of the Lion Shark Pirate fleet, Captain Torrento.
"No, but he said he will make a breakthrough soon."
Captain Torrento was not happy to hear this sentence daily, "It seems that Ragetti has found himself a solid wall that he cannot penetrate. Tell him to come back if it's too difficult we will need to rethink our strategy and approach. Alex Mordrake... is he really a teenager. The world is not fair, viper, the world is not fair. Young people like him are already a ruling such a big island but I'm still playing this pirate game."
"Don't worry, Torrento. What could hold us back now? A single boy isn't enough for you to think like this." Viper said to comfort. Only he could call him directly by his name in private.
"You have been too good to me, Viper. All these years, you have stayed with me like a true brother. You taught me the way to fight back and defeat that man in his game."
"You don't need to say that, Torrento. You had saved me from the gallows one time, I had to pay you back in this life one way or another. Here, drink this, it will help you forget your pain." Viper handed him his flask that was filled with sweet rum.
Gulp!
Torrento drank it in one gulp. Usually, he won't receive any drink or food from another man fearing it would contain poison but Viper was an exception.
A different light flashed across Viper's eyes when he saw Torrentoo drink all of the content form the flask he had given.
"Hahaha, the only thing good about being a pirate is probably this rum. I like it better than that bitter alcohol those Nobles drink." Torrento flicked his beard so that the excess droplets that seeped through corners of lips while drinking would fall off.
Suddenly an uproar sounded from outside the castle. Rapid footsteps of running man coming closer to them.
A pirate opened the closed door and came in without even knocking.
"Captain, someone has surrounded our island from all sides with an unknown number of ships."
"What! How can this happen? What were you idiots doing? Why didn't the patrolling ships sound any alarms first hand when you saw them first appearing." Torrento jumped from his chair like an angry lion. Maybe it was due to the drink earlier or due to sheer anger butTorrento's face became red all of sudden.
"Let's go outside and check who the enemy is first. " Viper said not showing any surprise on his face.
"You are right. Let's go"
The only thing that could describe the situation outside was chaos. Pirates were trying to board their ships docked at the small port on the eastern side of the island. Some ships had gone into the waters. In a distance, unidentified ships were coming closer to the island and fanning out on both sides to surround the island.
Because the sun had already sat halfway, it was difficult to spot the numbers of ships and the flags of the enemies.
"What's the situation? Were you di*kheads all sleeping? Why didn't anyone of you ring the bells to alarm everyone on the island earlier!" Captain Torrento roared at the men responsible for the lookout after he rushed to the port.
"Cap..captain, the bells... the bells have vanished from their places. We couldn't ring it even if we wanted to." The pirates pointed his fingers towards the lookout tower where the bell should have placed before.
Captain Torrento, followed his direction and sure enough, the lookout tower was empty. There were no guards and no bell on the top of the lookout tower.
"Where did it go!!!" Captain Torrento shouted on top of his lungs.
The pirates standing near him were shivering in fear.
"Captain Torrento, look at the flags, they are the navy fleet of the Count." Viper suddenly said bringing Torrento's attention to the flags that were slightly becoming clear as the ships came closer to the island.
Torrento became a statue when his eyes fell on the emblem drawn on the sails of the ships and the flag. For a moment he couldn't even properly open his mouth to speak. Round shield with two chains forming an X at the front and a sword held vertically in the middle of the shield. That was the emblem of the Count of Nehmor.
"What are you looking at my face for. Huh! Go board your goddamn ship and get ready to confront the enemies." Torrento suddenly turned his head away from the enemy's flag and the emblem. He shouted louder than before and a powerful force burst out form him and pushed the nearest pirates ten feet into the distance. Some even fell into the waters.
"Yes... Yes, Captain!" the pirates that were still left on the port rushed to board their respective ships one after another.
...
Some distance away in the eastward direction, a fleet numbering around thirty was slowly making their way towards the Lion Shark pirate group's headquarters. The biggest ship in their midst was sailing at the helm of the fleet making an arrow-like formation with the others.
While Alex and the others were sitting on its deck and having a snack, a voice said loudly, "My Lord, we have reached our destination."
After hearing the shouts, the puppets on the ship moved.
Alex received the food that they were eating and looked at the direction that the sentry described.
Violette was quite annoyed, she wasn't able to eat to her satisfaction. Since the day she had dinner at the Mordrake family mansion, she had been craving and dreaming about the delicacies prepared by Alex in her sleep.
Though Norman would bring some dishes with him when he flew back to her residence, even that was not enough food for her.
But she couldn't just ask Alex now to give back the snacks, that would be too shameful of a request on her side and given the situation.
Her attention was brought back to the reality when their ship came to a sudden halt and the torches that lit the deck were suddenly extinguished. The vessels following at the back also did the same.
At this time, the sentry shouted loudly again, "My Lord, they have just started fighting."
In the distance, an island was being surrounded by numerous battleships of small and medium size. Alex already knew how things went on the island.
His puppets disguised as pirates saw how some a group of pirates took out the bell from the way chtower and brought pushed it into the sea when they thought no one was looking. These suspicious activity brought his puppets attention and in turn his attention too.
Alex ordered the puppets to kidnap one of them when they have the chance ask him about the person for whom they did it.
And the name that came out of that pirate was not really shocking to Alex because this person was the first name on the list of people that could be the hidden man working for the Count.