Alex saw everything. It didn't go as he had planned. He didn't know that Viper had already drugged Torrento before the start of the battle.
Therefore, Alex didn't order his puppets to help Torrento in resisting the enemies after he came to know of this, causing the pirates to lose at a faster rate. he didn't want them to attract attention this early.
Fortunately, Mary and Pintel arrived on time. But far from his expectations, Mary actually turned back after weighing their chances at winning the war. Pintel was not dumb, he too ordered his men to escape in a different direction than Mary.
"Alex, those pirate ships are coming in our direction." Violette suddenly warned.
Mary actually thought of choosing to escape eastward where Alex and his ships were positioned.
They would soon come face to face. Alex thought of the scene that he had watched from the vision of his puppets. There was something up with Mary and her mysterious attendant, Lisa. It seemed like she was the leader instead of Mary Read.
"Let them pass peacefully. Attack them only if they do so first." Alex gave out his orders to Blackbeard.
Everyone was surprised but no one questioned him.
...
Torrento slowly started losing his calm, an arrow pierced his thigh causing him to fall onto one knee.
General Marce brought his ship alongside Torrento's and immediately crossed over to kill the Captain of the Lion Shark Pirate group as soon as possible and this fight.
Legonal did not come on board but he assisted from afar.
Torrento saw himself getting surrounded by Marce and Viper. Beads of sweat flowed from his forehead.
"Better if surrender, Torrento. Or I will kill you."
"You are going to do it anyway so why... bother talking" Torrento couldn't help but sneer at him. He stood up and suddenly threw a scroll towards them. Simultaneously he took out another from his rode and activated it. A blue-colored barrier surrounded Torrento from head to toe. The moment it appeared, the arrow that Legonal had fired got blocked.
Marce's eyes rounded, he jumped backward after seeing Torrento throwing a scroll at them. He hastily activated the ring on his finger which caused a yellow-colored barrier to appear in front of him.
Boommmm!
An explosion of fire occurred on Torrento's ship. It lighted up the nearby area of the ship.
General Legonal placed his arm in front to shield his eyes from the blinding light of the explosion. But he faintly saw someone falling off the ship.
After the light receded, pirates and soldiers on nearby ships opened their eyes to see the aftermath of the explosion. They saw Torrento's ship partly engulfed in fire with charred body and pirates loitered around the deck of the ship.
There was no sight of the Lion Shark Captain. General Marce's body was embedded into the mast when he was blown behind by the explosion.
Fortunately, he used a defensive inscription scroll, that saved him from the explosion. Viper was not that lucky. He has lost half of his face, an arm, and a leg. he was now rolling on the ground to put out the fire on his body. Marce quickly pulled himself out of the mast and ran to help Viper. They needed to get off the ship as soon as possible. It was going to sink.
Legonal rushed ahead to looked down from his ship into the nearby waters but he didn't saw the person he wanted to see.
...
Mary and Lisa looked back when the heard the explosion. Even from this far they could see Torrento's ship burning in fire and then slowly falling apart. First, the mast went down with the sails and the ship then broke in half.
"Sigh... Torrento could have helped us achieve our goal but who would have thought he would go down at a time like this." There was a glimmer disappointment in Lisa's eyes when she said this.
"Nothing we can do about that but... we have to leave this place and go far away. Maybe in the south, we can find a better place and then think of a plan for the future..."
"Captain... there's something ahead blocking our way..." a pirate subordinate shouted while standing above the mast.
Lisa and Mary ran to the front of the ship and looked into the distance. They saw something moving but because there was no moon in the sky, they couldn't make out what it was in the dark.
But when their ship traveled some distance forward, they finally could see what it was.
With mouth agape, pirates stood on their ship dumbfounded while watching a number of ships appearing in front of them.
"Cap.captain... should we turn back"
"...No, it's too late now." Mary said. They were originally going ahead at full speed. Stopping now would only make them an easy target.
Surprisingly they saw a wide path in between those ships like it had been purposefully made for them to pass by.
It was eerily quiet. The pirates could even hear the sound of their hearts beating loudly inside their chests. One by one, they took out bows and unsheathed their swords to be ready for any sneak attack.
The first ship they neared was much bigger than theirs. The pirates saw for the first time how a three-masted ship looked like. They couldn't even see who was on its deck because of the height difference between their ships.
Luckily, no one came out from the big ship to greet them or to attack them. They just passed by like two carriages passing each other on a road in facing opposite to each other.
The next ship's size was the same as their own, therefore, the pirates were able to vaguely make out silhouettes of people standing at attention on the deck of that ship while facing forward, and completely ignoring them.
All of them were wearing light armor and had a bow behind their backs. It was very spooky. But no one uttered a single sentence.
Mary and Lisa tried to find their identity by looking at their sails but they did not see any emblem drawn on it. There was not even a flag flying on their ships.
"...16, 17, 18...21, fuck that's a lot of ships." A pirate counted under his breath.
only when they passed the last ship did the pirates heaved a sigh of relief. the pressure weighing on their hearts was tremendous.
Lisa thought a name that might be the owner of this group of unknown ships. She only guessed this because of the direction they were going. There is only one island that will come in their path if they go on forward without turning.
Seashell Island.
Its new Lord is said to be a teenager.
Alex Mordrake.
'These ships might belong to him.' thought Lisa. She also faintly guessed their intention for coming here and waiting there without lighting up their torches. The direction they were facing was also where the battle was going on.
'Did they already knew there was going to be battle happening here?'
Lisa's eyes lingered on the biggest ship they left in the back.
Suddenly she saw a ball of fire going up in the sky. It made an arc in the sky.
"Watch out..."
Mary and Lisa shouted in unison. That ball of fire was coming towards them.
"No, it's an arrow" Mary whispered, and as she had guessed, the arrow swooped down and penetrated the wooden deck with a banging sound. The pirates looked at it in horror. The distance this fire arrow has covered had left the pirates mouth hanging.
"There's something on its shaft." Rea pointed her finger towards the arrow when everyone was in a trance.
On its shaft, Lisa could see something wrapped around. It was a Demon beast skin.
Mary also saw it, she went forward and pulled the arrow out from the deck. She then smashed her leg to down put out the fire before it could spread around.
Mary unwrapped the beast's skin and opened it to see what was written inside of it.
She looked a little confused at first but when her head processed the words written on the beast skin, she was almost fuming in anger.
Lisa and some pirates came closer to read from the side.
The letters were written in bold, therefore everyone could see it.
"With great Love, Seashell Island Lord sends his regards....P.s. The real thing feels way better than a fake one. Try it, and you will love it"