Pirate Kingship-Chapter 726 - 480: Black Sails: You Have the Great Sea Wall, I Have Fire to Burn Your Camps

"Not good, it's pirates—!!!"

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

"How could there be pirates here?

The Treasure Ship's Key has never been breached, any accidental losses over these past decades have all been due to Calamities, how could the three dignified Fifth Order Confidential Guardians leak secrets?"

But no matter how incredulous the sailors were, the approaching pirate fleet left them unable to deceive themselves any longer.

Standing on the deck looking towards the windward direction, all they could see was...

Black sails! Black sails!

Countless black sails, black pirate flags, densely stretching to the horizon, in numbers far exceeding the Treasure Fleet.

Although most were single-masted schooners without the capability for oceanic voyages, like "third-rate cripples" compared to their large Garen ships.

But even ants can bite an elephant to death when there are enough of them, especially when it's a group of ruthless pirates?

Clang! Clang! Clang!...

The alarm bells on the ships rang with unprecedented intensity, resonating across the entire sea.

More than the alarms, it was the hearts of the People of Castilia.

Perhaps all the sailors and Marines serving in the Treasure Fleet were selected elites.

But with their titles and effects that maximally prevent engagements, who knows how long it's been since they've had to deal with pirates with real weapons, or how much strength remains.

Forgetting war is to court danger, the use it or lose it principle is a natural law, not subject to human will.

In fact, Beastslayer Wickliffe was also exceedingly shocked and angry at the failure of the "Key."

Completely unable to understand why such a routine task suddenly took a drastic turn for the worse, evolving into the current situation.

His sister Katerina beside him wore the same grim expression, unable to avoid thinking whether something was wrong among the Kingdom's high ranks.

"Those pirates were clearly prepared long in advance and likely set up an ambush days ago just waiting for us to walk into it.

Most likely, there was a leak during the transportation of the Information Black Box.

There's probably some conspiracy at play here that we don't know about.

Others might not know, but we're quite aware that the fleet not only hides the King's Right Hand but also the 'Poor Knights' Order' brought by the Princess. Now that an accident has happened, they..."

Were cut off by Wickliffe raising his hand:

"Let's figure out where the problem lies once we return safely.

With our father, the Kingdom's Guardian, even His Majesty must give the Debo Family an explanation. For now, let's just deal with these pirates before us."

Katerina also regained her composure, reluctantly and bitterly saying:

"Got it. The undefeated record of the Treasure Fleet absolutely cannot end at our hands."

Soon, the voice of Fleet Commander Beastslayer Wickliffe Debo resonated throughout the fleet, providing everyone with a backbone:

"Stay calm, even if the Key failed unexpectedly, our swords and guns did not!

As long as the maritime Great Wall unfolded by Ox City is here, in terms of maritime siege battles, our Kingdom of Castilia will always be the best in the world.

Orders: Take your battle positions, load cannons for each battery group, if any pirate ship gets close, blast them hard!

If anyone dares desert the fight, I'll ensure they won't even have the chance to face a military court."

The captains of each vessel promptly responded:

"Yes, Commander."

In ocean-going merchant ships, there are no purely civilian ships, at least not without being a "armed merchant ship" of sufficient caliber to venture into the First Circulation Zone.

The Treasure Fleet is no exception, with even the most ordinary cargo ships being large Garen ships nearing a thousand tons of displacement.

After equipping with cannons, their firepower would not fall short of conventional Fifth Level Ships, equipped to crush pirate ships.

These armed merchant ships, equipped with cannons and Marines, were each equivalent to a fortress at sea.

Coupled with collectively forming the "Maritime Great Wall," if they couldn't win a siege battle, might as well slit their own throats.

Most fortunately, facing the pirate fleet and the mola mola impact earlier were all escort warships, the strongest in combat power.

After recovering from the panic of the Key's failure, they finally regained a measure of confidence.

Thus, the People of Castilia did not even bother with additional tactical maneuvers to seize the windward, simply remaining unchanged as the pirate fleet inevitably crashed into the "wall."

"Tsk, the Treasure Fleet perhaps always engaged in low-intensity law enforcement, a typical case of not engaging in wars for years.

It turned frontline elite troops into a second-rate force, afraid to fight pirates in field battles.

Today, let me teach you how to wage war."

Byron had long collected the most detailed intelligence on the Treasure Fleet from the market through his numerous intelligence, mercenary, and assassin platforms on the Online Financial Street under his family, such as "Gathering Intelligence," "Many Soldiers," "Kill It."

He knew the First Garen Sailing Ship Ox City was the strongest point of the entire maritime Great Wall, and also its weakest.

The more Garen Sailing Ships under his command, the stronger power he could exert.

In a sense, Ox City is comparable to the Legendary Warship Dragonhead Ship Valhalla's ability to "dominate pirate ships."

But in fleet formation lies rise and fall; if you divide the large fleet and disrupt their formation, make Ox City a mere isolated commander.