Elemental Cats

After Taienra arrived at Pirate Haven, the cats, Brunswick, and the Bunglehoppers took a smaller boat to visit her. The Bunglehoppers were curious about how Stitches and Hods had lived, and Lucy led the cats to bring Joshua into their plans. Brunswick didn't have much of a choice where to go, so he just tagged along.

Wulf eyed Taienra's body carefully as their boat moved closer, and he and the others boarded the forest.

Toz and the others already on the island greeted the visitors. After everyone got introduced to each other, Toz, the cats, Joshua, Brunswick, Wulf, and Hayar began planning Blue Lounge's demise.

Joan and Hods followed Frank, Vaner, and Stitch on a guided tour around the city. It was a little dangerous considering the Blue Lounge's current hostility, but since their base was empty, they didn't stray too far from it.

Brunswick and the Bunglehoppers were surprised at Toz's ambition to become Pirate King when he revealed that, but they weren't resistant to it. If they helped him become the king of pirates, their crew would naturally be in a position worthy of their assistance. And to Wulf, it didn't matter if he was officially below Toz in the hierarchy as long as he got access to all the wealth flowing through Pirate Haven.

There also wasn't much reason for the Bunglehoppers to resist Toz's plans to become Pirate King. Toz and the cats didn't need their help, and technically, all of the wealth in Bunglehoppers' treasury was thanks to Toz, and if he wanted, he could easily find someplace else to store everything. Though, taking such measures would put a strain on the relationship between the two groups. Something that no one wanted.

There were more profits in helping Toz, and there would only be loss if they didn't help, so the Bunglehoppers decided to do as much as possible in order to reap as many benefits as possible from Toz's reign.

It didn't take long for Toz and the others to draw up the outline of a plan that they could develop further as the situation progressed.

With a couple of first steps ready, they got to action.

Toz and the others' identities and appearances were revealed during Blue Lounge's attempt to counterattack, so if they wanted to get something done, they had to either be prepared to have their plans exposed or get someone else to do it.

Thankfully, that was something money could solve.

Their first stop would be the Bunglehopper treasury to secure enough gold to make their plans flow smoothly. Hayar had to stay back for their second stop of the first step of their plan, which she reluctantly agreed to.

After completing the first step of their plan, what they first had to do was wait before contacting the Red Hook Pirate Crew.

It didn't take long for the effects of the first step to show as the atmosphere in Pirate Haven quickly grew more heated.

It wasn't anything extraordinary. Toz and the others had used Retsy's information network to find people willing to attack various shops and ships affiliated with the big three crews and their subsidiary crews in exchange for gold coins. Considering Pirate Haven was a place where money could be exchanged for almost anything, a lot of people were willing to act out a bit for pouches of gold coins.

The pirates indirectly hired by Toz and the others went around smashing shops and raiding ships while intentionally leaving symbols to incriminate the crew they impersonated. Thugs who pretended to be part of the Blue Lounge League of Pirates left behind blue flags and pieces of fabric.

Not many wanted to act as part of the Red Hook Pirate Crew, but those that did made sure to leave the scene as bloody as possible.

The people impersonating the Cult of Nihiltas only had to make sure to kill everyone by dumping them directly into the Void.

The higher-ups and the smarter pirates quickly realized someone was intentionally stirring the pot and sowing discord between the three strongest pirate crews. But since they couldn't find the people responsible, they were left with increasing their defenses, which in turn helped heat up the already hot atmosphere.

Not to mention the ordinary pirates who weren't in commanding positions, who only knew they were getting attacked all the time. Everyone who didn't know what was going on behind the scenes kept intensifying the atmosphere in Pirate Haven.

Toz and the others were about to try and arrange a meeting with the higher-ups of the Red Hook Pirate Crew to try and really get the ball rolling. The only thing known about the leader of the Red Hook Crew was that they fought in a manner that shed a lot of blood. In order to try and strike an alliance with them, Toz and the others would have to meet and figure out what they want.

Toz was already sure he had something that would convince the Red Hook leader to work together, at least for a little bit. But he still had to meet with them and come to an agreement.

However, before Toz could decide how to approach the Red Hook Crew's leader, another group approached him first.

Toz had been keeping Brunswick company in the treasury. While Brunswick read through the grimoires and manuals to train his eyes, Toz trained or honed his magic. He also stepped out and made sure the cats weren't too wild sometimes.

Frank interrupted Toz and Brunswick's peace by knocking on the hatch to the treasury.

"Cateyes, some cultists are looking for you!"

Toz looked up the stairs in confusion. He knew that 'cultists' referred to the members of the Cult of Nihiltas, but he had no clue as to why they were looking for him. However, the only way to find out was to ask them. At least Frank didn't make it sound like they were coming with malicious intent.

Toz left the treasury and followed Frank to the edge of the base where three people, whose appearances were fully hidden by dark grey robes, waited for him.