Elemental Cats

After several scouting ships disappeared at the hands of the pirates, they eventually stopped showing up in the area close to Pirate Haven. The delegation or the individuals in charge of it had probably realized that the scouts around Pirate Haven couldn't escape the pirates' claws, and it wouldn't matter even if they sent more of them.

The pirates didn't care since it only meant they had more time to prepare for the delegation's arrival. According to the scouts, it wasn't far away, after all.

Only a few days after the last scout was captured, interrogated, and thrown in the dungeons of the city, the long-distance detection gadgets finally picked up the delegation's tracks.

However, the delegation progressed slowly and safely, so it took yet another day for the armada of ships to appear in sight.

Even from a distance, the ships from the four kingdoms were easily discernable.

The white and blue ships of the Starsling Kingdom were familiar to every pirate and citizen of Pirate Haven.

To the right of the left-most Starsling Kingdom's ships were the vessels belonging to the Redire Kingdom. Traditional large sailboats with dark red wooden bodies and sails that were slightly lighter in color than the ships' main bodies.

After the Redire Kingdom's ships came the Firebelt Kingdom's ships, which looked like larger and clumsier versions of the scouting ships but with a proper deck.

Finally, next to the red-orange Firebelt ships were the vessels belonging to the Obsidian Inheritance Kingdom.

The glossy black ships didn't outnumber their peers. But they carried an imposing might that the other ships couldn't match. And despite blending in with the darkness of the Void, it was the Obsidian Inheritance Kingdom's ships everyone in Pirate Haven watched.

Most of the ships following the delegation stopped advancing when they were a certain distance from Pirate Haven. They weren't so far away that they were barely visible, but they were still far outside the range of Pirate Haven.

However, a few ships from each kingdom didn't stop moving and continued to advance toward Pirate Haven.

Pirate Haven had enough ships to match the Alliance of Kingdoms, but it would be meaningless to bring more than two ships from each of the three big crews, and in addition to the grand vessel Toz, his cats, and Brunswick used, there were seven ships in total.

The seven ships from Pirate Haven met the eight ships from the Alliance halfway between Pirate Haven and the fleet.

A person appeared on deck on one of the Obsidian ships with a box in hand. The person stepped to the fore of the ship and threw the box forward.

The pirates from the three big crews instinctively reacted and put up defensive measures and strengthened the barriers on their ships, even if they didn't sense any malicious intent or danger from either the box or the person who threw it.

However, thanks to Brunswick's quick analysis, Toz only watched calmly as the box stopped in the middle of the air between the two parties before quickly unfolding and expanding into a circular platform with a rectangular conference table and eight chairs, four on either side.

Seemingly following the instructions of the person who threw the box out, the outer rim of the platform shifted until eight ports aligned perfectly with each ship. Eight bridges shot out toward the ships they were pointing at. The bridges stopped upon making contact with the ships, after which a translucent barrier defending against the Void's pressure sprung up around the platform and over the bridges.

Toz was the first to step on one of the bridges. He was the most confident and fearless of the pirates, and he didn't show much fear even when up against the four kingdoms. The other pirates were a little more cautious and ended up walking at the same time as the representatives from the four kingdoms.

Brunswick followed behind Toz. The cats were nowhere to be seen since they had hidden themselves inside the familiar space in Toz's inclination. It had been a while since they were in there last. Asilean hadn't even been there before. But now that they didn't know what they were going to face, Toz and the cats agreed that it would be better to keep the cats hidden as a trump card in case something went wrong.

Avian accompanied Red Hook.

Wulf had debated taking someone else since Hayar was easily irritated, but he trusted her, and she followed behind him as they walked across the bridge toward the conference table.

The Representative had an eighth level follower with barely any features other than eyes, nose, and mouth following behind him as they also walked toward the table in the center of the platform.

The people sent by the kingdoms walked at a moderate pace toward the conference table opposite the pirates.

The Starsling Kingdom sent a white-haired young-looking man with stars in his eyes. The literally starry-eyed man had a spectacled aide with a ponytail in tow.

A couple of skinny, pale, vicious-looking men with red-tinted hair walked across the bridge leading from the Redire Kingdom's ships. The slightly shorter one was in the lead and carried a toothy grin.

The pair from the Firebelt Kingdom was the most mismatched since it was one brutish-looking man almost two meters tall and a sleek, red-haired woman with a sword strapped to her side.

The final pairing was the two from the Obsidian Inheritance Kingdom. The black-haired woman in the lead had eyes like black glass. Although it was difficult to tell what she looked at, it was obvious nothing could enter her eyes, and it was the elderly woman behind her who looked around and inspected the pirates and the surroundings.

The young, dark-haired woman's arrogance was even greater than Toz's, and since she had started walking after him, she was already beginning to show hints of a frown on her brow, which made the elder focus more on her than their surroundings.