After successfully subduing Jabbar, White Butcher had no intention of immediately taking command of the fleet and turning around to attack the Barton Empire's North Sea. Instead, he headed for Volcano Island.
According to the intelligence they had, at this stage, the Barton Empire still had one formation each in the South Sea Fleet, East Sea Fleet, West Sea Fleet, and Royal Fleet.
In other words, if all the warships were integrated and the entire nation's strength was mobilized, they could still field at least four large warships and forty Fast Ships. Going by numbers alone, that was no small force!
And that was without considering the new warships that the various shipyards were still rushing to build.
Of course, to assemble a force of that scale, the Barton Empire would have to come out in full force.
Once that happened, it would mean they had completely abandoned the defense of their own borders.
Both Harar and Jabbar said that this was highly unlikely.
The fundamental reason was, in plain terms, that the various great noble factions within the country were not united.
In fact, going back seven years, some of those nobles had not even belonged to the same country as them.
At that time, the archipelago where the Barton Empire was located had not yet been completely unified.
Many of the people standing behind the Four Seas Governors were originally nobles from other countries. Although their nations had been annexed, their lineages had continued, and they had become dignitaries of the Barton Empire.
When things truly threatened their very foundations, and with neither Jabbar nor Hans holding the fort, one certainly could not expect those people to show any spirit of sacrifice.
When the time came, those fellows would most likely only look after themselves.
Of course, setting