In the end, despite White Night-King's repeated invitations, Annie and the large treasure ship belonging to her bear-headed No-Name community still declined to join the other side's impressive-looking long-distance fleet.
The reason was simple. At the time, Annie ignored White Night-King's dark expression and bluntly explained why:
"Your fleet's too weak. You can't even beat a single ship, so bringing you along would just make you a burden!"
"And besides!"
"Little Night-King, battleships aren't suited for long voyages!"
"You've got so many crew members, too. If I brought you along, I might end up starving to death myself!"
"And another thing!"
"Your ships are too slow. If I brought you along, we'd definitely lose the race!"
Those were Annie's exact words. She hadn't spared White Night-King the slightest bit of face, and had successfully left the dark-faced girl speechless until they parted ways.
In short, Black Rabbit had tried hard to comfort and mediate between them, but it didn't seem to help much. In the end, White Night-King merely made a copy of the sea chart Annie had produced earlier, then slunk off to find somewhere to repair her ships.
Annie, Black Rabbit, Izayoi, Asuka Kudo, and You Kasukabe, of course, continued sailing their bear-branded No-Name community's large treasure ship south, officially heading into the South Pacific. They planned to use the South Pacific subtropical gyre to sail toward the southernmost tip of South America.
However...
A few days later, just as their ship reached Southeast Asia and they were preparing to resupply at the port of Manila, they spotted something unexpected from far away. A huge fleet of "clipper-style" sailing warships was moored at the port, and had surrounded the ships of at least dozens of competing communities.
And so!
After seeing the strange situation at the port ahead,