Trade in this plane relied entirely on maritime shipping.
Several trade routes ran around the continent and Klenze Island.
They were the lifelines of the economy and material transport. Every day, merchant ships and cargo vessels sailed along these routes.
Where there were merchant ships and civilian vessels, pirates were bound to breed.
There were certainly no shortage of pirates in this plane.
Some were professional pirates, but not all of them. Some merchant ships moonlighted as pirates, and there were quite a few of those as well.
When they had cargo, they were merchant ships. When no one knew, they transformed into pirate ships. There was nothing strange about that.
Maritime trade brought enormous profits, and enormous profits inevitably brought enormous risks.
Every year, many merchant ships were plundered.
Yet perhaps before long, those merchant ships would change their appearance and reappear on the trade routes.
The only difference was that the people at their helms had changed.
Far from the continent, the pirates had built several ship islands.
These ship islands were where pirates traded and fenced stolen goods.
Far from the continent and the major islands, and frequently changing location, these ship islands could not be wiped out even though the navies of the three kingdoms often launched expeditions against them.
When the Claw Pirate Crew fenced stolen goods, they too went to one of these ship islands.
Behind every ship island stood a powerful pirate crew. Only great force could hold a ship island.
Charles even surmised that pirates might not be the only ones involved behind these ship islands; quite a few officials might have a hand in them as well.
That was hardly surprising.
Charles was now preparing to sail for a ship island where the Claw Pirate Crew often went to fence their