Dawnbringer Merchant Guild Hangs Its Sign Before the Gun Barrels

"One Dawnbringer wasn't enough to stop seven torpedoes."

Su Hang spread the seizure inventory across the long dockyard table.

Lorne, Qi Hai, Mia, and Alan stood around the table, while outside stood the representatives of the first merchant ships willing to continue cooperating.

Lorne pointed at the White Reef Channel.

"Three medicine ships and twelve merchant ships serving as witnesses. The Dawnbringer has to protect the medicine, scout underwater, and maintain its course. If anything goes wrong, the entire fleet will be jammed among the reefs."

Mia planted seven wooden pegs into the channel map.

"The torpedo specifications only mention acoustic tracking. There's no speed, turning radius, or detonation range. We need to prepare decoys before departure."

Alan tapped the hull.

"I can handle the underwater side, but I only have one small boat. If the torpedoes come from different directions, I can't report seven positions at once."

Qi Hai looked at Su Hang.

"You want to expand the escort fleet?"

"The Dawnbringer Merchant Guild will be established today."

The dockyard fell briefly silent.

A merchant was the first to speak.

"Does joining the guild mean joining a pirate crew?"

"No."

Su Hang pinned a bounty notice beneath the corner of the table.

"What flag the Dawnbringer flies is my business. Guild members keep their own ships, cargo, and employees. We cooperate only under public contracts. Anyone who doesn't want to fight can handle transport only."

Another person pressed the question.

"What if the Marines seize our ships?"

"The risks go into the contract. For high-risk routes, the fees and compensation are set in advance. Those unwilling to accept can take ordinary routes."

"Will you forcibly requisition ships?"

"No."

"What about emergencies?"

"Still no requisition."

Su Hang looked at everyone.

"Shipowners have the right to refuse, and crew members have the right to disembark. What the Dawnbringer Merchant Guild needs is a route that can keep operating, not a group of people forced onto a deck at knifepoint."

Lorne unfolded the drafted organizational terms.

"I'll handle supplies, contracts, and ship dispatch. The source, destination, cost, and risks of every shipment will be open to all participants. Disaster-relief cargo will be marked separately and cannot have its price raised at the last minute."

Someone asked.

"Can you keep Su Hang under control?"

Lorne did not cover for him.

"I can't control his fists, but I can shut down contracts that refuse to bear the risks. Without ships, supplies, and ports, no matter how strong the captain is, he can't protect a shipping route."

Mia placed the Weather Wheel on the table.

"I'll handle wind layers, tides, and storm warnings. Weather information can't be given only to the Dawnbringer. Every ship traveling with us must receive it at the same time."

"What if your judgment is wrong?"

"The original observations will be kept and reviewed after departure. Every mistake will be corrected. Anyone who finds incorrect data can challenge it directly."

Alan took over.

"I'll connect with fish-man messengers and underwater routes. When underwater targets are spotted, people familiar with the local waters will identify them first. Until an attack is confirmed, no one is allowed to fire just because the other side is a fish-man."

A captain frowned.

"If we wait for confirmation, the hull may already be drilled through."

Alan fixed his eyes on him.

"If you fire the moment you see a silhouette, the first ones to die may be the messengers scouting the route for you."

Su Hang raised a hand to suppress the argument.

"Alan has the authority to identify underwater parties. If we come under direct attack, the gun crews may return fire immediately. The boundary will be written clearly. No one will have to guess."

Qi Hai had not spoken the entire time.

Lorne pushed the final wooden plaque, marked "Oversight," toward him.

A merchant asked.

"What are you in charge of?"

Qi Hai picked up the plaque and walked to the center of the dockyard.

"Inspecting lifeboats, evacuation order, and the conditions for opening fire. If a captain's actions endanger civilians or merchant ships, I have the authority to forcibly halt them."

Everyone's gaze turned to Su Hang.

"Including him?"

"Including him."

Qi Hai's palm pressed against his sword hilt, his voice yielding nothing.

"Su Hang is the strongest, so someone must also be able to tell him no. If he abandons people overboard to chase an enemy, I'll lock the helm first. If he knows the ship can't hold together and still forces a battle, I'll use the Seastone Handcuffs."

A merchant laughed.

"You can cuff him?"

Su Hang picked up the Seastone Handcuffs from the table and threw them directly to Qi Hai.

"You won't know until you try."

The iron cuffs struck his palm.

Qi Hai glanced at him, then fastened the handcuffs behind his waist.

"Oversight authority isn't decoration. Whoever tries to stop it, I'll stop them first."

Su Hang pushed another blank action logbook over to him.

"From now on, whenever power that may cause widespread damage is used, its duration, affected area, physical backlash, and damage to the ship must be recorded."

Mia looked up.

"System fusion too?"

"Record it."

"What if it involves the secret of your abilities?"

"Make the cost public, not the core principles."

Qi Hai opened to the first page.

"What authority do you retain?"

"Strategic veto power."

Su Hang answered without hesitation.

"Any action involving opportunities, the World Government, or cross-regional routes can be vetoed by me. But every veto must leave a reason, and it can be questioned afterward."

Lorne added.

"Guild members can leave as well. Su Hang can veto the guild's use of resources, but he can't force anyone who leaves to stay."

The merchants outside murmured among themselves.

There was no grand fleet, no territory, and certainly no countless subordinates.

The so-called Dawnbringer Merchant Guild currently consisted of only an old ship, several contracts, and a group of people who had just decided not to tear up their agreements.

Yet every authority had someone responsible for it.

And every refusal had a way out.

The captain who had been the first to raise the Dawnbringer flag again walked in and pressed down his thumbprint.

"I'll only join the escort contract. I won't fight the Marines."

"Fine."

Lorne accepted the contract.

The second merchant stepped forward after him.

"My ships will transport grain. No weapons."

"Write it in."

The third person asked.

"If we encounter refugees at sea, who bears the losses?"

Su Hang answered.

"Saving people comes first. The losses will be shared according to the contract by the ships participating in the route. The Dawnbringer will bear the largest portion."

"What if a ship sinks?"

"Save people first. Discuss compensation afterward."

Thumbprints fell one after another.

Lorne did not prepare a banquet. He only had someone carry over a wooden plaque freshly painted white.

It read: "Dawnbringer Merchant Guild."

Su Hang personally nailed the plaque to a dockyard pillar.

Three hammer blows sealed it in place.

The system screen unfolded afterward.

[Stable organizational structure formed.]

[Members share resources through public rules. No coercion of free will has occurred.]

[Assessment: Prototype Dawnbringer Alliance.]

[Worldline deviation increased.]

[Reward: Shared communication frequency.]

[Den Den Mushi and Signal Dials from the same batch can be adjusted to a unified emergency channel. Range is limited by equipment and weather.]

Lorne carried over six Den Den Mushi, while Mia took out two Signal Dials dismantled from relics beneath the ship.

Su Hang reached out and touched them.

Fine motes of light spread along the copper wires and shell patterns.

All six Den Den Mushi opened their eyes at once, identical white sun patterns appearing on their shells.

Mia dialed the first one.

"Dawnbringer, can you hear me?"

The Den Den Mushi at the stern immediately opened its mouth.

"I hear you. The signal is clear."

Alan took another one and jumped into the small boat, rowing out of the harbor.

Even after the rocks concealed him from sight, the communication did not break.

Lorne quickly made the arrangements.

"The emergency channel is only for enemy attacks, shipwrecks, fires, and people overboard. Normal cargo dispatch goes through the original lines, so everyone doesn't talk at once."

A system warning appeared immediately afterward.

[Organizational scale expanded. Host's range of causal influence increased.]

[Cause-and-Effect Lighthouse brightness increased.]

[Probability of detection by high-level observers increased.]

Su Hang stared at the last line.

"Establishing a guild can get us discovered too?"

[Any organization that stably alters the choices of large numbers of individuals will leave lasting causal traces.]

The screen went dark.

Qi Hai noticed his expression.

"Is there a problem?"

"The more stable we become, the easier it will be for the World Government to lock onto the Dawnbringer."

"Then we shouldn't establish it?"

"The sign is already up."

Su Hang turned to look at the merchant ships in the dockyard.

"They used to chase me alone. From now on, they'll chase this sign, and every ship willing to openly carry grain and medicine."

Lorne pushed the first batch of funds onto the table.

"Eight hundred and seventy thousand Beli in total. An office, a warehouse, or a banquet. Pick one."

"A medical ship."

"I knew it."

"Leave some for anti-torpedo buoys too."

Lorne frowned.

"If we spend it all, the guild won't even have a permanent storefront on the day it opens."

"The sign is enough here. Let the medicine ships get through White Reef alive first."

The funds were quickly allocated in full.

Craftsmen installed cork bulkheads on the medical ships.

Mia calibrated the buoys, Alan tied underwater warning ropes to both sides of the small boat, and Qi Hai inspected the evacuation routes ship by ship.

Before nightfall, the fleet left port.

The twelve merchant ships serving as witnesses spread out, the three medical ships took the center, and the Dawnbringer held the front.

The shared Den Den Mushi connected at once, leaving only wind, waves, and clipped commands.

White Reef had already appeared ahead.

Mia stared at the sea, then suddenly raised a red lamp.

Seven trails of bubbles were rising from beneath the shadows of different reefs.

Alan's urgent voice came through the Den Den Mushi.

"Seven torpedoes spotted in the White Reef Channel. The foremost one has already activated."