The Flying Pirates were rapidly recovering and expanding.
Many Fleet Commanders had died in battle, and their positions had not been filled immediately.
Becoming a Fleet Commander required proof of strength. Although Golden Lion Shiki had promoted several pirates strong enough to hold the position after the war, it still took time.
That could not fully make up for the losses suffered in the bloody war.
Even the previous bloody war had cost them nowhere near as much as this one.
Besides Cyrik's ability, the Flying Pirates' enormous reputation had also made them the primary target of far too many powerful opponents.
Their overwhelming strength and sheer number of powerful fighters naturally meant they had to shoulder more pressure.
With their forces devastated, the fleets whose commanders had died simply fell apart.
The waters those fleets had controlled were swallowed up by the other fleets around them.
Those territories did not belong to them in name, but in practice, they had already fallen into their hands.
If the Flying Pirates stationed new fleets there in the future, taking those territories back would be no problem—provided they could prove their strength.
If they were not strong enough, they could only swallow the loss.
Among pirates, strength ultimately spoke loudest. In a massive organization like the Flying Pirates, it was how one's standing was determined.
Competition was unavoidable, and maintaining a certain degree of it benefited the pirate crew's overall development.
Having preserved their fighting strength during the bloody war, the Tyrant Fleet had naturally seized a considerable amount of territory at the first opportunity. They would claim it first and worry about the rest later.
Cyrik's ability had not affected them much.
They already knew about Cyrik's ability, so they had remained on guard. Under those circumstances, it naturally could not