"But..." Mia let just the right amount of worry show on her face. "I've heard that Baron is very cunning..."
"What of it?" Barbosa's confidence had swelled beyond measure. "Lillian, my little darling, all you need to do is stay here and watch me crush his fleet. Then I'll hang that arrogant Baron's head from my bow!"
Although Barbosa had witnessed Veylin's combat prowess at the harbor, this was the vast ocean, where the rules of battle were entirely different.
He would never have dared lead his fleet against the enemy's heavily guarded harbor. But now that the enemy had stuck his neck out of his own accord, Barbosa was utterly confident he could chop it off.
As far as he was concerned, his flagship, the Sea Serpent, could withstand a direct attack from a Level Five Magical Beast.
If his opponent truly possessed strength beyond Level Five, he would never have been pinned down in the harbor by a bunch of seaborne nobodies and forced to fight defensively.
That absolute confidence in his own fleet's strength, coupled with his hunger for the Gray Marsh Fief's wealth, had stripped him of his usual caution.
To him, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If he crushed Veylin's main force in one blow, he could not only take the South Sea Isles but even raid the Gray Marsh Fief.
Admiration sparkled in Mia's purple eyes.
"Whatever you say. I believe you are the only king of these seas."
As her words faded, she cast a covert Mind Spell, amplifying the greed and arrogance in Barbosa's heart.
The spell's effect settled his resolve once and for all.
"Relay my orders!" he roared toward the door. **"All captains, assemble aboard the Sea Serpent immediately! The entire Bloodsail Brotherhood is to sortie! I'll show that brat