On the deck of the Fearless.
Lorne finished a day of physical training that pushed him to his limits, clouds of heat rising from his body.
He casually tossed a heavy barbell aside with a dull thud.
The deck cracked again.
The marines responsible for repairing the deck did not complain at the sight. Instead, they looked at him with admiration and expertly gathered around with tools and planks, as though this were already part of their daily work.
"Ethan."
Lorne picked up a towel and wiped away his sweat.
"Here, Ensign."
Lieutenant Colonel Ethan immediately stepped forward.
"Don't be like that. You're a lieutenant colonel. I'm just an ensign."
Lorne waved a hand.
"Yes, Ensign."
"Tell me, where on this sea can I find the truly strong?"
Lorne's gaze grew utterly serious, a thirst for battle burning in his golden beastlike eyes. "The ones with bounties over a hundred million, the ones I can fight without holding back. Where are those guys hiding?"
At his words, Ethan turned and returned to the captain's cabin.
A few minutes later, he emerged carrying a metal box bound in layers of chains.
"Ensign, you won't find those people on the Navy's publicly available nautical charts."
Ethan opened the metal box and took out an old, yellowed nautical chart made from a special waterproof material.
He slowly unrolled it before Lorne.
It was a top-secret Navy nautical chart that had never been made public, marked with many little-known dangerous waters and mysterious islands.
"Most of the vicious pirates with bounties over a hundred million either choose to enter the New World, where the conditions are harsher and powerful fighters abound, or..."
Ethan's finger moved slowly, finally stopping on an inconspicuous coordinate in the center of the chart.
That coordinate had been marked in