Angry Whale

The Captain's Council had a long history, dating back even before the Age of Exploration. The Pirate King summoned all pirate captains of the third tier and above within his territory to form a council for mutual protection, with the Pirate King presiding over disputes between them.

This prevented the great pirates who had finally managed to become third-tier professionals from dying in fights against one another.

After all, pirates were mainly after money. Although some simply had a taste for killing, they were extremely rare.

By the current Age of Exploration, each of the nine Pirate Kings had his own Captain's Council, which generally convened once a year.

The Captain's Council was no longer solely about mutual protection. It also served to divide up plundering territories and distribute profits.

For the Pirate Kings, there was another, most important purpose that could not be openly stated: keeping a close watch on these great pirates of the third tier and above, lest they reach the fourth tier and threaten the Pirate Kings' positions.

As pirates who had spent years making their way at sea, they were all more or less aware of this.

Yet now, [Angry Whale] Jaeger, a newly advanced third-tier pirate, actually dared to skip the Captain's Council for these ruins.

This was truly unbelievable. Even [Oathkeeper] Gannis, now regarded as a thorn in the Pirate Kings' sides, had kept his head down when he first reached the third tier and dutifully attended the Captain's Council for several years.

Only after he had grown stronger, when the Pirate King began showing signs of targeting him, had he openly defied the Pirate King. After all, not resisting would have essentially meant waiting to die.

After a moment of silence, Astor's hoarse, gloomy voice rang out:

"What are you panicking for? We have at least twenty second-tier professionals here, and every captain here is a first-rate fighter among the second tier. [Angry Whale] only reached the third tier recently. It's not as if we can't put up a fight."

"Exactly. With everyone here's strength, a mere [Angry Whale] is nothing to worry about." Hearing Astor's words, Grant immediately perked up as well.

"That's right. That bastard Jaeger only advanced to the third tier through luck. Back when he was second tier, he wouldn't even dare fart in front of me." Feishman immediately began blustering as well.

Feishman's claim was quite credible.

Among the captains present, leaving Dunn and his companions aside, Feishman, a [Martial Artist], was undoubtedly the strongest in a head-on fight.

[Martial Artist] was an agility-based profession, very similar to the traditional profession [Warrior], but [Martial Artists] did not use weapons.

For professions such as [Martial Artist] and [Warrior], combat strength at the second tier was mainly determined by the number and quality of the martial arts they practiced.

A guard like Green, specially trained by nobles, practiced martial arts that made him a formidable fighter even among the second tier. With the alchemical longsword [Red Beak] in his hand, he could essentially be considered one of the very best at the second tier.

He was second only to a freak with absurd stats like Dunn.

As for Feishman, this [Martial Artist] was said to have fought his way across the entire island without finding a match among Cutlass Harbor's second-tier professionals. Dunn guessed he was probably no weaker than Green.

"These are the ruins of an ancient Pirate King. Never mind Jaeger, who only just reached the third tier-even if [Oathkeeper] came, with our current strength, we'd still have to take a shot."

For a time, everyone chimed in, belittling [Angry Whale] Jaeger and talking up their own side's fighting strength.

"You bunch of idiots. I'd really like to see whether you could still say that when you're actually facing a third-tier professional." Just as everyone was growing increasingly companionable in their disparagement of [Angry Whale] Jaeger, a discordant voice suddenly rang out.

Everyone immediately turned toward the voice in anger, only to see the beautiful navigator from the [Black Pearl], her face full of disdain.

Dunn had been so absorbed in thought that he had let his guard down, giving Annie an opportunity to mock them. All he could do was awkwardly rub his aching head.

This world's hierarchy was extremely rigid, and reverence for the strong was ingrained in everyone's bones. Born into a family of professional nobles, Annie had been taught from childhood to maintain reverence toward the strong. Seeing these crude pirates speaking of defying their superiors, it was understandable that she had failed to hold herself back.

"What is it, Captain Dunn? Don't tell me the mere name of someone newly advanced to the third tier has frightened you?" Astor looked at Dunn with a sinister smile, while the other captains also fixed their eyes on him.

In these captains' eyes, although Annie appeared to come from an extraordinary background, Dunn was the captain of the [Black Pearl]. Annie, a mere navigator, was not on their level, so they all addressed Dunn directly.

"That's right, Captain Dunn. If you're scared, it's not too late to tuck your tail between your legs and run." Feishman gave Dunn and his companions a cold sneer.

Before Dunn could speak, Annie immediately stepped forward again. "I think I see it now. Trash like you lot probably haven't ever really seen a third-tier professional, have you?"

"You stinking bitch! You're just a lowly navigator. Believe me, I'll tear you apart!" The hot-tempered Feishman immediately rose in a fury, a wave of killing intent sweeping toward her as though he were about to attack Annie.

At that moment, Green, who had remained behind Annie, instantly stepped forward. He drew [Red Beak] slightly from its sheath, revealing a flash of cold light. Engels, who had remained quiet all this time, followed suit and took the longbow off his back.

"An extraordinary weapon!!" Everyone was immediately shocked, their eyes turning toward [Red Beak] in Green's hand, some wary, others greedy.

"Captain Dunn, what exactly do you mean by this? Are we still doing this or not? Give us a straight answer!" Seeing that things were going wrong, Grant immediately shouted at Dunn, who had remained silent. If these people really started fighting now, they would effectively be handing the ruins to Jaeger.

Whatever Grant had thought before, right here and now, they had to maintain their cooperation.

Hearing Grant's shout, Dunn slowly exhaled and said calmly to everyone, "Before that, I need to know the details of that [Angry Whale]'s profession."

"No problem." Grant immediately agreed. "[Angry Whale] Jaeger, captain of the [Whaler]. His previous second-tier profession was the strength-based [Whaler].

"He has three second-tier professionals under him: a [Navigator], a [Wave Chaser], and another [Whaler]. I don't know what his third-tier profession is."

Hearing that Grant did not know the specifics of Jaeger's third-tier profession, Dunn could not help frowning. Does the Campbell family's extraordinary inheritance contain any information about the [Whaler] profession?

The extraordinary professions in this world were as numerous as the stars. Even a legend could not possibly know them all.