It was indeed a very interesting turn of events that Baron and Yue Fei would choose to disappear right when things were looking worse and worse for them. This may not be the first time that something like this happened in a tournament setting, but a trick like this could hardly be called a strategy. More like a temporary tactic to confuse enemies, the element of surprise was there, but hardly anyone ever did anything grand with such a situation on their hands.
Disappearing from friends and foes alike, contrary to what everyone was thinking, was not something that either of them had come up to deal with some kind of unforeseen attack on their enemies. Well, not directly of course. Madam Zheng had finally decided to start her diversionary two-pronged attacks on the territory of the Vesper's. This plan was devised by Baron and tweaked by Madam Zheng so that she could use her forces to draw the fleets of the Vesper's to the ends of their lands.
With this tactic, the Vespers would have to pad their defenses in two different directions and leave their centers a bit more fragile than they would have liked. Of course, none of this will matter if the elders of the Forever Pirates are not able to break through the Vesper's defenses when they are weak. Zi Bo and Zi Ji Ge had already given the instructions to the elders and they were now all waiting for the signal to begin.
As for Baron and Yue Fei, they did not actually leave that far from their fleet. Instead, they were meeting up with Guan Yu who they were previously unsure of whether or not he was still alive.
(GY) "I'm glad that you both made it out of that deathtrap alive. Consider me impressed." Guan Yu praised.
(YF) "Brother, we were only able to get out of that situation because you blew up the command ship that controlled all the others. You really saved us back there." Yue Fei responded.
(BM) "Exactly so, it was quite a wild ride and to be honest, It was the first time since I've been on this planet that I was so completely outnumbered and felt so powerless. So, how have you been, Guan Yu" Baron sighed.
(GY) "Well, after I pulled the trigger to blow up the ship that contained Wu San Gui, I drifted around and I was miraculously saved by one of Vesper's ships! Imagine my surprise when I woke up on an enemy ship and they were treating my wounds like I was one of their own. Anyway, when I was there I infiltrated them and made up the backstory of me being one of the people that had been on the now sunk ship of their commander, Wu San Gui. Long story short, I hijacked the ship and now we will know the direct orders that their leader says."
(BM) "Oh my, I'm impressed. You have seriously outdone yourself this time, Guan Yu. It's hard to believe that you are able to do undercover work as well, and right after that accident no less. I should've guessed that it was Wu San Gui, who else would have such a huge grudge against us?"
(GY) "Well, let me tell you something about him. He is one of those mercenary collectors. You know, he's got a couple of fighters that guard him wherever he goes. 5 were there when I confronted him. Although they weren't individually as strong as me, few are, after all, they had excellent teamwork and synergy between them and were able to steadily overwhelm me. Had they not been so used to fighting together, I might have stood a chance."
(BM) "Worry not, you are still in this tournament and that is what matters right now."
(GY) "What has been happening on your side of the battlefield while I was away?"
(BM) "Mostly just us being taken lightly by our opponents and them fighting us as leisurely as they can. It's downright disgraceful behavior if you ask me, but this provides us with the chance to counter-attack when they least expect it. Shortly after Madam Zheng begins her two-pronged offensive against the Vesper faction will we make any big moves. This will allow us a brief moment to surprise our enemies I should think."
(GY) "And with the ship that I hijacked, we will be able to counter their every move as we see fit."
(BM) "Precisely. It is about time we begin. You and Yue Fei go to your designated spots and wait for my signal, we will need to prove ourselves this time around just like what we did in the aerial tournament. If Madam Zheng and her two husbands are able to occupy the majority of Vesper's faction alone, then we should at least be able to take out these few lackeys in front of us."
(YF) "Well said, I can't wait to start."
(GY) "This will end in our victory if we play everything outright."
Baron sent a few messengers aboard the enemy ship that Guan Yu captured and had them relay anything of note that comes through as transmissions. When all three of them got back to their positions, nearly half of the enemy fleet was gone, it could be that they were hiding around somewhere that Baron could not see, but it was likelier that they were sent away to do battle with the forces of Madam Zheng. This made it so that Baron's fleet was only about half the number of their foes, but would still be a rather hard fight as the difference in abilities of individual ships were very different.
Guan Yu would be fighting on the front lines again with a hundred ships under his command. Yue Fei would provide support behind Guan Yu with another 100 ships to spare. The remaining 700 or so ships would be under Baron to do quick and damaging blows to their enemy whenever he got relayed back the intelligence of what his enemies had planned to do. The comeback begins.