The many pirates under orders of Madam Zheng's husband did all they could to rescue as many of their allies as they could. However, something was awry, before, they were able to fairly easily take out anyone that stood in their path. Now, that has suddenly changed to something that was seemed to be doable, yet they were getting nowhere with the plan that they had set out to do. It was almost as if there was someone toying with them, if so, who was powerful enough to play with so many elders?
Many had to push this thought aside as the time for the end goal of their plan was about to begin. They were not able to save many, but Madam Zheng's husband had to do the deed regardless. He ordered all fleets to retreat a little while back and had them fire at whatever was in front of them, enemies, allies, and all. This type of tactic was definitely not very widely accepted for the sole reason that no one wanted to sacrifice their troops for any reason. The ensuing carnage shocked everyone to no end.
Accomplices shooting at each other with no regard for who would be able to survive such an onslaught of attacks. A long while passed after the barrage of attacks did the smoke clear and a few ships were seen sailing out. Many of these ships did turn out to be those of the Forever Pirates, the reason a disproportionately amount of allied ships survived as compared to enemy ships was that those who were still engaged with the enemy knew what was coming.
So, they were able to almost automatically organize their troops to be completely surrounded by the enemy fleet making their foes take the attacks head-on. Make no mistake, they also had to endure many losses but compared to what their adversaries, they got off lightly.
All of the remaining ships that were still able to operate were able to capture the ships that were not under Madam Zheng in one fell swoop and were brought in to be bargaining chips. Though this calamity was narrowly avoided, the person behind all of that was still unknown to them. For the first time since the naval tournament began, all of the important personnel of the Forever Pirates faction were able to meet under one roof.
Many of these people had made their mark in the naval affairs of the Chinese community, and they were no strangers to each other. Madam Zheng, her two husbands, Zheng Jing, Zheng Zhi Long, Zi Bo, Zi Ji Ge, and many others stared at each other before Madam Zheng officially started the meeting.
(MZ) "Looks like what happened today really took a chunk out of our overall manpower, how unfortunate." Madam Zheng said with disappointment.
(ZJ) "Forgive us, oh great leader. The enemies that we were facing seemed to be handpicked to give us a hard time. I've asked around and that seemed to be the general consensus, I dread to face the person that was able to be so precise in their choice of who should fight who." Zheng Jing responded.
(ZJG) "That was something that I noticed as well, when we were first assisting elder Zheng Jing here I could tell that his weaknesses were being countered by his opponent. Although that fellow was a tough one, elder Zheng Jing should have been able to best someone of that caliber with little difficulty. The same could be said of elder Zheng Zhi Long although his opponent was much more experienced." Zi Ji Ge added on.
(ZZL) "Though hard as it is to say it, these two are right. The strategist that was going against me was definitely leaning towards defense as their main go-to trait, a most annoying type to deal with especially with someone like me who specialized in speed and numbers." Zheng Zhi Long agreed. Many others chimed in all saying almost the same thing.
(MZ) "Very well, since it seems like much of this situation was out of your control, none of you will be punished. Just know that if you lot are in such a disgraceful position again, I will not send you aid, just like I didn't send anyone to aid Baron." Madam Zheng said with a cold and calculating glare.
The room was silent before, but now the silence was almost deafening. These harsh words reflected the cold hard reality of war. In war, you could only rely on yourself to get out of a situation, if you relied on others that could only mean that you were weak. Of course, many of the elders had realized this trait of Madam Zheng long ago, but to Zi Bo and Zi Ji Ge, this was the first time hearing such iciness coming from Madam Zheng. They had only seen the side of her that wasn't in warfare, only when everything was solved through discussions.
This rang especially true for Zi Ji Ge as she had not been around anyone that had this level of coldness within them. Before her brother and she were at the Forever Pirates, they only relied upon each other and they understood each other perfectly. There was no superiority among the two, no competition, no fighting, no threats, no peril, no risk, no nothing while being with each other.
In a way, her brother had shielded much of what the realities of planet 4 were from her. It was as if she had been babied with all of the matters that her brother had done for her throughout the centuries. She was grateful of course, but only now did she realize that this world was more cold and menacing rather than something that someone could get by coasting around.
She had not been punished before but she could guess what it meant given the context of how Madam Zheng had said it. Eviction from the faction would mean an end to most people's livelihood here on planet 4. Especially if they had previously been at odds with a vengeful faction like the Vesper's.