"Hey! Throat-Cutter! By the rules, this ship is already ours!"
As Loga's fleet drew near, several pirates plundering a merchant ship flying the seahorse banner shouted arrogantly with their hands on their hips, their faces full of smugness.
According to the ancient pirate laws of The Stepstones, if a peer has already taken down a prey, others must look for another target; otherwise, they would be despised by the entire pirate community.
Although many pirates held this in contempt, some still regarded it as a tacit agreement.
However, looking at the pirates on the merchant ship who were hacking away and baring their teeth at him, Loga curled his lip in a cold sneer: "What rubbish rules? Who said I'm one of you? I'm going to be a mercenary from now on!"
Before his voice even faded, he gave a large wave of his hand. The pirates beside him immediately drew their bows and notched arrows. The arrows whistled through the air. The pirate shouting at the bow didn't even have time to react before several arrows pierced his chest. He died beyond recognition, his body falling straight into the sea.
The steward of Velaryon Family on the merchant ship turned as pale as paper upon seeing the five approaching ships.
He hadn't brought many guards on this trip, and more than half had already been killed or wounded in the pirates' assault. Now that another group of pirates had arrived, this voyage was truly ill-fated!
What made him even more desperate was that a noble person who shouldn't have been there was hidden in the merchant caravan. If anything happened to that noble, his family back in High Tide would surely be ground to dust by Lord Corlys!
Gritting his teeth, he was preparing to lead the remaining guards to desperately protect the ship in the rear, only to see that Loga's fleet did not plunder the merchant ship but instead turned their bows and slammed hard into the pirates' flat-bottomed rowing boats.
With a crisp "crack," the impact of the wooden ships colliding sent several pirates flying directly into the sea, struggling before being swept away by the waves.
After drawing close to the merchant ship, Loga took the lead, stepping onto the gunwale and leaping onto the deck. Seeing him break the "rules" to snatch their food, several pirates' eyes turned red. Holding long axes and scimitars, they lunged at him together.
By now, Loga had long since upgraded his equipment. He wore studded leather armor looted from the Dornish camp—Dornish tanned cowhide with thin iron lining, providing both protection and lightness without hindering movement on the ship.
The original chipped longsword had also been replaced with a well-forged longsword with an incredibly sharp edge.
Not just him, but Fermon and other core confidants had also prioritized switching to elite Dornish weapons and leather armor. Their combat power was far beyond these loosely organized pirates with crude equipment.
Loga sidestepped a long axe swinging at him, flipped his wrist, and his longsword swept through, slicing directly into the pirate's neck. Blood sprayed out, staining the leather armor on his chest red.
Fermon and the others immediately surrounded him, forming a sharp small formation and sweeping across the deck.
Wherever they went, pirates fell to the ground screaming, their bodies rolling across the deck, some even falling directly into the sea.
A few cowardly pirates were terrified by this display. Before Loga and the others could close in, they scrambled to jump off the ship, attempting to swim for their lives.
Loga ignored these deserters. After finishing off the pirates on this merchant ship, he left men behind to guard and watch over the surrendering pirates and surviving merchant guards, while he himself led the rest to rush toward another merchant ship where the fighting was more intense.
This merchant ship was fully loaded with cloth, spices, and ceramic jars. The pirates were frantically searching for valuables—some stuffing cloth into sacks, some prying open crates with scimitars, and others simply picking up ceramic jars and throwing them onto their own ships.
Seeing Loga leading his men over, some clever pirates immediately tossed their looted goods onto their own ships and hurried to slip away, fearing they would be caught by this fiend.
"Hey! Throat-Cutter! How about we split the loot from this ship fifty-fifty?"
In the center of the deck, a pirate wearing a blood-red bandana had just hacked a merchant guard to death. His bloody scimitar rested on his shoulder, revealing a gold tooth, his tone carrying a hint of testing and threat. Several of his men behind him gripped their weapons, staring warily at Loga.
"Heh." Loga sneered, not stopping his pace. As he reached the man, he suddenly drew his sword. "To hell with your fifty-fifty! Everything on this ship, I want it all!"
The pirate in the blood-red bandana was prepared and hurriedly swung his blade to parry. With a loud "clang," sparks flew from the colliding blades. He was shaken back three steps by the massive recoil, his palm numbing. He was horrified; he hadn't expected Loga's strength to be so staggering!
"Everyone, get him! I'm going to slit The Throat-Cutter's throat myself!"
The blood-red bandana pirate's face turned from pale to flushed with rage. He roared and led his men to pounce. Fermon and the others immediately stepped forward, fighting side-by-side with Loga.
Under Loga's leadership, his men were as if they had been injected with chicken blood, roaring as they engaged the pirates in hand-to-hand combat. Amidst the flash of blades, screams and the sound of clashing weapons were incessant.
A moment later, the pirate in the blood-red bandana and his men were all down. Loga's team also paid the price of five casualties.
He panted heavily. The silver hair draped over his shoulders was soaked with blood and stuck to his face. His eyes were blurred by blood, making his vision somewhat unclear.
He raised a hand to wipe his eyes and was about to continue clearing the remaining pirates when he suddenly heard a shrill scream from the cabin of another ship ahead: "Princess! Someone come quickly and save the Princess!"
Loga looked toward the sound and saw that the cabin door of the foremost ship had been breached. Several loose pirates were licking their lips, closing in on the depths of the cabin step by step, their eyes gleaming with greed.
"Help!" Along with the screams of two guards, a graceful figure with silver-white hair flashed by in the cabin.
Loga's heart stirred. He immediately grabbed a grappling hook nearby and threw it with force.
The grappling hook precisely caught the gunwale of the fast ship. Using the strength of the rope, he swung himself over, landed steadily on the deck, and rushed into the cabin in a few steps.
Inside the cabin, a young girl with short silver-white hair was waving a dagger, trying to stop the pirates from approaching. Her eyes were full of terror. As the last guard beside her fell, the girl's spirit completely broke, and the hand holding the dagger couldn't stop trembling.
She was Benella Targaryen, born to Prince Daemon and Lady Laena, the daughter of Lord Corlys. Because she was playful, she had taken it upon herself to board a merchant ship under her grandfather's command, thinking of going nearby to feel the sea breeze. She never expected that this moment of willfulness would lead her to encounter such vicious pirates.
In her desperation, she even silently said goodbye to her fiancé, Prince Jacaerys, in her heart.
"Hehe, scream all you want! No one is coming to save you even if you scream your throat out!"
The lead pirate saw that this girl's status was unusual. A lewd smile appeared on his face as he closed in step by step.
Just as they were about to make their move, Loga struck from behind. A cold flash of his longsword plunged straight into one pirate's back.
With a "squelch," blood gushed out, even splashing onto Benella's face as she huddled in the corner.
Benella let out an even louder scream, but Loga had no time to worry about it, parrying another pirate's attack with a backhand.
As their blades clashed, he sidestepped the attack, flipped his wrist, and the blade sliced across the opponent's abdomen. The pirate fell to the ground screaming.
After a few rounds, all the pirates in the cabin were dealt with.
At this moment, only the floor full of corpses, the blood-soaked Loga, and the shivering Benella Targaryen huddled in the corner remained in the cabin.
Loga wiped the blood and filth from his face and finally saw the young girl's appearance clearly. A hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.
He hadn't expected to find such a beautiful young girl on this broken ship.
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