Mythical Three Kingdoms

Gan Ning’s Pirate Crew now counted as one of the major pirate groups in the entire Indian Ocean. Otherwise, the big shots among the Indian Ocean pirates wouldn’t have come over to deliver a final ultimatum. It was just that Gan Ning’s Pirate Crew had risen too fast, with a shaky foundation.

Gan Ning was impatient by nature. He knew he didn’t have much time, so from the very start he took the path of feeding war with war—constantly striking at nearby pirates: submit or die. Defeat them again and again, bring them in again and again.

This was why Gan Ning could, in just a single month, pull together a Pirate Crew with a full seventy Sea Ships of all sizes.

Only, swelling this fast meant the whole force had become bloated, and the people inside the Pirate Crew were a complete mixed bag. Yet Gan Ning simply had no time to deal with these issues. It would indeed affect future development, but what Gan Ning wanted was never just to be a pirate. Even something like being "One Piece" was, to Gan Ning, only a short-term minor goal.

As for the restless hearts under his command, Gan Ning didn’t care much. Victory could solve all problems—he knew this very clearly. As long as he kept winning, the hidden dangers brought in by those Pirate Crews he’d rapidly absorbed after smashing them would absolutely never erupt.

Sure, those pirates might still carry some loyalty to their original crews. But compared with that loyalty, Gan Ning’s side was bringing constant victories, constantly crushing the enemies in front of them and letting the men profit from it. Against that, past loyalty was nothing; benefits they could grab right now mattered more to them.

So as long as he could keep winning, even if Gan Ning’s Pirate Crew was riddled with internal conflicts, as long as Gan Ning was still alive, this Pirate Crew could keep holding together.

This sort of almost-cheating method was something Gan Ning had learned in Kushan. The way Vasu Deva I ruled had shown Gan Ning something similar—and he realized he could do the same.

Since as long as he kept winning he could keep snowballing and expanding, until he took all the pirates of the Indian Ocean into his own hands and became the undisputed Pirate King, then the current difficulty had to shift—from slowly consolidating internally to figuring out how to secure continuous, dazzling victories and finally cement his status as king.

That was a very hard thing to do. But for Gan Ning, who’d set his sights on becoming the Han Empire’s number one admiral in the Imperial Navy, if he couldn’t even manage this, what right did he have to be an admiral of the Han Empire’s Imperial Navy? He should just give up on that dream early.

The news that Gan Ning had beheaded the envoy he’d sent out reached Galava’s camp almost at the same time as Gan Ning’s main force. Gan Ning’s sneak attack hadn’t succeeded—but that wasn’t really a big deal.

"Bell Pirate Group, you actually dare attack us!" Even with Gan Ning using Cloud Qi to conceal his Sea Ships, his pirates were still spotted when they got within ten-some miles. But that didn’t matter anymore. Using Cloud Qi for a high-speed launch, Gan Ning’s warships slammed straight into Galava’s Pirate Crew!

Gan Ning couldn’t be bothered to answer the other side at all. Having fully mastered the Kushan Navy’s core techniques, his use of the Group Defense Formation and Group Aura had reached another level. In this situation, the only reply he gave the enemy was a Legion Attack.

"The Bell Pirate Group actually dares attack us?" When Galava received this report, he flung his bowl to the ground. His vine-like Big Beard quivered with the motion. "Do they really think my Galava’s camp is that easy to crack?"

"No, it’s not that you’re easy to crack. It’s that you’re already dead!" One flash of Gan Ning’s blade cut down Galava and all the close aides around him. Right after his own Pirate Crew’s surprise assault on Galava’s base, Gan Ning had ridden his horse straight in from over the water.

The biggest difference between Gan Ning’s warhorse and other horses was that, even with its Inner Qi suppressed, it could still sprint at near-teleportation speed for short bursts. The explosive power in its muscles let it run through the air like Dian Wei’s Stepping Void.

So from the outset Gan Ning’s plan was for the army to draw their attention while he himself rode into the main camp. Marines, pirates—heh, once you’re on a ship, you’re fine warriors. If you’re not on a ship, my blade alone is enough to hack you lot to pieces.

Without the major pirate Galava’s command, even though Galava’s Pirate Crew had more ships and more men than Gan Ning, they were still easily suppressed. In the end they were forced back to the outskirts of the Great Island where Galava had gathered them. Gan Ning held up Galava’s severed head and took those pirates in one by one.

Iron-handed rule meant he didn’t care about casualties at all. So after swallowing Galava’s entire Pirate Crew, Gan Ning’s strength swelled dramatically. His already loose and slack Pirate Crew grew even more scattered, and some people had already become dissatisfied with Gan Ning and begun secretly contacting other major Pirate Crews.

But none of that mattered. On one side, after devouring Galava, Gan Ning had absolutely no intention of stopping; the constantly increasing spoils made a lot of wavering pirates gradually lean toward him. On the other side, those pirates who schemed endlessly were turned into corpses in battle after battle.

"So they finally came? Heh, aside from a tiny handful, all the pirates in the Indian Ocean have joined forces to wipe me out?" Gan Ning listened to the reports brought by his own Pirate Crew and sneered.

Back when Gan Ning swallowed Galava, this rumor had already started spreading, but there’d been no action. Clearly they were wary of the Bell Pirate Crew’s strength. After all, once he took out Galava, Gan Ning’s Bell Pirates had instantly vaulted to become the number one Pirate Crew in the Indian Ocean.

Yet even after reaching this point, Gan Ning’s Bell Pirates were still expanding nonstop. That was something the other pirate bosses couldn’t stomach. Gan Ning was already very strong, and this relentless push to grow further really had them sitting on pins and needles.

Originally, they’d mocked Galava for not being able to control the Pirate Crews in his own territory. Only now did they understand: it wasn’t that Galava couldn’t control his turf—it was that a true beast had entered his domain. Galava was already dead, and the other side was still expanding.

The top dogs among the Indian Ocean pirates all knew that with Gan Ning expanding like this, his manpower had to be a muddled mix and his overall Combat Power couldn’t be that high. But they weren’t idiots. This was an opponent who’d won battle after battle, who always managed to defeat stronger foes with weaker forces—and now, on paper, his strength already surpassed theirs. What qualification did they have to look down on Gan Ning?

Even if his men were a mixed bag, even if hidden dangers were everywhere, even if command was uneven—so what? Victory is everything! No one could deny Gan Ning’s victories. You could pick out countless flaws in Gan Ning’s legions, but what of it? On the battlefield, the winner lives, the loser dies!

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