Chapter 2265: The Empress's Ambition

A breeze stirred the sheer curtains. Inside the luxuriously decorated room, a crow landed on the finger of the Black Sea King, Agati.

"They will come looking for you. You should have witnessed for yourself just how insane the followers of the Nightmare God are."

Agati flicked her hand, and the black-and-red feathered crow flew out the window.

"Can I take that to mean you intend to stand on their side?"

"Of course not," Agati smiled and continued, "They are just a pack of wild dogs that have lost their master. Some among them always believe they are the masters themselves, but in reality, once they lose the god holding their leash, they transform from 'hunting hounds' into 'wild dogs'—stray, wild dogs."

As she spoke, Agati picked up the Ancient God's right arm. She was well aware that this item did not yet belong to her. As for trying to get something for nothing, the man sitting across from her dared to slaughter even gods; the title of Black Sea King was simply not enough to intimidate him.

"I am quite interested in this divine arm. Tell me, what must I pay?"

"Terror Island."

Su Xiao's only remaining goal was Terror Island. With the coordinates for Terror Island, everything else would be easy to handle.

"Terror Island, is it?"

Agati rubbed her temple with one hand, appearing to have a bit of a headache.

"Aside from those kingdoms, the majority of the Viking Sea is controlled by me, Redbeard, and Bone Sheep Fan E'xi."

Through Agati's description, Su Xiao learned the distribution of power in the Viking Sea. If comparing the overall combat strength of pirate fleets, the Redbeard Pirate Fleet was absolutely in the top spot.

Redbeard ranked first, and below him was Bone Sheep Fan E'xi. It was said that this guy was a complete lunatic—moody, addicted to slaughter, and he had no trusted aides by his side at all.

Bone Sheep Fan E'xi's strength lay in his own personal power. In a one-on-one fight, neither Redbeard nor the Black Sea Empress Agati was a match for Fan E'xi.

Among the three legendary pirate fleets, the weakest in overall combat strength was the Black Sea Empress Agati. It wasn't that Agati couldn't develop further, but that there was simply no need. She chose an elite route and maintained a code of conduct on her ships, such as prohibiting wanton burning, killing, and looting, and forbidding the large-scale trafficking of slaves.

Among the three great pirates, Agati was the wealthiest. Her fortune even exceeded that of some kingdoms, and there were rumors that she had already secretly controlled one kingdom.

Agati made her money through maritime transport and selling sea beasts; she was extremely wealthy.

Redbeard was a more traditional pirate, relying mainly on black industries such as arms trafficking and wild business ventures.

Bone Sheep Fan E'xi, however, was a complete lunatic. His pirate fleet's main business was capturing slaves. Whether it was sea folk or humans, once caught by his fleet, they would first be beaten, starved for three days, and then questioned about whether their families were wealthy.

If the victim's family was wealthy, he would go straight to their door, burn, kill, and loot, then silence everyone. If the victim's family was poor, they would be sold as slaves.

Over eighty percent of the slaves in the Viking Sea passed through the hands of the Bone Sheep Pirate Fleet; one could imagine how many enemies they had.

Calling himself a sheep while doing things more brutal than any other pirate—that was Fan E'xi.

If the Black Sea Empress Agati was the blood crow of the sea, then Bone Sheep was the purest lunatic. As for Redbeard, he was the only maritime tycoon who dared to confront Bone Sheep, and afterwards, Bone Sheep didn't dare to retaliate much. Powerful, brutal, yet broad-minded—that was Redbeard.

None of the three great pirates were easy to deal with.

The Black Sea Empress Agati's proposal was that the Ancient God's right arm would belong to her, and she would contact Redbeard and act as a middleman for the negotiations. If Redbeard turned hostile during the talks, she would stand on Su Xiao's side.

A pirate's promise was not very trustworthy, but if Agati wasn't lying, then Su Xiao definitely had to meet with Redbeard.

"How about it? My proposal isn't too bad, is it?"

Although Agati said this, she was already prepared to pay a large sum of treasure to obtain the Ancient God's right arm; this item had extraordinary significance to her.

"Fine. I want to see Redbeard within two days."

"Hmm?"

Agati looked at Su Xiao with slight surprise. She was momentarily stunned because, in her view, the probability of Su Xiao agreeing to this deal wasn't low, but he would definitely raise the price—after all, this was the right arm of a god.

What Agati didn't know was that Su Xiao hadn't intended to trade this Ancient God's right arm for anything from the start. He had slaughtered quite a few Ancient Gods and, of course, had sampled and researched them. The result was that the energy and cells of Ancient Gods were corrosive or assimilative, and had no research value.

Su Xiao stepped out of the small building. Seeing this, the expression in Agati's eyes became even more puzzled.

"Oh, right."

Su Xiao stopped his steps. Seeing this, Agati hummed in her heart, thinking: 'Sure enough, there's no one who isn't greedy for wealth.'

"I will be purchasing sea beasts in the near future. The price will be 8% to 10% higher than the market rate."

Leaving these words behind, Su Xiao walked down the stairs and soon left the small building.

"Just... that?"

Agati was a bit dumbfounded this time. She looked at the Ancient God's right arm in her hand, and couldn't help but suspect that this thing was fake.

"My lord, we..."

An aged voice came from behind Agati. The figure of the Mad Sea Cow, Turt, gradually appeared. A faint light emerged from the ring on his hand; this was a secret relic with spatial properties.

"Sell all the sea beasts to him."

"Regarding the price..."

"Ten percent higher."

"Yes, my lord."

"Wait."

Agati pondered for a moment and finally let out a slow breath.

"Resell them to him at the purchase price."

"My lord, we will lose money this way..."

"It doesn't matter. For a guy of unknown origin like this, it's best not to provoke him if we can avoid it. Didn't you feel it?"

Agati glanced at the Mad Sea Cow, Turt. Turt lowered his head slightly, indicating he hadn't felt it.

"This man of unknown origin is ridiculously strong. Do it nicely. We have plenty of money. If he can eliminate Redbeard..."

The corners of Agati's mouth curled up slightly. Something called ambition burned fiercely in her eyes. She didn't just want to be the Black Sea King; she wanted to become the Empress of this Viking Sea. As for the reason, there was nothing special about it; Agati just felt that since one lives a life regardless, why not carve out a reputation?

Outside the small building, Su Xiao flicked away the cigarette butt in his hand and walked toward the pier. To negotiate with a maritime tycoon like Redbeard, one needed capital.

Su Xiao never thought he could take on the entire Redbeard Pirate Fleet alone, but once the Doom reached the size of a five-masted ship, the situation would be different. By then, he could rely on his own combat strength and the Doom to confront the Redbeard Pirate Fleet head-on. Only in that situation would it be possible for both sides to negotiate.

After arriving at the pier, Su Xiao returned to the Doom. From now on, he just had to wait. As long as the Black Sea Empress Agati wasn't stingy to a certain degree, she would send someone to discuss the sale of the extraordinary sea beasts. ===== CHAPTER 2266 =====