Extraordinary Voyage

Half a month later.

Thud—

An ordinary-looking small merchant ship slowly docked at Hatrafa Port.

Under the command of several pirates in black uniforms, a group of young men lined up and walked up the wooden gangway.

"Newcomers, line up for registration. I'm talking to you, don't look around!"

A small leader among the pirates pointed at a young man in his twenties with pale golden short hair and shouted.

During this time, he had seen too many people of various kinds, and polite words could not contain those unruly fellows.

"I'm sorry, may I ask when we will be able to see the White Knight, sir? I am his admirer, please forgive my current excitement."

The young man named Hawkins was not angry at all, smiling courteously as he explained to the leader.

"If you perform well, you'll have the chance to meet him."

The leader's face softened upon hearing this, understanding the young man's feelings, as over eighty percent of the island's population were admirers of the captain.

With the pirate gang's recruitment order spreading wider and wider during this period,

almost every day a ship full of young men from various places would dock at Hatrafa Port, providing a constant stream of new blood for the pirate gang.

Those who set foot on Hatrafa Port had at least passed a preliminary screening to ensure that newcomers wouldn't harbor malicious intent.

During this time, under Bess's command, seagulls monitored in real-time, aided by potions and witchcraft, ensuring nothing could go wrong.

Even if someone with ill intent managed to board the ship, they would be drowned in the sea before reaching Hatrafa Port.

With Aiven and Milan, the two wizards, the defense strength and methods of Hatrafa Port were far beyond what they once were.

Today, this batch of people registered in groups, received clothing and equipment, and then had dedicated personnel to arrange accommodations and subsequent plans for them.

As more sailors, free pirates, and even civilians joined the Dragon Cavalry Pirate Gang, the once vast yet sparsely populated Hatrafa Port was becoming lively.

As of today, the number of combat, logistical, and civilian personnel was gradually approaching the two thousand mark, and the port's facilities were becoming more and more complete with sufficient manpower and financial resources.

However, as the captain, Aiven knew very well that although his privateer fleet was growing in momentum, it was still far from matching the combat power or military quality of a regular navy of equivalent size.

For example, in terms of cannoneers, their gun handling skills could not reach even two-thirds of those of the Storm Horn navy, be it in rate of fire or precision.

Even the leaders were only at the level of the crew members on the Conch, and while individual courage might not be lacking, how could the pirate training system compare with that of the Kingdom?

Combined with their overly lax and self-centered nature, the gap between them and the regular army was not something that equipment alone could bridge.

Thus, gathering personnel was only the first step, and how to gradually build them into an elite force was a long-term project!

Personnel growth during this period had gradually reached Aiven's expectations, and going forward, recruitment conditions would be tightened to consolidate the current base.

Otherwise, even if the numbers increased, they would only be a disorganized rabble.

Additionally, as the Dragon Cavalry Pirate Gang successfully plundered the slave transport fleet of the Santababia Company, their reputation as a rising force spread far and wide.

They had finally secured a firm foothold among the powerful pirate groups of the Golden Sea.

The pirate gang's black dragon-head banner was planted firmly in the hearts of all stakeholders around the Golden Sea.

The benefits that followed included a continuous enhancement of the cohesion and centripetal force among pirate gang members, with many pirates following tradition by voluntarily tattooing the black dragon-head emblem on themselves.

It was a symbol of loyalty!

Given the scale of personnel, Aiven established the "Fleet Command Room" overseeing the entire pirate gang, modeled after the Kingdom's fleet headquarters, above the small units based on warships.

This was to ensure internal management didn't always require his personal involvement but instead relied on a sound management system; also to free himself for more time to pursue extraordinary advancement; and finally, to ensure that when Anita returned, she could smoothly take over the fleet.

The "Command Room" was mainly responsible for planning, logistics, intelligence, personnel, training, etc., drawing from newly joined members a rare group of experienced civilian professionals and former navy soldier backbones.

And the chief of the command room was not any of the current extraordinary members in the fleet but the owl Bess, who had followed Aiven from the start and now was no lesser than any normal human.

Simply put, the owl had been promoted again, holding simultaneous roles as order officer, intelligence officer, confidential secretary, and chief of staff.

Such an appointment would be almost impossible if given to any human, but for Bess, who was intrinsically Aiven's servant demon, there was no concern of a power grab.

Furthermore, now that money was not an issue, Aiven had recaptured a large number of seagulls, transformed them into spirit bodies, and transferred command to Bess, serving as the intelligence and communications network for the privateer fleet.

Under Bess's leadership, the demonized seagulls had become an indispensable core strength for Aiven.

The seagulls, with their extremely wide recon range, under Bess's command, roamed far and wide, continuously patrolling over half of the Hilus Colony, a portion of the New Continent, and the main ocean routes.