Game of Thrones: The Road to Pirate King

Chapter 394: Submit or Die!

The Iron Islands fleet had sailed the seas for years, dealing with pirates more often than some people had eaten salt. They learned a truth from blood and fire: trying to reason with pirates was the most futile and foolish thing in the world.

Therefore, when formulating a strategy for conquering the Serpent Islands, Euron and the various island lords of the Iron Islands knew clearly that the appeasement and pacification strategy used in the Summer Islands would not work here.

"Rules that are too complicated are incomprehensible to those pirates who only recognize swords and gold coins." Euron lightly tapped the sea chart with his finger, as if he had grasped the lifeline of that lawless land, and sneered, "They only understand one language: simple, direct, brutal, and preferably stained with blood."

King Baron grinned, revealing his stained yellow teeth: "Giving them too many choices will only be seen as weakness."

""

"Three days." Euron's voice was not loud. He looked around at the island lords and said, "We will only give them three days, and only two choices."

The only sound in the council chamber was the sound of the sea breeze passing through it, and everyone was waiting for the final verdict.

"Submit, or die!"

Euron's resolution was passed amidst a thunderous banging on the table.

Around the long table, each island lord slammed his fist into the wooden table, causing the deck to tremble. This was an approval ceremony passed down through generations of the Iron People; the more important the decision, the more powerful the pounding should be, like a tsunami.

King Baron's eyes burned with a fierce light; he seemed to already see it: on the highest reef of the Serpent Lizard Islands, the Crown of the Sea Skeletons, which had once aweeded all around the Stone Steps Islands, would once again stand. "Let those bastards see clearly—" he grinned, "what true fear is!"

Submit or die!

The three sisters rode on the thousand-year-old dragon Halsien, letting the declaration of rule over the Iron Islands fall from the sky, sprinkling it across every pirate's lair.

Soon, the news spread throughout the entire Snake Lizard Islands, and the entire pirate den seemed to have been thrown into hot oil, causing an instant uproar.

"They really dare to do that?" a young pirate roared in the tavern, gripping his glass. "The fleet will be here in three days. Does disobeying them mean they'll slaughter the entire archipelago?"

In a corner, a one-eyed old pirate slowly set down his wine flask, a gloomy expression on his salt-stained face. "They dare," he rasped, his voice silencing the entire tavern. "I've seen them on the Stone Steps Islands—"

His cloudy, single eye seemed to see that hellish scene again—one or two colossal towers made of hundreds of thousands of heads piercing the sky, their empty eye sockets staring at every passerby. Dried flesh hung on the stark white skeletons, seabirds nested among the skulls, and whenever the sea breeze blew, those heads would emit chilling wails.

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"The Crown of the Sea Corpses—" the old pirate's voice trembled, "You can never imagine what a terrible sight it is when hatred and death are forged into totems."

No one spoke in the tavern anymore; the only sound was the glass slipping from a trembling hand and shattering on the stained wooden floor.

Before the flames of war in the Summer Isles had completely died down, Edwin Ramirez, Euron's brother and former leader of the new pirate alliance in the Stepstone Islands, had already quietly returned to the Basilisk Islands with his trusted followers.

His men, like vipers, infiltrated the dark corners of the islands. In casinos with whale oil lamps, in pubs reeking of cheap rum, and on the docks where dilapidated sailboats lay moored, they spread the news of the Iron Islands' imminent arrival in deep, confident voices.

These veterans, who had experienced the Battle of the Steppes, knew best how to let fear take root. They meticulously described the details of the Crown of the Sea Corpses—how the heads etched by the sea wind seemed to weep, how the rusted swords gleamed blood-red in the moonlight. Every detail was carefully crafted, like a sculptor polishing a horrific work of art.

"They once built the Tower of Heads on the Stone Steps Islands—" a one-armed sailor hissed in a corner of the tavern, while the gamblers around him had long forgotten the dice in their hands.

The deeper the night, the clearer these whispers became. When moonlight shone into the dirtiest alleyways of the Serpent Islands, even the fiercest pirate captains couldn't help but gaze at the dark sea, as if the terrifying fleet had sailed out of a nightmare and was about to become reality.

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Fear spread like a plague across the islands, and Edwin's men were the most efficient spreaders of it.

News of the Iron Islands' impending siege spread like a plague through every dark corner of the Serpent Lizard Islands. Faced with this unstoppable torrent of steel, many pirates quickly devised a seemingly clever strategy—to temporarily avoid direct confrontation.

Chaos erupted at the dock.

The sails were brutally cut, and the ships, laden with plundered goods, headed recklessly towards the high seas. The seasoned pirates comforted each other: "The Iron Islands fleet can't be stationed on this wretched island forever. Once the storm passes, this place will be ours again!"

Slender speedboats and cumbersome armed merchant ships crowded the waterway, fleeing in three directions: eastward to Slaver's Bay, hoping to infiltrate that larger breeding ground for crime; northward to the barbarian lands, attempting to change their identities in unfamiliar ports; and even more audacious ones set sail westward, hoping to find a new lair in the legendary land of shadows.

Masts fell like withered trees, and abandoned cargo and barrels of wine were scattered everywhere on the dock. In this wave of panicked escape, some overturned the planks of their allies, and others drew their swords against each other for the last barrel of fresh water—their current wretchedness was a cruel irony compared to their past boasts of bravery.

As the last escape ship disappeared below the horizon, many islands of the Serpent Lizard Archipelago resembled hollowed-out beehives, leaving only a few of the most stubborn old pirates sitting listlessly in the tavern. Gazing at the suddenly empty harbor, they finally realized that even if they could return in the future, this sea would never again be the lawless paradise it once was.

Even before the Iron Islands arrived, their mere reputation was enough to bring down this century-old pirate stronghold without a fight.

Euron clearly had no intention of leaving these pirates any room to survive, nor could he leave any future troubles for his rule.

Just when the pirates thought they had escaped, the real nightmare had only just begun.

Those pirate ships that sailed into the high seas encountered something far more despairing than the Iron Fleet.

【Rhinoceros and Hippopotamus】A pink nightmare, with a huge horn on its forehead, capable of shattering a pirate ship into pieces with a single impact. Its skin is covered with a hard layer of calcified keratin, like natural heavy armor, completely impervious to knives, axes, and arrows.

The giant sea frog inflates its vocal sacs on the seabed, producing a croaking sound that is no longer a simple "ribbit," but a terrifying sonic wave a mixture of low and high frequencies. This causes violent resonance in the water, stunning fish and even crew members within its range. Leaping from the sea, its massive body crashes onto the surface, triggering a massive tsunami and whirlpool that directly sinks the pirate ship. Its long tongue then engulfs the struggling pirates, swallowing them whole.

【Iron-boned King Crab】With its disproportionately large claws, a boat can be easily split in two with a gentle pinch.

The Deep Sea Lizard bites the hull, spinning and tumbling violently, tearing the longship to pieces. The venom from the venom glands in its lower jaw exhausts the pirates, making them its meal.

The 【Skeleton Sea Centipede】simply crawl across the pirate ship, circle it once, and it will cut through everything in its path.

It tore them apart, and incidentally impaled many pirates on the sharp, spear-like legs on both sides of their bodies.

According to the surviving pirates, the already enormous sea king appeared even more terrifying, enough to stop a child from crying.

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