"Today… I will unify Atlantis!"
Orm roared as if victory were already in his grasp—his face twisted, features warped by mania, like a demon wearing a crown.
"As for that bastard—he'll be ashes soon enough, buried beneath the sand along with the Kingdom of the Deserters!"
But the reply wasn't the trumpet call of an advancing army.
A powerful man in golden armor—a gold trident in hand, reins clenched tight—burst through the water astride a seahorse mount, cleaving the current like a blade.
He cut through the crowd with a sharp hiss, tearing open a vacuum trail that boiled and crackled behind him.
With a yank of the reins, Aquaman forced the mount into a controlled drift, then sprang off and floated in the center of the hall—eyes locked on the half-brother he had never met.
His gaze was absolute.
"No. I'm going to stop your ambition."
Vulko's face lit up with pride, the tension in his chest finally releasing.
He knew it. He hadn't chosen wrong.
Even if Arthur was mixed-blood, he'd carried the same power as Atlantis's first king since childhood.
"Arthur! I knew you'd make it!"
Hal rubbed his chin, genuinely surprised.
"He got the trident that fast?"
Ben's expression said obviously.
"With Flash and Shazam helping search, plus Cyborg's Mother Box teleportation—if anything, they're late."
With Ben's "spoilers" in play, Aquaman's journey was far easier than it had been in the movie.
Honestly, if Mera had trusted him from the start, they could've stayed in Atlantis and watched the whole mess unfold from the sidelines.
As if hearing them, Aquaman turned his head.
By the time he'd confirmed the final destination—and met his mother—he already knew Ben's intel had been worth believing.
"Sorry," he said. "I lost some time in the desert. Batman has confirmed the missile's location—Flash is helping him. Cyborg and Shazam are holding back Orm's army. Superman and Wonder Woman are bringing the Brine warriors here."
He delivered the update cleanly—each team exactly where it needed to be.
After they secured the trident, Cyborg had immediately contacted Batman. Per Batman's plan, they would gather at the Fisherman Kingdom and crush Orm's war outright.
Everything was moving on rails.
Aquaman faced Orm again.
"You've already lost. The legendary trident is in my hands."
Orm sneered.
To him, a trident lost for thousands of years was just… a fork with a myth stapled to it. Atlantis had thrived underwater for millennia—its civilization hadn't needed relics to become brilliant.
How many people would really accept a king because of an old weapon?
"No one will follow you," Orm spat. "I'm pure-blood Atlantean. I am the true ruler of the seas!"
"No," a calm voice cut in. "Whoever holds that trident is king."
King Ricou stepped forward, eyes bright with certainty—he'd seen the trident in the ancient records, and the weapon in Arthur's hand matched those images exactly.
He didn't hesitate.
"I greet you on behalf of the Fisherman Kingdom, honored Aquaman!"
At that moment, Mera—red hair flaring in the palace light—charged into the hall.
She went straight to her father and activated a device Cyborg had given her, projecting Black Manta's recorded confession into the open.
"Father—stop! Arthur has the trident. And that attack… it was Orm's staged farce. War won't bring Atlantis hope or a future!"
Nereus had already read the room. He didn't dig in.
He took the staircase Mera offered, and stepped back.
"Looks like I'm not too late."
Outside, something massive—an armored, shell-backed figure over two meters tall—shot in like a cannonball, landing right in the middle of the crowd.
The Brine King scanned the scene, then fixed his unreadable face on Arthur—and burst into booming laughter.
"So you're the one Superman talked about? When this is over, fight me. Only a true warrior earns my respect!"
Three kings on the field had now made their choices.
With the trident in hand, Arthur's power surged—and even the Trench could be commanded by his call.
Four kingdoms linked.
In that instant, Arthur became Aquaman in the full, literal sense of the title.
"Give up the throne, little brother."
Aquaman approached Orm, trident lowered—not as an executioner, but as someone trying, stubbornly, not to make his first act as king the murder of his mother's other son.
Orm looked at him like he was filth.
Disgust and hatred churned in his eyes.
"Even with that trident, I will never give Atlantis's throne to a mixed-blood bastard!"
"Yield, Orm."
A gentle, unfamiliar voice spoke from behind him—
—and Orm's world cracked.
The mother he believed had been sacrificed—offered up with his father and his people to the Trench—
stood there alive, leading an army, urging him to surrender.
That was the final weight that snapped what little composure he had left.
Orm broke.
"You think you've won?" he screamed, voice ragged. "You think stopping me stops the war? You think the surface will ever give up its profits from the sea?!"
He turned on everyone in the hall, no dignity left—only frothing rage.
"Wait and see! The surface will start the war sooner or later! And when your nations fall and your people go extinct, you'll regret not listening to me!"
…
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 90)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 95)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 80)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter70)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter70)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter50)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter60)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 20
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 20
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin