Chapter 65: The Alliance of Salladhor Saan and "Madman" Jack
The Stepstones — Bloodstone, Main Island
It was a peaceful morning; the sun hung halfway above the horizon, and a gentle breeze blew softly across the sea, creating cheerful ripples.
By all accounts, it was a perfect morning for setting sail. However, beneath the tranquility of the sea, a tense atmosphere was hidden.
Because certain vipers peering from the shadows were already prepared to strike their "prey."
And on the horizon, one hundred leagues north of Bloodstone and the surrounding isles of the Stepstones, a massive fleet was slowly advancing toward the island.
"Hahaha, come on! Hit me!... Ugh!"
"Go for it..."
"Hit him fast..."
...On a galleon named the Queen Racallio, two men were swinging their fists at each other, while the surrounding sailors cheered them on loudly.
These fellows all had weapons hanging from their waists, and from their ferocious expressions and bloodthirsty eyes, it was clear they were pirates.
The two pirates fighting were a mustached youth in fine clothes and a sturdy, middle-aged bald man.
Although the mustached youth was constantly taking hits, he remained nonchalant, occasionally using words to provoke the sturdy bald man he was fighting.
"Bang... Pfft..."
"Hahaha..."
After taking a heavy blow, the youth in fine clothes was knocked directly to the deck, a large amount of fresh blood spilling from his split lip.
But after spitting out the blood, the youth did not grow angry; instead, he laughed like a madman.
"Hahaha... so comfortable! Show some spirit! You are the men of the Prince of the Stepstones! Go and kill those who dare to stand in our way!"
"Oh... Hurrah!"
"Hurrah!..."
...The pirates on the ship shouted excitedly upon hearing the mustached youth's declaration.
Soon, the signalmen on the flagship sent out signals, and the sailors on the surrounding pirate ships instantly became excited as well.
They raised black sails and hung the skull-and-bones upon the masts; all the pirates belonging to this fleet erupted in cheers upon seeing the death's head banner.
Black sails symbolized their defiance of death, while the skull-and-bones told their enemies that death had arrived.
These pirates were different from ordinary ones; their faces were painted with red and blue war markings, and their eyes gleamed with greed and cruelty.
Most of them held swords and grappling hooks, prepared to engage in bloody slaughter at sea to completely eliminate their enemies.
Meanwhile, on a massive ship named the Valyrian, a dark-skinned man in leather armor, holding a nightwood shield and a one-handed sword, complained to a short-haired black man in fine clothes beside him.
"Lord Saan, these men are mad. Are we truly to make common cause with such creatures?"
"It would not be pleasant if they lost control and turned their blades upon us as well."
"Hahaha, Jack is just like that. He is merely a fool trying to inherit the legacy of . He inherited Racallio Ryndoon's madness, but not his strength nor his fortune. Such a man is perfect to serve as my pawn."
After lowering the Myrish eye he had been using to observe the horizon, spoke calmly to the gladiator guard beside him.
After learning that the Blood Witch Mary had failed, Salladhor Saan finally understood Jon's strength.
Thus, this dark-skinned pirate from Lys decided to act personally. Even so, he preferred to have another man stand in front to take the brunt of the risk.
The Saan family to which Salladhor Saan belonged was an old pirate lineage whose most infamous forebears could be traced back to the era of and the Conquest of Westeros.
Salladhor Saan inherited the cunning of a pirate and the slickness of a merchant. After failing to secure a magistracy in Lys, he brought his fleet to contest control of the Stepstones.
Unlike other members of House Saan, he desired not mere plunder but a lasting foothold. The Stepstones—once ruled by kings such as and later the self-styled King of the Narrow Sea—was a strategic chokepoint he greatly valued.
"We need only observe their performance. If they succeed, we take our share. If they fail, we may always bend the knee to the victor. Today we shall see clearly whether dragons truly exist on Bloodstone."
Salladhor Saan was not a man of blind belief. He trusted only what he could see with his own eyes.
Though he had dismissed earlier claims of dragons as drunken exaggeration, years at sea had taught him that the world concealed many secrets.
While the return of dragons seemed fantastical, he was not fool enough to ignore the possibility.
"Give the order. We provide support from the flank. If a dragon appears, raise the rainbow banner. My ships were bought with gold—I will not have them turned to cinders."
"As you command, Lord Saan."
"Relay the orders!"
...To distinguish themselves from "Madman" Jack's fleet, Salladhor Saan's ships bore white sails. The rainbow flag—symbol of truce and negotiation—remained hidden, ready to be unfurled if survival demanded it.
This was his method: fight when victory was possible, yield when it was not.
It was through such pragmatism that Salladhor Saan rose from slave trader to feared pirate lord. Like many merchants of the Free Cities, he believed that coin could solve nearly any problem.
If a foe refused an offer, it simply meant the price had not yet been high enough.
His crews wore uniform Myrish-style naval leather armor, iron-bound wooden helms, and carried crossbows and spears.
These men were disciplined soldiers, distinct from Jack's frothing marauders. Pirates might excel in savage boarding actions, but Saan's men held firm in defense and prolonged battle.
As orders passed from flagship to flagship, both fleets advanced toward Bloodstone. They had anchored at a hidden pirate cove the previous night.
At dawn, they set sail without raising their skull banners, instead flying merchant colors of Pentos to avoid early detection.
Only two hours remained before they could launch a sudden assault.
Though well-prepared, they had not brought their largest siege vessels. Myrish war machines—catapult ships and scorpion platforms—were expensive and conspicuous.
Many of the pirates' weapons had been purchased from Myrish smugglers, despite various city-state agreements meant to curb such proliferation.
Even so, the absence of heavier artillery did little to dampen the enthusiasm of "Madman" Jack's men.
They believed slaughter to be a right granted by the gods. In that, they were not unlike the ironborn of the ; battle stirred their blood into a near inhuman frenzy.
"Let the storm grow fiercer! Bring forth the blood offerings for my lord!"
Though called "Madman," Jack was not witless. In the Stepstones—where even seabirds were plucked for feathers—true fools did not survive long.
The god Jack worshipped was the , the chief deity of Qohor among the Free Cities.
After sacrifice to this dark god, certain Qohorik sorcerers were said to gain strange powers.
"Madman" Jack was one such practitioner—if only half-trained.
When he first heard rumors of dragons upon Bloodstone, fear had crept into his heart.
Yet after prayer and sacrifice to the Black Goat, the whispers came—kill bravely.
Those whispers strengthened his resolve.
In the past, Jack had treated his faith as little more than comfort. But in recent years, the god's voice had grown clearer.
Especially in recent days, he had begun to understand its instructions distinctly.
That was why he sailed for Bloodstone.
Not because he was fearless—
But because the thing behind him had already made its preparations.
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