William Ashshore had remained silent the whole time he was on the Shadow. Seeing the pirate ship and the unplanned Orcashi attack on Braveocean Island, he attempted to escape. "You all have been really lovely to me...but, I need to leave. This place is no longer for me!" He announced as he dived into the water. He swam as fast as he could. The current took him to the north side of the island. He expected to see Aqusals but all he saw were two human ships.
Braveocean meanwhile took most of his crew into the centre of the battlefield and planned a counter-offensive. They took building after building and only had the docks to push into. Gringull was getting restless and ordered the Orcashi to charge.
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Zabishi sent a wave of Aqusals forward. The group were attacked by the crews of the navy. Zabishi dueled Admiral Braveocean but Braveocean could not hold him off. Braveocean pushed him into the water. Zabishi and the other Aqusals fled to the north beach, where they greeted Ashshore. The now proclaimed 'Captain' Gringull fled alone to the north beach. Gragog had taken over the command of the forces. Before he left, he had united Ar-Baruk with him. Accompanying Gringull were a number of guards.
"Acursed Aquestrians!" He shouted, as he hobbled along.
"So, agreement over?" Zabishi asked approaching Gringull.
Gringull shook his head and looked at Captain Ashshore. "What's he doing here?"
"This former Naval Captain William Ashshore. He wants to help us Aqusals. He abandoned his Admiral."
"You made a deal with these Orcashi raiders?" William Ashshore asked curiously. Ashshore realised he might have to make a pact with the Orcashi. This annoyed him, as he thought very lowly of the Orcashi. Yet, he was enthusiastic enough to suggest a pact.
"The Aqusal numbers are decreasing, and, from what I understand, the Orcashis are being pushed too."
"My folk should be here any minute soon." Gringull explained. "There are more Aquestrians coming from the docks to reinforce your Admiral's forces. I've told everyone to move past the prison, collect that pirate on the way."
"The Black Skull? He's useless."
"Well, he could help us get that pirate ship to do what we say."
"Let me send a raven to them. They will respond quickly if they know what we are doing. The other pirate ship is on the Admiral's side: the Shadow. They picked me up thinking I was one of them. I say we get everyone who opposes the Admiral on this beach, then we can push forwards."
"That sounds like a plan." Gringull agreed. "We should take these two ships before something-"
The two ships on the beach were the Albatross and the Stormchaser. Both seemed empty but then a group of people appeared on the Albatross and backed the ship out of the sand.
"Take the Stormchaser." Gringull yelled. The group boarded the Stormchaser, searching for any Aquestrians. It was empty. The Albatross was gone. "This ship will be ours!" He shouted. A group of Orcashi could be seen in the distance. They arrived. There, Gringull explained the plan.
"Where's this pirate I'd be hearing about?"
"I'm sorry." Ar-Baruk stated in an Eastern-European accent. "We killed him."
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Onboard the former Navy ship, the 'Rocky Shores,' the crew fired their last cannonballs on the Sting-Ray. The Sting-Ray fired back as it docked in. The 'Rocky Shores' crew decided to pull their ship out and drive towards the northern beach when they recieved the note from the raven which talked about the alliance.
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When the 'Rocky Shores' landed on the northern beach, William Ashshore waved it down.
"Blind me, you've got Orcashi and Aqusals and what's this, a lone Aquestrian!?" One of the crew members laughed.
"I'm the one who sent the message!" Ashshore shouted. "Let me on!"
Ashshore was allowed to board the ship. There, he found that it was more of a community, with no clear leader or Captain.
"So who leads this ship? Who is the captain?" Ashshore asked.
"I do!" One voice said.
"It is I!" A different voice said.
"No, me!" Another pirate shouted.
"You're all wrong. Noone is the captain here. We make decisions based on the crew's votes."
"Votes? I mean, it's more democratic than the Navy, I would say, as I used to be a part of it myself, but then again, there's no clear leader. It must be chaos."
"That's what I said." One of the older pirates replied. "But they are always so indecisive."
"Why did you leave the navy? Same reason as us?" One voice asked.
"I wanted to save a merchant ship that was on flames but my admiral, the one who owns this island, disagreed, and took control of my ship. Now one of the other captains has destroyed that same ship! I had enough of it. I, William Ashshore, am I pirate now."
There was cheering. The crew of the Rocky Shores toasted to him. "I will be the leader you need. I will be the captain of this ship. We are making a pact against the Aquestrians of Flovia. I will lead this ship to victory and we will take many more ships to spread our influence! See over there? An army of Orcashi who themselves took a ship here." The Orcashi and Aqusals gathered round William Ashshore.
"He can give a speach, that pigskin can." Gringull muttered.
"And we have the gods of the sea themselves, the Aqusal, who can spread their influence below the water. There is a whole city of them who can help us!"
"I leader of this clan of Aqusals up here. I make sure the Aqusals give continued support." Zabishi roared.
"I am Gringull the Clever, Clans-leader of these Orcashi and now, the self-appointed captain of this ship, the Stormchaser, now that the Ambition has been destroyed. We will send scouts to horde the Orcashi onto these islands. We will be willing to help these pirates as fellow pirates. William Ashshore has more Orcashi blood in him than Aquestrian. All i ask is that our clans-leader be given more of a say, than the others."
"Because of your power in this coalition, you will be given more of a say. If we want, we could take the whole of Necros! Now onward! We will take Flovia, then we will take Ragroth and kill the King of the Aquestrians!" They all cheered for him, especially the Orcashi, who deeply hated the Aquestrians. Ashshore was then voted in as Captain of the Rocky Shores. The pirates called their friends: within hours, three terrifying ships appeared and, once the situation was explained, bent the knee to William Ashshore. Ashshore was more than just a captain. He pressed his hat to his head as he was appointed Admiral of this group of pirates. These pirates did seem seperate from the Pirate King's original body, but rumour had it that Ashshore was going to recieve a letter any minute from him.
As Ashshore and Gringull took their commanding roles on their respective ships, Braveocean's forces nervously waited for a counter attack. They had pushed them all out of the town, with the help of Captain Rajav.
"I thank you for your help." Braveocean said to Rajav. "But we have not won this yet. They seem to have all gathered further north. I can't imagine they'd want to ally each other...it doesn't seem likely."
"I am glad to help. But there are more pressing matters." Rajav spoke.
"Yes. The Black Skull is dead. The Orcashi killed him. I noticed part of the skin of his upper arm has been ripped off. I don't know why anyone would rip that off. At least the pirates in the surrounding waters won't be wishing to join up for a stronger leadership. We could push harder and get rid of them all."
At that instant, Captain Water pushed through the door of Braveocean's office.
"Ah! Captain Water, glad to see you're alright." Braveocean commented.
"They killed him!" Water screamed, tears in her face. "They killed James!"