The Ganggwi Pirates
"Yawn. What time is it?"
I opened my eyes. But as I did... the situation around me was far from normal.
The weather was a bright, cloudless morning. Waves rolled gently over the sandy beach, and discarded seashells sparkled colorfully in the glittering sunlight. Sure, up to this point, everything was fine. The problem lay further inland, away from the sea.
"Grrrgh! Cough, cough, cough."
"Ugh, I'm so wasted. Bleeegh."
Bastards were puking their guts out, still clutching alcohol bottles and chunks of meat in both hands as if their lives depended on it. Some were sprawled out sleeping in the blinding sunlight without a care in the world, while half-eaten food scraps and empty bottles rolled around them.
If they had dared to behave so classlessly in front of a sect elder, they would have been ordered to face-plant into the dirt immediately. But right now, we were pirates. This level of rudeness and lack of dignity could actually be overlooked as a virtue.
Besides, these guys had been huddled together on a tiny, uninhabited island like half-savages for a while, without a drop of alcohol or a decent bite of meat. They must have accumulated a ton of anxiety and stress, so if they could blow it off like this, I was fine with letting them enjoy themselves to their hearts' content.
As for my women... they were doing fine. It looked like they had huddled up and chatted until they fell asleep together.
You might wonder if cultivators in the Ungi (Qi Circulation) realm could even get drunk, but this alcohol was specifically brewed to intoxicate cultivators. Even I had a slight hangover after chugging a ton of it, which said it all. If an ordinary creature drank this, it would be nothing short of pure poison.
To make someone like me—who had reached the absolute peak of the physical body, let alone the Ungi realm—feel tipsy, the ingredients used to brew this stuff had to be incredibly rare and potent. As expected of a great pirate, the alcohol he drank was top-shelf. It was so strong and delicious that my crew had completely passed out after drinking it.
Still, the other elders had already sobered up and were back to drinking. Man, they must have been incredibly frustrated on that deserted island. How did they even survive all that boredom?
"Mmm..."
Just then, I heard a soft whimper from the woman resting on my lap. Baek Ryeom. Our cheeky mermaid princess was squirming in my arms, her cunt still filled with my seed. Well, I had certainly taken her while drunk, and she was delicious. Aside from her lower half being a bit unusual, she was too good of a woman to throw away. Having only known of mermaids through media in my past life, it felt quite novel.
She might not be a Disney princess, but fucking a gently raised mermaid lady was definitely something to brag about. This mermaid's greatest stroke of luck was that her human form extended down to her thighs. If she had been a fish from the belly button down like in those old stories, sex would have been out of the question—she'd probably have ended up as spicy fish stew over there instead.
"I'll just treat her as a collectible for now."
If she grew on me, I could always make her one of my women, just like So-wol or Jeongha. I gently laid Baek Ryeom down and was about to head over to the elders to discuss our future plans.
"What on earth is that?"
That was when my highly developed eyes and senses caught sight of something on the distant horizon. Watching a fleet of several ships sailing directly toward us without a shadow of a doubt, Hayun frowned.
The Akgwi Pirates. They were considered one of the worst natural disasters in these waters, the literal demons of the sea, and undisputed great pirates of the Dongheo Sea.
And Yeo Su-gu, a merchant of the sea, was a man who had secured a contract with the notoriously brutal Akgwi Pirates—specifically with their strongest and most cruel leader, Dae-akgwi. He was a gray-market merchant who turned a profit by traveling between various pirates, prestigious cultivation sects, and different islands to procure goods and resources.
Because he dealt in dark, secretive items rather than official trade routes, his profit margins were high, but he had to risk his life on every single voyage. Consequently, although they called themselves merchants, they were tougher and more violent than most pirates. Dealing with erratic pirates on one hand and orthodox figures who brandished public authority and moral justification on the other meant they had nothing to rely on but their own strength.
Furthermore, maintaining a long-standing trading relationship with a volatile and powerful figure like Dae-akgwi was proof enough that he possessed at least a baseline level of capability. To be respected by pirates was a title that only held weight when the other party calculated that attacking you would result in their own ruin.
Thus, Yeo Su-gu and his crew were always filled with a mix of confidence and caution. They had the confidence to handle a client's betrayal, yet they possessed the sharp sensitivity unique to middle-men who knew they could never truly hold the upper hand. Armed with these traits, Yeo Su-gu had navigated the treacherous seas to become one of the great merchants. He had sailed the five seas of the Five Dragons region, establishing himself as a grand captain whose status no one could dispute.
Yet, even a man of his caliber could never have anticipated a situation like this.
"Nice to meet you. I don't know who you are, but I am Hayun, the captain of the Ganggwi Pirates."
For instance... encountering a man who could casually sip alcohol while hanging Dae-akgwi—the great pirate whom even Yeo Su-gu had to flatter and bow down to—from a wooden pole. And that, too, right in the middle of Akgwi Island, Dae-akgwi's own stronghold.
The sight of Dae-akgwi and his subordinates being boiled into soup and tortured...
"Ha, haha. It is a pleasure to meet you for the first time. I am Yeo Su-gu of the Bamgodeung Merchant Group."
Facing a man who calmly engaged in such atrocities without a single scratch on his body was enough to make even the battle-hardened Yeo Su-gu break into a cold sweat.
Who is this? I've never heard of such a pirate crew or individual. A newly emerged pirate crew...? But how could a force of this caliber appear overnight? I spent a fortune scraping together every piece of information on masters of the Samgeuk realm and above.
But what could he do? He had already sailed right into the massive maw of Akgwi Island, essentially throwing himself into the jaws of a pirate crew far more demonic than the actual Akgwi Pirates—one capable of turning Dae-akgwi into a half-roasted pig.
"Aaaargh! Yeo Su-gu! Undo just one of the seals on my body right now! Just one is enough!"
To avoid ending up like Dae-akgwi, who was screaming nonsense over there, he had only one choice.
You fucking crazy bastard, Dae-akgwi. What the hell did you do to end up in this state?! You're going to get me killed too!
Yeo Su-gu cursed the flailing Dae-akgwi in his mind and put on his friendliest, most gentle merchant face. He had to do whatever it took to flatter this atrocious pirate crew, who boiled and steamed the Akgwi Pirates for food, if he wanted to survive.
Warning his crew behind him—who were foolishly contemplating a fight—to stand down, Yeo Su-gu flashed an amiable smile at the horned predator.
"I am Yeo Su-gu. Is there perhaps anything you require, Great Lord? Information, merchandise, rare creatures, or raw materials—I deal in absolutely everything."
Some crazy bastard had crawled onto our island.
"Aaaaargh! Yeo Su-gu! Hurry! If you and I join forces, we can drive them out in no time! I'll give you eighty percent! I'll yield eighty percent of our usual trade profits to you, so hurry!"
Judging by what the half-roasted Dae-akgwi hanging from the pole was shouting, it seemed they knew each other. Unfortunately for them, their timing was terrible. If things looked suspicious, he should have fled immediately, but he stubbornly sailed right in, practically begging for death.
Five in the Tong-un (Universal Circulation) stage. Not bad.
On top of that, the guy called the captain seemed to possess a Dharma treasure. In terms of quality, it looked like the lowest of the low, but a Dharma treasure was still a Dharma treasure. Plus, the ship he arrived on was semi-Dharma-treasure grade, so ordinary folks would find it difficult to even scratch them.
Of course, none of that applied to me. A bottom-tier Dharma treasure, a mediocre ship, and five peak Ungi realm cultivators—could they even withstand a single shot from my Red Agate Bow? Besides, even with my elders and subordinates still half-asleep and hungover, we could wipe those pests out in an instant.
Let's just clean them up to avoid any annoying complications.
Just as I made my decision and gripped my pitch-black Dokkaebi club, the guy with the relatively neat appearance and a conch shell on his head spoke up.
"Is there perhaps anything you require? Information, merchandise, rare creatures, or raw materials—I deal in absolutely everything."
"And who are you?"
"I am Yeo Su-gu of the Bamgodeung Merchant Group. It might seem sudden for me to say this, but I believe my capabilities are proven by the very fact that I managed to trade with that volatile Dae-akgwi hanging on the pole over there."
"True enough."
What did it mean to trade with pirates? It meant they calculated that establishing a regular trade relationship with you was more profitable than slicing open your belly.
"But that doesn't seem like a good enough reason for me to keep you alive, Yeo Su-gu."
If you don't have a hotter offer, you're going into today's hangover soup. Perhaps because he saw the Akgwi Pirate Soup that the low-level disciples and the Demonic Cultists were boiling over the firewood, his red pincers clicked together anxiously.
"Let me speak plainly. What must I provide to save my single life?"
"Exactly. That's how you should talk."
If a weakling tries to act smug and leave room for negotiation, does it piss me off or what?
Snap!
I flicked my fingers, and the elders who had been hiding nearby revealed themselves one by one.
"Vice-captains. Since this fellow has laid down his cards, let's coordinate our thoughts."
"Sounds good, Captain. Considering he traded regularly with a great pirate, he probably has almost everything we want."
Yeo Su-gu's eyes trembled with anxiety. He looked back and forth between the elders and me, then, with a look of utter defeat, let his antennae droop as he offered a servile smile.
"Good grief. You keep showing me things that are far beyond my capacity to handle."
"Don't worry. I won't kill you."
As long as you remain useful.
Tapping his plump, meat-filled carapace, Hayun flashed a grotesque smile.
The Dongheo Sea.
The Dongheo Sea was a region that had suffered a massive decline due to an invasion by a powerful external force in the past. Once ruled by the White Dragon Island, the most prosperous of the Five Dragons seas, it was now a place completely sunken and ruined by that external catastrophe.
As such, it was like an ancient ruin with barely any proper islands left, only jagged reefs. But is there anything in this world that cannot be exploited? Since the islands where public authorities, great sects, and even small-to-medium sects could establish themselves had vanished, this place naturally became a den of pirates.
With the foundation for enforcing strict rules uprooted, disorder and chaos rushed in to fill the void. Once the most prosperous region of the Five Dragons seas, it was now a desolate, uninhabited zone with nothing to see but waves crashing against the reefs.
Yet, even in such a place, people gathered. When a major pillar of order collapsed, a vacuum was created in the once-balanced public security and regulations, naturally drawing all kinds of heinous individuals to the area.
And here, in the Dongheo Sea, notorious for having not a single island left, a massive island floated proudly.
If one were to look down from the sky, they would realize from the dark shape faintly reflected beneath the water's surface that this island was actually built upon the back of a colossal turtle.
Once the masters of White Dragon Island and the rulers of the eastern White Dragon Sea, the descendants of the ancient rulers had now been reduced to governing only the largest sector of the Dongheo Sea.
A few ships approached one of the largest floating markets in the Dongheo Sea.
"Halt. Yeo Su-gu of the Bamgodeung Merchant Group. We will conduct a brief inspection. There are more ships than scheduled—what is the meaning of this?"
"Ah, of course. How could I not appreciate the hard work of our Quarantine Knights?"
A fist-sized pouch slipped out of Yeo Su-gu's sleeve. Normally, that would have been enough to let them pass... but those ships were the problem.
"Captain Yeo Su-gu. Normally, I'd let it slide, but that one... is way too big. How many layers of protective arrays are engraved on that hull? That's practically a warship, isn't it?"
"That is exactly what I came to sell! Just list that one as cargo, and as for the other medium-sized fleets behind it... please take this and reconsider."
"Hmph."
"If I give you any more than this, I won't have any profit left."
"Tsk. Fine. I'm letting this go only because of our history. If you bring something like this next time, it's an immediate seizure."
"Yes, yes. I am well aware that I overreached this time."
"If you knew that... tsk. Move along quickly."
Thus, despite bringing a fleet easily twice the scheduled size, we successfully entered Taegwi Island without any issues. I walked up to the sweating Yeo Su-gu and patted his back.
"See? I told you it would work."
"That's normally impossible... No, never mind."
By the way, this island was incredibly fascinating. I tapped the ground beneath my feet. A mere turtle carrying an island the size of Taiwan on its back? There really were so many wonders in this world.
Naturally, a certain curiosity arose.
"If we kill this turtle, how massive would its core be?"
"Surely... you aren't serious, right?"
"Who knows."
I'd love to slice it open if I ever get the chance.