Upcoming Battle

A fight that everyone wanted to see. Khali watched everything unfold, and he was also curious. He had never seen Joshua fight before.

"Will he be okay?" Aurora said.

Khali was beside her, and he answered in the best way possible.

"He will. We all know Joshua is a capable person. We should not doubt our friend's capability."

Aurora nodded in response, and it seemed that she was less anxious. She trusted Joshua completely.

Ganda and Joshua stood in the middle of a circle. Ganda wielded two curved swords made of fine steel. Joshua, on the other hand, did not wield a weapon.

It was not that he was overly confident. The truth was that Ganda was not a big deal. Ganda had a level of 8. It was higher than most inside the ship, but for Joshua, he still was too weak.

Joshua fought inside the underground arena where criminals and dangerous people were. The aura he felt from Ganda was the opposite. Ganda was someone who had fought many battles, but nowhere near the predators that fought illegal fights. He was a kid in comparison.

Both of them gazed at each other. Joshua was not a fan of staring, so he mocked Ganda. He gestured with his right hand, saying, "come on."

That was beyond what Ganda could endure. He ran the edge of one of his swords through the other, creating a sound that would send a chill down the spine of anyone present.

Well, that didn't happen with Joshua. He just stared at Ganda with a mocking face. It was like he was saying, 'Is that all you've got?'

Ganda advanced on Joshua with surprising speed. The weakest observers could barely see his movements. For them, Ganda was a blurry figure.

On the other hand, Joshua saw Ganda's futile movements. It was obvious that Ganda was more focused on the speed aspect, so his strength would not be comparable to Joshua's.

Once the two swords were close to Joshua, he grabbed both of Ganda's arms, squeezing them with tremendous force. A cracking sound, as if two twigs had snapped in half.

Ganda screamed in agony, realizing that his wrists were no longer the same. Both swords fell to the ground, as he had no strength left to hold them.

And that wasn't the end of Joshua's attacks. Before the swords even touched the ground, Joshua's knee accurately hit Ganda's chin, knocking him out instantly.

Everyone around them was stunned by the situation. Not even in their dreams did they imagine that Ganda would lose so easily to that young man. The most surprising fact was that Ganda couldn't even react. The fight was over before it even started.

After witnessing that, they realized why the young man was so arrogant. He had the strength to be.

Everyone who still had any thoughts of creating confusion for the new crew members now didn't think that way anymore. Facing that little monster would be stupid.

Leo benefited the most from the situation. Joshua broke the crew's morale so much that they didn't even think about causing him trouble.

"Oh, how good it is to have badass friends." thought Leo.

Frederick who watched it all was surprised, and at the same time angry. Ganda was one of his strongest subordinates, and after that fight, he would take some time to recover. But despite that, he said nothing. Khali was a powerful wizard, and far too important for the journey. Hurting his friends would be the same as hurting him, and Frederick couldn't do that.

~~~~

Everything went back to normal after that. Each crew member returned to their role. The only difference was that Ganda was now in a bed recovering. In the end, Ganda's attempt failed. Leo and Joshua hung out on the ship's deck, doing nothing.

"That was impressive," said Aurora, who couldn't believe what she had seen.

Joshua scratched the back of his head, embarrassed he said, "That was no big deal, just some tricks Richard taught me."

Aurora seemed to get lost in her thoughts after hearing that name. Joshua came closer giving her a tight hug.

Leo still didn't quite understand what had happened, or who this Richard was. But from the way Aurora reacted, he was sure it was someone very important.

That scene reminded Leo of all the friends he lost the day the Crow's Nest was attacked.

"I need to rebuild our order. It will keep everyone's legacy alive." Leo thought.

~~~~

The journey by ship to the capital would take a few days. The route they were using was famous among the merchants. It was the fastest way to transport goods to other cities. But not everything was flowers. Despite being a fast route, it was also quite dangerous.

"What is that?" asked Joshua. He could see in the distance one ship being invaded by another. It was like the pirate movies he'd seen.

Philip, who was steering the ship, said, "Don't worry boy. That's pretty common in these waters."

Joshua wished he could help these people, but Philip soon took a detour away from that scene.

~~~~

Two days have passed since the start of the journey. Nothing dangerous happened during that time, and Joshua began to doubt whether these waters were indeed dangerous.

Maybe thinking about that was stupid. A fleet of three ships appeared on the horizon right after those thoughts crossed his mind. Those ships were not there for good things.

The fleet noticed Frederick's ship and headed madly towards it. Philip noticed the strange movement and soon shouted, "all of you prepare for combat."

Joshua took his sword. Leo didn't stand still either and was soon holding his magic scepter.

A fierce fight was coming and Joshua couldn't lose.

~~~~

The crew on Frederick's ship weren't so scared. They were calm even though they were going up against a fleet. Maybe that show of superiority coming from Joshua made them more confident. And of course, there was also the monstrous Khali on board.

Joshua noticed that Aurora was still on the ship's deck, and said gently, "Aurora, I think it would be best if you went into your room."

Aurora understood that she wouldn't make much difference in the fight. That gave her even more reason to become a powerful mage.

Joshua gripped his sword tightly, with only one thought on his mind.

"Come to Daddy."