Deep within the chaotic camp of the Pirate Alliance, the fox-like cunning Captain Edwin Ramirez acted differently from everyone else.
Long before the war drums beat and the fleets collided like bulls, he had quietly ordered his squadron to shift course. They avoided the frontline of the main clash, sliding toward the edge of the battlefield like shadows.
He wasn't fleeing out of cowardice; he was cooperating with Euron in a smarter game.
While the rest of the alliance was fervent for "Bloodhand" Marlin's call to arms, Edwin watched coldly, having already foreseen a different ending. Once the battle began, he used the initial chaos as cover to send small boats shuttling between pirate allies he knew or had previously contacted.
Amidst the crossing hulls and whistling arrows, he whispered poison into the ears of captains he believed could be swayed—captains who already harbored doubts:
"That fool 'Skull King' Mor Bones broke the rules that stood for decades by raiding protected merchant ships. He sought his own death, so why should he drag us all to the grave with him?"
"And Marlin! Our 'Pirate King'! He shielded his crony for selfish reasons and started this senseless war, yet he expects us to pay the price with our blood!"
"Look at how he treats us normally! The best loot is always swallowed by him and his inner circle. The gold dragons we get aren't even enough to patch our hulls! When has he ever been fair?"
Finally, he lowered his voice, delivering the weightiest argument: "Look at the other side! That man is the true 'Son of the Drowned God'! Haven't you heard the rumors? He possesses miraculous powers we can't imagine! Fighting him gives us no chance of winning, and we will lose miserably—perhaps without even leaving a whole corpse behind!"
At first, many captains wavered between loyalty, fear, and profit.
But when those eight giant sea monsters, existing only in the deepest nightmares, tore open the sea surface and crushed the Alliance fleet with unstoppable force, all hesitation and doubt evaporated instantly in the face of primal fear.
Edwin's prophecy had become reality in the most terrifying, visceral way possible!
"Ramirez! Ramirez was right!"
"Quick! Follow Ramirez's ship! Get out of here!"
Those ally ships that were struggling or bewildered now turned their prows desperately, like drowning men grasping at the only straw. They gathered frantically toward Edwin Ramirez's fleet to flee. They would rather trust this shrewd traitor than stay a second longer facing those abyss-born monsters and the ruthless god they represented.
On the sea, the apocalyptic scene was nearing its end.
Thanks to the devastating intervention of the eight "friends" from the abyss, the losses suffered by the Iron Islands Alliance were astonishingly low.
Their appearance not only shattered the Pirate Alliance's lines and morale but also absorbed the vast majority of the frontal impact.
When pirate warships frantically tried to ram Ironborn longships, they were smashed to powder by a giant tail the next second; when rain-like fire arrows shot toward the Redwyne ships, a behemoth's surfacing body became the most reliable shield.
The Alliance forces could efficiently execute cutting, encircling, and annihilating maneuvers from the rear. Their blades fell mostly on the backs of panicked enemies rather than in arduous duels. More than ninety percent of the wreckage and corpses floating in the water belonged to the Pirate Alliance.
From the moment the giant beasts appeared, the scales of war tipped completely.
Except for a very few pirates like Edwin Ramirez who had keen instincts and fled at top speed, the vast majority of the pirates summoned by "Bloodhand" Marlin remained in these blood-and-fire-woven waters forever.
Their ambition, greed, and fear ultimately became food for sharks and monsters, or slowly sank into the cold, dark seabed.
The instigators of this war did not get their wish to die in battle or escape.
Pirate King "Bloodhand" Marlin and his loyal ally "Skull King" Mor Bones had been placed on the highest priority "special care" list from the very beginning.
On the Invincible Ironborn, Euron's cold gaze locked onto their flagships like a falcon. Several of the fiercest sea monsters—especially the ghost-swift "Sea Cat" and the slender, deadly "Venomous Sea Serpent"—abandoned other prey the moment they received the invisible command. Like assassins executing a supreme order, they lunged silently yet precisely at these two flagships.
Their mission was not destruction, but capture.
The "Sea Cat" used its claws with astonishing skill to tear apart the rudder and sails of Marlin's flagship, the Blood Blade, rendering it immobile like a tiger stripped of teeth and claws. The "Venomous Sea Serpent" wrapped its massive body tightly around Mor Bones' distinctive longship, carefully controlling its strength to immobilize it without crushing it, strangling any possibility of resistance.
Subsequently, elite Ironborn warriors boarded like wolves. Meeting almost no resistance—as the pirates were terrified by the monsters inches away—they bound the two infamous pirate leaders and their core cronies, escorting them back to Black Rock Island.
As for the other pirates on the battlefield?
Euron's order from the start was simple, clear, and cruelly unchallengeable:
No prisoners.
No surrender.
Leave no one alive.
The order was executed to the letter.
Whether the enemy threw down weapons to beg for mercy or jumped into the sea to escape, only cold blades and bloodthirsty fangs awaited them.
Ironborn warriors expressionlessly cleared every floating enemy ship, sending every breathing enemy as a sacrifice to the Drowned God's watery halls.
Those who jumped were quickly torn apart by circling sharks; the spreading crimson circles on the surface were their final resting place.
This was a thorough, exterminating purge. Euron Greyjoy used the most direct method to declare the end of the old order and the establishment of new rules to the entire Narrow Sea—submission might not guarantee life, but defiance guaranteed death.
In the sea breeze mixed with smoke and blood, flags of victory flew proudly on the ships of the Iron Islands, Dorne, and the Arbor. Beneath them lay the hellscape of battlefield wreckage, and the new god standing at the prow, calmly surveying it all.
---
Two more horrifying landmarks, massive enough to suffocate anyone who saw them, were added to the desolate and steep coastline of Grey Gallows Island.
Echoing the previous three, they formed a blasphemous landscape of death. All the Alliance pirates who perished in this great naval battle, whether infamous or nameless, lost their heads. Harvested by Ironborn warriors with ritualistic efficiency, mixed with quicklime, and stacked roughly yet orderly, they formed two brand new "Crowns of Sea Skulls."
Just as Euron Greyjoy had declared—the end for any enemy of the Iron Islands was to become part of this crown.
These five monuments built of flesh and bone stood silent, massive, and hideous before every sailor navigating these waters, becoming an absolute terror that could not be ignored or forgotten.
The sea breeze swept over those hollow sockets and twisted expressions, emitting a low whine like whimpering ghosts, mixed with the thick stench of blood and rot that would never disperse, declaring that this sea had welcomed its sole master.
When the victorious fleet returned to Black Rock Island, Euron Greyjoy stood high on the Invincible Ironborn. Addressing all his warriors and the surrendered factions, he announced calmly:
"The war is over."
His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an unquestionable finality, like the law itself.
Immediately after, he promulgated another decision—one that, like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, was bound to stir up layers of ripples:
"Seven days from now, at high noon, right here, I will publicly execute Pirate King 'Bloodhand' Marlin and 'Skull King' Mor Bones."
His gaze swept over the crowd below and the lurking spies from various factions further away. He continued:
"I invite the leaders of every island, every city-state, and every faction in the Stepstones who believes they hold a seat of power to come and witness the ceremony."
This was not just an execution; it was a coronation ceremony of power, a final ultimatum to all potential rivals.
The invitation was written in swords and stamped with heads. The price of refusal was clear to everyone.