On the vast expanse of the sea, a fierce naval battle is going on.

The two warring sides were completely disproportionately strong, with a large fleet of eleven warships, including many mega-ships of 1,000 tons, several of which were even equipped with artillery. The other side is just a lonely black battleship. Although the tonnage of the black battleships also exceeded 1,000 tons, they were obviously not strong compared to the entire fleet that fought against them.

Therefore, the black battleship could only fight and flee at the same time.

"'Nimitz', please note that your ship has stopped shelling and used its speed advantage to outflank the 'ghost ship' from the left. ”

"'Ford', please note that your ship has stopped shelling, used its speed advantage to outflank the 'ghost ship' from the right flank. ”

"The rest of the ships should pay attention, the fire is immediately on full swing, suppress the fire of the 'ghost ship', and cover the 'Nimitz' and 'Ford' to outflank the 'ghost ship'!"

In the bridge command room of the Dreadnought-class battleship "Minethiel" of the Federation of Valencia, a middle-aged soldier dressed in the uniform of a rear admiral of the Federation of Valencia was staring at the fleeing black battleship in front of him through the observation port, while giving combat orders to the entire fleet through a special magic crystal instrument placed in front of him.

With the order of the rear admiral, in the fleet that was pursuing the black battleship, the two slender light battleships immediately stopped their ballista attacks on the black battleship, broke away from the fleet battle formation, and suddenly accelerated, outflanking the left and right sides of the black battleship at full speed.

"Your Excellency One Piece, two 'Astute' class warships of the Federation of Valencia have broken away from their fleets and are trying to outflank our ships by relying on their speed advantage!" "In the center of the command room of the black battleship, next to a crystal ball that was showing the panorama of the naval battle, a skeleton dressed as a sailor was silently reporting to an undead wearing a captain's costume with a staff in his hand, a thin sword at his waist, and a knight's costume.

After receiving the report from the skeleton sailor, a sneer flashed on the shriveled face of the undead captain: "The maximum speed of the 'Astute' class battleship can reach eighteen knots, which is three knots faster than the maximum speed of the 'ghost ship', but the 'Astute' class battleship can only maintain its maximum speed for half an hour, while the 'ghost ship' can sail for three hours at the maximum speed. As long as the 'ghost ship' is not entangled by these two 'astute' class battleships in this half an hour, and your fleet is encircled against me, Clemenceau, I see what you can do with me?"

"Concentrate my firepower on those two Astute-class ships and try to delay them catching up to the Ghost Ships!" the undead captain commanded the skeleton sailor.

"Yes!" the skeleton sailor commanded.

"Hmph, Clemenceau, you damn creature has been chasing me on the sea for six months, but you still haven't been able to help me, and I don't think you're the 'sea fox'!" said the undead captain to himself, looking at the crystal ball in the center of the command room.

This undead captain is famous. Because he is the owner of the most mysterious warship on the sea, the 'Ghost Ship', and the sea giant 'One Piece' Rhodes who is jointly wanted by more than a dozen coastal countries and several overseas island countries on the Northumbside continent, as well as the largest religious Holy Catholic Church on the mainland.

Rhodes is not only an undead, but also a famous thief at sea. He relied on a mysterious warship with stealth function 'Ghost Ship' to gallop across the sea, plundering countless things, which made those coastal countries on the mainland and overseas island countries mainly engaged in maritime trade dare to have a headache, and issued a wanted warrant to him. In addition, Rod's dark identity as a ghost of the dead also made the Holy Catholic Church of the Light want to get rid of him quickly.

Suddenly, Rhodes became the hottest wanted criminal on the sea, and at the same time achieved his resounding name as the "One Piece".

Six months ago, Rhodes drove the 'ghost ship' to the Aegean Sea south of the Northumbered continent, and made several big deals. One of the big deals was the seizure of a merchant ship from the port of Rotterdam in the Byzantine Empire on the mainland that had returned from the port of Rotterdam in the Byzantine Empire, and shook the whole country of the Federation of Valencia.

The Federation of Valencia immediately drew sixteen elite warships from the Federation Navy and formed a combined fleet to pursue Rhodes. The commander of the Combined Fleet was Rear Admiral Clemenceau San Horno, commander of the First Fleet of the Federal Navy and known as the "Fox of the Seas".

Clemenceau was the eldest son of the San Horno, a famous naval family of the Federation of Valencia, who joined the navy at the age of sixteen and reached the rank of colonel at the age of thirty. In the following five years, the Federation of Valencia and the Seleucid Empire, a continental power, broke out over a maritime trade dispute, and the Seleucid Empire sent 123 warships of its Southern Fleet to invade the Federation of Valencia and seize dozens of islands under the control of the Federation of Valencia.

A decisive battle ensued between the fleet of the Federation of Valencia and the invasion fleet of the Seleucid Empire in the Mariana Sea. On the day of the decisive battle, Clemenceau, who was the vanguard commander of the federal fleet, led five warships to break into the Seleucid fleet, bravely interspersed and rushed in all directions. The Seleucid fleet was caught off guard, and the battle formation was in disarray. The fleet of the Federation of Valencia attacked and defeated the Seleucid fleet off the coast of Marianas.

During this battle, Clemenceau's five warships were surrounded by the Seleucid fleet unscathed, and Clemenceau became famous, earning him the reputation of "Fox of the Seas", and was promoted to rear admiral, and was also recognized as the best admiral in the Union Navy.

When this time the 'One Piece' Rod provoked the Federation of Valencia, out of jealousy of Rhodes' past achievements, the Federation Navy did not hesitate to send Clemenceau, the first general in the army.

Major General Clemenceau was given a death order to capture the 'ghost ship' and recapture the looted goods, otherwise court-martialed would be carried out. As a result, Rear Admiral Clemenceau led the Combined Fleet in a continuous pursuit of Rhodes, and the two sides circled half of the continent, from the Aegean Sea in the south of the continent to the North Sea in the north of the continent. However, during the six months of pursuing the 'ghost ship', the Combined Fleet not only failed to capture the 'ghost ship', but also sank five warships one after another by the 'ghost ship'. The commander of the Combined Fleet, Rear Admiral Clemenceau, regarded this as a great disgrace for his life. After once again embellishing the 'ghost ship' in the North Sea, Rear Admiral Clemenceau vowed to be disgraced.

The chase on the sea is getting more and more intense.

When the two Astute-class battleships, the Nimitz and the Ford, burst out of the Valencia fleet at full speed, the rest of the fleet began their first salvo.

With the rumbling sound of cannon fire and the loud sound of strings, more than 200 rounds of artillery shells, giant javelins, and heavy iron crossbows swept through the sky and struck the 'ghost ship' with a roar.

Under such intensive artillery fire, the 'ghost ship', which had been doing S-shaped evasive maneuvers at sea to avoid artillery fire, saw this, and the dark energy on the ship immediately began to operate. A dazzling black light flashed, and a dark magic barrier appeared above the 'ghost ship'.

The Ghost Ship managed to evade most of the fire, but dozens of cannon shells, giant javelins, and heavy crossbows still accurately hit the Ghost Ship's magical barrier. Under the protection of the magic barrier, the 'ghost ship' was not damaged in this round of artillery fire, but due to the large amount of energy depleted, the ghost ship's magic barrier became blurred, and there were signs of disappearing at any time.

The 'Ghost Ship' also noticed that the situation was not good. The ghost ships that were still violently shelling the 'Nimitz' and 'Ford' while doing evasive maneuvers did not care about focusing on the bombardment of the approaching 'Nimitz' and 'Ford', but increased the range of evasive actions and focused on dodging the next round of attacks by the fleet of the Federation of Valencia.

"Attention ships, the target 'ghost ship' is ready for a second round of full fire salvo!"

"Wait!"

Aboard the Minethil, an elderly magician in a red robe angrily stopped Clemenceau from giving orders.

"General Clemenceau, what are you doing here? You let the fleet attack like this will sink the 'ghost ship'! Have you forgotten that the order you received was to capture the 'ghost ship' and take back all the cargo on board the 'Princess of the East' that Rhodes had stolen?"

"Master Miller, the 'Ghost Ship' is recognized as a battleship with the best overall performance on the sea, especially its stealth performance, which makes it more than ten times more difficult to capture it than it is to sink it! In the past six months, we have caught up with the 'Ghost Ship' thirteen times, but each time it has escaped unharmed!" Clemenceau's face turned pale, and he said with an angry expression: "This damn idiot order has already cost me five main battleships of the Federal Navy and thousands of excellent naval soldiers. If it had only been to sink the 'ghost ship', I would not have suffered such heavy losses at all!"

"General, I know it's going to be difficult to capture the Ghost Ship, but with your prestige in the Federation, I think you'll have a way to capture the Ghost Ship!" Miller frowned.

"Even if I were able to capture the Ghost Ship now, such a terrible loss would make me the laughing stock of the Federation!" Clemenceau clenched his right fist and slammed the console into a slam and roared.

"General, you are the commander of this fleet, and if you insist on sinking the 'ghost ship', I have nothing to say, but the cargo that was stolen on board the 'Princess of the East' was thus buried at sea with the 'ghost ship', and when you return to the Federation, the military tribunal will definitely judge you! I hope you will think carefully about the consequences before making a decision!" Miller reminded Clemenceau.

Clemenceau paused for a moment on Miller's face, and then suddenly said, "Master Miller, I hope you can tell me truthfully what is in the cargo loaded on the 'Princess of the East' this time? Although the value of three million gold coins is a lot, it is not worth mentioning at all to the wealthy Federation! In the past, the Federation has also had merchant ships plundered by the 'ghost ship', but the Federation has never made such a big move as this time! This time the Federation not only let me lead a whole fleet to chase after me? Ghost Ship', and even you, as the chief archmage of the court, have been sent......"

Miller's face changed, and he interrupted Clemenceau: "General, there are some things that you don't need to know, you just need to do what you order!" As if feeling that what he said was not enough to extinguish Clemenceau's curiosity, Miller sneered and added: "General, do you know that the so-called 'idiot' order in your mouth is an oracle issued by His Majesty the Emperor himself!"

When he heard that the matter also involved the emperor, Clemenceau was shocked.

The crown prince of the Federation of Valencia, Carlos V, abdicated two years ago, passing the throne to his eldest son, the current Federal Emperor Carlos VI. During his reign, Carlos V was known for his brutality, suspicion, paranoia, stubbornness, and irritability. People with such a personality generally have a strong desire for power. Therefore, Carlos V's voluntary abdication of the throne during his lifetime shocked all those who knew anything about him at the time.

And the reason why Kalas V is willing to take the throne is naturally not because he announced it on the surface, but because he admired the style of the ancient sages and emperors, and learned from the example. Nearly the entire Federation knew that the Emperor longed for immortality, and that the Emperor believed that the power of magic would help him achieve it, so Callas V was more interested in magic than in state affairs, and even more so in power. That's why he didn't even do the emperor, but chose to escape into the mage tower on a mysterious island in the Federation of Valencia, and devoted himself to studying magic.

Now, Carlos V, who has not been concerned about political affairs for many years, has issued an order for the robbery of the 'Princess of the East', and the secrecy must be very amazing. Clemenceau was amused, and said no more.

Because according to Clemenceau's experience as a courtier in the reign of Carlos V, if there is any secret involving Carlos V, as a courtier, you must not inquire into it, otherwise you will be accused of raiding your family by the tyrannical and perverse emperor one day.

"Master Miller, don't worry, I won't sink the 'ghost ship', I'll do my best to capture it. Clemenceau was silent for a moment, and then said weakly like a deflated ball.