Imu's voice echoed three times across the comms, leaving both Whitebeard and Kaido utterly deflated.
Only then did the two realize that Roya appointing Im as captain of the Hades wasn't just about being a hands-off commander.
The truth was, when it came to the warships of the Fearless Dynasty, aside from Roya himself, only Im could operate them at all.
At least Whitebeard and Kaido had just proven with their own hands-on experience: with their current abilities, trying to command a Necron warship was like a mouse trying to haul a turtle—no way to even get a grip!
Meanwhile, aboard the Hades, Imu had already repositioned the outer assault pods, clearing enough space to mount the twenty captured ships to the Hades' frame.
In truth, even that wasn't necessary.
The instant those twenty ships detected the throne-beacon aboard the Hades within their energy scanning range, they had already mistaken it for the Seventh Overlord's flagship.
That was why they had offered no resistance. The ten thousand necron-warriors within the two escort warships remained dormant, never activated.
Otherwise, just the banks of energy cannons mounted across the escorts' outer decks could have shredded the assault pods, blasting them helplessly into the gravity well of the nearby gas giant.
The cannons might not have pierced the ship-metal shells of the pods, but with propulsion that feeble, one volley would have sent them tumbling end over end through space—until inevitably being dragged down and crushed by the planet's pull.
Back on the Hades' bridge, Whitebeard and Kaido returned to find twenty massive ships drifting obediently outside the window. Their faces burned red.
They had wanted to blaze open a new chapter upon the sea of stars. Instead, before they even got started, Imu had slapped them both down with a humiliating lesson.
Now they understood—Im had done it deliberately. She was putting them in their place, taming their pirate arrogance, and establishing her own authority as captain of the Hades.
Imu glanced toward Roya. Seeing him give a faint nod, she turned back to Whitebeard and Kaido and said coldly:
"Commanders, space warfare is nothing like the naval battles you're used to."
"Take your so-called 'assault raid,' for example—it is practically impossible in real space combat."
"Do you know why? Those two escort warships carry energy scanners with a passive detection range of three hundred thousand kilometers—all-directional, without blind spots!"
"And if they switch to active mode, they can detect enemy signatures from as far as one million kilometers away!"
"Do the math yourselves. How long would it take your pods to cover three hundred thousand kilometers? A million? At that pace, your soldiers would have starved long before making contact. You still dare call that an assault?"
Whitebeard and Kaido exchanged a look. The truth was undeniable. At the pathetic crawl of their pods, the distances were absurd. Their "raid" had been nothing but a joke.
Still, Kaido bristled, unwilling to yield.
He muttered stubbornly:
"That's only because we don't have warships! If we had our own, we could pick up speed—and then wiping out a convoy of transports would be easy!"
Roya had expected this line of thought. He shook his head with quiet helplessness.
Imu caught the gesture, and her voice grew even more severe:
"Even if we did have that many ships, do you really think our tactics could match strategies forged through tens of thousands of years of interstellar warfare?"
"Naval combat takes place on a flat plane. Space combat comes from every angle—front, back, above, below, all around."
"And that's not all. Who knows what technologies our enemies might wield, things we've never even imagined?"
"If a pyramid-class vessel can teleport directly onto a planet's surface, what's to stop it from teleporting straight into the midst of your fleet?"
"If that happened—how exactly would you defend against it?"
Kaido's jaw worked, but no words came out. His mouth opened and closed a few times, yet he couldn't form a single rebuttal.
Whitebeard, too, gradually calmed. His usual warm smile returned. Glancing at Roya, he chuckled softly:
"I was too impatient. Since my recovery, I've been too eager to return to my peak, to prove myself again."
"But now it's clear—this great expedition cannot be rushed."
Roya rose to his feet, his voice stern:
"Of course it cannot be rushed. Remember—we are, for now, the only civilization to have escaped the fate of being harvested by the Necrons!"
"But know this: the Necrons command countless resource worlds, each like our own planet. Especially in this star sector once ruled by the Seventh Overlord—right now, no one controls it!"
"If we don't liberate those worlds before the bioweapons initiate their harvests on their own, have you considered the consequences?"
At those words, even Sengoku and the other navy leaders—who until now had been aloof—sobered instantly, their faces grim.
All of them realized the terrible truth.
If the bioweapons completed their harvests, yet no Overlord came to extract and refine the biometal, nor to reseed life afterward—
Then the resource worlds would remain infested, transformed into monstrous planets, their primal energies drained dry by the aberrations.
And worse—who could say those bioweapons wouldn't continue evolving chaotically, breaking free of their homeworlds, spreading into the endless void to devour the lifeforce of other planets?
The more they thought it through, the more the horror set in.
This wasn't just a possibility—it was a high probability.
Why else would the Necrons always slaughter their own bioweapons after each harvest, if not to prevent such a catastrophe?
Should such a bioweapon outbreak occur, the devastation would be beyond measure.
Kaido in particular recalled the nightmare of the Sakura Dragon, the beast that had nearly driven him to despair. He had no doubt: if not for Roya's intervention, that monster would have succeeded—and today, the Pirate Star would be overrun with man-eating blossoms.
Roya swept his gaze across the hall and continued:
"We may be creations of a higher civilization, but our souls and our potential are no weaker than theirs!"
"Our priority must be to liberate the other worlds like our own, unite them, and together wage war to overthrow the harvest of the higher civilizations!"
"The burden is immense. That is why we must have unified command, coordinated operations, and no pointless sacrifices. Do you all understand?"
In one voice, the assembly roared:
"Understood!"
With that, Imu's authority as commander was firmly established, thanks to this captured convoy. Roya exhaled in quiet relief, gave her a nod, and returned to his throne, leaving the practical matters in her hands.
As for himself—he turned back once more to the study of the holographic map.
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