"What's with this guy? And who is David Martin?" Muria ignored the voice of the soul and looked at Gibbs instead.
"David Martin was my previous captain. He had a longstanding feud with the opposing captain, Dale Howison. They couldn't stand each other and both wanted to take over the other's ship."
Seeing the fifteen ghost ships surrounding them, Gibbs answered somewhat frantically. He felt that he was doomed today. At his most desperate moment, he had run into the enemy of his former boss. All the other captains were dead, leaving only him. If he got caught, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"So these guys are here to cause trouble," Muria asked, stating the obvious.
"Yes, Captain Howison has wanted to annex our ghost ship for a long time. He won't miss such a great opportunity now." Gibbs worriedly looked at the surrounding sea, contemplating whether to jump ship and escape. The water in the Sea of Ghosts was extremely peculiar; once you dove deep enough, it was impossible to detect anything with mental power. So, jumping into the sea was a viable escape method.
However, this method was extremely dangerous because the Sea of Ghosts harbored many monsters that wouldn't attack passing ships but were far from merciful to things that fell off them.
"David Martin, why don't you come out? Your fleet is in such a state. Come out and let me see what you look like now!" A gigantic warship, over three hundred meters long and seemingly pieced together from massive bones, approached the ghost ship where Muria stood. At the forefront of the ghost ship, a ghost captain nearly thirty meters tall roared excitedly.
"David, do you think you can hide? Come out and surrender to me! For the sake of our many years of acquaintance, I might spare your life."
"Captain Howison, Captain Martin is dead," Gibbs replied timidly beside Muria. He saw that the ghost ship opposite had already aimed its cannons at them, with visible death energy gathering at the muzzles, beginning to charge.
"Dead?" Captain Howison was momentarily silent, then looked at Gibbs next to Wilson. "What happened?"
"We..."
"Gibbs, did I give you permission to speak?" Muria abruptly interrupted Gibbs. "Remember, whose subordinate are you now!"
"Sorry, Captain Sparrow." Seeing Muria's strong stance in the face of fifteen ghost ships, Gibbs sighed in relief, stepped back, and bowed apologetically to Muria.
"And who might you be?" Dale Howison asked with a hostile tone.
"This is Captain Jack Sparrow, who has taken over for Captain Martin," Gibbs introduced proactively, seeing that Muria had no intention of speaking. It was his duty as a subordinate.
"A new captain, Jack Sparrow?" Dale Howison scrutinized Muria for a while. He could only sense a faint oppressive aura from the bone armor Muria wore, without discerning Muria's actual strength.
"Very well, Captain Sparrow. I'll give you a chance. Surrender to me now, and I might give you a crew position."
"Gibbs, tell him to clear the path, or be prepared to die," Muria turned away, ready to leave, not bothering to engage with the ghost captain. A mere ghost barely at the soul-intent level wasn't worth his time.
"This..." Gibbs was a bit stunned, but seeing the gray-robed undead following Muria, he remembered something. One of them could control five ghost ships. Did the others possess the same power? With this thought, Gibbs felt somewhat reassured.
"Captain Howison, our Captain Sparrow asks you to clear the path," Gibbs pretended to take a deep breath to alleviate his tension and shouted.
"Where did this audacious fellow come from? Only five ships left, yet so arrogant?" Seeing Muria turn away, seemingly about to enter the cabin, Dale felt a surge of anger. "Aim at that guy and fire. Show him our might."
Boom— Boom— Boom—
Following Captain Howison's order, the fifteen ghost ships turned their ghostly magic cannons towards Muria and fired their charged shells.
"Feeble attack!" Without even pausing, Muria let the shells, condensed with death energy, stop a meter before reaching him, making no further progress.
"Impossible!" Captain Howison couldn't believe his eyes. All the shells halted a meter before Captain Sparrow, a sight that immediately panicked him.
"Retreat, retreat immediately." Realizing he had kicked a steel plate, Captain Howison promptly ordered a retreat. In the Sea of Ghosts, the strong devour the weak, and assessing strength was not just about the ships but also the captain's own power.
"Let me show you what real power is!" Muria didn't use his own strength. He merely used his mental power to guide the death energy in his armor into the shells in front of him. Then, with immense mental strength, he spun the shells and sent them back.
Hundreds of shells, infused with Muria's intense death energy, left visible trails as they returned to the ghost ships that had fired them.
The sounds of twisting steel and shattering wood echoed. The fifteen ghost ships were instantly riddled with holes, some completely pierced through. However, such damage, fatal to ordinary ships, was nothing to ghost ships.
The damaged parts of the ghost ships wriggled as if alive, devouring the wailing spirits around them, and began to heal at a visible speed.
"I'll give you half an hour to deal with them." Having acted once, Muria stopped and continued towards the captain's quarters, calmly ordering the liches.
"Master, half an hour is too much. Half that time is enough," a lich cackled. Its body turned pitch black, emitting an eerie death energy that transformed into a skeletal bird with a wingspan of over ten meters. This bird formed a black cloud that descended upon the fleeing ghost fleet.
Seeing one lich act, the others stopped. Just a small ghost captain, having a lich act was already quite an honor. Having two was overkill.
Gibbs stared blankly at the scene before him. The ghost fleet led by the notorious Dale Howison, whose strength surpassed that of Martin's fleet at its peak, was rendered silent in just a few cannon shots. Only the instinctual wails of the ghosts remained.