Elemental Cats

The Red Hook Pirate Crew's response to Toz's message came during one of Toz and Wulf's sparring sessions. Both of them stopped swinging their weapons at the same time as a raven swooped down and dropped off a piece of paper.

Toz caught the paper and read through it, revealing a devious smile afterward. The smile was all Wulf needed in order to understand that the Red Hook Pirate Crew had accepted Toz's invitation to a talk.

The others also sensed the raven's arrival and appeared in the yard where Toz and Wulf were.

The Red Hook Pirate Crew's response was short and only contained three things. Their leader and a few of her subordinates were waiting in Retsy's middle base since it was a neutral meeting location. A demand for Toz to bring the object he offered, or at least proof of it. And to ensure no one noticed that they were meeting with each other.

Everything the Red Hook Crew asked for was reasonable, and since the Red Hook leader was already waiting, Toz didn't dawdle and immediately began preparing for the meeting. First, by getting the object that they would trade for the cooperation with the Red Hook Pirate Crew, and then by preparing for how they would get everyone who wanted to come out of the base without the Blue Lounge pirates noticing.

Since Toz would be the primary negotiator, Wulf handed over the item that the Red Hook wanted.

After the item was in his hands, Toz disappeared from view and left the base, leaving everyone except Lucy behind. Toz and Lucy weaved through the city until they were close to Retsy's courtyard. Not so close that the Red Hook Pirates would notice what they were doing, but close enough that they wouldn't have a problem sneaking the last bit.

Toz found and chose a secluded corner that would help Lucy cover up what he was doing, and he began concentrating on his mana, more specifically, his space mana. Although he and Asilean had already created a portal twice, it was their first attempt to do it over such a great distance.

Toz struggled to stretch his senses across such a great distance, despite combining his void and space elements. Thankfully, he only had to have an image of the place he wanted his space magic to appear. It consumed more mana than it took to create a portal within the range of his perception, but Toz was confident that his mana would last.

Due to the distance and Toz's inexperience, the space magic ended up a little spread out and not exactly where he wanted it to go, but it was enough for Asilean to take control and get it in order. And after Asilean took charge of the concentration of space magic in the Bunglehopper base, it was only a matter of time before the portal formed.

Since Toz didn't have to concentrate on maintaining the portal with Asilean's help, he supported Lucy in covering up their activities.

After the portal took shape, Wulf, Hayar, Stitches, and the cats immediately walked through. The cats were already used to it, but the other three came out on the other side with wide eyes and slack jaws. Their only previous experience with portals was the plane-crossing ones which were massive undertakings for anyone not skilled enough. But even if one was skilled enough, it was hardly something two individuals could pull off. Not to mention how most portals relied on preexisting weaknesses in the fabric of space.

Toz and Asilean had just created a portal in a few seconds without caring about how solid the space was. The portal's range wasn't as far as a plane-crossing one, but it was still a wondrous achievement to the three pirates who went through and to the rest who remained at the base but could still see the portal.

However, one person wasn't as stunned by the portal as the others.

At the very last moment, before the portal closed due to Asilean stepping through it and relinquishing control, Joshua's body plopped through.

Joshua's arrival caught the others off guard. Stitches wanted to send him back, but the portal had closed, so they either had to open a new one or send Joshua back with someone else or by himself.

Wulf and Hayar were also dubious of Joshua coming with them, but no one wanted to give up on the meeting just to go back with Joshua. And they were already few in number, any less, and it would be easy for the Red Hook Pirate Crew to pressure them. Since Stitches was the weakest in direct combat, he was about to volunteer to bring Joshua back to the base.

However, Stitches was a known member of the Bunglehoppers. Despite being high level, he would be an easy target to kidnap or assassinate for the Blue Lounge League, so letting him and the third level Joshua go on their own wasn't wise.

And although obvious, Joshua wasn't willing to go back when he had managed to tag along to what would be a historic meeting between two of the four strongest pirate crews in Pirate Haven.

Eventually, Toz settled it by allowing Joshua to join them as long as he promised to be as unnoticeable as he could. If the Red Hook Pirate Crew objected strongly to Joshua's participation, Toz could just cash in on his favor with Retsy and ask them to take care of Joshua during their meeting.

Joshua happily accepted the terms and high-fived Lucy.

Although things had gone a little off plan right from the beginning, Toz and the others started walking to Retsy's courtyard, with Toz and Lucy keeping them hidden from their surroundings. Though, with the size of their group, it was difficult to avoid people sensing that something was off if they got too close.

The Red Hook Pirate Crew noticed Toz and the others' arrival, despite Toz and Lucy's cover, which wasn't surprising considering they were one of the strongest pirate crews, if not the strongest.