pirate king (pirate!au) ➵ ateez ✔️

treasure (hongjoong)

The sky is a light blue today.

In the conference room, both booted feet propped up on the table, Hongjoong leans back in his chair with his eyes closed, listening to the officers sitting at the meeting table with him debate heatedly in raised voices.

"We can't just go after the pirates at Tortuga! It's the strongest pirate base, and even if we expend all our efforts to capture it, the pirates will just head for the Windward passage and escape, all our efforts to capture them will be for naught!"

"I know that. But as you said, Tortuga is the largest pirate base operating right now, and if we don't strike first, there's no telling if other pirates will move to back it up."

"But-"

"Silence, the lot of you. I'm thinking."

The quarrelling officers abruptly fall silent at that one command, turning to look at Hongjoong, who's been lounging there without a word for the entire meeting. His poisonous green eye is narrowed as he levels a piercing stare slowly at all of them, arms crossed over his chest. An officer swallows.

"Yes, sir."

"Mingi, get the map out for me."

The tall man rises from his seat to stride over to the bookshelves, pulling out a heavy oakwood box reinforced with iron strips and setting it on the table with a heavy thump. Reaching into the pocket of his navy blue coat, he pulls out an iron key and sets it into the lock, before he removes several yellowing pieces of parchment from within the box and places them on the table.

Hongjoong leans forward, placing his chin on interlaced fingers as he studies the maps laid out before him with a critical eye. The rest of the officers don't say a word, only watching the man at work with a mixture of slight doubt and anticipation, wondering what plan he's going to fashion to eradicate the pirate strongholds once and for all.

Kim Hongjoong. Ex-captain of the pirate ship called the Treasure. Known as the ruthless Pirate King by any who had encountered him and even those who hadn't, immortalised in folk tales and stories that crossed lips to ears.

And yet, here he is, sitting before them in the flesh. Rising through the ranks rapidly, from a nameless trainee to the Commander in Chief of the Piracy Eradication Expedition. Younger than many of them have expected. Smaller than many of them have imagined him to be.

There are rumours that the Queen herself places high hopes on him.

"We'll carry out a pre-emptive attack on Tortuga first." Hongjoong finally says slowly, voice even and measured. The officer who had protested this earlier moves to argue.

"Sir, here are fierce currents around the island port, we won't be able to launch a concentrated attack. Doing so would be expending too many men and resources. How are we going to capture it?"

"I said, we're launching a pre-emptive attack first." Hongjoong says evenly, tapping a finger against the paper. "Send in some men to burn the food stores and warehouses, and cut off the pirates trying to escape at Hispaniola. I want to flush them all towards the Windward Passage."

"Sir, isn't that allowing them to escape?" A newer officer raises his hand timidly, and Mingi raises a sharp eyebrow.

"Are you implying that captain, I mean, Commander is trying to help them escape just because he was a former pirate?"

The younger officer blanches, waving his hands desperately. "No, no, I meant-"

"Mingi, stop scaring him." Hongjoong cuts in before the poor man can finish his apology. "I haven't finished explaining my plan. I want another fleet to head to Port Royal discretely and do the same."