Hello there,
If you enjoy my stories you can read advanced chapters in my patreon page: patreon.com/Samael61
Her Eternal Excellency, a Genshin Impact and ASOIAF crossover, Raiden Ei Reborn as Argella Durrandon, is 15 chapters ahead
DCU:Blacklist, a Raymond Reddington inspired OC SI using his knowledge for his own advantage, as well as the rest of the world, is 15 chapters ahead,
Geek's Guide to Thriving in a Low End Fantasy World, a Robert Baratheon OC SI in an AU, is 15 chapters ahead,
Commander Shepard, The Greatest to Ever Live, a Mass Effect story where Shepard is greater than ever, is 15 chapters ahead,
Loki: The God of Magic , an OC-SI into Loki who is not aware of the MCU, is 4 chapters ahead.
By supporting me, you can read advanced and special chapters, as well as vote on how you want the fanfiction to proceed.
Note: Apple store payments will be refunded, because of the company's 75 day hold policy.
—
Narrow Sea
Evening
A week into their journey, the ships had set anchor as the sun was setting, and the cloudy nights made sailing a risk. Robert had landed on Black Betha to rest, while the dragons went fishing thanks to their night vision.
Robert was below the deck, eating whatever preserved food they had, when he heard shouting above.
Davos went to check out but came down quickly.
"Pirates, my lord, five ships approaching off the starboard bow." he said, nonplussed.
He had a dragon rider on the ship; the pirates were going to regret coming anywhere near Black Betha and Prize, so he had nothing to worry about.
Robert sighed in irritation and went up to call the dragons back. They were going to pay for interrupting his dinner.
—
Raiding became harder the less light there was but tended to be rewarding when you caught ships that set anchors to wait out the night, giving them less time to get ready and escape.
That's why Captain Jala and his crew were excited at seeing not one but two ships waiting out there. Perhaps they were overconfident due to being in the middle of the Narrow Sea, but no captain worth his salt would ever let his guard down in here like that.
He watched from his far-seeing eye, seeing their target ship's captain do the same. They weren't attempting to escape, even after seeing them approach. He narrowed his eyes, searching around the ships to see if they had reinforcements. Seeing nothing, he turned to his crew, who cheered at his nod.
They would eat well tonight.
At least until someone shouted, "Dragons!"
—
Captain Jabal ordered the ships to turn around with dread in his voice. Of all the ships in the sea, he had to come across the one protected by the Father of the Dragons.
He knew deep down, however, they had no chance of escaping, but what else could they do—surrender and hope for mercy?
They were caught before ships were even halfway to turning back.
—
Robert circled around the ships, his dragons surrounding the pirates and halting them from escaping.
As soon as they saw the dragons, the pirates attempted to turn around and leave, but they couldn't outsail a dragon.
"Do any of you know Westerosi?" he asked, as the Free Cities spoke dialects of Valyrian.
He should get to learn the damn language sometimes, especially with plans to establish trade routes with them.
One of the pirates, a man with tanned skin, a couple of missing teeth, messy hair and beard, and dirty clothes, raised his hands slowly.
"Good, tell your captain he disturbed my dinner and ask him how he intends to make amends." Robert told the pirate, and he turned to his captain, translating, and after a small conversation turned back to Robert.
"W-we have loot and s-slaves. C-captain says you can have whatever you want if you s-spare us." the translating pirate said, stuttering every now and then.
Robert narrowed his eyes.
Slaves, huh?
He would kill them all now if it weren't that the slaves would die too.
"Does your captain think my time is so cheap? If he wants me to spare your lives, I'll need more." Robert demanded, like a thug harassing people for money, though he wasn't a thug and the people in question were pirates.
"H-he'll give you whatever you want; please just spare us" was the answer after another short conversation between the crewman and the captain.
"Whatever I want? That's awfully generous of him. In that case I'll take four of your ships and leave you with one to sail away." Robert clapped his hands, quite happy with their offer.
This ignited a heated argument in the ship, but Robert cut it off before it got out of control.
"What is the matter? Has your captain changed his mind?"
"N-no, it's just we can't all fit and sail on that ship."
"Well, you either take your chances with the ship or with me." Robert patted Obelisk on the head, and the dragon growled at the crew, who collectively took a couple of steps back.
Robert watched the crew slowly descend into chaos, shouting over who would board the ship and who would not, but of course no one wanted to be left behind. Tensions kept rising; shouts and pushes were getting more frequent before someone had enough and ran the captain through with his sword and threw the body overboard.
The sole mutineer shouted something, and the crew cheered.
"We'll take the ship."
—
Slowly and painstakingly, the pirates emptied four of the ships, leaving behind their loot and the slaves, with only whatever food they had in the small and beat-up ship remaining.
They reminded him of those overcrowded trains from India.
He was letting them go so they could carry a message.
Robert Baratheon's ships were off limits.
That is if they didn't kill each other fighting over what food they had.
Either way, good riddance.
"Thank you for your contributions to the Asgard Trading Company!" He couldn't help but shout as they set sail, even though only one of them would understand.
Loot-wise, there was almost nothing, meaning they probably didn't find much in their last raid, as they still had the slaves.
Which was a problem. Not them exactly, but their conditions. Composed of a dozen men and women in total along with a child, they were tired and starved.
They were lucky the pirates crossed him before they managed to sell them off.
Scared as they were, they let Robert approach after he landed on the ship. They were tied with ropes, and he made quick work of them with his knife.
Davos approached with Black Betha and Prize, boarding the ship, though he stopped upon seeing the slaves.
Without even asking for orders, he had food brought over to the starving people and had them checked for any wounds. They were mostly fine, other than bruises of varying colors.
Women weren't touched thankfully, as damaged merchandise wouldn't sell well at the market.
None of them spoke Westerosi Common, nor did Davos have anyone who knew Valyrian, so communication was mostly through gestures.
"Will we leave them at Braavos, my lord?" Davos asked, coming to stand behind him.
"We'll see if they have a place to go; if not, we'll see if they are interested in settling in Asgard." Robert said, and while trying to help everyone would not be possible, he would help those he can.
"Yes, my lord."
"So, four more ships?" Robert gestured to the other pirate vessels.
"Yes, at this rate we won't have to build any ships, my lord." Davos sounded amused. While the pirate ship was more beat up than the prize when it was seized, it would still be cheaper than building one from scratch.
"They are bound to understand that targeting my ships won't end well for them. I don't think we'll be lucky like this again." He muttered, "After all, even if the entirety of the pirate existence were idiots, they would still understand poking a dragon with a stick was a terrible idea."
"If we take all four, sailing to Braavos might take even longer because of the barebones crews, depending on the winds."
"We can afford to be a bit late." Robert waved away his concerns; after all, acquiring four ships would be well worth it, especially if they didn't have to hire any from Braavos.
"As you say. There is one more thing, my lord. Are you going to use the words and sigil of your house or make new ones? At the least, we need to paint the sails with something so people know who protects those ships." Davos asked. After all, even if the news spread, pirates couldn't be expected to know who they were simply from the ships.
"I'll get back to you on that." Robert said; he honestly hadn't thought much about it. Using House Baratheon's words could be done, seeing as Storm's End didn't have a fleet, but he wanted something that represented Asgard's spirit.
Perhaps a Yggdrasil tree with words about progress and knowledge?
He would think about it later back at Asgard.
Now that they had six ships, he would see about finding a less crowded place to sleep.
—
Braavos
Sailing to Braavos did indeed take longer, just as Davos had warned, so much so that Robert almost decided to fly ahead. They had nowhere near enough crew to effectively sail the ships, even with the former slaves helping wherever they could.
But finally they saw the Titan of Braavos in the distance two weeks after they sailed out, and the crews cheered.
Standing 400 feet tall, it gleamed in the sunlight as if a warrior from the heavens were sent to protect the city.
Robert flew ahead to meet Ferrego Antaryon to avoid any misunderstandings due to the pirate ships.
He was circling over the Sea Lord's Palace, waiting for the man to come out and invite him down.
Never let it be said Robert wasn't courteous to the people that he got along with. Naturally the Targaryens weren't on that list.
Most Braavosi considered Westerosi to be barbarians, but he was good friends with the Sea Lord—at least as far as that mattered when it came to the nobility—and none would dare say something like that to the face of the Father of the Dragons.
The man, young and far away from being the sickly and frail man he was mentioned as in the books, had come out to greet him with his protector, Qarro Valentin, the First Sword of Braavos, and a ceremony of Water Dancers.
Draped in purples and blues, with brown skin, and a clean-shaved round face from perhaps one too many desserts, Ferrego was a perfect example of a wealthy Braavosi.
Obelisk, Ra, and Slifer landed as gently as they could, and Robert dismounted, approached the man in question, and removed his helmet, greeting the smiling ruler of Braavos the same way.
"My friend! Welcome to Braavos once more." The Sea Lord greeted, with pearly white teeth that could blind someone, and held out his arm.
"Much appreciated, my friend, though before we go in, I made some ship acquisitions on the way here, and they bear pirate flags. Could you ensure they are not sunk?" Robert took the offered arm, gesturing towards the port.
"Ship acquisition? I believe you have a story to tell me." Ferrego turned to one of the Water Dancers and muttered something in Braavosi, and the man left with a salute and then gestured Robert inside.
"Weirdest of things. Five pirate ships just sailed towards us and decided to donate four of their ships to me."
"Really? Perhaps your dragons had something to do with it?" The Sea Lord gave him an amused smile.
"Maybe, or it was just because of my charming demeanor. At any rate, they had slaves we freed, and I was wondering if they had anywhere to go here? If not, I'll offer them a place back at Asgard." Robert said. After all, Braavos was created by slaves who fled from the Freehold, and as they detested slavery, they also helped escaped slaves whenever they could.
"Of course, we are always happy to help those who escaped from the wretched grasp of slavery."
—
They were seated in the Sea Lord's study after Robert was given a room to change into something comfier.
"I heard about that dreadful business with Storm's End." Ferrego commented as a servant poured wine into two clear glasses, watching for Robert's reaction.
"It was their way of protecting me from Aerys; I am sure you have heard about him." Robert shrugged. While a part of him was angry, the other part had seen an opportunity.
"Most would be displeased about losing their legacy."
"Most people wouldn't see an opportunity as I do. Storm's End represents the past; Asgard will be the future."
A moment of silence took place as the Sea Lord contemplated, as if he wanted to gaze into Robert's soul to see how serious he was.
"Well then, let us raise our glasses to the future and talk business, shall we?" Ferrego held out his glass, and Robert obliged.
—
Davos approached the port with the ships, exhaustion clear on his face. The last weeks had been hard, with unfavorable winds and having to sail six ships with a crew of two. But at the least they were promised triple pay for this month and the loot from the ships, even though it wasn't much, making it worth their sweat.
He had a lot to do now, even more than what they had planned before sailing. New sails, new crews, at least temporary ones until they can find ones that speak Westerosi Common, and repairs for the new ships.
After he slept, of course, he was no use looking like a corpse.