The ships have sailed in the morning, leaving Cyprus behind them. The weather didn't seem to give them fortune as Skeleton Mafia was greeted with the murky gray sea along with ominous gray clouds in the sky. Waves rocked the vessels with force, but they went onward regardless, determined to their goals. Inside the "flagship", Bowser and his henchmen were sitting behind the table, looking at the map John had it with him. On the other ship, skeletons were gathered around a walkie-talkie, prepared to hear any orders from the top brass.

"So..." pondered Bowser, sticking his fingers together while looking at the map, specifically Mediterranean sea. "We have no chance here, right?"

"Indeed." confirmed Sniper Mad John, nodding his head. Other fellows looked at Bowser as well, waiting for his response.

"Darn..." croaked Bowser , clenching his fist. " Do we have any choices that won't end us in hundreds of bombs dropping upon us?"

"Yes, we do!" said Sniper Mad John, snapping his fingers as he performed a finger gun. "Two, in fact."

"What's it gonna be?" asked George as he leaned towards the table while making gestures with his hands like he was planning something.

"Alright then...Our first option is to cross the Suez Canal and conduct plans right after we reach the end of the Red Sea!" advised Sniper Mad John, pointing at the gap between mainland Egypt and Sinai peninsula.

"What's the other option?" asked George once again.

"Well, the other one is going all way back to Gibraltar, go completely around Africa and then potentially get out of reach of the danger….or just start circling around South America if you want." explained Sniper Mad John, doing motions with his hands.

"You can toss the second option out of the window because I am NOT backtracking!" immediately rejected Bowser as a big grimace appeared on his face.

"Alright then! Expected choice, to be honest." said George.

"Though I have one question…." chimed in Bowser out of a sudden.

"Yeah?" Mad John turned his head towards Bowser.

"Is the Red Sea….actually red?" the turtle lad asked, unsure if he had the right vision of the aforementioned sea. A minute of silence followed as his cohorts gathered together, deciding on what to do.

"Should we tell him?" asked Mad John, unsure if the honesty would be the best option at that moment.

"Nah, let him experience it." advised George, just for a laugh.

"You sure about that?" asked Brane, in case that the thing George planned went awry.

"Of course. Sometimes you've gotta have first-hand experience with stuff." answered George, increasing the temptation to see Bowser's reaction the Red sea.

"Oh ay, it is red!" suddenly blurted out Mosseau. "It will be red."

"Nice! I can't wai-wait what do you mean it will be red?" said Bowser, being unsure what of expect of him.

"Ye will see why." warned Mosseau.

"Huh...well now. For now, we shall proceed with plan I call: Red Sea Path! After that, we start conquering without any possible interferences!" announced Bowser as he raised his fist up in the air. His skeletal henchmen cheered for him, granting him a boost in support. Suddenly, Krongus barged in from outside, surprising everyone in the process.

"Boss! We have something to report!" shouted Krongus, alerting everyone in the room.

"What is it?" asked Bowser.

"It seems that-" he was about to report, but he was suddenly interrupted by the fellow skeleton, which was running in circles and flailing his arms like one of the balloons.

"TROOOOOOOMBAAAAA!" he yelled, warning them about the thing to which not everyone was, aside from Brane, aware of.

"Hey, you ass! Watch where you're walking!" nagged Krongus after he was accidentally pushed by the boney acquaintance of his.

"Tromba?" questioned everyone in the room, looking at the skeleton with confusion.

"Tromba..." cautioned Brane, squinting with his eyes. Just before action could be done, a small fish, likely a branzino, flailed right into the room, before being tossed in to the sea by Krongus.

"AGAIN?!" shouted Bowser, letting out a conscious knee-jerk reaction after seeing the fish. His eyes nearly stretched from his sockets (but not really).

"Looks like it's got itself a company." jested George.

"NO! I WILL NOT ALLOW IT!" roared Bowser before he stomped outside of the room as his colleagues followed him. The gray clouds covered the entire sky, blocking the sunlight. It rained like it was pouring from the heavens, even fish were falling from the clouds. The crew on the other ship remained inside. Soon they saw what the alleged "Tromba" really was.

A fierce columnar vortex, made out of water, that was coming directly at them. The beastly waterspout towered over the ship as it was slowly crossing through waves. The width of the vortex matched the length of a zeppelin.

"So...this is Tromba..." noted Bowser as he glared directly at the waterspout.

"Dear lord…." said George, stunned by the phenomenon itself.

"Iz bijesa! I haven't seen a tromba of such caliber before!" vowed Brane as his eyes widened at the sight. Sniper Mad John shared the same sentiment as him, both staring in the same direction in both awe and dread.

"It's...beautiful!" praised Mosseau, raising his arms towards the "Tromba".

"Bows, what shall we do?" requested Sniper Mad John to his boss.

Bowser squinted with his eyes towards the incoming vortex. Upon closer inspection, he saw a familiar being traveling through the vortex, spiraling upwards to the sky. The animal that appeared in the waterspout was none other than the swordfish.

"Oh you, mot-" cursed Bowser before a small fish fell on his head. He quickly turned his head towards the flailing fish on the floor, glaring at it with eyes full of wrath. Soon more fish followed, raining down on the deck. The crew on the other ship still has not responded.

"Full speed ahead, I say!" ordered Bowser, pointing forward. "I shall inform the other ship as well. Besides, don't worry about the Tromba too much...I've got everything covered! Everyone, go inside!".

"Roger that!" responded Mad John as he saluted. Following his command, everyone went inside the ship to hide from the falling fish. Requesting Brane to give him the phone, he picked it up and said:

"Ship number two! You MUST go full speed right now! Over!"

"This is ship number two! Roger that!" responded the captain of the other ship as they also started to speed up for evasive maneuvers.

Meanwhile in the bridge, Krongus slowly approached his colleague Scrongus, pointing at him with his index finger.

"You! Boss said we gonna go full speed ahead!" Krongus passed the order towards Scrongus.

"Full steam ahead!" shouted Scrongus, setting the throttle of the engine order telegraph on "Full Ahead".

"It's on diesel, you twathead." condemned Krongus, crossing his arms as he gave a scoffed look at his colleague.

"What?! I didn't mean it literally, you rotten swine anus!" Scrongus lunged himself at him, being ready for a fight. And thus the argument between them began.

Bowser stepped outside of the room, entering the deck of the ship as he witnessed that Tromba is coming even closer than ever before. He also noticed that Tromba has launched the swordfish way above in the sky, to the point it was flying. It seemed to head southeast, God knows where. Mosseau also went outside, much to Bowser's bafflement.

"Didn't I say that everyone must go inside?!" pointed out Bowser.

"Ye, but let me have some fun!" answered Mosseau, revving up his chainsaws on iron bars just in case.

"….Alright, you can have some fun." reluctantly approved Bowser as they both got themselves ready for the incoming waterspout. "Put away your chainsaws though. You don't need them now.

"Fuck…." lamented Mosseau due his wish of fish meat grinder not being realized.

Just like before, the fish were raining from above, though most of them were rather small. The fish that were about to land on their heads were smacked away, landing right in the sea. Some of them did manage to "strike" their heads, much to Bowser's annoyance. Mosseau didn't seem to mind too much as he was too busy slapping fish.

Suddenly, an Atlantic bluefin tuna fell from the skies, thanks to Tromba. It seemed that it was going to drop right on Mosseau's boney head, flailing around like it still thought it was swimming in the current. He looked up in the sky and grinned as he saw the falling tuna.

"OOOOH, Yer in my sight, laddie!" quipped Mosseau as he brought up his chainsaws again, revving them up even though that was against his boss' order. Just when he was about to butcher the tuna, Bowser leaped in the air, grabbed the tuna by its tail, span it around and threw it back into the Mediterranean sea.

"Oh, fuck off, will ya?!" fumed Mosseau, shaking his chainsaw.

"Listen, I'm NOT gonna clean the mess of dead fish on deck. Pretty sure no one will because this ship ain't gonna deal with the stink!" explained Bowser, giving him a rather goofy expression that radiated "are you kidding me" feel to it.

"….Fair enough. Ye got me there" admitted Mosseau, putting his chainsaws back in his trash can. "Oh hey, the laddie is almost there!".

Tromba was just few meters away from the ships. Both of the vessels tried to steer away from the dreaded vortex, but it was quick enough to render the actions of ships null. Bowser dashed towards the edge of the deck and looked directly at Tromba.

"What are ye gonna do with it, wrestle the thing?" asked Mosseau as he kept some distance from Tromba. Bowser did not respond to his question.

Bowser took a rather small breath as he closed his eyes for the incoming. Suddenly, he started to inhale the vortex. The suction power was strong enough that the water of Tromba started to spiral around Bowser's mouth. The traces of wind could even be seen from Bowser's inhalation. At times, a fish or two hit them in his face, but that didn't stop Bowser from continuing. The zeppelin-sized waterspout slowly started to lose its size along with its might. Only thing Mosseau could have done was to watch with his jaw dropped. Tromba did not put any resistance against Bowser' inhaling as its power was getting weaker by every second. The power of suck was so strong that even the clouds from above were getting sucked in, clearing the weather in the process. After some time, what once was a fierce vortex of furious water vanished as the sun shined upon the sea.

Bowser, with all the water stored inside of him, resembled a squirrel which has stuffed all the food inside its mouth. Suddenly, steam started to appear out of his nostrils. It became faster and fiercer as the time passed on. He roared with all his might, releasing all the steam inside his mouth that happened because the water inside of him got boiled by his fire breathing ability. There was so much steam that Bowser himself got covered by it, reducing the visibility near him. His colleagues stepped outside of the ship to see the source of steam. By then the entire ship was covered in steam.

Soon enough they found out the silhouette of their boss walking towards them. Every "elite" member of Skeleton Mafia gathered around in a circle.

"….Does anyone have anything sweet to eat?" boasted Bowser as he flexed towards the location where Tromba used to be.

"Congratulations, you have given the nature a whoppin'." jested George, giving his boss a slow applause yet there was some kind of awe in his voice.

"Good job, mate!" praised Sniper Mad John, clapping along with George and Brane.

"No seriously, I do need to wash off the pure salt from my tongue." requested Bowser, scratching the possible salt from his tongue.

"...Cremeschnitte?" asked Brane as he raised his eyebrow.

"Sure, I could go with that." nodded Bowser.

"Order up!" shouted Brane, raised his index finger up and dashed off inside to get the dessert for him.

"...How the fuck did ye manage to do that?" asked Mosseau while flailing his arms around in sort-of frustration.

"How did I managed to stop the entire waterspout with just inhaling? Well there, Mosseau, let me tell you a story..." elaborated Bowser as he began to tell a tale of his life. Everyone around him, especially Mosseau, tuned in for his story.

"It's a long story that involved mushrooms and….bean people." said Bowser as he made a gesture with his hands when he mentioned bean people.

"Of course it involved mushrooms." joked George, but didn't continue on due him thinking that the punchline is too obvious.

"...What do ye mean there's bean people?" asked Mosseau.

"BEAN PEOPLE! They are BEANS!….or rather, bean chump, since he was the only one." further explained Bowser. Brane arrived with a cream cake that consisted of custard, chantilly cream and puff pastry just right when Bowser was talking about his experiences. He has heard about the beans.

"Were they green or kidney beans?" asked Brane, both being genuinely curious and jesting at the same time.

"They were green for sure, but I think their heads were shaped like kidney beans. So...it's a mix. But anyway, as I was in the woods, the hooded man have me a rather weirdly colored mushroom that he dubbed "Lucky(?) Mushroom". What followed was a decision which would probably be a better one if it wasn't made. But at least I've got an utility so to say. The thing is that….the hooded man was MY ENEMY!" said Bowser.

"Putting unknown food in your mouth?! What the hell, Bowser?! You could have endangered yourself!" warned Brane, speaking out of his impulse. He have him the fabled cremeschnitte that his boss wanted.

"I know! It was the time where I wasn't in the best place, but at least it shaped me into who I am: The King of Awesome! But still, yeah, that time was rough…." assured Bowser before he took a bite out of the dessert. "Good stuff as always, Brane!"

"Hold on, mate. Can you explain certain things in order? I get a feeling that we're missing out the bigger picture." requested Sniper Mad John.

"Yeah, what is it?" asked Bowser, waiting for a thing that John wanted to say.

"So….what is like, the entire chronology of this? I know you often said that you're the de facto invader of Mushroom kingdom, but now that you have mentioned bean people, were there any other conquerors in your world?" requested Sniper Mad John

"Hmmmgrrhh…..of course. They were hosers but since you guys want to hear about them, I'll say everything that I remember." begun Bowser after taking another bite of cremeschnitte. "Alright so….while I am absolutely the best conqueror in my kingdom, there were other chumps as well. First gang of buffoons that tried to not only take over Mushroom Kingdom, but they tried to take over MY KINGDOM as well, were a bunch of living weapons." Bowser started to tell his tale. By the time he has begun, the steam got off the ship.

"Living weapons? That's fucking great, laddie!" cheered Mosseau, thinking that he would get some of the "living weapons" on his side for his future endeavors.

"….It was NOT GREAT because they kicked me out of the castle! A giant sword with eyes suddenly crashed down on my castle and then they had audacity to use my own troops against me!" grumbled Bowser at Mosseau's response.

"Oh….that's pretty shite." said Mosseau, retracting his previous statement.

"Anyway, it's not that important since I kicked their butts hard! We went to their base and defeated that crusty old man of a leader and thus the first invader that was not named "Bowser" got wrecked! I also regained the castle as well!" further told Bowser. He has intentionally left out that Mario, Princess Peach, a marshmallow fellow and a weaponized doll also helped him on his quest.

"May I comment on how did a giant sword fall from the sky and pierce your castle?" asked George, scoffing at the idea.

"...Listen, George. There are certain things in my world that definitely wouldn't make sense here and vice versa. So you gotta tell yourself that it's wizardry, alright?" explained Bowser in a rather annoyed tone.

"Yeah, I figured it out." said George.

"Wizardry is a scam!" angrily commented Mosseau, raising his fist in the air. Everyone else gave him the "Later" sign, to which he has decided to withhold his tale about how all wizards are frauds.

"So after those, we have the bean sorceress and her annoying, puny, talks-like-a-buffoon MINION! They have tried to steal Princess Peach's voice and cause chaos in Mushroom kingdom! Those jerks even attacked my own cruiser! How dare they be so devious! Other than that…..I don't remember much…" further explained Bowser. Upon hearing the bean sorceress, Mosseau reflexively turned towards everyone and planned to yell "con woman" out loud, but he kept it to himself so that he could hear Bowser's story in full.

"That's a shame. I would love to hear more about it." lamented Sniper Mad John.

"I DID hear about it. Apparently I was possessed and had my mind scrambled twice. Gah! It put me in such a bad mood that I nearly destroyed a mountain! Being possessed is not on my quota, that's the penguin's job!" rambled Bowser as his colleagues kept listening.

"What penguin are you talking about?" asked Brane.

"Eh, it's that self proclaimed lumbering fool that has only like….stole food from everyone before he completely softened up. After I take over the Mushroom Kingdom, I'll conquer his kingdom too! Anyway….next on the list of wannabe-invaders are some purple alien mushrooms. I wasn't much of a participant there but I got possessed….AGAIN!" said Bowser.

"Is this a common occurrence or what?" jested George.

"Nah….Once in a while it happens, but I don't let it completely ruin my reputation! Now comes the story which I love to tell! Okay so, it starts with me eating that Lucky(?) mushroom and gaining the ability to inhale! That hooded man that I mentioned as my enemy….was the henchman of the witch! Just like the weapon fools, he also took over my castle and turned my troops against me! A jerk size of a sun, I'd say! It took me fighting my own castle, one on one, to get my army back!" further rambled Bowser, this time in a much happier mood.

"It took you what?!" wondered everyone who listened to the story. "How?!"

"What exactly do ye mean? Did ye storm the castle be yerself or am Aye not understanding this well? If it's the former then it's not that impressive. Done plenty of stormings by myself!" asked Mosseau before he boasted about himself.

"Yeah, I had to duke it out with it. Fist to fist, all out knuckle brawl! I forgot to mention that I was giant too! Now this IS a common occurrence, my first experiences with being the titan of awesome was when I was a baby!" elaborated Bowser as he flexed some of his muscles.

"...Oh damn, now that's one thing yer out of me league." admitted Mosseau, impressed by Bowser's antics.

"Oh, that explains it." said Sniper Mad John.

"It wasn't the only castle I had to fight anyway! Had to fight many more. Anyway, so it turns out that bean jerk searched for some kind of dark power from star looking thing that would totally posses that penguin. In fact, it did steal from ME and created a dark version of yours truly! So of course, I had to duke it out with that poser! The set up for the battle was just perfect! The great dark hurricane accompanied by the gloomy sky! It should be obvious who was the victor, but it was still the greatest battle of my life!" articulated Bowser.

"I get a feelin' that you fought a lot of oddities out there already." commented George, crossing his arms.

"Indeed and they were no match for me!….99% of the time. That being said I have to address the elephant in the room….Mario and Luigi helped me on this quest."

"I thought were your enemies?" puzzled Sniper Mad John, scratching his head with his index finger.

"So that bean guy was so awful that you had make a brief alliance with them? Damn…." pondered Brane.

"That's frequent, Aye say! Had plenty of experience with shifting alliances!" nonchalantly said Mosseau.

"Indeed THEY ARE, but sometimes when a bad guy is so bad or is it one of those idiotic "I WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING BECAUSE SOMETHING" nutjobs, you gotta team up with even the most bitter of enemies. Besides, I hate to say it, but they're respectable foes." explained Bowser, to which he took one of the last bites out of that cremeschnitte.

"Ye got that right." agreed Mosseau.

"Now for the last one. This one was the very definition of wannabe! It was some dream invading bat fellow that I had to team up with them. He thought that he was using me, but IT WAS ME WHO WAS USING HIM! GWAHAHAHAHA! Sadly, that story concluded with me being defeated by Mario and Luigi, like nearly always. But yeah, that's about it for the invaders. Once I get a much bigger army, no one would even dare to touch any land I've stomped on! Hahahaha!" concluded Bowser along with finishing his cremschnitte in the process.

"So what you're sayin' is somethin' like that waterspout and such ain't nothin' new for you?" sincerely asked George.

"I would say….sort of. While stuff like that isn't uncommon, I certainly didn't expect something like that swordfish or minotaur to be THAT cunning. I wonder how are the other villains of this world. Oh by the way, George, it was there in the waterspout." replied Bowser, to which he pointed at the former location of Tromba.

"…..What." deadpanned George, lowering his arms down. "I was jestin' before."

"Yep...it was there. Anyway, now it's time to-" said Bowser before he was interrupted by one of his skeletal minions.

"Boss! You gotta see this!" reported the skeleton as everyone around him gathered to look at the thing he wanted them to see. They saw the transition from the vast sea to a narrow waterway that was being surrounded by a large city. The waterway was split into three parts. The area near the waterway was lacking of ships, only seagulls were accompanying the ships of Skeleton Mafia. It dawned on them on what kind of location they arrived. The city's name was Port Said, which was built around their current desired destination.

Suez Canal.

"We did it, boys." announced George, marveling at the sight of the canal.

"AW YEAH! Now our conquest can start safely….and Red Sea is coming soon too!" cheered Bowser as he pumped up his fist in the air.

"Mates, this is where our journey truly starts." said Sniper Mad John, also looking at Suez.

"Now we can get a taste of other cultures as well!" noted Brane, raising his arms up in the air.

"Time to probably get culture shocks as well." quipped George.

"Aye am with Bows there. Aye need me fix of conquering soon." said Mosseau, placing his chainsaw on his shoulder like a knight would do with his broadsword.

"Do not worry, Mosseau! Soon we shall do it like in the old days, but for now, lets cross first!" considered Bowser before he ordered one of the skeletons to look in front and behind in order to spot any incoming ships. The skeleton went inside to get binoculars and in the moment he was back with the needed item. Firstly, he has looked in front of the ship and saw no vessels, then he looked at back and saw a giant ship carrying containers, even though it appeared minuscule from the distance.

"No sign of any vessel in the front, a tanker from a far, boss!" reported the skeleton to his boss in a confident tone. "Nothing imposing so far, but I'll keep looking."

"Good! Continue, just like you said!" praised Bowser as the ship started to enter the waterways of Suez canal. The other ship sneaked behind the capital ship as they traversed through narrow waters. Some of the seagulls landed on the ships before they were fended off by the crew. They have slowed down, following the regulations of Suez canal. The crossing of the waterways was rather uneventful yet safe. After they left Port Said, they were greeted with nothing but scorching desert on both sides of the canal. The crew on both vessels decided to go inside and get cooled down using air conditioner. While the air conditioner functioned normally on the capital ship, the skeletal crew of the other ship had some malfunctions with their own device, trying to fix it. Lots of curses were thrown in that moment but the necessity of skeletons need air conditioning remains questionable. Inside the capital ship, Bowser and his comrades brainstormed about the conquest, where to start and how to invade it. As a first test, they decided to take over any small island that would have been encountered on their path. After a long conversation and travel without incidents, they have arrived at the Great Bitter Lake. Unlike before, what once was a narrow waterway became a vast, expanded body of water without a seeming end on the horizon. The crew of the capital ship went outside to identify their current location.

"Is this the Red Sea?" asked Bowser, looking at the vastness of water.

"Nope, mate. We're in a saltwater lake now." answered Sniper Mad John.

"Crud!" shouted Bowser as he raised his fist up in the air. "How far is it?"

"Just this lake, then one waterway and then we arrive at Gulf of Suez, where we will cross right into the Red sea."

"Hmmm, I expect that this will take us some time." wondered Bowser, walking around the deck. "Say! What's the status around us?"

The skeleton binoculars looked around to see the surroundings. He looked behind the ship first, witnessing the same tanker as before.

"Same as before." confirmed the skeleton before he went seeing the sides of the ship, both left and right. On the left side, he saw a bunch of tankers, carrying containers. On the right side, he saw some sail ships, calmly following the wind.

"Just a few tankers and sail ships, nothing too dangerous." reported the skeleton before looking in front of the ship. At first he saw nothing, but then he saw an oddity on the horizon. Unlike the ships witnessed before, the unknown vessel that was spotted was colored completely gray and from what he could decipher, there was a rather large antenna on the ship.

"….Fellas, does anyone know how to identify ships?" asked the skeleton, taking his eye (sockets) off from the binoculars as he looked towards his crew.

"Help is coming right away!" replied Brane as the skeleton gave him the binoculars so he could look at the unidentified ship. The distance between their own ships and the unidentified ship decreased for a bit, so that Brane could take a closer look at it. While only the backside of the ship could be seen, it was clear by that time this was no civilian ship as he spotted the helicopter pad on it, carrying a single twin turboshaft engine helicopter, which had four blades on its rotor. One of the things Brane also noticed was that the ships was carrying a flag.

A flag of stars and stripes.

"...it's Arleigh Burke!" revealed Brane after he stopped looking with binoculars and turned towards his colleagues with a shocked expression on his face.

"Oh SHIT!" shouted Sniper Mad John as he quickly tried to disarm himself. Mosseau offered his trash can to store the weaponry, to which John accepted. George remained perplexed about the situation, but chose to stay quiet.

"...Wait, WHAT is going on?" asked Bowser, unsure what to feel as he saw the other skeletons being kind of spooked and confused at the same time.

"Looks like we have a destroyer in front of us, Bows." explained Brane to his boss.

"Destroyer? Now I've heard plenty of ships in my life, but I haven't heard such a type before! Not gonna lie, that name sounds just awesome! Now, why should we be concerned?" asked Bowser once again, not feeling intimidated yet.

"It's an American one." bluntly answered Brane, to which Bowser felt a shiver inside of him.

"….Oh….hahaha….that explains it….hahahaha…..those are guys behind NATO, right?" Bowser rattled on as it began to down upon him, remembering the whole speech about the world back in Croatia.

"You are correct." confirmed Sniper Mad John, to which Bowser's irises shrunk.

"...Ahahahaha...hohohohoho...hahahaha-EVERYONE, GO INSIDE NOW!" ordered Bowser as everyone on the deck bum rushed inside the ship and sat down behind the table. Brane's identification was correct, there was an Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy right in front of them, slowly but surely cruising in the same waters as them. Unlike the members of Skeleton Mafia, the servicemen on Arleigh Burke didn't pay much attention towards the ships of Skeleton Mafia as they were busy doing their duties. The helicopter on the pad was Sikorsky SH-60R Seahawk, standing idly there as it was being prepared for the next possible deployment.

"HOW?!" yelled Bowser as he smashed his fist onto the table, making it shake as some of the stuff fell down from it. " HOW DID THEY KNOW?!"

"Nah, mate. They're not after us. Just an usual route they take there." reassured Sniper Mad John as he made some motions with his hands.

"What kind of business do they have there? Isn't it far from home for them?!" asked Bowser, starting to feel secretly jealous of United States.

"Ye know, Bows. There's a sayin' that if ye have the strongest navy in the world, you rule it. British used to have that title, which Aye think is completely undeserved because SCOTLAND should have it! It should be Great Scotland, not Great Britain, those twat wankers! But ye, that title now belongs to the Hamburger lads, now having ability to beat the shite out of anyone that pissed them off greatly." explained Mosseau to him. "Aye can live with that, it's not the Englishmen or French.".

"Just like it was said before, they're a superpower and they have business all over the world." further added Sniper Mad John.

"Hmph! So what I need is a bigger navy than them! Hah! This shouldn't be too tough! Once we settle down on a slightly larger island, I shall bring my ships to this world! Battleships, submarines and such!" huffed Bowser as he put cards together in a formation like they were ships.

"Battleships, ye say?" prompted Mosseau, taking a sip of the wine he got from Cyprus. "Well, laddeh, lemme tell ye somethin': they're extinct."

"...Oh, is this one of THOSE cases where it's something that works perfectly fine in my world but not here, isn't it?" chided Bowser as he squinted towards Mosseau.

"Nah, they were perfectly fine before they were outclassed by other classes of ships, like submarines as ye mentioned them. It ain't like the case yer thinkin' of. Trust me, my lad, Aye been there and saw how naval warfare developed in front of me eyes! In me early days, ships were still made out of wood and relied on wind in order to travel the seven seas. As the time passed, ships became metallic, were powered on various other stuff like coal and combat took farther than it used to be. More as time passed, the farther the combatants were from each other. Nowadays, you can fuck up someone's arsehole from the other end of the world if ye want so and this is exactly what the land of bald eagles can do." Mosseau told his experiences like he loves to.

"...I'm gonna be honest, I didn't expect this from you." admitted George, pointing towards him as a positive gesture. "I also didn't know we became so powerful too..."

"Well, ol lad. That's what having one thousand years of experience gets ye. Aye fought many things, including…." boasted Mosseau before he went silent and started breathing heavily. Everyone around him looked at him, confused on why he went so silent.

"Hey, Mosseau! You alright?" asked Brane to be sure.

"...FOOKEN PIRATES!" shouted Mosseau as he smashed the bottle of wine on the table and flipped the chair. "FUCK EVERY PIRATE THERE IS! AYE WILL TAKE A DEEP SHIT ON THEIR UNDERSEA GRAVES AND PISS ON THEM! I FOOKEN HATE-"

"...Now what exactly did they do to you?" asked George, among of the only ones who wasn't slightly startled by the mood shift of his.

"THEY GAVE ME SCURVY! And they didn't even bother tryin' to help me! The only reason me scurvy got cured was because of a fooken miracle! So that is why Aye hate those self shagging, arse-wiping twats and Aye will tear every single fooken limb from their bodies, especially gonads!"

"Now now, Mosseau. It's not time to commit atrocities against humanity." tried Sniper Mad John to calm him down.

"Their existence is an atrocity against humanity!" asserted Mosseau as he slammed his fist on the table. Meanwhile, Brane picked up the pieces of broken glass from the floor.

"Cool story, but how does this help me get a bigger navy than United States Navy?!" demanded Bowser, making Mosseau's sense come back to him.

"Oh...right….good luck with that, lad. If yer seriously dedicated to overcome the bald eagle hamburgers, then ye need more than just ships." answered Mosseau, holding the broken bottle like it's nothing.

"Hmmm….I do need more ships indeed. I can't do much with just two fishing boats at all. I am sticking with my plan as of now, but I will try to get other ships as well. Perhaps I should focus more on the submarines, they would probably give me advantage." wondered Bowser, scratching his chin in the process.

"Ye, that would be good." approved Mosseau.

"Not to interrupt, but what shall we do with Burke?" piqued Sniper Mad John after the whole debacle about navy and pirates was over.

"Hrm...hey you, the one who took care of observation!" Bowser called out for the skeleton with binoculars. "You have to see what is that destroyer up to!"

"Capisco, boss!" saluted the skeleton as he stepped outside of the ship and looked with his binoculars again. Arleigh Burke was still on its intended path, barely changing its course. Sailors on it regularly checked the vessel's weaponry, from it's cannons to its missile and torpedo launchers. Sea Hawk that was stationed there was also maintained quite often in order to keep its combat preparedness to the maximum. Inside her computer filled bridge, the crew was constantly adjusting the ship's path as the captain gave orders to everyone. Each of the computers did their designated job, such as navigation and checking out for possible threats. The crew was composed, but dedicated to their job of taking care of the ship. The skeleton spotted no unusual behaviors from Burke and returned back inside.

"Boss! That destroyer seems to mind her own business! We are in no danger as of now!" reported the skeleton as he saluted towards him.

"Great! As long was we don't become suspicious, we shall be just fine!" complimented Bowser as he gave off the order for the two ships to act as innocent as possible.

And so they did, with Skeleton Mafia sneaking behind USS Arleigh Burke like two snakes following a tyrannosaurus as they traversed through Great Bitter Lake. The crew of Skeleton Mafia's ships always kept an eye on Burke, since they were not sure if it would actually retaliate in a case of offense while the destroyer cruised through with her crew having their own worries.

All three of the ships transitioned through the lakes to the last waterway before the Gulf of Suez without any notable incidents. By that time, sun was about to set down, slowly bringing out the night. Despite the duration of the journey, none of the crew of Skeleton Mafia's ships felt sleepy as they were constantly on the edge. Even through the last waterway, they kept behind Burke in order to feel safe. Bar few instances where they told short stories or had a decent banter, the gang didn't speak much with each other, not because of any misunderstandings, but rather they were thinking about the presence of Burke and how to act in such situation.

Last waterway has been crossed, now with all three of them entering Gulf of Suez. Just like before, no incidents happened between Burke and two of the ships of Skeleton Mafia. The waterway transferred to a much vaster sea before. Meanwhile in the capital ship of Skeleton Mafia, the lads were still sitting behind the table, still thinking on what to do. Then Bowser got an idea.

"Skeleton with binoculars!" called Bowser as the aforementioned skeleton arrived quickly to the scene. "You've got a job to do! Report me the status of surroundings!"

"Roger that, boss!" said the skeleton as he rushed out once more, observing the surroundings. Aside from Burke, he didn't see anything from anywhere, so he rushed back to finish his report.

"Just the destroyer and nothing else!" reported the skeleton once more.

"Ah, then it shouldn't be any issue going outside!" declared Bowser as he stood up. "Hey, John! Did we arrive to the Red Sea just now?"

"I believe so, mate." stated John, to which he kind of shrugged.

"Awesome! Now it's the decisive moment!" crowed Bowser as he rushed outside to finally see the sea. His colleagues followed him to see the reaction in full. Bowser, being full of excitement, looked over the edge to see if the sea was actually red. It turned out that, to almost no one's surprise, the sea was still the color of the sky: blue. For few minutes, the happy face remained until it started to slowly melt into a disgruntled grimace. All of his excitement passed away as he leaned towards the sea, staring rather disappointingly at it.

"What's up, Bows?" asked Sniper Mad John, even though he knew why Bowser was in a rather bad mood.

"...The sea is blue, right?" said Bowser, still looking at the surface while supporting his head with his hand.

"Sorry, Bows, but you're gonna get an obvious answer with that. Why do you ask?" notified Sniper Mad John as he leaned aside.

"..."

"THEN WHY IS IT CALLED THE RED SEA?!"

Bowser's shout was so loud that it echoed in lands far away. Unfortunately for them, the crew of Arleigh Burke has intercepted his shout with its computers detecting a distress signal.

"There's been a disruption in the signal, coming from north. Over." reported one of the crew members towards the captain in a calm tone.

"This is captain speaking. Send in Seahawk to inspect the cause of disruption. Over." ordered the captain. Within a moment, the rotors of the multirole helicopter started to slowly spin as it was accompanied by the engine start up. The doors of it opened as its blades started to cut the air even faster. Eleven sailors, armed with M4 carbines, arrived towards the prepared Seahawk as they were about to board it. They have boarded the Seahawk without any issues as they took off, searching the source of the "distress signal".

Meanwhile, back on the capital ship of Skeleton Mafia, Sniper Mad John finished explaining that the name of the aforementioned sea has biblical origins, to which Bowser kind of didn't understood it.

"Well, the Red Sea does actually get red at times, thanks to a certain kind of algae." John offered another explanation for the name.

"...Then call it SOMETIMES-RED SEA!" angrily countered Bowser, raising his hand up in the air as if he was betting something.

"We shouldn't be concerned about what the color of the sea is, we should be happy that we have come so far!" noted Brane as he tried to lighten up the not-really-serious mood.

"...You know what? You're right!" calmed down Bowser as the mood itself got better.

"I think we should be concerned about somethin' else, boys." warned George as he pointed out towards a black spot in the sky. Everyone gazed their eyes towards it and wondered what it was. That skeleton who was in charge of observation picked up his binoculars and looked at the black spot, which turned out to be the incoming Seahawk.

"They're coming!" alarmed the skeleton, shocking everyone on the process.

"OH NO! HOW?!" yelled Bowser in panic, thinking about what to do.

"One strange move and we're dining with the sharks." calmy cautioned George once again. "And that's not even a guarantee."

"Best thing we can do is being calm and back off for a bit." advised Sniper Mad John, pointing at the bridge of the ship.

"I agree!" added Brane, even though he was trying to keep his composure.

"Aye ain't fucking with them, to be honest." said Mosseau, reminding himself of that time on how he lost his posterior.

"Hmmm….I have a plan! Lets go inside and pretend we haven't done anything!" he said out loud as he ordered everyone to go inside.

"It's better than some alternatives but lets see." commended George before everyone rushed inside the ship, pretending to play poker at first until they actually got motivated enough to play it for real. The sound of blades hitting the air became much more audible as Seahawk got closer. Sailors inside the copter were sitting quietly, waiting to drop on the landing zone. As it got closer in quite short amount of time, the pilot spotted the capital ship of Skeleton Mafia. He noticed that something large was covered by the fabric, making it stand out. The other ship didn't receive such attention because it blended in as a completely normal looking ship.

"This is Romeo One. There's a suspicious vessel traveling behind us. Requesting order. Over." reported the pilot towards the crew of USS Arleigh Burke.

"This is captain speaking. Investigate the ship. Proceed with caution. Over." ordered captain.

"Roger that." responded the pilot of Seahawk. Once helicopter got close enough to the ship, it made an u-turn around the ship so it would face the same direction. Finding a good spot, Seahawk started to slowly but surely descend towards the "landing zone". After hitting the right altitude, it started to hover just a bit higher from the ship as its doors opened. A rope was dropped on the ship, enabling the sailors on it just slide down safely. All of the eleven sailors performed the jump without any injuries.

"Romeo One speaking. All of the personnel landed successfully. Pronto." notified the pilot to the crew. The squad started to inspect the deck of the ship, quickly noticing the fabric, which was hiding something. They uncovered the fabric, revealing that it was only hiding a black Jaguar Mark 1 saloon car and a green Volkswagen Type 2 Samba bus. Unknown to them, the sign "KFOR" has been temporarily removed to avoid suspicion. Deciding to inspect them further, they looked inside both of them cars. Jaguar Mark 1 was relatively safe from suspicion, not having something that someone would be cautious about it. They were somewhat doubtful of the bus as the woodland pattern of it did gave it an appearance of a military vehicle. Upon looking inside, they saw that the bus was completely empty. Someone has probably removed the M2 Brownings in the mean time. Squad leader deducted the color's of the vehicle as coincidence, jokingly citing that someone must have really missed their time in the military.

"This is Band Alpha speaking. Two of the civilian vehicles spotted on the deck. Purpose unknown. Requesting additional orders. Over." reported the squad leader after the whole deck was inspected.

"Investigate the interior of the vessel. Find the source of the distress signal. Over." ordered the captain once again. The squad gathered around the doors, preparing their carbines in the process. Their leader warned them to proceed with caution before slowly opening the door. Once they stepped in inside, they saw something that is not seen every day: a bunch of living skeletons, gathered around table and playing poker with two men and a draconian turtle that was dressed like a captain. They also were in an unfortunate time of witnessing something that even some of the skeletons felt slightly uncomfortable about it: George without his hat on. Upon seeing that scene, some of the sailors were left dumbfounded, rendered speechless. Some of the skeletons raised their arms up in the air, not sure if they were going to be shot. Brane and John waved upon them, acting as if they were friends that knew each other for a long time. Mosseau hid himself in the trash can, knowing that the mere sight of him would cause greater confusion. George kept playing poker like he would normally do. Bowser just looked at the sailors and remained cautious.

"...What? Is there a problem?" grumbled one of the skeletons who didn't put their arms in the air.

"You tell me." said one of the sailors, still being surprised by that view.

"….Band Alpha here. There is specimen resembling a turtle that is dressed like a captain playing poker with animated skeletons and two men. Over." reported the squad leader in a completely serious tone.

"….Could you repeat again?" asked captain, completely unsure if the squad leader was having a giggle.

"I say, there's a specimen resembling a turtle that is dressed like a captain playing poker with animated skeletons and two men." reiterated Band Alpha, assuring that he was not making up.

"...Hold fire. Identify if they're a threat or not. Over." ordered the captain.

"Come on! Don't act like you've seen this the first time!" Bowser tried to make sense of the situation.

"Yes, this is the very first time we have seen something like that." answered the squad leader.

"Oh...well then." said Bowser. The squad leader split the squad into smaller groups. He ordered "Group Alpha" to investigate the rest of the ship, while "Group Bravo" secured the area near him.

Group Alpha started with the hallways that lead to the storage room and engine room. Investigating the engine room, they only saw engines and skeletons maintaining them, but no sign of any smuggled materials such as weaponry and alcoholic beverages at all. Skeletons were surprised by their visit, but minded their own business with checking the engines. After checking the engine room, they visited the storage. Only difference between the engine room and storage was that the latter had no skeletons operating in the room.

On the bridge, Krongus still took care of the steering wheel while Scrongus maintained computers and such. A hovering Seahawk could be seen from the bridge, a sight both of them were not most comfortable with it.

"At the very least you can take solace in not goofing up this time." stated Krongus, giving him an imitated squint.

"For once you are right. The boss has done it. For now, lets just stay chill." agreed Scrongus, a moment that happens only under the blue moon. Suddenly, the USN sailors entered the bridge and started investigating it.

"AAAAH! DON'T LOOK AT ME!" both of them yelled as they raised their arms. None of the USN sailors gave off any response to them as they were too busy investigating the bridge. They have found nothing dangerous, so it didn't take much time. However, one of them noticed that a few of the windows were absent.

"Eh, we forgot to replace them. Older ones got broken from bird strikes." said Krongus, thinking that telling the truth would be just unbelievable. The sailors left the bridge and reported the status to the leader.

Back in the "planning room" of the capital ship, the squad leader started interrogating (so to say) the members of Skeleton Mafia.

"Sir, we have received a distress signal from this vessel. What exactly is the issue?" asked the squad leader in order to know more about the situation.

"Issue? Bah! There's no issue there! Not that I would have known about it!" denied Bowser, sincerely not knowing what was he talking about.

"Mate, I think he's talking about the yell." cleared up Sniper Mad John.

"Oooh...right! That was when...uh...I stubbed my toe! Then I stepped on the nail! I picked it all up, so it was safe!" Bowser tried to "explain", only for the squad leader to raise his eyebrow in disbelief?

"All this for a stubbed toe?" groaned one of the sailors. "Great, what a waste of our time."

"Trust me. If you put him in a room with the loudest thing, the latter would be deaf in minutes." jested George as he tried to justify Bowser's rationale.

"HEY! YOU CANNOT SAY THAT IN FRONT OF THEM, GEORGE!" shouted Bowser in anger, making the sailors flinch due sheer volume of his furious yell. Just by time Group Alpha arrived, assuring that there have been no issues encountered.

"Seems like the cause of the distress signal was just a high frequency yell, but nothing too concerning. Now then, may we escort you to the safer route? There are hostile waters up ahead and the night is about to come. It would be most advisable to do so." requested

"WHA…." wheezed Bowser out of a complete surprise.

"Of course! Your aid would be most welcome!" Sniper Mad John took over the conversation from Bowser before shaking hands with the squad leader.

"Roger that! As the servicemen of United States Navy, we are tasked to protect civilian vessels from any possible dangers and ensuring the stability of the region. Follow our ship until you feel the need to depart. Farewell!" said the squad leader Band Alpha before his squad left the ship, entered the Seahawk and flew back to USS Arleigh Burke. The sounds of blade hitting the air became increasingly quieter as MH-60R Seahawk distanced itself from Skeleton Mafia's capital ship. For some reason, Bowser remained silent, thinking about what squad leader said.

"Well, we did it. Got ourselves a free escort." commented George as he put his hat back on.

"Please, for the love of everything, don't remove your hat ever again." said one of the skeletons, still feeling unsettled from before.

"Don't worry. I just didn't wanna stand out." explained George as he smirked.

"Jače! Now we can finally relax!" praised Brane, but was starting to lose energy. "Gah, we should sleep soundly right now."

"Ye, mate. We got that sorted out and it's nice." noted John as he put his arms behind his head.

"How long will Aye have to keep all stuff there? It's getting' CRAMPED!" questioned Mosseau as he peeked from his trash can.

"Up until we depart, I'd say." answered Sniper Mad John.

"Goddamnit!" fumed Mosseau as he went back inside his trash can. Bowser still stared into nothingness, thinking about certain things.

"What's up, Bows?" John checked out him to see what's wrong.

"...I need some time for myself." answered Bowser as he continued looking at the nothingness.

The night dawned upon the Red Sea. The capital ship got much closer to Arleigh Burke than before, but the other ship kept distance. USS Arleigh Burke turned on its lights, brightening up the area near it. In comparison, Bowser's ships felt rather small compared to the might of a cruising destroyer. The sky itself was filled with luminous stars, only accompanied by the bioluminescence feeling that the military ship gave. Seahawk was also illuminated by the light. The crew could be seen from the bridge, thanks to the lights.

Everyone on Skeleton Mafia's ship fell asleep except Bowser, who was on the deck, looking at illuminated USS Arleigh Burke and the hard work of her crew even at night. He kept looking at her for quite some time.

"...So, this is how it is. You were supposed to be my enemy...yet you helped me. Why? For what purpose, what does it give you? We should have been duking out with each other until one of us falls. You have all the power, all the influence to simply take over the world and rule it with an iron fist, yet you decide that power should be used for helping others….at least you say so. Even if you fail, you feel being just in your mind. You wanted to do a good thing, not an evil thing...for yourself, for everyone? I don't know. And I have to say, this destroyer right here is a good representation of you. What can my ships even do if you know how to strike from a far? I wonder how many of them do you have and what else do you have up your sleeve? I have to commend you on one thing...there's no rushing in order to overtake you. In my land, you can conquer a kingdom in like...few minutes. Here? I imagine it's gonna take a long time to even come marginally close to you, but I assure you this. We might not be foes now, possibly not even in the future, but I will gain a considerable influence, rivaling you. Be wary of that, but for now I will not disturb you. I don't want to know how your wrath feels like. So I guess….I'll find a foe somewhere else. Someone who is comparable to me. Thanks for help, I guess. You showed me certain things I would never see in Mushroom kingdom."

Bowser went inside the ship to get some shut eye.

The sun rose up once again, bringing in a cloudless sky. No pirates were encountered during their trip as they reached Gulf of Aden. Alreigh Burke and two of the ships were traveling together, but the latter two were starting to distance themselves. On the deck, Bowser and his cohorts waved towards Burke, possibly for the last time.

"Goodbye! Thanks!" shouted Bowser as he waved towards them. The crew of the Burke also waved back as they started to lose sight of them.

"I gotta say, that was the weirdest shit I have ever seen in my life." commented one of the sailors to the squad leader.

"Weird, no doubt, but I'm not gonna forget it." said the squad leader as he smiled at the horizon.

Meanwhile on the capital ship, the gang gathered around the deck once more.

"Phew…..That was something." said Bowser as he let out a sigh of reliefe.

"Bowser! Lend me a hand!" ordered Mosseau as he peeked from the trash can once again. Bowser approached him, grabbed his trash can and started to shake it. Various weapons started to fall out of it, including M2 Brownings and a plethora of Tommy guns. Bowser was kind of surprised when he unloaded so much weapons from it. He put Mosseau back on the floor and rubbed his hands afterwards.

"Thanks, laddeh!" complimented Mosseau, not feeling dizzy at all.

"For once, I am grateful that you scammed the devil." said George in a both joking and sincere way.

"So, Bowser? What now?" asked Brane, being satisfied that the journey went better than expected.

Bowser started to chuckle, then it turned into an evil laugh.

"GWAHAHAHA! NOW IS THE TIME WHERE OUR CONQUEST CAN START!"