"It turns out Her Majesty the Queen has already taken charge of the authority of the sea. Even without the trident, I will only recognize Queen Atlanna as the King of the Four Seas! The King of All Waters!"
The King of the Brine immediately pledged his loyalty to Atlanna.
This time, he showed Atlanna enough respect. At least, he didn't look at Aaron when he made this declaration of allegiance.
After all, Atlanna's power far surpassed his. Even the entire Brine combined would not be enough to resist the towering waves she could effortlessly raise.
Of course, his loyalty to Aaron was irreplaceable, and as things stood, Aaron and Atlanna were one. Being loyal to Atlanna meant being loyal to Aaron.
The King of the Fishermen also quickly reacted. If before he had only thought of peace and had to submit, then now he truly recognized her from the heart.
"I agree. Even if someone else holds the trident now, I will only recognize Her Majesty Queen Atlanna."
The trident was merely a legend, but Atlanna was right before their eyes.
He estimated that even the power of the trident might not be as great as Atlanna's.
One was merely an ancient legend, while the other was a living myth. Who was nobler was clear at a glance.
Ryus was truly dumbfounded.
Under Aaron's encouraging gaze, Atlanna took a deep breath, her sharp eyes looking at Ryus.
"King Ryus, do you have any suggestions?"
Ryus snapped out of his daze. Seeing everyone's gaze fall upon him, he only thought for a moment.
In that instant, he thought of many things: Poseidon, his beautiful newlywed wife, and his red-haired daughter, Mera.
He had also considered leading all the warriors of the Xebel to bravely defend the dignity of Atlantis, resisting three kingdoms with one, defeating the allied forces of the three kingdoms, overcoming Atlanna, and then defeating the masterminds, the Amazons and Aaron.
Becoming a hero of Atlantis and reaching the pinnacle of life.
But Ryus only thought about it for less than a second. His body, half-bowed under pressure, smoothly knelt down.
"Ryus, on behalf of the millions of people of the entire Xebel, greets Your Majesty the Queen!"
Resistance was impossible.
Ryus was a smart man. He was a Xebelian, not an Atlantean. What did the glory of Atlantis have to do with him?
Moreover, Atlanna was the legitimate royal family, so it was only right and proper. It wasn't shameful for him to kneel and show respect.
This magnificent kneeling maneuver stunned the big crab. He had originally wanted to see the other party make a fool of himself, but now he was staring at Ryus, dumbfounded.
The clown was me!
Damn!
Before the big crab could react, the King of the Fishermen also knelt down, sincerely pledging his allegiance.
The King of the Brine also clumsily knelt down. Because he was too eager, he could only manage to blurt out, "Me too."
Atlanna glanced at Aaron again. Seeing no prompt, she could only gesture a virtual helping hand according to her original understanding. "Rise, all of you. I hope you can work together to create a glorious Atlantis."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The three stood up simultaneously.
At this point, Ryus recalled the ins and outs of the Amazon invasion he had heard about outside, and his expression subtly shifted.
"Your Majesty, I have a daughter named Mera. Although she is still young, she has been intelligent and well-behaved since childhood, earning the favor of the sea. Moreover, she grew up listening to the legendary stories of Atlantis, and she holds Your Majesty in extremely high regard, considering you her only idol."
"I wonder... if Mera could stay by your side to study, receive the most advanced education, and cultivate a sense of belonging to Atlantis, so that she may contribute to the empire's future greatness."
The King of the Brine didn't react immediately, but he subconsciously felt that Ryus, that old fox, had ill intentions.
Anything the other party did required extra caution.
But because of excessive degeneration, while gaining powerful reproductive capabilities and physical strength, his brain had degenerated, and he simply couldn't figure it out.
Then, a thought flashed through his mind and he said, "Me too."
"I have one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight children, and I am also willing to send my children to Her Majesty's side, to be led by Your Majesty, and to become Your Majesty's most capable generals."
"They are all powerful warriors, perfectly inheriting my physique, and I believe they will definitely contribute to Atlantis."
One thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight? Is your wife a sow? No, even a sow wouldn't do.
What? You're crabs? Then never mind.
The King of the Fishermen hesitated to speak. He didn't have any children yet. They were probably still in the egg stage.
What a huge loss!
Should he go back and urge his wife to lay some fish eggs? Regardless of quality, he needed to have some.
Atlanna glanced at Aaron again. She thought these were the hostages he was sending, and initially wanted to say it wasn't necessary, but then she nodded. "Good."
The big crab smiled.
I have 1888 children. I've won big.
Ryus also smiled.
You fool, mine is a lovely daughter, and the target has never been Atlanna, but Aaron, to keep Kara company. What can you compare with me?
Your group of undesirables will only be mounts for my daughter and Kara in the future. Laughable, you want to contend with me? Are you even worthy?
I'm the one who truly won big!
The King of the Fishermen looked troubled. Only I lost.
Aaron sat to Atlanna's right, his expression unchanged.
Hmm, everyone won, everyone has a bright future.
—
"Mera, from now on, this will be your second home." Hippolyta said softly, pulling a little girl with long red hair, who was already showing signs of being a beauty.
This future Queen of the Sea, Mera, who even had the potential to compete for the title of the most beautiful DC female character, now looked timidly at the unfamiliar Themyscira.
Ordinary Atlanteans cannot survive freely on the surface, but Mera perfectly inherited the royal bloodline. Her potential was even greater than Ryus'.
Even at her young age, she felt no discomfort on the surface. Although there was a slight adjustment period, it was nothing compared to the fear that a strange environment brought her.
Aaron then walked over, holding Kara's hand. "Look, from now on, she'll be your good friend. Her name is Mera, daughter of the King of Xebel."
Kara's sparkling eyes widened, and she greeted her new playmate, who was about the same age as herself. "Hello, I'm Kara."
Mera looked at Kara nervously, showing a faint smile. "Hello, I'm Mera."
Subsequently, Mera completely ignored Kara, instead timidly stealing glances at Aaron from time to time.
Was he the King her father spoke of, the one she would need to serve her entire life?
"Ahem. From now on, you two get along well. Themyscira and all the Four Seas are your playground, but remember, never set foot on the mainland casually."
Aaron said a few casual words, then handed them over to his mother-in-law to look after.
He had given Atlanna the power of the Sea King, and now Atlanna, even while in Atlantis, could easily sense any fluctuations within the Four Seas.
The sea was Atlanna's eyes, just as plants were Pamela's senses.
Aaron was still not used to taking care of children. Compared to children, he preferred to play adult games.
Returning to his palace, which was, well, his mother-in-law's former territory.
Aaron played a few more games of 'chess' with Gwenpool and the others.
And then, he was chased by Gwenpool to find like-minded sisters.
According to Gwenpool, Aaron's efficiency was too slow, not even a fraction of what it was in the Marvel Universe.
After all this time, he had only managed to get Atlanna, and even then, they had actively delivered her to him.
As for Kara and Mera... they were only a few years old.
Gwenpool even explicitly told Aaron to come back in thirteen years, to go straight to the point.
What else could Aaron do? He could only go to other worlds first.
After bidding farewell to Diana and the others, Aaron reopened the portal.
Originally, he had wanted to go to the Marvel Universe and devour Stan Lee outside the fourth wall.
(Note: This is Stan Lee within the Marvel comics.)
But now, he temporarily changed his plan. He would go find some "helpers" first.
This time, Aaron did not go to worlds outside of DC. He casually found a normal universe and entered it.
When he reappeared, Aaron hadn't even had time to observe his surroundings when he saw a girl with long purple hair, shimmering in the sunlight, looking at him with wary eyes.
She wore dark purple clothing, and there was a strange tattoo on her forehead, like a dark red gem. The girl's skin was quite pale, but her face was delicate. Although she was young, she possessed a unique beauty.
From her, Aaron could feel a considerable magical fluctuation, as well as an extremely evil dimensional magic aura. Undoubtedly, her power came from demons.
But she rarely seemed unaffected by the demonic aura. Instead, she was desperately suppressing her demonic powers, significantly weakening her strength.
Hmm, isn't this Raven?
Could this be the Teen Titans Universe, a place he's never heard of?
Aaron didn't have much of an impression of this world. He roughly knew that this universe told the story of a Superhero team formed by young people from various places.
These young men and women united to resist world crises. Although it belonged to the DC worldview, its reach was extremely low, and it was once unknown.
When DC is mentioned, perhaps not many people know about the Teen Titans Universe.
Aaron's deepest impression of this world was the Raven in front of him, who was now a young Raven.
She was very beautiful, with a unique temperament that made people's eyes light up.
Raven is the daughter of Trigon, one of the most powerful demons in the DC world. Although Trigon doesn't seem famous, he is actually one of the few super-powerful sources of magic in the DC world.
In the Marvel world, his status is even higher than Dormammu, comparable to Cyttorak.
However, although Raven is Trigon's daughter, they are not a loving father-daughter pair. Raven's lifelong goal is to defeat and even kill her father, Trigon, and she has repeatedly prevented Trigon from invading reality.
"Who are you? Another one of Trigon's subordinates?" Raven expressionlessly sized up Aaron, her eyes still quite wary.
Then, she shook her head with a flat tone. "What a pity. You're completely wasting your talent being his lackey. If you could go to Hollywood, you'd definitely become an international superstar."
Aaron grinned. "That's not necessarily true. I might also end up being stuffed like a cream puff."
Huh?
The emotionless Raven tilted her head, clearly unable to understand what that meant.
"By the way, you got one thing wrong. I've never met the so-called Trigon."
Aaron knew Raven's personality and didn't expect an emotionless girl who only knew about killing her father to understand this joke.
Raven blinked. "I didn't sense his aura from you, but I can feel that the world you came from is filled with Dark Power, perhaps it was once colonized by Trigon. He loves doing things like that. I know him."
"Is that so?"
Aaron's eyebrow twitched, and he said with interest, "Then he should have a good fight with Barbatos. Whoever wins gets the Dark Universe."
"Are you interested in summoning Trigon to the Dark Multiverse and letting them fight each other?"
Eh?
I understand every word you're saying, but why does it make no sense when put together?