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Akagi's POV
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I along with the fleet assigned to bring the Commander back to the Pacific Base,sailed on the water with our ships as my fleet,that arrived at Shicksal to serve as extra protection for the first escort fleet,that was led by Enterprise

we had been called out due to the unforeseen circumstance of the Commander being fast asleep and being unable to be awoken from his slumber,we had already been informed about the situation that had befallen our Commander at Shicksal,which we admittedly did not take well as I was quick to attempt to sever the Herrscher of the Void's head but was stopped by the Eagle Carrier before I could

though on the brighter side,they had secured an agreement with the Shicksal Valkyries to turn over the Commander to us for his protection and so Shicksal could focus on rebuilding what was damaged and healing their wounds instead of having to watch another Herrscher 

though we already knew that the Commander was more than capable of suppressing any Herrscher consciousness inside him seeing as he is the greatest Commander to ever lead us,we were still instructed to keep watch over him and occasionally report to Shicksal any activities  or irregularities that may occur,so that they properly prepare for the worst

though it could be said that we were doing our task quite lazily,we had full faith in the Commander to suppress a Herrscher as he apparently has done before with the other 2 Herrschers he already has under his command,knowing his skill,his mind and him in general,we were confident he could handle any Honkai related problem thrown at him,whether there is Valkyrie watching over him or not

though,it couldn't be said that we Shipgirls were in the best of moods as the knowledge of our Commander being tainted by vile Honkai while under the watch of the best Valkyrie in Shicksal was only adding to our already great hatred for them and was already as infuriating as it was but to add fuel to the fire,we now had to also deal with a bunch of non Shipgirl Catgirls and a bunch of T-Dolls that were left behind to keep and eye on the Commander for G&k PMC

the Catgirls had only barely made it to Shicksal Hq,just in time to join us on our way back to base,not taking "No" as an answer for us taking away their Father figure and Master,they were now serving as onboard guards for the Commander aboard Seattle's ship

the T-Dolls were the same but for different reasons,refusing to leave the Commander unattended to and unwatched by Gryffin and Kryuger,even claiming their right to be by his side just as much as ours as they did in fact serve under him in all forms of terrain and environments,making them almost his elite soldiers

there was little argue with since we didn't know much of the Commander's connection with G&K since we didn't know about it until he rejoined all sides at the JFA,though,none of those things mattered as much as my and a lot of our displeasure to Seattle hogging all the travel time with the Commander who unconsciously agreed to what she had said when she offered to let him rest in her ship while she would remain close to guard and watch over him 

this resulted in her taking the Commander into her room in her ship and leaving us all out here to defend the fleet while we made our way back to the base,though her position was enviable and it was clear most of us would rather be in her shoes and at the Commanders side instead of the beating sun,more so clear with Me and Iron Blood maniac with us,we still understood the importance of our position and continued with little complaint,most of it kept to ourselves

at the current time however,we Shipgirls sat atop of Enterprise's Carrier,sitting around a prepared table from the maids of the Royal Navy that were part of my fleet,looking down on Seattle's Cruiser with relatively known safety seeing as no scout plane could find any Sirens in the area of our range,no scanning drone from the T-Dolls could see anything remotely hostile and those Catgirls couldn't hear anything out of the ordinary seeing as they could hear things happening on islands out of our normal vision

Akagi:it pains Me to know that I have to leave the Commander side to someone else

Roon:I'll tear her apart when we get back to base

Enterprise:as much I would like to be in her shoes,I cannot allow that,so go ahead and try,you'll have an arrow in your head before you get close

Belfast:now,now,we should be fighting amongst ourselves,the Commander will only bear the problem to fix later on 

Hood:indeed,as we have discussed before,we should not give him any more trouble than he already has to deal with

Laffey:Laffey recalls Hood suplexing a Valkyrie and a T-Doll when she heard the Commander became a Herrscher

???1:oh my

Hood:y-yes,I will admit it was very unlady like of Me but it was out of surprise and sudden anger

Roon:hehehe,I'm sure Eugen would appreciate hearing this story

Hood:please refrain from spreading the word

Akagi:other than that,even I have to commend you Enterprise,securing the Commander from those Valkyries

Enterprise:it wasn't easy,it just so happened that I was able to take advantage of the situation to turn the argument in our favor

Akagi:so even you can be conniving and sly in arguments and dealings when you want to be

Enterprise:having to deal with you makes it a necessity

Akagi:then it appears,I've prepared you well

Enterprise:more or less

Belfast:apart from securing the Commander from those Valkyries however,we will need an update on the condition of the Commander

Laffey:the Commander is fine,just tired,Laffey will sleep with Commander so Commander will get a good sleep

Roon:knowing you little girl,it wouldn't be easy to stop you,even if Friedrich or August were to step in and try themselves

Laffey:Laffey cannot be stopped,Laffey can only be stopped by Commander

Enterprise:Laffey,Z23 has stopped you before,she's stopped yu a lot of times actually

Belfast:she has been the one to deal with Laffey's sleepy tantrums since the Commander retired

Laffey:Nimi soft

Hood:enough of that we should discuss what to do with the Commander when we arrive at the base

???2:obviously we should let him rest,becoming a Herrscher probably drained him of energy

???3:I believe we can trust Laffey with that,if there are any mediators between the factions who really do their job well,it's the Starter Squad

???4:I agree,their the most neutral from the factions but what about the Catgirls and T-Dolls

Belfast:there is still a large amount of available rooms for them to use since the Commander still expected more ships to be constructed through the Wisdom Cube with time,I've already phoned ahead to get some of the room cleaned and furnished

Hood:excellent as always,Belfast

???5:should we expect some of the girls to try somethings to get the Commander

Enterprise:not likely,not after we hand the Commander to Laffey and tell them what had happened at Shicksal

???6:once Commander is with Laffey,only 4 other people will really able to approach him and few are actually good enough to challenge them and those that are,are trustworthy enough to know that they don't plan anything

Akagi:I suppose we can take a breath of relief then

Enterprise:do not think for a second,that we've forgotten your tendencies,Akagi,now that the Commander's back and in a weakened condition,you,Roon and Taihou will be watched carefully

Roon:hehehe,do you think 4 children will keep Me from the Commander

Hood:Roon,the last time you challenged those 4 children,your upper body was buried underground and your lower half was sticking out of a mound of dirt and when we pulled you up only the miracle of the Wisdom Cube could repair you and your battered face

???7:and to think they only considered that a "light" punishment since you tried to take their necklaces and bracelets for your own little collections

Roon:hehehe,they got lucky last time

Enterprise:Roon,I still have the video of you getting utterly beaten by the four,the only luck there was that you were kept alive

Akagi:though it would be amusing to continue degrading Roon over her loss against 4 Destroyers,we should pick up the pace to get back to base faster

Hood:I agree

Enterprise:then let's not waste anymore time

standings from our chairs,we all returned to our ships and accelerated our speed,obviously alerting Seattle as well so she wouldn't be left behind with the Commander as we sped up to get our trip done as soon as possible

Timeskip brought to you by Bismarck and Shadow eating biscuits

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Laffey's POV
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Laffey stood at the front of her ship while we all docked into the base,since everyone wanted to go faster,everyone got to the base faster,so now Laffey could get the Commander from Seattle for sleepy time in Commander's room

the others will explain to everyone what happened while Laffey will take the Commander to Commander's room for rest,Laffey has been entrusted to watch and protect the Commander so Laffey now has to make sure no one is a threat,even if they are from Azur Lane

Laffey has also been told to keep an eye out for Akagi,Taihou and Roon and a few others because they might ruin the Commander's sleep and Laffey will not allow anyone to ruin Commander's sleep because Commander is tired

everyone jumped off their own ships as Laffey landed back on the docks and waited for Seattle to bring the Commander out of her ship,when she did,she was the last one to get to the docks as she had the Commander's arm around the back of her neck so she could carry him without too much problem

Enterprise:we proceed as plan girls,we get everything out of the important things out of the way first before anything personal 

Akagi:no need to remind us

Seattle:what are we going to do with the Commander,want Me to bring him to his room

Hood:we've decided to hand him over to Laffey for the time being,seeing as he would be safest when he's guarded by his most elite Destroyers that even the strongest of us struggle to fight

Seattle:fair enough

Laffey approached Seattle as she gave Commander to Laffey,Laffey held Commander by the arms so Laffey could rag him through the base and to his room as Laffey found Commander only slightly heavy which is slightly surprising to Laffey

Seattle:remember,Laffey,bring him to the Commander's room,not your room

Laffey:mmmmm

Roon:he had better be there when we come to check up on him after we explain things to everyone

Laffey:mmmmm,Laffey will bring him to Commander's room

after Laffey settled things with everyone,we all left the docks and went towards the Academy building where everyone was already told to be waiting at,Enterprise and the others went in first,to get everyone's attention and bring them to the cafeteria where everyone could listen to them and so Laffey didn't have to deal with anyone seeing the Commander without the explanation

Laffey noticed that it worked very well because Laffey saw no one when she was pulling the Commander to his room,which was nice because no one could disturb Laffey and the Commander while they had sleepy time in Commander's room

when we got to the room,Laffey laid the Commander onto the floor to open the door before dragging the Commander into the room as Laffey brought the Commander to his bed,the room had already been cleaned again for the Commander and everything was left as it was from when he had left so if wanted to find something,he knew where to find it

Laffey brought Commander onto the bed and set his head on his pillows,then turned on the air conditioner so that the room could be cold for the Commander,Laffey then laid on the bed next to the Commander so sleepy time can we begin as Laffey snuggled up to the Commander and closed her eyes so Laffey and the Commander can sleep

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Enterprise's POV
__________________

after gathering everyone into the cafeteria,so we could tell them about what had happened at Shicksal,we waited for the remaining few to arrive,so we could begin as Laffey probably already got the Commander situated in his room

after a short while,everyone finally made it to the cafeteria where everyone on the base already was,we had already told everyone to not sortie until we had returned so everyone was indeed present to hear what we had to say as I could already imagine what they would start saying or thinking once they hear the news we had

Hood:Belfast,everyone is here correct?

Belfast:yes,everyone,including Faction Leaders and long term sortie fleet members are accounted for

Enterprise:good then 

???1:cut to the chase,Enterprise,you all went to Shicksal and took your sweet time to come back,so just tell us already,did you bring back the Commander

Enterprise:well.......................................................yes

before anything else could be said,3 speeding blurs ran out of the room in hurry,creating enough wind force to carry some small objects with their path as a few tea cups and plates flew into the air and smashed onto the wall and floor,making a few people cover their heads and take cover to not get hit by the flying objects

almost everyone already knew who had just sped through the door of the cafeteria and out of the room as we looked at the swaying doors before they came to a full stop as I sighed to myself in both relief and slight annoyance for both reasons of knowing that there more people at the Commander's side

???2:geez,I know we all like the Commander but those 4 sure are quick when they know he's around,even I can't reach that speed if I wanted to

???3:expect nothing less from the Commander's first and most elite Destroyers,their a bit protective of him

???4:they have every right to be protective and a bit possessive of him,they're the biggest reason he's even our Commander after all

???5:unlike a certain 3

Taihou:speak ill and it will be your blood that spills

though there were those that were going to retort to towards Taihou,they were stopped as a 4th speeding blur exited the room as we had predicted prior to arrival as the 4th person chased after the other 3 that had left earlier,with the 4 going to the exact same place as the one who had brought the Commander to where he is currently

Enterprise:well,now that the 4 are with the Commander now,I'm sure Laffey will tell them what I'm going to tell you here

???6:there's more?,I thought we would stop at the good news

Hood:we wish it stopped there,your Majesty,unfortunately it doesn't

Enterprise:there is a big reason as to why we were able to bring the Commander here

???7:just tell Gray Ghost,some of us we're doing some very important things and need to get it done

Enterprise:you'll think twice about that when you learn that the Commander is now a Herrscher and is,though low chances,prone to losing control of himself and entering a Herrscher form where the consciousness of the Herrscher will take over his body

silence filled the room before the inevitable and unified surprised reaction happened as the ones who already know prepared themselves with earplugs,doubled by our hands covering our ears to shield from noise 

Everyone:EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

???7:WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN,THE COMMANDER IS NOW A HERRSCHER,I WANT ANSWERS GHOST

???6:I do not like these kinds of jokes Enterprise,especially seeing as it seems to concern the Commander,who leads our navy's

???1:this better not be some joke you and the Eagle Union made up,Enterprise,because none of us find this funny

Enterprise:ask yourselves this,do you think your stupid enough to believe I would joke about the Commander regarding a serious matters like this,I would love to hear your answers,Bismarck

silence once again filled the room with burst of clear agitation in the room,knowing I've been put to edge,even those who would be considered stronger than Me were not foolish enough to think they could simply fight Me and expect to win,whether they were stronger or not

and now that I was already angered as I was from the thought that they would think,I would joke about the Commander's condition,even the likes of August Von Parseval or Friedrich de Grosse were not stupid enough to face Me head on,fully knowing the Commander had already  made Me train and master my hidden power before he had even left in the first place

???8:so the Master has actually become a Herrscher

Akagi:though we were not there to witness it or confirm it,if I am aware that Enterprise has no real reason to lie about the condition or problems of the Commander and seeing as the Valkyries of Shicksal allowed the deal and even ordered us to keep watch over the Commander,it is safe to assume that it indeed real

Enterprise:as I've said,we even witness a pillar of fire form just a small distance away from the Commander when he had woken up since then before going back to sleep,I.R.I.S confirmed that it was indeed his energy

???9:damn,how did those Valkyries let this happen,they were supposed to keep him safe like he would keep them safe and yet they somehow let this happen

???10:that's enough,Hornet,you know the Commander wouldn't like to see us blaming them

???11:I would agree with that,Yorktown but Hornet still holds a point,how could they let this happen

???12:as Yorktown has said,we shouldn't blame them,besides,we're in no position to blame them anyway,Herrscher awakenings,I'm pretty sure natural occurrences,I'm sure it not easy or maybe impossible to determine if it's happening or when it's happening,they couldn't have known it would happen to the Commander

Hornet:I want to know what those Valkyrie did as a response

???7:I want to know too

Enterprise:the details are unclear right now but the Commander had a guess that this might happen when he first originally served Shicksal,so he had an emergency plan and had the Fu Hua girl fight the Herrscher in him to weaken it,she caused a lot of damage and one of the reasons why the Commander is really weak right now

???7:she hurt the Commander?

Hood:calm down,Zuikaku,though it is true,it was the Commander who told her to do it,it was authorized action

???6:what else do we need to know about the whole situation

Akagi:all you need to know is that we must watch the Commander carefully and be ready for anything,we also have send Shicksal occasional reports about the Commander

???6:I refuse to allow that

???1:so do I

Enterprise:not an option,if we don't report,then Shicksal is taking the Commander into custody to keep under watch,it's not negotiable,Admiral Fritz has already made it clear along with the Shicksal Overseer

???1:tch

Hood:other than that,there is nothing else to know,we simply must wait for the Commander to wake up for further orders and instructions on what to do

???:12:what about our scheduled sorties

Enterprise:the patrol fleets are to sortie as planned,I don't want the Sirens to sneak up on us,the other sorties are postponed until the Commander says so,other than that,we're done here

though the meeting was now done,none of the others wanted to leave yet as they were still processing what it was they had just listened to,with the sudden news coming to them like this,especially since we were planning some major sorties recently,having to deal with this was now,most likely,a bit too much for them,right now,I only hoped,the 4 extra children with the Commander were taking this news from Laffey,better than everyone here

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Laffey's POV
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after telling Laffey's friends about what happened at Shicksal,they were not happy with what they had heard as Laffey's friends had different expressions on their faces,Javelin has next to the door,holding her spear tightly in her hand while looking down at the floor,making it hard to see her face,she was wearing a white overall with a blue hood and a purple skirt,she had purple hair and blue eyes 

on the other hand,Nimi was laying on the bed with Laffey and Commander as she was on the other side of the Commander hugging him closely and hiding her face behind the Commanders back while Ayanami was sitting on the side of the bed,clutching and curling her hands into fists,Nimi wore a black skin tight shirt with white a front,she had blonde hair and blue eyes and wore a blue hat while Ayanami had whitish blonde hair with amber colored eyes as she wore a white school uniform with blue skirt

Laffey was still on the bed with the Commander,comfortably in her spot while Unicorn laid above the Commander's pillow,resting over him while she covered her face from Laffey with Commander's pillow and hair and her stuff animal,Uni laid to her side,she had long purple hair and purple eyes and wore a white dress 

Laffey's friends were very upset with the news like Laffey was,but Laffey already knew this because Laffeys friends are Laffey's friends,so they share Laffey's opinion and feelings towards the Commander and Laffey knew,that they wanted to destroy the ones responsible for what happened to the Commander

but Laffey's friends and Laffey knew,that the Commander would get angry if they went to go get revenge,so Laffey was just going to wait for a chance to get back at those who hurt the Commander and made him very weak

Javelin:Laffey,who did this to the Commander

Laffey:did what,hurt Commander or turn Commander into a Herrscher?

Javelin:I want to know who hurt the Commander

Laffey:mmmm,it was Valkyrie Fu Hua but it was Commander who told her to do it

Ayanami:Commander ordered her to attack him

Laffey:mmm,Valkyries said that it was some kind of plan,Commander made back then,just in case he becomes a Herrscher like right now

Unicorn:I don't want Commander to be hurt

Z23:none of us do,but what's done is done

Javelin:their going to pay

Z23:no Javelin,Commander wouldn't want that,we shouldn't start fights

Javelin:they could've thought of something else to stop him!!!

Laffey:sshhhh,Commander is sleeping

Z23:even so,it was Commander's orders,they can't just go against it,especially in time of emergency like that

Ayanami:mmm,Commander's orders are absolute,no one opposes them

Javelin:I still think they should pay

Laffey:they will,Laffey is going to make sure of that

Laffey really wanted to make sure that those who hurt the Commander were going to pay but Laffey needed to wait for the right time and to wait for the Commander to be awake so he knows what Laffey is going to do,even if Laffey is going to get punished for what Laffey's going to do,as long Laffey remembers to do it

though,there were more important things for Laffey to do first and the biggest priority for Laffey was keep watch over the Commander,to make sure he was safe and now that Laffey's friends were here with Laffey,no enemy of the Commander will live long enough to get close to him

Ayanami:how long is the Commander going to stay asleep

Laffey:Commander is really really weak right now,Commander needs lots of sleep,so Laffey is going to sleep with the Commander until he wakes up

Javelin:count Me in then,the more of us here,the safer Commander will be from any danger,especially from Roon

Z23:are we permitted to do that though

Unicorn:Commander told us back then that we could stay in his room if needed but we never really did it because it broke Commander's privacy,Commander also didn't relinquish any orders or rules before he left us,so we are still permitted

Laffey:then Laffey is not going to leave the Commander's side until he wakes up and give Laffey headpats

Javelin:Me too

everyone agreed to the idea because it was a good idea as everyone got onto the bed with the Commander and laid next to him,Laffey was on his left,Nimi was on his right arm,Unicorn was above his head and Javelin and Ayanami were next to his legs,so we had him surrounded on the bed,this way he couldn't leave without us noticing

unfortunately,the worst thing that could have happened had happened as the Commander's door opened to reveal Belfast on the other side as she entered the room,seemingly looking for Laffey and Laffey's friends

Belfast:Ms.Laffey,Ms.Javelin,Ms.Ayanami,Ms.Z23 and Ms.Unicorn-

we all quickly turned to her,clearly agitated as our eyes glowed a bright red to show that we were clearly not liking the disturbance,Belfast didn't budge though as she continued on with supposedly something important

Belfast:you may stare angrily as much as you want but there is work to be done

Javelin:this better be important,Belfast

Belfast:we simply cannot allow you 5 to laze around with the Commander while everyone is working,the entire base is pitching in the finish some of the work that has piled up from our last Commander to lessen the work of our current one,please go and finish you share of work,once it is done,you may return to what it was you were doing

Javelin:but I thought we needed to keep watch over the Commander

Belfast:in technicality,only Laffey was assigned that but the Commander is already here,safe and sound,we doubt the Herrscher will break through the Commander anytime soon anyway due to the lack of Honkai Energy in him,this is enough time to get your work done then return before he wakes up

unified and simultaneous grumbles and grunts from Laffey and Laffey's friends since we didn't want to leave the Commander's side,it had been so long after all but Laffey was the first to get up from where she was,causing confusion in Laffey's friend as they look at Laffey move towards the door

Laffey:come,the faster we're done with Commander's work,the faster we get back to Commander,it also helps the Commander with what he has to do later,plus Roon,Akagi and Taihou have a head start over us,so we have to go fast before they finish

coming to the realization and agreed opinion,the others hastily follow Laffey's example and got off the bed as we all left the room with Belfast closing the door behind us while we all went to Commander's office,because we knew there was a lot more paperwork than anything else the Commander has to do and knowing Commander,he hates having lots of piled up paperwork

Timeskip brought to you by Shadow making breakfast for the Catgirls and the Starter Squad

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No One's  POV
________________

before dawn even broke past the horizon of the base,a single man wondered the base of Azur Lane,carrying the sleeping girls,that he had found in his room to their own quarters so they could rest on their own in much better area than sleeping spread across someone else's bed

entering the rooms of their Class or their room in general,he laid them a top their bed and tucked them in before leaving as silent as he had entered,seeing his work done,he looked to the time to see that morning sun was just about to rise and looking to see the sun rise above the horizon,he went to exit the building he was in

going to a spot that would let him see the sun at its best as it rose up from beyond his sight,he walked up the side of the base,climbing up a cliffside that looked over the vast sea and the wide docks of the port where all his ships floated in wait for their leader to give his orders

looking to the horizon,he saw the golden light slowly come into view from where he stood,the light bringing in fond memories of when he had first arrived at the very spot he stood in,though his start in the ocean was not the most favourable nor was it the best or the expected,his memories would never be able to make him lie about his truly great experience with the girls of Azur Lane

???1:Commander

hearing his title be called out to him while the sun rose over the horizon he was all to fond of,Shadow turned to face the source of the call as his eyes were met with far too familiar faces he had long since seen,in front of him was a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes,wearing a white shoulderless dress with a navy blue jacket serving a cape and a white navy cap

next to her was a girl with pink hair and pink eyes,wearing a sports bra under an open short white jacket with a pink skirt and a small cap on top of her head

the two were climbing up the cliffside as the sun rose up from the horizon,now able to release it's morning rays,giving Shadow a golden like aura around him as the golden rays of the sun hit his back

???2:C-Commander

Shadow:hehe,you two are still quite the early risers I see,you don't look like you've changed a lot,California,Pensacola

Pensacola1:we're ships after all,on the other hand,your a lot taller than we last saw you,Commander

Shadow:well,I was bound to grow at some point-

California & Pensacola(mind):your charms have grown so much too

Shadow:so then,what brought the two of you out here so early,I doubt you came to this specific cliffside just to see the sun like Me

Pensacola:I can't argue with California when she has good feeling

California:yeah and I had a good feeling you would be here when you wake up 

Shadow:heh,you two never change and that's one things that's great about you

turning away from the girls to look back to the sun as he had intended from the start,the man didn't see the flustered looks of the two girls behind him,who were processing the complement of the man who looks like he was touched by the holy light of god 

Shadow:I should've known you two would find Me here though,this is first place I came to when I first woke up in this base,this also the same place you both first found Me at 

California:since then you kept coming back and we kept coming to meet you here

Shadow:it's been quite a long time since then,huh

Pensacola:yeah,a long time since those rough first days

reminded of their almost greatest mistake,silence befell the girls while Shadow continued to look towards the sun to admire it's beauty,sighing to himself,knowing what it was that brought silence to the girls,he turned back to look at them to break the silence and make them forget of the memory

Shadow:well,those days have passed,but now I hope to see you girls sail these Azur Lanes again

knowing fully what he meant,the girls pushed away the thought of those memories and held a confident and determined smile,looking forward to fight their enemies under the command of the greatest Commander they had ever been given and the man they looked at as more than just a man who gave them order

Author:and that will end this Chapter guys,this marks the start of the Azur Lane arc of the story,and more chapters and characters to be revealed and added,a heads up,more backstory on Shadow to be added in this arc,some of which MAYBE related to deities and gods but nothing TOO major,be on the lookout for that,apart from that,I hope you all look forward to the next one,until next time

Shadowgamer254