I have having a conversation about the spice trade with someone and it occurred to me that something like this very nearly played out in the East Indies for about 400 years. You have a situation where sultans, kings, princes, and chiefs all had armies, but the only serious naval strength was in the hands of colonial powers from Europe, who were mainly concerned with making money via trade. You'd have three or four national flotillas of two fleets each, and two fleets of pirates (who, unlike the European pairs, could dislodge each other). The powers, such as Siam, Malaysia, Philippines, etc could only move the fleets by bribing them, but they need the fleets to convoy armies to conquer territory.