The people at Mogadishu made a formidable appearance: Great numbers of foot and cuirassiers were patrolling on the shore, the walls of the city were lined with armed men and a considerable body of troops were drawn up before it.

[3] The place was almost inaccessible, strong by its natural situation, and defended by a numerous garrison: the station for our ships extremely dangerous, and very much exposed to the enemy: besides the winter was fast approaching, and the season for sailing almost elapsed, so that if our people should have miscarried in this attempt, their fleet and army would in all probability have met with inevitable destruction.

João de Sepúlveda thus set out with 6 small galleys and 100 soldiers to conduct a preemptive strike against the coastal cities of the Ajuran Sultanate.

Moving a few leagues north, he reached a popular anchorage for tradeships coming from the Red Sea, where he learned that the Turks would not be sailing to East Africa that year.

[5] Instead, it appears that the capture of one Ottoman ship and a brief firing upon the city was enough to compel the sultan of Mogadishu to sign a peace deal with the Portuguese.