Boom! Rumble! Rumble!
Continuous explosions echoed throughout the Micity Port. The flames were clearly visible even in broad daylight, while the smoke of gunpowder covered the port like a black cloud.
The scattered pirates from the Night Pirates and the Rain Scorpion Pirates were herded back into the port by the members of the Chris Pirates and the kingdom's army. The path was littered with shattered corpses.
The alliance between the Night Pirates, Rain Scorpion Pirates, and the Fiend Pirates was supposed to work like this: the Fiend Pirates would act as a decoy, drawing the attention of the enemy, while the Night Pirates and the Rain Scorpion Pirates would ambush Arlan during his inspection of the gold mine.
Unfortunately for them, they underestimated the intelligence network of the Chris Pirates. Arlan, a superior strategist, counter-ambushed them. Using his Bomb-Bomb Fruit ability, he detonated a large number of explosives, causing heavy casualties to the Night Pirates and the Rain Scorpion Pirates, who were forced to flee in all directions.
Now, all three pirate crews were trapped in Micity Port, surrounded by two thousand elite Chris Pirates crew members and tens of thousands of kingdom soldiers. Their area of survival was shrinking with every passing moment.
A day later, the sounds of battle at Micity Port died down. As a neutral zone, news of the battle quickly spread throughout the world.
The alliance of three pirate crews, led by the Night Pirates, had been defeated. Over a thousand of their members were killed in action, more than a hundred were captured, and fewer than 2,000 escaped.
....
In the Calm Belt, a giant ship with a black wolf figurehead sailed on the calm sea.
"After a day of fierce fighting, more than half of Micity Port was destroyed, two battleships were sunk, and there were other casualties, but they were all within our acceptable range."
On a small round table in the captain's quarters, a small blue Den Den Mushi was talking nonstop.
"I see. Thank you for your hard work."
Aeridar was lounging on a red sofa with his legs crossed, holding a glass of red wine in one hand and the Den Den Mushi in the other. He was on the phone with Arlan, who was far away in the Clifford Kingdom.
"It was still my mistake, though. I only killed Urtes, the Fiend. Smythe Betilla, the Rain Scorpion, was only captured after being exhausted. That woman is a monster to be able to fight Charlotte Cracker, one of the Sweet Commanders, to a draw. And that main culprit, Mondos Bank, still managed to escape."
The blue small Den Den Mushi spoke in Arlan's voice.
"That's a shame." Aeridar took a sip of red wine and said softly, "In that case, contact the World Government and have them add another 200 million Berries to his bounty. We don't care if he's dead or alive."
"615 million Berries, huh? That's insane, even higher than the Demon Mask Gutte's bounty back in the day," the small blue Den Den Mushi on the other end said with a laugh.
"Come on, why don't you say it's higher than my bounty and Doffy's? Besides, in terms of strength, the current Cracker is a lot weaker than the original Demon Mask Gutte, but his bounty is still 660 million," Aeridar said with a smile.
In the face of the growing number of pirates, the helpless World Government and the Marines could only increase the bounty amounts. So now, pirate bounties were generally more than double what they used to be.
"Hey, hey, hey~ Can you try to have a sense of humor? You're going to lose all your friends if you keep talking like that," Arlan complained on the other end of the Den Den Mushi.
"Enough with the nonsense. Can we recruit that underworld assassin, the Death Gun? We could use a top-tier sniper," Aeridar said, swirling the glass of red wine in his hand with a hopeful look in his eyes.
Although Dimitri, Millie, and Mina were all expert gunmen, they weren't professional snipers. If they could get the Death Gun, one of the top assassins in the underworld to join them, it would be a great asset.
"I'm already working on it. I'm arranging for people to investigate him, but I can't guarantee anything yet," Arlan replied.
Aeridar thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll leave it to you. It would be great if we could get him to join us. If you can't, wait until I get back, and we'll discuss it then."
"No problem." Arlan agreed, then said, "There's one more thing. Judge has delivered the stuff. Should we give the person back to him?"
"Of course. We're pirates who value our reputation, and besides, we might have a chance to work with him again in the future," Aeridar said with a grin upon hearing that the documents on the "Lineage Factor Theory" had been delivered. "Get those things sent to Research Base Number 1 as soon as possible, and have Gorbo take the trip."
"Heh, Judge probably wants to kill you right now." Arlan sneered, then said, "I'll handle it when I get back to the palace. We can't have the palace without a leader."
"Oh, you're such a reliable partner," Aeridar said with a laugh. "Let me tell you some good news. Empress Boa Hancock has also joined the Seven Warlords Alliance. All the people we had hoped for have joined."
"Oh~ That's news that will make me happy all day. My respected captain, great king, it's rumored that the Empress is the world's greatest beauty. What are your thoughts now that you've seen her?" The blue Den Den Mushi's expression showed a clear smile, representing Arlan's joy and his playful teasing.
"My thoughts... She's truly the world's greatest beauty." Aeridar raised an eyebrow and smiled meaningfully. "Chris Pirates and Amazon Lily's powerful alliance... I'm sure you won't object to the Chris Pirates having another captain's wife and the Clifford Kingdom having another Queen, hehehe..." Aeridar said with a mischievous grin.
"What the...?! You, you, you..." Arlan on the other end of the Den Den Mushi almost jumped up. He stuttered for a moment before exclaiming, "You didn't force yourself on her, did you?"
Pooff... Aeridar immediately spat out the expensive red wine in his mouth and almost vomited blood.
"Bullshit! Don't slander me! This is called personal charm!!!" Aeridar, a little flustered, sprayed saliva at the Den Den Mushi and loudly refuted the claim.
Knock, knock, knock~
Suddenly, a knock was heard at the door.
"Come in!" Aeridar frowned.
Creak~
The door opened, and a muscular pirate walked in. He looked at Aeridar with respect and said softly, "Captain, we've reached our destination."
"We're here!" Aeridar's eyes widened. He quickly said into the Den Den Mushi, "I'll talk to you when I get back. I'm leaving everything else to you."
Click~
Without waiting for Arlan's reply, Aeridar hung up the Den Den Mushi and hurried out.
"Let's go. Let's go out and take a look."
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