Under the starry sky, two ships were sailing one after another towards the backside of the Nadia Kingdom.
Under Sage's deft application of the Secret Hole of Pain, nothing remains undisclosed.
The first pirate to be struck promptly revealed the location of the hidden entrance.
To prevent any mishaps, Sage randomly selected three others, dragged them into the cabin for individual interrogation, and if their statements differed slightly, he would randomly execute three people and select another three to continue questioning.
The pirates clearly did not have the guts to lie; what they said was identical, confirming the entrance was on the backside of the island...
The cliffs surrounding this island were extremely high; after watching for half a day, a single opening was not visible, nor could the so-called 'hidden entrance' be found.
Sage was on that fast ship at the time, with Lily accompanying him, while the tamed pirates crouched in the corner, ensuring they could be quickly dealt with should Sage instantly detect anything amiss.
Fooling him is definitely out of the question since they're so close; if the entrance couldn't be found, their lie would soon be exposed, and pirates are not that foolish.
The so-called 'hidden entrance' must be within these cliffs.
"Sage, it seems there is a hole..."
As they neared the cliffs, Lily noticed something and softly spoke to Sage.
"Ah... I see it."
Sage lifted his head, looking toward the high cliffs above them, where there was a round hole resembling an eye.
As the sailboat approached, the round hole suddenly emitted light, illuminating the sailboat. At that moment, the seawater surged, and from the rock face before the sailboat, a rumbling sound erupted as it began to rise.
Within the cliffs, a door appeared!
Beyond the door was a deep channel, wide enough for a ship to enter, with platforms visible on both sides for people to walk on!
"This..."
Lily's eyes revealed shock; the cliffs of the island had been hollowed out?
How was such a massive feat of engineering achieved?
"Captain... this is the hidden entrance, no deception involved."
The opening of the cliff door allowed the pirates nearby to breathe a sigh of relief. These pirates who could still move had suffered the pain from the Secret Hole, making resistance unthinkable.
"Shut up."
Lily glanced coldly at them, saying, "No talking allowed."
The pirates immediately covered their mouths, obediently standing there, even their breathing quieted.
Other than the hidden entrance's location, the information obtainable from these pirates was limited.
They knew their superior was the King, but seldom encountered him. As for the towering figure shrouded in a black robe, they knew little about his specific appearance, only that he hid beneath a large black cloak, but was exceedingly strong, capable of easily lifting houses.
However, to Sage, this was sufficient.
He didn't require overly detailed intelligence, only confirming that the King and the cloaked figure were present.
Sage waited for the fast ship and Black Sail Warship to sail in together, turning to look towards the top of the cliff gate's interior, where a structure resembling a steering operation platform had been set up, with a round hole chiseled outside for observations to decide whether to open the cliff door.
"Now..."
He flicked a finger towards a pirate prepared to turn the steering wheel, a Flying Finger Gun striking the back of its head, causing the pirate to collapse face-first onto the control platform.
"The time for slaughter!" Sage bared his teeth, revealing a grim smile.
"We follow your orders now!"
The pirates could no longer contain their fright, shouting, "Weren't you going to spare us! We've told you everything!"
"Lily, duck."
Sage stretched out a leg as Lily ducked below, one leg swung out directly.
"Rankyaku: Circumference Sever."
Rip!
A ring of blue slashing wave emitted from the leg and foot, swiftly swept at the pirates' necks and chests, followed by a spray of blood, and all fell to the ground.
He glanced at the fallen, sneering, "All hanging by a thread, how could you be so naive? Tell me, when did I say I'd spare you?"
We came here to stir up trouble, letting them live was never an option.
Since a fight's inevitable, sooner or later doesn't really matter.
No one can make him take the blame and remain unharmed; no one!
The ships had already approached the docking point of this small channel, and those pirates who waited at the docking point witnessed Sage's massacre, their eyes wide, mouths agape, and arms gripping their weapons...
Shing!
A streak of light quickly flashed past from the fast ship, cutting out a splash of blood at key points of the crowd, Lily stood at the quay, flicking the blood off her sword.
Sage bared his teeth, stepping down, descending directly from the ship, "Make some noise, boys!"
"Kill!!"
Gin led the pirates, jumping from the Black Sail Warship onto the platform, wielding weapons and charging inward.
The interior of the docking point was a water-surrounded cavern with numerous ships anchored, inhabited by plenty of pirates who were shocked by the sound, grabbing weapons to battle the invaders.
Yet these ordinary pirates were no match for Gin; he leapt up first, twisting his body in an incredibly bizarre pose in the air, dodging the pirates' attacks, bringing down his spinning iron ball cane with a downward smash.
Bang!!
The ground gave way, collapsing into a large indentation, while surrounding pirates were swept away, tumbling down, only to be mercilessly finished off by the attacking pirates.
"Open fire, open fire!"
Nearby pirates who regained composure raised flintlocks, aiming at the group and pulling the trigger, only to be shielded by a massive Round Shield.
Pearl wore the big Iron Shield, letting bullets spark off the shield as he mischievously brushed his crescent moon-like forelocks, baring a gleaming smile, "I..."
"Don't block the way."
Sage yanked Pearl aside, swiftly kicked out a faint blue slash, slicing through the pirates' bodies.
He looked at Pearl, clicked his tongue, saying, "Next time don't lead ahead, otherwise people might think you're the captain."
"Yes, Captain!" Pearl stood to attention, responding loudly.
"Finish them off."
Sage ordered, then strode straight ahead.
To the left, Pearl's dual shields on his arms erupted into flames, leading a group of pirates against the attackers; his fingers released a few Firefly Stones, launching them onto targets which ignited and amidst the chaos of extinguishing flames, were opportunistically attacked by pirates.
On the right, Gin rampaged like a storm, the spinning cane adorned with an iron ball recklessly smashed, sending one pirate flying, with the impact further blowing away surrounding pirates, subsequently stabbed by the advancing pirates.
Combat-capable pirates and non-combat-capable ones are worlds apart.
Sage strolled leisurely in the midst, flanked by Lily standing beside him, slicing her thin sword at stragglers, causing them to spew blood and slump down.
Reaching the furthest point, Sage halted on a vast flat area surrounded by ascending steps seemingly leading to the island's top.
Near the water's edge, a black-cloaked figure faced away from them, hammering intermittently.
Amid these surroundings, numerous materials were scattered.
There were cut canvas pieces, leftover nails and bolts, segments of pitch-black timber resembling iron.
"Finished, send someone to inspect."
The robed figure hammered the last strike, uttering mechanically cold words, before slowly rising, his stature elongated at this moment.
The cloak-covered figure stood no less than five meters tall!
The black-robed figure turned towards Sage, and behind him, a massive object gradually came into view for Sage.
It was a gigantic ship constructed on land, seemingly just completed.
The ship's colossal size was overwhelming, its mast even reaching the overhead cliffs; compared to this Black Ship, the Black Sail Warship Sage seized appeared like a child meeting an adult.
A... black ship!