"Colonel, he is a minister of a World Government-affiliated nation, we..." Tashigi gripped her sword, her face filled with hesitation.
Directly opposing the Finance Minister of an affiliated nation—if this news reached Headquarters, it would certainly be a stain on Smoker's record.
"I'll say it once more."
Smoker ignored Tashigi. He picked up a Den Den Mushi megaphone, his cold voice drowning out the roar of the waves.
"This is an S-Rank restricted zone. No vessels are permitted to approach."
"Now, leave these waters immediately."
"Otherwise, you will be sunk."
The last two words were devoid of emotion, sounding as if they had been pulled from an ice cellar.
"Madman! You're a madman!"
Count Orlando was so furious that his fat shook all over. He pointed at Smoker's Marine ship and cursed loudly, "Just you wait! You just wait! I'll make sure you and your family end up at the bottom of the sea feeding the fish!"
A threat—a blatant threat.
Smoker's eyes narrowed slightly. Within the curling cigar smoke, a flash of killing intent vanished.
But in the end, he did not give the order to fire.
Sinking a cruise ship full of nobles would have too severe of consequences. Although he wasn't afraid, he didn't want to cause trouble for Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
Under the aim of the Marine cannons, the "Golden Rose" ultimately did not dare to advance another step. Cursing all the while, it turned around and slowly sailed away from the blockade...
Night fell.
On the Marine ship, Smoker stood by the railing with his arms crossed, watching a speedboat cross the blockade with indifference in his eyes.
Good words are lost on a ghost determined to die.
Regardless, his mission was to blockade Iron Fang Island and ensure the virus did not spread outward.
Iron Fang Island was deathly silent.
The streets of the small town were covered in dried black blood and fragments of limbs. The pale moonlight shone upon this city of the living dead, adding a touch of eeriness.
Suddenly, the low hum of an engine came from a hidden stretch of coast.
A small speedboat quietly docked.
Count Orlando stepped off the boat with a few trusted bodyguards, his expression gloomy.
"Hmph, a bunch of stupid Marines. Did they really think they could stop me?" Orlando spat, his eyes filled with greed.
With the Marines making such a massive fuss, there must be a huge secret hidden on this island—perhaps a vast treasure left by the Donquixote Family, or some powerful Devil Fruit.
Whatever it was, it was worth the risk.
Even if he were discovered by the Marines, it was no big deal. He didn't believe the Marines would actually dare to kill him. After all, the Goa Kingdom was an affiliated nation, and as its Finance Minister, he was an official under the World Government.
The mere Marines were nothing more than attack dogs kept by the World Government!
"Everyone, stay alert!" Orlando told the bodyguards in a low voice. "Once we find it, we leave immediately!"
The group cautiously infiltrated the town.
It was too quiet—so quiet that they could only hear their own heartbeats and footsteps.
The air was thick with a nauseating stench of rot mixed with blood.
They passed through one messy street after another. Battle scars were everywhere, yet they couldn't see a single intact corpse.
"My Lord... here... something's not right here." A bodyguard gripped his flintlock tightly, his voice trembling.
"Shut up! Coward!" Orlando scolded, though cold sweat also seeped from his forehead.
Just as they reached the plaza in the center of town, everyone stopped involuntarily and looked up.
"Wh... what is that?"
A young noble pointed at the tallest clock tower in the town center, his voice becoming shrill and piercing from extreme shock.
The once-towering clock tower was now completely encased in a massive, writhing mass of flesh.
That mass of flesh was like a giant hive, yet also like a deformed heart. Its surface was covered in purple-black blood vessels, pulsing rhythmically as if it were breathing.
Countless thick sinews extended from the base of the "Hive," digging deep into the surrounding buildings like plant roots, connecting half of the town center into one bizarre whole.
Under the pale moonlight, this scene looked like a horrifying spectacle from some nameless myth, full of profanity and ill omens.
The young noble's scream seemed to trigger a switch.
"Heh... heh heh..."
A raspy, non-human low growl came from a dark alley nearby.
Then came a second, a third... Orlando's group whipped their heads around to see a figure swaying out of the alleyway.
It was a man wearing a guard's uniform, but his skin was a sickly, ominous grey. His eyes were cloudy and lifeless, and his mouth was torn to his ears, revealing black gums.
A zombie!
Before they could react, one twisted figure after another crawled out from the surrounding buildings, behind windows, and on rooftops.
Some were on all fours, swift as a beast; others dragged their broken bodies, making the sound of grinding bones.
In just a few breaths, hundreds of zombies had swarmed out from all directions, surrounding Orlando's group completely.
"Fire! Fire!!"
Orlando screamed in terror.
The bodyguards reacted instantly, their flintlocks spitting angry tongues of fire.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The bullets hit the zombies, but only made them stagger; they couldn't stop their advance at all.
A zombie lunged forward. A bodyguard instinctively tried to bash it with his gun stock, but the zombie bit into his arm.
"Ah—!"
A shrill scream rang out, but it was instantly drowned by more zombies.
Blood splattered, and the sound of flesh being torn was clearly audible.
The bodyguard was devoured in a matter of seconds.
The hellish scene before him made Orlando's legs go weak, and he collapsed to the ground. A foul-smelling liquid spread from his crotch.
"No... don't come over... I'm a noble! I'm the Finance Minister of the Goa Kingdom!"
He roared incoherently, trying to use his status to scare off these monsters.
But the zombies only let out mindless low growls, closing in step by step.
Despair enveloped everyone.
At the top of the clock tower, atop that massive hive of flesh, a figure stood silently.
Mordred.
He closed his eyes, sensing it all.
The fear of the nobles and the despair of the bodyguards all transformed into the purest emotional energy through the hive mind of the virus, flooding into his mind.
[Extreme fear from the Goa Kingdom noble Orlando, astonishment value +150!]
[Despair and death from the guards, astonishment value +80!]
...A series of system prompts rang out, making the curve of his lips even more pronounced.
"Good nourishment."
This island had already become his ranch.
And this massive hive of flesh, he called it—the Mother Hive.
This was a product of the Blacklight Virus evolving to a certain stage. It was not only an incubator for zombies but also the biological information processing center for the entire infected zone.
Everything every infected on the island saw and heard, every bit of biomass absorbed, would eventually gather here. The Mother Hive would then perform unified processing and distribution, giving rise to even more powerful variants.
For instance, those just now were second-generation infected optimized by the Mother Hive, with speed and strength far exceeding the initial pirate zombies.