"What the hell are you? Are you with that guy?!"
As the sudden figure emerged before them, the pirates on-site raised their weapons in alarm, shouting accusations.
"So you're from the Triangle Pirates… What a bunch of irritating insects."
A glint of murderous intent flashed in Aeridar's eyes. After fending off wave after wave of venomous serpents and savage beasts, his patience had long since worn thin.
"Intruder, eliminate."
From the stone doorway, two silent statue knights stirred. Without hesitation, they lunged toward him from both sides in a pincer formation.
"Useless rabble!"
Aeridar tilted his head back and roared, slamming both fists into the ground.
BOOM!
RUMBLE—RUMBLE—!
The earth convulsed beneath the impact, a powerful shockwave erupting in concentric rings and blasting outward like a tempest. Everything nearby was violently swept away, engulfed in a storm of dust and debris.
When the dust cleared, the terrain within a dozen meters had been completely flattened. The Triangle Pirates' camp and the group of pirates around it had vanished, obliterated. Even the two stone knights had been hurled into the cliff face, now shattered to rubble.
The platform floor itself had been riddled with spiderweb cracks, as if a single touch might cause it to collapse entirely. But it was merely surface damage, the interior structure remained intact.
Tap. Tap. Tap...
Aeridar stepped over the ruined threshold and entered the passage.
Though the corridor ahead was pitch black, it posed no challenge to Aeridar, who possessed both Observation Haki and night vision. The tunnel was roughly three meters wide, its walls faintly etched with murals. Scattered across the floor were brittle, yellowed bones, skeletons pierced through with rust-covered iron arrows.
"Traps, huh…" Aeridar narrowed his eyes, but showed no real concern.
After walking another fifty meters, the walls opened into alcove-like recesses, platforms that were now bare. He guessed that the statues from earlier had originally stood here. It seemed the corridor's mechanisms had already been triggered or disarmed, he hadn't encountered a single active trap since entering.
"More stairs heading down again? Why are these people so obsessed with building everything underground?"
Grumbling, Aeridar clicked his tongue but kept walking, descending the narrow stone stairway.
Roughly a hundred meters away from the platform...
A burly, bald pirate clutched his chest, struggling to breathe as he used a nearby tree to steady himself.
Around him, seven or eight other pirates slowly began to stir, coughing and groaning. Some had only suffered scratches; others had broken bones. All of them looked utterly battered. As for the rest of their crew, either unconscious or dead.
"Where's the Den Den Mushi?" one pirate asked, clutching his injured arm and wincing through the pain. "We need to report this to the captain!"
Another pirate shook his head, dispirited. "Useless. The Den Den Mushi's dead."
A third pirate with a tall, airplane-shaped hairstyle looked around at the survivors and muttered, "We didn't stand a chance against those two, especially that freak with the golden ring. We're not beating them. We should just go back and report in."
The others exchanged silent glances. Then, one by one, they nodded in agreement and limped away.
BOOM!
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—
Across the island's small town, the ground trembled with unnatural intensity.
The townspeople finally realized something was wrong.
This wasn't a mild tremor or natural quake, this was battle. And not just any battle, but an all-out clash, the kind that could shake the sky itself.
On the town's main street, dozens of hunters and armed townsfolk had gathered, bows drawn and spears ready.
"It's coming from the direction of the altar! At least a kilometer away!" a towering man shouted as he ran up. "Some of the brothers already went to scout!"
"The altar?!"
The burly man he addressed, easily over two meters tall, with rippling muscles and a rugged face, frowned in disbelief. "What the hell could be happening over there to cause that much noise? We could hear it a kilometer away!"
"Andrei," another voice cut in.
A leaner man approached, barely two meters in height, with a scar running down his left cheek and short brown hair. He wore a coat made from the hide of some unknown beast, a long spear in hand, and a bow and quiver slung across his back.
"No need to overthink it. Whatever it is, the altar must not be defiled."
"Second Headhunter!"
The moment the man arrived, the nearby hunters all tensed up, some whispering in awe.
"Well, that explains it. But Archer," said the Third Headhunter, Andrei, glancing around suspiciously, "where are the Chief Headhunter, the Wolf Instructor, and the town mayor?"
The man referred to as Second Headhunter, Archer, frowned slightly and replied with a thoughtful tone, "If Nekk's guarding the altar, then maybe the others headed there first. That would explain all the commotion we heard."
"They went to the altar first?"
Andrei shot him a strange look. It still didn't make sense to him, why would those guys sneak off to the altar in the dead of night instead of sleeping? But he didn't press the issue. Instead, he turned and asked, "Harlan, is everyone here?"
The brawny man named Harlan glanced at the group behind him and quickly reported, "Not yet. It all happened too fast, we've only managed to gather about two-thirds of the Hunting Squad."
"Then we wait a little longer." Archer pointed toward a burly man with a spider tattoo on his face. "Antu, take some men and check on those pirates at the harbor. I've got a feeling they're involved in this mess."
"The pirates, huh... Leave it to me."
Antu nodded, picked out four men from the crowd, and the five of them sprinted off toward the harbor.
Andrei, a massive axe strapped to his back, turned again. "So, Archer, what's the plan now?"
"We wait until everyone's assembled," Archer said flatly, glancing at the distant skyline. "The sound of battle carried over from more than a kilometer away, and it was loud, violent. That kind of intensity means it's not just some scuffle. Whoever's fighting is seriously powerful."
If the clash was strong enough to shake the air from that far out, then whoever was involved had to be formidable. Even if it wasn't just one or two people, the numbers alone would make them dangerous.
Every single fighter involved might be a top-tier combatant. Charging in recklessly would be suicide, they needed their full strength before engaging.
"Besides," Archer added, eyes narrowing toward the harbor, "those outsiders, those pirates, came in force. If things break down into a full-blown fight, we'd better be ready."
Something about the situation didn't sit right with him.
Foreign pirates, the altar, the sudden disappearance of the town mayor, the Chief Headhunter, the Wolf Instructor... it all felt connected somehow. And that connection wasn't a good one.
"Could it be tied to the legendary treasure...?"
His voice dropped to a whisper. "What are they hiding from us?"
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