Moreover, in battles between pirates, neither side would waste such resources. In some places, there are such middlemen in the black market, responsible for handing over defeated pirates to the Navy and earning a commission from the bounty. This is almost an unspoken rule.
Even great pirates of the New World, after capturing or killing pirates who caused trouble in their territory, would engage in similar actions. This is even an important source of income for some pirates.
"No, it seems I still need to deal with John. But aren't there too many people here? I see quite a few locals, and why are these people docking their ships on the open ground?"
There were quite a few large ships outside on the open ground, stranded like that, seemingly not having sailed in a long time.
Moreover, the ships were anchored to the ground with thick iron chains, making them difficult to move far.
"This is the Great Low Tide unique to the Natehuo Kingdom. When the inland lake in the middle dries up, the surrounding sea level rises, flooding the lowlands until the Great Low Tide phenomenon ends.
Apart from the high ground where the royals and nobles live, the rest of the regions end up like this, which is why there are those large boats for refuge. But this place is safe; this hotel is essentially the boundary of the flooded area, which is why so many people come here."
At this time, Queen took on the role of a tour guide, explaining the unique phenomenon of the Natehuo Kingdom. It's because of this phenomenon that the kingdom, despite its mild climate, cannot sustain agriculture over the long term.
Every time the Great Low Tide occurs every three years, it's a devastating blow to agriculture here.
Time slowly passed. After Queen resolved the ships' issues, Kaidou also found John's trail. His people were stationed near the inland lake, seemingly also waiting for the Great Low Tide to occur.
As the time reached the night of the third day, alarms rang out within the Natehuo Kingdom. The citizens began to retreat with their possessions, and various forces started their actions.
.....
"John, are you sure the Rocks' treasure is right here?"
At the John Pirates' base, a short man clad in heavy medieval armor, a shield hanging from his arm guards, and holding a silver axe in his left hand, asked.
Codenamed Silver Axe, not even the crew on the Rocks' ship knew his real name; they only knew he never took off his armor.
"Of course, it's clues found on Hachinos Island. During a full moon, the Great Low Tide will occur, and by then the true form of the treasure will naturally present itself to us, the treasure that belongs to us."
John's tone was filled with confidence. He had absolute confidence in treasure hunting, and this was also the last treasure hunt plan he had. The treasure left behind by Rocks was enough for him to go incognito and start a new life.
However, there were too many people here. The treasure was his alone; he didn't want to share it with anyone. If it weren't for needing their strength to find the treasure, he wouldn't have joined forces with them.
But John only spoke half of the truth. The treasure was indeed here, but the environment was incredibly dangerous. With a little manipulation, those guys would be buried here forever.
At the same time, they would send a message to the world that the John Pirates had completely disappeared, and Captain John was dead. Only this way he could start a life in a new era.
As for his crew? What did they have to do with him?
Meanwhile, under the helmet of Silver Axe, a unique smile appeared on his lips. Coincidentally, he also didn't want to share the treasure with this guy John.
His hand had already pressed the button of a Radio Snail, and as he did so, a pirate ship emerged off the coast of Donut Island.
Standing on the ram of the ship was a man clad in golden heavy armor, with a long beard.
Though the crew of the Rocks' ship would fight amongst themselves, some had pretty good private relationships, like Big Mom and Kaidou, or Silver Axe and the owner of this ship, the former cadre of the Rocks Pirates - Ochoku.
Trust on the Rocks' ship was a joke, so Silver Axe had long been in contact with Ochoku, planning to deal with John together.
After understanding the maritime situation here, Ochoku's ship had been hovering nearby for half a month, intending to use the rising sea level outside to rush in directly when the Great Low Tide occurred.
Meanwhile, two of John's subordinates were already lying in a dark alley, replaced by two CP0 members, while high up in the clouds, Kaidou in his Dragon Form was poised to strike.
The full moon hung high, the Great Low Tide ended as expected, the water in the central lake receded, revealing the damp lakebed below, while the creatures that originally inhabited the lake vanished somewhere.
The external seawater began to flood in, submerging most of Natehuo Kingdom's land, and the large ships on the plains began to float. The citizens of the Natehuo Kingdom would now begin a period of living on water.
"This shape of the lakebed… it looks like a skull."
Seen from high above, it was clearer. Although the inland lake was merely an irregular circle when filled with water, when the water receded, the lake shore and the rocks on the lakebed happened to form the shape of a skull.
"Maybe that old guy Rocks had a preference for this shape. It's the same on Hachinos. The accuracy is quite high indeed."
Then John took out an armband with two semicircular spheres on it. He folded them into a sphere, held it high, and the reflected moonlight shone onto a rock, revealing a spherical hole on it.
Without a doubt, this was the switch for the treasure, and at that moment, a gunshot broke the silence.
A subordinate of Silver Axe fell, and the shooter was none other than one of the CP0 members disguised as a member of the John Pirates. They didn't want more people knowing the specific details of the treasure. There were only two of them, and it was unrealistic for them to restrict hundreds of pirates.
Not to mention there were cadres with bounties exceeding a hundred million among them. Stirring up conflict among the pirates was inherently part of their plan.
Silver Axe and John were already wary of each other, and this shot could be said to have lit the powder keg, with tension instantly filling the air.
"John, you struck early, huh?"
"Hmph, would you believe me if I said it wasn't my idea?" This really wasn't part of John's plan. His plan was to make Silver Axe and his crew disappear completely, so how could he take action before opening the treasure door?
Moreover, he never gave such orders; it was undoubtedly someone trying to sow discord as others had infiltrated.
But Silver Axe wasn't aware of this fact, and seeing John take action, he abandoned the idea of waiting for Ochoku to position before making a move.
"Attack, boys!"