"Hahahaha!"
Gradually, the surrounding area was filled with his arrogant laughter.
Pearl donned his Iron Shield, leaving himself open for soldiers to shoot and melee him. With a swipe of his shield, flames erupted from Firefly Stone. With a single punch, he knocked down a soldier, simultaneously scattering numerous Firefly Stones, igniting flames all around.
"I am Flame Paru!" Pearl yelled out.
"Oooh!!"
Mute wielded a Great Tachi, and with a sweeping motion, he slashed open a large breach through several attacking soldiers, crashing through the crowd like a wild beast.
The others remained completely untouched.
In this fierce battle, Sage and his companions strolled through the Royal City, heading towards the central high mountain, including the young Las.
He had no real aversion to things like looting.
Las was still young, only eight years old, two years younger than Renedia. He hadn't developed a reverence for lineage yet, and his father had been executed. His feelings for Anu Country were not as strong as his feelings for Sage.
After all, Sage gave him a hearty meal and rescued him.
He was undoubtedly a good person to him.
"Master Sage, would you be disappointed if the Golden Country doesn't exist?"
As they drew closer, Las became increasingly uncertain.
He had discovered a gold mine deep underground, but it was just too small—just one such place. There might be some gold, but it was not enough to prove the Golden Country's existence...
Las didn't want to disappoint Master Sage, who had been so kind to him.
"If it doesn't exist, it doesn't exist. What's there to be disappointed about? My plan is just to loot. As long as the plan is completed, it's fine."
Sage chuckled lightly, "Don't think too much about it. It's best if it exists; it doesn't matter if it doesn't."
In any case, it wouldn't impact his overall plan.
If it exists, it's a huge bonus; if not, it's no big deal.
However, with the cursed Gold Coin and this special race, he believes the Golden Country exists, and that king will surely give him a splendid explanation.
The group's pace was swift; even though Las was a child, his physical attributes were superb due to being from a special race, and his stamina was impressive, allowing him to keep up with them.
This made Sage very pleased.
In a decade or two, this child would grow into a powerful figure. As for how strong... he wouldn't have high expectations as long as he surpassed ordinary people and became an officer.
Those top-level powerhouses... there aren't many on the ocean, so finding and cultivating them isn't easy. Having the strength of a regular officer in a Great Pirate Crew is already quite good.
Besides, Kaido has an eight-year-old Ivory King; he has an eight-year-old Las. It's a good sign!
It represents that he'll definitely have a vast territory.
"Take the stairs, or ride the elevator?" Sage arrived at the stairway entrance at the foot of the mountain and looked towards Hawkins.
Apart from these stairs, there were a large number of elevators on the left and right sides. This towering mountain, walking purely on stairs, would likely take several hours, while the elevators should be much quicker.
However, these elevators were evidently machine-operated. If they broke down halfway, that would be quite troublesome.
While he could use Moon Step, he didn't want to navigate the elevator up, which would be even more problematic.
Hawkins pulled out Tarot Cards, divining upon them, revealing a shocked expression, "The probability of taking the stairs is 1%, and for the elevator, also 1%... Sage, seems like there's a problem."
Phew!
No sooner had he spoken than the stairway entrance suddenly melted, transforming abruptly into a huge wave, rushing down towards Sage and the others.
"What is this!"
Sage instinctively summoned his Haki, powerfully striking forward.
Boom!
The stone wave shattered into tiny gravel fragments, scattering across the ground.
But as soon as he delivered the punch, he was dumbfounded.
Because apart from himself, everyone else had disappeared!
A red dot flickered in Sage's pupils. Under Observation, he gazed upward, noticing that Lily and the others' presences hadn't vanished, but were swiftly ascending, already halfway through.
"An Ability User?"
Thud!
He took a step, turning into a blur, rapidly shooting upward. At the same time, the long stairway melted entirely downward, transforming into a massive stone wave, rushing towards Sage.
This time, Sage did not hinder it, allowing the stone wave to engulf him, and then...
He was covered.
Bam!
The ground at the stairway entrance shattered open, making Sage's voice echo out. He bared his teeth, gazing upwards, "Playing with me, are you!"
His figure moved, continuing to shoot upward. The stone wave opened again, shattered by a single punch from Sage, but the stone waves weren't singular, continuously crashing towards Sage.
Sage smirked coldly, his fists becoming blurred shadows. Regardless of how the stone waves surged, they were all shattered by a punch, with him speeding towards the mountain peak amidst the rubble.
On a balcony within the castle atop the mountain, an elegantly handsome man wearing a gold-trimmed crown and with a long sword adorned with a golden hilt on his waist shook his head with a smile, "If you don't wish to come up, then don't."
He turned around, looking at the few people kneeling before him, saying, "Bring that child over here, eliminate the others."
"Yes!"
...
Lily gazed at the dark hallway ahead, her brows furrowing.
In the blink of an eye, she suddenly found herself alone here; none of her companions were around, not even Sage.
She looked down the corridor; on the walls were only a few torches, casting shadows everywhere along the long corridor, giving off an eerie feeling. On both sides of the corridor stood stone statues wielding swords, each as large as Mute.
This style was typical only within castles.
Lily pondered briefly and walked straight ahead, "Since it's inside the castle, there has to be a dead end somewhere. Keep moving forward and break through; that's how you'll find it."
As she took a step forward, the statues on both sides behind her began to vibrate. The three-meter-high stone statues, like living beings, raised their stone swords, stabbing towards Lily.
Shing!
A cold gleam burst forth beneath the torches, slicing through two of the stone statues.
Crack.
Lily's right hand gripped the sword hilt, producing the sound of the blade returning to its sheath. The two knight stone statues instantly split apart, their upper halves crashing to the ground.
"An Ability User?" Lily's gaze turned cold.
Using Sage's words, anything that defies ordinary reasoning must be the work of an Ability User.
Movable statues and her sudden teleportation to an unfamiliar place were definitely the acts of an Ability User.
Rumble...
Just as she thought this, the two severed statues suddenly started writhing, melting together again, forming whole knight statues, continuing their attack on her.
Simultaneously, all the knight statues along the corridor came to life, raising their stone swords and charging toward Lily.
"Lightning Waltz!"
Shing!
Lily's form flickered like a thunderbolt in the corridor, swiftly weaving through these statues, her sword light intertwined like a web, slicing the statues into irregular stone shards, all disintegrating.
Afterward, she didn't stop her movements, slicing the walls of the corridor with a sword stroke, surging straight in one direction.
They were merely stones, naturally able to be cut open.
Several walls in succession shattered, and Lily's form rapidly advanced forward; however, suddenly, a gust stirred above her head.
Instinctively, her pupils contracted. Her stride halted as she immediately turned and blocked the White Thunder.
Clang!
A crisp sound of metal colliding echoed on the rapier blade, and in front of Lily was a massive iron mace.
Didn't cut through?
In the next instant, a massive force swept from the sword, forcing her feet to crack the ground.
Bam!!
The ground was smashed into a pit, stones scattered, and dust billowed.
"Oh? Did you escape?"
The massive iron mace withdrew from the pit, slowly revealing a towering figure amidst the dust.
Lily had already darted to another side, focusing her gaze on that figure.
This person stood about four meters tall, wearing a fur coat with an open chest, leather pants below, while from his back extended a pair of wings as white as snow.
Angel?!
No...
This feature, Sage had explained before.
"Sky Island People?" Lily said with a concentrated voice.