“These are Black Heart Pirates, and now you know the threat you are facing.” The high-ranking officer said.
“We don’t know their reason for being all the way out here, but they could already be responsible for the destruction of Borneo Town.
“I have sent the report to the Sacrarium of Inquisitorious, and they are also discussing it. Black Heart Pirates cannot be allowed to roam freely in here, or no one is safe.”
After saying that, the door opened, and a silver-badged officer rushed in with reports.
He walked over to the high-ranking officer, whispered in his ear, and then gave the report before leaving the meeting room.
The navy soldiers sat in silence but saw a change in the high-ranking officer’s face—he even wore a slight smile.
“Finally, some good news.” The high-ranking officer said. “Black Heart Pirates are heading back to Pirate Battleground!”
The navy soldiers heaved a sigh in unison—this was very good news, but the high-ranking officer still had something else to say.
“We, however, got confirmation that the Black Demon has gotten onboard the same ship. We can assume that he is now part of Black Heart Pirates.
“So, the Sacrarium of Inquisitorious had decided to increase the danger level of their crew.
“As you all know, the danger levels are ranked from F to S—F being the lowest and weakest, while S belongs to the strongest pirate crews in Dark Waters.”
The navy soldiers nodded.
“With Mars alone, Black Heart Pirates were considered a B-ranked pirate crew, but now, Sacrarium of Inquisitorious has increased them to an A-ranked threat. They are now a true powerhouse crew!”
The navy captain paled significantly at these news.
‘A-ranked pirate crew all the way in here. No wonder the nearby naval bases took this so seriously. They have the power to fight for the supremacy of Pirate Battleground; they are definitely a scary bunch!’
“Sacrarium of the Inquisitorious also had theories about why the Black Heart Pirates were here.” The high-ranking officer said. “They have a theory that Ambrose just recently entered Dark Waters, and they came to pick him up.
“This could mean that he had already been in some kind of alliance with the Black Heart Pirates, possibly via Reinhardt.
“They guessed that they had a plan to escape the pursuit of the Red Inquisitors and disappear into the Pirate Battleground.
“However, they felt cornered in Hightown and used the zombies and the players as distractions to buy themselves time to escape.
“We still have no visual confirmation of where Reinhardt is, but we can’t rule out the possibility that he might be somewhere in Dark Waters.”
Gasp—a silent gasp resounded across the room.
This would be extremely bad news if it came true.
The alliance between the World’s Strongest Swordsman and Mars could be disastrous.
“Sacrarium of Inquisitorious had also reported the strange movement between S-ranked pirate crews. I feel like something is happening in Pirate Battleground.
“We might be witnessing the Fourth Great Pirate War.”
The air turned tense as anticipation and uncertainty hung heavy among the soldiers.
They knew that the outcome of this war would reshape the pirate world forever—the Dark Waters would change whoever came on top.
…
As the sun rose on the horizon, the next day dawned.
The black-sailed ship, with its ominous pirate flag—skull and crossbones with black hearts acting as eyes—cruised through the fog-shrouded sea.
At one of the cabins, Ambrose emerged from the thin air and landed on the bed.
As his eyes opened and saw the ceiling, he realized the black heart on his forehead indeed forbade him from leaving.
‘I didn’t put in temporary spawn and hoped that I would spawn back in Amaterasu, but it indeed didn’t work.’
After sitting up on the edge of the bed, he remembered the things he did before logging back in.
He checked his ForeverTube numbers, and they have shown an increase, but not too big. It had clearly slowed down since he hadn’t uploaded another video.
He made a mental note to brainstorm new content ideas, but decided to focus on his new pirate life for now.
After standing up, he left his cabin and trotted to the dining hall, where Henri and Loki were eating their breakfast—simultaneously speaking about something.
“Good morning.” Ambrose said as he joined Henri and Loki at the table.
“Yo.” Henri said and glanced out of the round window. “We’ll be arriving at Pirate Battleground soon.”
“Let’s hope the place with the heart of the Nymn Tree is further in Pirate Battleground otherwise, Leon can’t hide the fact that he is intentionally slowing down to reach the place by nightfall.” Loki said with a sigh.
“Further we go, the more dangerous Pirate Battleground becomes.” Henri rubbed his clean-shaven chin.
Slam—the dining hall opened with a slam, and Apollo came with a serious look on his face.
“Mars wants us to gather on the deck; come on.”
Without further ado, Henri, Loki, and Ambrose stood up, then followed behind Apollo as they arrived at the deck.
Everyone else was already there, some still putting on their clothes while the cold wind blew from the north.
The top floor’s door opened, and Mars entered the cold air.
As he walked down the stairs, his footsteps were the only sound present.
After stepping down the final step, Mars looked at his crew and glanced at Leon, who was leaning against the helm.
“Our destination is Necro Island.” Mars said coldly. “It should be eight hours away to the east. It’s within the territory of the Death King, so we need to proceed with caution.”
“Death King, one of the S-ranked Pirate Captains.” Damian whispered in Ambrose’s ear after walking next to him.
‘Sounds powerful.’ Ambrose thought to himself.
Apollo glanced at Leon, who returned the same serious look.
‘Leon somehow has to delay our arrival by three hours.’ Apollo crossed his arms and frowned. ‘Mars is an impatient person, especially with things related to fate. Please, let there be a storm.’
Mars stared at Leon and said. “Pick up the pace. We’ll have to reach it before nightfall. During the night, the Death King’s minions roam the land, and we don’t want to encounter them.”
“Roger…” Leon said with a serious look, and his hands tightened around the helm.
Afterwards, Mars returned to his quarters, and the air stayed tense on the deck.
“You heard him; the plan is over!” Orc said and pointed at Leon angrily. “You’ll put all of us in anger, so let’s forget about this foolish plan!”
“Ors, please, shut the fuck up.” Damian said angrily.
“Hmph, you fools!” Ors screamed and returned indoors.
Leon looked at Apollo and asked. “Will we still go for this? I am the one that gets chewed at.”
“We’ll proceed with the plan.” Apollo said before briefly glancing at the serious-looking Ambrose and continuing. “This might work for our benefit. Since it is within the Death King’s territory, Mars will become more cautious.
“You can cook up an excuse that we saw some patrol ships from the Death King and thus had to take some detours.”
“Sigh, this will end badly.” Leon whispered and cursed under his breath, but he listened to Apollo and steered the ship against a slight headwind.
“Look, it’s the Pirate Battleground!” Henri suddenly shouted from the edge of the ship, pointing towards the sea in front.
Everyone gathered around Henri and saw the shimmering outline of foggy islands far on the horizon.
Ambrose’s jaw dropped as he saw an unimaginable sight.
There were long chains, held up by pillars that had skulls on top of them, encircling a large area of the sea. It encircled such a large area that Ambrose couldn’t even see the end of it.
“These are pirate chains.” Damian whispered. “They encircle the entire Pirate Battleground. When you cross to the other side, you have finally entered the battleground.”
“How can we cross it? We are about to crash into the chains!” Ambrose asked with a shout.
The ship would split in half if it crashed into the chains.
“You’ll see…” Damian mysteriously smiled.