Mars stood silently in the middle of the burning rubble as the flames engulfed everything around him.
Then he saw a thin layer of ice covering the nearby building’s windows. It looked harmless at first, but then Mars started to feel a strange coldness that seeped straight into his bones.
‘Strange.’ Mars scoffed and ignored the cold that was powerful enough to kill an ordinary person.
However, it was just a little chilly for him.
At that moment, eerie footsteps sounded from the shadows, signaling the presence of an unknown foe.
Mars’ senses instantly alerted him to great danger.
A man covered in majestic, ethereal armor stepped out of the shadows, carrying a scythe made of skeleton bones. His eyes and hair were ink black, and his very presence seemed to radiate an aura of death.
“I have seen your wanted poster before.” Mars said with unusual seriousness in his features.
The man in front of him was considered one of the strongest pirates in the sea and was the captain of the Death Pirates, lord of the lost souls, and visitor of the underworld.
The Death King!
“Mars Ares Godfriend.” The Death King leaned against his scythe and smiled sinisterly. “I heard that you visited my territory a while back.”
Mars’ eyes narrowed.
“You stole something from me, and I am here to take it back.” The Death King then pointed his scythe at Mars and grinned. “It’s been a long time since I had to leave the security of my island to stretch my limbs.
“I apologize if I seem little rusty.”
“I stole nothing from you.” Mars said and took a step back, ready to defend himself. “It was the Sea King.”
“Hahahaha.” The Death King laughed slowly; each ‘ha’ had a two-second delay between them.
“So, you are saying… that you visited Necro Island for just vacation?” He raised his eyebrow with a smile. “My Entourage visited the island, and they didn’t mention anything about the Sea King.”
“What?” Mars frowned and thought about what Zero told him. ‘He mentioned that they wore clothes usually belonging to the Sea King’s crew.
‘Was the thieves just planning to frame the Sea King, but those villagers should’ve mentioned those clothes to the Death Entourage as well.
‘Unless…’ Mars’ eyes turned cold. ‘Unless Zero lied in his translation.’
“Also, I met one of your crewmates, who strangely had the scent of the Nymn Tree with him.” The Death King chuckled. “Do not lie to me, boy.”
Mars’ eyes turned cold. ‘Those fuckers. Once I get my hands on y’all, you will regret what you did to me.’
“Ah, here he comes.” The Death King turned to the sky, where an angry-looking man wielding battleaxe was descending towards them.
Boom—as the Sea King crashed into the ground, a heavy presence fell over them.
“What the hell are you doing in here?” Tyrannus asked from the man who smelled like death.
“Visiting.” The Death King’s grin grew. “However, this looks like a very good opportunity to get rid of my rival. Don’t you agree, Tyrannus the son of the sea? Prepared to die, I presume?”
“Ptui!” Tyrannus spat on the ground and screamed. “As if I’ll die to you or Mars. I am the Sea King and the sea is my ally!”
Outside the Haventown, the water started raging and bubbling as if it was about to erupt.
At that moment, enormous wave crashed into the shore, and following that, tentacle emerged from the water, casting an enormous shadow over Haventown.
It was tentacle belonging to an Kraken!
“A Kraken?” The Death King turned to the sky and saw the enormous tentacle that had enough power to destroy the town within instant.
“However…” He then turned back to Tyrannus. “It’s only Baby Kraken. The son of the sea hadn’t captured the Adult Kraken yet, how embrassing.”
“Hmph.” Tyrannus’ eye twitched.
He sent Bonney with the mace to capture the Adult Kraken if it was possible, but they had failed. However, he still had the Baby Kraken under his control via the slave contract.
“Kraken!” Tyrannus screamed, and then, the enormous tentacle descended from the sky like a dark shadow and smashed into Haventown.
SMASH!
While the island shook as if it was sinking to the sea, once the dust cloud settled, the Haventown was completely wiped out!
Only debris of broken buildings and destroyed infrastructure remained alongside the Kraken’s tentacle that spanned across the entire island.
…
On the Black Heart ship.
“U-unbelievable…” Damian said out loud with a shock on his face.
The rest of the Black Heart members were equally shocked, as they just witnessed an enormous tentacle emerge from the ocean that then destroyed the town, where they were only moments ago!
Damian removed the medallion from his neck and opened it. It had a picture of his family.
At that moment, he felt a sharp pain on his forehead, and the black heart started shining like a black star.
“Argh!” Apollo touched his burning forehead and shouted in agony. “Mars is summoning us!”
“Loki, can you delay it?!” Leon screamed urgently as if they were now summoned to Mars; he doubted any of us would be able to survive.
Mars was clearly planning to use them as a meat shield!
“I’ll try!” Loki’s eyes shone like a brilliant light, and he then spread his arms wide as if he were embracing something.
At that moment, green light engulfed the ship as if it were a protective dome.
“I can’t hold this long!” Loki screamed while his veins protruded from his neck, threatening to pop up!
The whole island and the nearby ocean shook as if there were a volcano erupting underground.
But then they all saw the enormous tentacle get pushed back by a powerful shockwave, and then it fell back to the ocean.
None of them could even think about the strength needed to accomplish that, as the tentacle looked vastly larger than life itself!
“I-I can’t do this any longer!” Loki screamed, and the protective dome then disappeared.
At the same moment, they all vanished into a black smoke and reappeared in the middle of the destroyed Haventown; that was long gone, and there was only a crater shaped like Kraken’s tentacle left.
The once-thriving town was now nothing more than a barren wasteland.
“You… bastards…”
They then heard a voice.
Mars, his body covered in burns and scratches, was standing in the middle of the wasteland with his right arm badly injured, looking like it was broken.
Alongside him were Tyrannus and the Death King, both looking slightly fatigued, but they were in much better condition than Mars.
“Did you fuckers steal the heart?” Mars asked, and after seeing a slight sign of panic in a few of their eyes, he knew the truth.
He laughed angrily. “You fuckers. To pay for the mutiny, you shall act as my meat shield!”
As he reached his hand towards Jake, Zero suddenly appeared in the way of his hand and punched forward.
“Zero Impact!”
After his punch landed on Mars’ hand, both froze as if the time had locked in place.
However, then Mars’ hand got pushed back just a little. It looked as if a young child tried to play fight their father, but the father’s strength was too much for him, so he had to act as if the punch actually hurt.
“Fighting your own crew?” Tyrannus clicked his tongue with a smirk. “I used slave contracts on my own crew, but I at least managed to gain their loyalty as I gave them wealth, women, and a chance at a better life under my service.
“However, your crew betrayed you, and now look. You are all alone.”
“I don’t need anyone.” Mars clenched his fist. “I don’t need help; I don’t need friends; I don’t need a crew to have my back; I, alone, am enough!”
He then reeled in his fist and punched Zero across the face. “Mars Right!”
“Ptui!” Zero spat out a mouthful of blood as he was sent flying several hundred meters.
Once he stopped, his face was bloodied, and his eyes were white as if he had lost his consciousness.
“Zero!” Jake screamed and turned angry as Zero protected him.
He then ran towards Mars and punched with all of his Starborn physique behind that fist.
The punch was powerful enough to crack skulls and end lives.
Jake’s fist landed on Mars’ face, causing a massive explosion of blood and bone fragments.
However, Jake’s scream reverberated across the destroyed town of Haventown. He fell to his knees, his hand shattered with broken bones protruding through his flesh.
“Indeed, Starborn’s physique is incredible.” Mars said nonchalantly. “If you had a human’s physique, you would’ve lost your entire arm. Count yourself lucky.”
He then formed a straight hand.and chopped towards Jake’s neck, planning to behead him!
“Neptune’s Wrath!”
But then crimson light engulfed Jake, and Mars’ hand slashed through nothing but the empty air and the light.
The crimson light reappeared slightly further away. Then Damian and Jake emerged from the light.
“Hmph.” Mars stood tall and looked at the rest of his crew with a cold look.
“I ain’t killing you.
“I still need your fate.
“So, I will instead crucify you and put you all hanging from the front of the ship. I should’ve done that from the start. It was foolish of me to even try to play pirates with all of you.
“To me, none of you are people, but merely objects to be thrown away when your use is no longer needed!”