"Bege, she was your real target, wasn't she?" Taylor said softly, looking at the somewhat bewildered Viola.
"You kept talking about 'clairvoyance and clairaudience.' The 'clairaudience' must refer to me, so the 'clairvoyance' would be her—Viola, the user of the Glare-Glare Fruit."
Bege merely smiled faintly. Compared to Kyros, Bege had actually been more interested in recruiting Viola. Her Glare-Glare Fruit ability was an excellent support skill. Paired with Warren Taylor, they would form a perfect "clairvoyance and clairaudience" duo, capable of achieving astounding results on the battlefield.
"I can hear the unease in her heart. I'll go comfort her first." Even if Bege didn't say it, Taylor already knew the answer. She turned her graceful figure and walked towards Viola.
Bege stretched lazily, a satisfied smile never leaving his face.
The ship sailed towards its next destination. After half a month of continuous voyage, during which they captured quite a few ferocious beasts, they prepared to resupply and rest on Cliton Island.
This was an island with a population of thirty thousand. Its specialty was a plant called the Mari Tree, which contained ingredients that could stimulate the secretion of human sex hormones. It was the main component of a world-renowned aphrodisiac.
There was a Marine base on this island, with a Marine Rear Admiral stationed there.
An hour later, the island finally appeared before them.
"Godfather, something doesn't seem right. It looks like something's happening on the island," one of his men reported, running over with a pair of binoculars.
Bege took the binoculars and looked. Thick smoke billowed from various parts of Cliton Island, rising straight into the sky and forming a massive black cloud.
"Something really is wrong on the island. Could pirates be attacking it? Interesting. Let's go check out the commotion," Bege surmised that some vicious pirates had landed.
The ship quickly reached Cliton Island. Before Bege's eyes, the port was wreathed in thick smoke, the ground stained red with blood. The lookout had already noticed several pirate ships docked on one side not far away.
"The Fear Pirates? Now this is even more interesting." That pitch-black demon skull flag—wasn't that the Fear Pirates' emblem? This made Bege even more eager to go ashore and investigate.
Bege and his group landed at the port. Corpse after corpse lay on the ground, every face frozen in an expression of extreme terror and despair. From the distance, the sounds of unabated, wretched screams and savage, cruel laughter could be heard.
Young Viola had never witnessed such a tragic scene. She screamed, her face filled with terror. Bege had Taylor stay behind to look after her while he led his men towards the island's interior.
The entire island seemed like a mountain, with the ground sloping upwards. Blood flowed down the inclines like streams, and hundreds, even thousands, of corpses soaked in it—a truly hellish sight. Houses on both sides were engulfed in raging fires, the flames spreading from the buildings to the nearby forests, the smoke growing thicker and thicker.
"Hahaha! Kill! Keep killing!" From the plaza in the distance, Cliton Island's largest square, came a low, deranged laughter.
Stepping onto the plaza, Bege and his men felt their scalps tingle.
A mountain of corpses, estimated to be at least twenty meters high, dominated the view. Body after body was being casually tossed onto the pile. Not far from this gruesome mountain, a large area of ground was covered with the naked bodies of women. Their faces were masks of terror, their bodies defiled, some even mutilated, testament to the horrific torment they had endured before death.
Currently, dozens of pirates were wantonly raping some of the women who were still alive. Their methods were even more horrifying; after finishing their violation, they would simply snap their victims' necks and then continue, even defiling the corpses.
In another part of the plaza, a group of about two hundred pirates had surrounded six to seven hundred civilians. Among the civilians, a few dozen Marines were putting up a desperate resistance, their courage bolstered by the Marine Rear Admiral at their forefront.
The Rear Admiral cut down a pirate. The pirates, instead of showing anger, cheered with even greater glee and excitement. They dragged over a large group of children, their bloodthirsty, perverted smiles making them look more like demons crawled out from hell.
Dozens of children huddled together, wailing in terror.
"Cry, cry, cry! Go on and cry, you're annoying the hell out of me!" A one-eyed pirate with a cigarillo dangling from his lips impatiently grabbed the loudest crying child. His thick hand clamped around the child's neck, slowly tightening. A sickening crack sounded as the child's bones gave way. The struggling lessened, then stopped altogether. The child's small face was deathly pale, eyes bulging.
"My child! Give me back my child!" A woman from the crowd of civilians rushed out, screaming in terror.
"Don't go over there!" the Rear Admiral barked, but it was too late.
A nearby pirate lunged, his sword slashing the woman. She fell into a pool of blood.
"My child… give him back…" The woman wasn't dead yet. An incredibly strong will kept her moving, crawling on the ground.
The pirate, with a savage grin, lopped off the woman's head, triggering even louder laughter from his comrades.
The one-eyed pirate looked at the terrified expression still on the dead child's face and laughed even more maniacally. He grabbed the child's head and displayed it to the Marines and civilians.
"Marine Rear Admiral, is it? Come on, keep killing! You, go up there and let the Rear Admiral kill you," the one-eyed pirate said, pointing at one of his men. The pirate eagerly stepped forward.
"You kill one of my brothers, and I'll crush one of these brats. Rear Admiral, you paragon of justice, it's time for you to make a choice!" The one-eyed pirate viciously pressed his cigarillo into the eye of the child's corpse. The sight made everyone involuntarily recoil.
The Marine Rear Admiral's face was etched with anguish. With every step the pirate took forward, he couldn't help but take a step back.
"Not daring to make a move now, are we, Rear Admiral? Aren't you supposed to be strong?" the one-eyed pirate sneered mockingly. He stopped the pirate who was advancing. He then looked coldly at all the civilians.
"Now, I'll give you all a chance. A chance to live," the one-eyed pirate's single eye glinted with intense excitement and madness. He practically roared, "Kill these Marines! Kill them, and you can live! Your children can live too!"
The Marines' expressions changed instantly.
"For survival! For your children! Kill them! Hahahaha…"
Among the civilians, some began to waver. Some people's spirits broke. One man, wielding a knife, struck down a Marine in front of him.
"There are only forty or fifty of you, but there are hundreds of us! If you die, we live!" the man sobbed, then, brandishing his knife, turned towards others. He was kicked away by a Marine.
"I have to live! My children have to live! Marines… I'm sorry!"
More civilians began to attack. Over a hundred people lunged forward simultaneously.
"What are you doing?! They're the Marines who saved us!"
"They saved us, but we still can't survive! I want to live! Marines, you can't escape anyway, right? Better for you to die and let us live!"
More and more people broke down, rushing towards the Marines. In a few moments, half the Marines were dead. If the Rear Admiral hadn't fought back and knocked down many of the frenzied civilians, the Marines would likely have been wiped out in that single onslaught.
"Hahahahaha… Ugly human nature! Ugly, ugly human nature!" The one-eyed pirate watched the scene unfold with manic excitement, finding the spectacle of saviors and saved turning on each other more entertaining than any movie or story.
Suddenly, a young boy stood up. The thin needle in his hand plunged deep into the one-eyed pirate's thigh—right into the femoral artery. Once pierced, blood immediately gushed out uncontrollably, spraying and drenching the boy's body.
The one-eyed pirate kicked the boy away. He looked at his bleeding thigh, his entire face contorting in pain.
The boy lay on the ground, unable to move, but his eyes, burning with hatred, shone brighter than any light.
"Hatred… that's it. Eyes filled with hatred are the most beautiful eyes in the world," the one-eyed pirate said, walking towards the boy. "I'm going to gouge out your eyes and treasure them. And as punishment for daring to attack me, I will crush your bones, inch by inch, boy."
"No!" The Marine Rear Admiral lunged towards the boy.
A burly, middle-aged pirate leaped out from the ranks, instantly blocking the Rear Admiral, who found himself unable to get past.