Lower deck of Yang Luo's pirate ship.
A hasty celebration feast was being prepared to commemorate the Dominant Feather Pirate Crew's enmity with Mist Island.
Though Yang Luo's decision to hold this banquet was sudden, the crew felt it was worth celebrating. After all, Mist Island was formidable and could potentially deal a heavy blow to the Dominant Feather Pirate Crew. Thus, no suspicions arose—only merriment.
Barrels of alcohol were hauled onto the deck, and the aroma of roasting meat began to fill the air.
Yang Luo's trusted executives moved discreetly, carefully mixing a colorless, odorless but potent sedative into several barrels of liquor reserved for the lower-ranking crew.
These barrels were typically consumed by the lower deck hands, so tampering with them wouldn't raise any alarms.
"Captain, everything is ready," whispered a confidant, his eyes flickering with barely concealed tension.
Yang Luo stood by the ship's railing, gazing at the churning waves in the distance, his expression unreadable. "Proceed as planned. Remember the targets—make sure they drink heartily. We move at midnight."
Midnight arrived, the sea breeze cool against the skin.
The once-boisterous deck gradually fell silent, now filled with the stench of alcohol and the sound of snoring.
Most of the core crew and executives had long retired to their cabins, leaving behind only the lower-ranking sailors, thoroughly drunk and sprawled across the deck.
Among them, the five hundred who had been "specially treated" lay completely unconscious, utterly insensible.
After Ye Yu's Conqueror's Haki had wiped out tens of thousands of lower-ranking crew members, the weaker combat crew had been demoted to fill the gaps.
Shadowy figures emerged like ghosts from the darkness of the ship's corridors, swift and practiced. They pressed damp rags over the mouths and noses of the targeted crew, confirming their complete unconsciousness before swiftly dragging them to small, prepped speedboats waiting by the railing.
The entire operation was carried out in eerie silence, like some grisly hunt.
Similar scenes played out almost simultaneously aboard Song Ling and Wang Quanshi's pirate ships.
Lin Muxue's approach was far more direct—she simply ordered a few of her executives to knock out and haul away the selected crew. Some resisted, only to be met with Lin Muxue's crackling lightning, which left them all unconscious in seconds.
One by one, the speedboats, laden with their unconscious offerings, slipped away from their respective pirate ships under the cover of night, all heading toward the same destination—the outer waters of Mist Island.
At the edge of the dense fog surrounding Mist Island, the speedboats came to a halt, their engines cutting off.
The executives tasked with the delivery wore expressions of tension and faint guilt, but their obedience to Yang Luo's orders—and their fear of Ye Yu—suppressed any hesitation.
They callously shoved the unconscious crew into the frigid seawater, some even slashing a few with knives to hasten the spread of blood in the water.
"Sorry, brothers... If you must hate anyone, hate the Dominant Feather Pirate Crew. Hate Ye Yu," muttered one executive under his breath before turning the boat around without hesitation and speeding away from the unsettling area.
Hundreds of bodies bobbed in the icy water, the thick scent of blood rippling through the stillness at the fog's edge like a stone dropped into a stagnant pond.
Hssss... hssss...
From deep within the fog, countless hair-raising hisses rose in a sinister chorus.
Cold, greedy vertical pupils ignited within the mist like floating will-o'-the-wisps. Several smaller but lightning-fast single-headed serpent Exotic Beasts shot from the fog like arrows loosed from bows, pouncing upon the floating, unconscious pirates.
They did not devour their prey immediately. Instead, they coiled their tails around the unconscious crew members, hissing excitedly as they swiftly dragged them deep into the dense fog. These were offerings for their King—they had no right to feast.
At the heart of Mist Island.
That massive, ancient consciousness trembled violently once more. It could sense it! Streams of flesh and blood, though not of the highest quality, were rich in life energy and were being continuously delivered to the island!
"Hmm?" The King's will carried a trace of surprise, followed by ravenous greed.
"Voluntary offerings? And... not just from one Pirate Crew? Who is so generous?"
It quickly understood—this was no coincidence. It was premeditated, organized. These were pirates who opposed the Dominant Feather Pirate Crew. They feared Ye Yu. They sought to borrow a blade to kill—using the flesh and blood of their own crew to hasten its awakening, so that it would deal with that terrifying Ye Yu.
"Foolish, despicable humans. When it comes to malice and wickedness, some of you surpass even us Exotic Beasts."
The King's consciousness brimmed with icy mockery—yet also delight.
"Still, this gift... I shall accept it! Once awakened, I will naturally deal with the Dominant Feather Pirate Crew. Not to aid you, but because... this feast must be devoured."
It began to consume relentlessly, greedily absorbing the newly infused life energy.
The dormant serpentine Exotic Beast eggs buried deep underground, not yet fully awakened, visibly accelerated their hatching under the nourishing surge of dense vitality.
Some beasts that should have taken days to emerge tore through their membranes in mere hours, unleashing savage hisses. More Exotic Beasts stirred from their deep slumber, their auras rapidly recovering and intensifying.
The entire Mist Island was like a colossal nest injected with a stimulant—its revival forcibly hastened.
The fog itself seemed to grow thicker, colder, the danger within it multiplying.
The King's will whispered in delight: "Soon... very soon... Ye Yu... your flesh shall be the perfect coronation for my reign over this world!"
Meanwhile, far away, Yang Luo smirked.
"Now... it's your turn."
...
Aboard the Tyrant Feather Pirate Ship.
Ye Yu stood at the bow, the sea breeze against his face, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly.
His formidable Observation Haki had caught something—an ominous, blood-soaked pulse, faint and distant, yet unmistakable. It came from the direction of Mist Island, but the sensation was too indistinct.
"Captain, what's wrong?" Xia Ling noticed his unease immediately.
Ye Yu shook his head, his sharp gaze fixed on the island's direction. "We're not far from Mist Island. My Observation Haki sensed a fluctuation in aura. For it to reach this far... the source must be powerful."
At once, Xia Ling grew worried. Had a stronger force on Mist Island awakened prematurely?
Ye Yu mused, "Logically, the Exotic Beasts should grow stronger over time. But this is too fast—something's off. Still, even if they've awakened earlier than expected, it's fine. Adversity is never a bad thing."
Xia Ling nodded. After all, they had overcome numerous dangers and situations deemed hopeless before.
Yet, a trace of worry lingered in her heart—fear of a truly inescapable predicament. The so-called hopeless situations before had only seemed so because they hadn't fully grasped Ye Yu's strength.
...
Temporary base of the King's Alliance.
Yang Luo received several encrypted messages from different speedboats:
"The offerings have been delivered."
"The Azure Dragon Pirates have also completed their task."
"The Overlord Pirates have succeeded."
"The Chosen One Pirate Crew is done."
...
A cold smirk curled at the corner of Yang Luo's lips as he walked to the window, gazing toward the direction of Mist Island, his eyes gleaming with a viper-like malice.
"Feast… feast to your heart's content… Mist Lord," he murmured under his breath, his voice icy and merciless.
"Grow quickly on the flesh and blood of my 'brothers.' Then… go and tear the Dominant Feather Pirate Crew to shreds. Without Ye Yu, I'll have nothing to fear. I will be the Overlord of this world in the future. A world like this… should never have allowed a monster like Ye Yu to exist—a being who defies all balance."
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