Kampas Town is not small, and within this island, there are more villages and small towns, but they are not coastal.
Pirates, of course, rob along the coast; if they go deeper in, they would be surrounded.
Water, food, salt, planks and nails needed for repairs—Sage takes whatever he can, loading them into barrels and boxes, which the pirates take back to the ship.
As for Sage and these civilians, they are in a state of peaceful coexistence.
How much can one ship load?
Even if the town is destroyed, it can easily be taken.
As for why the civilians don't care at all, first, they've already been plundered by pirates, and second, because they saved their people, isn't it right to offer some gratitude?
The mayor looked at the nearly collapsing ship docked at the port and said, "Captain... although we can't offer anything particularly valuable right now, we can still offer a ship."
"Old man, I'm robbing!"
Sage's eye twitched, "Can you not insult the profession of a pirate? After all, I'm dedicated!"
Is being unlucky not dedicated?!
"What I want, I'll take myself. Hand over the ship." Sage waved the flintlock gun in his hand.
If others give it to him, no.
If he takes it himself, yes!
"As for the ship, we have to wait for other cargo ships to return before we have an extra ship, right now we don't have any." The mayor shook his head and said, "But if you wait a moment..."
"Captain!!"
A shout came from the port, a pirate quickly ran over, gasping and pointing towards the sea, "War, warship! Navy is coming!"
Boom!!
As soon as the words fell, a few cannonballs flew from the distant sea, precisely hitting the ship.
The already damaged ship, at this moment, was like the last straw that broke the camel's back. The mast and wood splinters flew, the main structure broke into two, becoming part of the wreckage in the port's sea.
The pirates who were staying on the ship, under the aftermath of the explosion, jumped into the sea and quickly got onshore.
"My ship!"
Sage's eyes widened as he watched the ship sink, completely unable to react.
The ship he just robbed!
Gone just like that?
The warship sailed directly over the wreckage and docked at the port, a group of navy jumped down, rushing over with a roar.
"This is the Navy 23rd Branch, I am a major from the Navy Branch, pirates, you are under arrest!"
The first navy to rush out shouted, quickly cutting down a fleeing pirate, and two navy soldiers behind him surrounded and pointed guns at that pirate.
"Captain Sage, what should we do!" Gin hunched his body slightly, tightly gripping the staff, and asked.
"What should we do?"
Bang bang bang!
Bullets whistled past, some hitting the pirates, knocking them down.
Several bullets shot towards Sage, scraping close to his body, one bullet about to hit when he raised his arm, pinched it with two fingers, and caught a round bullet.
The bullet fell to the ground with a light sound, Sage looked at the approaching navy with a cold smile, "My ship is gone, then let's take the warship as our ship! Men, fight back!"
"Oh!!"
The captain's words made the pirates around him shout, charging towards the navy.
In terms of numbers, the pirates were certainly at a disadvantage, the number of navy landing was at least twice that of the pirates, and in terms of combat strength, ordinary pirates and navy forces were about equal, perhaps even slightly inferior.
But from an elite perspective, the navy was not at an advantage because pirates with bounties... are not simple.
Bang bang bang!
The sound of bullets rang out again, but they hit a shield.
Pearl banged on the front of the large round shield, letting bullets hit it, sparking.
He extended five fingers, tossing out a Firefly Stone, lighting a fire on the ground, preventing those navy from pursuing the remaining pirates.
"I am the invincible Iron Wall Pearl. Even your cannons I can withstand, both invincible and handsome... how's that, I'm quite experienced, right!" Pearl grinned slantingly, showing his gleaming teeth.
The shield on his back was shattered by Gin and hadn't been repaired yet, but the shield in front was still usable, more than enough to block bullets.
Swish!
A shadow darted by like a leopard from beside Pearl, Gin swooped swiftly towards the navy, the iron ball on his staff scoring a line on the ground, suddenly lifting as he approached the navy.
Bang!!
The ground shattered, with immense force, blowing away the leading navy force.
Gin straightened up, spinning the staff in his hand into a circle, with a whistling wind sound, resting on his shoulder, he looked at the remaining navy with a smirk.
Clang!
Before he could say anything, a silver flash appeared beside him, forming a 'Z' shape, swiftly slashing through the center of the Navy.
It was Lily.
"Breaking the Sky..."
She twirled her rapier, swung it to her side, and then slowly sheathed it. The Navy around her seemed frozen, waiting for Lily to sheath the rapier.
Click.
"Slash."
Shhh!!
As the rapier softly clicked into the sheath, a large amount of blood suddenly spurted from the bodies of the Navy soldiers, who then collapsed, eyes rolling white.
"Charge!!"
The pirates, seeing this, were greatly boosted in morale. Those who were fleeing before were now exhilarated, waving their weapons and engaging with the remaining Navy.
Swords clashed, guns roared, flames blazed, and Sage slowly walked through the crowd, his cape fluttering in the wind. With every step forward, the pirates pushed the Navy back, moving forward until they reached the port, where the Navy all fell.
Under the attack of the three, these Navy soldiers were no match.
"You... I am a Navy Major! I will not retreat!"
The remaining branch major, hand trembling as he held his flintlock gun, aimed at Sage but dared not pull the trigger.
Sage glanced at him, not raising a hand, just quietly watching.
"I, I..."
In the gaze of Sage, the major couldn't pull the trigger.
Sage smiled slightly, slowly stepping onto the warship via the ladder they had lowered.
"Boys."
He turned his back to everyone, saying: "Get the goods on board, we're setting sail!"
The Navy Major finally lowered his flintlock gun; he couldn't fall, he had to take care of the wounded Navy soldiers. He could only threaten: "The Navy won't let you get away!"
Sage chuckled softly and shook his head, saying nothing.
As if the Navy would let him go if he didn't steal the warship.
As a pirate, wasn't it natural to be attacked by the Navy?
How could there be any peaceful coexistence?
The pirates loaded the goods stolen from Kampas Town onto the ship, set sail, and headed out to sea from the port.
This warship was a typical patrol ship, with a maximum capacity of eighty people. It wasn't large, but it was certainly better than a broken ship.
It even had cannons on it.
Sage sat blissfully in the captain's cabin, opening a bottle of rum.
Regarding supplies, what the warship carried was quite good, after all, it was to support the Navy's needs.
Now, not only could he drink, but he also found cigarettes in the captain's cabin.
After taking a few swigs of the rum, Sage lit a cigarette and took a long drag before exhaling a soothing cloud of smoke.
"Whew..."
He almost felt like crying.
It wasn't easy!
To be able to drink and smoke so peacefully, he hadn't dared to dream of such a scene in years, always busy with starting his business, not saying he was flat broke, but at least worrying about getting food.
He was always in between starving and just making ends meet, never full.
Otherwise, why would he have stolen alcohol from bandits in Oykot?
Sage picked up a glass and said to Lily, who was gathering sea maps and other materials in the captain's cabin, "Want a drink... ah, no, you're underage, you can't drink."
Lily, reviewing the materials, asked without looking up, "Sage, what are we going to do next?"
She didn't think there was anything wrong with hijacking a warship; wasn't this what pirates do?
Besides, they had already committed major crimes and didn't mind offending the Navy further.
If anything, a higher bounty could even boost Sage's reputation.
"Keep looting."
Sage, with a cigarette in his mouth, leaned comfortably against the back of the chair, saying, "What's the use of just being well-fed and watered? We still haven't got any money. If one town doesn't yield any, we'll just move to another one, and eventually, we'll strike it rich!"
Pirates aren't satisfied with just being well-fed; they set out to make a fortune, even if it's to find One Piece, isn't it all about seeking the Pirate King's treasure to get rich?
Now, these subordinates of his, although outlaws, some have families.
Who would want to go to sea if they weren't too poor...
Sage needs money for his dreams, and the pirates need money too, so they definitely have to rob.
You can't just rely on grand promises without paying your crew.