One Piece: Failure’s Road to the Pirate King

The grand mansion at the highest point was so bright that it seemed even more extravagant than the entire town below, resembling a medieval noble castle overlooking the settlement.

Sage walked all the way without any obstacles until he reached the mansion's entrance, where he was stopped by a group of guards.

There were over a hundred guards, and upon seeing the pirates approaching, they didn't give Sage a chance to speak and charged directly at him.

And then there was nothing more to say.

Sage didn't even need to lift a finger; Lily drew her slender sword, her body moving like a swimming dragon, and with two swift passes through the crowd, she took down a third of them.

Akin swung his cane and charged into the crowd; with each swing of his cane, the iron ball smashed down, taking out another third.

The remaining third was dealt with by Palu and the other pirates.

In an instant, the ground was littered with fallen guards.

Sage stepped over the fallen guards, glanced at them, and shook his head, saying, "Over a hundred thousand Berries a month, what a waste of life."

Bang!!

Akin spun his cane, smashing the heavy door open, and the fierce-looking pirates rushed inside, beginning to search for loot.

"Tsk!"

As soon as Sage entered, he was taken aback by the place; the walls were covered in gold leaf, the wall lamps shone with a golden light, there were luxurious carpets, expensive mahogany, and on the dining table, there were bottles of wine that looked expensive. He picked up a bottle of red wine, poured himself a glass, and looked at the jeweled goblet in his hand, cursing, "Even the damn cups are encrusted with gems, you really are extravagant!"

"Spare me, spare me!"

A man with a brain full of fat like a bloated pig was dragged out by the pirates, kneeling before Sage, his fat face already pale with fear.

"I am the mayor of this town, I have money, I have a lot of money, please don't kill me!" he cried, tears streaming down his face.

"I certainly know you have a lot of money, don't be nervous, I'm here to seek wealth, not to kill."

Sage swirled the wine in his glass, took a small sip, and said, "So, Mr. Mayor, you surely don't want my men to be running around, do you? Just tell us where you hide your money, and we can all relax. But..."

Lily pressed her slender sword against the mayor's neck, the sharp blade cutting through his layer of fat, drawing blood.

"Yikes!!"

The mayor let out a strange cry, scrambling backward away from the sword.

Sage gave Lily an appreciative glance and said to the mayor, "If you lie to me and I find another hiding place for your money, that won't be good."

After a show of force, the mayor dared not harbor any thoughts of hiding anything. In fact, he couldn't hide anything; the pirates were searching frantically, even taking down beautiful gem-encrusted clocks, and some had already begun to prepare to destroy the walls to see if there were any hidden compartments.

To prevent the house from being destroyed, the mayor had no choice but to reveal the hiding places of his money.

Soon, gold bars, coins, gems, a large amount of Berries, and even fine wines and high-end ingredients from the kitchen were all brought out by the pirates, the sheer quantity making Sage's eyes widen.

"Captain, this is all my wealth," the mayor said, rubbing his hands together with a forced smile.

"Just a town mayor, where did all this money come from? Do you have some business channels?"

Although it was somewhat shameful, he had truly never seen so much money in his life.

"No, Captain, I just have the power to collect taxes."

The mayor pinched his thumb and index finger together, leaving a small gap, and smiled ingratiatingly, "I just collected a little extra."

This made Lily's eyes turn cold, and the slender sword in her hand trembled slightly, as if looking for an angle to strike.

"You really deserve to die!" Sage gritted his teeth and said, then downed the red wine in his glass, not forgetting to take the jeweled goblet with him as he left the mansion.

Lily hesitated for a moment but ultimately abandoned the idea of killing the mayor, she sheathed her sword and followed Sage.

"Oh? I thought you would take action," Sage said, somewhat surprised. "Why did you change your mind?"

"No need. Even if this mayor dies, they will just elect another one, and the result will be the same."

Lily looked at the buildings in the town and said solemnly, "Rather than hoping someone dies to change the situation, it's better to let them understand that only by taking initiative can they truly make a change."

Sage grinned, showing his teeth: "Exactly."

"Captain! I see a warship!"

A pirate who was using a telescope to scout the sea shouted loudly.

"Still haunting us, huh? Boys, pick up the pace, we're leaving!" Sage called out, urging the pirates to quicken their steps toward the black-sailed warship.

"My money!!"

Inside the massive mansion, the mayor rolled on the ground in agony.

The wealth he had painstakingly gathered was gone in a night... no, it was gone in just a few minutes.

"Damned pirates, cursed pirates! They will get their comeuppance sooner or later!"

The mayor pounded the ground a few times in frustration, then a glimmer of a smile appeared on his face: "I can just raise the taxes again; the townspeople won't dare to resist me. Just a little more, and I can definitely get that wealth back."

"Not so fast!"

A voice appeared beside him, and the mayor turned to see several young men streaming in. One of the youths kicked the mayor over and pulled out a dagger from his waist.

"What do you want?!" the mayor exclaimed in terror.

"Do you remember? My father was driven to death by your taxes! In the stormy weather, because he couldn't pay the taxes, he had to go out to fish, and he died!"

The youth crouched down, the dagger inching closer to the mayor's head. "I've always wanted revenge, but your guards were too many; I couldn't find an opportunity."

"You can't kill me! I'm the mayor; do you want to commit a grave crime?!" the mayor shouted.

"Who knows..."

The youth replied coldly, "The pirates came; dying at their hands is just normal, right?"

Swish! The dagger pierced the mayor's neck, twisting violently, making the mayor's eyes widen as he instinctively grabbed the youth's hand.

But it was useless; the other youths each took a knife and stabbed it into the mayor's body, causing his corpulent form to tremble before collapsing to the ground.

"Bogha, what do we do next?" One of the youths wiped the sweat from his forehead after seeing the mayor dead and asked.

"Set sail!"

The first youth to act said firmly, "We will also become pirates! That way, if such a mayor appears again in this town, we can imitate those pirates and kill the mayor! Only then can we protect the town and everyone!"

"Alright! Bogha, I'm with you!"

"Me too!"

"We were all orphans, so let's go to sea together!"

The youths voiced their agreement.

"But to go to sea... we have no money and no ship," one of the questioning youths said worriedly.

"We do have something!"

One youth suddenly noticed something, picked up an object from the ground, which was a gold bar, shimmering with golden light under the illumination.

"Those pirates left something behind; we have funds now!"