One Piece: Failure’s Road to the Pirate King

Under the starry sky, two ships sailed one after another towards the back of the Natia Kingdom.

With Sage's acupuncture technique targeting pain points, there was nothing that couldn't be extracted.

The first pirate who was targeted quickly revealed the location of the hidden entrance.

To prevent any mishaps, Sage randomly selected three more, took them to the cabin and interrogated them one by one. If there was even a slight discrepancy in their stories, he would randomly execute three of them, then choose another three to continue questioning.

These pirates clearly didn't have the guts to lie. Their stories matched perfectly, confirming that the entrance was on the back side of this island. The cliffs surrounding the island were extremely tall, and no matter how long one looked, no opening could be seen. The 'hidden entrance' they spoke of was nowhere to be found.

Sage was now on the fast ship, with Lily by his side, while the subdued pirates crouched in the corner, ensuring that Sage could quickly deal with them if he noticed anything amiss.

Deceiving him was certainly not possible. After all, they were so close that if they couldn't find it, the lie would be exposed quickly. The pirates weren't that stupid.

The so-called 'hidden entrance' must be within these cliffs.

"Sage, I think I see an opening," Lily said softly to Sage as they approached the cliff face.

"Ah, I see it," Sage raised his head, looking up at the high cliff. Directly above them was a circular hole, like an eye.

As the sailboat approached, the circular hole suddenly emitted light, illuminating the sailboat. At that moment, the water stirred, and from the cliff face in front of the sailboat came a rumbling sound as it began to rise.

A door appeared within the cliff!

Inside the door was a deep waterway, completely capable of allowing ships to enter. On both sides, platforms for people to walk on could even be seen!

"This..." Lily's eyes revealed her shock. The island's cliff had been hollowed out?

How could such an engineering feat be accomplished?

"Ca-Captain... This is our hidden entrance. We didn't deceive you," one of the pirates said, relieved at the opening of the rock door. These pirates who could still move had all experienced the pain of the acupuncture technique and hadn't even thought of resisting.

"Shut up," Lily glanced at them coldly. "No talking."

The pirates all covered their mouths, obediently standing there, even their breathing becoming quieter.

Apart from the location of the hidden entrance, there was limited information that could be extracted from these pirates.

They knew their ultimate boss was the king, but they hadn't seen him much. As for the tall man in the black robe, they didn't know his exact appearance either, only that he hid in a large black cloak and was very strong, able to easily uproot houses.

But for Sage, this was already enough.

He didn't need too detailed information, just confirmation that the so-called king and the man in the black robe were here.

Sage waited for the fast ship and the black-sailed warship to enter together, then turned his head to look above the inner rock door. There, a ship's wheel-like control panel was mounted, with a circular hole carved out in front of it. Someone from that side was observing, deciding whether to open the rock door or not.

"Now..." He flicked his finger at the pirate who was about to turn the ship's wheel, sending a flying finger gun that hit the back of his head, causing him to fall face-first onto the control panel.

"It's time for a massacre!" Sage bared his teeth, looking ferocious.

"We've obeyed your orders!" The pirates could no longer contain their fear and cried out, "Didn't you say you would spare us? We told you everything!"

"Lily, duck."

Sage extended one leg, following Lily as she crouched down, that leg sweeping in a circle.

"Tempest Kick: Circular Cut."

Swish! A circle of blue slashes emitted from his leg, quickly striking the pirates' necks and chests. Blood sprayed everywhere as they all fell to the ground.

He glanced at the people on the ground and snorted coldly, "You're all living with your heads hanging by a thread, how can you still be so naive? Besides, when did I ever say I'd let you live?"

He had come here to cause trouble in the first place, how could he possibly let these people live?

Since they were going to fight anyway, it didn't matter if it was sooner or later.

No one could make him take the blame and still get away unscathed, no one!

The ships had already approached the docking point of this small waterway. The pirates waiting at the docking point had just witnessed Sage's killing scene. Their eyes widened, mouths agape, their hands now gripping their weapons.

Zing! A flash of light quickly passed from the fast ship, drawing blood from the vital points of the crowd. Lily stood at the shore, flicking the blood off her sword blade.

Sage bared his teeth, taking a step forward and jumping straight down from the ship. "Let's cause some chaos, boys!"

"Kill them all!!"

Akin led the pirates, jumping down from the black-sailed warship onto the platform, raising their weapons and charging in.

Beyond the docking point was a cave surrounding a body of water, with many ships moored and many pirates dwelling within. Hearing the commotion, they were startled, grabbing their weapons to fight the invading pirates.

But a group of ordinary pirates was no match for Akin. He leapt forward, his body twisting in the air in an extremely bizarre posture, dodging the pirates' attacks. His rotating iron ball cane swung downwards.

Bang!!

He smashed a large dent in the ground, blowing away the surrounding pirates. They all fell, only to be mercilessly finished off by the approaching pirates.

"Open fire, open fire!"

Nearby pirates who had regained their senses raised their guns, aiming at this group and pulling the triggers, but their shots were blocked by a huge round shield.

Paru wore the large iron shield, letting the bullets hit the shield and spark off. He curled his finger, flicking the crescent-shaped hair on his forehead, baring a set of white teeth, "I-"

"Don't block the way."

Sage grabbed Paru and pulled him aside, simultaneously kicking out a pale blue slash that cut through the bodies of those pirates.

He looked at Paru and clicked his tongue, saying, "Next time, don't walk in front of me, or others might think you're the captain."

"Yes, Captain!" Paru stood at attention and shouted loudly.

"Deal with them."

Sage said this and then walked straight ahead.

On the left, the twin shields on Paru's arms ignited with flames as he led a group of pirates to attack the oncoming enemies. His fingers produced several firefly stones from between them, which he smashed onto people, setting them ablaze. While that group was frantically trying to extinguish the flames, they were attacked by the pirates.

On the right, Akin was unstoppable. His rotating cane with the iron ball struck out fiercely, each hit sending a person flying. The impact even blew away the surrounding people, who were then finished off by the remaining pirates.

There was a complete difference between pirates with fighting abilities and those without.

Sage strolled leisurely in the middle, with Lily standing attendant beside him. When they encountered stragglers, she would slash with her thin sword, causing them to spurt blood and fall to the ground.

Sage only stopped when they reached the deepest part, where a large flat area appeared. Surrounding the flat area were stairs leading upwards, seemingly connecting to the top of the island.

Near the water's edge, a figure wearing a black cloak had his back to them, holding a hammer and striking rhythmically.

Around this flat area, many materials were scattered.

There were trimmed sails, leftover nails and bolts, and sections of jet-black wood as hard as iron.

"Finished. Send someone to inspect it."

The black-robed figure struck the final blow, emitting a cold, mechanical-like voice, then slowly stood up. At this moment, his body seemed to grow infinitely tall.

The body covered by the cloak was at least five meters high!

The black-robed figure turned to face Sage, and behind him, a massive object gradually came into Sage's view.

It was a ship mounted on land, seemingly just completed.

Its hull was incredibly huge, with masts that almost touched the rock ceiling above. Compared to this black ship, the black-sailed warship Sage had commandeered looked like a child next to an adult.

A... black ship!