One Piece: Failure’s Road to the Pirate King

Boom!

The black-sailed warship mercilessly fired its side cannons, launching shells towards the black-sailed ship. They exploded in the nearby water, sending up huge splashes. After firing the side cannons, the warship immediately changed course, charging fiercely at the black-sailed ship while continuously firing shells from the main guns on the front deck.

They weren't very close, and with the warship's speed, it was difficult to catch up to the fast ship. They could only attack with cannons.

But at this distance, it was also hard to hit with cannons.

"I'll do it!"

Seeing that the cannons couldn't hit, Sage impatiently used Moon Walk, leaping through the air towards the black-sailed ship. When he was halfway there, he kicked off and jumped high into the sky, raising his right leg high above his head.

"Tempest Kick."

Sage stared intently at the black-sailed ship as he swung his leg down with tremendous force.

"Great Scythe!"

Whoosh! A massive pale blue slash attack shot out vertically, its tail end cutting through the water surface, forming a huge inverted V-shaped trail. It chased after the black-sailed ship at incredible speed, slicing through it as easily as cutting butter. The ship's stern was smoothly cut open all the way to the bow, splitting the entire vessel in half. Even the mast was cleaved in two, like it had been split down the middle, completely separating the ship.

Sage took several steps in the air to quickly descend onto the stern of the black-sailed ship. He snarled, "Run! Keep running! Let's see where else you can run to!"

After taking the blame for several days, he had finally found the real culprits!

The pirates on the ship stood dumbfounded on the two halves of the broken vessel, terror evident on their faces. They clearly hadn't yet recovered from witnessing their ship being sliced in half.

Sage scanned the area and, seeing only ordinary pirates, asked, "Where's the person in the black robe?"

"Wh-what person in a black robe?" a pirate stammered.

"Where's your leader!"

Sage jumped right in front of the pirate, grabbing his collar and growling fiercely, "You raided Campas Town, didn't you? But the warships have been chasing me every day, you know? Where's your hideout, and where did you stash the treasure?!"

"I-I don't know anything," the pirate cried out in panic. "We only raided that town, we don't know anything else!"

Faced with someone who could slice a ship in half with one strike, they truly had lost the courage to fight back.

"Fine, you won't talk, huh."

Sage swiftly jabbed the pirate's forehead with his hand, and the pirate immediately froze in place, only his eyeballs darting around frantically.

He looked at the other pirates and said, "I hit his pressure point. It will keep him immobilized for half a day. Now then..."

Splash!

With one kick, he sent the man flying into the sea.

"Pirates are all good swimmers, right? But if you can't move for half a day in the water, can you still use those swimming skills?" 

Sage sneered at the pirates, "You wouldn't want to be drowned alive by the sea you love so much, would you?"

"Don't-don't be afraid!" 

A pirate who seemed to be the leader trembled as he gripped his blade tightly, stuttering, "He's-he's just one person. We-we're pirates with backbone! Men, just take him down!"

"Oh really?" 

Sage took one step towards that pirate.

Just that one step was enough. The pirate immediately dropped his blade, fell to his knees and shouted loudly:

"We're so sorry! We're pirates from the Kingdom of Nadia! We sincerely apologize for the trouble we've caused you!"

The pirate who had been thrown into the sea had sunk straight down and still hadn't surfaced.

He didn't want to be the second one.

"Tch, backbone..."

Sage glanced back at the black-sailed warship gradually approaching, and said nothing more, waiting for his subordinates to come over.

There were only about twenty pirates on the fast ship. It wasn't a large number, and they didn't dare resist after being intimidated by Sage. Soon, they and their plundered loot were all brought onto the ship.

The twenty-odd pirates were tied up and made to kneel on the deck, surrounded by a group of grinning pirates holding swords.

Lily brought a chair and placed it on the deck for Sage to sit. He was now holding a stack of Belly bills, tapping them against his hand while looking at the pirate captives. "That Nadia of yours-"

"It's Nadia!" Lily suddenly corrected.

"Is there any difference?" Sage looked at Lily.

"No-" Lily shook her head. "It just feels off somehow. Better to say it correctly."

She didn't know where this feeling came from, but she felt it wasn't good to call it Nadia.

"Fine, Nadia then."

Sage said, "This Kingdom of Nadia of yours, they sent you out as pirates to plunder?"

This group of black-sailed pirates came from the nearby Kingdom of Nadia. All their looting operations were directed by that kingdom.

Including the recent robberies of three major economic towns - they were all their doing.

They just flew a black sail, and as long as they escaped quickly, no one would know who did it.

Originally after the robberies, the kingdom had told them to wait for a while, until things died down before going out again. According to the higher-ups, they seemed to be making some kind of treasure. With that treasure, they would never have to fear the Navy chasing them during future robberies.

Everyone was resting up, but then they heard a rumor that another group of black-sailed pirates had appeared somewhere, and had even robbed a warship. Now they were being pursued by the Navy.

After confirming multiple times that it wasn't them, many pirates got ideas.

Since someone else was drawing attention, why not take this chance to plunder more! So they formed their own pirate crew and went to raid other places. But they had only just robbed one town when Sage discovered them.

"Your king organized privateering pirates?" Sage frowned.

The pirates all fell silent at this, lowering their heads without saying a word.

Sage didn't press further. This kind of thing, even if they said it, no one would believe it.

It wasn't without precedent for a king to form a pirate crew, but this was something that could be discussed privately. No one would admit to it publicly.

One was a king ruling a country, the other infamous pirates. The gap between them was too great.

"Alright, we've found the real culprits. I have one more question."

Sage waved the Belly bills in his hand and said, "That town seemed to have a very large building. Why didn't you rob that place, and only robbed some ordinary people?"

This ship's haul included various gold and silver jewelry, as well as 1 million Belly.

This wasn't a small take. Even divided among these pirates, it wasn't bad.

An ordinary person's monthly salary was only about 100,000 Belly. This one trip was equivalent to half a month or even a month's wages for others.

Being a pirate was definitely a way to get rich quick.

"That rich person had very strong defenses. We didn't dare go there, and we were also afraid the Navy would come, so we just took some money and left," the pirate answered honestly.

"Just that? Then why be pirates?" 

Sage sneered and waved his hand. "Throw them overboard."

His subordinates tossed the bound pirates into the sea one by one. Whether they lived or died was up to fate.

The sea itself was cruel.

Being a pirate meant putting your life on the line.

This was something Sage had prepared for when he first became a pirate.

"Sage, are we going straight to Nadia?" Lily asked.

"No rush."

Sage shook his head and looked towards the town, which was dark in the front half and brightly lit in the back half. "Since we've already taken the blame, might as well go all the way. We're all black-sailed pirates, so let's finish what they didn't do! Men, get closer to the town. We're continuing the raid!"

"Oh!!"

The pirates raised their blades and shouted, then began to turn the ship, sailing directly towards the town.

Before long, the black-sailed warship approached the town.

Sage leapt down from the ship's railing carrying a burlap sack, followed by Lily and Ajin. Behind them was a group of pirates led by Paul, heading straight for the town.

The people here were still putting out fires. The previous black-sailed pirates had fired a few cannon shots at them, causing chaos.

The fires had just been extinguished. Among the robbed civilians, some were kneeling on the ground crying in front of their houses, while others clung tightly to injured people, comforting each other.

Then they saw the black-sailed pirates had returned.

"Everyone! We can't let them rob us again!"

A civilian who had fought with the pirates earlier and still had a wound on his abdomen gritted his teeth and stepped forward. "We have no money left. If they rob us again we won't be able to survive. We must drive them back!"

A group of civilians quickly gathered, holding wooden sticks and pitchforks, glaring at the approaching pirates with hatred.

If they were robbed again, they wouldn't even be able to pay the mayor's taxes! Not paying taxes would lead to consequences far worse than being robbed. No matter what, they had to fight...

Sage tossed the sack towards the group. The sack's mouth opened, spilling out Belly bills and gold and silver jewelry.

This scene stunned the civilians.

That seemed to be their property.

"Make way! I'm here to rob the richest person at the highest point!" Sage shouted.

"Alright then!"

The civilians who had been glaring with hatred quickly parted to make a path, allowing Sage and his group to pass through.

The rich person up there was just the mayor, right? That was fine then.