The pinnacle of pirates begins with deceiving fate!

Napa Village

The villagers knelt on the open ground, their faces devout and their eyes filled with fear as they kowtowed in worship.

Before them stood a black building with a sharp roof that seemed to pierce the sky, its exterior walls covered with dense patterns of karmic fire.

Amidst endless karmic flames, a sinister bird spreads its wings, raises its sharp beak, and cries out to the sky.

On the predominantly black building, only the bird's eyes... are blood red.

The building, located in the Kingdom of Felosse, is known as the Palace of the Sun.

In front of the palace gates, dozens of royal guards stood, surrounding two figures.

The two figures were a middle-aged man dressed in a magnificent priest's robe and a beautiful woman squatting at his feet in a dog-sitting position.

The man held a chain in his hand, which was connected to the collar around the woman's fair neck.

"You know the consequences if the amount of tribute you handed in this month doesn't meet the target, right?"

The priest smiled as he stared at the villagers kneeling on the ground, but his tone was incredibly sinister.

"High Priest, we are so hungry that we have no strength to offer sacrifices to the Sun God. Please give us something to eat."

The old village chief, his skin dark and withered like rotten wood, shakily crawled forward, looking up at the priest with pleading eyes.

The priest's smile widened, and he suddenly raised his leg and stomped on the old village chief's deeply furrowed face, injuring the old village chief's already toothless gums and causing blood to spurt out.

The priest withdrew his foot, and the woman beside him quickly used her sleeve to wipe the blood-stained shoe surface until the leather was so smooth that it reflected a person's image.

The old village chief, ignoring the pain in his mouth, looked at the woman with immense heartache; she was his granddaughter.

"The Sun God recently applied to join the World Government. According to those guys called the 'Five Elders,' we are required to pay 'Heavenly Gold' to Mary Geoise every year."

The priest watched with a mocking expression as he read the painful look on the old village chief's face, muttering incantations as he pronounced the fate that the villagers were about to face.

"Since you can no longer produce tribute, then make the most of your remaining energy by selling your goods to slave traders in exchange for Beli to pay 'Heavenly Gold' to the Kingdom of Felose."

Bang

As soon as the words were spoken, a gunshot rang out.

A bullet flew from a distance and pierced the priest's temple. The priest's pupils suddenly went blank, and his body tilted and fell to the ground.

Instantly, the villagers pressed their foreheads to the ground in terror, not daring to feel even a little joy at the priest's death.

The royal guards slowly turned their heads, casting their gazes toward where the bullets had come from.

On the rugged dirt road of the village, a group of figures wearing dark green cloaks slowly approached.

Upon arriving at the open space, the two leaders removed their hoods, revealing their faces; they were none other than Dragon and Vincent.

Chapter 67 The Black Bird

"Everyone, get up! We will bring freedom to the people here!"

"Rise up and join us in overthrowing the corrupt nobles!"

Vincent and Dorag were full of ambition and wanted to rally the kneeling villagers to rise up and resist together.

However, the villagers remained kneeling on the ground, ignoring what the two men said.

The Kingdom Guards made no move, merely watching Dorrag and his men with increasingly strange expressions.

What exactly is going on here?

Even the slow-witted Dragon noticed something was wrong.

Vincent frowned, recalling what his father had once said.

'The priest is an unkillable monster; our only option is... to escape.'

Just then, the priest's corpse on the ground moved, and black flames surged from the piercing wound at his temple, his injuries visibly healing.

Immediately afterwards, to the horrified gazes of Dragon and the others, the priest stood up unharmed.

"I am an apostle of the sun god, I... am immortal!"

The priest smiled grimly, raised his hand and pointed at Dragon and the others, giving them orders.

"Impart divine punishment to these scoundrels who have offended the majesty of the sun god!"

Upon receiving the order, the Kingdom Guard, like demons emerging from hell, charged towards Dorrag and his men, brandishing their standard longswords.

bang bang

Without any hesitation, Dorrag and his men decisively opened fire on the charging Kingdom Guard.

Orange-yellow streaks flew across the black earth, striking the bodies of guards and tearing flesh and blood apart.

Strangely, the fifty-meter-tall guards charged through the gunfire of more than thirty men, and although most of them were shot, only a very few fell.

As the two sides drew closer and closer, they were about to engage in close combat.

"Retreat! Retreat quickly!"

Dragon used his tactical knowledge from the Navy Headquarters to lead his comrades in a fighting retreat, using gunfire to build a defensive line to prevent the guards from getting closer.

As more and more guards fell, Vincent finally noticed the secret of this group of seemingly "immortals".

"They're not immortal! They must have taken some kind of pain-blocking drug, so they'll keep charging as long as they don't suffer a fatal wound!"

"They have helmets and breastplates, making them difficult to kill with a single shot. Shoot them in the legs!"

"Oh!"

As their weaknesses were discovered, the Kingdom Guard fell one after another like dominoes amidst a hail of bullets.

But it still wouldn't give up. When its legs couldn't move, it used its hands. Its pupils were bloodshot, and it looked like a demon as it frantically crawled toward Dorrag and the others.

But hands can't outrun legs, and they were kept at a safe distance until they were riddled with bullets and died completely.

"What a bunch of useless trash!"

The priest stepped over the corpses of the kingdom's guards and walked toward the group of foreign heretics, drawing his longsword and slashing down fiercely.

Clang

The sound of a sword rang out, and a black flying slash burst forth from the blade, sweeping through the air and heading straight for Dorrag.

Dorag instinctively sidestepped to dodge the slash, but then heard a series of shrill screams behind him.

It was his partner, who was standing behind him, who was hit by the flying slash!

Damn it!

A bead of cold sweat slid down Dragon's forehead, and filled with immense guilt, he turned to check on his companion's injuries.

"Don't look back!"

Vincent roared suddenly, throwing away his gun and pulling handcuffs from his pocket as he strode toward the priest.

"Everyone here was prepared to die. We two carry a heavy burden. Even if our comrades sacrifice themselves, we must not lose our way. We must win!"

"We must live up to their sacrifice! We must let the flowers of freedom bloom on this land!"

With that, Vincent suddenly accelerated and slammed his right fist, which was gripping the overlapping handcuffs, toward the priest.

He found the handcuffs in an ammunition box; they must have been dropped by a marine, and he happened to use them as brass knuckles because he was good with his fists.

"Foolish heretics."

Faced with the incoming fist, the priest neither dodged nor avoided it, but took it to his face, while simultaneously slashing at Vincent with his sword.

Having achieved immortality, he is not afraid to exchange injuries for injuries!

clang

Just as the longsword was about to strike Vincent's neck, sparks suddenly flew from the blade, causing the sword to deflect.

Vincent seemed to know this was going to happen, and without the slightest distraction, he slammed his handcuffed brass knuckles-covered fist heavily into the priest's cheek.

Instantly, black ash fell from the priest's side where he had been hit, and the intense pain caused him to scream.

Using the momentum from being hit, the priest staggered backward, creating a safe distance from Vincent, and stared at the brass knuckles in horror.

"What is this thing? How could it hurt me!"

"Could it be..."

Behind him, Dragon, who had been shot by the longsword, lowered his gun, a possibility surfacing in his mind.

"Vincent, it's Seastone! The handcuffs you're wearing are made of Seastone. That guy's immortality is a Devil Fruit ability, which is countered by Seastone!"

"I see!"

Vincent grinned menacingly, tightened his grip on the brass knuckles, and lunged forward to throw a punch.

"Now that we know your weakness, then die!"

The fear of death gripped the priest, and he completely panicked, forgetting that he was stronger than his opponent. He frantically dodged and searched for an opportunity to escape.

Bang

Gunshots rang out, and Dorag seized the opportunity to hit the priest in the left knee, causing the priest to lose his balance and lean to the left.

Vincent seized the opportunity and delivered another heavy punch to the priest's left cheek, immediately causing his cheekbone to cave in and a large amount of black ash to fall off.

The dented area, resembling burnt wood, clearly showed capillary patterns, flickering with sparks as the heart beat.

"They look like ghosts crawling out of hell!"

Without any hesitation, Vincent decisively chased after the fallen priest, straddling him and repeatedly slamming his right fist into his face.

With each punch, the priest's head gradually caved in and shriveled, finally exploding under the immense pressure.

But not a drop of blood was spilled; instead, only ashes, speckled with embers, rose into the air.

"Seastone, it's been a huge help!"

Vincent sat panting on the priest's corpse, looking at the handcuffs on his right hand with immense relief.

Suddenly, he felt the corpse under his buttocks become scalding hot, so hot that he jumped up with a "whoosh".

Standing to the side, they warily watched the priest's corpse, fearing it might rise from the dead. But then, the corpse suddenly spewed out black flames and spontaneously combusted.

A lifelike black bird flew out of the flames, carrying a transparent soul resembling a priest. It spread its wings and soared into the sky, turning into specks of black light and disappearing without a trace.