Chapter 75: Battle For The Oriole (part 2)
Inside a banquet hall on the Floating Island, Shiki and the executives of the Flying Pirates were sitting at the table, enjoying fine wine and delicacies transported from the Four Seas.
The decorations in the banquet hall were extremely luxurious, not inferior at all compared to the main halls of some royal palaces.
The grand four pillars and supporting beams were made of top-grade ironwood covered with delicate red lacquer, and the four walls were a gorgeous golden color, adorned with exquisite relief paintings.
The floor underfoot was even laid with rare purple maple wood, and after waxing, its luster was no less than the most gentle jade.
“Captain Shiki, did you suddenly gather us here for something?”
An executive with sharp eyes put down his chopsticks and looked up to ask.
He had suddenly received Shiki’s notification just a few hours ago, asking him to come here for the banquet.
On the way here, this executive was still puzzled, because such a last-minute banquet notification was not in line with Shiki’s style.
Moreover, the banquet location was not the usual banquet hall on the Flying Pirates’ flagship, but directly on the Floating Island, a place where outsiders were not normally allowed.
The other pirates, hearing someone speak first, also put down their chopsticks one after another and looked up toward the main seat at the head.
Seeing this, Shiki drained the sake in his bowl in one gulp, then wiped his mouth with his sleeve cuff, his gaze sweeping over the crowd below.
“Hmm… almost everyone’s here, no need to wait for those who aren’t!”
“I won’t beat around the bush. I called you all here suddenly today for this!”
With that, he stood up and extended his palm, only to see a life card floating in his hand.
“Boss Shiki, this is?”
“It’s John’s life card.”
Lighting a cigar, Shiki answered straightforwardly.
“John?!”
“Didn’t you kill him, Captain? How is there still a life card?”
Most of the pirates below were shocked. They had heard Shiki say personally that John was dead, but now a life card had suddenly appeared…
Where did this thing come from? Why take it out now?
These questions began to swirl in the minds of the pirates.
Only a few executives below lowered their heads in deep thought, as if they understood something.
“John didn’t die. I deliberately let him go.”
Shiki smiled, confidently revealing this news to the many executives below while observing their reactions.
“Are you trying to let him lead us to the treasure’s location?”
Some quick-witted pirate had already figured it out.
Hearing this, Shiki glanced at the executive who had seen through his plan—it was the one who had spoken up first—and nodded in satisfaction.
“Shihahahaha!”
“Exactly!”
“That guy John thinks he’s escaped with his life and will surely go check the treasure’s hiding spot. That greedy man can’t stand being separated from his treasure.”
Shiki, who knew John’s nature well, was very certain that the man would retrieve the hidden treasure at the first opportunity after confirming his safety.
“So what do we do now…”
“Each of you take a piece of John’s life card and head in different directions to lock down that guy John’s approximate location at the fastest speed.”
“Once you find him, don’t rush to act. Just make sure he stays under our surveillance without losing him.”
“And when he can’t resist going for the treasure, that’s when we close the net!”
Shiki didn’t waste words and directly laid out his plan, then immediately assigned the tasks.
“Hainar, you take half the men and search spread out to the north.”
“Chete, you take the other half and go south.”
“You two keep in constant communication and report your positions in real time.”
“Yes!”
Hainar and the executive who had spoken up first both acknowledged the orders.
In theory, pinpointing someone’s location on the vast sea using just a life card is difficult to achieve, as a life card only roughly indicates its owner’s direction.
Even using multiple life cards to triangulate and narrow the range has a high probability of missing the target.
But the Flying Pirates have an advantage others can’t match.
They can search for targets on the sea surface from the air, which greatly reduces the chance of missing the target.
Moreover, adding a z-axis coordinate greatly expands the search vision and precision, turning what was originally a life card tracking method heavily reliant on luck into a truly practical method.
The pirates below became excited upon hearing Shiki’s plan.
They hadn’t expected the treasure they thought was lost forever to reappear before them, so they all stepped forward to take a small piece of the life card.
“You’re all veterans in the organization, so I won’t say much.”
“But remember one thing! Don’t let anyone else know about this! Including those subordinate pirate crews below.”
“If anyone can’t keep their mouth shut after going back…”
Shiki’s voice grew icy, his aura turning dangerous.
“I’ll chop them up and throw them off the Floating Island to feed the fish! Got it?!”
He had only notified the Flying Pirates’ executives this time precisely to avoid any leaks beforehand.
If John or Linlin, Kaido, and the others found out, it would be trouble, after all, lions don’t share their prey.
“Understood, Boss! We get it.”
“Don’t worry, Captain.”
“Haha, this time we’ll definitely get our hands on the treasure!”
The Flying Pirates’ executives all patted their chests in assurance, then eagerly left the banquet hall to prepare for the hunt for John.
Watching the pirates riding ‘floating stones’ back to the sea surface, Shiki clasped his hands behind his back, his eyes burning with unconcealed ambition.
“You just watch from hell, Rocks. What you couldn’t do, I’ll accomplish for you.”
…
That night, a gentle breeze rippled across the sea surface.
“We’re almost there, Big Sister. We can already see the island’s outline.”
Obei, who had been standing at the bow confirming the direction, said.
In her vision, the strangely shaped volcano on Fenrir Island was the most prominent landmark, but the ancient lighthouse standing at the island’s edge seemed unable to fulfill its role this time.
“Is that right? So this is our new stronghold? Looks pretty good.”
Lawen, who had been sitting in a chair listening to Aoxi recount her glorious feats of conquering cities and seizing several islands along the way, stood up.
She walked to Obei’s side and gazed toward the distant place flickering with points of firelight.
Seeing Lawen interested in the new stronghold, Aoxi hurriedly followed and shared what she had seen and heard on the island.
“Let me tell you, Sister La.
This Fenrir Island is way bigger than our old island, and there are so many shops, so much good food.
I saw a place selling cotton candy that could be shaped into all kinds of animals, including even cockroach shapes…”
Lawen could naturally see Fenrir Island’s prosperity.
Although they were still quite a distance from the island and it was the pitch-black night, with her extraordinary senses, the scenes on Fenrir Island were already fully visible to her.
Even after a major upheaval of changing flags and allegiances, the island remained brightly lit, as if unaffected.
Listening carefully, one could even hear all sorts of cries of hawkers and shouts.
It seemed like a typical New World-style island.
“Has Captain Kaido said anything about the situation on his end after returning?”
Lawen suddenly shifted the topic to Kaido.
“No.”
Obei shook her head, then added:
“But I asked that guy Ember, and he said they didn’t find John’s treasure on Hachinosu Island.
And John himself seems to have been killed outright by that guy called the Golden Lion.”
“Yeah, yeah, those two guys brought back a lot of chests of treasure, but the pirates following behind said it was just some scraps left over.
I wanted to see what that so-called Rocks’ treasure was really like~”
Aoxi said disappointedly.
“That does seem like a regret.
But we’ve achieved our goal, and this operation can be considered a complete success.”
Lawen’s thinking was similar to Kaido’s.
Since they had secured territory and the main goal was accomplished, whether they found the treasure or not wasn’t important.
Traveling on the sea was like that—though the island was in sight, it still took the group quite some time to truly arrive.
After swaying the ship to dock at the port and furling the sails and dropping anchor, the group disembarked and set foot on the land of their new stronghold.
Unexpectedly, Burufaruto and Ember were both standing by the dock waiting for them.
