The moon is bright.
The sky's moon is shining brightly, casting a silver glow, draping a silver-white veil over the mountains. In the mountain paths of the main island, Gares, a group is trekking over the mountains by moonlight.
"Calculating by time and distance, even the fastest would have just emerged from the mountain path, but they're still timely."
Lily estimated the distance to the army and moved towards the ten o'clock direction.
The army will not wait for them in place, so calculating the distance for raiding is crucial. With the intelligence and maps they gathered from Augustine Castle, Lily calculated very precisely and managed to intercept the army.
It took a total of two days, during which they took out twelve teams.
The numbers in these teams were not fixed, some had two to three thousand, while others reached four to five thousand.
But without exception, all were killed by Lily.
Her Supreme King could not indefinitely stun ten thousand people, but occasionally stunning them was absolutely fine.
With the twelve teams they encountered, Lily kept track of the numbers, amounting to over seventy thousand defeated, achieving victory with fewer numbers.
There are still less than thirty thousand left, based on the strategic goal, they have already achieved victory, such a number cannot stop Sage.
But if they intend to crush Gares' army, they must defeat them completely.
Especially since there are two troublesome figures remaining.
Based on the two encountered before, the remaining two must not be weak, and letting them go might cause Sage some trouble, which would mean failure in their plan.
Until the mission is fully completed, Lily won't let her guard down.
The Pirate team of about five thousand also suffered losses; though Lily's Supreme King stunned a batch, there were those with strong will not intimidated by it, causing casualties in the battle.
As long as there's fighting, deaths are inevitable.
Whether it's veteran Pirates or new recruits, some died on the battlefield.
After defeating seventy to eighty thousand, their side only lost a little over a thousand, almost two thousand. The morale of the newcomers not only remained intact but grew stronger.
After all, since it wasn't their deaths, and with the battle damage being so explosive, and victory drawing nearer, once they truly achieve the feat of defeating a hundred thousand, then this kingdom... would be a place they could rule!
As Pirates, isn't it all for wealth and territory? Now with the new Captain leading them to this point, they're almost there, escaping now would be truly foolish.
"Spotted someone, jabber!"
The tracking-specialized Owl used Moon Step to leap through the woods, moving silently as an 'Owl', especially in a dark wooded area, making him perfect for reconnaissance.
Despite being a big-mouthed one, Lily's instruction was simple: spot someone, report back immediately, regardless of secrecy, as long as the position is confirmed.
"Let's go!"
Lily drew her fine sword, leapt out of the woods, reaching a mountain path entrance at the foot of the mountain, her eyes flashing crimson; she hesitated to unleash the Supreme King upon seeing the sole figure ahead, frowning.
There's only one person there...
This person is an old man with white hair, whose wide priest's robe barely conceals his corpulent form, his protruding belly distending the robe, with layers of fat accumulating on his face, giving him three chins without lowering his head.
Though he smiles amiably, looking like a kind fat old man, Lily feels something amiss, naturally harboring some aversion towards him.
"Reinforcements? No... Reinforcements wouldn't be like this, is it the enemy?"
The corpulent old man looked over, revealing surprise, thought for a moment and said, "So, it's you guys, the ones who destroyed Augustine among the Disaster Pirates, you should be his subordinates then, planning to sneak attack us?"
As he spoke, he glanced at those trailing behind Lily, stained with dried blood, and said, "Seems you've taken out quite a few."
"Just one person?"
Lily glanced around, using Observation, but sensed indeed only this one person nearby.
There are no other footprints or signs of passage on the dirt path in the mountain.
Along this journey, Lily, aside from calculating the army's travel time and distance, also searched for traces in the surroundings. For Special Agents like Jabra, Kumadori, and Owl, this was quite simple, as they'd been traveling for a while and supplies consumed would leave traces.
Discarded water bottles, leftover food scraps, even used campfires, anything not part of nature indicated human activity.
But here, nothing was found.
This fat old man is alone.
Lily's gaze turned cold, ready to kill him, but then Moriah's familiar chuckle resounded:
"Hey hee hee hee, it's actually you, I thought it was a namesake..."
Moriah emerged from the rear, smiling, eyes intense, "It's been over a decade, Faruga!"
"Oh!"
The fat old man's eyes widened with joy, "That voice, and the attire... Moriah, is it you! I heard you've become one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, didn't expect you here!"
The two looked at each other like old friends who hadn't seen each other for years and spoke in unison.
"You've gained weight, huh."
"So have you. Now you're hideously ugly!"
The two paused again, exchanged a glance, one laughed mischievously, the other threw back his head in laughter, the fat on his chin jiggling.
"You know each other?" Lily asked.
"This guy is someone I encountered when I first went to sea. He used to be a bounty hunter and chased me for quite a while!"
Moriah pointed at Faruga, chuckling, "I didn't expect you to be from this country and become a priest. Did you find religion?"
"I only joined about ten years ago, around the time you became one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. That's when I came to Gares."
Faruga said cheerfully, "As I got older, now only the divine can give me solace. Moriah, I remember you used to be a believer too?"
"Hey, hee hee hee, that was a long time ago. Now I have other things to do, no time to worship any gods," Moriah laughed.
Besides being a strategist, he was also a priest... and a wizard.
"Is Lord Moriah friends with him?"
Gin stepped forward from behind, glanced at Faruga, and said, "In that case, perhaps we can..."
"You all should leave first."
Before he could finish, Moriah waved his hand and said, "This guy is a pain to deal with. Don't be fooled by his being alone; if we're not careful, the whole mountain will be full of him. Just leave it to me..."
Moriah spread his arms, grinning menacingly at Faruga, "For a long time now, I've wanted to kill you!"
"What a coincidence, me too."
Faruga's formerly kind and chubby face now turned into something dark and evil, utterly unlike a mere praying priest.
"Over ten years ago, I wanted your head!" His voice was terrifyingly low.
"Is it hard to handle? Got it."
Lily observed Faruga for a while then sheathed her sword, saying to Moriah, "Then I'll leave it to you."
She didn't understand why they had to fight, but since Moriah said so, there's surely a reason.
So Lily didn't linger, leaving with her people. Faruga didn't stop them, only glancing sideways after they left and said:
"You joined the Disaster Pirates? No longer one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea? How strange. I heard you were defeated by Kaido. Have you lost your ambition already?"
"Hey hee hee hee hee, that's because you haven't met Sage. That guy is worth entrusting my remaining dreams to. As for you... whatever happened to that little boy who used to be inseparable from you?" Moriah laughed.
"Ah... died."
Faruga spoke as if it were trivial, with wicked amusement, "So I came here to be a priest. Those nobles are wonderful; they constantly supply new little boys for me. Those gentle, petite, helpless little boys... I heard William has the most delectable little boy, and once I defeat William, that little boy will be mine!"
"Shadow Horn Spear!"
In the moonlight, Moriah's shadow rapidly elongated, rising up to form a spear with a gecko-like tip, piercing through the obese figure.
Moriah's temple throbbed with anger, his face wore a strange smile mixed with fury, "You're even more hateful than before, hey hee hee hee hee!"
"Is that so..."
Despite being pierced by the Shadow Horn Spear, Faruga didn't bleed a single drop. He raised his head, forcing a grim smile at Moriah, "You're not much better off either, where's your old flair gone."
The body split open where the shadow pierced, dividing into two halves, like some soft mitotic structure, quickly expanding during a moment of instability into two identical Faruga figures.
Two.
"Familiar tactics, but alas, useless against me."
The two figures, under the moonlight, elongated their shadows and spoke in unison.
Moriah chuckled, "The fruit ability is more refined now, Faruga..."
Faruga, a man who made a deep impression on Moriah more than ten years ago, was also an ability user.
"After all these years, resolve may fade, the body may age, but this ability remains unchanged..."
The two Faruga figures sighed, saying to Moriah, "Well then, let's continue the unfinished battle from long ago, Moriah."
Faruga, the Split Person who ate the Split-Split Fruit, can freely divide his body and transform into identical sizes. Additionally, he can enlarge or shrink the split body, and by continuously splitting, one person can become an army of thousands or tens of thousands.
No matter how you attack, as long as one body remains alive, he won't die.
This is also why Moriah asked Lily to leave first. Getting entangled with this guy would really make it hard to end the battle anytime soon.