The people Sage gathered, along with the members of the Pirates themselves, totaled over five thousand, which is certainly not enough for such a giant city. Just the private soldiers of the nobility here, if united, would definitely surpass the number of the Pirates.
Plus, being pirates, they are naturally unpopular with the local residents, and the resistance they encounter is likely to be even stronger.
But it doesn't matter, Sage didn't give them a chance to unite.
In the huge Augustine Castle, there are also waterways, arranged like those in Water Seven, but with less water.
According to the architectural divisions, the city is divided into four districts. Within each district, there are smaller walls that separate the Rich District from the residential areas, which conveniently saves Sage the trouble of selecting targets.
The buildings inside the small walls are of a completely different magnitude than the houses outside. The buildings outside are mostly two or three-story small buildings, and there are even low single-story houses, clearly belonging to the commoners, while inside the walls are all large estates. There's no need to even look, just head straight there.
Five thousand people were divided into four teams, led by Lily, Moriah, Hawkins... and Sage himself, heading to the four districts respectively.
Lily and Moriah are easy to talk to, one possessing Supreme King Color, the other being extraordinarily powerful. They took some old Pirates and some new recruits and headed directly to the west and south city.
Hawkins coordinated with Urouge, taking most of the junior officers to the east city location.
Sage himself took three hundred Demon Race members and went directly to the north city.
That place is where the Royal Palace is located, divided into two walls. The outer wall surrounds a large number of estates, and inside the inner wall is the massive Royal Palace.
However, the sudden blasting open of the city gate had already made the nobles alert. When Sage reached the outer wall, the gate was tightly closed, and the walls were filled with guards and soldiers, all holding bows and arrows in the pouring rain. Sage even saw ballistae on the walls.
Of course, the powerful Gares Kingdom has the ability to fight in rainy weather, and it's not just relying on firearms.
"Despicable pirates, you will not succeed!"
A noble sheltered under an umbrella on the wall gritted his teeth and said, "This is Augustine Castle, a mighty fortress. Do you think blasting open the gate means you've conquered this place?"
"Who the hell are you, standing under an umbrella like me?"
Sage directly pulled out a gun, shot the noble dead with a bang, and then shouted to the people on the wall:
"Open the gate. I only want the lives of the nobles. I won't take a single penny of anyone else's property. You're welcome to join me. Think about it, how much Belly do you earn in a month? Why risk your lives here? These guys stand tall, earning the wealth you'll never make. They send you out to die, and they take the money. What can you do besides fill your stomachs?"
Sage spread his hands, "But joining me is different. I distribute the spoils of war, joining earlier means enjoying earlier. I'll share the loot with you when it's seized. Besides, you have too many people above you. These people squeeze out the profits that belong to you, and who knows how many hands have passed in between."
"But from now on, there's only me above you, and your only allegiance is to me. Only I will exploit you, but your earnings and treatment will be higher than they are now."
"Most importantly, I'm not particularly interested in you weaklings. As long as you don't resist, I won't do anything to you. So, open the gate."
"Ha!"
The remaining nobles on the wall sneered, "A pirate treating this place as his own already? We can hold the wall until we die of old age!"
The gate was blasted open due to cannons, regardless of what technology they have to fire gunpowder in the rain, but now this is inside the city. Cannons can't come in, and these people don't have weapons that can break the walls.
They have enough food to hold on, and when the weather clears, they can launch a counterattack.
Moreover, these pirates won't stay long. When Tihana or William realize and bring troops to attack, if the pirates don't retreat, they will die.
They certainly can't occupy this place.
"Renny."
Sage didn't even look at the noble-dressed guy, just glanced at the expressionless soldiers on the wall, as if they hadn't heard anything, and said: "Blast it open."
"Okay!"
Renedia stepped out from the crowd, made an "OK" gesture, and took out a mechanical hammer slung across like a backpack. After quickly extending, it enlarged into the shape of a Sheep Horn Hammer. But on the hammer's surface, it suddenly retracted inward, revealing a hole.
With the technology derived from Pluton and the addition of Mother Steel materials, Renedia's hammer had superior technology.
Previously it was just the Air Cannon, but now...
She first aimed the hammer's mouth at the ground and twisted the hammer handle's mechanism. Under the power, the hammer surface's hole emitted unparalleled suction, crushing the ground, absorbing shattered stones, and creating a large pit where the hammer surface rested.
"Burning energy, and then..."
Renedia aimed the muzzle at the city gate, her small face mimicking Sage's menacing smile, violently twisting the hammer handle.
"Power Cannon Attack!!"
Boom!!
The accumulated energy, no longer air but stone-converted energy, burst out from the hammer mouth with a white light, striking the city gate straight on, causing an explosive roar. The intense impact even blew away the raindrops, and smoke emerged from the city gate.
Under the smoke, the city gate, not much smaller than the outer wall gate, had a hole blasted through from the bottom, and even the edges of the gate showed unburned sparks.
"Tch, not powerful enough. The energy stone can provide is too little; the conversion is too small," Renedia pouted, suddenly thinking of something, her eyes lit up, and she said to Sage:
"Sage, gold is also a rare material. Do you want to..."
"Go get your stones!"
Sage glared at her fiercely, "That's money! Money that can buy many things, not for you to boost your power!"
With that, he suddenly punched towards the city gate, his fist whirling through the air with a sound louder than before, bringing with it a massive impact that shattered the remaining gate.
"Charge in!"
Sage pointed forward and laughed loudly, "Loot them all!"
Finishing his words, without waiting for any resistance from the nobles, he stepped on air and instantly reached the gate, crouching at the edge, his eyes glared, emitting a crimson hue that knocked out all the people dressed as nobles.
Sage reached out to the guards on the wall, "Look, it's too easy for me to take you down, because I'm a man with the makings of an overlord. Swear allegiance to me, serving the nobles is also serving me, and I can give you more, I can also ensure a better life for your families."
"No need to consider whether it's a pirate or not, because the whole country will be under my rule, unless you leave here, otherwise everyone will be my subjects."
He grinned menacingly at the crowd: "I'm about to become the king of Gares!"
A group of soldiers pursed their lips, clearly their bodies were tense, but none attacked.
Because those who had the authority to give orders were all downed here.
Augustine Castle is a free city state, before the war started, there was all sorts of people here, including pirates who were insatiably trying to seize this place.
But those people, without exception, all failed, they couldn't even get through the gate.
This guy is different, not only did he come in, but he also extended an invitation, and... he spoke very reasonably.
"No way!"
A guy looking like a captain gritted his teeth and said, "You're just a pirate, you can't possibly rule here, but we're not your match, we also don't want to abandon our lives, we have families waiting for us, you say you only rob the nobles and the rich, we won't resist, but if you rob the people of the outer city... we'll fight you to the death!"
"I have never broken my word."
Sage smiled, looking at that captain, said, "But, you seem convinced I can't win? Is it those armies fighting over Augustine Castle in number? If it's just that kind of thing, it can't stop me."
In front of the Supreme King, numbers are just a joke, only those with strong mind and courage can stand in front of him.
Such people are not many, and Sage does not fear them.
Even if there are tens of thousands who can resist his Supreme King power, it's not that difficult to take them down.
It's just a matter of a cannonball...
"It's not those things, we know you have the power to blast the city gate... but our Gares Kingdom has strong individuals too!"
Captain said: "They are the truly formidable ones, if it wasn't because I have family here, I would've joined Lady Tihana or Lord William."
Gares Kingdom doesn't just rely on military force to win, they have quite a few strong individuals.
Great noble Tihana, nicknamed 'Moonlight Swordsman', is a rare strong individual in the kingdom.
Under her command, there are several renowned individuals within Gares Kingdom.
'Archbishop' Faruga.
'Destiny Warrior' Sipher.
'Wind Chasing General' Misty.
These people are famous strong individuals of Gares Kingdom, also followers under Tihana.
As for the Vice Island aspect, there's not that many, but one is enough.
Gares Kingdom's number one strong individual, 'Young Lion' William.
"Lord William, once resisted 'Four Emperors' Kaido without failing, admired even by Kaido!"
Captain shouted: "I know you're a calamity, but you definitely can't win, the kingdom has so many strong individuals, and so much military power, you're just a pirate, you can't rule here, so even if you speak well, we won't follow you!"
Tempted?
Of course!
They indeed think the nobles are high above, but now the situation is different, the old king has long been dead, the city is already in chaos, everyone has grievances against the nobles.
Now a pirate comes out, saying he'll give them better treatment, promising safety, nobody won't be tempted.
But the premise is, he really can rule this kingdom.
There's too much resistance, captains like him are ultimately the minority...