There are as many islands in the seas as there are stars in the sky, and a lot of them don't even have names.
Having no name doesn't just mean they haven't been discovered by the outside world; it also means the island is basically sealed off, never having had any real contact with anyone beyond its shores.
Like the island right now: in the little village along the coast, half the buildings have been burned to cinders, with thin wisps of gunpowder smoke still drifting in the air.
The adults sit slumped at their doorsteps, holding children with lost, vacant eyes or faces streaked with tears; some people just stare blankly at the corpses nearby, their gaze empty and unfocused.
Those people had resisted the ones who called themselves "Pirates," and that was why they got killed.
The guards did show up, but it seems this whole thing isn't over yet.
A few guards in leather armor, armed with spears and short pikes, dragged burlap sacks out of the houses that were still more or less intact—those were the supplies and money the Pirates hadn't gotten around to looting.
On the path where those guards were marching, there was also a middle‑aged man lying in a pool of blood, the blood still fairly fresh.
That was their village chief; because he tried to stop the guards from looting, they ended his life.
They clearly knew what Pirates were, and that only made them more brazen; after grabbing everything, they even said they'd put it all on the Pirates' tab.
The Pirates hadn't taken much at all—it was these guards who stripped the place bare.
A little boy's eyes moved from the village chief to the other corpses, then from the corpses to the guards, and finally fixed on the sea; for a split second, a longing for the ocean stirred in his heart.
If he went out to sea, would he no longer have to be robbed by these guards? If he became a Pirate, would that mean he wouldn't get robbed anymore...
The vast blue sea heaved with waves, and under the boy's gaze, a mast suddenly appeared on the horizon; in no time at all, the full mast came into view and then resolved into the shape of a ship.
The boy pointed at the sea and shouted, "Dad, look, there's a ship coming!"
Everyone turned to look out over the water; the ship on the sea was coming in at great speed, and soon its full silhouette filled their field of vision.
"A black flag! A skull! Pirates!" people screamed.
"Pirates?"
The guards exchanged glances, then all licked their lips with feral grins and burst out laughing.
"Perfect! Let's go. Let those Pirates come ashore—best case, they kill everyone here, saves us the trouble of doing it ourselves."
"Yeah, perfect, let's get out of here!"
The guards were about to pull out immediately, when a little girl huddled beside her parents' corpses turned her head and asked dully, "Aren't you… going to protect us? You already took our stuff."
"You little brat, what are you babbling about!"
A guard sneered. "We're only responsible for protecting the island lord. Nobody gives a damn about the rest of you. Hurry up and get killed by the Pirates so you can go join your parents!"
"You bastards!"
The girl's eyes reddened. She snatched up a stone from beside her and was about to rush at him.
The lead guard gave a contemptuous little grin, drew the spear from his back, and thrust, intending to skewer the charging girl straight through.
Just as the spearpoint was about to reach the girl's chest, a shadow suddenly fell over the guard's head—and then came crashing down.
With a boom, a cloud of dust exploded where the guard had been standing; the shockwave rippled out and knocked the girl back a step, dropping her on her backside.
"Oh? First thing I see when I arrive is an enemy waving a weapon around…"
From within the smoke came a hoarse, vicious voice, and the outline of a tall figure took shape in the girl's vision.
"Perfect. I'll take care of you all at once."
The figure spread his arms, and the force of the movement blasted the dust away; in the next instant, both his fists crashed into the two nearest guards, caving in their skulls and sending their bodies splitting apart like torn burlap sacks.
As the dust cleared, his full form was revealed.
A heavily built man with a shock of yellow hair, a twisted face, and his tongue lolling out.
"Kill him! He's alone!"
The other guards roared, drew their weapons, and charged.
Bellamy bared his teeth and clenched his fists. "Yeah, I'm alone—but I'm strong. You've got numbers, but you're all weaklings."
Clang!
The thrusting spear was simply caught between Bellamy's fists and snapped clean in an instant. He stuck out his tongue at the stunned guards. "A Hyena doesn't need much strength to deal with a bunch of chicks!"
Before their terrified eyes, one of Bellamy's legs turned into a spring; as he stamped down, the ground shook and gusts of air rolled outward.
Bang!!
With a single kick, his leg unleashed a massive shockwave from the middle of the guards' formation, blasting them all away; they hit the ground hard, eyes rolled back and mouths gaping, dead on the spot.
"Boring."
Bellamy shook out his leg and let it return to normal, then turned to look at the little girl behind him. He gave her a once‑over and asked:
"Hey, girl, what island is this?"
"Who are you? One of those Pirates from before? Are you going to kill us too?" the girl asked blankly.
"I've got no interest in weaklings. In fact…"
Bellamy glanced around at the pitiful, miserable villagers, then picked up a nearby sack and tossed it down beside the girl. "Here. Stuff those bastards stole—giving it back to you."
The ship came in to dock, and the Pirates all descended the gangplank, hauling the supplies they'd taken off that previous Pirate Ship and piling everything up in the middle of the village.
"So you're not with the ones from before?"
A faint light slowly returned to the girl's eyes, along with a rising sheen of tears. "Why? Why didn't you come earlier? If you'd come earlier, my parents…"
She jumped to her feet and shouted at Bellamy, "My parents wouldn't have had to die!!"