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"Boss! There's a massive island ahead! It's enormous, I can't even find the edge of it!"
The lookout perched on the mast of the Scythe Pirates' ship had his telescope trained on something in the distance and was already scrambling to report.
"Hm? Are you sure? This stretch of sea is nothing but uninhabited rocks. Where would a big island come from?"
Liam, captain of the Scythe Pirates, was a broad-faced man in a battered pirate's hat. He looked up at his lookout with a skeptical frown.
"I'm sure, Boss! There's definitely a big island out there!"
The confidence in his subordinate's voice was enough. Liam pulled out his own telescope and looked.
What filled the lens was unmistakably a large island, and just as unmistakably inhabited. The reason he was certain wasn't anything sophisticated. The colossal wall encircling it simply did not look like anything nature had put together.
"Hahaha! Full speed ahead, lads! We're going to take their money and their women! Time to get rich again!"
Liam turned to his crew with a cruel grin.
"Finally! We get to plunder again!"
"That last woman didn't last more than a few days before you lot ran her into the ground. This time I'm grabbing a good one!"
As the ship drew closer to the island, a creeping sense that something was wrong settled over them.
There was nowhere to land. The entire island was walled off, the stone rising a hundred meters straight up from the waterline with no gap, no beach, no accessible slope.
"What is this?! There's no way in anywhere! Navigator, sail around the whole island. I refuse to believe there's no opening!"
"Yes, sir!"
The ship sailed on. The longer they sailed, the more the sheer scale of the island became apparent.
"What in the world is this place? How can there be an island this size?"
Several hours had passed and they still hadn't seen the far end. Liam was beginning to look irritable.
"Boss! There's something ahead! Looks like a gate!"
"What!"
Liam was at the bow in moments, telescope raised.
He saw it: a wide, open gateway set into the wall. His face broke into a grin.
"Hahaha! There it is! These people have no defenses at all! Move it, lads!"
"Oh!!!"
"I'll kill every last person on this island! Making us sail around for hours like that!"
The ship surged toward the gate.
None of them noticed the dark figure watching from the sky not far above.
"Diablo-sama. Shall I deal with them directly?"
The black-uniformed demon glanced over at Diablo, who was at that moment arranging a dessert tray for Rimuru, and waited for the order.
Diablo's eyes sharpened for a moment, then he replied without looking up.
"No. Kaito-sama's standing order is to let them in and take them alive. He has questions for them."
"Understood."
The demon bowed and withdrew.
The pirate ship passed through the gate.
What opened up before them stopped every man on deck cold.
Inside was a vast crescent-shaped bay, and the harbor was packed with warships. Not wooden warships. Steel ones, massive and gleaming, lined up in formation as far as the eye could see.
Beyond the harbor, towering buildings rose in every direction across the island interior.
And above the gate, fixed to the top of the frame on an enormous flagpole, hung a flag.
It showed a blue Slime with an innocent, cheerful smile on its face.
"This... this is..."
"Boss... maybe we should go."
"Yeah, Boss, this is not a place we want to mess with."
Liam stared at the scene inside the gate, his expression dark.
He was greedy. He acknowledged that. But he also knew his own limits. A forty-five-million-Berry bounty sounded impressive in the right company. On the Grand Line, it was a modest figure at best.
"Hmph. Pull back, lads. Consider it sparing their lives."
"Yes, Boss!"
The crew leapt to their stations, relieved, and began to bring the ship about.
"Damn it, this doesn't sit right with me! Once I round up a few more crews and come back together, we'll see how lucky you are then!"
Liam muttered it to the air as the ship began to turn.
"Heh heh. It seems this trash genuinely believes he's going to walk away from here."
"Who's there!"
The voice had come out of nowhere, unhurried and elegant. Everyone on deck spun toward it.
A figure in a black uniform was standing on top of their own mast.
"Allow me to introduce myself."
"Will. Junior officer, Third Squad, Royal Knights, Jura-Tempest Federation." He placed his right hand over his chest and inclined his head in a small, perfectly composed bow. "Pleased to make the acquaintance of all you trash."
"What did you just say?!"
"How dare you call us trash?!"
Several pirates were already reaching for their weapons. Liam walked through them to the front and pointed up at Will.
"You think talking to me like that is a good idea? I'm Liam the Evil Scythe! Forty-five million Berries on my head!"
Will looked down at him. A clear expression of distaste crossed his face.
"Ah. Both human, and yet Kaito-sama is what he is, and this is what you are." He shook his head faintly. "Your very existence is an insult to him. If Diablo-sama's orders weren't to take you all alive..."
Will vanished from the mast.
Bang!
"Guh... pfft!"
He reappeared directly in front of Liam and put him through the air with a single kick. Liam crashed into the decorative scythe mounted at the ship's bow and crumpled.
"..."
"Boss just got dropped in one hit..."
"How?!"
The color drained from every pirate on deck.
Will walked toward the bow at a measured pace. The pirates blocking his path shuffled aside without being asked.
He crouched down beside Liam and checked him over.
Still breathing. Will quietly exhaled. This was his first real mission. If he had accidentally killed the man, Diablo-sama would have sent him back to the Demon Realm in pieces and that would have been that.
He stood and looked back at the rest of the crew.
"You can surrender on your own, or I can help each of you make that decision individually. Your choice."
Every remaining pirate on deck let their weapons clatter to the floor.
"Good. Now bring the ship into the harbor."