Everyone online had known about the Bearded Pirate Crew for ages.
The Skyvault Desert was extremely dangerous and unlike anywhere else.
But it still had internet access.
The people stationed at the bases
usually kept them running, trained, hunted, surveyed the terrain, or ventured into the Mercyfire Forbidden Zone.
Otherwise, they passed the time online.
Whenever anything stirred up a fuss online,
the Martial Artists at the Skyvault Desert bases were first in line for the gossip.
They knew just as much about the Bearded Pirate Crew
as anyone outside.
The crew's leader and suspected mastermind was Shi Yuehan.
Among them,
Blackbeard and Whitebeard were the two most vicious.
But the most hated were those pirates with the bizarrely colored beards: Death Barbie Pinkbeard, Underworld Grape Purplebeard, Light Pinkbeard, Deep Bluebeard...
As for Redbeard and Yellowbeard, who kept dying and coming back,
they were the Bearded Pirate Crew's spokesmen.
Those two had caused the biggest uproar.
With those two little beards driving things forward,
the Bearded Pirate Crew had spread across the world like a virus in just a few months.
Everyone hated them!
Now,
Redbeard and Yellowbeard had arrived in the Skyvault Desert base area.
They immediately drew attention from all sides.
In particular, after the two were seen meeting with Xia Country's leaders,
powerful figures from several factions began making plans.
Li Country brought them together.
The leaders of five countries, including Li Country, quickly reached an agreement.
They would seize this opportunity
to drive Xia Country's forces out of the Skyvault Desert for good.
At that moment,
the leaders of the five countries' bases were discussing their strategy over an encrypted video call.
...No one dared set foot in another country's base.
Here in the Skyvault Desert,
anyone who wasn't one of your own was an enemy.