Anrield pulled his face covering tighter, then pretended to be a passerby as he walked toward them. There were already few pedestrians left on the road, only a sparse handful scattered about.
"From what I can tell, ever since the Alliance suffered its first major blow, the Alliance Leader has become much more timid." One of them muttered disdainfully, "Back in the day, would we have needed to step in for a newcomer like this? And using an ambush, no less. It's downright humiliating."
"Watch your mouth. If the Alliance Leader hears you, your worthless life might be forfeit!" His companion shot him a glare. "We're nowhere near as strong as before. Not only were we hit hard, but the Third Fleet betrayed us, the Fourth Fleet has no Commander, and the men we've only just gathered keep getting poached. Under these circumstances, we can't act as openly and recklessly as we used to."
Anrield stood some distance away, but he was formidable. Once he gathered his strength, his senses became incredibly sharp, and he heard every word of their conversation.
What they said startled Anrield. Could the Third Fleet they mentioned be Agula Ashil, the former Commander-in-Chief of the Pirate Alliance's Third Fleet whom Ronglin had later killed? Then Ronglin had casually killed the Commander of the Pirate Alliance's Fourth Fleet as well. The details matched perfectly.
The people trying to ambush him were actually from the Pirate Alliance? Anrield was both shocked and furious. He remained silent and held his position, still trailing the group from afar. He wanted to see where they were headed and whether they had set up any ambushes on the island.
"Still, Ronglin really has some nerve. He's started expanding his territory too, and quite a few of our Alliance's fringe forces have