On a desolate island less than two hundred li from New Dunkirk Port, inside a dimly lit cave, dozens of pirates lay sprawled across the sand. The cave reeked of cheap alcohol. Several low-level magic beast hounds lounged lazily on the ground, strands of sinew still dangling from their great fangs.
A piercing eagle cry descended from high above. A savage-looking one-eyed man missing his left hand suddenly jerked, then sprang to his feet. The man, who possessed lower Earth-rank strength, strode out of the cave and let out a shrill howl toward the sky. Then a massive sea eagle came whistling down, opened its beak, and spat out a hollow wooden tube.
The man opened the cap on the tube, pulled out a piece of parchment covered in scribbles like ghostly talismans, gave it a hurried glance, then let out a strange "Heh heh" laugh.
A quarter of an hour later, nearly a hundred ragged pirates sang bizarre ballads and twisted their skin-and-bone bodies as they piloted two swift pirate ships through the waves toward an island in the open sea.
In another stretch of sea, more than a dozen pirate ships were besieging three armed merchant vessels. The pirates had already boarded the merchant ships and were engaged in close-quarters combat with the ships' guards. The clang of blades rang out without pause; flashing steel tore through the air, trailing streams of crimson blood.
A bald, dark-skinned giant over two meters tall wielded two enormous battle axes, leading a band of pirates viciously toward a merchant ship's bridge. Guard after guard fell beneath his axes along the way. Under his heavy battle axes, not a single enemy could last one exchange.
Although this dark-skinned giant possessed only upper Earth-rank battle qi, his inborn divine strength had turned him