Glacial Cavemen

Bang!

Rogge's punch struck the air, and the resulting shockwave shattered the atmosphere, but it failed to hit the savage.

He still held the whip in his hand, yet the savage was already behind Rogge.

The instant Rogge threw his punch, he decisively abandoned the whip and swiftly dodged Rogge's fist.

Rogge stared at him and smiled. "Interesting. These foxes are all your pets, right?"

"Ha!"

The savage's hair hung loose. Rogge could see his blue eyes behind it, along with a face sporting a pair of long fangs, as he opened his mouth at Rogge.

"Aren't you hot, wearing all that fur?" Rogge continued.

"Kill!"

The savage did not speak further, and the red-eyed foxes launched another attack.

As Rogge dodged the foxes' attacks, he also guarded against the savage. Aside from his frightening strength, this guy was manageable, but the foxes were troublesome. They were extremely fast and numerous.

Rogge was temporarily forced onto the defensive. The savage began coordinating with the foxes to attack him, and only then did Rogge truly feel the savage's strength. His power was absolutely greater than Rogge's, and his attacks were bizarre. Despite his huge build, he possessed agility far beyond that of an ordinary person.

Rogge could see only two joints on his hanging arms, not the three-jointed arms of the Longarm Tribe. This guy's arms were as long as an ape's, and the strength in them was astonishing.

Meanwhile, in the city, Jelly and the others, who had been collecting wealth elsewhere, finally met up. Everyone had gained immensely. The island's wealth exceeded their expectations, especially in the homes of the landowners, which nearly all possessed family fortunes worth over a hundred million Beli. Aside from the artworks, they took all the money and gold they could carry, amounting to several hundred million Beli in total.

"Honestly, I never considered robbing this island before. I didn't expect it to be so rich." Simon sighed, carrying a huge bundle on his back.

"This island's defenses weren't bad, but against us, they could only collapse. It was boring. Rogge was probably already waiting for us to join him." Jelly had looted the most. A cage woven from vines on his back was filled with gold and Beli.

"This was too easy. There are still three hours left before the Log Pose fills up, and we already crushed the nearby Marines once. But didn't we get a little too much money this time?" Ham said.

"Too much? Who would ever complain about having too much money?" Jelly laughed.

"That's right. Nobody would dislike having too much money. Besides, wasn't this what Rogge asked for? To keep accumulating more wealth." Ares nodded.

"By the way, is this really all the island has for protection? I've always felt this island was far from simple." Cook looked around, first here and then there, before finally gazing at the iceberg overhead.

"I've looked into Earthfire Island before. The people living here now immigrated from three kingdoms over a century ago. Before that, the island had natives, and they were very powerful," Simon said.

"Very powerful?" Jelly and the others all turned to Simon.

Simon nodded. "That's right. Earthfire Island used to be called Glacier Deserted Island. Later, an adventurer discovered this place and found this underground world. There had always been native inhabitants here, known as the Glacial Cavemen."

"Did they all die?" Ares asked.

"I don't know. But after this underground world was discovered and found suitable for large-scale grain cultivation, fighting continued for decades. In the end, the Glacial Cavemen grew fewer and fewer. Even if any remained, they would be captured and sold as slaves," Simon said.

"They really were pitiful. Now you should understand what the captain said, right? If you fall behind, you get beaten. Only strength can protect you. Relying on others is always a mistake." Ham looked at Jelly.

"You don't need to lecture me. Who doesn't know that?" Jelly snapped.

Rogge revered strength, and they probably would never forget that for the rest of their lives. They also understood what he meant. In this world where the strong preyed on the weak, those without strength would perish. Those making their living at sea had it even harder than the Glacial Cavemen on this island. Staying alive could only be called barely surviving. Only a fraction of people could stand at the peak of the world, and every one of those who wanted to become part of that fraction had climbed atop mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

"Let's go. The captain is probably waiting for us. Looks like we need to put recruiting people on the agenda." Ham said.

"We should probably wait until we enter the New World. The people in the first half don't have much quality," Cook said.

"Not necessarily. Maybe the captain will bring someone back for us in a moment." Simon laughed.

"You're thinking too much," Jelly said.

Inside the building, the battle had entered its fiercest stage. Although the foxes' movements grew faster and faster, their strength had limits. Their earlier period of greatest explosive power had passed, and their movements now slowed. Rogge seized the opportunity and killed the foxes.

He noticed something: these foxes seemed to have no awareness, like trained suicide warriors. None feared death, and whenever they had a chance, they fought desperately.

The savage seemed not to care whether the foxes lived or died either. He treated them like tools, tossing them aside once they had been used.

Bang!

Rogge pinned the last fox to the ground, then casually grabbed the fox, which could no longer move.

"What exactly are these things?" Rogge asked the savage.

When the savage saw that all the foxes had fallen and could no longer fight, he gritted his teeth. "It's all because of you. You people. I'll kill you. I'll kill everyone."

"Don't lump me in with them. I'm not from here. I'm just a pirate passing through and robbing the place while I'm at it." Rogge said irritably.

"Pirate?!" The savage suddenly raised his head and stared at Rogge.

The savage's eyes made Rogge's skin crawl. He took a step back. "Yeah. What about it?"

"You're a pirate?" the savage asked again.

"Yes." Rogge nodded, then turned around to show him the skull tattoo on his back—a terrifying skull he had gotten tattooed back in West Blue after deciding on his pirate flag.

"Take me away from here. I'm willing to follow you. If you're pirates, then you must have a ship. You can leave this place, right?" the savage said.

"You want to leave with us? I'm a pirate, not a good person." Rogge looked at him in surprise.

"Everyone is dead. They're all dead. I'm the only one left. There's no reason for me to stay attached to this place. I want to leave. I want to go to sea. Take me with you." The savage stared at Rogge, his eyes filled with longing.

Rogge scratched his head and nodded. "Mm, all right."