Boom!
Crash! Rumble!
Cannons roared, and smoke and dust filled the air. The solid ground rippled like a lake as countless clods of earth and stones flew high before raining back down.
Perhaps only a few days ago, this Town had been bustling. Fishermen drying their nets and merchants doing business had worked from dawn till dusk, toiling for their families with weary but happy hearts.
But when the Flying Bird Pirates arrived, all that peace and happiness vanished. In its place stood wrecked homes and the thick smell of blood that refused to fade.
These tragedies lay exposed beneath the bright Bai sky, leaving Zephyr and his people with nothing but a heavy, suffocating feeling.
"Was I really too kind before?"
Standing amid the ruins, Zephyr listened to the sounds of battle around him without a word. Behind him, Ain held his coat and watched him quietly.
Whatever Zephyr chose to do, she only had to follow in his footsteps.
That was what Ain had always believed, and what she had always done.
Just then, the captain of the Flying Bird Pirates burst from a corner of the ruins. Gripping a sword longer than a man, he lunged at Zephyr.
"Die, you damned Marine!"
To catch the leader first was a principle that worked in any world. The captain did not actually want to kill Zephyr. He wanted to take him hostage and create a chance to escape.
And why had he chosen Zephyr?
One look at where the man stood told him Zephyr held a high position. Besides—
He was so old.
The captain was in his prime, and his bounty had once approached fifty million Beli. He was confident he could take down an old man.
But what was the saying? Had he lost his mind, or