The Whitebeard Pirates' Flag

The injured eye of these Sea Kings had bled uncontrollably, severely affecting its vision. Its eyesight had already deteriorated considerably.

So when Wuli seized the chance to reappear beside the Sea Kings' injured left eye, its reaction was somewhat slow. Through its blurred vision, it only seemed to see a small black dot closing in.

The Sea Kings seemed to sense danger and tried to dodge, but how could their enormous body possibly avoid it?

Roar—wuu!

Wuli's sword injured its left eyeball again. The Sea Kings let out a pained wail and began to go berserk. Its massive body, more than a dozen stories tall, lashed out wildly, whipping up fierce winds and towering waves.

Wuli dodged the Sea Kings' frenzied attacks. Sword energy gathered around the blade in his hand, carrying immense power.

A streak of sword light slashed out, once again targeting the Sea Kings' previously injured left eye.

As it watched the sword light rush toward it, fear finally appeared in the Sea Kings' sun-and-moon-sized eye. Before the sword light even arrived, it could already feel an even sharper pain in its left eye.

The sword light struck its eyeball. To the horror and pain of the Sea King, and to the shock of those watching aboard the Navy warship, a long sword scar appeared across its left eye. Blood gushed from the wound like a torrential rain of blood, staining the once-azure sea crimson.

Roar—wuu!

The Sea Kings fell into extreme agony, rolling through the sea and continuously letting out piercing cries. Seemingly afraid of suffering another attack from Wuli, they dived beneath the waves and accelerated away from him.

Wuli returned to the Navy warship, warily watching the patch of sea where the Sea Kings had submerged. The water there was a much deeper red than elsewhere, but it was still unknown whether the Sea Kings had truly fled or were merely hiding below, preparing another attack.

But the people aboard the warship did not think that far ahead. Seeing the sea gradually calm and the Sea Kings' massive form disappear, they could not help cheering.

"Those Sea Kings ran away!"

"We're safe now!"

Shu had initially breathed a slight sigh of relief when he saw the Sea Kings dive into the sea and flee. But when he noticed Wuli remained wary, his heart tightened. He looked toward the blood-red waters and also became alert for another attack from the Sea Kings.

Suddenly, several hundred meters from the Navy warship, a huge head emerged from the sea. The sword wound on its left eye was still bleeding, yet its hatred could be clearly felt.

"It's those Sea Kings!" The people aboard the warship were startled when they saw them suddenly appear. Had they still not given up and wanted to continue attacking them?

Wuli narrowed his eyes and glanced at the Sea Kings that were putting up a brave front. A mocking curve appeared at the corner of his mouth. They were only Sea Kings, yet they had learned to act like humans and make threats after being defeated.

He then sheathed his sword and no longer looked at the Sea Kings. Seeing Wuli's actions, the people aboard the warship all showed anxious expressions, wanting to remind him not to let his guard down.

However, Shu vaguely saw massive black shadows darting through the depths of the sea toward the injured Sea Kings, and a thoughtful look entered his eyes.

Seeing that Wuli had no intention of paying them any attention, the Sea Kings let out an angry roar before diving back beneath the surface. A faint trail of blood-red water followed in their wake as they moved farther and farther from the Navy warship.

Ding—

Only then did the people aboard the Navy warship suddenly relax. The civilians sat directly on the deck, gulping down the salty, damp air, hardly daring to believe that they had been saved.

What caught Wuli's attention was a bundle of black cloth protruding from a young man's clothes after he sat down. Judging from its shape, it looked like a pirate flag!

Wuli fell silent in confusion. Following his gaze, Shu spotted the cloth that was suspected to be a pirate flag, and a grave look appeared in his eyes.

"What is that thing in your arms?" Shu asked the young man in a deep voice.

"Ah?!" Startled, the young man hurriedly stuffed the exposed pirate flag back into his clothes and tightly covered it with both hands. His face was full of panic as he stammered, "N-No, it's nothing."

"If I'm not mistaken, that should be a pirate flag. Are you pirates who deliberately disguised yourselves to fool us, hiding your pirate flag away? Take it out and let us see it." Shu said. If they were pirates, they had to be arrested, even though they did not look like pirates.

Upon hearing this, the Navy soldiers aboard the warship were all startled. They looked extremely unfriendly toward these pirates who had supposedly disguised themselves as ordinary civilians. They had not expected that Colonel Wuli had fought so desperately to save pirates.

Under Shu's interrogation and the Navy soldiers' stares, the young man became flustered and terrified. At that moment, the burly uncle stood up and shielded him. Seeing the figure before him, the young man's panic eased considerably.

"Take it out," the uncle said. The young man froze briefly, then became anxious, fear filling his eyes. In the end, under the uncle's gaze, he still took it out from his clothes.

"This is indeed a pirate flag, but we aren't pirates," the uncle said in a low voice. His eyes were filled with helplessness and a trace of sorrow.

Wuli and the others fixed their gazes on the somewhat tattered pirate flag, and shock appeared on all their faces.

A skull, with a crescent-shaped mustache!

This was...?!

Wasn't this...?!

The flag of one of the Four Emperors, the Whitebeard Pirates?

Wuli looked at the people before him, a contemplative look in his eyes. If they were not pirates, why did they possess the Whitebeard Pirates' flag?

Whitebeard had long since died at Marineford during the Paramount War, along with Ace, the son of Pirate King Roger!

By now, only the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates should still have this pirate flag.

"We took the risk of crossing the Calm Belt because of this as well. The island where we lived was originally under the Whitebeard Pirates' protection, but after Whitebeard died two years ago, our island became more and more dangerous."

"After many pirates learned that our island had been protected by the Whitebeard Pirates, they began invading us. Not just our island—other nearby islands that still flew the Whitebeard Pirates' flag were attacked too."

Wuli understood. As one of the Four Emperors, Whitebeard naturally had his own territory. The island these people came from was probably one that Blackbeard had not yet seized.

The uncle continued, "Our homes were destroyed by those pirates. They slaughtered many of our relatives too. With no other choice, we tried to escape the massacre through the Calm Belt. We never expected our luck to be so bad—we encountered Sea Kings not long after entering the Calm Belt, and then we met all of you."

After speaking, the uncle suddenly remembered something and added:

"We heard before that those pirates were trying to force the surviving members of the Whitebeard Pirates to reveal themselves. We don't know whether that is true."

Wuli and the others were shaken!