Kill

The next day.

When Hawkins got up and went on deck, he saw Mark studying Julian, whose mouth was still stuffed with a rag.

"Good morning, Captain!" Mark greeted Hawkins with a smile.

Hawkins smiled. "Good morning, Mark."

"Mm! Mm..." Julian began struggling, glaring furiously at Mark.

Mark smiled. "This guy's mouth is too foul."

"And he isn't very creative. He just repeats the same few lines over and over." Hawkins could not help laughing.

Julian immediately began struggling again, though it was obvious that he was not as energetic as yesterday. It seemed that turning into a Bat did not mean he no longer needed food; he could still grow tired and hungry, only more slowly than ordinary people.

Next, Hawkins and Mark sat down to chat. When they spoke of the Seven Seas, Hawkins learned that Mark was not from the Seven Seas.

Julian kept making muffled noises. Hawkins was thoroughly annoyed by the racket, so he said helplessly, "Let's hear what he wants to say."

As he spoke, he stepped forward and removed the rag from Julian's mouth.

"This Mark is lying! Son of Pirates, you should know how terrifying the Mist Sea and the Black Sea are. There's no way he could have come from another sea region!" Julian immediately shouted.

In this world, the Black Sea and the Mist Sea could be said to form the boundary dividing human activity. The Black Sea lay above and below the Sea Chart, extinguishing all life. To this day, no one who entered the Black Sea had returned alive.

The Mist Sea, meanwhile, lay at the far left and right ends of every sea region. It was shrouded in dense fog all year round. It was said that only the finest navigators could Guide a ship across the Mist Sea. Yet in the past thirty years, not a single vessel from the Seven Seas had successfully left the Seven Seas. Every attempt had ended in failure, because the ships always returned—but their crews had become dried corpses and withered bones, often dying in the most gruesome ways.

If Mark truly came from another sea region, then he must have crossed the Mist Sea.

It did indeed sound like utter nonsense.

Mark was currently in the Pras Sea. The Mist Sea to the left was extremely far away, while the Mist Sea to the right was over five thousand kilometers away, with Hard Biscuit Island blocking the route as well.

That was why Julian believed Mark was lying.

"You should all know about Cursed Relics. My Lineage bears the name of storms. Every year, one member of the Lineage is blown by a storm into another sea region. This year, I had bad luck, so..." Seeing Hawkins's curiosity, Mark explained helplessly.

Julian said in disbelief, "You're actually a noble, yet you mingle with a lowly pirate. You're bringing shame upon your Lineage!"

Hawkins stepped forward, picked up the rag from the ground, and stuffed it back into Julian's mouth. Clearly, he had no desire to listen to Julian's nonsense.

At that moment, two marines came up carrying grilled fish. Hawkins called Mark over for breakfast. As they ate, they talked. Hawkins mainly spoke about the Seven Seas, while Mark shared information about the sea region where he had once lived.

The sea region Mark had previously lived in was called the Red Sea. Unlike the Seven Seas, the Red Sea consisted of countless tiny islands, with an island almost every few kilometers. That was why he had earlier said, "This sea is really huge."

Halfway through their meal, they both stopped.

Hawkins looked up at the clouds overhead. The shape of his pupils shifted slightly, and then he saw paper figures appearing and disappearing among the clouds.

Joyce had come for them.

"Captain, are those the enemies you mentioned?" Mark asked.

Hawkins nodded and chuckled. "They're somewhat rigid Vitalia Island nobles. Strictly speaking, it seems I'm the bad guy here."

Although Jabus and the others were no good people, wicked to the bone even, Hawkins could not claim to be a good man as a pirate either. If good and evil were truly weighed, both sides were bastards.

Of course, that was the old Hawkins. It had nothing to do with the current Hawkins.

"I don't care about good or evil, right or wrong. Since I'm a fighter of the Black Knife, leave this one to me." Mark clapped his hands and rose to his feet.

Hawkins smiled. "I look forward to your performance, my fighter!"

The next moment, Mark bent his knees slightly before launching himself into the air. He leaped from the deck straight onto the mast, then swiftly climbed up to the crow's nest.

More and more paper figures filled the sky. They darted in and out of the clouds, gradually forming a vortex.

"Son of Pirates, your day of death has come!" A thunderclap exploded in the sky. Then, the gathered paper figures descended from above, sweeping toward Hawkins like a tornado.

But when the paper figures reached the vicinity of the crow's nest, Mark made his move.

From Hawkins's angle, he could not see what had happened at all. Countless paper figures burst apart one after another, and the destruction spread with astonishing speed.

"How is this possible? Joyce's paper figures have been hurt!" Julian made two muffled noises, his eyes wide as he stared at the sky.

Hawkins looked at Mark in the crow's nest. He likewise could not see any trace of him making a move. Mark merely stood there, his eyes locked on the paper figures.

As expected, Mark was far from simple!

Hawkins came to that conclusion just as Joyce noticed Mark in the crow's nest.

"Damn it, you despicable pirate!"

Joyce immediately controlled the remaining paper figures that had not yet been torn apart, sending them swiftly toward Mark.

These paper figures possessed terrifying cutting power. They could slice through even steel with ease. As long as they got close, Joyce was confident he could instantly kill Mark.

But in the next second, that confidence vanished into thin air.

The paper figures did break through Mark's offensive, but after approaching him, they could not harm him at all. The razor-sharp paper figures spun madly around Mark, yet not a hair on his body was harmed. Not even his clothes were cut.

"Could it be that the nobles of the Seven Seas do not even possess the ability to truly digest Cursed Relics?" Mark asked, somewhat disappointed.

One of the paper figures cried out in terror, "You're not a pirate. Who exactly are you?"

Back then, he had challenged Jabus. The result had been exactly the same as today: no matter how he exhausted every trick in his arsenal, he could not harm Jabus. That was why he had always been utterly loyal to Jabus—because he knew just how powerful Jabus was.

Yet this mysterious man before him wielded the very power Jabus wielded!

"Who am I? I'm merely a wanderer with no home." Mark looked at the paper figure and sighed softly.

The next moment, an invisible force swept outward. The surrounding paper figures rapidly exploded. Joyce let out a scream and turned to flee, but his body was instantly split in two.

After dealing with Joyce, Mark leaped directly down from the crow's nest and said with a smile, "I did not disgrace the mission!"

"Clean and decisive. Beautiful!" Hawkins applauded in praise.

Mark returned to his seat, picked up a grilled fish, and explained as he ate, "Actually, it isn't that I'm too strong. The main reason is that my opponents are too weak. They merely use Cursed Relics in the most superficial way. Too weak."

"Could Cursed Relics have other uses?" Hawkins put down the grilled fish he had just picked up and asked.