"What secrets does Seven Seas... really hide?"
Hawkins spat out a fish bone, gazing at the distant horizon with anticipation in his heart.
In truth, relocating the residents of Black Market Island did not necessarily have to be Dalton's job. Vanessa would have achieved the same result, perhaps even done better than Dalton. After all, Vanessa's Black Sail Trading Company did not have to remain on Black Market Island; it could operate from White Market Island, Purple Market Island...
However, Hawkins ultimately chose Dalton because Dalton was rich enough!
Moreover, Dalton's most important assets were on Black Market Island. He was like a rat driven into a corner, certain to make some very interesting moves.
With Mother backing him and without Mother backing him, Hawkins's patterns of behavior were utterly different.
Without Mother, he would have killed Dalton, then found Vanessa and "commissioned" her in a friendly manner to relocate the island's residents. But with Mother behind him, Hawkins was more willing to give Dalton an opportunity and see just how big a splash he could make.
Meanwhile, after Dalton posted a bounty at Death Star Pavilion, a handsome man slowly opened his eyes within a nebula of the Dream Realm.
He did not look very old, no more than thirty-five at most. His long hair fell to his shoulders, and he had a small mustache as well.
Judging by his clothing, he should have been a noble. He wore quite a few gold ornaments, the most conspicuous being the golden circlet on his forehead, which looked like a crown.
"How many years has it been? About ten years, perhaps. What was my name? Right, my name is Trist!"
He looked somewhat lost, then seemed to instinctively stroke his crown. The moment his hand touched it, he swiftly figured out his own identity, and the memories he had nearly forgotten quickly resurfaced.
Trist was his name. He had lived for five hundred years and was a genuine old monster in Seven Seas.
To avoid being completely assimilated by the Dream Realm, he had left behind an ancient tower in Seven Seas that had formed a contract with him. So long as someone offered enough Gold Coins, they could commission him to kill anyone they wished dead.
Gold Coins were not particularly useful to him. He merely needed an outside force to awaken him, while killing someone for the other party was no more than lifting a hand.
He closed his eyes and followed that contract, his body swiftly returning to the altar of Death Star Pavilion.
Within the altar, a ray of light drove away the surrounding darkness. His body gradually condensed from a phantom into a solid form. Dalton's Gold Coins floated before him, as did a sheet of paper bearing Hawkins's name.
"Son of Pirates Hawkins? A pirate?"
Trist looked at the words on the paper and murmured to himself with a faint smile.
He had not returned to reality for quite some time. The main reason was that the commission fee at Death Star Pavilion had been set after careful consideration; it could be neither too high nor too low.
A starting price of one thousand Gold Coins was just right.
"Alright, time for a stroll!"
After crushing the paper, Trist took a step forward and appeared above the sea the next instant.
As a Curse Caster who had lived for over five hundred years, he possessed five Cursed Relics, and he had developed each of their abilities to the point where they moved as easily as his own arms and fingers.
Shoes with the ability of Shrinking Earth to Inches, a circlet capable of storing himself, a bracelet capable of condensing photons, a necklace possessing the power of constancy, and finally, a ring that could see through an enemy's true depth.
Combined together, these abilities made him seem like a God.
In three minutes, he found the Black Knife.
He raised his right hand and smiled. "Pitiful little pirate, blame your bad luck for becoming my prey!"
In an instant, the surroundings darkened. Countless photons gathered in his hand and formed a massive sphere of light, which he flung directly at the Black Knife.
At that moment, ripples appeared behind the Black Knife. The enormous ball of light passed through the ripples and vanished without a trace.
Hawkins stood at the stern, raising his head and narrowing his eyes at Trist. Trist was also slightly surprised as he looked at Hawkins aboard the ship.
In the past, no enemy had ever been able to withstand a casual strike from him. After all, the power of that blow was already close to that of an atomic bomb.
"Interesting. But what about this?"
Trist smiled, then continuously condensed beams of light at his fingertips and fired them madly at Hawkins.
In fact, the photons condensed by Trist's attacks were also resources Hawkins needed. Since someone was so rarely willing to help, he was quite happy to let Trist keep firing for a while longer.
"So it's a spatial ability!"
Trist was not some brainless villain. After attacking for a while, he saw through the true nature of the ripples and immediately shifted directions at tremendous speed.
The ripples could only protect one direction. So long as he changed direction quickly enough, Hawkins would be unable to defend against all his attacks.
And reality was exactly as he had expected. Once he began constantly changing directions while attacking, Hawkins found it difficult to block every strike.
The Black Knife was riddled with holes, while Hawkins himself was struck by beams three times. His arm, lower abdomen, and thigh were all pierced through. However, the beams carried extreme heat, so the wounds were seared shut by the high temperature rather than bleeding continuously.
Suddenly, Trist felt dizzy and found it difficult to breathe.
"I've been poisoned?"
Alarmed, he immediately activated the power of constancy, and his condition swiftly returned to its peak.
At present, Hawkins had displayed two abilities. One was a miraculous spatial shield, perhaps connected to some place behind it that could take all of his attacks.
The other was an unknown deadly poison capable of poisoning him in a short time.
Though his poisoning was also partly due to his excessive arrogance.
Unlike Mark, who used Curse Power to protect his entire body, Trist concentrated it around his head, hands, and legs.
Because he possessed the power of constancy, even if his heart were pierced through, he could recover in an instant. Only his head needed protection, while his hands and feet were protected to better use his abilities.
A thought suddenly stirred in Trist's heart as he looked at Hawkins and asked.
Under normal circumstances, he would not speak with his prey. He would directly kill them in one move and fulfill that harmless contract.
But now, he had grown curious about Hawkins. Although Hawkins's strength was far inferior to his own, he had already become qualified to speak with him.
Hawkins lowered his head, rubbed his eyes, and smiled. "Aren't you a Curse Caster?"
"Do I look like a Curse Caster?" Trist slowly descended and asked while standing in the air.
Hawkins frowned slightly. "Let's talk properly, but can you come down first? You keep flashing around like that, and my eyes can't take it anymore."
"..."
Trist silently landed on the edge of the ship, staring darkly at Hawkins.
He did not possess the ability to fly. The reason he could seemingly remain suspended in midair was actually because the shoes with the ability of Shrinking Earth to Inches allowed him to blink about wildly in a short span of time.
Put simply, he moved from A to B, then from B back to A.
So long as the speed was fast enough, human eyes could be fooled into seeing him as though he were flying.
The problem was that Hawkins's eyes possessed extremely strong dynamic vision. Every frame of Trist's movements was crystal clear to him, so Trist looked like a phantom constantly flickering about. In short, he looked rather ridiculous.
"Sorry. If you enjoy flashing around, you can keep flashing around," Hawkins said when he saw that Trist seemed unhappy.
Trist had no desire to continue that subject and instead said coldly, "Over the past five hundred years, I have met many Curse Casters. Your ability is very special. If you hand over that spatial ability, I can consider sparing your life."
Trist frowned. "I don't know any Dalton. Answer my question, mortal!"
"..."
For an instant, Hawkins felt something very strange.
He suddenly recalled a very, very long time ago, when he had pretended to be a God on some planet. Back then, a king had madly sacrificed the lives of thousands of his own kind, all just to meet him once.
When he had appeared before that king, his first words had been, "Mortal, what do you seek?"
Yet the king had not made any request. Instead, he had knelt on the ground and continuously praised him with ornate words.
He had grown impatient then and shouted, "Answer my question, mortal!"
Such familiar words. In fact, he had said that sentence at least several thousand times, because living beings possessed far too many joys and sorrows, far too many prayers.
So in the end, he simply stopped appearing, watching that planet prosper and watching that planet decline.
"I'm a mortal. Then what do you think you are?"
Hawkins sighed faintly and looked at Trist as he asked.
Suddenly, Trist appeared behind Hawkins, pressing one finger against Hawkins's neck as he declared proudly, "Perhaps no one in Seven Seas has heard of it, but above Curse Casters are Gods, and I am a God!"
"What a coincidence. Many lives once regarded me as a God as well, though in my view, that was only because they were not very intelligent," Hawkins said with a faint smile.
Trist assumed Hawkins meant he had deceived ignorant villagers in remote backwaters with lies, so he sneered. "The God I speak of is a true God, not the fantasy you built from lies and deception."
"No, I understand what you mean. If you don't believe me, how about we go meet... God together? Then we can see whether your God is more genuine, or mine is more genuine!" Hawkins said with a smile.
Ripples appeared beneath their feet. Caught off guard, both of their feet sank into the ripples.
Naturally, Trist was unwilling to sit still and await death, so he instantly condensed a beam of light at his fingertip and shot through Hawkins's neck. But his feet had already been swallowed by the ripples, and his body still rapidly sank into them.
"How is that possible? His ability is still active even after he died?"
Trist's expression changed. He wanted to activate the power of constancy, but his entire body had already passed through the ripples.
Eternal Space, Yazhong Island, a lawn of lush green.
Hawkins's corpse and Trist fell onto the grass at the same time. Trist gave Hawkins a cold glance, then frowned slightly. His body stiffened as he sensed immense danger behind him, and the light was far too wrong as well.
He swallowed, and after preparing himself mentally, abruptly turned to look behind him.
The next instant, dazzling golden light reflected in his pupils. His teeth clattered as though fighting one another, and every cell in his body trembled madly.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH... AAAAAAHHH... AAAAAAHHHHH... AAAAAAHHHHH... AAH..."