Interrogation

They led their sizable force to a cluster of wooden buildings.

At a glance, the wooden buildings looked crude, but they were enough to shelter them from the wind and rain.

On this island perpetually shrouded in storms, they offered a place to settle down.

Judging by the size of the buildings, housing one or two hundred people would be no problem if they squeezed in.

The people inside had also noticed Dunn and the others arriving, and a crowd came pouring out to assemble.

"That's [Angry Whale]'s subordinate, [Whaler] Elvin." Grant pointed at a man giving orders in the crowd and told the others, "The other professionals and [Angry Whale] haven't shown up yet. They've probably already entered the ruins.

"We should move quickly too, before complications arise."

Dunn and the others nodded, then gave orders to their pirates:

"Take everyone inside into custody. Kill anyone who resists."

"Yeah!"

The ferocious pirates instantly grew excited and charged forward in a surging mass.

Fighting a battle they were sure to win was what these aggressive, combative pirates loved most.

Back in Cutlass Harbor, Dunn had already instructed his men to conceal the fact that they were professionals as much as possible.

Unless their lives were in danger, they could only reveal their status as professionals on an officer's orders.

Fortunately, Dunn's earlier display of brutality still held considerable sway over these newly advanced professionals.

Even now, no one, including the crew newly recruited by the [Black Pearl] in Cutlass Harbor, knew that the [Black Pearl] had over twenty second-tier professionals. At most, they merely suspected that the two officers, Lewis and Hans, might be professionals.

The unequal battle ended quickly. Perhaps it should not have been called a battle at all, but a one-sided slaughter.

[Angry Whale]'s ordinary pirates numbered only a little over a hundred. Facing an enemy three or four times their number, with professionals leading them, they collapsed almost as soon as the two sides clashed. Most scattered and fled, only to be chased down and killed or captured.

Their sole second-tier professional, [Whaler] Elvin, was surrounded by several second-tier professionals and captured in moments.

Soon, the five captains brought the prisoners into the largest room, preparing to torture them for information about [Angry Whale].

Unexpectedly, before Dunn and the others could begin, Elvin spoke of his own accord:

"If you're looking for our captain, he's in the ruins behind the buildings."

"Oh, talking without being asked?" Feishman looked at Elvin mockingly. "You certainly know when to yield."

"Bullshit!" Grant sneered beside him. "He's the disciple Jaeger personally chose. No matter what, he couldn't possibly be this spineless."

"What?" Feishman was startled, then turned a vicious look on Elvin. "You bastard. What trick are you trying to pull when you're already in this position?"

Pirates were creatures driven entirely by profit, with no regard for loyalty or honor. Switching allegiances the moment they were captured was commonplace.

Disciples alone were the exception. A disciple was a successor personally chosen by the captain, who not only held the first right of succession upon the captain's death, but would also inherit the captain's own profession.

With so much information coming at once, everyone had momentarily overlooked the fact that Elvin had inherited Jaeger's profession.

Essentially, a disciple's interests were completely tied to their captain's. Though there had been precedents of disciples betraying their captains, they would never abandon them as readily as Elvin had.

Thus, everyone was convinced there had to be a trick, and even Dunn harbored the same suspicion.

"You don't need to doubt me." Elvin's face was deathly pale; he had suffered serious injuries in the earlier battle. "The captain took dozens of men into the ruins several months ago, and they still haven't come out."

"What?" Everyone was shocked, and Dunn frowned as well. If even Jaeger, a third-tier professional, had most likely come to grief in these ruins, their own group would probably fare no better inside.

"No, that's not right. You almost fooled us, brat." Astor's hoarse voice suddenly rang out. "If Jaeger really went in that long ago and still hasn't come out, what are you waiting here for? Don't give me any talk about loyalty. Even as his disciple, waiting a month would count as unwavering loyalty."

Astor's words brought everyone to their senses. Exactly-if things really were as Elvin claimed, why would he have waited here for months without leaving?

"First, our Navigator went in with them.

"Without a Navigator to lead us, we probably couldn't get through the storm surrounding this place.

"Second, after I advanced to [Whaler] and became the captain's disciple, the captain placed a small section of tentacle inside my body. That tentacle is still alive, which means the captain isn't dead.

"He's probably just trapped inside the ruins."

Elvin explained slowly.

"If Jaeger isn't dead, how can you betray him so calmly?" Grant looked at Elvin with a sneer.

"It doesn't count as betrayal," Elvin answered calmly. "Over these past few months, I've tried several times to lead people into the ruins, but the mechanisms stopped us, and we couldn't get any deeper. Now that you're here, sending you into the ruins is the best choice.

"Waiting here like this is just slow suicide. If you go inside, you'll undoubtedly affect the situation the captain is facing. Whether that's for better or worse no longer matters. If the captain wins, naturally, all will be well.

"If you win, we'll merely die a little sooner. That's why I'm giving you this information."

"There's another possibility. Jaeger is in there right now, fully prepared and waiting for us. The moment we enter the ruins, we'll walk into his ambush." Astor stared darkly at Elvin.

"If that's what you want to think, I can't help it. But even if you torture me, I'll only give you the same account." Faced with Astor's doubts, Elvin remained calm, as though he had already put life and death entirely out of his mind.

Hearing Elvin's answer, Astor fixed his dark, murderous gaze on Elvin's eyes. A dagger abruptly appeared in his hand.

"All right, all right, Captain Astor. Jaeger doesn't know Divination. How could he possibly have known we'd come at this time, then abandoned his own disciple to set a trap for us? Elvin is most likely telling the truth. We still need him." Grant stepped forward to stop Astor from acting.