Some of the pirates closer to the sharp-faced man froze when they saw his body explode.
One pirate reached up with a trembling hand and wiped the sharp-faced man's blood and bits of flesh from his face. As he stared at the blood and flesh on his hand, nothing remained in his eyes but unprecedented terror and fear!
Don Krieg stared in horror at the spot where the sharp-faced man had suddenly exploded, unable to recover for a long time.
Ages calmly surveyed the panicked expressions of the people on the ground. The corners of his mouth rose as he thought,
Just as I thought, to defeat an opponent without lifting a finger, I should first crush their will.
In a bloody fashion, Ages had utterly shattered everyone's last psychological defense. Their hearts were now filled with fear and panic.
With the exception of Don Krieg, they had all lost the will to fight, thinking only of getting away from the "demon" standing in the sky.
Seeing that they were preparing to flee, Ages spoke again, wiping away any thought of escape.
"Heh heh... anyone who dares run will end up just like that man."
Ages pointed at the spot where the sharp-faced man had exploded, openly threatening them.
Hearing this, everyone involuntarily turned to look at the spot. At the sight of the blood and bits of flesh covering the ground, they all swallowed.
Don Krieg frowned deeply and looked up at Ages with a gloomy expression, asking again,
"Who the hell are you?!"
Ages turned to Don Krieg and smiled faintly.
"I told you, I'm Ages."
"You!..."
When Ages gave him the same answer again, Don Krieg immediately drew his shield and shouted,
"MH5!"
The skull in the middle of the shield opened its mouth, and a poison gas bomb powerful enough to kill everyone in a town shot toward Ages.
Boom!!
An explosion rang out, and poisonous fog spread around Ages.
Don Krieg immediately shouted to the crowd,
"Retreat, retreat!"
Only then did everyone come to their senses.
Without a moment's hesitation, they scrambled on all fours toward the Dreadnaught Sabre by the sea.
Don Krieg led the charge toward the shore, a despicable grin curling his lips as he said viciously,
"Run, run. Go draw that brat's attention so I can escape."
"Just you wait, brat. Once I gather Gin, Pearl, and the others, you'll be dead."
Inside the poisonous fog, Ages heard Don Krieg shouting for a retreat, and disgust flashed in his eyes. Ages knew Don Krieg's character very well and knew he intended to use his subordinates to draw Ages's attention so he could escape.
Ages looked at the poisonous fog he had blocked, which Don Krieg used to poison innocent people. Intense killing intent flashed in his eyes as he said softly,
"You think you can escape like this? This place will be your grave."
Bang!
Ages swung his hand, dispersing the poisonous fog around him, and called out to Don Krieg and the others.
"Today! None of you are getting away!"
With that, Ages shouted!
"Explode!"
As his voice fell...
Boom!!!!
A deafening explosion came from the shore...
Hearing the explosion, Don Krieg and the others had a bad feeling and all quickened their pace toward the shore.
When Don Krieg and the others reached the shore, they froze.
Flames were soaring into the sky along the shore!
The Dreadnaught Sabre was nowhere to be seen. All that remained were burning fragments of wooden wreckage...
The pirates looked at a burning Krieg Pirates flag on the beach. An hourglass was painted on either side of the skull on the flag, originally representing the time left until death for the prey they had captured.
Now, however, they felt as though the hourglasses on the flag were telling them that their own time to die had arrived.
Ages flew above Don Krieg and the others and smiled scornfully.
"Heh heh... how could I possibly give you a chance to escape? I prepared for this long ago."
Ages's plan was very thorough. He intended to keep every single one of them there, without letting anyone go.
But Ages still wasn't strong enough. Faced with so many people, he feared some might slip through the net and seize the chance to escape by ship, so he had planned ahead to cut off their retreat.
Ages's preparation had been to use sightseeing and having fun as an excuse to place black spheres along the Dreadnaught Sabre's keel, side keels, and ribs. When the time came, he only had to detonate the spheres to destroy the ship and cut off everyone's retreat.
A group of pirates knelt on the beach, gazing in despair at the burning wreckage of the Dreadnaught Sabre by the sea. Their minds broke down, and they mumbled,
"It's over... it's over... everything's over..."
Don Krieg gritted his teeth and cursed.
"Damn it! So you'd planned this all along?"
"Heh heh, yes, because I don't want to let any of you people who commit every kind of evil get away."
Seeing Ages's calm expression, Don Krieg's heart sank to rock bottom. But he wasn't about to give up. He still wanted to live, so he continued to rally the others.
"Hmph! You think you can kill us all? This island is huge. As long as we scatter, you'll never find us. Don't even think about killing us all!"
Don Krieg's words rekindled hope among the pirates present.
"That's right! As long as we split up and hide, he won't be able to find us!"
Seeing their hope rekindled, Ages's expression didn't change at all. A faint smile still played on his lips as he said disdainfully,
"Don Krieg, you can stop trying to rally them. Do you really think I wouldn't have a foolproof plan?"