Chapter 18: Pirates

Dense footsteps approached, and a large group of guards rushed into the office.

Because of the large number of people, the guards crowded into the office doorway.

"Listen up, everyone. This is our new boss, Lord Bai Ye."

Hank stood by Su Xiao's side, indicating his stance.

The guards around were somewhat confused, but after Su Xiao raised the appointment letter in his hand, those guards understood what was going on.

"Hello, Boss."

"Lord Bai Ye, I am Kaba."

"Boss, from now on, the brothers will all listen to you."

Compliments kept coming, but Su Xiao only nodded in acknowledgment, his gaze fixed on Oka's two confidants.

"These two colluded with pirates, intending to disrupt the order of the royal capital..."

Before Su Xiao could finish his sentence, Oka's two confidants actually drew their weapons and aimed them at him.

"Brothers, don't listen to him. Lord Oka is our boss."

Su Xiao was stunned, looking at the two with some surprise. Did these two guys not have brains?

Actually, it wasn't that the two were brainless, but Su Xiao's current identity and his words just now had made the two somewhat terrified.

Su Xiao had previously said he would let the two stay here forever.

"Attack! These two guys colluded with pirates, and now that they've been exposed, they actually want to openly resist."

Hank was very sharp and immediately realized the current situation.

"Really~, idiots."

Su Xiao sat behind the office desk and didn't move; there was no need for him to act now.

A large group of guards swarmed up. At this moment, Oka's two confidants were in complete despair.

"Wait, we just wanted to..."

Before the two could explain, a large group of guards hacked at them with chaotic blades.

The sound of weapons clashing, gunfire, and the sound of flesh being shredded followed one after another.

Thirty seconds later, two mangled corpses were added to the office, and every guard in the room was covered in blood.

The smell of blood permeated the air.

This looked absurd, but it was not.

The rules of the Pirate World were just this nakedly cruel: the strong controlled everything, and the weak could only wait for death.

In this office filled with the smell of blood, the royal palace messenger swallowed hard. Su Xiao's ruthlessness made the messenger somewhat terrified; the idea he originally had of skimming some benefits had vanished into thin air.

"Clean this up. You guys go down."

Not long after, only three people remained in the office: Su Xiao, Hank, and the messenger.

Hank didn't go out, just stood straight by Su Xiao's side.

Su Xiao just glanced at Hank and then ignored him; he was too unfamiliar with the Guard Headquarters, so he needed an old fox like Hank.

He really needed an assistant who was smart enough and had ambition.

"Lord Bai Ye, please have your subordinate withdraw. I have important matters to convey."

"No need. He is my 'confidant'."

Hearing Su Xiao's words, a smile appeared on Hank's face.

"Alright then. The matter is like this: you should have heard of the 'operation' tomorrow night, right?"

The operation in the messenger's mouth was the burning of the Terminal Gray Terminal.

"I've heard of it."

"That's good. I'll get straight to the point. The higher-ups' meaning is this: there are currently three forces suitable for doing this thing. We have made preliminary contact with all three, and now, we need you to contact these three forces and choose one of them to execute tomorrow night's 'operation'."

"En?" Su Xiao looked at the messenger, a strange gleam in his eyes.

"I get to decide who does it?"

"Correct, you get to decide. After all, we've only heard of those pirates; we still need to make contact before making a decision."

Receiving a clear answer, Su Xiao was overjoyed. He really hadn't chosen wrong; his current identity played a crucial role.

"Understood. I'll go contact those three forces in a while."

The messenger smiled at Su Xiao and wanted to turn and leave.

"Oh right, one more thing. Although there are three forces, you can only choose one to execute tomorrow's plan. As for the specific information, it's all in the document."

The messenger left under Hank's respectful send-off, and Su Xiao picked up the document on the desk.

Inside was the detailed plan for burning the Terminal Gray Terminal, which roughly meant:

Choose a pirate crew, then provide them with explosives to use to ignite the Terminal Gray Terminal.

There were three pirate crews to choose from.

The first was the local force of the Goa Kingdom, the Bluejam Pirates—the same pirate crew that fought with young Luffy, Ace, and others in the original work.

The second was the Krieg Pirates, who had recently sailed to the nearby seas.

Seeing the information on this pirate crew, Su Xiao was somewhat surprised; this was also a pirate crew he was familiar with.

The Krieg Pirates were a relatively famous pirate crew in the East Blue. In the original plot of the Baratie restaurant, the Krieg Pirates were wiped out by Mihawk, then fled to the Baratie, fought with the Straw Hat Pirates, and were finally defeated.

Although it was ten years before the start of the plot, the strength of the Krieg Pirates was not weak; the entire fleet had about six hundred people.

As for the third pirate crew, named the Skull Pirates, their strength was nothing special, so Su Xiao directly excluded them.

According to the original intelligence, the strength of the Bluejam Pirates was average, defeated by young Luffy, Ace, and a group of mountain bandits, which showed their strength.

As for the Krieg Pirates, Su Xiao had high hopes, so he wanted to see this pirate crew first.

"Hank, go contact the people from the Krieg Pirates."

Hank smiled awkwardly.

"This, my lord..."

Hank's attitude made Su Xiao understand.

"It's up to you. I must see people today."

It was very clear that Hank could contact the Krieg Pirates. As for what kind of relationship the two sides had, Su Xiao had no interest in knowing.

Government officials and pirates colluding with each other was a common phenomenon in the Pirate World; the two had many possible interests at stake.

Hank didn't let Su Xiao down. Just two hours later, he had arranged a meeting place with the Krieg Pirates.

The location was, of course, within the royal capital; no one would trust a pirate crew.

In a dirty alley in the civilian district, several men wearing wide black clothes and hoods stood in the alley, vigilantly looking around.

"Boss Krieg, this is the place. The old warehouse in front is the agreed-upon location."

A thin pirate with a sailor's cutlass hanging at his waist stood carefully behind a tall man.

The man was also wearing wide black clothes and a hood, but in the gaps of his clothes, one could vaguely see that the man was wearing a suit of golden armor.

"En. You guys wait here for me. Gin, you come with me."

Krieg's voice was low, and his walking produced the sound of armor clashing.

"Yes, Boss."

Gin was dressed the same way, with weapons hidden in his sleeves.

"Boss, it's said that the new Guard Captain has extremely ruthless methods. We should be cautious."

Krieg turned his head to look at Gin.

"En? Do you think I can't deal with a Guard Captain? If it weren't for the fact that noble status can bring a lot of convenience, I wouldn't be working for the Goa Kingdom."

Arrogance and conceit were common problems for most pirates.

Gin was speechless, and the two walked toward the warehouse. ===== CHAPTER 19 =====