Among the pirates, whether it was the calm and cruel doctor or the utterly disrespectful marauder, all knelt or stood with eyes filled with reverence, slowly lifting their gazes to look up at the Pirate King above their heads.
Little Raven also struggled to lift her head.
In her blurry vision, Little Raven could vaguely make out the entirety of the base.
Above her was a colossal throne, and below the throne stretched a long staircase.
On the staircase stood three infamous great pirates.
However, the first thing that caught her eye was... the Blood Hunter.
Why is the Blood Hunter next to me...
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Little Raven's heartbeat quickened.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
At such close range, Little Raven could finally see the Blood Hunter in full detail.
The Blood Hunter's skin was covered with sharp blade marks, as if it had been scraped by countless threads.
On his Hunter's Clothes stained dark red with coagulated blood, vague numbers were visible.
In contrast to the dark red garments were the two incredibly sharp long blades at his waist.
At the same time, Little Raven was astonished to find that on the Blood Hunter's shoulders, there were four prosthetic limbs, each engraved with the symbol of the Steam Hand!
These additional four arms, however, clung tightly to his body, and their palms lay very calmly over his abdomen, largely obscured by the Blood Hunter's Hunter suit. If one did not observe carefully, this feature could easily be overlooked.
Little Raven couldn't help but swallow.
In taverns, on pirate ships, the Black Whale Group's seven bounty hunters worth over a billion, were without a doubt the subject of many discussions, the pinnacle of this sea, a symbol of power.
And Little Raven, too, had learned much about these seven great pirates from the tales of tavern-goers.
The Legend of the Black Whale Group, the undefeated Blade, Blade Cup Phase, of unknown profession, the Blood Hunter.
In the legends amongst pirates, Blood Hunter once served under the capital's Steam Hand and had been trained from a young age by the Steam Hand's Hunter Group as an elite warrior.
Also, after becoming a Legend, he followed the Steam Hand's orders to become an edge hunter and fought unimaginable creatures on the borders of the New Sun World for an entire three years.
However, due to internal struggle within the capital, after he completed his four-year duty guarding the frontier, he was abandoned and targeted for assassination by the Steam Hand.
In the end, after killing ten pursuers, an exhausted Blood Hunter boarded a small homebound boat, beginning a long drift from the edge of the New Sun World.
When he awoke once more, he saw Father Whale, and from then on, having no one to rely on, he became a member of the Black Whale Group.
In the fifteen years since Blood Hunter joined the Black Whale Group, he had been through over a hundred battles without suffering a single defeat.
Moreover, every single one of his battles was a solo mission without exception.
Blood Hunter was the only great pirate without his own fleet, or even direct subordinates.
He disdained the atmosphere on pirate ships, and every time he went on a mission, he would sail solo on a patched-up steamboat, heading out to sea alone.
Once, Blood Hunter had single-handedly, with a single drop of blood, followed Moonstone City's commercial street, long blade in hand, walking and killing wave after wave of Hunters and naval troops rushing at him, and ultimately, before numerous naval officers and bodyguards, slew the president of the Moonstone City Hunter Association atop a pile of corpses.
Despite his impressive record of victories, actual intelligence on Blood Hunter's capabilities was sparse on the open seas.
Only in rumors was it said that Blood Hunter was once a puppeteer, and when all six of his hands and blades were engaged, not even an admiral of the navy could endure for thirty seconds.
I haven't been discovered, have I... Little Raven thought to herself, doing her best to remain calm.
"No need to be nervous."
Blood Hunter adjusted his Hunter's hat and retracted his massive field of Spiritual Power, succinctly stating.
Little Raven was startled for a moment before she realized her heartbeat had become loud enough for an outsider to hear.
"Hmm..."
Little Raven responded with an awkward smile, lifting her head and boldly facing forward.
On the staircase were three more great pirates.
Tamer Jie, not tall, standing at one and a half meters, clad in heavy Thunder Pattern Armor.
He was a Fourth Rank Legend, a fickle dragon-taming master from the Golden Flower Bird Kingdom who had signed a contract with a ferocious Thunder Dragon in Thunderbolt Strait.
Tamer Jie was the pirate in the Black Whale Group who loved air battles the most; he commanded the 'Flying Fish,' 'Flying Dragon,' and 'Bombing Dragon' fleets— thirty great ships in total, as well as three exploration airships.
However, in the Crack Sea, his fleet was primarily tackling the thunderstorm area in the southern part of the Crack Sea and the cracks inside the great whirlpool, thus far avoiding large-scale conflicts with any force.
Within the Black Whale Group, it was rumored that Tamer Jie was planning to subdue an adult Black Ship Sea Dragon with the help of data from the naval base and the Dragon's Chain from the Golden Flower Bird Kingdom!
I must remember the appearances of these great pirates... Little Raven thought to herself as she looked upward towards the highest point.
To Father Whale's left stood a doctor.
He wore a black gentleman's hat, had a prominent aquiline nose, and was dressed in a black Pharmacist suit.
From a distance, he appeared as a lifeless, thick black mass.
Black Death Doctor, Cup Phase of the plague doctor profession, the main person in charge at the Black Whale Group Research Institute.
It was rumored that he originally belonged to the navy's research institute, but due to multiple violations of prohibitions, he had to flee for his life, eventually becoming a member of the Black Whale Group.