"Speaking of..."

After a brief moment of tranquility, Sipher said soothingly, "If we resign from Sage, maybe we’ll be settled... Will demons come to peel our skin?"

"That’s called the Blood Eagle Torture, not just simple skin peeling, it’s about flipping the ribs. Of course, it won’t be used on us, as long as we... hmm?"

Hawkins spoke mildly, but suddenly paused halfway, a hint of doubt flickering in his eyes, but he quickly shook his head:

"Forget it, anyway, we’re resigning, let’s just spend the rest of our days here, no need to think too much about it."

"Exactly." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Urouge agreed: "Earlier, it was all meaningless hustle and bustle, but since coming here, I’ve finally had time to ponder, what does all of this mean. Helping Sage become the Pirate King, and then what? After becoming Pirate King, nothing seems to change. If nothing changes, then all the effort becomes meaningless, might as well bask in the sun and think about the rest of life."

"You’re right."

The two nodded in agreement, Sipher remaining in a lying posture, crossed his legs, and smiled: "How about going to the dock to eat some fries, I especially love fish and chips... hmm?"

As he spoke, he was stunned himself, "But it seems there isn’t any here, why don’t I feel like making it myself? Lazy? No, I wouldn’t say I’m lazy, it’s so strange..."

"Speaking of which..."

Originally indifferent, Hawkins furrowed his brow too, "Wanting to bake cookies seems impossible, I want to eat fortune cookies but feel it’s too wasteful, for food, keeping full is enough, so contradictory... Why do I have such contradictory thoughts, hmm? Why am I resigning from Sage?"

"I like red beans and pork."

Urouge, whose face was usually expressionless, subconsciously wanted to show his trademark strange smile when speaking about this, but he forcibly suppressed it, appearing very odd.

It’s awkward...

Logically speaking, they would nap in the sun, eat some easily picked fruit when hungry, or catch a couple of fish by the seaside, satisfying hunger without being wasteful.

But when thinking about the things they like, this awkward feeling becomes very apparent.

"It shouldn’t be like this..."

Hawkins suddenly stood up, brushed the grass off himself, frowned: "I... wouldn’t just lie in the grass randomly, it’s dirty. Besides, resigning from Sage is very foolish."

"Seems like that’s the case..."

Sipher half sat up, stroked his chin, furrowed his brow: "What was I here for? Discovered a new island, planned to explore, then I thought whatever, hmm... Now that I think about it, maybe it’s not completely whatever. Not being able to eat fries is quite uncomfortable, but being peeled by the Governor would be even more uncomfortable."

Urouge was silent for a moment, then suddenly looked up: "Something’s wrong!"

Whoosh!

Just as he spoke, a raging wind began to blow, the previously clear sky suddenly darkened with thick clouds, and beneath the clouds, a shadow with a tail streaked downward from the high sky.

Boom!!

A massive surge of air exploded in front of them, making their cheeks feel peculiar.

Hawkins instinctively wiped his cheek, finding a trace of blood on his finger.

Urouge raised his hand to shield himself, seizing forward, opened his palm and looked, instantly his pupils contracted.

"Saw dust?"

The three spoke in unison, glancing at each other, that awkwardness peaked, rushing to their heads.

Buzz!

A black and red torrent surged straight from the point of the air surge explosion, brushing their heads, Hawkins shivered, "Captain!"

Crash!

Suddenly, three thick bolts of thunder descended from the sky, striking the three of them, their figures becoming pitch-black under the lightning, and as the glare faded, the three fell as if charred.

Yet the lightning within the clouds continued to rage, seemingly poised to strike again.

"Wait!

Hawkins didn’t even have time to fully collapse, kneeling on one knee, reaching forward, "I’m okay! Captain! Stop hitting!"

As soon as he spoke, a silhouette appeared before him, in Hawkins’ eyes, he only saw a moving figure with white hair dancing in the high-speed motion.

His eyes burst with red light, his mouth bared a set of white teeth, the cloak behind fluttered, and his fist had already swung down.

Bang bang bang!

With one punch and then three punches, the heads of the fallen Urouge and Sipher sank into the ground, Hawkins took a punch directly to the face, causing him to tumble backward, half of his head embedded into the grass.

"Resign?"

That familiar voice entered their ears.

"A lot of nerve but not much skill, huh? What, looking for a place to retire? No problem, this island can be your grave!"

"No, no, Captain."

Urouge’s body trembled abruptly, pulling his head out of the ground, casually wiping the blood from it, and shouted, "We’ve been affected by an ability!"

Sipher also pulled his head out, gritting his teeth in pain and yelling, "Yeah, Governor, you can’t blame me for this, it’s definitely beyond my power!"

"Being beyond your power is one thing, but being so deeply affected... you’re supposedly officers, aren’t you? Sipher, don’t think just because you’re a ’New Star’ you can escape responsibility; to me, you and Misty have the strength of Seven Stars!"

Sage clicked his tongue, his gaze unkind as he focused on Hawkins and Urouge, "And you two, being so deeply affected by the ability, it’s embarrassing!"

"It’s our issue."

The fallen Hawkins moved his fingers, first making a sound, then slowly got up, holding his head and trying to keep his expression neutral, "We really got careless, which is why we fell victim."

Sage took out a cigar from his cloak, lit it, and exhaled a puff of smoke, "Tell me."

"Loss of desire."

Hawkins said, "Suddenly losing all motivation, feeling everything is meaningless, causing our thoughts to change..."

"Oh, too much transition, entering the Wise Man Mode. You three claim to be of the divination type, but don’t just play with sticks." Sage laughed.

Hawkins: "..."

He was quite self-disciplined.

The matter is not hard to understand.

They had simply been affected by the ability.

When Sipher discovered this island, initially he didn’t notice anything wrong, only thought it was an undiscovered island, though the residents inside were strange, each acting without desire.

As long as they were full, they didn’t care about whether the food was delicious.

As long as they had shelter from the wind and rain to rest, they didn’t care about the style of the houses.

As long as they had clothes to keep warm and protect from the cold, they didn’t care if the outfit looked good.

Sipher initially just considered it a unique feature of the island, but he soon found something wrong, he seemed to gradually agree with the views here, feeling there was no desire.

He completely realized something was amiss when his subordinates all became uninterested, originally on the previous island, they could seize wealthy people, but when Sipher gave the order, his men all felt the task was meaningless, none were willing to act.

Adventure, treasure hunting, robbery... as Pirates, they must be interested in something.

If none were interesting, what was the point of being Pirates?

The subordinates sailing with Sipher were seasoned old Pirates, skilled in robbery.

When he discovered something was off, Sipher noticed his spirit was changing, surprisingly losing interest, but this wasn’t hypnosis, nor was it confusion, on the contrary, he was very clear-minded, which led to his awareness of the threat.

Relying on this awareness, he finally dialed the Radio Snail, but couldn’t even finish speaking half a sentence before he completely lost interest, thinking being a Pirate was meaningless, it also didn’t matter to protect the kingdom, being a person without desire was pretty good, so he voluntarily hung up the call.

"We’re just like Sipher."

Hawkins said, "When we landed on the island, we didn’t notice anything either, it was during the journey to find Sipher, gradually being influenced, and by the time we found him, it was already too late, it’s like we were completely drained of desire."

With a serious demeanor, he solemnly said, "Captain Sage, there’s a very strong Ability User hiding here!"

"After all this..."

Sage raised an eyebrow, "You didn’t even find anybody?"

Hawkins lowered his head, "It’s indeed shameful, even during divination, I didn’t detect any danger."

There’s indeed no danger, as they weren’t in any mortal peril, but this changing of consciousness is more terrifying than facing life-threatening situations.

"Seven Stars, Seven Stars!"

Sage glared at Hawkins and Urouge, then looked at Sipher, "And you! Security Officer of O’hara Kingdom! That’s enough! Half a year’s salary deduction, let’s leave it at that..."

In their puzzled eyes, Sage looked in a particular direction, grinning ferociously:

"He’s a decent fellow, it’s normal you couldn’t beat him, but having no ability to resist isn’t proper. Since I’m here, let’s settle this quickly, what do you say?"

From the direction he was looking, a figure approached from afar, like he was using Instant Teleportation en route; each blink or pause showed him moving a significant distance, constantly appearing ahead.

This person, wearing a monk’s robe, barehanded, with long hair draping over his shoulders, looking clean, but his scruffy beard and face full of dirt seemed to conflict with his cleanliness.

"One of the Four Emperors ’Calamity’, first time meeting."

The person placed one hand upright, bowing to Sage, "I’m Bode, a monk residing here, but of course..."

He rose and released his hand, looking directly at Sage, "I used to be a Pirate too."