Above the mage

Chapter 479 The First Beauty and the Pirate King

"Let's not talk about that for now," Apache waved his hand, continuing the unfinished topic: "Next is pirates."

"Outside the city, pirates are universally hated, especially in the waters under the control of the Plantagenet Dynasty, where they have almost no place to survive. But in Black Sails City, pirates are a force to be reckoned with."

"Not all merchant ships carrying goods to Black Sails City can arrive at the Black Sails City docks safely like yours."

He recounted this rather illogical matter in a very calm tone.

"All ships coming to Black Sails City must first pass through the pirates before landing at the dock. They are active in the waters of the Blue Flame Islands, looking for targets and plundering ships from all over the world to steal their cargo."

"The gangs would reach a cooperation agreement with the pirates, with the pirates responsible for robbing and the gangs responsible for selling the stolen goods."

"After robbing a merchant ship, the pirates would transport the goods to the docks of the gangs they cooperated with, and then sell them through various channels controlled by the gangs, including the black market, exchanging the goods for shiny gold coins."

"In addition, gangs often use the power of pirates to attack their rivals."

"They weakened other gangs and facilitated gang warfare by hiring pirates to attack their ships and even the docks they controlled."

In just a few words, Apache's description made Gao De deeply understand the "chaos" of Black Sails City.

"Moreover, as things stand, pirates are arguably the most powerful force in Black Sails City, at least for the past hundred years."

"In Black Sails City, the pirates are the most powerful?!" Upon hearing this, Gao De was slightly surprised, and he and Lan Wen exchanged a glance, both feeling that it was somewhat outrageous.

In their minds, pirates are somewhat low-class, and even among "gangsters," they have very little presence.

Furthermore, according to Apache, the gang is connected to so many forces, involving every aspect of Black Sails City, yet it is not the most powerful force.

"Yes," Apache nodded firmly, explaining, "Back in Black Sails City, it was the most powerful gang."

But ever since that man appeared, the landscape of Black Sails City has been changed.

"That man?" Lan Wen spoke up for the first time, clearly intrigued.

"A man known as the Pirate King, a mage skilled in necromancy," Apache emphasized, "Davis Jones!"

"He is a fifth-ring mage, and also a man who takes ruthlessness and cunning to the extreme."

"David Jones's greatest passion is bone carving. In fact, his bone carving skills are truly superb. Not to mention in Black Sails City, even in major cities outside, his bone carvings are enough to fetch high prices."

"But unlike other bone carving artists..." A hint of apprehension flashed in Apache's eyes, "David only carves on living human bones."

"Living human bones..." Gao De had already vaguely guessed the specific meaning.

"David would catch anyone who challenged his authority, tie them to a chair, and first shave off their muscle tissue with a razor."

"Then he will carve his entire skeleton. During this process, David will use necromancy to keep him conscious and alive."

Such powerful necromancy... Aside from its cruelty and perversion, God also had to admire the depth of David's necromancy skills.

After all, it is not an easy task to keep a person alive after removing all the muscles from their body.

"Moreover, David's activities were not limited to the Blue Flame Islands area."

He even led his own fleet on trade routes across the world's oceans, robbing merchant ships from various factions.

Then they returned to Black Sails City, laden with their spoils.

"His most commendable and also most outrageous feat was seizing a warship from the Holy Empire's navy."

"And what they stole was the Iron Crown, a warship that once served under one of the Holy Empire's three major powers, the Imperial Grand Commander Du Adolf."

"Without a doubt, he's gotten himself into trouble. The Holy Empire's navy has vowed to tear Davy Jones to pieces."

"But Davy Jones, despite being pursued by the enraged Imperial Navy, returned safely to the Blue Flame Islands aboard the Iron Crown."

"As you can see, the Blue Flame Islands are located to the west of the Plantagenet Dynasty. The Plantagenet Dynasty can tolerate the existence of the Black Sails City, but it will never stand idly by and watch the Holy Empire's naval fleet sail in, even if their reason for sailing in is to pursue Davy Jones."

"Therefore, the Holy Empire's navy had no choice but to return to port."

"The great source of calamity, Abaddon, restricts mages of the fifth rank and above from entering the Blue Flame Isles. Even the mighty and invincible Holy Empire cannot break through this restriction."

"Subsequently, they sent mages, and even hired assassins and killers, to our Black Sails City, attempting to capture David..."

Jones was brought to justice, but because the highest rank was limited to the Fifth Ring, there was nothing that could be done about Davy Jones.

"Davy Jones gained fame from this battle, which solidified his status as the King of Pirates and the ruler of Black Sails City."

"Davis Jones offended too many people, who offered huge bounties for his head, but Davis Jones didn't care at all. Instead, he took pride in it and regarded the ever-increasing bounty as his glory."

"Seventy years ago, Davy Jones broke the Black Sails bounty record with a record-breaking bounty of 27 goldbirds."

"Over the past seventy years, as he continued to plunder and wreak havoc on the seas, new forces have been constantly adding to his bounty."

"Even after each successful haul from the outer seas, he would add a bounty of 1 gold coin to his own post and put it on the bounty board in Black Sails City. This was both a provocation to those who hated him to the core and a demonstration of his power."

"Now..." Apache recalled for a moment and said with certainty, "Davis Jones' latest bounty has reached 38..."

"Ten Thousand Gold Bird Flower Coin."

The reward of 38 Golden Bird Coins... Upon hearing this number, Gaode couldn't help but gasp.

This is just the bounty; if they actually capture Davy Jones, the rewards will certainly be much greater.

Because Davy Jones has acted with impunity for so many years, the wealth he has accumulated must be an extremely terrifying figure.

"Wanted posters? Bounty board?" After marveling at Davy Jones's worth, Gao De picked up two more key pieces of information.

"That's part of the Black Sails' unique character," Apache said, spreading his hands. "We Abaddon people only make up 10% of the Black Sails; the rest are all outsiders."

Most of these outsiders are outlaws who committed heinous crimes or offended the wrong people in their homelands, and were driven to desperation by their pursuers, leaving them no choice but to seek refuge in our Black Sails City.

"Although they have taken refuge in Black Sails City, many of their enemies are unwilling to let them go and have put bounties on their heads."

"After all, in a place like Black Sails City, most people are willing to do anything as long as they have money. Killing is just an ordinary thing. This is the prototype of the bounty board."

Apache smiled, revealing two rows of white teeth: "Later on, everyone found that the bounty tactic was incredibly useful: if you put a bounty on your enemy, if there's enough money, a ruthless person will come to the rescue; if there's less money, it can still make that guy live in constant fear, like a rat crawling through a sewer when he goes out."

"The increased bounties have led to the emergence of the last remaining force in Black Sails City."

"Bounty hunter." Gao De wasn't stupid; he naturally made that connection.

Apache nodded. "Yes, it's a bounty hunter."

"Bounty hunters are actually the most unique among the four factions. Their main job is to hunt down and kill the wanted persons listed on the Black Sails City bounty board, and then exchange their heads for huge bounties."

"Bounty hunters mostly operate alone; they are lone wolves and cannot be strictly considered a faction."

"Although bounties were already prevalent in Black Sails City at the time, no power had ever endorsed them."

"This has led to more than one instance where bounty hunters accepted a bounty, killed the target, but were then denied payment."

"As this happens more often, bounty hunters no longer have as much faith in bounty posters, and they have lost credibility."

"With the bounty order about to become worthless and the rules about to be abolished, the most accomplished and powerful bounty hunter at the time couldn't stand it anymore."

Using his influence, he rallied bounty hunters and spearheaded the establishment of the Bounty Hunter Alliance in Black Sails City.

"He brought all the bounty hunters in through the alliance and set up a special bounty board to post bounty notices."

"Anyone who wants to issue a bounty must first undergo identity verification by the Bounty Hunters Alliance."

In this way, even if they want to renege on their debts afterward, the Bounty Hunter Alliance can organize people to settle accounts with them.

They'll raid your home and you can collect the reward.

"With the establishment of the Bounty Hunters Alliance, the problem of defaulting on payments gradually disappeared, and the status of bounty orders gradually became more stable."

"Later on, bounties became more and more common, and people realized that the amount of the bounty could reflect an individual's strength and influence to some extent."

"As a result, some powerful Black Sails City mages even began to compete with each other on their bounties, the value of which was equal to their reputation value."

"In this situation, the Bounty Hunters Alliance also followed the trend and released a bounty list based on the bounty amount, listing the top 100 people with the highest bounties."

"The appearance of the bounty board made the bounty spread far and wide, becoming an eternal hot topic in Black Sails City."

"In addition, because the bounty is in the form of a bounty pool, the Bounty Hunter Alliance will put all the bounty amounts together and keep accumulating them whenever someone posts a similar bounty. Therefore, the people who can stay on the bounty list for a long time all have frighteningly high bounties on their shoulders."

"The names of all the notable leaders in Black Sails City are now on the bounty list."

Goodness, isn't this One Piece...? Upon hearing this, Gao De subconsciously made a sarcastic remark in his mind.

"The cooperation model between bounty hunters and gangs is mainly based on intelligence trading."

"Bounty hunters use money to buy detailed information about targets from gangs, and then rely on their experience and skills to complete the mission. Occasionally, gangs will also issue missions through the Bounty Hunter Alliance to deal with internal traitors, key figures of competitors, etc."

"They call themselves bounty hunters, but they're more like paid assassins." Gao De raised an eyebrow, realizing that even in Black Sails City, the profession of "bounty hunter," which sounds positive in a literal sense, is viewed with a gray undertone.

"That's right, after all, this is the city of sin," Apache said, shrugging his shoulders as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.

"The establishment of the Bounty Hunters League actually only standardized the bounty order and protected the rights of bounty hunters, but did not change their lone wolf way of life."

Furthermore, there is no leader who can command so many bounty hunters; the pack is leaderless, so for many years, bounty hunters have only been regarded as a special entity, not a force.

"Their true rise to become one of the four major powers of Black Sails is actually a recent phenomenon that has only occurred in the last few decades..." Apache said slowly, a hint of awe in his eyes. "The source of this is the sudden emergence of a female bounty hunter named Sarah Fortune."

"How so?"

"This is arguably the most legendary story in Black Sails over the past few decades, Sarah Fortune..."

"No one knows her origins. All that is known is that thirty years ago, she arrived in Black Sails by ship and accepted her first bounty from the Bounty Hunters Alliance after setting foot on the dock."

"Half an hour after taking down the bounty, Sarah completed her first bounty, killing a gang leader, cutting off his head, and going to the gang that issued the bounty to collect a large sum of money."

"Then, she went to the Bounty Hunter Alliance's bounty board and, without even looking at it, tore off a dozen or so bounty posters."

Enter the City of Black Sails.

"In less than a month, all of the more than ten bounty posters that she tore off were delivered and cashed. Anyone she targeted had to hand over their head."

"No bounty hunter has ever been as flamboyant as her, as young as her, yet so skilled and never failed."

"In the years that followed, her fame in Black Sails grew, and the things she did became more and more astonishing each year."

"Until ten years after arriving in Black Sails, Sarah personally killed Shabala, the leader of the Fire Knife Pirates, one of the ten major pirate groups in Black Sails, and seized their Fire Knife pirate ship."

Based on this, he gradually gathered a group of loyal subordinates around him and formed the first bounty hunter group, "Coins."

"From then on, bounty hunters were truly integrated into the four major powers, and no one dared to treat them as lone wolves anymore."

"A single gold coin hunter group can elevate a bounty hunter to the ranks of the four major powers... Just how powerful is Sarah?" Gao De exclaimed, both impressed and curious.

"Everyone only knows that she is a fifth-ring mage, and that her signature magical weapon is not the ordinary mage's staff, but two enchanted spears."

Furthermore, no one knows the specifics of her methods.

"Oh, right, there's another well-known fact about her..." Apache paused, deliberately keeping them in suspense, and only revealed the answer when he saw the curious looks on God and Lanwen's faces: "She's also the most beautiful woman in the entire Black Sails City."

"It is said that even the pirate king Davy Jones had designs on her and sent a pirate ship full of treasure to propose marriage, but for some reason, nothing came of it."