“Walk this way, and we should be able to meet them soon, but are you really just leaving your ship here?”

Ginny roughly confirmed the direction, then looked at Orlan's ship. Although this was a remote canyon with little human presence, there was still a possibility of being discovered.

“Of course, I’m prepared for this. You’ll know once we get up there.”

After Orlan and the others left from the bottom of the canyon, Ginny was surprised to find that the ship that had been parked there had disappeared.

“Hey, where’s the ship?”

“It’s still there; I just activated the ship's holographic camouflage. You can't see it unless you go inside. With the automatic weapons onboard, we should be fine for a short while.”

Orlan vaguely remembered that an unprecedented war would break out on this island, and eventually, the entire island would disappear from the map. Otherwise, they could try hiding like this.

Orlan's ship had originally been docked at a regular pier, so there was no need to activate such a device, which was why Ivankov and the others had seen Orlan's ship earlier.

“But we need to hurry; some of the equipment on my ship is damaged, including part of the power system. We can only rely on backup energy for a while. Also, take this.”

Orlan handed Ginny something resembling a gas mask, which was a necessity for living in Zaun—an air filter—but now it served to obscure her face.

“Cover your face. I have other plans once we go out. I don’t want to end up on their wanted list, and you wouldn’t want to be targeted by the World Government’s henchmen either, right?”

The World Government's intelligence control isn’t very strong; after all, they couldn’t even control public opinion, perhaps thinking it wasn’t worth their effort.

In theory, as long as one doesn’t touch upon that blank hundred years, the World Government wouldn’t keep a close watch on someone.

What Orlan was doing was just precautionary. Given the prevalent face-blindness at sea, wearing a mask was already showing them a lot of respect.

“Um… what about mine?”

Ivankov thought Orlan would give him one as well, but after waiting for a long time, and even as Ginny adjusted her buckle, Orlan didn’t make any move.

“Your face is too big; I don’t have anything that fits you. Just make do with a cloth to cover it.”

It wasn’t that Orlan discriminated against Ivankov; it was just that his size—or rather his face shape—meant he couldn’t use regular gear, so he had to resort to makeshift methods.

...

Meanwhile, in a clearing in the Valley of the Gods, tall stone pillars were scattered all around, with sparse shrubs and moss growing nearby.

A small stream wound its way down from the mountain gorge, making a babbling sound. Suddenly, the hurried sound of footsteps broke the tranquility.

A boy, larger than an average adult but with a very youthful face, was desperately running away.

His shaved head bore many scars, and his tattered clothes were full of rips. The chains on his hands and the target on his clothing indicated that he was also a slave.

Chasing him from behind were not the Navy or Celestial Dragons, but a group of similarly dressed slaves.

With a string of curses, a stone flew from behind, hitting the boy squarely on the back of his head.

As his vision blurred, the boy's massive body fell onto the grass.

The man who had been chasing from behind seemed unsatisfied; he picked up a wooden stick and began to beat the boy's body, cursing angrily:

“Bastard! The ten-man team has collective responsibility. If you run away, we’ll all die! Who told you to escape?”

It wasn’t until the stick broke that the man felt relieved and called up his companions to drag the boy back.

But just as he grabbed the boy's foot, a net flew from the distance, binding him tightly.

“Sir! Sir! We’ve caught the runaway! Please don’t hurt me; we’ve corrected our previous mistakes!”

The man, bound by the net, didn’t even try to break free; instead, he lay on the ground and began to plead loudly, while the slaves next to him knelt down in unison.

In their eyes, only Celestial Dragons could act like this in today’s Valley of the Gods, and in the face of Celestial Dragons, obedience had become ingrained in their bones.

“A bunch of fools. No one is watching you, yet you willingly serve a group that wants to kill you. You really like being slaves, don’t you?”

A voice from afar, tinged with mockery, broke the scene. The net was fired by Orlan.

Ginny couldn’t handle the recoil from the capture net gun, so Orlan took the gun for himself.

Looking at these obedient slaves, Orlan had nothing but pity for them.

The boy on the ground slowly opened his eyes again, still dazed.

At that moment, Ivankov and Ginny had also come over to Orlan.

“Is this the Bakaniya tribe? He’s really big. I heard you have giant blood; is that true?”

Ivankov curiously observed the boy. According to the information that Ginny had previously stolen, Celestial Dragons were very interested in this special prey.

“Ivankov, we’ll talk about that later. So, can you stand up?”

Orlan reached out his hand to the boy, who seemed to sense the kindness and responded, standing up again with Orlan’s help.

“Thank you… who are you?”

“We’re just some people planning to leave here. At least you know how to escape. Do you want to join us?”

Those who didn’t even dare to think about escaping had no meaning in Orlan’s eyes; it would be good enough if they didn’t cause trouble. The boy immediately agreed, as there was no real choice for him.

“Wait! You can’t take him away! If he runs away, we can’t report back to the Celestial Dragons!”

“Let’s catch them all. Maybe if the Celestial Dragons are pleased, they’ll reward us…”

Not daring to resist authority, they chose to please their master by oppressing weaker ones; this was the choice of some slaves.

But even if they begged for mercy, in the end, they were still treated as prey for amusement.

On the side of the slaves, there were more of them, and after exchanging glances, they seemed to agree with the earlier speaker’s idea.

A few of them moved to surround the area.

“You fools really are stupid. Even if you catch us, do you think the Celestial Dragons will let you go?”

Ivankov aimed the gun at them, but Orlan’s earlier action indicated that the gun only fired non-lethal nets, so it didn’t scare them off.

“What can we do? We can’t escape from here; those are the Celestial Dragons…”

Saying the weakest words, they still moved closer. In response, Orlan silently raised his arm, and the blue tube embedded in his exoskeleton began to charge.

Boom!

With a muffled sound, several sharp ice spikes were released from Orlan's arm armor.

There were no intense explosions, but as the ice spikes hit the ground, they stirred up a frost storm in a small area.

Moments later, only ice sculptures remained on the ground.

The Hextech GLP-800, commonly known as the ice gun, was far deadlier than the police net gun, driven by Hextech cores.

Having lived in Valoran for so many years and with rich “dreams,” Orlan wouldn’t show mercy when it came to taking action. He didn’t have time to entangle himself with these people who were all about pleasing their masters and chose a violent solution.

“Don’t dawdle. This isn’t just a simple escape; it’s a special war. Since they’ve chosen to become enemies, this is the inevitable result. Wars always come with casualties.

Let’s go find some who are willing to resist. Hopefully, there will be fewer fools like this.”

Calling out to Ginny and the others, the group continued walking through the mountains of the Valley of the Gods.

…

Compared to the situation in the Valley of the Gods, the outside world was even more tense.

Some time ago, in the New World, on Hive Island Hachinos.

Due to the exaggerated number of pirates gathered here, it was also known as Pirate Island.

Among these pirates, the strongest was undoubtedly the Rocks Pirates.

Having received the information released by Ginny, the Rocks Pirates were now on their way to the Valley of the Gods.

“The Rocks Pirates have set sail! They got ahead of us!”

“Quick, follow them! This is a big event in the pirate world!”

Countless pirates streamed out, crossing the calm belt from the New World towards the West Sea.

Soon after, the Navy also received news of the pirates setting sail.

In the Navy Headquarters, the current admiral, Sengoku, was very irritated as he fiddled with the transponder snail in his hand.

“This is the situation, Karp. Although it’s not confirmed yet, if it’s true, it’ll be troublesome, so I have to ask you.”

“Huh? Why would the Celestial Dragons collectively go to such a remote island? A study trip?

I’m not going; they should have brought enough guards, right? What’s there to be afraid of?”

On another island, Karp was lying leisurely on a deck chair, showing no intention of moving.

“I can’t say the specifics; I just heard that Roger also went to that island.”

“What? Why didn’t you say so earlier? I’m leaving right now!”

In an instant, the top forces of both pirates and the Navy began to head towards the Valley of the Gods, marking the official start of a new era of rivalry.