The four, Lion, Tiger, Eagle, and Wolf, stared at the beast cloaked in thunder and lightning, expressions shifting with tension. A cold chill ran down their spines.
"Bwahahaha! Looks like the Captain's powers are back again!"
Rock lowered the cannon-shaped arm he'd just fired, grinning from ear to ear in unrestrained excitement.
"Hehehe... Wonder who's gonna get torn apart this time?"
Facing Wolf, Marcus let out a cruel, sinister chuckle. The image of those unlucky souls previously shredded by Roto danced through his mind.
"This guy's aura... it's even stronger than before."
Nekk narrowed his eyes, expression dark and unreadable, mind clearly turning over something complicated.
"Zoan-type Lizard Fruit: Mythical Variant—Thunder Basilisk.
"A beast of brutal strength and mastery over lightning. I haven't had it long... but a battle between an Ancient Zoan and a Mythical Zoan? That kind of thrill, I could never pass it up! Hahahahaha!"
Vito, now fully transformed into a humanoid beast, loomed over the lion-like Lion in human-animal hybrid form. His guttural laughter echoed like a roar, and those yellow-black beast eyes radiated such bloodlust that the air felt charged with death.
Vito had obtained the Mythical Zoan two and a half years ago, during a risky expedition to a deserted island.
Back then, he'd had no clue what power the Devil Fruit held.
Initially, he'd planned to sell it, after all, he and his crew had spent eight years scrapping by in the New World.
Tough? Sure. But still a far cry from the true legends that ruled the seas.
Though he'd long lost the ambition to challenge a Yonko after witnessing their overwhelming might, his thirst for power and riches hadn't died. He took the gamble. Ate the fruit. Jackpot.
A Mythical Zoan, rarer than even the Logias.
Since then, he'd kept a low profile. Two and a half years of training had supercharged his growth. Vito now believed that even if he couldn't defeat the big-name pirates, he could at least escape them with ease.
"Mythical Zoan types really are a cut above the Ancient Zoans. But when it comes down to it, it's still about who wields it better."
Lion let out a wild roar, the sheer sound crashing through the underground chamber. Then he charged, a towering mass of muscle lunging toward his opponent.
"Come on then, let me rip you apart!"
Vito raised his right claw, lightning dancing along its surface with a violent crackle.
A bolt of thunder tore through the chamber, electricity arcing wildly as it shot through the air like a lance of wrath.
In a split second, the lightning strike obliterated a stone chair nearby, blasting it into powder, rubble flying in every direction.
But Lion had already moved. He'd dodged the bolt and in the blink of an eye, surged right up to Vito, a gust of wind trailing behind him as he slashed a claw toward his opponent's skull.
But Vito, taller and broader than Lion, didn't flinch. He raised his own claw to meet the strike head-on.
The impact was like a thunderclap. The sheer force split the floor beneath them, shattered stone flying outward like shrapnel. The air quaked with the aftershock, a wave of white concussive wind sweeping in all directions. Weapons racks were blown over instantly. Even the high-grade redwood liquor cabinet trembled violently, its doors rattling.
Aboveground, The Altar.
The altar was vast, over three hundred square meters. A square platform, it stood fifteen meters high and rose in three tiers, with 108 stone steps leading to the top.
At each of the four corners, towering three meters tall, stood statues of knights in full armor, each bearing a shield in one hand. Their weapons varied, one held a lion-bladed longsword, another a horse-slaying saber, the third a knight's lance, and the last, a massive warhammer.
At the top tier stood five metal-crafted beasts, Lion, Tiger, Eagle, Wolf, and Snake. Each sculpture was masterfully crafted, their texture and aging suggesting they were relics of an ancient era.
The altar was encircled by a six-meter-high wall, its crest bristling with iron spikes, clearly meant to ward off wild animals and preserve the sanctity of the site. There was only one entrance: a stone gate five meters tall and three meters wide, flanked by twin statues of stone sentinels.
Now, however, that gate was reduced to rubble.
Four still-warm corpses lay sprawled before it, dressed in black, all decapitated.
"They've already started... That fast?"
Aeridar crouched beside one of the bodies, running a hand across the corpse's muscled chest. These guards were no pushovers. Yet the overwhelming stench of blood from within told him everything, no resistance remained. The inner defenders had been slaughtered.
Behind Aeridar, five figures stood in a line: Arlan, Oliver, Dimitri, Backan, and Otto.
"Could there have been a mole on the inside?" Arlan asked, raising a curious brow.
Without hesitation, Aeridar stepped forward, leading the group through the shattered gate and into the altar grounds.
The scent of iron hit them immediately.
Dozens of corpses lay strewn across the stone floor, limbs hacked, heads missing. The scene was a bloodbath. Yet among the dead, about a dozen bore the emblem of the Triangle Pirates.
"They were ambushed," Aeridar murmured, his eyes scanning the field of corpses strewn before him.
"Captain, over there."
Arlan tapped him on the shoulder and pointed toward the front of the altar.
At the base of the altar's first tier stood a square-shaped doorway, about two meters wide and three meters tall. A faint flicker of candlelight seeped through its edges.
Lying just outside the doorway were eight corpses, five were guardians of this place, the remaining three bore the insignia of the Triangle Pirates.
A muffled boom echoed from beneath the earth, resonating up from the door's depths. The ground trembled ever so slightly.
Oliver scratched his head and crouched down, pressing a hand to the dirt.
"Looks like there's a fight happening down below."
"Hard to say how deep it goes, but for the shockwaves to reach the surface... that's no small scuffle,"
Dimitri said grimly, stroking his chin.
"Captain, what's the plan?"
Backan turned to him, his tone serious.
"Captain, are we going down there?"
Otto cracked a savage grin.
"My fingers are itching."
Aeridar folded his arms, stroking the stubble on his chin in thought. After a moment's pause, he spoke:
"We're going down. But keep it quiet, don't get spotted."
Based on Aeridar's hunch, the treasure of Alvis Island was likely tied to the people of this village.
The Triangle Pirates must've uncovered the secret and were after the treasure themselves. It was possible that a crucial map or key was hidden beneath the altar.
With Aeridar's crew arriving, the pressure must've pushed them to make their move ahead of schedule.
If both sides were after the same treasure, and one group might even be the treasure's guardians, then conflict was inevitable. It'd come down to whose fists were stronger.
But anyone who could guard a treasure this long... probably wasn't weak. In fact, they were likely formidable.