It was as if they had poked a clown's nest.
"HEEHEEHEE... HAHAHAHA..."
Every clown, whether making dinner, maintaining the deck, dividing gunpowder, or cleaning cannons, had the same unnervingly identical grin plastered on their faces.
Ordinary people, facing them, would not only struggle in battle but could be scared half to death.
Suddenly, a lone wolf-like mournful howl tore through the night sky, causing all the clowns to shudder.
Like marionettes, they turned their heads in unison to glance at the captain's cabin, tucking in their necks, no longer daring to make a sound.
Only a ferocious roar echoed repeatedly over the pirate ship:
"Sea Hunter, Mithril Dragon, I'm going to kill you! Kill, kill, kill, I'll kill you all! GAGAGA..."
In the captain's cabin, another emaciated Bone Gobble Joker wiped the sudden gush of blood from his nose, his eyes bloodshot, panting heavily.
The Law-Breaking Stone had blocked his connection to the tip of his nose, rendering his transcendent abilities ineffective and reflecting the damage onto his own body.
It proved that his ability, derived from the Capricious Joker, to tear his body apart at will wasn't without drawbacks.
After a rampage in which he smashed everything in the captain's cabin, Koraskin seemed to have vented some of the frustration in his chest.
The rage and madness on his paint-covered face gradually returned to normal.
But the loss of his nose left a ghastly bloody hole in the center of his face, making him even more terrifying.
Fortunately, I memorized the location of Silvergold Island the moment I obtained the treasure map. The baseline mission is already complete.
He settled back into the chair, now with only two legs, and reached into his voluminous pocket that seemed bottomless, pulling out a clown card that appeared to be forged out of gold.
Obsessed in his gaze, he could never get enough of it, muttering, "My precious, my precious."
Apart from the different material, the pattern was identical to the popular Whist Cards on the Continent. Original content can be found at novel⁂fire.net
For clowns of the Hall Sequence, this was nothing unusual.
Cards were indispensable tools for clowns to perform divination, magic, knife throwing, and various other abilities.
And in a deck of cards, the clown image represents the joker card.
A standard 54-card deck usually contains two jokers, also known as the big and small jokers, or major and minor jokers.
The big joker represents the Sun; the small joker, the Moon; and the other 52 cards represent the 52 weeks of the year.
Hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades symbolize the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter; each suit has 13 cards, corresponding to the 13 weeks in each season.
Cards were originally the divination tools of clowns and have had intricate connections with astrology, divination, astronomy, and calendrics since their inception.
But this gold-forged Golden Great Devil Card was obviously not ordinary.
In a Transcendent's Spirit Vision, it emitted a tainted spiritual light, appearing like a myriad of colorful strands of hair or filthy, moldy caterpillars.
It not only clung stubbornly to the Bone Gobble Joker named Koraskin, but also penetrated the walls of the captain's cabin, extending to every crew member aboard the *Circus*.
Clearly, the Clown Pirate Group, which used to be relatively normal, had transformed into its current grotesque state because of this Golden Great Devil Card!
It was also one of the powerful Curses that the Capricious Joker had sent to the real world.
Moreover, as time went on, the extent to which the Clown Pirate Group was tainted grew deeper.
While making all sailors and Transcendent officers from various professions enthusiastically adore Clown Suits, it also endowed them with a variety of additional transcendent abilities.
Even the most ordinary mortal sailors possessed one or two passive abilities; the higher their Class, the more generous the gifts they received.
It already had the hallmarks of a collective bonus from a legion's title.
The main abilities included:
[Monster Power]: Unafraid of pain and unable to be subdued even by three or four adults.
[Transcendent Dexterity]: Whether throwing balls or knives, one could reach the level of a master mortal clown.
[Clown's Intuition]: Clearly knowing what is hidden behind a wall.
[Unicycle Balancing Act]: Riding a unicycle on a yardarm, or even standing on the tip of a knife without losing balance.
The highest level was Koraskin's own [Disintegration]:
The blood that flowed out was paint of all colors, rendering him almost immune to physical damage. Even severed limbs could be pieced together like a puppet's.
The Mandate of Heaven for using the Golden Great Devil Card was very simple: contrary to a normal clown, its purpose was to offer endless Fear to the world!
Clearly, as long as the Capricious Joker and the Clown Suit were not destroyed, an endless stream of terrifying clowns would be born.
Looking at the Golden Great Devil Card, Koraskin's face gradually became crazed again:
"How could such a thing, obviously from the Old Continent, be in the native ruins abandoned long ago within the Celestial Orbital Belt? Could it be that the first Colonizers to reach the New Continent were not us?"
He continued, his voice rasping, "As long as I get the Wealth of Silvergold Island, I can quickly rebuild my forces, increase my power, fight my way back to the Circulation Zone, and uncover this ancient secret. I will become a historical figure like 'Discoverer' Christopher, a household name, thoroughly solidifying my Anchor. I'll even use this Golden Great Devil Card, of the same Hall Sequence as me, to create a special unit of my own as Guardsmen, effortlessly overwhelming everything. I can definitely do it; the Clown can definitely achieve it! Whoever tries to stop me, the Clown will ensure they die a miserable death! GAGAGA..."
Clearly, Koraskin was also aware that something was wrong with him.
If there was a way, who would want to become a Bizarre creature without a 'self,' with only pure Beastliness remaining?
But greedy Desire made it impossible for him to abandon the card.
His almost collapsing smile was uglier than crying and more ferocious than a wild Beast pushed to its limits.
"Weigh anchor! We're going to the waters where Silvergold Island will soon appear to seize a good landing spot in advance!"