A Pirate's Spring Awakening

Morti led Bellamy on a winding path through the city, eventually arriving at a secluded tavern. As expected, a group was already waiting for them there. However, this was not the treasure-hunting team Morti had spoken of, but a band of slave traders.

The moment Bellamy stepped into the tavern, several flintlock pistols were pressed against his head. A few burly men with savage faces and bulging muscles strode forward with grim smiles, raising their hands to knock him unconscious.

Bellamy whirled, a leg sweeping out. A vacuum slash erupted from the tip of his foot, slicing through the air, cleaving the filthy tavern—along with all the trash inside—cleanly in two. Morti, who had led him there, happened to be standing behind him and luckily escaped this fate.

When Bellamy turned to look at him with a blank expression, Morti instantly understood: he hadn't just kicked an iron plate; he'd kicked a solid steel one.

"Mercy!" Morti immediately dropped to his knees, kowtowing desperately. Why would Bellamy bother with the pleas of such scum? Without letting him utter another word, Bellamy jabbed a finger at his forehead.

"A decent bit of post-meal exercise."

Having casually destroyed the slavers' den, Bellamy turned to leave. Just then, a faint sound drifted from the collapsed tavern.

"Hm? Someone still alive?"

Bellamy instinctively tried to sense with his Observation Haki but detected nothing at all. How could that be? Had he been hearing things?

He immediately sensed that something was amiss. He began to clear away the debris of the fallen tavern, searching inch by inch. Before long, he discovered a dark, deep, underground secret passage beneath the tavern. The sound he'd heard earlier must have come from within.

Using Paper Drawing to sense the airflow downwards for a moment, Bellamy was surprised to find that the passage was unexpectedly deep; he couldn't sense the bottom at all. Had the sound really come from down there? This secret passage very likely concealed some unspeakable secret.

So, should he go down and take a look? Bellamy hesitated. The Lvneel Kingdom meant nothing to him; he couldn't care less about this country's affairs. However, a subconscious feeling nagged at Bellamy, a sense that the secret hidden below might far exceed his expectations. If he didn't go see, he would regret it.

"Captain, what are you doing here?" Just as Bellamy was hesitating, his crewmates happened to find him. Their arrival helped Bellamy make his final decision. Since his companions were here, he might as well take the opportunity to go down and investigate.

"You all wait here for me. If I'm not back up in half an hour, give me a call." The Den Den Mushi's signal was still very good; as long as the distance wasn't too great, they could connect.

Leaving Drake to guard the entrance, Bellamy lit a torch and jumped down into the opening.

He walked for a long time, winding his way through the passage, which surprisingly began to trend deeper and deeper.

"So, what was that sound earlier, really?" With a passage this deep, what kind of sound could possibly travel all the way out? Bellamy was mostly certain he hadn't been imagining things. That meant there must have been something alive here earlier, but…

He held the torch aloft, searching around. Aside from the twisting tunnel, there was nothing. The ground, however, was densely covered in footprints, yet there wasn't a trace of a living person's aura.

Since he was already here, no matter how bizarre this place was, Bellamy was determined to explore it. Leaving a mark nearby, Bellamy continued deeper into the passage. This trek, unexpectedly, took nearly another half an hour. It wasn't until Drake's call came through that Bellamy was startled to realize he had been walking for so long. This tunnel might very well extend beyond the city limits.

How could a small, rundown tavern possess such an outrageously long secret passage? The manpower and resources needed to excavate such a tunnel were no small sum. How could a mere group of slave traders possess such capability? Bellamy's curiosity was slowly being piqued. His intuition told him that this exploration might yield some unexpected discoveries.

He continued along the passage, occasionally making marks on the walls. About two hours later, three branching paths appeared ahead.

"Still not the end!" Just how long was this tunnel? Judging by the distance he had walked, Bellamy should have long since left the city, possibly even be nearing the edge of the island.

These three paths: One had clear footprints, looking frequently used. One was covered in dust, apparently untouched for a long time. The last one was somewhat odd, located above the other two, resembling a ventilation shaft.

"Which way?" Bellamy stood at the fork, finding it difficult to choose. He wanted to check out all three. Using Paper Drawing to sense the airflow, the upper path seemed to be a dead end, with no air movement at all. The dust-covered path had a faint airflow, but not much. Only the most clearly marked path had a distinct current of air.

Whichever way he went, there was no telling how much longer he'd be walking. Bellamy pondered for a moment and decided to first check the frequently used path. With such obvious footprints, he might be able to catch someone alive further in. If he could catch someone, everything would become simpler.

What Bellamy absolutely hadn't expected was that upon taking this path, he saw no living beings, but rather, heaps upon heaps of corpses. And they were all dried-up mummies! The deeper he went, the more desiccated corpses he found. Walking through this tunnel, even someone like Bellamy, accustomed to life and death, couldn't help but frown deeply.

"Why are there so many bodies here?!" Counting from the first one he encountered, he had seen at least a thousand dried corpses along the way. What was even more astonishing was that after walking for so long, the end of this tunnel was still not in sight. Just how many people had died in this place?

"And why are they all desiccated?" Bellamy couldn't resist picking up a corpse and bringing it closer for careful observation. There was no telling how long this body had been dead; the bones were more brittle than dry earth, crumbling into dust with a gentle squeeze. It seemed this passage had existed for a very long time.

"I feel like I'm touching this kingdom's darkest secret… but why are there no guards in a place like this?"

Soon, Bellamy's question was answered. A rustling, skittering sound of insects crawling echoed from the depths of the tunnel. In the blink of an eye, countless pitch-black beetles surged out from the secret passage, swarming towards him like a tidal wave.