Chapter 594 - 231: Autograph

The voice was choppy, accompanied by a deafening roar, as if he was in the middle of a hopelessly one-sided battle.

"Hello? Hello? Miles Wei? Are you still there?"

"You..."

"HSSSSS... People from the Black Pearl?"

Just then, a new voice came through the ear—one that sounded ethereal and utterly cold. Even when addressing the Black Pearl, the voice didn’t waver in the slightest.

"Who are you?!"

After a few seconds of silence, Black Jack’s voice came through the ear again.

"Just wait. I’ll be there soon. Don’t you dare go anywhere! You vermin on the Alanjia!"

"Heh heh heh heh... Come on... Jack First Officer. They’re... already in the Deep Sea... waiting for you..."

"Hmph!"

Having heard this, Menor tapped his earlobe one last time and said calmly, "Connect me to him. The First Officer of the Black Pearl, First Officer Jack Kim Adros!"

The tattered black robes, the strange figures wrapped in ’bandages’, the black carriage, the terrifyingly powerful person driving it...

Connecting all these things, Menor already had an answer in his mind—the Dusk Sect!

’It seems our Eternal Life Association isn’t the only one on the move. Those Secret Cultivators from the Dusk Sect have started to accelerate their plans too.’

’The person in the carriage... is it a Grave Digger?’

’As I recall, Grave Diggers have rarely appeared in our previous clashes with the Dusk Sect.’

’Usually, it was just a few Secret Cultivators working together to handle the cleanup...’

Menor stared at the ear, waiting to be connected to Black Jack.

"Hello, this is the Bai Ke Li!"

"I’m looking for Black Jack. Tell him an old friend is..."

"Menor?"

Black Jack’s voice, tinged with surprise, came from the ear. "How did you get a communicator for our Black Pearl?"

"I stole it."

Menor glanced at the helmsman steering the ship in front of him and said flatly, "Never mind that for now. Tell me your position. I have something very important to discuss with you."

"Stay away! I don’t want to see you!" Black Jack snorted. "Nothing good ever happens when you’re around, and this time’s no different!"

"Heh heh, I wasn’t the one who led the Alanjia to you... And besides, don’t you want to know the identity of that voice from just now?"

"You shut... huh? You know who those strange figures are? The ones with the tattered cloth bandages and those weird carriages... They’re not from your Eternal Life Association, are they?"

"..."

Menor snorted indignantly. "That is the greatest slander against our Eternal Life Association!"

"Then you tell me who they are first, and then I’ll tell you my current position."

"Is this a trade?"

"Take it however you want!" Black Jack’s indifferent voice came through the ear, perfectly conveying his roguish tone.

"They are the very reason I came looking for you. I..."

Menor noticed that on the deck outside the cabin, the unreliable-looking, gray-haired young man was picking up the two pitiful pirates to throw them overboard.

"Kleia, stop! Are you trying to harm the crewmen of our esteemed allies from the Black Pearl?"

"Huh?" Kleia froze for a moment, then quickly put the pirates down and gave an embarrassed, dry laugh. "Force of habit, force of habit. Back on the Southern Continent, this is how I always treated ’spoils of war’..."

"Get over here, now!"

Kleia pouted, muttering a few reluctant words under his breath, then left the two terrified, pitiful pirates and ran into the cabin.

Menor shot him a glare before continuing into the ear, "Jack, this matter is of great importance. I have to speak with you face-to-face. And not just you—I also need to see the ’Sea Emperor,’ Captain Isabella Christers!"

"Hm? Aren’t you afraid she’ll kill you?"

"Compared to what I have to say, I believe the ’Sea Emperor’ can tell what’s more important!"

After a few seconds of silence, ’Black Jack’s’ voice transmitted through the blood flowing from the ear. "I can’t tell you my current location, but I’ll be arriving at Avad Island in another twenty days... Let’s meet there."

"Alright. By the way, there’s one more thing I can tell you now."

"Speak!"

"Regarding that three-masted sailing ship flying the Alanjia flag, the other dark figures aren’t important. Be careful of the black carriage and the person sitting in it. He is a special Holy Professional known as the ’Grave Digger,’ and he can awaken projections from the Otherworld. His abilities are extremely..."

Just as Menor was relaying the intelligence about the Grave Digger, the gray-haired young man beside him began tugging at his long robe, the frequency increasing rapidly.

"And?" Black Jack’s voice came through, followed by a very quiet mutter. "Leaving me hanging mid-sentence?"

Menor didn’t answer him immediately. Instead, he frowned at Kleia. Seeing the mixture of astonishment and gravity on the young man’s face, he couldn’t help but follow his line of sight.

"Hm?"

In the distance, on the dim sea illuminated by the red moon, a ship more than ten times larger than their own two-masted vessel was rapidly approaching them.

The ship had five towering masts. Its pure white sails, even under the red moon’s glow, still shimmered with a silvery-white light, and on them was imprinted a giant sun... no, the golden symbol of half a sun.

And at its bow was a somewhat indistinct figurehead. Its blurry face wore a warm, sunny smile, its longsword held high in its hand...

’It’s a Five-Masted Sailing Ship from the Dawn Church?!’

"What’s wrong?"

"Sorry, Jack, something’s come up on my end. I’ll contact you later."

"Hey, hey..."

Menor sealed the ear away in a special container, then casually wiped the blood from his hand on the back of the pirate in front of him, his gaze fixed on the platinum-gold Five-Masted Sailing Ship.