Six men walked silently through the dark and deserted streets of Ermythie, advancing only by the light of their makeshift torches. They glowed just enough to see the men’s torn clothes under which one could glimpse bloodied bandages covering their arms, legs, or torsos. They were all armed with either rusty looking or damaged swords. Only two of the silhouettes seemed to be relatively well and holding good weapons.

Their goal was clear; the town hall, which they knew was occupied by newcomers. Once they were posted about a hundred meters from the building, the man at the head of the file, a tall brunet with a face full of scars, signaled the others behind him to stop, extinguish the torches, and hide in the surrounding ruins. The other five men complied without a word, doing their best to blend into the surroundings. Some of the men couldn't help but let out small exclamations of pain as they crouched in the darkness.

Suddenly, a shadow appeared at the corner of the street, and the man at the head of the file was momentarily blinded by a moonbeam reflecting on a spyglass. Then the shadow slowly approached the group, entering the light with a tired look on his slightly wrinkled face. The scarred man signaled the other men to stand up and approach him as he turned to the newcomer.

"Nobody else got in?" he asked with a hoarse voice.

"No, or I would have mentioned it." the tired-looking man replied with a hint of irritation in his voice.

The scarred man raised a questioning eyebrow before approaching his interlocutor.

"What's with that tone?" he asked.

"What's with that question?" the tired man replied.

The scarred man's eyes narrowed in anger.

"If I were you, Dande, I'd avoid making too many waves. You do what you're told and shut your mouth..."

He leaned next to Dande's ear and whispered:

" ... If you don't want to end up like your brother."

Dande's face frowned, and he clenched his fist with all his might before opening it while exhaling. Satisfied with his effect, the leader turned to the rest of the men who had gathered behind him. With a hand gesture, he led them toward the hotel. Arriving in front of the closed doors of the building, he stopped and observed the place, with his back to the rest of his men.

"We've got four snoops in the town hall. Three future corpses and a treat. Bring her back alive."

A lecherous smile crossed the faces of the pirates who set off without waiting, throwing open the doors of the town hall. Dande was about to follow them when the leader raised his arm just in front of him, blocking his way.

"You, keep watch. You better not move an inch."

Preferring to avoid confrontation, Dande nodded silently. The scarred man, with a mocking look, followed the rest of his men into the town hall. They were waiting patiently at the reception level, not knowing whether to go right or left. He approached the wall to examine the building's emergency plan, and after a brief moment of reflection, he pointed to the right corridor.

"I want two of you to check the surveillance room, the other two, search the offices. You have two floors to cover, be quick and thorough. We meet back here in half an hour, not a minute later."

The scarred man then pointed to the left corridor.

"Fletcher, you’re with me; we're going up the watchtower."

The pirates nodded, and as the scarred man and Fletcher disappeared into the stairwell of the watchtower, the other two groups separated upon reaching the corridor leading to the town hall offices.

The two pirates heading towards the security room, a small red-haired one with a bandage on his left arm and a tall black man with a slight limp, cautiously advanced along the dark corridor, swords raised and ready for action.

The corridor they followed had only one possible branch leading to toilets on the right of the security room. Both the security room and the toilets' doors were closed. The pirates each positioned themselves in front of a door and opened them simultaneously as discreetly as possible. Taking a deep breath, they entered their respective locations.

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The small red-haired pirate entered the security room and could see that only one screen was playing a video. He took a few steps forward, sword in hand when he finally noticed the images on the screen. He frowned, intrigued, and approached even more before opening his eyes wide in astonishment.

The video showed the pirate attack from the previous week. There was something fascinating about seeing this new perspective of the assault. As an actor, in the heat of action, he had only thought of one thing: inflicting as much pain as possible and leaving his mark on the minds of his comrades so that they would finally respect him. But being able to see everything from a more global perspective, from an outsider's view, allowed him to appreciate the scope of their actions. Before he even realized it, the small red-haired pirate began analyzing the video with a fresh new eye.

At the same time, the tall black pirate had entered the toilets, keeping the door wide open behind him. The place was simple, with two closed doors for sitting toilets in front of him, a urinal on his right and a sink on his left.

Despite the ambient darkness, the pirate noticed that the toilets had been completely spared from their assault, as if nothing had happened inside. Keeping his eyes on the two doors in front of him, the pirate fumbled for a switch on the wall without success.

He cautiously moved closer to the back of the room with his sword raised and stood in front of the first door, ready to kick it open.

Back in the security room, the other pirate had become somewhat lost in the images he saw. Memories from the previous week flooded his mind and he found himself smirking, even breaking into a small laugh. Suddenly, the door behind him was slammed shut. He turned around to see a computer keyboard flying towards his face.

The impact was so strong it broke his nose, throwing him off balance, and he fell backward, his head hitting the desk in front of the surveillance screens. On the ground, eyes closed, the pirate began to writhe in pain, unable to scream or breathe properly.

He didn't even have time to open his eyes before receiving a second, even stronger blow from the keyboard right on his completely exposed forehead. The impact was so violent that it shattered the keyboard and the pirate sank into unconsciousness.

When he heard the security room door slam behind him, the tall black pirate ran out of the toilets, stopping in front of the closed door of the security room.

"Gacheron?" he exclaimed, trying to open it with all his might.

Hearing no response, the pirate began trying to kick down the door.

Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him and turned his head. A bright flash of light blinded him completely, and he let out a cry of surprise, instinctively closing his eyes.

He was taken by surprise by a powerful knee strike right in his groin, making him fall to his knees, breathless. The pain and the brightness made him see stars. As he tried to lift his head to spot his assailant, he received a dagger hilt strike right on his temple. He collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

Cornell couldn't help but let out a small whistle of admiration at Raphaëlle's demonstration. She made it seem effortless despite the difference in size. The pirate stood absolutely no chance in front of her cold efficiency. She didn't waste a second and started searching the pirate's body, looking for any communication devices.

Finding nothing, Raphaëlle let out a small sigh of disappointment before standing up and knocking on the door five times. Tolas opened it, looking satisfied at the sight of the pirate lying in front of the door.

"So, am I good at planning or what?" the wolf asked with a predatory smile.

"I’d say you’re pretty good at it, but you’ve got to admit we got lucky they split." Tolas replied in a cheerful tone.

Raphaëlle rolled her eyes before noticing the state of the small red-haired pirate in the surveillance room.

"Wow, you didn't hold back on this one!" the young woman exclaimed, impressed.

"It wasn't me." Tolas said, nodding his head behind him.

Raphaëlle glanced beside Tolas to see Skepta, holding a ruined keyboard stained with blood, breathing heavily. He was staring at the unconscious pirate on the floor with an almost palpable hatred. She could sense how tense the technician's body was; he seemed on the verge of breaking down.

"Skepta? Are you okay?" the young woman asked.

"He was laughing…" Skepta replied with a voice trembling with rage. "I showed him what they did, I showed him... the hell they rained down on those poor people and he…he just started laughing."

Suddenly, the technician began delivering massive kicks to the unconscious pirate's side, who didn't even react. The two teenagers were left speechless, stunned by Skepta's unleashed violence. After a little while, Cornell finally grabbed the technician's arm, bringing him to an abrupt stop. Skepta turned his head toward the old sea wolf, who inspected him with a new perspective.

"Save some for the others, lad." Cornell said.

Skepta shook his head, as if he had just awakened, and silently observed Cornell before nodding. The old sailor exchanged a look with Tolas and Raphaëlle, both of whom nodded back. They grabbed the unconscious pirate in the corridor and dragged him unceremoniously into the security room.

Cornell then showed them a trick for binding the pirates by undressing them completely and using their clothes as makeshift restraints, intertwining them in a slipknot that would securely hold the two men. Without another word, they headed towards the offices of the town hall to carry out the second part of their plan.