In the deep night sky, gradually turning bright, as dawn was about to rise, casting a white light, Gin returned with his subordinates responsible for the heist, along with their spoils.
The battle and the heist took them the whole night.
Along the edge of the pit, there were numerous boxes filled with their loot.
Fabrics, medicines, ironware, food, and water were essential. They weren't afraid of taking too much because after this heist, there was definitely going to be a banquet, which required a lot of food.
Besides these necessities, the rest was Belly and treasures.
On the other side of those big boxes were several treasure chests stacked with a large amount of Belly, and one chest of gold coins and gold bars.
Sage sat on a big rock, glanced at the half-empty gold coin box, and raised his eyebrow, "Is that it?"
Lily stood in front of him, glanced at the list in her hand, and said, "There are quite a few noble merchants in the Royal City, but they generally use Belly, and very few collect gold coins. Additionally..."
She paused and said, "In our battle with the remaining soldiers, we lost one hundred and twenty-six people, and over two hundred were injured."
Upon hearing this, Gin and Bellamy standing nearby lowered their heads in shame.
Master Sage had dealt with more than half, and the remaining soldiers facing them were just one against two or three. Moreover, they had these skilled individuals joining in, yet there were still considerable casualties.
"Well... the opponents were quite elite too, can't blame you." Sage nodded and said.
The soldiers of the Anu Kingdom indeed had quality, after all, they were selected over years in the barren Stone Country, each having undergone significant training in the quarry, comparable to these pirates.
If not for Gin and Bellamy joining the fight, five hundred pirates truly couldn't have matched these soldiers. The casualty ratio was acceptable.
"Ah, come have some breakfast to replenish your energy."
At the edge of the pit, the subordinates set up a stove and a large pot from who knows where, steam rising hotly, as Marika ladled a large bowl of meat soup with noodles, handing it to Sage.
The remaining people obediently ran to the stove, gathering around to scoop the stew and gulp it down ravenously.
They'd been fighting almost all night, naturally feeling drained, and since they still needed to act, heading from here to White Harbor to continue the plundering, they had to replenish their strength somewhat.
Holding the bowl of noodle-rich meat soup, Sage thought for a moment and looked to the other side.
At the center of the pit, in front of that abyss-like hole, stood a group of men bare-chested, wearing only stone armor pants, and a group of women with stone-made strips covering their chests and hips.
Regardless of gender, they were all about two meters tall, with varying hair colors, but other than that, they were just like Las, with pitch-black eyes lacking any whites, and black-gold vertical lines extending from their feet to their shoulders and chest.
At that moment, they were looking around recklessly, sometimes at the sky, sometimes at distant buildings, and then at the clothing of these people, even glancing at the boiling large pot on the stove not far away, collectively swallowing, displaying curious yet timid eyes.
Sage shook his head and called out toward the stove direction, "Give them a portion too!"
Their eyes lit up, and they all ran over, unlike other pirates who clumsily crowded together, they lined up in an orderly manner, scooping bowl after bowl.
Even the bowls intrigued them greatly, imitating the pirates, scooping up the meat soup, then holding the bowl like a monkey, examining it intently, before cautiously using a fork and spoon to take a bite. After just one bite, their eyes sparkled like black gemstones.
An older-looking person excitedly shouted at Sage, "Master! This is delicious!"
"Then eat more!" Sage gritted his teeth and glared at them irritably.
These people, like Las, were of the Demon Race, all of them emerging from the underground, all adults, the youngest being sixteen and the oldest forty, considered youth on this vast sea.
These demons, after three hundred years of underground propagation, bearing the will passed down through generations to reach the surface, finally emerged.
Initially, Sage was quite happy, even though these demons were almost severed from the outside world, it didn't matter much.
There were plenty of secluded places even in the Four Seas, with islands unknown and unconnected to the outside, let alone the Grand Line, where varying climates and magnetic fields increased the sailing difficulty.
Almost every island on the Grand Line is isolated, especially between the Magnetic Field Islands, each with its own civilization and era, so a group of underground demons curious about everything except minerals wasn't so strange or abrupt.
However, this wasn't the issue; what turned his delight into anger was the fact they didn't bring any gold!
The so-called underground Golden Country had long been almost entirely excavated. There were many gold mines in the past, but no matter how much gold there was, it was just an island, unable to withstand three hundred years of continuous mining.
They had already dug down deep, any further, and they couldn't bear the pressure; as for ordinary people... it was almost impossible for them to reach the dug area.