"Remember, none of us can use our powers, since we are still in the Devil's Zone. But I assume all of you are good with weapons, right?", Eric asked just to be sure.
All of them nodded.
"Cool. I think this is the best plan I could come up with considering our situation, feel free to give suggestions if any."
"Hmm, may I suggest?", Lus asked.
Eric nodded his head.
"So, I was thinking, that we could disguise ourselves as an officer one by one daily from now. By the time it is 3 months, we would already have more than 150 men among them.", Lus suggested.
Further, he tried to fix some inconsistencies in the plan such as what they were to do after they killed the officers or how they had to escape.
Eric grinned, "Now the plan looks perfect."
"Reo, you have quite a strategic enemy."
The man laughed. "We were enemies, but now we're fighting someone common. So, our enemy's enemy is our friend, isn't that right?"
"Alright. In three months' time, we'll escape this hellhole. In the meantime, let's revise the plan with everyone else.", Reo instructed as he decided to include other cellmates as well.
However, Eric had to pick them carefully, because some were too notorious and were pests to the world. They would only cause harm which Eric by no means wanted to happen.
.
.
.
Back, in the current time, Reo yelled at Eric, "Master Eric, careful!"
Just in time, Eric ducked and dodged a flying sword that was aimed at his head.
It was true that they had guns, but there were swords and knives used as well.
Eric looked up to see who threw the sword at him.
It was Daris.
"Tsk, you're such a coward. You couldn't attack me head-on so use dirty little tricks instead?", Eric yelled as he used the sword that Daris threw to slice off an officer's head.
Eric picked the sword from the ground, quite close to him.
Daris looked at him in shock and ordered more officers to attack them.
About twenty officers ran towards Eric, however, in just a few swings of the sword, only five of them were left. It wasn't difficult for Eric to finish them off.
After he was done, Eric wiped the blood that stained his face.
Reo and the others ran towards the seashore, towards the ship, that was waiting for them.
Eric glared at Daris while saying, "I'll come back for you."
Daris, who was powerless right now, could only watch Eric leave. He was left alive just like that.
Of course, he wouldn't let the matter go. He spotted the ships of the Anti-Pirate Federation coming from the other side. Hence, without wasting even a single second, sent out orders to destroy the ship which Eric was going to use to flee.
His call was answered, and a shot was fired from the cannon, however, it was aimed at Daris instead of Eric and the ship.
He realized that the men occupying the Anti-Pirate Federation's ships right now were none other than other criminals!
Eric hurried but as he was going to get on the ship, he turned around, hoping to find someone he missed dearly.
"Master Eric! Hurry up and get on the ship!", Reo screamed as he held out his hand towards Eric.
Eric sighed and said, "I will wait till you make your appearance in the world, Shiro…"
Then, he turned and got on the ship. Within a few seconds, the ship sailed away.
The crowd, that was left curious, continued whispering to each other while the ship sailed further and further away.
"Damn it! Those pirates!", Daris, who was on the verge of death, completely bloodied and covered in blood, used up all his strength to scream and show his frustration.
Although all of this took place on a remote island – the Devil's Land No.10, the news about their escape spread. These were only speculations because of the stopped broadcast, but most of them believed.
A rumor about the Anti-Pirate Federation spread like wildfire. The most famous newspaper, Chosen Times, wrote tons of things about the Anti-Pirate Federation.
They somehow got some secret information that wasn't supposed to be leaked got published in the paper regarding the Retribution Island incident.
This sent an uproar. The public and other organizations demanded an explanation. That was because executing Reo was a big part of their plan. They were going to execute Eric the very next day, making it consecutive deaths of pirates related to Shawn!
However, the entire plan failed due to their carelessness.
One of the five major leaders of the Sea Federation called and summoned the leader of the Anti-Pirate Federation to give an explanation about what had happened. Of course, even this news got leaked.
After a long lecture, the leader of the anti-pirate federation returned to its headquarters only to stumble upon the most famous newspaper, Chosen Times.
"Find them! Find every last of them! I want to kill them with my own hands!", a heavily bulked man sitting on a large chair in an office yelled at his subordinates while crushing the newspaper.
His underdogs nodded as they immediately got to work. It seemed like they wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully for a long time after receiving such an order.
Whatever, this did create a small storm in the world. While Eric vanished, he did think about Shiro. He thought about waiting for him, perhaps, there was something that he wanted to do, or he just missed him.
Although he didn't exactly know where Shiro was, he knew for sure that he had survived. It was probably his gut feeling that made him believe that. Nevertheless, he was going to grow stronger, but before that, he had to take his revenge on the bastard Vino!
Regardless, Eric now had one more goal in mind – getting stronger and protecting Shiro in the future, because from what he saw, Shiro wasn't someone who would be stopped from setting his mark on the sea!