Within a small, insignificant-looking island, a ship docked, and one man deboarded, a hood covering his face.
However, it was clear that he was very tall, with broad shoulders and fists the size of basketballs.
The island had only one small forest and a small hut in the middle. This island was barely the size of Kiwi Island's town, and that was saying something because that town was quite small.
Count Sander peeked beneath the hood, went over to the hut, and knocked on the door.
He didn't receive an answer, but he still stayed still and quiet.
A moment later, the door was opened by a hunched-back old man who had a long, gray beard with patches of dirt and twigs tangled within it.
"It's me." Count Sander removed his hood. "Galahad. I've come to ask for your assistance once again, the Great Sage of the East, Sinclair."
"Young Galahad…" Sinclair slowly said, left the door open, and entered his small hut.
It had all sorts of cauldrons, dusty tomes, and mysterious ingredients strewn about. There was a small bed in the corner, next to a flickering candle, where Sinclair motioned for Count Sander to sit.
Count Sander sat down, and watched silently as Sinclair started mixing ingredients in a large cauldron.
"Why've you come here?" Sinclair asked.
"I'll need you to change my appearance back," Count Sander said. "I must retrieve my wealth from Pirate Kingdom. I also can't enter that place as Count Sander."
"Pirate Kingdom, you say…" Sinclair turned to him. "Galahad is not the most liked person there. Emperor Happy has been extra bitter about your sudden departure from there. You were one of the captains of his fleet, after all."
"I will handle Emperor Happy," Count Sander said, and tossed him a money pouch. "The money for the operation."
"Very well…" Sinclair sighed. "Just lay down."
Count Sander lay down, and put his hands on his chest.
Sinclair dipped a cup into the cauldron, filled it with a strange liquid, and made Count Sander drink it. It put him to sleep.
He then put his hand on Count Sander's face and closed his eyes as well.
The face started to twist and squirm as if there were maggots inside his flesh. Count Sander's body then began to transform.
The blond hair turned black. The short beard vanished. The hooked nose turned straighter. He turned shorter, and his skin became pale and ashen, almost translucent.
When he opened his eyes again, his eyes were black, and he'd become ghostly-looking. It was far from Count Sander's tanned and handsome face.
"Galahad of Many Men Pirates has returned…" Sinclair said with a smile and picked up a bounty poster on the wall.
It was Galahad's bounty poster.
[Name: Galahad Mariner]
[Association: Many Men Pirates]
[Rank: High Stage Martial Grandmaster]
[Bounty: 22,100 Gold Coins]
The picture on the bounty was a perfect replica of current Galahad's face, down to the scar below his left eye.
"Thank you." Galahad said in his cold voice and stood up. "I might come to visit you again. I'll need to get my funds before I can make a new identity."
"Another one?" Sinclair raised an eyebrow. "What happened with Count Sander's identity? Last time I heard, your business was doing very well."
"I've come across two troublemakers…" Galahad said coldly. "I'll be going to the Pirate Kingdom to meet them. It's another reason why I must go there."
"Mm, very well," Sinclair said. "Best of luck, then."
"You might need to update your bounty poster soon," Galahad said and started to leave. "My bounty will increase soon."
"Oh, I wonder what you did…" Sinclair asked. "By the way, for your next identity, I'll need a face."
"I know who," Galahad opened the door. "I'll bring one of the corpses of the troublemakers that put me into this situation. Change me into him, alright?"
Kiwi Island, at the forest behind the burned castle.
"…" A navy officer stood at the riverbank and took a drag on the cigarette. "This was his last whereabouts."
"A battle was fought here." Another navy officer said. "Rear Admiral Callum was definitely here."
"Well, we can't leave before having a lead," the navy officer dropped his cigarette and took off his coat before rolling his sleeves. "I'll be checking the bottom of the river."
He jumped into the river, and despite the strong current, he easily swam to the bottom, and while holding his breath, he looked around without finding anything.
He then followed the current, and before reaching the open sea, he stopped swimming with his eyes turning round and shocked.
There was a person on the bottom of the river, the face pale and eyes still wide open. The fishes had been eating some of his flesh, but it was clear who he was.
'Rear Admiral Callum, he is dead!'
He quickly swam back to the surface and hopped off the river.
"Did you find anything?" Another navy officer asked.
"Yes, I did!" The navy officer said with an ugly expression. "Rear Admiral Callum's corpse."
His fellow navy officer looked horrified and asked, "What happened to him?"
"We know that he was chasing Count Sander, also known as Galahad Mariner. It is clear what happened. There was a hole in his chest. He was punched straight through with a fist."
"This is horrible…" his friend said. "With Rear Admiral Callum, during his escape, Galahad killed forty-four navy soldiers and his own sons. He must be stopped."
"We must contact the headquarters to increase his bounty that includes both Count Sander's face and Galahad's."
"He'd changed his appearance once; we must stop him before he can do it again."
"This is the work of the Great Sage of the East, Sinclair." The navy officer said. "He is working alongside the pirates. However, what we know about his powers, it isn't easy for him to make new faces. It's easy to change between old faces, so we can assume Count Sander might have changed back into Galahad."
"What does he need to change Galahad's appearance?"
"A face," the navy officer said. "Sinclair can't make a whole, never-before-seen face. He can only change Galahad into someone else who already exists."