When the pirate alliance's ships clashed with West Blue's warships, it was like primitive warriors facing off against laser swords.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
More than a thousand main guns fired in unison, their sheer firepower devastating. The main gun of a super-large Pluton battleship alone could obliterate half an island with a single shot.
The pirates, still relying on traditional cannons with much shorter range, had no choice but to endure the relentless assault.
One after another, their ships were blasted apart, crumbling under fiery explosions as they sank into the sea along with their crews.
Within the bombardment zone, casualties were overwhelming. From above, the battlefield was a sea of fire and smoke, with barely any pirate ships in sight—only endless eruptions of destruction.
The only drawback was that the more powerful the Pluton battleship's main gun, the longer the cooldown after each shot.
After an hour of continuous shelling…
At least 300,000 pirates had been wiped out under the relentless artillery fire. If not for the steady stream of reinforcements descending from Reverse Mountain, their forces would have already collapsed.
Some on the front lines surely wanted to flee, but their voices were drowned out by the thunder of explosions.
The caliber of the cannon determines the direction of justice!
The never-ending bombardment reminded the pirates of the raw terror of being fragile, carbon-based creatures.
Desperate and bloodied, they finally closed the distance to the Pluton battleships, igniting their outdated cannons in a last-ditch attempt to engage in a firefight with the superior fleet.
Under the relentless firepower of the Pluton battleships' cannons and countless machine guns, the pirates' outdated artillery barely made an impact.
"Pirates will always be pirates... ruthless to the core," Mark muttered, realizing something was wrong.
So far, excluding those who died at Reverse Mountain, West Blue alone had already wiped out at least 400,000 pirates.
Including the casualties at the mountain, the death toll could easily exceed half a million.
This was the terrifying advantage of the defender. With the right positioning and firepower, the enemy had already suffered massive losses before a proper battle had even begun.
It was the main reason why top forces rarely engaged in large-scale wars, the attacker always loses.
Whitebeard's Summit War had been the same. Like Kaido now, he had been battered by the Marines' strategic advantage.
But something was off.
Mark narrowed his eyes. "Strange… I haven't seen any high-ranking officers from the Four Emperors' crews. The ones fighting so far are just expendable recruits from the New World."
Lynch nodded approvingly. "Exactly. They don't see these pirates as people. They're using them as cannon fodder, sacrificing them so the real main force can reach West Blue safely."
"Those bastards!" Mark clenched his fists.
"The pirates at the front are still their comrades! How could they do this?"
As a Marine, Mark was furious at their disregard for their own men.
In West Blue, they would never trade their own people's lives for survival.
…
As the pirate alliance closed in, now only a few nautical miles from the warship fleet, the true elites of the Four Emperors' crews finally emerged.
At this range, the super-large and large Pluton battleships could no longer use their main guns without risking friendly fire. However, the remaining arsenal was still more than enough to decimate all but the top commanders.
The main gun was the most powerful weapon on each battleship, but it was far from the only one.
Now, almost every large pirate ship carried a high-ranking officer.
Smoothie, Cracker, Perospero, Snack, Oven, Daifuku, Amande, Baron Tamago, Raisin, Mondor, Nusstorte, Custard, Bavarois, Yuen, Brûlée, Opera…
With Katakuri being the only one left behind to guard Cake Island, nearly all of Big Mom's officers had arrived.
"Hahahaha! Lynch, today is the day you die!" Oven laughed, his voice booming over the battlefield.
"Brother-in-law, take care of yourself," Raisin muttered to himself. "Wouldn't want my sister to become a widow."
Smoothie, remembering the humiliation she suffered at Cake Island, clenched her long blade, her eyes burning with anger.
"Master Lynch… forgive me," Baron Tamago whispered under his breath.
After the last incident at Cake Island, Baron Tamago still held a deep respect for Lynch.
"They're all here, every last one of them." Lynch remained calm as he shifted his gaze to the other side.
Quinn, Jack, Who's-Who, Page One, Sasaki, Ulti, Black Maria, Holdem, Speed, Ginrummy, Babanuki, Dobon…
Aside from King, nearly all of Kaido's top officers had gathered.
Among them, Lynch spotted a familiar face—the infamous "Sixth Emperor," Batman.
A legend in his own right, he was a man who had single-handedly suppressed Luffy, the so-called Fifth Emperor, and an existence so fearsome that even Zoro had to struggle against him.
"Lynch, you thieving bastard, give me back my ivory!" Jack growled, rubbing the spot where his tusk had yet to grow back.
Being thrown into the ocean for months? That wasn't what truly angered him.
But Lynch… had actually dared to rip out his precious ivory! Unforgivable!
"Oudou Doudou~ Oudou Doudou~"
Quinn, standing aboard his ship, showed no sense of urgency. He swayed his massive body, singing as he performed the ridiculous "Fire Festival Dance."
"The Beast-Big Mom alliance is unbeatable!"
Lynch ignored the nonsense and gave the order.
"Tsunade, you can release the Sea Kings now."
Earlier, the intense firepower had made it impossible to deploy them. But now, the time had come.
"I understand." Tsunade stepped forward, preparing for the next phase of the battle.
A minute later, massive shadows emerged from the depths, moving swiftly toward the pirate fleet.
The Sea Kings Special Forces.
Created using the World Government's living body modification technology combined with cutting-edge mechanical enhancements, these creatures were part machine, part beast—controlled remotely through brainwave signals.
The larger the Sea Kings, the more difficult they were to modify, requiring immense mental power from their operators.
After years of development, only 70 had been successfully transformed:
1 Sea King over 2,000 meters, 3 Sea Kings over 1,500 meters, 10 Sea Kings over 1,000 meters and 50 Sea Kings under 1,000 meters
Production had been discontinued six months ago.
The process was simply too difficult, and the same resources could be used to develop other advanced weapons.
But there was another reason.
Their Emperor Sea King had been eating far too much lately… and now, whenever it saw another Sea King, its eyes glowed green with hunger.
"Hey… do you see that? Something's swimming toward us," a pirate muttered uncertainly.
"You're imagining things. After that last round of bombardment, there's no way any fish are left around here."
"No! I swear, there's really something in the water!" another pirate shouted.
Before they could react, a massive jaw burst out of the sea, swallowing several hundred-meter-long pirate ships as if they were mere playthings.
Then, just as quickly, it disappeared beneath the waves.
More tails surfaced, swinging like wrecking balls, effortlessly crushing pirate ships on impact.
The 64 Sea Kings tore through the fleet, causing devastation—but even worse than the destruction was the panic.
.
.
TO BE CONTINUED
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