"It's not just stone, it's metal too!"
A man in dark red leather armor approached, his narrow, indifferent eyes fixed on the Enlivened creatures flying everywhere in the sky. His white hair, styled into a prominent pompadour, stood out, and his black cloak danced in the wind behind him.
He raised a finger to the sky, pointing to another Enlivened gargoyle. This one was entirely black-gray, glinting with a metallic sheen under the sunlight. When lead bullets struck it, they produced a clanging sound and sparks, yet caused no damage whatsoever.
"General Moratos!" the surrounding pirates called out repeatedly.
Whoosh—
Rumble—
Suddenly, a cannonball, carrying a whistling gale, violently struck the wall of a nearby house. The massive explosion instantly blew half of the bluestone-built house into rubble. Scorching flames, mixed with black gunpowder smoke, surged upwards like a fireball.
Moratos stood unmoving, allowing the strong, gale-like blast to sweep over him, stirring up suffocating smoke and dust.
Shrapnel flew everywhere like buckshot from a shotgun, wounding several pirates who were too close.
After a while, he retracted his gaze and said in a deep voice, "The Marines' firepower is completely concentrated on our ships. It seems they want to cut off our retreat and then annihilate us. What a grand ambition!"
"General Moratos, what should we do?" a pirate asked with a panicked expression.
"Have the brothers retaliate with all their might! We must hold back the Marine's offensive!" Moratos's expression was grim as he spoke with a heavy tone, "Also, send some ships forward as shields to protect the others. I'd rather half the fleet be destroyed than have all our ships sunk by the Marines!"
Boom—
Suddenly, a pirate ship docked at the pier suffered a sympathetic detonation as its powder magazine was hit by a cannonball. The resulting massive explosion instantly blew the entire ship to smithereens, interrupting Moratos's next words.
After a glance, Moratos continued, "Also, contact Commander Roberts by Den Den Mushi to report the situation here and request reinforcements!"
There was no other choice. The Marines had arrived too suddenly, and with only a few hundred meters separating them, the Marine's ship cannons were firing both powerfully and precisely.
Meanwhile, under the cover of the entire Marine fleet's artillery fire, Cross led four second-class warships, rapidly closing in on Oneway Port.
Before the Roberts Legion could even counterattack, they charged into the harbor. These four warships were now also at the center of the Roberts Legion's grand fleet.
Unfortunately, after the Roberts Legion broke through Oneway Port, the main force had already landed and headed towards the Bion Kingdom's central city. As a result, not many pirates remained guarding the port and on the pirate ships.
They were even struggling to handle the sails, let alone operate the cannons to counterattack. Therefore, out of over thirty pirate ships, very few were actually firing. Otherwise, these four second-class warships would have been annihilated in mere moments.
Suddenly, Gion on the deck yelled at Cross, "It's no good! There are too many ships, we can't get to shore!"
It turned out that when the Roberts Legion attacked Oneway Port, over a dozen ships were already sunk or paralyzed and unable to move within the harbor. Then, the Roberts Legion's grand fleet of over thirty pirate ships also entered the harbor, either docking or beaching on the shores on both sides.
This resulted in the not-so-large Oneway Port becoming congested with sails, almost completely blocking the channel.
"What a nuisance!"
On the bow deck of his warship, Cross expressionlessly watched a pirate ship anchored ahead. Then, with a clang, he drew Shusui, one of the 21 Great Grade Blades, from his waist, pointing its blade straight ahead.
"Within range."
"One Sword Style: Flying Edge!"
Hummm
The long blade hummed softly, then powerfully slashed, unleashing a massive, greenish-white flying slash.
In an instant, many pirates saw the colossal slash rapidly traverse over a hundred meters like a meteor. With a boom, it cleanly severed the fifty-meter-long pirate ship in half, the cut as smooth as if slicing through butter.
Gurgle gurgle... Gurgle gurgle...
The two massive halves of the ship gradually sank, continuously releasing large amounts of bubbles on the sea surface.
"That'll do!" Cross nodded, saying in a deep voice, "Don't worry about hull damage or beaching. Ram directly to force a landing! Our victory depends on getting my Enlivened creatures ashore!"
"But, Captain Cross, we—"
"No 'buts'! Follow my orders!"
"Yes, Captain!"
Cross roughly interrupted the Marine beside him, forcefully issuing the command.
Immediately, Marines on the other three warships also received the order. Then, they watched as these four warships, despite being close to shore, maintained their speed, even accelerating slightly.
In an instant, the four warships became like four rampaging bulls, ferociously colliding and scraping past other ships and enemy pirate vessels within the harbor. Amidst continuous booming sounds, Cross felt the powerful vibrations of his warship.
Splintered wood flew everywhere, causing many Marines and Enlivened creatures to fall into the sea from the decks.
"Captain Cross, Ship Number Three hit a sunken ship on the seabed, and its watertight compartments are breached!"
"I don't need damage reports! At this short distance, as long as we make it ashore, the warship won't sink!"
"Understood!"
"..."
In a flash, Gion saw the warship beneath her feet getting closer and closer to the port dock ahead. She couldn't help but yell, "Everyone, attention! Prepare for impact—"
Boom—
The next moment, as countless pirates watched wide-eyed, the four massive Marine warships successively crashed into the long dock.
Several wooden docks were shattered by the huge and sturdy warships. The splintered planks flew in all directions under the powerful impact, stirring up surging seawater and dense smoke.
"Lunatics! Are these Marines all crazy?!"
"Attention! The Marines are landing!"
"Fire! Quick, fire! Don't let the Marines land!"
"It's no good! Those monsters overhead are too troublesome!"
"..."
The pirates in the port kept crying out in alarm, but they couldn't form an effective defense, nor could they even organize a firing squad to deal with the Marines' impending landing.
However, Cross wouldn't let such a perfect opportunity slip by. He shook his slightly dazed head, quickly recovering from the strong impact's vertigo, then looked at the Enlivened creatures gradually standing up on the deck behind him.
"Enliven Legion, CHARGE!!!" Cross exclaimed excitedly, pointing Shusui forward and shouting with soaring ambition.
Immediately, the four warships beached on the docks lowered their gangplanks almost simultaneously.
Swarms of stone knights and various fierce beasts, along with monsters from legends, poured out from the decks, appearing for the first time on the brutal battlefield of the New World.
"Forward! Forward!"
"Howl—"
"Roar—Roar—"
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