Honestly, Wapol's shooting accuracy was pretty decent.
The good news: the cannonball directly hit the giant bird.
The bad news: The bird wasn't injured at all and instead flew into a rage.
Naruto, who was on the bird's back, naturally felt the impact when the cannonball struck.
He had noticed the attack coming but didn't pay it any mind.
As for the cannonball itself, it was just a regular one and nothing special except for its speed.
For a strengthened beast like this giant bird, it was nothing more than a minor annoyance.
What Naruto was more concerned about was whether the bird would accidentally harm innocent people.
After using his Observation Haki to scan the area below for a few seconds, Naruto quickly dismissed the idea of stopping the bird.
'Hmm… Greed mixed with murderous intent, pretty standard emotions on the high seas.'
Then he 'looked' at the pirate flag hanging from the ship's mast.
'Good, no collateral damage. Just a bunch of suicidal pirates.'
'In that case, it didn't matter.'
Naruto has always been kind to pirates like Luffy, who were less like criminals and more like adventurers.
But for the vast majority of scum who were only out for pillaging and killing, Naruto couldn't care less.
If it was convenient, he might even take the initiative to wipe them out, doing his part to maintain maritime order.
Having confirmed that the people below weren't worth saving, Naruto simply ignored the situation and closed his eyes again.
Even as the bird's back tilted at a dangerous angle during its dive, Naruto remained stuck to it as if glued in place with Chakra adhesion.
Meanwhile, the enraged giant bird, having been attacked, plunged straight toward the [Bliking] below.
'What a joke.'
'If I can't deal with this annoying brat on my back, I'll at least take it out on you!'
Looking at the monstrous bird that was getting bigger and bigger in their field of vision, the people on the ship finally realized what was going on.
It turns out that it wasn't that the bird was small, but that it was too far away.
When the colossal wings blotted out the sky above the Bliking, the mood aboard darkened just like the massive shadow looming over them.
The fate of the ship was a foregone conclusion.
The giant bird's talons effortlessly tore through the hull, leaving deep gashes.
Some of the soldiers, reacting quickly, ordered the control room to raise the iron plates around the ship, sealing it before submerging into the water.
If the bird had just been big, their emergency measures might have worked.
Unfortunately-
"Caw!"
The bird let out an ear-piercing screech before spewing a thick, purplish-red mucus from its beak.
The mucus rapidly spread across the ship's hull, and the steel armor instantly began sizzling under its corrosive effects.
In no time, the entire Bliking was riddled with holes.
"Hurry up and save me! I order you! Come here now!"
Standing on the deck that had sunk more than halfway, Wapol held on to the railing on the side of the ship and screamed at a group of soldiers who had boarded a small lifeboat not far away.
As it happened, one of them was the very soldier he had beaten earlier.
"Think carefully. This boat is only so big. If we take him, one of us will have to get off."
The soldier spoke to his colleagues around him with a gloomy face. The meaning of his words was very clear.
The others also fell into silence.
Was Wapol a good king?
The answer is already obvious.
Not to mention, this entire disaster had been caused by Wapol's reckless actions… whether it was their forced exile from Drum Kingdom or this attack by the giant bird.
"Hey! You bastards!"
"You traitors! I'm your king! I order you to come here!"
"Damn it! I'll kill you all-!"
Wapol's final threat was the last straw. The soldiers pretended not to hear their king's pleas, rowing their small boat away into the distance.
It's unclear whether they could survive the vast ocean in that tiny boat.
But for a Devil Fruit user like Wapol, sinking into the sea meant only one outcome.
Among the few who remained loyal to Wapol, the former Drum Kingdom's magistrate, the afro-haired Kuromarimo had already been torn apart by the giant bird's claws during the initial attack.
As for Chess, Drum Kingdom's minister of defense he had vanished without a trace, likely dissolved in the corrosive stomach acid.
At this point, Naruto finally noticed Wapol below.
The man was frantically devouring parts of the ship, then regurgitating them after some bizarre reshaping in his stomach.
In no time, an ugly little iron boat had been formed.
'Huh?'
That caught Naruto's attention.
Not because he recognized Wapol… but because he recognized the Devil Fruit ability.
[Baku Baku no Mi]
The Devil Fruit's ability seems funny, but actually has an absurdly high potential.
For a pampered fool like Wapol, this ability was only good for bullying ordinary people.
But in the hands of someone like Gaban, Rayleigh or Garp, it'd be an entirely different story.
Sometimes, a seemingly useless Devil Fruit just lacks the right user.
Imagine if Garp had eaten the Hana Hana no Mi-
Yeah, no. That mental image was too terrifying.
And this particular Devil Fruit had once been one of Naruto's targets.
His reason for wanting it was simple:
With this ability, he'd never have to worry about going hungry again.
It is said that the user of Baku Baku no Mi could even digest steel and dirt, 'tasting' their unique flavor as if they were normal food.
That trait alone made Naruto seriously tempted.
The giant bird glanced down at the hippo-looking man, its sharp vision immediately identifying Wapol as the one who had thrown that 'pebble' at it earlier.
Then it flapped its wings, and a fierce gust of wind directly sent Wapol, who had been wobbling on his makeshift boat, tumbling into the sea.
Naruto could also sense that this guy had been radiating the strongest malice earlier, 'He's probably the captain of that pirate ship.'
'Yep. Definitely an enemy.'
"Caw!"
Seeing Wapol sink straight to the bottom, the bird let out an eerily human-like laugh.
After circling once to confirm that all its attackers were gone, the bird finally took off again with Naruto still on its back.
But then, Naruto tugged at its feathers.
"Hey, fly higher. Less chance of getting shot down again."
Still riding the high of its destructive rampage, the bird bristled at the audacity of this annoying little human giving it orders.
It opened its beak wide, another wave of corrosive stomach acid rising-
Bang!
The remaining conscious bird head obediently soared above the clouds, carrying Naruto.
Meanwhile, the previously aggressive head now hung limp at its side.
If it hadn't been taking a breath from time to time, it would have looked no different from dead.
Lying back on the bird's back, Naruto let out a small sigh of relief.
Honestly, when the attack happened, he'd had a brief moment of panic… wondering if his so-called 'curse of destroying every vehicle he rides' had struck again.
Luckily, reality proved that theory completely baseless.
See? The giant bird was perfectly fine.
As if he'd ever worry about something like that.