This was a new technique Usopp had learned after going to sea. Earlier, when fighting the fish-man ghost, he had used fragments of the Shikon Jewel to gather a huge amount of spirit particles and release an extremely powerful spirit-particle arrow.
He called it the Great Holy Bow.
After reaching the Grand Line, he discovered that the concentration of spirit particles there was extremely high. Although it was not enough to condense the Great Holy Bow as before, he could form a Holy Bow like this one.
The blue spirit particles he had gathered were even thicker than his arm. With them resting on the bowstring, Usopp stood on the city wall protected by the Soul-Shield Membrane and looked down at Koza.
Boom!
As a sniper, Usopp had excellent eyesight. The power of spirit particles was also unaffected by wind, gravity, or magnetic fields. As long as he could aim, he could hit his target.
Boom!
He released his strongest attack. In an instant, the arrow shot toward Koza at a speed far greater than a bullet!
At that moment, Koza suddenly sensed danger. As wandering gunslingers from the Lawless Zone, every one of them had extremely sharp senses. Anyone without sharp senses had already been killed.
This sense was even more sensitive than Observation Haki. Observation Haki had to be activated consciously, while this kind of perception was passive. As long as an enemy aimed a gun at them, they could sense it even if the enemy was several kilometers away.
Therefore, at that instant, Koza noticed the blue Holy Bow Usopp had fired. The spirit-particle arrow shone with blue light and obviously contained incredibly powerful energy. If it hit, it would destroy not only a person but probably even a tank or a fortress.
At the critical moment, Koza suddenly raised his hand. Some kind of radiance seemed to exist inside his body, and powerful Haki gathered in his pistol. The next moment, a pitch-black bullet shot from the muzzle.
No—not merely pitch-black.
Compared with the bullets that had struck Luffy earlier, this bullet contained another indistinct color within its blackness. It was impossible to describe precisely, but if he had to put it into words, it seemed to contain the radiance of a soul!
When it came to souls, Usopp possessed absolute authority.
At that moment, he seemed to see something inside Koza that attracted him. His body actually developed an instinctive tendency to converge with Koza's?!
Usopp did not understand what was happening, but the next scene left him horrified.
His arrow had collided with the bullet Koza had fired.
How could a bullet, even one enhanced with Haki, block the Holy Bow arrow into which Usopp had condensed so many spirit particles?
Yet the result was astounding. In the blink of an eye, the pitch-black bullet pierced straight through Usopp's Holy Bow. The Holy Bow, which had gathered its power and shot toward Koza, was drilled through from beginning to end by a single bullet. It could no longer maintain its shape and burst in every direction.
The huge arrow split into more than a dozen blue streaks of light that struck all around Koza, instantly causing even greater casualties. But the person Usopp had targeted was unharmed!
No, it could not really be called unharmed!
At the very least, Usopp saw that Koza had become noticeably weaker after firing that shot. He even clutched his heart and bent over. Apparently, this was not an attack he could fire at will. Otherwise, if he had fired it at Luffy earlier, it would absolutely have broken through Luffy's Armament Haki defense!
Usopp had wanted to continue attacking, but once Koza realized that someone was sniping at him, he cleverly hid himself. For a while, even Usopp had no way to find Koza among so many people.
"Usopp! That was amazing!" Luffy had witnessed the scene as well. He could not help shouting, "You almost took that guy down!"
Luffy also had a deep impression of Koza. After all, Koza's bullet had nearly entered his brain. Even Luffy, who feared neither heaven nor earth, had felt fortunate at that moment.
"That guy..." Usopp recalled Koza's earlier bullet and said, "His power feels strange."
They had already noticed it when Koza shot Nami and Luffy. His bullets were not merely coated in Armament Haki. There had to be some other power within them.
They just had not noticed it at the time.
Now, Usopp felt that he had a clue.
However, he did not say anything more. There was no point in discussing it now. While the Soul-Shield Membrane was still active, he should fire as many more arrows as possible from a safe position.
Protected by the Soul-Shield Membrane, they could shoot without fearing the enemy's bombing and hail of gunfire. But anyone could see that the membrane could not hold out much longer. Once it disappeared, their shooting conditions would become extremely harsh.
"What was that?"
In the army below, Koza, who had fired his strongest shot, was drenched in sweat. He retreated while clutching the place where his heart was pounding violently.
His face was covered in lingering fear. At that instant, he had felt a warning like thousands of needles stabbing into his back. He was certain that if he had not immediately used his ultimate technique, he would have been killed by that arrow.
He had never expected someone in Alubarna to be able to see him from such a distance and fire with such astonishing accuracy. Could it have been one of those pirates who had entered earlier?
Ten years ago, Koza had been an ordinary child. Later, after entering the Lawless Zone, the Cartel's veterans accidentally touched a radiant fragment. After that, every one of them suddenly gained extraordinary talent with firearms.
By then, the Sand Shadow Belit and the others were already famous marksmen throughout the Lawless Zone and even across Alabasta. Koza, however, was merely a child who could do nothing well.
Afterward, all their abilities advanced by leaps and bounds. The Cartel's original veterans quickly went from being a local armed force in one country to becoming powerful figures who could be counted among the world's great experts.
Koza was no exception. After touching that fragment and receiving Belit's instruction, he had made himself worthy of his position as a senior Cartel officer.
Unfortunately, the fragment disappeared after they touched it, so they had no way to investigate its secrets.
What they did know was that a special ability had gradually developed inside each of their bodies afterward. The ability was difficult to explain, but it could be combined with Haki inside a bullet, giving the bullet an extremely sharp penetrating power.
At a critical moment, they could inject more of this power and make the bullet's penetrating ability even stronger. However, using it placed an enormous burden on them. Every use felt like dying: their hearts beat rapidly, their blood pressure rose sharply, and adrenaline poured through their bodies. Afterward, they suffered greatly and became weak.
Koza took a deep breath and gradually calmed his condition. This special state could also be trained. When his teacher Belit used this penetrating power, he certainly did not look as though he were on the verge of death like Koza did.
"That guy..."
Usopp had sensed it, and Koza had sensed it as well. After firing that shot, Koza had felt a kind of attraction coming from inside Alubarna, as though something in the darkness were urging him to merge with it.
The feeling was unpleasant. He did not like it.
But compared with the secret of the Shinigami Mausoleum, none of this mattered.
He would not let it distract him.
With six hundred thousand soldiers attacking Alubarna, he did not need to charge into battle. He was the battlefield's supreme commander, not part of the assault force. He did not need to lead from the front.
Once the Soul-Shield Membrane disappeared, they would probably capture Alubarna in about an hour. At that point, he would only search for Cobra. As for the person who had attracted him by firing that arrow...
Who cared who it was?!
Compared with the liberation of all humanity, that impulse attracting him was insignificant.
"Have the railway cannons bombard the city too! Hurry, faster! Smash that irritating protective membrane!"
Koza urgently issued the order over the radio. A roar then sounded around the perimeter. Mechanical monsters resembling trains moved along the tracks. These were the Cartel's railway cannons. They were heavy and inefficient, but extremely effective against an enemy like Alubarna.
Their caliber reached eight hundred millimeters, their range reached ten kilometers, and each shell weighed more than eight tons. Their power was astonishing.
Before these railway cannons, Alubarna was a sitting duck.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Once the railway cannons joined the battle, the Soul-Shield Membrane grew even thinner, as though it might disappear at any moment. Koza became excited as well. He felt that victory was within reach.
"If we keep burning through supplies like this, even a victory will come at too great a cost." Koza's adjutant could not hide his distress. Six hundred thousand soldiers were attacking from the ground and the sky at the same time, and the amount of ammunition consumed every second was enough to make anyone gasp.
The railway cannons made it even worse. Those things were practically furnaces that devoured money!
As the saying went, when the cannons fire, gold flows like ten thousand ounces. This was not a battle—they were simply wasting gold!
The adjutant could not understand it. If they continued the siege in an orderly fashion, Alubarna would soon run out of food and ammunition, allowing them to capture this troublesome city easily.
Why were they launching a direct assault now?
"What are you afraid of? Anzu has a way to get more," Koza said sarcastically.
As the saying went, a man does not feel pain when he sells his father's fields. The Cartel had developed beyond Koza's understanding. Even as one of its senior officers, he had no idea where Anzu had found so many weapons!
The Cartel had been poor at the beginning. Even its veterans had been people from the Lawless Zone struggling to survive. They had unified the Lawless Zone through their marksmanship and physical abilities. Later, the Revolutionary Army found them and provided their first shipment of military aid, allowing them to expand outward rapidly.
Koza knew very well that they had cut ties with the Revolutionary Army long ago. The Revolutionary Army also lacked the ability to supply them with so many weapons. Koza had asked Anzu Seifer more than once where these resources came from, but Anzu always replied coldly, "You don't need to know."
Koza knew that Anzu traded weapons with Wano Country and also had dealings with that Heavenly Demon, but weapons from those sources cost money! And even if they had the money, no one could provide this much!
But Anzu refused to explain, and Koza had no way to force him.
So Koza no longer cared. Let them fire until every bullet was gone. As long as they could enter the Shinigami Mausoleum, everything would be worth it.
Koza had also become deeply disappointed in the Cartel and was already considering leaving it like Belit had.
The adjutant immediately fell silent. This military operation had been approved by Koza and Hass, the two highest-ranking military commanders here. What could an adjutant say?
"Don't let the railway cannons stop. Don't worry about temporary gains and losses. All that matters now is blasting open that protective membrane!"
Koza gave the order again. Not long afterward, another barrage thundered from the rear. Then, amid Koza's hopeful anticipation, the Soul-Shield Membrane covering Alubarna finally seemed unable to bear the strain...
It was disappearing!
Countless bullets and shells struck the Soul-Shield Membrane and were quickly dissolved by it. But at that moment, the membrane suddenly began disappearing from the top!
It did not burst apart all at once. Instead, it vanished downward from the top. The shield that had protected the city...
Had finally disappeared!
"We finally got our chance!" Koza immediately stood up, ignoring his current physical condition. He shouted, "Capture the king, but don't hurt him!"
His order reached the assault forces through the communications equipment. The Cartel soldiers became incredibly excited. They had besieged this place for a long time, but every time they were about to break through, the sudden protective membrane drove them back. Now that irritating membrane had finally vanished, and they could launch a true charge!
"Charge!"
For a moment, killing cries shook the heavens. A large number of planes took off again. After dropping two or three waves of bombs, they released countless paratroopers. Combined with the tide of soldiers surging toward the city like an ocean, Alubarna was in extreme danger, as though it might fall the next second.
"Damn it!"
Inside Alubarna, the defenders looked despairing. The planes in the sky bombarded the city in several waves and completely destroyed it. Even though the anti-aircraft guns fired at full capacity, the number of planes they could shoot down was insignificant compared with the number in the sky.
Without the Soul-Shield Membrane, this ancient city of history and culture quickly became battered and ruined. Almost no building remained intact, and even the palace had endured extensive bombing.
"It's time for us to act."
Zoro drew his swords, his expression somewhat tense.
This was not one against one, one against ten, or one against a hundred. It was not even one against a thousand or ten thousand. It would probably be one against one hundred thousand!
"Abandon the walls and fight street by street!"
At that moment, the royal guard also issued its order. Anyone could see that the walls and gates could no longer be defended!
----
You can read 30 chapters ahead on patre on
patr eon.com/JYouyi