Chapter 110: Sabaody Archipelago: The Half-Crippled Buster Call (Part 1)
"We're too old for this. Time to graduate from your chuunibyou phase…"
Kurumi's one-liner completely deflated Eric . His once heroic silhouette on screen crumbled like melting snow, as he hunched over in defeat.
Eric mumbled under his breath, "Men are just boys who never grow up."
Morgans: "…"
'Did I misjudge him??'
…
The root destroyed by the RaiKing strike slowly sank into the sea. Admiral Akainu's fate remained unknown.
"Chiron, how's your side holding up?"
"Of the four Vice Admirals, only one—the giant—was injured by the railgun, left with a through wound. The other three are intercepting our high-explosive shells midair with flying slash attacks thanks to their superior swordsmanship."
"Rear Admiral Onigumo, who chased us before, has now been promoted to Vice Admiral and is part of this fleet."
"Oh? Our old friend? Looks like we didn't hit him hard enough last time."
"Da Vinci, prep the last two missiles."
"OK, leave it to me! Where are we aiming?"
"Right over the remaining warships." Eric looked toward the horizon, where several Navy ships were coming into view, and decided to sink them before they got any closer.
Eric wasn't about to make the same mistake Bullet did—standing dumbly at the shoreline while the Navy bombarded him. That would only lead to a one-sided beatdown.
Instead, they'd use their long-range advantage to destroy the warships from outside their cannon range. No matter how powerful the Navy's guns were, if they couldn't reach you, they were useless.
"Hello, President Morgans?" Eric picked up the Den Den Mushi and called again.
"Captain Eric , you've really put me in a tight spot," Morgans replied with a pitiful tone, pretending to be distressed.
"I gave your World Economic News huge exposure. How am I the one who wronged you?" Eric , unaware of Morgans' manipulation, fell into his act.
"What you said during the world broadcast could make the World Government see me as an accomplice! That's real trouble for me."
"Ha! Don't tell me you didn't cut the signal. I bet you're just receiving my footage privately now and not broadcasting it anymore." Eric quickly caught on—Morgans was pretending to be the victim just to fish for benefits. Eric , ever frugal, wasn't about to pay for anything he didn't need.
"With a paper that big, I don't believe you don't know exactly what should and shouldn't be aired."
Morgans broke into a cold sweat but muttered internally: 'You talked so fast it was already being broadcast worldwide! I cut it as soon as I could—it was too late!'
"Er… yes, I did cut the feed. After all, there's no way I could explain airing a Celestial Dragon's execution. That was my limit. But exposing the World Government's true face… I didn't dare go that far."
"I get it. But I'm sure you saw us knocking Akainu into the sea, right?"
"Of course! I never imagined your strength was that formidable. Even the Navy's strongest force couldn't stop you."
"Make sure to praise us in your reports. If you twist the facts again, don't blame me later…"
"Of course! I've already planned several front-page exclusives. Oh, and could we maybe get an interview with the 'Ice Queen' Esdeath?"
"We'll talk about that later. We still have to deal with the Buster Call fleet. Contact me when we're free. And yes, feel free to broadcast again—I won't bring up the World Government's dark deeds this time."
"Buster… Buster Call?! It was activated against you?!"
"Who else would it be for? What, you think another dangerous criminal suddenly showed up in Sabaody? The warships are right in front of us—look."
Eric turned the Den Den Mushi around to film the approaching Navy warships.
"That's a Buster Call fleet! But… why are there only five? I thought there were ten?"
"Oh, the rest were sunk by our ship. These five are all that's left."
"!! How many ships do you have that you managed to sink that many? Those are the Navy's strongest warships!"
Morgans was stunned. From his intel, Eric 's team had maybe ten members total. At most, they could manage one ship. How could they sink five top-tier Navy warships?
"Just one ship. Doesn't matter how many—what matters is how strong. Same with people." Eric quoted a classic idiom, but Morgans didn't get the reference.
"Besides, our ship hasn't taken any damage. Come see it for yourself someday."
"...I'll be sure to pay it a visit."
"Keep broadcasting. Let the world see how I crush the 'crippled Buster Call'!"
…
"Vice Admiral! Tree 27 of the Yarukiman Mangroves has been destroyed! Admiral Sakazuki's status is unknown! And the marines from the Sabaody base dispatched to 27GR are also missing!"
Eric 's final RaiKing strike had obliterated half the root system. The marines stunned by Esdeath's Conqueror's Haki were within that blast radius. Their fate was equally grim.
Onigumo, his face twisted in fury, was losing his composure. "Still no contact via Den Den Mushi? What the hell happened?!"
He couldn't believe that the Navy's strongest force—Admiral Akainu—had been defeated by a rookie pirate crew. A fellow hawk, Onigumo respected Sakazuki deeply and followed his doctrine of Absolute Justice to the letter.
He consoled himself by assuming Eric 's group wasn't capable of destroying the tree roots—only Akainu's magma could've done that.
"Vice Admiral! We've spotted a small boat made of ice!—At the front is the 'Ice Queen' Esdeath!"
"What?!" Onigumo snatched the telescope. "Let me see!"
Esdeath stood at the bow, long blue hair flowing, her figure graceful, her wicked, seductive smile captivating. But her right arm had been replaced with one made entirely of ice.
She had been fighting Akainu just moments ago on Sabaody—now she was at sea. So… where was Admiral Sakazuki? Onigumo didn't want to consider the answer.
He moved the scope past Esdeath to see the rest: the purple-haired woman, the gothic lolita girl, the black-haired Akame, the floating spirit girl, and—Darin Eric , who had stabbed a Celestial Dragon through the heart in front of the world.
'They escaped from Admiral Sakazuki… and not a single one of them died!' That was the only thought in his mind.
But then Onigumo realized something—their ice boat had no cannons. Wasn't this the perfect time to blast them into oblivion?
He picked up the mic and barked, "All ships, advance! Open fire on Eric and Esdeath! Blast them out of the sea!"
Unfortunately, the fleet was already moving at full speed—they couldn't go any faster.
Just then, the piercing sound they'd heard earlier returned—from behind.
(END CHAPTER)
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Chapter 111: Sabaody Archipelago: The Half-Crippled Buster Call (Part 2)
The remaining two missiles, filled with storm cloud liquid, were launched from the launch tubes aboard the Fearless Eternity.
Trailing thick white smoke, with a sharp whistling sound, the missiles flew toward the Navy warships.
BoomBoom The two explosions rocked the sky above the five Navy ships.
The dark storm cloud vaporized instantly upon impact, and the heat absorption from the vaporization caused the temperature at the top of the warships to plummet.
This rapid cooling caused the air to shrink, creating a drop in air pressure, which allowed the surrounding hot and humid air to rush in. When this met with the cold air mass, a liquefaction reaction occurred, forming a layer of rainclouds filled with water around the storm cloud.
"What is this?" The Navy soldiers below looked up at the dark clouds above them.
"Is it going to rain?" Judging by the clouds, aside from the central storm cloud, it looked like it was about to rain heavily...
Boom!
The central and darkest storm cloud shot a bolt of lightning downward.
Bzzzzzzz The electric charges in the storm cloud started to move, releasing arcs of electricity that spread through the surrounding rainclouds as well.
The storm cloud and the raincloud began merging, forming a large, ominous thunderstorm that fully enveloped the five Navy warships below.
"It's a thundercloud!" one of the soldiers shouted in surprise.
BoomBoom...
The now enormous storm cloud started thundering down, and dozens of lightning bolts struck toward the warships.
The soldiers were terrified because, under thunderstorm conditions, standing beneath a large tree to avoid rain only increases the chance of being struck by lightning.
Unfortunately, the three main masts of the five warships were tall enough to act as lightning rods, attracting most of the lightning strikes.
All fifteen masts were struck, igniting huge fires, the flames rapidly climbing to the sails as if gasoline had been poured on them.
"Put out the fire!"
The sailors scrambled to put out the flames, trying to douse the fire with seawater.
…
The screen of the television briefly went black, and after a few minutes, it flickered back to life.
The audience that had been watching perked up and continued to watch the broadcast.
"What happened to the conversation earlier? What shocking things were said?"
"Hey, where did Admiral Akainu go?"
"What happened in the battle?!"
Most of the people still watching were curious about the battle between Admiral Akainu and Eric 's pirate crew, but after the reconnection, not only had Akainu vanished, but the original filming location at 27GR had also disappeared.
Instead, the camera now focused on the Navy warships in the distance.
"Let me show you the power of the Thunder God!"
In the footage, Eric faced away from them, unleashing blue lightning toward the storm clouds in the sky.
The previously steady black storm cloud was suddenly activated by Eric 's lightning, growing wild and uncontrollable.
"Thunderstorm!"
As Eric 's words rang out, the distant storm cloud began to thunder violently, the wild electrons falling and forming countless lightning strikes toward the sea.
The thunder echoed between the clouds and the ocean, with hundreds of blue bolts of lightning connecting the sky and the sea, causing an ear-splitting roar.
To those watching at home, the continuous lightning seemed like a never-ending barrage of thunder.
As the lightning ceased, new bolts immediately formed, never stopping.
"It really feels like the end of the world…"
"Yeah," someone beside them agreed, "Compared to Akainu's Meteor Volcano, this scene is more overwhelming, and the sound is deafening."
"So this is the strength of the pirate Darin Eric ?"
Against the backdrop of countless blue lightning bolts, Eric 's figure left a lasting impression on the viewers.
The camera captured the chaos as electric serpents danced through the sky, thunder dragons roared, and the wooden Navy warships shattered under the barrage of lightning.
"Damn it!" Onigumo roared angrily, issuing orders. "Continue forward! We must annihilate Eric and his crew here!"
"Report, Vice Admiral! We've lost most of the sails, the masts are broken, and we've lost power. We can't move!" A sailor covered in soot reported loudly.
The warship, having been struck by thousands of bolts of lightning, was barely holding afloat. Its triple turret cannon towers had been destroyed by the lightning, leaving molten metal residue from the electrical burns.
"Report, Vice Admiral, all three turrets are destroyed! They are unusable!" Another sailor returned with news from the turret checks.
"Damn it!" Onigumo picked up the mic to inquire about the other four ships, receiving reports that they were without power, unable to move, and the cannons were destroyed, surviving only by luck.
Boom!Boom!!
Two nearby warships suddenly exploded.
The fire from the lightning strikes had yet to die down, and the explosion set off more ammunition, triggering a chain reaction in the ammo hold, resulting in a catastrophic ship explosion.
"Quick, lower the lifeboats to rescue people!"
The sailors, despite not receiving orders, eagerly began rescue efforts, but this time, Onigumo did not stop them with gunfire.
Unable to pursue, he could only watch as the massive iron beast—the Fearless Eternity—circled the Navy ships and picked up the crew from the ice boat.
"Damn it! Let him escape again!" Onigumo growled in frustration. The Fearless Eternity had already played cat-and-mouse with them, and now Eric 's RaiKing Thunder had obliterated five Navy warships. He was helpless to do anything.
Bang! Onigumo angrily slammed his fist on the ship's railing.
Crack crack crack… A deafening sound of breaking echoed from his strike, as a deep crack ran through the damaged warship, splitting it in two.
The sailors on board lost their balance and fell into the water.
…
"Esdeath, are you going to use Kurumi's time rewind ability? Or will you take the medicine I gave you to recover?"
"Of course, I'll take your medicine, Eric . I want you to feed it to me personally…"
"Ah~"
After Esdeath consumed the magical bean, her missing arm regrew instantly. The others, except for Kurumi who had already seen this happen, were all stunned.
"Mmm... my original arm feels more comfortable." Esdeath tested her new right arm, moving it around.
"Hmph, I think next time you can try throwing your head away and see what happens," Kurumi teased Esdeath.
Esdeath shrugged and didn't respond. Without Eric 's medicine and Kurumi's ability, she would have ended up as a one-armed warrior.
"Esdeath, you really need to be careful. Don't push yourself too hard when facing strong enemies. You're not fighting alone anymore. When you were injured earlier, Kurumi was panicking and yelling."
Kurumi turned her head away arrogantly, "I wasn't. It's not my problem if she gets hurt."
Eric thought to himself: 'In future battles, limb loss is inevitable. I'm not sure if we have a blood-locking feature, so it looks like I'll have to buy all three of this month's magic beans just in case.'
He quickly bought the remaining two magic beans from the system store.
Not long after, Da Vinci finally arrived with the ship to pick them up.
Back on the Fearless Eternity, Eric happily said, "Hahaha! We defeated Akainu, and we also defeated the terrifying Buster Call!"
"We've finally made it through this crisis. We should celebrate once we're free!"
(END CHAPTER)
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