"Hiroto, the supply list is set."
Carina walked over and reported the coming purchases.
She had seen Hiroto's slash just now but wasn't surprised in the least. To Carina, Hiroto was a monstrous prodigy—being beyond reason was only natural.
Yes, this was her Captain.
Hiroto was about to speak when Nami's uncertain voice rang out.
"Captain, there's a fleet outside!"
A fleet?
Everyone froze.
Through telescopes, they saw she was right. A twenty-three-ship armada lay two nautical miles north of the island.
The harbor erupted, they'd spotted it too.
Sharp eyes even recognized the banners.
"It's Fleet Admiral Krieg's armada!"
Binmock scrambled aboard the Going Merry, sweating and wailing, "It's true, the bastard's going to kill us all!"
Koushirou walked up calmly. "Tell us slowly, don't panic."
...
Two nautical miles away, Krieg stood at the prow of the scimitar, coldly watching the commotion on the island through a telescope.
Fear, chaos, dread—some had even called him, but it was pointless.
Today his will would be carried out to the end.
"Unless I die, you'll all burn in a sea of fire."
Krieg hung up, tossed the den den mushi to a subordinate, and ordered the bombardment.
He knew the island held not only the merchants he meant to purge but also Gin, Hiroto, and the townsfolk. Yet they mattered nothing to him, dying for his grand cause was their glory.
He needed total ruin to proclaim absolute dominion over the East Blue.
The coming barrage would be his instrument, countless shells would swallow the town. Explosive flames would turn it into hell and no one would escape this calamity.
Krieg was certain that even a 40-million-berries bounty pirate among his targets would fall.
The next instant, cannons roared and countless shells moved toward the island's port.
In seconds, it would become a blazing inferno.
"Hahaha! My conquest begins here!"
Krieg laughed from the prow, then his laughter died abruptly.
For every shell exploded mid-air and not one reached the harbor.
"What's happening?!"
...
As the shrieking shells were about to land, Koushirou stepped forward.
As the guard hired by Binmock, he couldn't watch the employer's ship sink. He drew and slashed, unleashing several Flying Slashes that cut every falling shell.
Hiroto, about to act, paused, then heard continuous gunfire in the distance. Dense shells rained down again as Krieg kept firing.
"Go. I'll hold here."
Koushirou focused on the incoming storm of shells. The numerous shells kept him pinned at the port, yet doing nothing was no option.
"Zoro, guard the ship." Hiroto ordered, and leapt off the Going Merry.
Instantaneous Burst!
The next second, a speeding figure raced across the sea toward Krieg's fleet.
...
"Find out exactly what's blocking my barrage!"
"Even if it's a mountain of blades or a sea of flames ahead, you will make my shells land inside that harbor!"
Krieg roared and slammed the Den Den Mushi shut, issuing a death sentence to Gin on the other end.
On the other end of the line, Gin's heart turned to ice. He knew what it would really mean.
If the shells fell on the harbor, the men carrying out the order would be doomed as well.
With Krieg's temperament, he would simply ignore them and keep ordering bombardments until the whole town was leveled.
Still, Gin clenched his teeth and obeyed. In his eyes, Krieg's orders outweighed his own life.
On the other side of the call, Krieg, having hung up, stared grimly at the sky above the harbor while his ship turned broadside toward it.
Hundreds of cannons thundered, sending a shrieking rain of shells toward the distant port.
In theory, within seconds, every vessel in the harbor would be ablaze and the entire town transformed into an inferno. But now, Krieg saw the impossible: round after round detonated in mid-air the instant they reached the sky above the harbor.
A flash of light and every shell exploded together, as though an invisible wall blocked them all.
What in the world...
A suspicion surfaced: a Devil Fruit User.
Only those eerie Devil Fruit Abilities from the legends could manage such a thing. Yet in all his years ruling these seas, he had never once met a so-called Devil Fruit User.
He preferred to believe East Blue had produced some weapon he didn't know about.
As for a person… Krieg dismissed the absurd thought after a second.
How could flesh and blood stand against his iron warships and heavy guns?
"Admiral Krieg! At sea… there's a dragon!"
Suddenly, the terrified shout of his man Pearl rang from a nearby ship. He pointed at the ocean as if staring at a nightmare.
Krieg, who had let his mind wander, snapped back to focus, only to see a blazing crimson light leap up.
A writhing dragon of flame rose straight from the waves, claws spread, roaring toward the fleet.
Whoosh!
With a sound that tore the air, the crimson dragon struck Pearl's ship beneath Krieg's disbelieving gaze.
The warship—thirty-five metres long, fifteen metres wide, seized only two years ago—was sliced in half in an instant.
Split down the middle!
Boom!
The next second, a deafening blast swallowed the bisected hull in fire.
The dazzling red glare made Krieg's golden battle-armor shine, and the rolling heat scorched his cheeks.
What… what is happening?!
He knew nothing, understood nothing—only terror filled his heart.
Krieg felt dazed, as if he had met one of the sea-monsters of legend.
He could scarcely believe it, yet another crimson dragon surged from the surface, streaking past his side and cleaving yet another warship.
Boom!
Flames devoured that vessel, and then an endless succession of fire-dragons came howling.