"Now it's my turn!"
The moment the ships on the other side stopped firing, Jerry seized the opening without hesitation. He leapt onto the ship's railing and swept his paintbrush through the air.
A mortar appeared out of nowhere.
And he didn't stop there.
Jerry kept waving the brush.
In the blink of an eye, dozens of mortars materialized in midair, hovering above the deck with their barrels all aimed at the Krieg Pirates' fleet.
Just then, Droopy—who until now had been completely absorbed by the blonde woman on his magazine cover—finally lifted his head.
The moment he saw the mortars, his eyes lit up.
"Happy."
The simple word had barely left his mouth before he jumped into the air and tapped one of the floating mortars with a paw.
The next second—
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
All the mortars fired at once.
Not a single crewman was needed to load them.
Not only that, they fired in rapid succession, as if every one of them had been fitted with infinite ammunition.
A storm of shells immediately poured out, wave after wave, sweeping toward the vast enemy fleet like a plague of locusts.
Watching through his telescope as dozens of mortars appeared above the travel ship's railing, even Don Krieg—famous for his cruelty and cunning—was momentarily stunned.
Summoning dozens of mortars from thin air was already ridiculous enough.
But rapid fire too?
And with endless ammo?
He had barely blinked before the sky in front of him was filled with incoming shells.
"Damn it! What the hell are those animals?!"
After a brief moment of shock, Krieg barked out a curse and activated the weapons built into his armor, personally intercepting the shells headed for his flagship.
He managed to stop those.
The ships to either side of him were not so lucky.
After a single bombardment, more than ten warships were blown to pieces. Screams and splashes rose together as pirates were blasted into the sea.
Watching the fleet he had worked so hard to build lose over ten ships in an instant, Krieg's eyes nearly burst with rage. While desperately shooting down the incoming shells, he roared:
"Gin! Get over there! Don't let those damned animals keep firing!"
The moment Krieg shouted, a figure sprang over and landed beside him.
It was none other than Gin, combat commander of the Krieg Pirates.
With his gaunt face, heavy dark circles, and severe expression, Gin looked up once at the rain of shells and made his decision immediately.
Without a word, he leapt from the deck into the sea.
When he surfaced again, he was already over a hundred meters away, swimming at top speed toward the travel ship while shells screamed overhead.
At the same time—
Back in Syrup Village, Kairo had just finished telling the villagers another "travel anecdote."
That was when the distant explosions finally caught his attention.
At first, the villagers had been too engrossed in the story to notice the bombardment. But the moment Kairo suddenly stopped talking, they began hearing the endless succession of blasts coming from the coast.
"What's that?"
"Where's that explosion coming from?"
"Don't tell me pirates have arrived!"
"Go see what's happening!"
The voices rose one after another, and panic began spreading through the crowd.
Before Kairo could say anything, two villagers had already run off to investigate.
But before they could get far, a young man came sprinting around a corner and shouted at the crowd gathered outside the cottage:
"Hide! Everyone hide! Pirates are here! Lots of them! There are dozens of pirate ships!"
The crowd instantly turned pale.
"Damn it! Where did so many pirates come from?"
"Everyone get home! Hide in the cellars!"
"Move, move!"
In no time at all, the villagers scattered.
Only Kairo and the cottage's owner remained behind.
The owner, a young man around thirty, looked toward the coast with a drained expression.
"Mr. Kairo… we should hide too."
He swallowed.
"Let's just hope these pirates only want money and not lives."
Before Kairo could respond, Pepper—who had run off the instant he heard pirates were coming—suddenly came rushing back.
He stopped in front of Kairo, panting.
"Mr. Traveler, why are you still here? Come with me! My house has two cellars!"
As soon as Pepper finished, Carrot and Onion also came running back. Both boys were trembling so badly their legs were nearly giving out, but they still forced themselves to speak:
"Mr. Traveler, don't be scared!"
"Our Usopp Pirates will protect everyone!"
Kairo blinked in surprise.
He truly hadn't expected the three little boys to come back.
And he definitely hadn't expected them to actually want to protect people.
He reached out and patted Pepper's head, then looked at Carrot and Onion, who both looked like they were seconds away from wetting themselves.
"You're all very brave."
Then Kairo suddenly stood up.
"If even the three of you can face pirates without retreating, how could I, Kairo, cling to life and fear death?"
"Today, I shall stand with you and defend Syrup Village together! Not one pirate will be allowed to set foot inside!"
"Come. Let's head to the shore and see exactly what kind of nonsense has shown up. It might even improve the mood."
The three boys were instantly dumbfounded.
Pepper recovered first and hurried after him.
"Mr. Kairo! Mr. Kairo!"
"There are too many pirates! We can only outsmart them, not fight them head-on!"
Kairo turned back and winked.
"Never mind the details. Call me Zhang Fei, style name Yide—an immortal hero famed through the ages for his reckless courage…"
Pepper's eyes nearly popped out.
"Aren't you Kairo? Since when did you become Zhang Fei?!"
Kairo coughed lightly.
"Minor details. Don't worry about them."
Then he smiled.
"Well? Coming, little ones?"
Pepper looked at Carrot, then at Onion. Seeing neither of them move, he gritted his teeth and ran over to Kairo's side first.
The other two, seeing their captain move, hurried after him as well.
Kairo looked at them and raised a thumbs-up.
"Calm in the face of disaster—now that is true courage."'
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