Ten minutes later.
Blinded by the glare of countless searchlights, the pirates were forced to abandon their bombardment. With the lights shining directly into their eyes, it was impossible to see the situation ahead, let alone aim accurately. Unlike Zephyr, they didn't have sunglasses to shield their vision.
Under the guidance of the 16th Branch, the fleeing sailing ship finally entered the fortress. Soon after, the fortress gates slowly groaned shut, and the searchlights stopped illuminating the two sailing ships.
This maneuver infuriated Gladius. It was clear that while the Marines weren't attacking them directly, they had successfully blocked any attempt to seize their target. The only way forward now was a full-scale assault on the Marine fortress.
Normally, attacking a branch in the four blues wouldn't have concerned him. However, the appearance of a large Marine warship had given him pause. If there really was a Vice Admiral from Headquarters on that ship, he might find himself at a disadvantage.
Left with no other choice, he used his Den Den Mushi to contact Doflamingo once more. Upon hearing the situation, Doflamingo frowned slightly and told Gladius to stand by.
A minute later, Doflamingo called back.
"Gladius, I've confirmed it. No Vice Admiral from Headquarters is currently inspecting the East Blue. That warship was purchased privately by Sean Campbell. In other words, the only ones on board are Sean and, at most, a hundred Marines."
"I see. That explains it!"
"Yes. There's nothing to worry about. Just tear through them and bring the target back as quickly as possible. I'll handle the cleanup."
"Yes, Young Master!"
Hanging up, Gladius breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't doubt Doflamingo's ability to gather intel that quickly; for the Donquixote Family, such efficiency was standard operating procedure.
"Did you all hear the Young Master? There is no Vice Admiral. The man opposite us is nothing more than the wealthy descendant of an East Blue noble!"
"Should we just charge in then?"
"No," Gladius replied, shaking his head. "It's still a large warship. We approach slowly. Once we've closed the distance sufficiently, we launch a surprise bombardment!"
The ships were still a nautical mile away. To attack now would be foolish; at this range, their cannons were practically useless against the enemy, while the large warship could easily sink them. While Gladius could protect one ship from incoming shells, he couldn't protect both.
The plan was simple: advance slowly, pretending to negotiate. Once they were within 300 meters, both ships would open fire simultaneously to catch the Marines off guard.
That was the best option.
The two sailing ships began to close in, maintaining a slow pace and making no hostile movements. To any observer, it looked as though they were simply coming to negotiate.
As time passed, the distance finally shrank to under 300 meters.
"Now! Fire!"
'Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!'
Though not as powerful as official Marine vessels, each of Gladius's ships carried eight cannons. These weren't the specialized, fixed-mount naval guns found on large warships, but rather land-based artillery pushed onto the decks. However, at a distance of less than 300 meters, they were more than accurate enough.
Gladius was confident in the strike.
However...
Three Slashing Waves were suddenly unleashed from three different positions on the Marine warship. They struck the incoming shells with pinpoint precision, detonating them all in mid-air.
Gladius's eyes narrowed.
Those from the East Blue might be ignorant of the Six Powers, but any pirate from the New World knew them well. Some pirates could even manage a few of the techniques themselves.
Gladius immediately recognized that those vacuum waves weren't the strikes of a master swordsman, but the result of Rankyaku. More importantly, there were at least three people on that ship capable of using it, and judging by the power of the Slashing Waves, their strength was far from mediocre.
"Full speed ahead! Charge!"
"Yes, sir!"
He couldn't afford to overthink it now. Gladius ordered his ships to keep firing while accelerating their charge. According to Doflamingo, the 16th Branch only had 100 official Marines on board. He still held the numerical advantage.
His two ships carried 300 pirates. These weren't East Blue thugs; they were pirates who had survived the New World. Even the low-level grunts among them could hold their own against a standard Marine from Headquarters. In terms of Doriki, these underlings typically ranged between 12 and 15.
'''
While Gladius directed the charge...
Aboard the 16th Branch's large warship:
"Did we get all the evidence on film?"
"Everything is recorded, Commodore!" a Marine replied, holding an imaging Den Den Mushi.
"Very well. Now we can stop holding back. Close the gap!"
"Yes, Commodore!"
On the foredeck, approximately 80 fully armed Marines had assembled, excluding those steering the ship. Standing before them were Lucci, Kaku, and Jabra.
Behind the warship, atop the fortress walls, the training camp instructors had already woken the recruits and brought them there to watch. They wanted the new recruits to witness a real battle between the Marines and pirates. Since the recruits hadn't yet participated in live combat training, this served as a practical lesson.
Suddenly, a brilliant blue crescent slash tore through the air from the bow of the warship, sweeping across the sea toward one of the sailing ships. The attack was so powerful that it sliced through the ocean itself, causing the seawater to collapse into the wake.
A second later, the sailing ship was sliced clean in half from the bow.
The sight of a medium-sized sailing ship being cleaved in two left the recruits speechless. Having been born in the East Blue, they had never seen anything so otherworldly.
As both sides accelerated, the 300-meter gap vanished instantly. The massive warship and the smaller pirate ship slammed into each other.
The boarding action had begun!
Lucci and the other two each led a combat squad, leaping directly onto the pirate ship. A remaining squad, led by a Lieutenant, utilized the height advantage of the warship's hull to provide precise covering fire on the enemies below.
Being a large Marine warship, its gunwales stood seven or eight meters higher than those of Gladius's medium-sized sailing ship.
At this moment, Gladius had a sinking feeling.
The slash that had just wiped out his support ship gave him the impression that the opponent was even more powerful than Diamante.
But since things had already come to this, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and push forward. At the very least, he still held the advantage in numbers!
However, it wasn't long before an unbelievable scene unfolded before his eyes.
The pirates charging at the front were sent flying one after another by those three field-grade officers. Even the ordinary Marines were able to take down his crew in just one or two moves.
'This is insane... even the elites from Headquarters aren't this strong!'
Little did he know that after eating Type One Jerky for over three months and undergoing grueling training, the Marines of the 16th Branch would be too embarrassed to even speak if their Doriki wasn't at least 50.
Consequently, while they were far stronger than the pirate scum of the East Blue, the sixty men of the 16th Branch found it an absolute breeze to beat down his hundred-plus crew members.
To make matters worse, the squad firing down from the ship's side consisted of the twenty most accurate marksmen handpicked from the veterans.
Between these two factors, the pirates were simply being decimated in a one-sided slaughter.