“Rending Roar!”
Gab spat a beam of light from his mouth, blasting away a heavily armored member of the God’s Knights before him. The bullets fired by Yasopp passed through the narrow gaps in their visors, and with every gunshot, another person fell.
Bonk Punch and his monkey faced another CP0 captain, while Lucky Roux had already charged into the crowd.
“Red Hair, it seems I misjudged one thing.”
Garling paid no attention to the casualties around him. Neither the fall of a Giant Vice Admiral nor the destruction of the ships caused the slightest fluctuation in his emotions.
“Your growth was an accident, but your choice has already sullied this bloodline. I will personally execute you here!”
“Then come and try, if you can!”
Their weapons collided in midair, and powerful Haki washed over everything around them. Before long, the only people still standing on the ship were Garling and Shanks.
Everyone else had either lost consciousness or moved away from the ship. This was not a battle they could endure. Even merely watching placed enormous pressure upon them.
Beckman moved along the edge of the battlefield, sometimes firing to rescue his companions and sometimes swinging the barrel of his gun to crush nearby enemies. While Shanks fought Garling, Beckman also became the commander of the Red Hair Pirates.
At the beginning of the battle, the situation favored the Red Hair Pirates. The Giants’ surprise attack had thrown the enemy formation into chaos, while Bartolomeo’s ability also proved effective.
As he raised and lowered his hands, the Red Hair Pirates’ crew carried out a one-sided bombardment, with nearly all of the World Government’s cannonballs blocked outside the barrier.
However, the appearance of a new force made Beckman frown. A group of people wearing collars around their necks and dressed in prison uniforms were driven forward.
The World Government possessed vast numbers of slaves, and their backgrounds were extremely varied. Pirates, and even soldiers and generals from non-affiliated nations, could become part of their ranks.
After all, once someone caught the eye of a Celestial Dragon, even the princess of an affiliated nation could be treated as a slave. There were quite a few capable fighters among these slaves, and they had now all been brought out to serve as cannon fodder.
“Go, slaves! Kill these pirates! As long as you kill one hundred enemies, you and your families will be granted freedom!”
No one knew whether the World Government’s words were true or false. In fact, the overwhelming majority believed they were lies.
Leaving everything else aside, surviving after killing one hundred enemies in a battle fought with cold weapons was already extraordinarily difficult. Yet they could do nothing but gamble on that minuscule possibility.
Both the Bomb Collars around their necks and the lives of their families forced them to obey.
“These b*stards…”
The Red Hair Pirates were unusual. When faced with civilians who had been controlled and were attacking them unconsciously, they would rather take the blows than fight back. But they were not blindly benevolent either. That restraint only applied when they had a way to resolve the problem quickly.
This was a battlefield. If they were defeated, their own fate would be no better. Faced with slave soldiers who refused to retreat despite repeated warnings, they had no choice but to fight. Yet whenever a slave was killed or rendered unable to continue fighting, the collar around their neck would immediately explode.
This was a pure suicide corps, created for the sole purpose of using human lives to punch through the enemy formation.
This could be said to be the conclusion the World Government had reached through its pre-operation investigation. After analyzing the Red Hair Pirates’ past conduct, they had deliberately assembled such a unit. Judging from Red Hair’s current reaction, the results were fairly obvious.
However, neither the naval battle here involving Red Hair nor the battlefield in the waters of Totto Land was the decisive element. The results achieved against the Beasts Pirates were what would truly determine the course of the war.
“Vice Admiral Tsuru! Please be careful!”
The warship Tsuru was aboard lurched violently. The people beside her, seemingly worried about her condition, hurried forward to support her, but Tsuru was not pleased by the Marines’ behavior.
“I’m not so old that I can’t move on my own! Stop fussing over me!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
The two Vice Admirals verbally acknowledged Tsuru’s words, but neither left her side. Not long before, Olga’s illusion field had caused tremendous trouble for the Marines’ vanguard fleet here, forcing Tsuru to leave the forward command post and personally dispel Olga’s illusion field.
But the moment she arrived, the operation targeting her unfolded as planned. Olga understood the weakness of her own ability very clearly. Aside from a handful of exceptionally powerful individuals, Tsuru’s ability posed the greatest threat to her.
If Tsuru could be eliminated first, Olga’s ability would be able to turn the surrounding area into an inescapable zone.
At the same time Tsuru personally arrived at the front lines, Olga had already concealed herself nearby.
It was possible to predict where Tsuru’s fleet would appear. This time, Olga had gambled correctly. She and Elizabeth had come only a fraction away from successfully completing their assassination.
However, she had underestimated the old woman’s abilities. As a contemporary of Garp and Sengoku, this old woman who had once chased Doflamingo all over the world possessed far greater martial strength than her appearance suggested.
With the assistance of Admiral Candidate Momousagi and the other Vice Admirals, Olga failed to gain any advantage and was forced to retreat, returning the battle to a stalemate.
Indeed, even now, Tsuru’s fleet had still failed to break through Olga’s defensive line. Although they had overcome the obstruction of the first layer of illusion, they were unable to cross the sea’s defenses.
In the contest of warship cannons, the Marines could still fight the Beasts Pirates on equal terms. But underwater, the world already belonged to the Beasts Pirates.
“Fish-Man Jujutsu: Low Tide Shoulder Throw!”
A sea wolf wearing a control device on its head was hurled onto a warship by Jinbe. Fish-Man Island was not especially far from here, and after the war broke out, Otohime and Neptune had sent Jinbe to reinforce this battlefield. Even a portion of the Neptune Army had appeared alongside him.
For Fish-Man Island, this was both a war between nations and a war of races. Victory would earn them the right to live equally beneath the sunlight. Defeat would mean the extermination of their entire race.
Given the nature of the Celestial Dragons, once the Beasts Pirates were defeated, Fish-Man Island—which had already withdrawn from the World Government—would be forced to pay an unimaginable price. Having their entire race reduced to slaves would be among the lighter consequences.
To disappear into the long river of history like the Lunarians and Buccaneers seemed more like the price they would have to pay for defeat. By then, this race might only be seen again in the Celestial Dragons’ slave gardens.
The Fish-Men still lived in the deep sea, and Neptune believed Jinbe did not need to remain there at all times for the moment, so he sent him to reinforce this battlefield.
“Knight of the Sea, Jinbe.”
“Against enemies, I’ve no need to hold back. You should have been prepared for war.”
The surface of the sea churned. Jinbe was far from the only one beneath the water, nor was he the most dangerous.
A light blue figure approached the surface from the depths. Its savage jaws bit a huge hole straight through the deck. Feraligatr had not accompanied Tiger and the others, instead remaining here.
Feraligatr then coughed and dislodged the fragments of Seastone stuck between its teeth. The Seastone embedded in the bottoms of the ships was extremely irritating to it.
In even deeper waters, Nereus waved her arms. The Gyarados throughout the surrounding seas had gathered here under her command and launched attacks on the Sea Beast Weapons Vegapunk had once developed.
The sea beasts controlled by devices posed an enormous threat to other ships, but in the eyes of the Gyarados group, they were nothing more than targets.
The fact that the Marines had managed to avoid total annihilation thus far and still possessed the strength to protect some of their ships was already the result of their desperate struggle.
There was more than one entrance to the New World. With warships embedded with Seastone, the Marines could naturally enter the New World simultaneously from multiple regions.
Besides the three fleets led by Garling, Fujitora and Kizaru, and Tsuru, the Marines had also used several branch bases as centers to launch scattered offensives into the surrounding areas. Small fleets were advancing from other directions as well.
However, none of those fleets’ operations were proceeding smoothly.
On Charicific Island, the Beasts Pirates’ island of trials, the adult Charizard had already taken to the skies under the leadership of a black Charizard, breathing flames down from above.
The Dragonite had set aside their delivery boxes and donned specially forged armor, patrolling the Beasts Pirates’ territorial waters alongside the Corviknight. Every ship belonging to the Marines or the World Government was a target for their attacks.
The Beasts Pirates had even taken care to protect the territories of Big Mom and Red Hair. After all, neither their numbers nor their quality could compare with the Beasts Pirates. With nearly all their manpower mobilized to deal with the World Government and Marine fleets, their rear territories were inevitably left vulnerable.
The sky and the deep sea, regions that had usually been disregarded, had instead become the staging grounds for the Beasts Pirates’ surprise attacks. Report after report reached Metagross and was compiled into a precise battle map, detailing the situation in every location.
“The Marines, the World Government, and other pirates taking advantage of the chaos… The entire New World has already descended into chaos.”
A sea chart of the New World lay before Shayna. Nearly every part of it had now been marked in red.
“Ulti, Page One, the two of you go reinforce Scotch. He’s run into some trouble.
“Sasaki, there’s no need to go to Charicific Island anymore. The battle there is already over. Meet up with Who’s-Who first, then deal with the forces sent by the World Government.
“Squads near the Kingdom of Daimonte, anyone with strength to spare should move toward that area.”
From atop Mt. Fuji, Shayna’s orders were continuously transmitted to the various squads, roughly coordinating the battlefield. Meanwhile, in the southern part of New World, the entire Kingdom of Daimonte had fallen into a solemn atmosphere.
From the revelation of the divine blessings to the outbreak of total war, a single month felt as distant as a century. The world had changed so drastically that it was difficult to believe such upheaval had truly occurred.
War was an extension of politics, and likewise, war also created new political problems.
Not everyone believed that the Beasts Pirates could win the war. The Ryugu Kingdom had wagered everything because of the circumstances facing its race.
But for human kingdoms, one side was a pirate crew founded less than forty years ago, while the other was the World Government, which had stood at the summit of the world and ruled the seas for eight hundred years. Many still believed the World Government had the better chance of victory.
If the Beasts Pirates were defeated, those kingdoms would undoubtedly face reprisals as well. The World Government exploited this fear and, before the war began, dispatched envoys to several kingdoms within the Beasts Pirates’ territory.
However, they had underestimated what had happened during the Divine Blessing Ritual. Every king who had witnessed it remained firm in his convictions.
Although those envoys managed to persuade some government officials and members of royal families, even inciting internal unrest in several countries, they ultimately failed. They merely caused some logistical disruptions.
“Father, you’ll regret this. The Marines and the World Government are coming. How could an alliance led by pirates possibly stand against the World Government—”
“Your Majesty! The people of Beasts Pirates have arrived!”
Before the king’s decision could be questioned any further, a minister of the Kingdom of Daimonte brought new information.
“Invite them inside. Do I really need to teach you something so obvious?”
“I already did, but that man refused. He only asked us to notify the citizens to stay away from buildings and take cover. The war may already have spread here…”
At the same time, on the coast of the Kingdom of Daimonte, Kuzan stood alone atop a seaside cliff, staring intently at the distant horizon. When the familiar seagull flag finally came into view, Kuzan sighed, then resolutely leaped toward the surface of the sea.
“ICE TIME!”
The ice spread for thousands of miles in an instant, extending into the distance at an unimaginable speed. In the blink of an eye, it froze those warships in place upon the sea.
“Kuzan, you b*stard… You’ve actually gone this far?”
Aboard one of the warships, thick smoke billowed from Akainu’s body. His magma-transformed flesh instantly incinerated the cigar clenched between his teeth.
Akainu’s orders were to bypass the New World, cross the Calm Belt from the West Blue, and launch a surprise attack on the heartland of the Beasts Pirates. He had never expected an opponent like this to be waiting for him here.
Though separated by a great distance, Akainu and Kuzan had already spotted each other. A seemingly fated battle was about to erupt once again.
You can read ahead upto 75 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.
Become a Patron!