Chapter 27: Shipboard Artillery! A First Taste of Naval Warfare!

Chapter 27: Shipboard Artillery! A First Taste of Naval Combat!

Not far from the Navy warship, two sailing vessels were navigating one after another across the sea.

The lead ship was a single-masted schooner, a relative rarity in the Grand Line. Beneath a menacing black demon-goat figurehead sat a main cannon that glinted with a cold, metallic sheen, accompanied by six smaller cannons lined along the ship's sides. The sail on the central mast bore the emblem of a pirate crew: a heart combined with a skull. It was easy to deduce that this was likely a rookie pirate crew that had just entered the Grand Line.

The ship trailing behind it was a double-masted schooner, a more conventional design for the Paradise stage of the Grand Line. However, its appearance was far more peculiar than the former!

From the exterior, the double-masted ship resembled a giant pink flamingo floating on the sea. The figurehead was a slender, long-necked flamingo head, its beak even fitted with a pair of massive sunglasses identical to those worn by Doflamingo. The sides of the hull featured two broad panels, meticulously crafted by skilled artisans to resemble the wings of a flamingo. Notably, the flamingo ship lacked any visible cannon ports, and the sails attached to the masts were equally pristine.

This was the exclusive vessel of the Donquixote Family: the *Numantia*!

"Good citizens?"

Zephyr’s gaze was as sharp as a torch as he glared at Doflamingo. "Do not defile the word 'good'! And do not dare defile the word 'citizens'!"

Zephyr had never been one to shy away from assuming the worst of the Celestial Dragons. He strongly suspected that the rookie pirate crew on the water had been coerced by the blond brat before him to sail directly toward the Navy warship! Don't ask for reasons. Being a Celestial Dragon was reason enough.

Unfortunately, Zephyr had no proof, nor any way to arrest Doflamingo on the spot. In the North Blue, the Donquixote Family was the undisputed king of the underworld. But here in Paradise, they were merely fresh-faced newcomers who had yet to even earn a bounty. The Navy’s jurisdiction was broad, but it did not include arresting gangsters, nor did it cover individuals without bounties.

Clearly sensing Zephyr’s undisguised hostility, a cold, sharp light flashed in Doflamingo’s eyes behind his sunglasses. His fingers twitched slightly, and several nearly invisible, transparent threads darted from his fingertips.

In fact, just as Zephyr had guessed, today’s "chance encounter at sea" had been orchestrated entirely by Doflamingo! His target had been this Navy elite training ship all along. The reason was simple: in this era of surging tides and great piracy, Doflamingo craved the prestige and glory that belonged to the Donquixote Family. Having now completely unified the North Blue, and with no worries left behind, Doflamingo was determined to lead his family members to officially step into the Grand Line to seize fame, status, power, and wealth!

The Navy elite training ship was a target Doflamingo had carefully selected. He had prepared a multitude of plans for this encounter. If Zephyr was on board, there was a plan for that; if Zephyr was absent, there was another; if Zephyr was on board but severely wounded, there was yet another. Each plan had its own distinct course of action.

The ultimate goal of all these plans was to "sink the Navy elite training ship, slaughter an entire class of elite Navy recruits, and announce the arrival of the Donquixote Family to the Grand Line!"

However, it now appeared that since Zephyr was on board and had not suffered any negative repercussions from his previous battle with Kaido of the Beasts, his strength remained at its peak. Even with Doflamingo’s immense confidence in himself, he was not arrogant enough to believe he could easily kill "Black Arm" Zephyr. Therefore, he was currently executing Plan B of his first strategy: using North Blue rookie pirates to ram the Navy elite training ship, while simultaneously helping the high-ranking family officer embedded on the ship to accumulate military merit!

Regardless, a thief never leaves empty-handed.

As the transparent threads sliced through the invisible air currents, Doflamingo temporarily suppressed his urge to challenge the Admiral and chuckled coldly. "Fufufufu... Black Arm Zephyr, you’d better go look after those little recruits of yours! After all, cannons and guns have no eyes!"

...

On the Navy warship, after the brief commotion, everyone realized that Instructor Zephyr had gone to deal with the stranger who had so wantonly released his Conqueror's Haki. Out of trust in their teacher, the recruits quickly shifted their attention to the pirate ship closing in on them.

"Maintain military discipline!"
"Distribute the firearms!"
"Artillery crew, prepare!"

The experienced training camp instructors immediately transitioned into temporary commanders for this naval skirmish, issuing orders methodically, and the elite marines followed suit. Cui Ze collected a long flintlock musket and a box of ammunition from the weapons officer. He had barely begun to experience the peculiar atmosphere of a sailing ship battle when he saw an artilleryman pointing toward the pirate ship... with a thumbs-up?

Cui Ze nodded to himself. "I've learned something today. Someone giving you a thumbs-up isn't necessarily praising you; they might be aiming a cannon at you!"

*BOOM!*

With a deafening roar, a round cannonball flew from the rifling, carrying an unstoppable momentum as it barreled toward the pirate ship. Unfortunately, just as the shell was about to strike the pirate vessel, a powerful surge of sword energy erupted from the pirate ship, effortlessly slicing the cannonball in two like tofu. On the other side, the cannonballs fired from the pirate ship were similarly deflected into the sea by the elite marines using their various skills.

"Artillery tactics are truly unreliable... It seems this will end up as a boarding battle, or even a collision!"

Cui Ze tightened his grip on the long flintlock. This was his first time participating in a naval artillery battle! As time passed, neither the Navy nor the pirate artillery tactics achieved any success; most of the cannonballs flying through the air were shot down. The distance between the Navy warship and the pirate schooner continued to shrink.

"Closer... even closer..."

Cui Ze’s tone was as calm as water. He raised his flintlock and aimed at the pirate ship. "200 meters, 100 meters, 80 meters!"

He held his breath. Once the target reached the optimal range, he pulled the trigger.

*Bang!*

Fire and smoke erupted from the muzzle. The dark, round lead bullet flew out, covering the distance of several dozen meters in the blink of an eye, precisely striking the center of the forehead of a pirate who was waving a long saber with a ferocious expression. Blood sprayed, and the bullet penetrated the pirate's skull without resistance, the light in his eyes instantly fading.

Before the other pirates could react, Cui Ze pulled the trigger repeatedly, emptying the flintlock of all its ammunition and killing four more pirates in quick succession.

[You have killed a pirate with a comprehensive rating of F!] x5

The notifications scrolling like a waterfall across the screen were pushed to the back of Cui Ze's mind. He calmly stepped back, pulled out his ammunition box, and prepared to reload. Just then, a flintlock was suddenly handed to him from the side. As he reloaded, Cui Ze turned to see a stranger handing him the weapon.

"I just saw your marksmanship; it's very accurate! Don't waste time reloading." The stranger gave Cui Ze a sincere smile.

Cui Ze nodded without wasting words, took the flintlock, and continued firing at the pirate ship.

*Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!*

In a flash of five shots, five pirates on the opposite ship fell to the deck. As soon as Cui Ze lowered the empty weapon, another loaded one was handed to him.

*Fast.*

Another flash of five shots! Five more pirates perished.

As the casualties mounted, the pirates realized there was a marksman with terrifying accuracy on the Navy ship and prepared to unleash a volley of fire in his direction. However, both Cui Ze’s marksmanship and his reaction speed far exceeded those of these low-level pirates from the North Blue. With his firepower alone, he easily suppressed most of the gunmen on the opposite ship!

By the time the pirate ship rammed into the Navy warship, Cui Ze had harvested over thirty lives; he was like a ruthless reaper on the battlefield!

*Thud!*

The demon-goat figurehead of the pirate ship slammed heavily into the hull of the Navy warship with a deep, jarring impact. Both ships shuddered violently from the force, and the most intense part of the engagement began: the boarding battle!

The pirates, who had been pinned down by Cui Ze’s firepower, swarmed toward the Navy ship, desperate to send the marine who had killed so many of their brothers to the bottom of the sea. But the elite marines surrounding Cui Ze were no pushovers, and they engaged the boarding pirates one by one. Cui Ze even took advantage of the chaos to claim a few more pirate heads; at such close range, his [Precision Shooting] skill ensured that every shot hit exactly where he intended.

"Marine! Don't think that just because you have a firearm, you can do whatever you want!"

An aged voice emerged from the pirate ranks, followed by a figure moving at high speed, rushing straight toward Cui Ze. It was a scrawny old man with a white beard, wearing a bicorne hat, a deep blue tight-fitting top with lightning patterns, and brightly colored red leggings, with a large "G" logo on his white belt.

Cui Ze raised his flintlock and fired five shots in rapid succession.

"Sorry, but with a gun, I *can* do whatever I want!"