Chapter 1005: The War Ignites! The Naval Battle off the Coast of Unzan Port

Chapter 1005: Chapter 1005: The War Ignites! The Naval Battle off the Coast of Unzan Port

Off the Coast of Unzan Port.

As news of the Big Mom Pirates’ grand fleet arriving broke, Vinsmoke Judge of Germa 66 wasted no time. Deploying all 27 of his giant snail ships, he abandoned his defensive posture of the past few days and ordered an aggressive advance toward the main fleet of the Chris Pirates.

The ships of Germa 66 were the literal territory of the Germa Kingdom. Each individual snail ship served as a mobile seafaring fortress. Boasting impenetrable armor and a devastating density of firepower, their combat capabilities easily surpassed even the standard Buster Call battleships used by the Marines, a crowning achievement of the Germa Kingdom’s advanced technology.

Furthermore, upon entering the waters of the Brady Island archipelago, the Big Mom Pirates’ grand fleet had established contact with their main force stationed at Unzan Port. Through the power of Mirror-World, a massive influx of Homies and subordinate pirates rapidly flooded into the fleet, swiftly replenishing their depleted ranks.

Sandwiched directly between Germa 66 and the oncoming Big Mom Pirates, the Chris Pirates’ grand fleet found itself heavily outnumbered. Rather than dividing their forces to fight a two-front war, they chose to consolidate their entire strength. Positioning themselves defensively, they waited for both sides to commit to an assault. Their objective was clear: hold the line against Germa 66 and the Big Mom grand fleet simultaneously, and crush Big Mom’s naval dominion in a single, decisive engagement.

Perhaps relying too heavily on their sheer numbers, the Big Mom Pirates’ fleet did not feature many high-level officers or top-tier powerhouses. The vanguard was led by Charlotte Daifuku, accompanied by a few average members of the Charlotte family, a contingent of fish-men led by Aladine, the Vice-Captain of the Sun Pirates, and several subordinate pirate captains under the Yonko’s banner.

On the other flank stood the Vinsmoke family of Germa 66. In the previous conflict, save for Reiju who had remained behind to command the fleet, nearly the entire Vinsmoke family had been brutally beaten and severely injured by Gild Tesoro. Fortunately, the medical technology of the Germa Kingdom was unparalleled; within just a few days, they had managed to barely patch themselves up.

Had it not been for their advanced science, Reiju would have been leading an army of walking wounded straight to their deaths.

Of course, compared to the Big Mom Pirates’ naval lineup, the Chris Pirates boasted a far more formidable roster of elite powerhouses. Tesoro went without saying, and beneath him stood his loyal executives: Dice, Tanaka-san, and the lucky girl, Baccarat.

Angus Abel had been commanding the fleet stationed at Micity Port, which consisted of over a dozen subordinate pirate crews under the Chris Pirates’ umbrella, featuring plenty of notorious pirates with bounties exceeding one hundred million Berries.

As for the Fernal Archipelago fleet, it was commanded by the high executive Oliver. Under his leadership were the master shipwright fish-man Nando, Sriya, and Bright Ward’s Paperman Pirates.

Crocodile was originally meant to be stationed here as well, but his Logia abilities could not be utilized to their full potential at sea. Consequently, he had taken his subordinate, Daz Bonez, to Unzan Port, swapping strategic positions with Donquixote Doflamingo.

There was another underlying reason for the swap: Crocodile wanted to challenge a Yonko once more to test his limits. Doflamingo, having previously suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of Kaido, understood the terrifying might of a Yonko all too well. Harboring a deep-seated dread, he had no desire to clash directly with Big Mom herself.

Additionally, there was the massive force of pirate mercenaries under Buggy the Clown, numbering well over ten thousand. However, their combat strength was wildly inconsistent. Aside from the hardened fugitives who had escaped from Impel Down and a select few elite powerhouses, the rest of the mercenaries participating in a clash of this magnitude were nothing more than cannon fodder.

The Big Mom Pirates possessed an overwhelming advantage in ship numbers, while the Chris Pirates held an absolute supremacy in high-tier elites. Out on the open sea, no one could truly predict which way the scales of victory would tip.

The opening salvo of the battle erupted across the water. The Chris Pirates’ grand fleet assumed a tightly synchronized defensive formation to withstand the approach of Germa 66, while simultaneously launching an aggressive, preemptive bombardment against the advancing Big Mom Pirates.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sky-shattering roar of heavy artillery echoed across the vast ocean. Muzzles flashed with blinding fire, instantly shrouding the waters in thick, black smoke. Countless cannonballs streaked across the sky in brilliant arcs of light, hurtling directly toward the vanguard of the Big Mom Pirates.

History would forever remember this day; the grand curtain on a catastrophic war had officially been raised.

In this era of naval warfare, the maximum effective firing range for standard smoothbore ship cannons topped out at roughly 800 meters, a distance achievable only by top-tier Marine battleships, though their accuracy at such range was notoriously abysmal.

Therefore, unless they were engaging the Marines, ordinary pirate crews would usually close the distance to within 400 or 500 meters, sometimes even within 200 meters, before initiating a broadside duel. At those closer ranges, even flintlock muskets could deal damage, and many hot-headed pirates openly bragged about shoving their cannon barrels directly into the enemy’s face before firing.

Yet, while the two opposing forces were still separated by well over a thousand meters, a devastating volley of cannonballs crossed the massive expanse, slamming down directly into the frontline of the Big Mom Pirates’ grand fleet.

Colossal geysers of water, twenty meters high, erupted violently across the sea. The previously calm waters instantly turned into a raging maelstrom, causing the massive ships of the Big Mom Pirates to pitch and roll uncontrollably.

"Damn it! Why are they firing from this far out?!"

"Evasive maneuvers! They’re ranging their shots!"

"Return fire! Give them everything we’ve got!"

The Big Mom Pirates’ grand fleet fell into a state of sudden, chaotic disarray under the unexpected bombardment. In a frantic bid to retaliate, many ships overloaded their cannons with extra gunpowder, desperately trying to reach the Chris Pirates’ vessels a thousand meters away.

Amidst deafening roars and flashing fires, countless cannonballs soared out across the water.

However, the laws of physics were unyielding. At a distance of over a kilometer, many of the smoothbore cannonballs fired by the Big Mom Pirates lost all forward momentum before even crossing the thousand-meter mark, plunging uselessly into the depths of the ocean.

Though a few stray projectiles managed to reach the frontlines of the Chris Pirates’ fleet, their accuracy was pitifully low. Not a single shot connected.

"Are the halfwits of the Big Mom Pirates completely brainless?"

Standing proudly on the bow of his flagship, adorned with a striking black wolf figurehead, Abel sneered in mockery. "To dare initiate a bombardment at this distance with primitive smoothbore cannons... I could leave my battleship completely stationary, and those stones wouldn’t even scratch our external armor plates!"

"Adjust coordinates!"

"Fire!"

In the next instant, the Chris Pirates’ ironclad battleships unleashed another coordinated volley. Their triple-mounted main turrets roared to life, firing streamlined, pointed artillery shells. The screaming projectiles crossed the thousand-meter gap in the blink of an eye. This time, over half of the shells slammed directly into the dense formation of the enemy fleet, scoring direct hits on several battleships and tartes ships on impact.

Boom! Blast! Boom!

Deafening explosions tore through the air. The small, fragile tartes ships were instantly obliterated; a single hit punched a massive, gaping hole straight through their hulls, sending them splintering into the sea.

Even the massive, hundred-meter-long capital ships commanded by Big Mom’s officers fared poorly. Pierced cleanly through by the high-velocity shells, the capital ships sustained catastrophic structural damage, their sailing speeds dropping instantly.

Worse still, many shells landed dangerously close to the hulls of the surviving Big Mom vessels, dealing severe near-miss concussive damage that shattered their rudders and cracked their timber.

The sailing ships of the Chris Pirates were entirely modernized, utilizing advanced steam engines integrated with traditional canvas rigging. Reinforced with heavy, thick external steel armor plating, they were outfitted with large-caliber rifled cannons.

Whether in terms of vessel speed, maximum firing range, or destructive payload, they utterly outclassed the antiquated sailing ships and smoothbore artillery relied upon by the Big Mom Pirates.

From the very opening moments of the engagement, the Chris Pirates’ fifty new-model ironclad sailing warships completely suppressed the sprawling grand fleet of the Yonko.

Granted, as the Big Mom Pirates pressed onward through the meat grinder, the distance between the two factions steadily shrunk, slowly raising the enemy’s accuracy.

However, the impact force of smoothbore cannonballs remained fundamentally inadequate. Even when they managed to score a rare direct hit against the Chris Pirates’ modernized hulls, they could barely inflict any meaningful damage. Conversely, the vessels of the Big Mom Pirates were being shattered and sent to the ocean floor one after another.

Had the Chris Pirates not been explicitly tasked with holding the line to block the grand fleet’s advance, which prevented them from utilizing hit-and-run kiting tactics, these fifty new-model warships alone could have comfortably dismantled all 140 enemy pirate vessels.

And just as the distance between the two main fleets closed to five hundred meters, the secondary front ignited. On the opposite flank, Germa 66’s 27 giant snail ships collided head-on with the pirate mercenaries serving under Buggy the Clown.

Over twenty mercenary ships, anchoring themselves around the staggering, ten-thousand-meter-long hull of the Gran Tesoro, formed a defensive line to repel Germa’s onslaught.

After days of anticipation, the Vinsmoke family had once again locked eyes with their tormentor—Gild Tesoro!

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