Chapter 989: The Crowded Battlefield

Chapter 989: Chapter 989: The Crowded Battlefield

Brady Island. Clifford Kingdom

Unzan Port, one of the only two bustling port cities in the entire nation, had been reduced to a scarred expanse of urban ruins after a night of ferocious warfare.

Yet, even in its ruined state, the city’s sheer chaos and activity had not diminished in the slightest.

The Chris Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates held opposite halves of the city. Because the shattered urban core was ill-suited to serve as a proper base camp for the Chris Pirates, Dimitri had adapted. He deployed his forces to convert the rear half of the ruined city into a frontline staging area, fortifying it with crude defensive works and sentry towers, while pitching the main camp just outside the city lines.

The adjacent canal was choked with dozens of small vessels ranging from twenty to forty meters in length. They formed a continuous convoy, ferrying fresh troops, weapons, ammunition, food, tents, and medical supplies.

The section of the canal where the ships docked had been transformed into a makeshift wharf. It was now a teeming hive of activity, ringing with voices as workers continuously hauled bizarre stone and metal sculptures up onto the riverbanks.

Across the divide, the Big Mom Pirates occupied the harbor area and the immediate coastline. Since the harbor itself was relatively clear of buildings and offered ample open ground, it provided the perfect staging area for the vast waves of provisions, reinforcements, and Homies being continuously funneled in from Totto Land.

Further out at sea, the giant sea-snail battleships of Germa 66 cruised through the waves. They maintained a cautious distance, refusing to sail within a single nautical mile of the shore to avoid being blindsided by stray shots from the enemy’s electromagnetic railguns.

In contrast, Tesoro’s Gran Tesoro had integrated with twenty warships sent as reinforcements from Micity Port. Together, they formed a massive armada that patrolled the waters surrounding Brady Island, standing guard against any incoming Big Mom fleets arriving from Totto Land.

Unzan Port Frontline. Chris Pirates Base Camp.

Inside a spacious command tent, Aeridar lay back in a lounge chair with his eyes closed, resting his mind while Boa Hancock gently massaged his temples.

On the other side of the tent, Arlan sat before a small, hooked-beak Den Den Mushi, speaking with Oliver, who was stationed far away in the Fernal Archipelago.

"Bring them all! Pull back every single soldier and warship we can mobilize!"

"But what about the Fernal Archipelago? Are we just abandoning it?"

"Leave just enough men to maintain a basic defense. If other pirate crews decide to raid it, let them. Once we deal with Big Mom, we’ll simply take it back!"

"Fine. I suppose if we can’t defeat Big Mom, holding onto the Fernal Archipelago won’t matter anyway. Understood."

Click.

This sudden raid by Big Mom had truly caught the Chris Pirates off guard. Aeridar had failed to anticipate that Charlotte Brûlée’s abilities could stretch across a distance of dozens of islands, using giant mirrors to link the Mirror World into a massive transit hub, allowing her to funnel an entire army directly into the Clifford Kingdom.

Not only had their various allies lacked the time to arrive, but the Chris Pirates hadn’t even managed to assemble their own full strength. Though they had successfully repelled the initial onslaught after a night of bloody combat, the sheer number of casualties made Aeridar’s heart ache.

When the dust settled and the losses were tallied, Zephyr had wept openly upon seeing the casualty reports for the ’Z’ Division.

The ’Z’ Division comprised 4,500 elite troops, all of whom were former Marines who had transitioned into the Neo Marines before following Zephyr into the ranks of the Chris Pirates.

Originally, the division was split evenly into two divisions of 2,000 men each, one garrisoned at Unzan Port and the other at Micity Port, while the remaining 500 moved with Zephyr as a mobile patrol.

To keep a wary eye on Germa 66 without making their suspicions too obvious, they had ordered only 1,000 of the 2,000 men at Micity Port to redeploy to Unzan Port.

Yet, in last night’s brutal clash, Binz and Ain had been wounded, and of the 3,500 Marine elites stationed at the port, over 1,800 had been killed in action, with more than 500 sustaining light or severe injuries.

Virtually every unit garrisoned at Unzan Port had taken devastating losses. The hundred-thousand-strong Royal Army was the only force that hadn’t lost over half its numbers; even so, their casualties approached nearly forty thousand, a figure far exceeding the combined losses of all the other units. The corpses of the kingdom’s soldiers practically carpeted the entire harbor district.

Click.

Arlan hung up the Den Den Mushi. Looking visibly drained, he raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose before speaking: "Everyone who needs to be contacted has been reached. Abel’s fleet has already rendezvoused with Tesoro. They are watching the sea closely to monitor the movements of Germa 66 and the Big Mom Pirates."

"Doflamingo will be here in a few hours. He’s also ordered Pica and Diamante to bring reinforcements."

"Even Buggy the Clown is mobilizing everything he’s got. He’s calling in every pirate mercenary from his dispatch company, though he explicitly noted that we’ll need to foot the bill for their fees."

At that, Arlan couldn’t help but let out a faint, amused chuckle. That absurdly lucky bastard certainly knew how to chase a profit.

"Pay him then. Match their compensation to standard mercenary ranks," Aeridar said casually, his eyes remaining closed as he continued to enjoy the massage from Hancock’s slender fingers. "Furthermore, issue a directive for the upcoming battle: any Marine-bountied member of the Big Mom Pirates killed will net a double payout. As for their core executives, the Sweet Commanders, Perospero, Daifuku, and Oven, put a flat twenty-billion-berry bounty on each of their heads."

While Aeridar had no illusions about a rabble of mercenaries successfully taking down Big Mom’s top executives, putting the bounties out early could yield unexpected rewards. Even if it merely served to exhaust the enemy’s heavy hitters, it was a highly cost-effective play, especially since dead mercenaries cost nothing to pay. It killed two birds with one stone.

"Devious as always."

Understanding his captain’s intent perfectly, Arlan’s lips curled into a sharp smile.

"If a problem can be solved with money, it isn’t a problem, provided the gold is spent wisely."

Aeridar’s face remained entirely expressionless as he uttered the incredibly grand claim. Yet, even if those words were to spread across the New World, no one would mock him. Anyone who knew the sheer depth of Aeridar’s wealth understood that he wasn’t exaggerating in the slightest.

Arlan nodded in silent agreement. There was no flaw in that logic. The Chris Pirates possessed an absolute abundance of wealth. If they could realistically crush Big Mom by burying her in gold, spending hundreds of billions or even trillions of berries would be entirely worth the price.

Swish—

Suddenly, the heavy curtain of the command tent was swept aside. Dimitri strode in, his expression exceptionally grim as he cut straight to the chase: "Captain, the number of Homies under the Big Mom Pirates is multiplying rapidly. With reinforcements continuously arriving on both sides, it won’t be long before the entire Unzan Port area becomes entirely too congested."

Aeridar’s eyes snapped open instantly. Both he and Arlan turned their attention entirely toward Dimitri.

"Explain."

"Look at the map."

Dimitri’s face was grim as he walked directly over to the strategic map of Unzan Port hanging in the center of the tent.

"We have the main elites of our crew, our subordinate pirate fleets, a massive force of the Royal Army, and our animated constructs. On the other side, the Big Mom Pirates have their core officers, the standing armies from the various islands of Totto Land, their own subordinate crews, and an equally staggering horde of Homies. The baseline troop count for this engagement is going to exceed two hundred and fifty thousand men."

"The clash between you and Big Mom alone requires an immense amount of space; the entire port might not even be enough to contain it. When you factor in the collateral damage from the rest of the monsters on both sides, alongside an all-out brawl involving nearly three hundred thousand troops, the battlefield becomes dangerously small."

"If the zone remains this cramped, the structural losses we suffer will be catastrophic even if we win. The open plains outside Unzan Port won’t be enough to cushion the fallout. We need a strategy; either we dramatically expand the deployment zone, or we open up a secondary theater of war."

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