Chapter 304: Cannon Fire
The Minotaur was surrounded.
Without any warning, almost the instant it burst out of the sea surface, it was suddenly encircled by three warships in a three-sided pincer formation.
The crew on the ship hadn’t even had time to breathe in the fresh outside air before they were directly staring down the barrels of dozens of hundreds-of-millimeters naval cannons… those pitch-black gun muzzles seemed even blacker than the pitch-dark seabed.
“Gwoo~”*n
Everyone froze in place, involuntarily swallowing hard…
Step~ step~ step~
On the lead Navy warship, Mien stepped forward to the ship’s bow one step at a time.
His left hand rested on the hilt of his rapier, his head slightly raised, looking down condescendingly at the Minotaur not far away.
He remembered this ship.
This was one of the two main warships of the Beasts Pirates, the flagship of a certain executive.
However, compared to its majestic glory back then, it now looked much more dilapidated, and even after many repairs, it could no longer hide the decrepitude of this old-style warship~
Now it was like a decrepit old bull, dragging its body riddled with hidden ailments and its horns covered in scars, facing the siege of three fierce tigers.
Mien had actually only seen this ship once, during that sea battle years ago.
Back then, this ship floated in the high heavens, surrounded by a large fleet of warships, looking down imperiously like spectators in the VIP seats at the Navy below that had been scattered to pieces.
In fact, even after several years, Mien still clearly remembered every detail of that campaign; the events of that day had replayed in his dreams like a movie countless times…
“Bru~”
Taking the Den Den Mushi from his pocket, Mien dialed a number while keeping an eye on the movements of the Beasts Pirates crew.
“Hey, it’s me, Mien.”
“The operation went smoothly; I’ve successfully intercepted them here.”
“Good.”
A familiar voice came from the other end of the Den Den Mushi; it was that white-suited agent.
There was no sound of fighting from the other side, so it seemed the battle had already ended.
“Is he on the ship?”
“Yes.”
Mien shifted his gaze to a certain golden-haired Fish-Man.
“Bring him back; kill everyone else.”
“Got it.”
“Bru~”
The Den Den Mushi hung up.
The exchange between the two was straightforward and to the point, without any superfluous words… and just as they said on the Den Den Mushi, this operation was very successful.
As top-tier agents, the CP0 in white suits weren’t just rigid tools that followed orders blindly; not to mention their martial prowess far surpassing other intelligence organizations, their tactical planning abilities were equally outstanding.
After all, the people they served were the most demanding in this world.
So, as early as the initial clash with Burufaruto and the others, he had already guessed their plan to stall for time to escape by ship.
Thus, he decisively ordered Mien and the others, who hadn’t arrived yet, to change course directly and wait by the stump for the rabbit outside the island on warships that had already been coated.
And Mien and the others were quite lucky; shortly after leaving Fish-Man Island, they captured the momentary flash from the Minotaur warship.
Thanks to the mistake by the Beasts Pirates ship doctor, Mien and the others smoothly located the Minotaur’s position in the pitch-black deep sea, allowing them to surround it the moment it surfaced.
“Open fire.”
Without giving the enemy more time to react, Mien decisively ordered to open fire after putting away the Den Den Mushi.
“Eh?!”
“Officer, didn’t we say we need to capture one of the Fish-Men alive?”
The deputy officer who received the order asked puzzledly.
“Open fire.”
“Sink them.”
Mien repeated it again, without any intention of explaining, as if the person who had crisply agreed to capture Lahel alive on the Den Den Mushi earlier wasn’t him.
After the arms separation reform proposed by Sengoku was completed, although the Navy gained great reinforcements in equipment and funding, and overall strength improved significantly, it had almost lost its voice in front of the World Government.
Having lost the ability to independently produce arms, with funding tightly controlled, the Navy, whose solo action rating had dropped directly from B to E, could no longer say ‘no’ to the World Government as its master.
So even for an absurd demand like dispatching two headquarters vice admirals to help the Celestial Dragons chase a runaway slave, the Navy top brass could only grit their teeth and accept it.
But some people didn’t buy it at all, like a certain Navy hero, and the Mien in front of them.
As a vice admiral, he didn’t need to stand in the decision-making layer considering all those messy political factors, nor did he care about further promotions; even being demoted to nothing wouldn’t matter.
As someone trapped in the past, his goal from beginning to end was only to complete his revenge against the Beasts Pirates.
Seeing his officer’s attitude was firm, the deputy officer said no more and immediately organized the gunners to aim and fire.
Boom!
Boom! Boom!
As the warship under Mien’s feet began aiming at the Minotaur and continuously firing cannonballs, the other two warships timely joined the bombardment.
The people on the Minotaur were caught completely off guard and immediately thrown into chaos; after all, at such close range, it wasn’t easy for the Navy to deliberately miss even if they wanted to.
Bang!!!
“Ah!”
“Help!”
“Get down quick!”
A cannonball smashed solidly onto the deck, and the explosive impact directly blew several pirates into the sea.
“Captain, what do we do!”
“We can’t just take this beating; we have to fight back!”
“But their cannon fire is too fierce; we have no chance to return fire!”
“Since when could the Navy’s cannons fire this fast?!”
Boom!!!
A cannonball precisely hit the main mast, instantly igniting the sails above.
“Quick, put out the fire!”
Boom!! Boom!!
Without giving the Beasts Pirates any chance to breathe, several pirates who had just tried to get up through the cannon fire to extinguish it were blown away by incoming cannonballs.
One unlucky one was directly hit in the chest, blasted into human fragments without even time to scream.
“…”
Flames began spreading across the deck, and the pervasive smoke made it hard for the crew to see the cannonballs’ trajectories; everyone could only lie on the ground, hoping the next one wouldn’t land on them.
And this old warship, battle-hardened, was powerlessly swaying futilely under the baptism of cannonballs from all directions…
It wasn’t that these Beasts Pirates crew members lacked combat training; Mien’s ambush this time was just too unexpected, leaving them no time to react.
Moreover, the cannons on the Navy warships had clearly been upgraded; based on the Beasts Pirates’ breech-loading cannons, the World Government-affiliated military laboratories had made secondary improvements, greatly enhancing precision, power, and firing rate.
Combined with the triple overlapping fire suppression from the triangular formation, the Minotaur, this warship nearing scrapping age, had almost no chance to counterattack.
Pfft!
The cabin was destroyed, and splintered wood directly pierced the squad leader’s back; this capable pirate couldn’t help but let out a muffled grunt.
And Lahel, lying beside him, was even more miserable; this golden-haired Fish-Man’s back was a mess of blood and flesh, with blood splattering several meters away…
But he didn’t make a sound, still tightly shielding the infant below him who was scared into wailing by the explosions.
“Good child, don’t cry, don’t cry~”
“Look at Dad here~”
The Fish-Man father’s pacification was completely drowned out by the roar of the cannon fire, but the funny face he made while enduring the pain successfully stopped the infant’s crying~
The little infant strained to reach out with both hands, seemingly wanting to touch his father’s hilariously funny face, but his arms were too short to reach anything.
Even so, he laughed happily, no longer crying in fear from the cannon fire’s roars.
“Ee~~ ee ee~”
“Ah~ ah~”
Listening to his child’s babbling laughter, the Fish-Man father smiled too, though his smile was silent.
He looked at his child, always looking, until he had fully etched the child’s smile into his mind, then closed his eyes.
“…”
Swish!
“What are you doing?! Get down!”
Seeing Lahel suddenly stand up, the squad leader beside him was startled and quickly stood to tackle him down.
But their size difference was too great; his tackle only made Lahel stumble but didn’t bring him down, while he himself fell back to the ground instead.
“Thank you, brother of the Beasts Pirates.”
Looking at the squad leader trying to get up again, Lahel pressed him down and said:
“You’ve already done more than enough for me; leave the rest to me.”
“Their goal is me; as long as I turn myself in voluntarily, it should let you all leave safely.”
With that, without waiting for the squad leader to react, he braved the cannon fire and walked straight to the ship’s bow.
“Please take care of my child.”
“I beg you.”
Looking back with this final instruction, Lahel shouted loudly toward the opposing warship:
“I’m the slave of that Celestial Dragon you’re looking for!”
“Now I’m willing to surrender, give up resistance, and go back with you!!”
“But let the others on the ship go; let them leave!!!”
“The Celestial Dragon’s order is for me alive, right!!!”
“Spare them, and I’ll go with you right now! Otherwise, I’ll kill myself here right now!!!”
To shout over the cannon fire, Lahel used almost all his strength, leaving his already extremely weak body barely able to stand.
And his words successfully reached the ears of the Navy.
“Vice Admiral, we…”
The deputy officer stepped forward again, looking troubled at Mien; he had clearly heard that white-suited CP0 emphasize the live target on the Den Den Mushi.
Bluntly put, even if it was just a Fish-Man slave who would probably be shot dead after being brought back, it was still the Celestial Dragons’ property; the Navy had no right to dispose of it.
But Mien remained unmoved and coldly said:
“Ignore him; continue the bombardment.”
“But…”
“…”
“…Yes, officer.”
No eunuch; I’ve been staying up too late lately, low immunity led to hives flaring up again, scared me into regulating my schedule last night, starting to sleep and wake early.
