Chapter 120: Zephyr Vs Big·mom
“Boom!”
Cannonballs landed on the ship’s side, sending water columns seven or eight meters high shooting into the sky. The massive warship shook from the impact of the water columns, and the pirates on the deck fell into chaos, disorganized and undisciplined. This was just like pirates. Even the BIG·MOM Pirate Crew had only gathered these sea scum out of fear of BIG·MOM’s terror and envy for the BIG·MOM Pirate Crew’s power.
Large-scale naval battles truly weren’t something these people were good at.
If it were a matter of lining up formations for close-quarters slaughter, these pirates naturally wouldn’t fear bloodshed. However, that fierce courage was of no use in this kind of long-range bombardment battle. The well-trained Pirate Guerilla Squad held the upper hand in such combat.
From the start of the firefight until now, one pirate ship had already been sunk, and three pirate ships were damaged. In comparison, the Pirate Guerilla Squad’s side had only paid the price of one warship sustaining light injuries.
However,
Pirate Guerilla Squad, flagship.
The former Marine Admiral standing on the deck, now the Pirate Guerilla Squad’s Commander-in-Chief, the man who had been wearing sunglasses all evening, had an unpleasant expression.
“Close in.”
Zephyr suddenly gave the order.
Hearing this command, Ain, who was attending at his side, was momentarily stunned. “Teacher, aren’t we clearly holding the advantage right now?” She completely didn’t understand this order. Compared to fighting boarding battles with the pirates, this kind of bombardment battle was obviously where the well-trained Pirate Guerilla Squad had the greater advantage.
“Faster, close in on the Queen Mama Chanter. Have all the other warships stick right up to the pirate ships as well.”
Zephyr urged with rapid speech.
Ain’s brows furrowed tightly. The habit formed over many years made her choose to obey the order. Forcing down the confusion in her heart, she still relayed the command to each ship. As expected, the captains on each ship were somewhat baffled by this perplexing order.
Fortunately, the Pirate Guerilla Squad’s officers were basically Zephyr’s students. Although they didn’t understand this seemingly ‘stupid’ order—abandoning their own advantage to fight boarding battles with these pirates who only had reckless courage—it didn’t look wise no matter how you viewed it.
Of course, the captains might not understand, but they still carried out Zephyr’s orders very well.
The warships that had been maintaining distance for remote bombardment of the pirate ships suddenly all charged forward one after another, charging fearlessly toward the pirate ships. Zephyr’s flagship even aimed its ship’s bow at the Queen Mama Chanter, enduring the pirates’ not-very-accurate bombardment and rushing forward at the fastest speed.
When there was still a little distance from the Queen Mama Chanter.
“Crack!”
A deafening thunderclap echoed from the sky.
A thick, pillar-like bolt of lightning broke free from the heavy dark clouds and struck toward one of the Pirate Guerilla Squad’s warships. Everyone saw that instant of blindingly bright lightning, and also saw a Navy standard-issue sword suddenly flying in at an angle.
The steel-forged long sword flew out fiercely like a cannonball, precisely intercepting the lightning heading for the warship below. In just an instant, that long sword, forged through a thousand tempers, was melted by the lightning into a blob of molten iron that smashed onto the deck of the warship below, quickly solidifying into an iron biscuit firmly stuck to the deck.
That sword was Ain’s sword.
It was indeed a standard-issue piece of equipment that regular Navy officers could wear, not some famous sword, but not some shoddy product either. Ain was accustomed to fighting with handguns and her Devil Fruit ability, so the sword at her waist was basically just for decoration.
She never imagined her sword would end its not-so-long service life in such a way.
Of course, Ain had no time to concern herself with a sword she had barely used. Her gaze quickly turned back to Teacher Zephyr. She hesitated to speak, full of confusion but not knowing how to voice it.
“This is BIG·MOM’s ability. That crazy woman can manipulate the weather.”
Zephyr gave a simple explanation.
He tilted his head up, holding swords snatched from the nearby Marines in his hand. That bolt of lightning was just the beginning.
“Manipulate the weather? It’s actually so······”
Ain looked up at the thick dark clouds in the sky, a bitter smile on her face. BIG·MOM possessed the power to manipulate the weather. This wasn’t some secret to the powerhouses mingling in the New World. The Navy had never relaxed in gathering intelligence on the Four Emperors.
Although she was just a Second Lieutenant,
As Zephyr’s student, she often helped her teacher with official duties and thus got to see much intelligence she wasn’t yet qualified for. She had indeed heard of BIG·MOM’s terror, but she never imagined that this simple explanation, when put into practice, would be such a terrifying sight.
“Crack!!!”
The lightning strikes continued.
Zephyr struck repeatedly, but he couldn’t intercept them all. One of their own warships was directly cut in half by a lightning strike, and four warships suffered varying degrees of damage. Without exception, these attacked warships were positioned further back and hadn’t yet closed the distance to the opposing pirate ships.
The warships in front, already engaged in boarding battles with the pirate ships, none were hit by lightning strikes.
“So that’s how it is······” Ain suddenly understood. No wonder Teacher had given that order; he had already anticipated this situation.
At this moment,
The flagship had finally arrived in front of the Queen Mama Chanter.
“BIG·MOM!!”
Zephyr removed his sunglasses, his eyes filled with endless anger fixed on that woman in a pink dress, with blood-red lipstick, wearing a smile more terrifying than a demon from hell.
“Mamama! Long time no see, Zephyr.”
BIG·MOM stopped controlling the thunder. Though Zephyr was no longer the Black Arm of old, as an old rival of many years, she wouldn’t truly treat him as nothing. With decades of ‘acquaintance,’ she knew very well what a headache-inducing guy Zephyr was.
“Zephyr! When did you become that brat Elus’s lackey?” BIG·MOM laughed loudly, maliciously mocking her old rival who had given her plenty of trouble in the past.
Zephyr, BIG·MOM, Garp, Golden Lion, Sengoku, Whitebeard······ This group were the most dazzling figures of that past era. Back then, Zephyr at the peak of his life dominated the New World, with countless pirates fleeing in terror at his name.
The BIG·MOM Pirate Crew, having split from the Rocks Pirates, happened to be one of Zephyr’s key targets. BIG·MOM, who hadn’t yet achieved her current glory and status, had truly suffered quite a bit under Zephyr’s pursuit.
She remembered clearly how wretched she looked back then!
“BIG·MOM, get out of the Eckmond Kingdom’s seas.” Zephyr wasn’t affected by BIG·MOM’s mockery. He simply raised his remaining left arm, his tightly clenched fist signaling his attitude toward BIG·MOM.
“Prometheus.”
BIG·MOM called out to the homie she had created, and that blazing fireball responded accordingly.
“Mom! Here!”
It obeyed BIG·MOM’s will, attaching its flaming body to BIG·MOM’s right hand, and then······ roaring flames surged like a fountain toward Zephyr on the opposing warship. The terrifying high temperature made Ain, standing beside Zephyr, involuntarily change color and instinctively step back.
“Don’t show off these little tricks.”
A pitch-black big hand gleaming with metallic luster swung out, easily scattering the astonishingly hot flames. Zephyr was unscathed. The high-temperature flames that could melt steel had no effect under Zephyr’s hand and were simply dispersed without leaving a single mark.
Zephyr waved his hand, dispersing the lingering embers in front of him.
He looked at BIG·MOM opposite and declared loudly: “After so many years, are your tricks still the same old ones? If that’s the case, I won’t hold back today.” As his words fell, Zephyr stomped the deck fiercely, causing the massive warship underfoot to sink down and its stern to lift several degrees.
One stomp nearly capsized the warship.
One could imagine the immense strength, and Zephyr used the recoil to leap across the distance between the two ships, enduring the thunder and flames BIG·MOM unleashed, landing on the deck of the Queen Mama Chanter like a cannonball fired from its barrel.
“Zephyr!!!”
The enraged BIG·MOM looked at Zephyr appearing before her. Her fist wreathed in flames smashed down toward Zephyr like a falling meteor. Zephyr, who had just steadied himself, faced that scorchingly hot massive fist and revealed a fearless cold smile on his face, boldly swinging his own fist.
A fist shining with pitch-black light and a fist wreathed in orange-yellow flames.
After many years,
Black Arm and BIG·MOM clashed head-on once more.
It was just pitiful for this Queen Mama Chanter. Also a homie endowed with a soul, the Queen Mama Chanter didn’t have a body as tough as Napoleon’s, nor elementalization abilities like Zeus or Prometheus.
Its strength was higher than ordinary ships.
But it still couldn’t withstand two monsters battling on its body.
“Zephyr!”
BIG·MOM swung her fist again, forcing Zephyr back. From the start of the fight, she held the upper hand. Losing his right arm truly had a big impact on Zephyr. If it were just bullying some pirate newbies, he could win even using only his legs.
However, against an opponent like BIG·MOM whom he hadn’t been confident of defeating even with both arms intact, it was only natural for Zephyr with only his left arm to fall into a disadvantage.
“You······ lying bastard!”
BIG·MOM gnashed her teeth.
She did hold the upper hand, but Zephyr’s displayed endurance filled her with shock and fury. This was completely different from what she had expected! According to the gathered intelligence, this old cripple Zephyr shouldn’t be able to sustain such intense combat for long.
Yet after just a few exchanges, she found Zephyr showed no signs of faltering. Instead, wielding that single arm, he displayed unimaginable toughness and endurance, looking ready to battle her for three days and nights.
Her mood couldn’t help but turn impatient and angry.
If they couldn’t quickly break through the Pirate Guerilla Squad’s defensive line, there might not be much time left for them to make a fortune in the Eckmond Kingdom. If Elus finished his battle with Kaido, they might end up with no lamb eaten but a body full of fleas.
That outcome was the last thing she wanted to see.
Zephyr ignored BIG·MOM’s anger. He simply maintained his steady, step-by-step approach. He knew very well that even though Elus had helped cure his chronic malignancy, he was no longer at his former peak. Holding back BIG·MOM’s invasion was his victory.
It wasn’t just BIG·MOM and Zephyr clashing.
The BIG·MOM Pirate Crew and the Pirate Guerilla Squad had fully descended into chaotic melee. Cracker and Snack were rampaging, but midway they were jointly blocked by Isca, Ain, and Binz. Isca faced Cracker’s biscuit soldier army alone with her sword.
Ain and Binz teamed up to block Snack, the least senior General.
If asked why Isca was here, it truly wasn’t some preemptive arrangement by Elus. Isca had recently been consulting Zephyr on how to further hone her Armament Haki.
She had originally been just a minor Second Lieutenant at Navy Headquarters, truly unremarkable in the vast Navy Headquarters. The reason for her meteoric rise to her current height was that her strength had been forcibly boosted by Elus using the Hogyoku.
That said, this forced growth hadn’t left Isca with any sequelae. Of course, perfectly controlling this power wasn’t something simple either. She had previously focused on honing and familiarizing herself with swordsmanship. After feeling she had mostly digested the Swordsman realm, she turned her attention to Haki.
And Zephyr, known as ‘Black Arm,’ was one of the few in the world who had honed Armament Haki to a divine realm, and among those scant few, the one most skilled at teaching students.
Isca took leave.
She found Zephyr and expressed her wish to further elevate her Haki cultivation. Zephyr didn’t disappoint. He sympathized greatly with Isca’s unfortunate experiences and particularly admired her resolute will to strike down pirates, so these days he had truly trained her with all his heart.
In any case,
For this reason, Isca stood before Cracker, engaging this famed veteran General in fierce battle and temporarily holding him back.
BIG·MOM herself was held back by Zephyr, Cracker was stalled by Isca, and Snack was caught in a pincer by Ain and Binz, two ability users. For a moment, he couldn’t break free either, causing the boarding battle to stalemate.
Of course, overall, the BIG·MOM Pirate Crew held the advantage. BIG·MOM’s children all had considerable strength. Even if not at General level, their enemies were merely a few Colonels and Officers from the Pirate Guerilla Squad. In terms of strong person numbers, the Pirate Guerilla Squad was undoubtedly at a disadvantage.
However,
Before the BIG·MOM Pirate Crew could gain an absolute advantage, new news arrived.
“Mom!”
One of BIG·MOM’s daughters, after receiving a Den Den Mushi call, paled dramatically. She sent flying the Pirate Guerilla Squad member blocking her path and rushed in two strides to three onto the deck of BIG·MOM’s Queen Mama Chanter.
“The Black Prince and Beasts have ceased fighting.”
Because of BIG·MOM and Zephyr’s battle, she couldn’t approach to report this news, so she had no choice but to steel herself and shout out this intelligence loudly.
And then—
The atmosphere changed immediately.
The BIG·MOM Pirate Crew members’ movements slowed involuntarily. The Pirate Guerilla Squad, on the back foot, didn’t think to counterattack while they had the chance either, instead contracting their combat power as much as possible.
