Chapter 13: Steel Skin
On the Sea where sail battleships serve as the main force, long-distance voyages are quite difficult.
Without islands along the way for resupply and repairs, it is hard to sustain a large fleet’s long voyage. This is the reason Venkura ordered the landing operation. If they did not take Whale Tail Island and merely annihilated the fleet at Whale Tail Island, they certainly would not need to worry about the rear being sabotaged.
But the cost of doing so would be stretching the supply line several times over.
The massive logistical burden would crush the entire fleet.
So,
whether willing or not, landing operations are necessary.
Under the command of Ghost Sword Venkura, large numbers of Amento Kingdom soldiers and pirates from various sides stepped onto the land, like a dense swarm of insects surging toward the tower isolated in the ruins outside the port.
More than fifty warships, even if not all uniform large warships.
The largest flagship has nearly a thousand sailors and soldiers, secondary warships can accommodate over seven hundred people, and the most numerous third-grade warships each carry a full five hundred people. Excluding the sailors who must stay to operate the warships, the landing soldiers and pirates still number a quite massive force.
A full twenty thousand landed on Whale Tail Island.
As the saying goes, with ten thousand people, it seems endless.
Standing on the tower, looking down from above at the dense crowd below like ants, it is a quite interesting feeling, especially when the entire crowd below consists of enemies come to take one’s life—it makes the heart surge even more.
“There are a lot of people!”
Elus stood on the balcony, overlooking the swaying heads below, watching the shouting pirates hacking at the tower’s gate with their swords, while trained soldiers raised their firearms and pulled the triggers toward Elus standing on the balcony.
“Bang bang bang!!!”
Bullets flew into the sky.
But,
they had no effect at all.
Elus waved his hand and casually knocked away all the incoming bullets. As the Ability User of [Zoan Bat-Bat Fruit Mythical Zoan Black-Winged Great Demon Form], with the Hogyoku’s help, he perfectly inherited the Black-Winged Great Demon’s various abilities, such as this most basic [Steel Skin].
So-called Steel Skin is armor-like skin that swords cannot pierce, boasting high spiritual pressure hardness; ordinary attacks cannot harm it.
Blocking bullets barehanded is nothing surprising at all.
Even standing still and taking cannonballs head-on with his body would be no problem. He had tested it in the royal palace; without using Armament Haki, ordinary pure physical attacks simply cannot break [Steel Skin]’s defense.
Only Great Grade Swords or even Supreme Great Grade Swords, rare weapons in the world, can break Steel Skin’s defense without Armament Haki.
Eckmond Kingdom possesses one Great Grade Sword.
“Boom!”
The gate at the bottom of the tower was destroyed.
But not from outside to inside, rather from inside to outside.
The maid miss, annoyed by the clanging noises at the door, kicked apart the thick ironwood gate wrapped in iron sheets. The splintering wood made the gathered pirates at the door cry out in pain, but that was not all—the angry Fran was not someone to be easily dismissed.
“You’re too noisy.”
She said so.
At the same time, she threw a punch, and fist winds like a storm swept through. Unfortunately, the pirates and soldiers caught in the fist wind’s range were blown back into the sea. In this dense crowd, it cleared a wide path.
“Fran, these are my prey.”
On the balcony,
Elus shouted angrily.
“Don’t you dare······” Before the word “strike” could leave his mouth, a black shadow appeared behind Fran. A lanky man like a bamboo pole swung his three-meter-long serrated saber, slashing fiercely at Fran’s neck.
“Clang!”
Fran blocked the falling serrated saber with her arm.
A layer of illusory golden-red veil wrapped around the maid’s arm. This seemingly insubstantial thing firmly held back the serrated saber enhanced with Armament Haki.
“Bounty one hundred thirty million pirate, Skull Hunter Demon Gazet.”
Fran recited the name of this bamboo-pole-like man.
A smile appeared on her pretty face.
She looked up at Elus on the balcony and called out: “Your Highness, this time I did not strike first; this was passive defense.”
With that,
her left hand delivered a swift straight punch.
It struck Gazet’s stomach like lightning, catching the Skull Hunter Demon, who was marveling at Fran’s strength, off guard and dealing him heavy damage. That cannon-like heavy fist nearly took his life; if he had not timely used Armament Haki.
But this sneak-attack-like strike thoroughly enraged this notorious vicious pirate obsessed with hunting enemies’ skulls.
“I’m going to chop off your head and peel your scalp!”
Gazet roared loudly, angrily swinging his gleaming serrated saber.
————
“Skull Hunter Demon? What an idiot!”
After glancing at the furious fool below the tower, Elus withdrew his gaze, turned around, propped his elbow on the battlement, and looked up at the man who appeared at the top of the tower. “Ghost Sword Venkura, since you’ve sneaked up the tower, why not hurry up and strike?”
“Crown Prince of Eckmond Kingdom, Sokachio Elus······ The intelligence I saw said you excel in stratagems and your personal martial power is not outstanding······ It seems our intelligence personnel made a grave error.”
Venkura gripped his slender rapier.
He did not rush to strike at Elus; he even stopped the soldiers below from shooting at Elus.
“Your Highness, surrender! If you can convince your father to offer this country to Lord Umit, I can represent Lord Umit and give your family a way to survive.”
“······You’re trying to persuade me to surrender?”
Elus blinked, nearly popping his eyes out. What was this play?
“What? Do you think I’m too arrogant? Or do you think having [Beautiful Sword] and [Fighting Dog] can stop Lord Umit’s will? I can tell you, it is absolutely impossible. Even if you fly Whitebeard’s flag, you cannot block Lord Umit’s path forward.”
“If you do not want to be crushed to dust, do not want your family to vanish from history, then·······”
“You’re so long-winded!”
Elus was starting to get tired of listening.
What······cliché nonsense!
“······It seems without recognizing the true face of this world, you cannot make a sufficiently wise judgment, Your Highness.”
Venkura jumped down from the top of the tower.
A eerie pale sword light traced an unbelievable arc in the air, stabbing fiercely toward Elus’s kidney from an odd angle.
