Chapter 1030: Is the Big Mom Pirates Heading for Defeat?

Chapter 1030: Chapter 1030: Is the Big Mom Pirates Heading for Defeat?

Unzan Port.

The sun had just risen, yet the city was still being devoured by raging infernos. Everywhere the eye could see, there were only shattered walls, smoldering ruins, and piles of corpses that rose like mountains. The streets were littered with severed limbs and mangled bodies; blood flowed in rivers, painting a harrowing scene of a hellish purgatory.

Discarded swords, guns, and overturned artillery pieces cluttered the city. From time to time, the sounds of mourning and desperate pleas for help echoed through the air. Beneath the collapsed skyscrapers and houses lining the streets, countless souls were buried in the rubble.

After a grueling day and night of warfare, the power of the Big Mom Pirates had been severely depleted. Their forces on land had been driven out of the city center, reduced to clinging to the coastal strip near the port.

The casualties among their officers were staggering. Charlotte Monde, Charlotte Snack, Charlotte Mont-d’Or... a string of direct descendants of the Charlotte family had fallen.

High-level Homies like the Crane Rider Randolph and Kingbaum had also perished in battle. As for members outside the Charlotte family and the captains of their subordinate pirate ships, no fewer than twenty had been killed.

Most crucially, Charlotte Katakuri, the eldest of the Sweet Commanders and a man hailed as the Charlotte family’s greatest masterpiece, had been returned to the coast as a half-charred, critically wounded wreck. Putting aside his ability to fight, it was questionable whether he would even survive.

Just a short while ago, the eldest son, Charlotte Perospero, had barely escaped back to the coast, severely wounded. Meanwhile, news arrived that the eldest daughter, Charlotte Compote, had been killed in action at the hands of Quiniel Vito, the "Fanged Devil" and captain under the Chris Pirates.

First, the loss of the former Sweet Commander Snack, then the near-mortal injury of the first among them, Katakuri; followed by the crippling of the eldest son, Perospero, and the death of the eldest daughter, Compote. This sequence of nightmares had caused the morale of the entire Big Mom Pirates to plummet, plunging them into the depths of despair.

"Is this... the end for the Big Mom Pirates?"

Moscato sat on a stack of ammunition crates, one arm in a sling, staring in desperation at a tent not far away. Inside, his brother, the number two of the Big Mom Pirates and a man of an undefeated legend, Charlotte Katakuri, was being treated for his life.

Nearby, several other wounded officers were gathered. Perospero lay in a recliner, bandaged from head to toe like a mummy, while Oven’s head was so heavily swaddled in gauze that only his eyes were visible.

Laurin, wearing a strange skull-patterned top hat, had lost his left arm. With a face full of gloom, he muttered, "Mama is in the Mirror World fighting Golden Ring, and not a single word has come out. Katakuri has been defeated, and Snack is dead. We are completely trapped here."

Every officer of the Big Mom Pirates had been subjected to the Chris Pirates’ relentless onslaught. Dragonians, mechanical weapons, Super Soldiers... power after power was thrown at them, heedless of loss or cost. Almost every officer who had survived was carrying at least some degree of injury.

"Everyone," Jinbe walked over, his expression weary. A long, narrow gash ran across his chest from his left shoulder to his right waist, a parting gift from Enrod. "Unless the Grand Fleet can defeat their armada, or Mama can defeat Golden Ring, we will surely be trapped here until we die!"

Mama defeat Golden Ring?

Don’t joke. A battle at that level wouldn’t be decided in a matter of days.

On the front lines, Smoothie was still holding off Arlan’s attacks, but if they had to wait for days, and the Chris Pirates maintained the same frantic momentum they had shown yesterday, the entire Big Mom force would be wiped out long before Mama emerged victorious. They would be better off praying for the fleet to pull through.

Unfortunately, the bad news didn’t stop there. The situation on land was dire, but the Big Mom Pirates’ Grand Fleet at sea had also suffered catastrophic losses. "Heavy casualties" didn’t begin to describe it; out of a fleet of over 160 ships, it was estimated that more than 100 had been destroyed.

If not for the Germa 66 fleet breaking through the defensive line of the joint Pirate Mercenary and Gran Tesoro forces to link up with Charlotte Daifuku’s main force, the fleet, reliant on a mess of outdated sailing ships and tiny Tart ships, would have been routed long ago.

One had to admit, Germa still had some teeth. It was no wonder Big Mom had been coveting their technology.

The snail-shell battleships were sea-fortresses, packing ferocious firepower and surprising speed. Even against the Chris Pirates’ new-model battleships, it took at least two of the enemy’s vessels to match one of theirs. With Germa 66 as their backbone, the Big Mom Pirates’ fleet had fought desperately, barely holding back the Chris Pirates’ armada.

However, Germa 66, the core pillar of the Big Mom fleet, had been the primary target of the Chris Pirates’ assault. After a day and night of intense naval combat, fewer than ten of their snail-ships remained. If the fighting continued, today would be the day the Kingdom of Germa fell.

Most of the Big Mom officers supporting the fleet were already dead, leaving only the third son, Charlotte Daifuku, the fifteenth son, Charlotte Noisette, and a critically wounded Pekoms. Pekoms had transformed into his "Sulong" form and destroyed one new-model battleship before being struck down by Oliver, falling into the sea and nearly drowning before being lucky enough to be rescued by Aladdin, the vice-captain of the Sun Pirates.

Of the dozen or so subordinate pirate captains, including Aladdin, only five remained; the rest had been killed in action. The entire Big Mom Pirates’ Grand Fleet was effectively surrounded by the Chris Pirates’ armada.

The only reason they hadn’t been finished off was that the Chris Pirates’ fleet numbers were also limited; they had lost over thirty ships in yesterday’s battle, bringing their numbers roughly in line with their opponents, making it impossible to form an airtight blockade with absolute numerical superiority.

On the flagship of Germa 66, the entire Vinsmoke family had gathered.

With fewer than ten snail-ships left, the family was in the direst situation they had ever known. One false move, and despite the former glory of Vinsmoke Judge’s "Four-Nation Sweep," the Kingdom of Germa would become just another fallen state in this chaotic world.

Furthermore, Reiju had captured a man from the Mirror World, and from him, she had learned a piece of news that could only be described as disastrous.

Before the war began, as a third party caught between two giants, Judge had been forced to make a choice. He had believed he made the correct one, and even when the Big Mom fleet began to fail, he had never doubted his decision.

But now...

"Dammit! Big Mom is actually on the back foot against Golden Ring Aeridar... She’s a Yonko!"

Judge roared, his voice tinged with madness.

He didn’t know the specifics of the fighting at Unzan Port, but at sea, it was clear that the Big Mom Pirates had lost. Now, to hear that Big Mom herself was at a disadvantage against Golden Ring Aeridar meant one thing: Aeridar’s strength was above Big Mom’s!

The Big Mom Pirates... were they going to fail?