Chapter 983: We Are Almost There

Chapter 983: Chapter 983: We Are Almost There

The pitch-black iron fist blasted forward, compressing the air in front of it to its absolute limit until the invisible draft solidified into a physical entity, slamming violently against the five-to-six-meter-long fiery blade.

CLANG—!!!

A deafening resonance, like the tolling of a colossal bell, rang out. The horrific kinetic shockwave generated by the impact rippled through the atmosphere, forcing a violent shudder as a distorted ring of air swept outward.

In the next instant, a visible white shockwave erupted, rolling out in all directions with a low, continuous rumble. Like a devastating hurricane, this artificial natural disaster blanketed both the sky and the earth.

The earth trembled violently. The ground beneath Charlotte Linlin’s feet simply could not withstand the sheer force of the collision; it instantly caved inward to form a massive crater nearly ten meters in diameter, with dozens to hundreds of jagged fissures splintering outward and spreading rapidly across the soil.

RUMBLE— RUMBLE—

Countless buildings collapsed like flimsy building blocks amidst the terrible tempest, kicking up sheets of dust that shrouded more than half of Unzan Port in a hazy, suffocating fog.

"Ah—! My arm—!!!"

"Help me! Someone save my daughter!"

"My legs... it hurts so much! Kill me! Just kill me already!"

"..."

Screams, wails, and agonized cries echoed everywhere. Countless innocent lives were swept up in this terrifying man-made disaster. Within the densely populated urban district, severed limbs and mangled corpses littered the landscape, leaving a trail of staggering casualties.

"You brat! To think you could actually block my Cognac!"

An infuriated shriek pierced through the dust, accompanied by another rapid succession of heavy detonations.

The two silhouettes clashed once more within the hazy fog, throwing up violent gusts of wind that swept outward continuously.

"Big Mom! Black Arm Zephyr! Those two really are absolute monsters!"

A man clad in a black robe stood atop the ruins of a shattered high-rise. He remained completely motionless against the howling gales, with only his dark cloak fluttering loudly in the wind. When massive boulders and flying debris hurtled toward him, they passed through his body in a bizarre, incorporeal fashion.

As he turned his head, he revealed a somewhat weathered face. He looked to be in his mid-thirties, and his sharp, handsome features made it obvious that he had been an exceptionally attractive man in his youth.

"Murunfufufu~"

A strange, cackling laugh suddenly echoed from nearby. Her body wrapped in stark white bandages, Catarina Devon peeked out from behind a thick, reinforced wall and smirked. "Mr. Daren, why don’t you use your ability to launch a surprise attack and assassinate Black Arm Zephyr? I’m sure Big Mom would be more than delighted if someone helped her wipe out the Chris Pirates’ forces here at Unzan Port."

"Do you take me for an idiot?"

The black-robed man named Daren turned his gaze toward Catarina Devon, his face contorted in a thoroughly mocking sneer.

"Murunfufufu~ I simply assumed that your hatred for the Chris Pirates would make you itch to slaughter every single one of them on the spot!" Catarina Devon grinned widely, casting a playful, teasing look at him.

When this man had first approached them, he had carried himself with an aura of deep-seated, irreconcilable hatred toward the Chris Pirates. Otherwise, his bizarre Devil Fruit ability alone wouldn’t have been enough to pique their captain’s intense interest.

At most, the crew would have simply banded together to hunt him down and steal his eccentric Devil Fruit power!

"The hatred is real, and the opportunity is real. But I have bided my time for so many years precisely to find the ultimate opening to dismantle the Chris Pirates," Daren replied placidly, his voice carrying an eerie, hollow cadence. "The Big Mom Pirates have yet to establish an overwhelming advantage. If I act blindly and recklessly like my fifth brother did, I will only throw away this perfect setup!"

Thinking back to his younger brother, the fifth in line, he had never expected that notorious, playboy dandy to possess such a knack for stirring up storms behind the scenes.

Even less did he expect that after all these years, he would be the sole survivor of their once-grand family, left in a state where he didn’t even dare set foot on his ancestral soil.

"Murunfufufu~" Catarina Devon smiled cryptically. "What a cautious man."

"This grand war has only just begun. The Marines and the World Government won’t just sit idly by and watch, and your Blackbeard Pirates clearly want to dip your toes in the water as well..." A glint of amusement flashed across Daren’s eyes. The corners of his mouth curled into a cold, sinister smirk.

"Heh... interesting! This is getting more and more interesting!"

Meanwhile, in the high skies eighty kilometers away from Unzan Port, a grand fleet of over a hundred small vessels sailed through the air in an imposing, magnificent formation that radiated sheer intimidation.

Flanking the fleet was a dense, sprawling black cloud composed of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of animated homies, letting out piercing eagle screeches, hoarse beastly roars, and sinister, cackling laughter.

"Requesting reinforcements! Requesting reinforcements!"

"Ain-sama has been severely wounded by Sweet Commander Smoothie!"

"Binz-sama is currently being pursued by Charlotte Oven! His situation is highly critical!"

"Backan-sama has been injured by Sweet Commander Katakuri! He is currently holding the line against Perospero!"

"Eleven Dragonian units have been confirmed destroyed! Our forces across all sectors have suffered over fifty percent casualties!"

"..."

The Den Den Mushi rang non-stop in a frantic chorus, delivering one devastating update after another.

Aeridar stood inside the communications room of a thirty-meter-long vessel, his arms tightly crossed over his chest. His expression remained frosty as he listened to the endless string of bad news.

"Captain, look on the bright side. The fact that distress signals are still coming through means the battlefield at Unzan Port hasn’t completely collapsed yet," Dimitri stepped into the room, offering a low, comforting reassurance.

"This was my miscalculation. Since I already knew Germa was a double agent, I should have stationed a massive garrison there in advance. If I had, things wouldn’t have devolved to this point!" Aeridar gritted his teeth, his tone dripping with bitter frustration.

He had let the minor victory at the Fernal Archipelago get to his head, only to be completely outmaneuvered by that crazy old hag. In this sea, one truly couldn’t afford to let their guard down for even a single second!

"Captain, the Big Mom Pirates suffered a massive defeat just yesterday, and their expeditionary fleet hadn’t even made it back to Totto Land. No one could have anticipated that she would consolidate every shred of her remaining strength to launch an all-out assault tonight," Dimitri shook his head helplessly, his expression turning grave.

After a brief pause, Dimitri continued, "Besides, Vinsmoke Judge is no fool. If we had moved a massive contingent of troops in advance, we might not have been able to keep it hidden from him. We can only admit that we were outmatched in strategy this time and lost the opening gambit."

According to the Chris Pirates’ original blueprint, they had intended to use their knowledge of the Germa double agency as a trump card to deliver a devastating blow to the Big Mom Pirates during a conventional engagement.

They simply hadn’t anticipated that Big Mom would be this radical, skipping all formalities to execute a full-scale ambush, a variable that caught everyone in the Chris Pirates completely off guard.

Clack.

To the side, Arlan placed his Den Den Mushi back onto its cradle and spoke evenly, "Enel has already rushed to the scene. Along with that old man Zephyr, holding the line for a while longer shouldn’t be an issue."

Speaking of which, Arlan felt a bit miserable himself. He had been locked in a state of romantic ambiguity with Smoothie for so many years. If it weren’t for the absolute condition that marrying her required joining the Big Mom Pirates, the two would have wed long ago.

Now that the Chris Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates were locked in a war to the death, any future between them was utterly impossible.

"Indeed."

Dimitri shot a deep look at Arlan before steering the conversation back. "We are already incredibly close to Unzan Port. It won’t be long now."

"Yeah... we’re almost there!"

A savage, murderous grin finally broke across Aeridar’s face. He walked out to the deck step by step, closing his eyes to feel the howling gales whipping past him as the mountains, forests, and rivers below blurred past at extreme speed.