"Fire!" Queen bit his cigar and gave the order mercilessly once they were within range.
A Headliner beside him was momentarily stunned: "Queen-sama, the Governor said that if possible, we should recruit them into our fighting force."
"Fight first, talk later. Beat them into submission, and everything becomes easy." Queen's expression was impassive. The Headliner said no more, picked up a Den Den Mushi, and issued the order to fire.
"Will we have to expose the Pluton here?" Rosen watched the hail of cannonballs flying in from all directions and frowned. He had already leaked some information to the World Government earlier.
But that was to relieve the besieged Andia Kingdom. If other Emperors and underground leaders learned he possessed such a powerful weapon, he might become a target for a concerted attack.
So Rosen had never intended to expose the Pluton frequently.
Doflamingo smiled, raised a finger, and moved it slightly. Some of the ordinary crew on Rosen's ship were instantly controlled. Several of them, unable to control themselves, drew weapons and walked toward Rosen.
"What are you doing?" Robin's expression darkened. The subordinates' faces were full of terror.
"Our bodies... we can't control them."
"If you want to keep us here, come yourself, Clown." Rosen waved a sandstorm from a distance, engulfing these controlled subordinates and shredding all the strings controlling them.
"You all go to the hold and man the cannons." Daz Bones said calmly.
"Should we give them a shot?" Enel grinned, his fighting spirit high. He waved his scepter, and a ring of lightning instantly expanded outward, detonating countless cannonballs all around the Dawn.
But the enemy's gunfire was very dense. However, in terms of firepower, the Pluton was a giant warship. Although Rosen didn't want to expose it, since it was unavoidable, he would have to fight. But unless absolutely necessary, he could not fire the main cannon. Once that was activated, it would be impossible to hide. They hadn't yet established a foothold, and being targeted by other forces too quickly was not good for Rosen.
He didn't want to be ganged up on before he had enough power to dominate the New World.
"I'm leaving the central control room to you. Except for the officers, some of you go with Enel to the central control room. Operate the turrets through the screens and sink them. The rest of you, bring out the cannons we paid a fortune for and let them taste their own medicine."
Doflamingo was blocking their path. There were cannons on all sides. To break out, conflict was inevitable.
Receiving Rosen's order, Enel nodded, turned into lightning, and reached the central control room first. A large-scale melee was still some time away. The two sides' ships had just entered firing range.
It was most appropriate to have Enel, who was familiar with the ship's structure, take control.
In the blink of an eye, only Rosen, Robin, Law, Daz Bones, Valentine, and the little sea cow remained on deck. Even Natalie had been taken away by Enel.
"We will stay and fight." But just as everyone was following orders, Rob Lucci stepped forward and said.
Kalifa and Kaku also came forward. They clearly wanted to earn merit in front of Rosen and also felt that Rosen and his crew wouldn't be wiped out so easily.
"Lucci stays. You two are too weak. Go back to the hold and help." Rosen was a bit surprised, but if Lucci went all out, he was also Vice Admiral level. That was strong combat power. Earlier, because they were undercover, he had almost forgotten to include their strength.
Now, making them work for free could be considered their room and board on the ship recently.
"But we..."
"Go." Lucci said. This battle would be a fight for survival, and the front line was where the first casualties would fall.
As an undercover agent, Lucci had long been prepared to sacrifice everything for the mission. If he could gain trust, the risks were worth it.
Since Lucci had said so, Kalifa and Kaku could only nod. Indeed, in this battle, they were too weak. Apart from Lucci's strength being somewhat respectable, they didn't have much of a role.
But would Lucci dare to use the Six Powers in front of Rosen?
That was also a question.
Doflamingo watched quietly, not moving to stop them. Just hovering in the sky and staring at them was enough.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Because the next moment, over a dozen ships, with several hundred cannons in total, thundered simultaneously. The coverage was wide, and the bombardment was continuous.
Across the sea, the sounds of exploding shells echoed like popping beans. The waves surged violently, and towering columns of water were blasted into the air.
These were very powerful cannons, and some shells that landed on the sea continued to burn briefly. They were highly incendiary shells.
"ROOM!" Law raised his hand. Any shell that entered his space was manipulated by him and pushed back out. They kept exploding in the air, the shockwaves buffeting Rosen and the others.
"High-Speed Rondo of Blades!" Daz Bones grabbed several swords and blades, instantly merging them with his body. Then a forty-meter-long blade, as thin as a cicada's wing, spun in his hands like a giant windmill, slicing and detonating countless shells in midair.
"Shoot them down." Valentine manipulated her armor-piercing arrows, which streaked like beams of light, also detonating many shells in an instant.
But despite all this defense, the enemy had too many ships and their firepower was fierce. If this continued, everyone's stamina would be exhausted prematurely.
"Annoying thing. Sandstorm!" Rosen formed a tornado of sand in his hand and then swept it toward Doflamingo in the sky.
"Fufufu... You're so heartless, Sand Crocodile. Five-Colored Strings!" Doflamingo saw the sandstorm hurtling straight at him, suddenly raised his arm, and swung a strike forward. Five transparent, sharp strings instantly pressed toward the sandstorm.
Doflamingo thought this strike would easily destroy Rosen's casual attack. But when the five lines cut into the sandstorm, sparks flew. He couldn't cut through it. The sand wasn't just ordinary sand; its power was much stronger than he had imagined.
Clang, clang, clang! The five sharp strings snapped. Doflamingo's expression changed slightly. He leaped backward abruptly, using strings attached to clouds to form footholds beneath his feet. After putting some distance, he used an Overheat Whip to finally disperse the sandstorm.
"That Sand Crocodile's strength... is probably even a bit stronger than I thought. Sure enough, joining forces with Queen and the others was the right call." Doflamingo was shocked but also felt relieved about his decision.
Not far away, on a huge warship, Jack watched the enemy ship being bombarded relentlessly by cannon fire. He couldn't help but feel impatient: "Big Brother, they won't just get sunk like this, will they? They haven't even returned fire yet. Have they given up? I still want to fight that Crocodile guy!"
"Don't rush. If they were really that weak, they wouldn't have such high bounties from Marine Headquarters. But this time, they can't escape even if they had wings~ ah~ fly~!" As Queen spoke, he thrust out his round, rolling belly, very satisfied.
"Queen-sama, there's one thing I think I should report." A flying-type Gifter said respectfully from the air.
"What is it?"
"Just now, through my falcon eyes, I saw one of our shells hit the side of the enemy ship. But their hull seemed to dent in like fluid, then recover. The explosive shockwave didn't cause any damage to their hull."
"Oh, are you sure?" Queen was stunned. What kind of ship was that? Having such a function sounded quite interesting.
"I'm certain. I'm afraid the enemy's ship is extraordinary. And if you look closely, sir, their ship has no sails. It's likely a mechanically modified vessel."
"Interesting. Spread our ships out a bit, attack from multiple directions, and then concentrate fire on them. Don't worry about ammunition. Any ship has its limits. First, destroy their foothold, then slowly torment them. Let them know what cruelty means." After thinking, Queen gave the order.
"The main cannon can't be exposed yet. And its range is too wide, it might affect the ship's main body. So let's let them taste the power of our other weapons first. Yahahaha..." Enel thought of the power of the 108 cannons on this ancient warship and immediately showed a cruel smile.
So what if the enemy has many ships? Strength is what matters! The captain hadn't even planned to clash with them head-on here, but you insisted on walking the path to death. Don't blame us for being rude.
"Wait for my order, then press the buttons in front of you." Enel said to the people beside him. There were over a hundred screens here that could capture and lock onto enemy ships. All the turrets combined offered 360-degree full coverage.
"Yes." Natalie and the others were earnest and serious. The enemy they faced this time was very strong, and they were inherently at a disadvantage. They had to give it their all.
"Position locked at 80 degrees, 90 degrees..." Enel's Mantra spread out, watching each screen. Though the locked positions fluctuated with the waves, causing some error, compared to other warships, the accuracy of this ancient weapon was already very high.
"Submerged seawater energy system operating. Seawater shells in production. High pressure being applied. Lightning and photonic cannons ready. Light particles being absorbed..." Enel watched some indicator lights on the control panel light up and had a clear idea.
Crack, crack! Suddenly, the hull of the entire Dawn opened up. 108 cannons extended from all sides of the ship. At the muzzles of the pitch-black gun barrels, some were gathering dazzling light particles, some were gathering lightning energy, and others were storing seawater shells.
The instant 108 cannons were revealed, it became almost impossible to see on a single ship. Even the most advanced Marine Headquarters battleships couldn't match that.
Because that would mean converting every usable part of a ship into a gun turret, which is extremely difficult.
You have to consider the stability of the turrets. For example, if you install too many turrets on a small ship, firing them all at once could potentially crack your own vessel.
So without top-quality materials and technology that transcend the era, having a few dozen cannons on a single ship is already a lot. More than forty or fifty is rare. And more than a hundred, even Queen and his crew had never seen before.
"Holy crap! What kind of ship is that? So many turrets! Queen-sama!" The lookout saw the hull suddenly sprout so many gun barrels and panicked a bit. The dense array of barrels was quite intimidating, even if the enemy had only one huge warship.
"I see it." Queen frowned. The moment the turrets appeared, he sensed a faint sense of crisis and a bad feeling.
"Fire!" Enel gave the order. Instantly, a hundred cannons thundered simultaneously. The Dawn was indeed huge, but the sheer force of a hundred cannons firing at once still shook the entire ship. However, the force was quickly absorbed by the special metallic hull.
In that instant of a hundred cannons roaring, the whole sea seemed to be pierced by the deafening thunder. Everyone's mind went blank for a moment, and deep fear surged onto every face.
Their total number of cannons was not small, but they could not fire in such a synchronized volley. It was terrifying. It was like standing in an abyss of lightning, with nothing but the roar of thunder in their ears.
(End of chapter)