One Piece: A Warlord's Path

Chapter 953: Chapter 953: Fierce Battle on Tail Island

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

Dozens of warships completely encircled Tail Island, relentlessly pouring a massive deluge of artillery fire onto its coordinates. The deafening roar of cannons echoed in an endless sequence; blinding flames soared toward the heavens, the earth shuddered continuously, and a thick, choking stench of gunpowder saturated the air.

The peak of that mountain, hundreds of meters high, looked as if it had been sheared off by an invisible, colossal blade. The collapsing summit rolled downward, smashing several steel bunkers into twisted ruins below.

The once-lush, emerald island was now scarred with blackened impact craters. Cannons of various designs lay overturned across the scorched earth, and shattered corpses littered the terrain.

"Kill them!"

"Charge forward!"

"Wipe out those Chris Pirate bastards!"

The beachhead where the Big Mom Pirates’ fleet had initiated their landing was already carpeted with dead bodies. Yet, an uninterrupted stream of pirates continued to pour from the Tart Ships and auxiliary vessels, roaring battle cries as they surged into the island’s interior.

This engagement had raged for five grueling hours. The forces of the Big Mom Pirates had already sustained over three thousand casualties. Conversely, of the thousand-strong garrison originally stationed on Tail Island, seven to eight hundred were dead or wounded, while the reinforcements dispatched from neighboring islands had suffered nearly two thousand casualties as well.

Had it not been for the timely arrival of those reinforcements, Tail Island would have fallen long ago. Now, both sides were frantically committing more troops, transforming Tail Island into a literal meat grinder.

The Fernal Archipelago comprised over a dozen islands, which had been partitioned between the Chris Pirates and the Donquixote Pirates. The Chris Pirates held six of these islands, including Mount Four Island, the central stronghold. Each of these islands possessed a considerable landmass. Furthermore, due to their proximity to the Calm Belt, they required a massive commitment of manpower to operate the defensive grid and repel the colossal Sea Kings that frequently strayed into the territory. If only core members of the Chris Pirates were deployed here, it would take at least three to four divisions to maintain minimum operational capacity.

Consequently, Aeridar had originally deployed Nando, his chief shipwright, along with Cavendish and Bright Ward’s Paperman Pirates, supplemented by a royal army of thirty thousand soldiers to secure the region. Cavendish, however, had later been reassigned.

Now, facing the intense pressure applied by the Big Mom Pirates, Aeridar had reinforced the zone by deploying Oliver and his First Division to oversee the defense. Thus, the Chris Pirates’ territories within the Fernal Archipelago were by no means lacking in high-tier combat power or military strength.

The officers of the Big Mom Pirates took turns leading the vanguard, while the captains of their subordinate crews refused to be outdone.

Relying on their reinforced steel bunkers, the island’s garrison fought a dogged, retreating defense. Bright Ward had personally led the Paperman Pirates ashore from the rear, plunging directly into the fray.

"Paper Shuriken!!!"

Ward flapped the white paper wings spanning from his back, hovering aloft in the sky as he unleashed a torrential storm of sharp, four-pointed paper darts at the targets below.

"Aaargh!"

"No, spare me—!"

Instantly, a large contingent of the Big Mom Pirates’ rank-and-file suffered severe lacerations from the razor-sharp folded paper, filling the air with agonized shrieks.

Witnessing this, a towering, one-eyed brute roared in absolute fury at Ward, "Damn wretch! How dare you butcher my crew!"

Before his voice even faded, the one-eyed brute gripped a massive steel battle-axe and leapt over a dozen meters into the air, swinging his weapon squarely at Ward.

"The ’Furious Bull’ Bakoji, holding a bounty of 194 million Berries..." Ward’s expression tightened. "Armament Haki: Hardening – Paper Artisan!!!"

With a sharp sweep of his hand, countless square sheets of paper converged, molding into a pristine white spear. Snatching it out of the air, Ward thrust it downward to meet the assault.

In that exact instant, the white paper spear, over two meters long, transmuted into a glossy, pitch-black metallic pike, colliding violently with Bakoji’s long-handled battle-axe.

Clang—!

A deafening shockwave erupted, causing the atmosphere to visibly shudder as a ring of concussive force rippled outward through the air.

Faced with the massive kinetic backlash and lacking any leverage in mid-air, Bakoji plummeted straight down. He slammed into the earth with a heavy boom, spiderwebbing the ground beneath his boots as he glared up with veins bulging across his forehead.

Ward also sustained a severe jolt, his body thrown backward over a dozen meters. Fortunately, he repeatedly beat his wings to stabilize his posture and neutralize the residual momentum.

"Bright Ward, your head belongs to me!" a booming voice suddenly cutting through the din.

A burly man sporting a horned helmet dashed over from a distance. Brandishing a long blade, he delivered a flying slash toward Ward, unleashing a fierce, invisible gust of slicing wind.

"Armament Haki: Hardening. Black Defense: Paper Shield!!!"

Ward’s expression shifted drastically. Extending his hand, he commanded an ocean of paper sheets to coalesce before him, fabricating a white shield an inch thick. Simultaneously, his Armament Haki enveloped the surface, hardening it into a solid bulwark resembling black iron.

Clang—!

An ear-splitting shriek of metal on metal rang out. As a violent shockwave radiated outward, the reinforced bulwark split down the middle, cleanly cleaved apart by the foe’s ranged strike.

"Not good!"

Ward’s face paled further. Sensing the lethal trajectory of the residual wind-slash, he executed an emergency dodge to the side.

Chirp!

A sharp tearing sound followed. Though Ward escaped with his life, his wing failed to clear the path. The razor-sharp invisible slash severed the wing completely, causing him to drop directly from the sky.

Ward fell into a half-kneeling position on the ground. He glanced back at the stump of his severed white paper wing before training his eyes on his new assailant, recognizing the man’s identity instantly. "The captain of the Salier Pirates... a bounty of 225 million Berries, ’Invisible Blade’ Salier!"

Right on his heels, Charlotte Opera, the fifth son of the Charlotte Family and Totto Land’s Minister of Whipped Cream, strode into the clearing. A massive deluge of whipped cream gushed forth like a tidal wave, molding into a colossal white monstrosity that loomed over Ward.

"Cream Monster!!!"

"Paper Cleaver!!!"

Ward raised his left hand, aligning his palm like a blade, and chopped forward. A rectangular sheet of white paper, several meters long, flashed through the air like a razor-sharp sword. With a clean slice, it cleaved the massive beast constructed of whipped cream perfectly in two.

Deprived of its structure, the giant cream monster collapsed instantly, dissolving into a massive puddle of whipped cream that splattered across the battlefield.

"We take him together!" Bakoji roared, hoisting his massive axe as he charged forward with heavy strides.

Salier refused to be left behind, a cruel sneer gracing his features. "I’ll be the one to claim his head!" With a swift motion, he delivered another mid-air strike, unleashing another invisible slash.

Slice—!

Ward threw himself clear. The invisible trajectory instantly felled a dozen massive trees and sliced through the bodies of over a hundred royal soldiers.

Abruptly, a silhouette blurred into motion, closing the distance to Salier like a bolt of lightning. When he arrived within a few meters, he thrust his palm forward.

Buzz~

The air began to vibrate violently. A visible torrent of compressed air erupted outward, acting like a violent atmospheric rupture that struck Salier squarely in the chest, causing him to spray a fountain of blood as he was sent flying backward.

Rumble, rumble, rumble—

Salier rolled across the terrain, crashing violently into the mangled ruins of a steel gun turret over a hundred meters away. The impact kicked up a towering plume of smoke and debris, blanketing the area in a dense cloud of dust.

"Who goes there?!"

Opera and Bakoji gasped in unison, halting their advance instantly.

Standing before them was a sinister-looking man. His right arm and right leg were composed of silver-white metallic prosthetics, and a suffocating aura of unadulterated malice radiated from his entire form.

"Sriya... The Dragonian legion has finally taken the field?" Ward glanced toward the newcomer, his expression remaining largely unreadable.

"We have," Sriya replied flatly, his words brief as if he considered speech a luxury.

The moment the words left his mouth, a succession of five-meter-tall, monstrous beasts sprinted into the fray with ferocious roars. They bared their razor-sharp talons, executing a savage onslaught right through the heart of the Big Mom Pirates’ ranks, leaving a trail of absolute carnage in their wake.

Instantly, the crumbling defensive line of Tail Island stabilized, causing a sharp drop in the morale of the attacking Big Mom Pirates.

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