"I understand, Mom."
Weevil replied dumbly, then took heavy steps toward the Marine formation. Every step made the ground tremble slightly.
"Don't panic! Fire the cannons! Stop them from getting any closer!"
Following the order of base commander Vice Admiral Doll, the gunners suppressed the fear in their hearts and swiftly turned the cannon barrels toward Weevil and his mother, firing a barrage.
Boom!
Pitch-black cannonballs shot from the barrels, forming an impenetrable net as they descended upon the mother and son.
Weevil gripped his Naginata and casually swept it sideways. The fierce blade aura bursting from its edge sliced every cannonball apart from afar, turning them into fireworks that filled the sky.
"Stop dawdling! Put some strength into it and finish them in one go!"
Seeing the Marines across from them calmly reloading their cannons for another attack, Buckingham panicked and sharply smacked her son across the back.
It was not cannons—mere toys—that she feared. What she feared was being held up here long enough for the Whitebeard Pirates to come knocking.
"That tickles! I'll do it right away, Mom."
Weevil cried out as he swept his Naginata again. This time, surging Armament Haki flowed over the blade, making the strike even more powerful than before.
Where the heavy Pheasant Knife pointed, the ground split apart with a thunderous crash. A massive fissure four or five kilometers long stretched forward like a giant serpent.
The Marines behind the Coastal Defense Cannons did not even have time to scream before that slash cut them into a mist of blood.
Base commander Doll used Haki to defend herself in time and avoided immediate death, but she was still sent flying backward like a kite with its string cut, tracing a scarlet arc through the air before crashing heavily onto the ground.