The Colombo Family's private coastline.
The blood-red setting sun stained the waves and beach with an indelible crimson, as if foretelling that this place would be soaked in a thicker liquid today.
A murderous air along the coast had nearly solidified into substance. More than two hundred burly men in matching Clown outfits stood in a line, their old-fashioned Flintlocks aimed coldly at the horizon slowly being swallowed by dusk.
Their breathing was heavy, their fingers clenched tightly around the triggers. Sweat slid down their temples, yet no one dared wipe it away.
Behind that thin yet dense wall of men stood twenty heavy coastal defense cannons, gleaming with the cold light of cast iron.
Two tense artillerymen stood behind each cannon. Shells had already been loaded, and the fuses were within reach. At a single command, they could unleash flames of destruction.
Farther away, Colombo Family snipers hid behind the shadows of every reef and atop every hastily built wooden watchtower.
Yet the most chilling force stood at the very rear. Twenty hulking men held weapons utterly unlike those of everyone else. They were Avery's absolute confidants, and his trump card for killing the enemy.
Everyone, from the lowest thugs to those elite confidants, wore solemn expressions, even carrying a trace of undisguised fear as they stared fixedly at the point where sea met sky.
"They're here!!"
Suddenly, from some high vantage point, a sniper's voice cracked from extreme tension. His hoarse shout tore through the twilight.
At nearly the same instant, everyone's pupils contracted sharply. A black dot was hurtling through the distant sky at a speed beyond human comprehension, rapidly growing in their vision.
Within only a few breaths, the black dot became clear—a human figure.
Bang!
The heavy impact of landing struck every heart, sending sand and gravel flying.
Adams landed precisely less than twenty meters in front of the gun and cannon formation. The tremendous impact made the front-row gunners instinctively retreat half a step, causing a ripple of disorder in their ranks.
His calm gaze swept across the army waiting in full battle formation. He did not look as though he were facing mortal enemies, but rather inspecting a pack of worthless rabble. A leisurely smile curled at his lips.
"Yo, is this the welcome ceremony the Colombo Family prepared for me? Quite the lineup. Avery, you're really enthusiastic."
The moment he finished speaking, an amplified Den Den Mushi hidden behind some fortification crackled with static. Then Avery's furious voice rang across the battlefield.
"You little brat!! Ever since you stole that batch of treasure I stored with the Blood Anchor Gang, you've clung to me like a parasite! Do you know how many good things you've ruined for me?! And now you actually dared to find this place... Are you really determined to fight to the death with me?!"
Adams snorted, as if he had heard the dullest joke imaginable. He lightly rolled his neck, and his joints cracked sharply.
"The fish will definitely die. But the net won't break."
"Arrogant!"
The voice from the loudspeaker suddenly rose, filled with rage at being looked down on.
"Then let me see who ends up sinking into this sea today! Boys! Open fire! Blast him into scraps!"
The order was both shackles and release. The already taut gunners and artillerymen pulled their triggers almost the instant they heard the final word!
Boom! Bang bang bang—!!
The Flintlocks spewed thick white smoke and flashes of fire as lead bullets poured out like a torrential downpour. The snipers on the high ground calmly pulled their triggers, their specially made armor-piercing rounds spinning toward Adams's vital points from even trickier angles.
What followed was deafening cannon fire. Twenty heavy cannons fired in unison, their scorching solid shells tearing through the air with deathly shrieks as they blanketed every inch of space around Adams.
Just as the firepower, enough to erase a small army in an instant, was about to strike him, Adams lowered his body slightly and assumed a textbook-perfect football player's starting stance.
Then he charged!
Adams surged forward like an out-of-control heavy tank. Every attack exploded against him, continuous blasts and flames engulfing him. Thick gunpowder smoke spread through the air, instantly blackening his silver hair and skin.
Yet the terrifying impacts from those attacks did not slow his charge by even the slightest bit. Like lightning tearing through the smoke screen, he crashed violently into the Colombo Family's dense formation.
"Urgh!"
"Stop him!"
"Monster!!"
Screams, cries, and the sounds of shattering bones instantly replaced the thunder of gunfire and cannons as the battlefield's main melody!
Adams plunged into the crowd, his arms becoming the deadliest weapons. With his fingers pressed together, he thrust them out like steel spikes, easily piercing through chests.
His legs swept out, kicking vacuum blades that sliced through firearms and even small gun emplacements as easily as paper.
Efficient, cold-blooded, and precise as a machine born for slaughter. Colombo Family members fell in droves. Before that absolute power and bizarre technique, they were laughably fragile. The formation instantly descended into chaos, and panic spread like a plague.
At the rear of the formation, Avery watched the hellish scene through an observation slit from behind a reinforced shelter. As he watched the silver demon reap lives freely among the crowd, veins bulged across his forehead, and his last trace of wishful thinking vanished.
He abruptly turned his head and roared at the twenty confidants beside him holding special weapons.
"Now! Forget those trash! Open fire! Blow him and those pieces of garbage into the sky together!!"
The twenty confidants did not hesitate in the slightest. To them, their leader's orders outweighed everything. They raised the weapons that seemed utterly out of place in this era, aimed at the chaotic melee ahead, and pulled their triggers.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat—!!! Bzz—Hummm—!!!
The specially made machine guns spat tongues of fire half a meter long, instantly forming a metal storm powerful enough to tear a sea beast to pieces. Ten eerie blue beams shot out at once, warping the air wherever they passed and radiating terrifying high-temperature energy.
Boom boom boom boom—!!!
Explosions ten times fiercer than the previous cannon barrage erupted amid the crowd. Flames shot into the sky, while massive shockwaves flung shattered remnants of buildings and human bodies through the air like toys.
Piercing wails were drowned out by even greater explosions. Severed limbs and charred flesh belonging to Colombo Family members scattered from the thick smoke like rain.
The scene was as if a corner of hell had opened.
Yet to Avery and his confidants, this cruel spectacle sounded like the most beautiful victory anthem!
"Hahahahaha!!"
Avery was the first to burst into wild laughter, his face twisted with joy and the thrill of revenge.
"He's dead! He has to be dead! I didn't expect the plan to go so smoothly. That idiot actually charged straight into the crowd! He gave us such a perfect chance."
"Wise as always, Boss!"
The confidants also revealed ecstatic expressions like survivors of a disaster, loudly echoing him as if they had already won.
"What kind of iron body was that supposed to be? Before the family's secret weapons, didn't he still turn to ash?"
"He had it coming! This is what happens when you oppose the Colombo Family!"
They laughed and mocked him, ignoring the groans that might still be coming from not-quite-dead comrades in the smoke ahead. They eagerly pronounced the enemy dead and celebrated this "victory" bought with their own men's lives.
Just then, a voice carrying a faint hint of mockery clearly pierced through the lingering smoke and their laughter, striking every eardrum.
"Heh... aren't you celebrating a little too early?"
TO BE CONTINUED