Boom!
With a tremendous crash, Lorne slammed down like a meteor, his feet landing heavily on the deck of the Mad Wolf Pirates' ship.
Centered on his landing point, the solid wooden deck instantly caved in and split apart. Terrifying, web-like cracks burst outward in every direction, and countless wood chips and fragments shot out like exploding shrapnel.
Several nearby pirates did not even have time to scream before the sheer impact made them cough up blood and sent them flying backward, slamming into the ship's rail and passing out.
"Who's there?!"
"Enemy attack! It's the Marines!"
"He... jumped over here alone?"
After a brief, deathly silence, the hundreds of pirates on deck erupted into an uproar. They stared at the figure standing in the deep crater in the center of the deck, their faces filled with terror and disbelief.
"Captain Buck!"
His panicked men looked toward their leader.
"Mad Wolf" Buck was so shocked that his eyes nearly popped out too. He had been mocking the Marines just a moment ago, and the next second, their commander had jumped straight onto his ship.
He had only heard of entrances like this from tales told by legendary pirates.
"Bastard... don't panic! Nobody panic!" Buck forcibly suppressed his horror. Relying on their overwhelming numbers, he roared with a fierce front that hid his fear, "Damn it, he's only one man! Get him! Chop him into mincemeat!"
"Kill him!"
"For the Beli!"
With a hefty reward on offer, the pirates' greed overpowered their fear. Brandishing all manner of swords and blades, they surged toward Lorne from every direction like a tide.
Yet faced with this frenzied assault, Lorne could not even be bothered to move.
He simply stood there, letting those sharp blades hack wildly at his body.
Clink! Clang! Clank!
A