"Prepare for battle! Move! Get your asses moving! Turn the helm, hard to port! Gunners, take your stations! Release the safety locks on gunports one through four!"
Lieutenant Bullet's roar exploded across the panicked deck. He kicked a recruit who had collapsed in terror over to a gun station, his eyes bloodshot and red.
"Stop fucking crying for your parents like unweaned babies! You're Marines! Pick up your weapons if you don't want to die!"
Yet faced with the infamously vicious Butcher Pirate Crew of legend, these rookies fresh out of training camp already had their hearts gripped by fear.
Some fumbled at their gun stations, unable even to load a cannonball; others clutched the rail, their faces deathly pale as they retched endlessly; some had even begun quietly composing their last letters.
Teppei was among the calmest of them. Clenching his teeth, he desperately cranked the wheel that adjusted the cannon's angle, but his trembling hands kept the sights shaking violently.
Too fast!
The enemy ship was too fast!
On the western horizon, the enormous pirate ship flying a skull flag with a blood-dripping axe cut through the waves at an outrageous speed, charging straight at their little Vanguard like a bloodthirsty shark!
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Though nearly a thousand meters still separated them, the enemy's bow cannons had already begun to roar!
Three black cannonballs tore through the sky with shrill whistles, hurtling viciously toward the Vanguard.
"It's them! It's 'Butcher' Gore's ship, the Bloody Mary!" Bullet stared fixedly at the enemy ship, a full size larger than theirs, and forced the words through gritted teeth.
Meanwhile, the deck of the Bloody Mary was a scene of frenzy, the complete opposite of the Vanguard.
Over a hundred bare-chested, bare-armed pirates, covered in tattoos and sporting ferocious faces, waved their cutlasses and axes as they howled with excitement.
"Hahahaha! Look! What's that? A little Marine gunboat! Did it get lost?"
"Look at them shitting themselves! They don't even dare fire a single shot back!"
"Captain! Let us charge over and capture those Marine brats! We'll have extra food tonight!"
At the very front of the pirate crowd stood a hulking man over three meters tall, built as powerfully as a bear.
A horrifying blade scar slashed diagonally across his face from forehead to chin. His bare upper body was covered in dried blood and hideous scars, and he carried a gigantic, bloodstained battle-axe taller than a man over his shoulder.
He was Gore, captain of the Butcher Pirate Crew, a man with a bounty of eighty million Beli!
Gore stuck out his scarlet tongue and licked his lips, his eyes filled with greed and cruelty as he watched the Marine gunboat drawing ever closer in the distance.
"Boys! See that? That's the Marines' latest Vanguard-class gunboat! Fast and heavily armed! Once we take it, we'll have the run of these waters!" Gore's voice was hoarse and rousing.
"Ooooooh!" The pirates roared with even greater fervor.
"But..." Gore changed tack and grinned viciously. "Before we take the ship, we have to clear out the rats aboard! Boys, aim every cannon! I want one broadside to send that little wreck to the bottom!"
"Aye, Captain!"
Under the pirates' hands, more than a dozen dark cannon muzzles slowly swiveled, all locking onto the Vanguard as it struggled to evade them.
"Fire!"
At Gore's command, deafening booms resounded across the sea!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
More than a dozen cannonballs formed an impenetrable net of death, blanketing the sky as they swept toward the Vanguard!
"It's over..."
Aboard the Vanguard, Teppei closed his eyes in despair as countless black dots instantly filled his vision.
There was no way to dodge a bombardment this dense!
The ship was going to sink, and every one of them would perish in this freezing sea.
The shadow of death fell over every recruit aboard at that moment.
At that critical instant, a voice so calm it held not a trace of emotion sounded in everyone's ears.
"Bullet, hold the ship steady."
It was Yas!
Everyone instinctively looked toward the bow.
Their young major had stood at the very tip of the bow from beginning to end, without shifting his position in the slightest.
The raging sea wind whipped the brand-new "Justice" coat behind him, making it snap loudly. Facing the cannon fire filling the sky, he stood straight as a pine, as though everything before him were nothing more than an insignificant fireworks display.
"Yes, Major!"
Bullet did not know what Yas intended to do, but that powerful composure somehow spread to this battle maniac. With a furious roar, the muscles in his arms bulged as he clamped down on the helm, doing his best to keep the ship steady.
Yas slowly raised his head, his icy gaze passing through the whistling cannonballs to lock directly onto the figure carrying a massive axe aboard the distant enemy ship.
[Ding! A lethal threat to the host and the crew under his command has been detected. The conditions for triggering the "fiercely protective" character trait have been met!] [Temporary mission issued: annihilate the Butcher Pirate Crew. Leave no survivors!] [Mission reward: Template Fusion +10%! Randomly unlock one advanced Raikage-type skill!]
The system's cold voice sounded in his mind.
The corners of Yas's mouth lifted into an unsettling curve.
He stepped forward to the very edge of the rail, facing the rain of cannonballs about to engulf the entire ship.
"Major Yas! It's dangerous! Get out of the way!" Teppei screamed involuntarily, his voice turning shrill with extreme terror.
"Hahaha! What's that idiot trying to do? Block cannonballs with his body?!" Aboard the Bloody Mary, a pirate pointed at Yas, laughing so hard that tears streamed from his eyes.
Gore also revealed a cruel smile. In his eyes, the next second would see that Marine brat who did not know his own limits blasted into fragments flying across the sky, along with his ship.
Yet Yas merely watched it all calmly and spoke casually to the rookies behind him, who were frozen with fear.
"All of you stay back there. Don't come out."
"Don't get my new ship scratched."
The instant his words fell, the dozen-odd whistling cannonballs were already upon him!
The terrifying wind pressure had even blown the black hair over Yas's forehead flat backward!
The recruits screamed in despair, while the pirates laughed wildly.
Under everyone's gaze, Yas made no defensive move, nor did he even activate his Raijin Armor.
He simply raised one hand slowly.
A right hand that looked utterly ordinary, even somewhat thin.
What was he trying to do?
Did he really intend to catch cannonballs powerful enough to sink a steel warship with his flesh-and-blood body?!
Before you continue