The two torrents of steel and timber finally, inevitably began to tangle and lock together.
The bombardment began at closer range. The shriek of bullets and the sharp clash of blades began mixing into the deafening background noise.
In one corner of the battlefield, an exceptionally large pirate ship emerged through the smoke, its figurehead hideous.
The figure standing at its bow seemed oblivious to the carnage around him.
Amid the whistle of cannon fire tearing through the air, the mixed fleet surged forward at astonishing speed.
Several figures leaped from the decks. Blades sliced through the air, bodies met impacts head-on, and strange fluctuations of power bloomed amid the gun smoke-they each used their own methods to withstand the pouring storm of metal.
Even a barrier had its limits.
With those figures desperately intercepting the attacks, the fleet finally broke into range to return fire.
A roar suddenly erupted from the other side.
The Vinsmoke Family's snail-shaped warships suffered damage for the first time.
A solid cannonball smashed into a deck, knocking a fixed gun emplacement and the soldier operating it out of position together.
Charred fragments and unrecognizable organic matter splattered everywhere.
Flames licked across the deck, leaving only a pair of boots standing where they had been, their edges curling and smoking.
Those giant snails had hard shells on their backs, but their ** soft parts kept spurting thick bodily fluids under the continuous bombardment.
The wounded creatures instinctively writhed, making the entire ships rock violently.
In these chaotic waters filled with stray rounds and flying fragments, even keeping themselves alive became a luxury for the less powerful.
A piercing whistle approached from afar.
"Which side fired that stray shot?"
Rossi looked up.
A pitch-black sphere traced a curved trajectory, falling toward his position at the bow.