"I'll go freeze it!"
Looking at the towering tsunami pressing down like a mountain, Yamato rolled up her sleeves eagerly, her eyes flashing with excitement.
"You can't freeze that."
Kai pulled the eager Yamato back, his tone carrying a hint of helplessness. "If you freeze the tsunami into an iceberg, wouldn't that be like building an insurmountable wall? We'd be blocking ourselves out."
With that, Kai's body shifted slightly, his muscles suddenly swelling.
Dragon-Human Kai appeared.
He opened his mouth as violent energy surged from within, gathering before transforming into a dazzling shock wave that burst forth!
"Dragon Pulse!"
The shock wave swept straight across the massive wave, causing continuous violent explosions wherever it passed. The hundred-meter-high tsunami shattered under this barrage, countless water droplets falling like torrential rain, drenching the Beast Pirates fleet from head to toe.
Only after completely pacifying this giant wave did Kai notice that the Red Hair Pirates fleet had already changed course, sailing at full speed toward Chagos Island's coastline.
They wanted to engage on land?
"You lot, chase them!" Kaido waved his kanabo, shouting loudly.
He leaped into the air, his body rapidly expanding and stretching during the jump! The next second, a massive blue dragon soared into the sky.
Flame clouds generated from the dragon's four claws as Kaido rode them into the heavens.
"Red Hair's mine. The rest of you, act freely."
Kaido's thunder-like voice rolled down from high above, clearly reaching every Beast Pirate's ears. After assigning tasks, the blue dragon twisted its massive body, carrying wind and thunder as it flew toward the Red Hair fleet.
"Then let's charge!"
Kai grinned, pointing skyward as he activated his ability again.
Whoosh—
A strong gale suddenly appeared, perfectly filling all the Beast fleet's sails, propelling the massive fleet at incredible speeds as they broke through waves toward Chagos Island's coast!
"Damn, Kai! With King absent, I'm the fleet's second-in-command! I should be giving orders!"
Queen's exasperated complaints carried from another main ship.
Using Kai's weather manipulation advantage, the Beast fleet quickly caught up with the Red Hair Pirates, who'd departed first.
Meanwhile, on the Red Hair fleet's side...
Gab, captain of the Puddle Pirates with his light green bowler hat and frog-like appearance, was urgently shouting into his Den Den Mushi. "The Beast Pirates have caught up!"
"Execute Plan A as scheduled." Beckman's steady voice came through.
"Understood." Gab nodded heavily, turning to his crew. "Plan A is active! Target: destroy the Beast fleet's ships and delay their landing speed!"
"Yes!"
Fifty fishmen warriors of various forms but equally formidable responded in unison, then silently leaped into the sea. Using their unique racial advantages, they moved like arrows underwater, swiftly swimming toward the Beast fleet.
Soon, this elite fishman unit had quietly infiltrated beneath the Beast fleet's massive hulls. They signaled each other, pulling out prepared chisels, war hammers, sharp axes, and even directly using Fishman Karate techniques to frantically destroy the ship bottoms!
The wooden hulls were like fragile cookies before these strongmen.
Within seconds, under the fishmen's efficient coordinated destruction, twenty-five Beast Pirates ships had been successfully punctured with holes of various sizes! Freezing seawater began frantically pouring into the ship holds.
This was the Red Hair Pirates' Plan A—using the fishmen's unparalleled mobility and destructive power in the ocean for direct underwater ambushes. Sink Beast Pirate ships to achieve large-scale casualties, disrupt formations, and damage morale.
In this era, when most ships were still wooden, this tactic was simple, brutal, and extremely effective.
"No good! The ship bottom's leaking!"
The ships' violent tilting and strange sounds quickly caused commotion throughout the Beast fleet. Pirates began panicking and shouting loudly.
Due to the ship bottoms' large and numerous holes, within minutes, several smaller ships were already half-submerged, clearly about to be completely flooded. Many slow-reacting pirates fell into the sea like dumplings, desperately splashing and calling for help.
The previously orderly and imposing Beast fleet instantly fell into massive chaos.
Worst of all, the ship sinking speed was continuously accelerating! Even ships carrying Tobiroppo like Ulti and Who's-Who couldn't escape, receiving special attention from the fishmen.
In the distance, aboard the Puddle Pirates' flagship, Gab held binoculars, watching the Beast fleet's chaotic scene with a triumphant grin.
"Hahaha! Worthy of Beckman-san! The plan's a huge success! Those Beast bastards are already suffering massive casualties!"
Just fifty elite fishmen could cause such enormous results—the three months of targeted training for these subordinates wasn't wasted.
Of course, this is also related to the fishmen's target selection. They absolutely wouldn't approach flagships carrying top officers like Kai and Queen, even actively avoiding them—those guys' Observation Haki could detect underwater anomalies immediately.
Too risky.
Their targets remained those relatively vulnerable medium and small ships.
On Rayquaza's deck, Kai turned and calmly ordered, "Violet, use X-ray vision to observe the seabed!"
"Roger!"
Violet immediately made an OK gesture in front of her eyes. Under her Stare-Stare Fruit ability, her vision instantly penetrated the seawater. Soon she had conclusions.
"There are dozens of fast-moving shadows beneath the water! They're fishmen! They're destroying ship bottoms."
Kai nodded knowingly, thoughtfully stroking his chin. "Fishman forces are quite useful."
He had to get such a force himself when possible. Unfortunately, Fish-Man Island was currently Whitebeard's territory. Even the Beast Pirates couldn't afford to offend two Emperor crews simultaneously.
Just then, Yamato suggested again, "Let me freeze the sea surface?"
Kai stopped her. "No, then we'd lose our weather advantage."
Once the sea froze, underwater fishmen couldn't cause trouble, but their ships would also be trapped, completely losing mobility. If they abandoned ships and walked ashore, the slow speed would only let the Red Hair Pirates land first and gain territorial advantage.
Then they could wait for the exhausted Beast fleet to attack during their difficult landing.
Seeing more ships leaking with cries and calls for help echoing, Kai couldn't think carefully. He immediately jumped, swiftly and precisely landing on a rapidly sinking shipwreck with its stern nearly vertical.
Without hesitation, he plunged his hand into the seawater.
His entire right arm instantly burst with brilliant golden electric arcs, crackling loudly!
"Electromagnetic Wave!"
Following Kai's roar, violent golden electric arcs spread frantically in all directions through the seawater from his right claw like an ever-expanding thorn ring!
Sizzle sizzle sizzle—
High-voltage current instantly conducted through a large sea area. Soon, dozens of bubbling spots appeared around the Beast fleet, with vague shadows convulsing violently in the current before stiffly sinking into the depths.
However, those Beast Pirates still struggling in the water who hadn't been rescued also suffered from this indiscriminate attack, their bodies stiffening as they foamed at the mouth and fainted, sinking toward the seabed.
But at this moment, Kai couldn't worry about that.
"All fishmen, rescue the drowning crew! Everyone else, continue forward!"
After resolving the underwater crisis, Kai immediately ordered. The Beast Pirates lacked organized fishman units, but they still had a few scattered fishmen who'd joined them.
"Resolved so quickly?!"
Gab saw through binoculars that the Beast fleet was regrouping, his brow furrowing tightly. This differed greatly from their expected results.
Their original plan was to use the fishmen's absolute underwater advantage to destroy at least half the Beast fleet, greatly weakening their landing forces. But now it seemed successfully paralyzing one-third of their ships was the limit.
"Don't panic, Gab." Beckman's still steady laughter came through the Den Den Mushi. "We've achieved our main objective, haven't we?"
"You're right." Gab sighed in relief, his anxious mood somewhat easing.
Their biggest strategic goal was delaying the Beast fleet's landing time to give the main force space to land and establish defenses. Now this goal was successfully achieved—the Red Hair fleet's main force had already reached Chagos Island's coast first.
"All ships attention!" Beckman's voice transmitted clearly through the Den Den Mushi network to every Red Hair fleet captain. "Begin executing Plan B now!"
For today, to achieve victory against superior odds, he'd stayed up several nights analyzing countless possibilities to study various anti-Beast strategies.
"Understood!"
"Roger!"
"Leave it to us!"
Crisp responses came from each Den Den Mushi.
As soon as the Red Hair fleet landed, hundreds of pirates dispersed like well-trained troops, quickly and silently spreading according to pre-planned positions to construct the first defensive line.
Meanwhile, temporarily immobile ships weren't idle—all usable cannons turned toward the Beast fleet charging the beach, beginning coverage bombardment without hesitation.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!—
Black solid cannonballs and a few special explosive shells fell like violent storms toward the Beast fleet!
At this time, Chagos Island's residents had already evacuated completely after receiving the Beast Pirates' notification. Therefore, both sides could unleash firepower without restraint.
The Beast fleet faced the bombardment without weakness, their ships' cannons firing back just as fiercely.
For a moment, the sea echoed with deafening cannon fire and smoke.
Eighty ships versus thirty ships—advantage was theirs!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Both sides' cannonballs continuously crossed in midair, occasionally colliding and exploding into brilliant fireballs and flying debris. But clearly, the Beast fleet, with an absolute numerical advantage in ships, formed denser barrages, quickly gaining the upper hand in the bombardment.
Rayquaza's deck.
Companions showed their abilities intercepting cannonballs aimed at their ship. Kozuki Hiyori sent flying slashes, Violet threw tears hard as steel, and Reiju shot poisonous arrows...
Under these circumstances, Ace's abilities found their best application.
"Mirror Flame!"
His right arm suddenly swelled, shooting out massive flames that instantly created an enormous, blazing fire wall on the sea ahead. Numerous incoming cannonballs struck this scorching fire wall and exploded instantly.
Perfect interception.
After over ten minutes of intense, brutal cannon battle with both sides sparing no cost in frenzied bombardment, the Red Hair fleet, with an absolute numerical disadvantage, couldn't hold out.
Many ships had broken masts and large holes and were forced to begin sinking. Remaining pirates under officers' command quickly abandoned damaged ships, boarding several main warships while fighting and retreating toward the island's other side.
Seeing this, Kai didn't pursue further, even stopping Jack, who wanted to pursue them.
Pursuit held little meaning—the Red Hair Pirates' main ship, Red Force, still had at least two officers aboard. Unless high-level officers like Kai, Queen, and Jack led the pursuit, it would just be feeding them.
At such crucial moments, hot-headedness was most dangerous.
Don't pursue desperate enemies.
On the other side, aboard the Red Force...
Ship doctor Hongo, with tied hair and a scar on his left forehead, held his Den Den Mushi, reporting to Beckman. "The Beast fleet isn't pursuing. They're much calmer than we expected."
Beside him, navigator Bendik Snake, musician Bonk Punch, and monkey Monster stood ready. This flagship actually gathered four core officers!
This represented nearly half the Red Hair Pirates' fighting strength. They remained here precisely targeting the Beast Pirates' consistently reckless combat style, preparing to concentrate officers for a lightning strike to eliminate one or two high-level officers first and gain an opening advantage.
Unexpectedly, the usually fierce and reckless Beast Pirates uncharacteristically became steady at the crucial moment.
"No matter." Beckman frowned slightly but spoke calmly, comforting. "If schemes don't work, we'll have a real hard fight! Handle your ships quickly, then immediately regroup!"
"How about I go provoke them? I refuse to believe those Beast bastards are really this calm!"
Bonk Punch gritted his teeth, still somewhat unwilling.
"Absolutely not!" Beckman immediately rejected decisively.
From the recent exchanges, that Natural Disaster Kai was definitely no pushover, plus Queen—Punch might end up truly trapped. Already at an absolute numerical disadvantage, they absolutely couldn't afford losing a core officer.
"Alright. We'll settle the ships and then immediately come join you."
Hongo replied, then hung up the Den Den Mushi.