"Alright, it's just a ship. I can do without it anyway!"
"Spiky Shadow Lizard!!!"
Moria's expression turned ferocious, and he shrieked. With a violent swing of his hands, his shadow rapidly stretched forward, transforming into a black spear that extended dozens of meters in an instant.
Like a black bolt of lightning, it struck Thriller Bark directly.
Boom—
A loud crash!
The black spear, extending at hundreds of meters per second, instantly pierced straight through the ship's hull.
Thriller Bark, nearly eighty meters long, shook violently. A thick, dark segment of the black spear emerged from the other side of the hull, accompanied by a shower of shattered wood that flew into the air before falling into the sea.
However, Thriller Bark was massive. When Moria's shadow retracted, it left only a roughly one-meter-diameter circular puncture wound on the hull, which was no major harm.
The wildly flailing ropes on the deck remained full of vigor, continuously attacking the zombies aboard.
Cross, standing on the deck, bellowed, "Starboard cannons, prepare! Target the harbor! Fire ceaselessly in volleys!"
"Yes, Master!"
"At your command, Father!"
"..."
Following Cross's command, a series of welcoming responses echoed from inside Thriller Bark's hull, as if many people were within.
Immediately, on the side of the castle-like ship facing the main dock of Thriller Bark, all forty-seven gunport covers on the three cannon decks opened, revealing dark, gaping muzzles, exuding an aura of bloodlust.
"How can this be?!"
Upon seeing this, Moria's face instantly changed, and he nearly shrieked. He could control the ship, and he could even control the cannons?! Moreover, that damned brat wouldn't actually use my own cannons to attack me, would he?!
However, if Moria could have entered the ship's hull, he would have seen that the cannons were indeed not being controlled by anyone else.
They were literally hopping into position on their own, and even the cannonballs were loading themselves into the barrels.
Oak barrels filled with gunpowder were also pouring their contents into the gunpowder chambers by themselves. Only the ignition was handled by the idle cannonballs, which opened inexplicably long-grown mouths, bit onto torches hanging on the wall, and leaped to light the fuses.
Boom, boom, boom, boom... Boom, boom, boom, boom...
Suddenly, deafening, rapid cannon fire erupted. Smoke billowed from the muzzles of one cannon after another.
Over twenty spherical, pitch-black cannonballs tore out of their barrels, carrying scorching heat and emitting a sharp whistle as if tearing through the air, hurtling rapidly towards the main dock.
"Quick, dodge!" Moria shrieked, his voice breaking, and turned to sprint into the gatehouse behind him. His enormous body seemed even more agile than it had been back in Whiskey Peak.
Perona at his side couldn't help but let out a scream, so terrified that she forgot she was in spirit form, following closely behind Moria, seeking cover.
"Aaahhhhh—"
"Run!"
"Find somewhere to hide!"
"..."
Not only that, but the zombies on the main dock also showed expressions of terror, shouting and scattering in all directions.
Boom, boom, boom, boom...
The next moment, over twenty cannonballs rained down like a storm onto Thriller Bark's main dock. Violent explosions accompanied towering flames, and one fireball after another ascended, instantly engulfing the entire main dock in a sea of fire.
Similarly, the main gatehouse, built of brick and stone, was hit by multiple cannonballs. The sturdy wall was blown open with several gaps by the intense explosions. The sign bearing the words 'THRILLER BARK' was blasted into fragmented pieces, and large amounts of broken bricks and stones flew everywhere like buckshot, propelled by the visibly ferocious concussive force.
It must be said, as the 'King of War', artillery, especially heavy naval guns coupled with high-explosive shells, indeed possessed astonishing power.
An ordinary person, unless they possessed a special Devil Fruit ability or were incredibly lucky, would have no chance of surviving such a barrage. Even those supposedly 'undying' zombies were blown apart, losing limbs and having their bodies shattered.
"You damned brat—" Moria, hiding behind the city wall, looked at a charred, severed leg that had been blown in, his face turning ashen. To be attacked by his own pirate ship's cannon fire was simply outrageous!
Soon, the round of cannon fire ceased.
The dock was now a wasteland, covered in charred craters, raging fires, and countless shattered corpses.
In just one round of bombardment, more than half of the hundreds of zombies on the dock were cleared out, and the remaining zombies were almost scared witless.
Honestly, since their revival, they had never experienced being subjected to a simultaneous volley from over twenty naval cannons. Many zombies had even witnessed their comrades being blown to smithereens by the cannonballs.
"Moria, your cannons aren't bad at all; their power is almost on par with the cannons on Marine warships!" Cross walked to the ship's railing and shouted loudly towards the front.
"Spiky Shadow Lizard!!!"
However, Cross was met with an instantly extending black spear, like a black bolt of lightning, moving at an incredibly high speed of hundreds of meters per second, seemingly piercing even the air itself.
In three instants, it slammed into the ship.
Boom—
Accompanied by a roaring crash, a surging wave of air spread out.
This time, the 'Spiky Shadow Lizard' possessed even greater impact and penetrative power than before. Not only was the ship pierced with another large hole, but it also tilted to one side, causing a large amount of debris to slide off the upper deck or out of the cabin windows into the sea.
Caw!—
The silver giant eagle shrieked, flapping its wings vigorously to take flight. Cross also leaped nearly ten meters high, directly jumping onto its back, leaving the ship. He couldn't help it; his ability merely granted life, it couldn't make the ship float or prevent the ship from capsizing.
"Moria, such a huge ship, and you just abandon it like that? Looks like you're quite rich, after all!" Cross, now hundreds of meters in the air, immediately spotted Moria in front of the main gate of the gatehouse.
"You damned brat, I'll kill you!" Moria's face turned dark with rage, wishing he could drag Cross down from the sky and cut him into a thousand pieces.
Losing a ship, which was his daily mode of transport, plus hundreds of zombie soldiers, was a huge loss for him.
In this world filled with conflict, gathering intact corpses of powerful individuals was not an easy task. After all, he wasn't a doctor and couldn't stitch together damaged corpses, so he naturally couldn't make use of those that were damaged.
"He actually got angry; how boring!" Cross sneered, saying, "Since that's the case, our appetizer ends here. Now, let's move on to the main course!"
"Geppo!"
As soon as his voice fell, Cross jumped off the silver giant eagle's back, sharply kicking the air beneath him, creating a visible circular burst of air. The recoil propelled him downwards like an arrow released from a bowstring.
"One-Sword Style: Flying Edge!"
——————————
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to my Patreon ——— patreon(.)com/JuanPiece [remove the parenthesis ( )]
There are 100+ advance chapters available for you to read!