Chapter 50: Dragon sharpens his skills in Battle
The two large sea-going ships had four decks, two of which were gun cabins. They were one black and one white. They carried almost identical skull and crossbones flags except for the cat-ear color. They faced the cannonballs that were blasting through the sky, between the high-rising water pillars, fleeing desperately.
Behind them, a dozen warships were seen chasing after them, launching countless cannon shots towards them.
"Damn it, why? Why did these navy suddenly turn into mad dogs, and they just want to bite us?"
On the white ship, the Kitten Cat glared angrily at the fleet in the distance and cursed loudly. At this moment, the Den Den Mushi sitting on his palm opened his mouth.
"Calm down, White Cat, I guess it's the nobles from various countries in the South Blue who are behind this. After all, we have plundered many noble vessels in recent years, you are no stranger to that, meow."
"In addition, three months ago, we broke into the palace of the Kingdom of Renner and emptied the treasure house. It seems that this incident completely angered the nobles, so they spent a lot of money to let these navy come to catch us."
On the other black boat, apart from being dressed in black, the 'Three-legged Cat' who looked almost the same as another 'Kitten Cat' made a rather calm guess.
However, he also felt something strange in his heart. Are the nobles of these countries really so powerful?
You know, since they were discovered by two warships yesterday, they seem to have been targeted. No matter where they go, groups of warships will always appear to chase them. At the most outrageous time, there are warships encircling and suppressing them from almost three directions!
And there is another strange thing. These warships always give him a feeling of deliberately keeping a distance.
"What on earth does the navy want to do?" The Black Cat ignored the roar of artillery fire around it and scanned the nearby sea area to think.
"Hey, you don't care what they want to do, I'm going crazy now, find a target and hit him first, maybe I'll scare them, so they won't chase me anymore, meow!"
The White Cat shouted angrily across the Den Den Mushi.
At the same time his body undergoes a remarkable metamorphosis. In the blink of an eye, human features begin to merge with those of the ferocious lion. His eyes take on an intense light yellow tone and his pupils narrow. The once human hands are affected as the nails transform into sharp, deadly claws on all ten fingers and a pair of pointed ears rise on top of the head, granting keen hearing and a more feline appearance.
"There it is! Chief White Cat's lion cat form, thanks to his Devil Fruit, Cat-Cat!"
The crew members nearby, dressed in white fur coats and wearing white cat ears on their heads, were all shouting excitedly.
For these South Blue pirates who haven't seen much of the world, the Devil Fruit ability is an extraordinary ability that represents the highest power.
"No, meow!"
But the Black Cat stopped him resolutely.
"There are too many warships. Our two ships are powerful enough to fight against a navy with up to three warships at the same time. But now there are more than twenty warships around. Do you want to live in prison with me?"
"If you say you are willing, then I will be happy to go in with you, meow!"
Hearing this, the White Cat hesitated, and the murderous intent in his eyes gradually faded. Although he was impulsive and lively, he was not an idiot, and he didn't want to harm the other party because of himself. Therefore, he had to suppress his anger.
"Then what should I do, meow?"
The Black Cat said: "Keep running away. Judging from the direction, I very much doubt that these navy want to force us into the Grand Line, meow!"
These words were originally spoken out of his mouth, but after he thought about them carefully, he felt they made more sense, which made his eyes light up.
"Yes, that should be the case. The navy in the South Blue accepted the commission from the nobles, but they were concerned about the strength of the two of us and did not want to pay excessive casualties, so they wanted us to enter the Grand Line. This can be considered as a replacement. The nobles' purpose is to eliminate disasters, meow!"
"So that's it, meow."
The White Cat also felt that the Black Cat's guess was right and asked: "Then we just go along with their wishes?"
The Black Cat sighed with resignation. "Then what else can we do? It seems that our actions over the years have completely angered the nobles of the South Blue. There is no place for us here anymore."
The White Cat laughed coldly. "Hmph, it's just the Grand Line. Come on brother, anywhere we can make our way together. And by the way, let's see how rich the nobles in the Grand Line are, meow."
Meanwhile, five huge warships, several times larger than the South Blue's warships, advanced in a triangular formation, sailing unhindered through the waves.
In these South Blue waters, they occupy the top of the food chain.
"Rear Admiral Dragon, there is news from the 175th Division of the South Blue. The Black Cat Pirates and the White Cat Pirates are currently being rounded up by them and coming towards us, ten nautical miles away."
A captain ran over and reported loudly.
"I understand, pass the order and prepare to fight." Dragon nodded expressionlessly, and Rear Admiral Irwin burst out laughing.
"These Marine Branches in the South Blue are really enthusiastic."
Actually, Dragon never expected that things would develop like this.
Originally, he planned to fake capture the 'Black Cat' and 'White Cat' pirates to make a short detour before heading to the territory of the Kingdom of Thutmose. Then, he notified the three nearby marine branches to cooperate, intending to catch the pirates by surprise.
But who knew that all the branches in South Blue were doing their best to bring these two groups of pirates in front of Dragon's fleet. Furthermore, they were prepared to supply immediate support if the situation on their side became critical.
Which means that even if Dragon is a useless marine, they will still find a way to make him win this military feat handily.
It was evident how much these South Blue marine branches didn't know about Dragon's strength, which had Irwin laughing out loud for the past few days.
"In that case, let's accept them on the road. Two pirates with Zoan-type devil fruits with a bounty of nearly 50 million are indeed a big threat in this South Blue. We can be considered to be eliminating a danger to the people."
"Pirates with bounties under fifty million are usually from the Four Seas and are not too threatening. We should be able to handle them with some Commanders." Rear Admiral Irwin shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
"No, I will personally take charge and end the fighting quickly, then we will advance towards the Kingdom of Thutmose for a surprise attack."
As always, Dragon believed that speed is essential in war. The encirclement was only to prepare the battlefield, speed in the surprise attack was the key.
Irwin volunteered. "If that is the case, as a senior officer, you should not intervene directly. I am willing to do so and ensure a quick victory."
He is also the adjutant this time, so he feels that he should express something at this time, and it is also a good thing to have a good relationship with Dragon.
"Thank you, but I want to do it myself and try my devil fruit ability." Dragon politely declined.
"Okay then~" Rear Admiral Irwin didn't care. He felt that his chief officer wanted to make a splash in front of himself and all the navy.
After all, it is a storm fruit of the Logia-type, so it does have the capital to show off, and he also really wants to see the battle scene of the Logia-type.
But in fact, Dragon didn't think about these messy things.
He just became an ability user not long ago, and he concealed the fact of his ability in order to rebel, and he had very few opportunities to use his ability to fight. Therefore, there are indeed some shortcomings in development, and he just had a fight with CP0 before.
So, he was going to take this opportunity to come up with some useful tricks on the two 'cats'. After all, the 'Slave King' he would face later was very powerful, at least master the use of Haki. According to the intelligence description, he has been training the use of Haki for over ten years, in addition to a longer period of time training his Paramecia-type Devil Fruit abilities.
In other words, it was a preparation before the actual battle.
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