Chapter 427 -427-An Unstoppable Rout!
After another full broadside, the Golden Merry immediately moved on.
It accelerated rapidly, stopped just as quickly, and then opened fire once more.
Repeating this again and again, the Golden Merry moved like an elegant assassin wielding a scythe, striking precisely at the enemy’s weak points before cutting away the Pirate Alliance’s warships and pirates alike.
At that moment, a barrage of cannonballs suddenly crashed down upon one large warship.
The vessel was extraordinarily luxurious and heavily armed, forcibly pushing aside the ships blocking its path.
But before anyone aboard could react, cannonballs from the Golden Merry were already raining down upon it, striking every part of the ship.
The large warship was protected by armor, yet strangely, the Golden Merry’s shells seemed to possess some kind of supernatural power. They ignored the armor and smashed straight through the deck. Several shells even struck the warship’s powder magazine directly.
In an instant, a thunderous explosion erupted.
Gortar and Logar watched with their own eyes as the powder magazine was blown apart. The terrifying shock wave tore through the entire warship, splitting the hull into two as seawater flooded inside.
Gortar immediately cried out in despair,
"It’s over! It’s over! We’re completely finished!"
This large warship had been one of the Pirate Alliance’s primary flagships.
Not only was the Alliance Leader aboard, but the Deputy Alliance Leader was there as well.
Logar stared blankly ahead, his expression filled with sorrow.
"Everything I have was given to me by the sea..."
"Has the time finally come for me to return everything to it?"
The leaders of the two strongest pirate crews in the Lather Kingdom could already feel that their fates were coming to an end.
Resigned to death, they closed their eyes.
John had no idea that his latest all-out barrage had just destroyed the enemy flagship.
He was still directing the Golden Merry to hammer away at key targets, continuously harvesting the lives of the pirates.
At the same time, the other hundred-plus warships under John’s command began tearing apart the Pirate Alliance’s remaining main combat forces.
Although they were pirates themselves, the enemy pirates were still terrified of death.
And because John’s men had also once been pirates, the former captives he had absorbed understood even better just how ruthless these people would be toward them if their positions were reversed.
So none of them showed the slightest mercy.
They fought even more ferociously and decisively than ordinary sailors. Against their fellow pirates, they were far more ruthless than when fighting the Naval Corps.
Besides, in a situation like this, they barely even needed to aim.
A single volley fired into the chaos could reap an enormous number of lives.
It was far more satisfying than the usual back-and-forth engagements against those slippery Naval Corps ships.
By now, Woop had become the captain of a medium-sized warship.
His rise to captain had absolutely nothing to do with his relationship with John.
In fact, ever since the last time he had happened to meet John, Woop had never seen him in person again.
Even when he was appointed captain of this warship, someone else had come to announce the decision.
The real reason he had been able to become a captain was simply that he had once been a member of the Sandstorm Pirates.
The former Sandstorm Pirates had now become one of the core forces under John’s command.
Their fortunes were completely tied to his.
The newly absorbed pirate forces numbered in the tens of thousands. With John’s current pool of trusted personnel and manpower, there was no way he could safely keep such a huge number of pirates under control without relying on the Sandstorm Pirates, the first group he had brought under his banner.
As a result, any pirate from the Sandstorm Pirates who possessed ability, ambition, and even a modest amount of intelligence had a chance to receive command of a warship.
Woop had been fortunate enough to be assigned a medium-sized vessel.
He commanded several hundred pirates and launched an attack on the Pirate Alliance before him.
"Attack! Fire! Keep firing!" Woop shouted.
At his command, the pirate gunners immediately loaded the cannons and fired.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Cannonballs crashed into the Pirate Alliance’s ships.
"So this is what it feels like to be in command."
Woop thoroughly enjoyed the sensation and could not help thinking,
"John must have it even better!"
"Once he wins this battle, our strength is going to grow enormously again."
Woop continued thinking,
"At this rate, John really might become the Pirate King of the entire Lather Kingdom..."
"Who would ever believe it if I told them that my childhood friend would one day become the Pirate King?"
As he thought this, he raised his monocular telescope and scanned the enemy warships trapped within the sea of flames.
Suddenly, he spotted a familiar face through the lens.
The second leader of the Inferno Pirates!
Well now—wasn’t that a perfect opportunity to earn some merit?
Woop had no intention of remaining merely the captain of a medium-sized pirate ship.
His goal was to command a large warship—one of those massive vessels carrying a hundred cannons.
If he could capture or kill the second leader, that would certainly earn him a major contribution.
At the thought, Woop’s eyes sharpened.
In a hoarse voice, he ordered,
"Adjust course. Target the ship at nine o’clock..."
"Fire!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The cannonballs roared out of their barrels, tracing beautiful arcs through the air before crashing down from the sky.
Out of several dozen shells, only a handful struck the second leader’s warship.
But those few hits were more than enough to send him to his grave.
Through Woop’s telescope, he watched the second leader’s warship sink beneath the waves.
He could not help but cheer.
"Beautiful!"
Then he looked across the battlefield once more.
"This great naval battle is almost over."
Outside the battlefield, aboard the ships of the major merchant guilds, intelligence agents personally witnessed this unprecedented naval war.
The Pirate Alliance had brought eighteen hundred warships, more than ten thousand cannons, and over seven hundred thousand men to surround and annihilate the mysterious fleet.
They should have swept everything aside with overwhelming force.
Instead, they had fallen straight into an ambush prepared by the mysterious fleet.
The sea of flames had become the Pirate Alliance’s nightmare—and the fundamental cause of its destruction.
The result of this battle had gone completely against everyone’s expectations.
The side that should have won had failed to win.
The side that should have lost had refused to lose.
...
John coldly watched the apocalyptic scene before him.
Raging flames and endless screams combined into a sight even more brutal than hell itself.
This battle held extraordinary significance for him.
From this day onward, there would no longer be any pirate force in the Lather Kingdom capable of threatening him.
Before long, more and more warships began raising white flags in surrender.
Only then did John’s fleet cease its bombardment and dispatch ships to accept the surrendering forces.
The great pirate war of the Lather Kingdom had officially come to an end.
Postwar statistics:
John’s side captured 450,000 pirates.
They also seized 150 large warships, more than 200 medium-sized warships, 588 small vessels, and an enormous quantity of ammunition.
His power skyrocketed overnight, making him the strongest pirate force in the Lather Kingdom.
It was also worth mentioning that John had bet on his own victory before the battle.
As a result, he made an enormous profit from the betting markets, earning ten million gold coins.
ey naturally stopped acting cautiously."
"After all, many people believe in one saying..."
"Before absolute strength, every scheme and trick is meaningless."
"The pirates believed that too."
John smiled faintly.
"But what they didn’t know was that their opponent wasn’t just anyone."
"It was me."
Looking at the scene before him as though admiring the finest masterpiece he had ever created, John smiled and gave the order.
"Begin Phase Two!"
The first phase had been to use the sea of flames to consume the Pirate Alliance, disrupt its deployment, and force it to collapse from within.
Now came the second phase.
Attack.
Keep the Pirate Alliance trapped inside the sea of flames so it could not escape.
Let the fire make up for the raw strength John lacked and destroy the Pirate Alliance in his place.
The moment John gave the order...
his warships immediately moved.
Under the enhancement of the God of Naval Warfare buff, every aspect of their performance skyrocketed.
And it was not just the warships that received the enhancement.
The people aboard them were strengthened as well.
More than a hundred warships sailed to the outer edge of the sea of flames, executed beautiful drifting turns, swung their broadsides into position, and opened fire.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Countless cannonballs crashed into the burning sea.
There was no need to aim at all.
Didn’t the Pirate Alliance have an overwhelming number of ships and men?
With a single broadside, dozens of ships and hundreds—even thousands—of pirates inside the sea of flames were struck by cannon fire.
At this moment, the Golden Merry pushed its speed to the absolute limit.
It surged forward, drifted across the surface of the sea, and brought hundreds of cannons to bear on the inferno.
"Fire!" John ordered.