One Piece: A Warlord's Path-Chapter 700: Bivins Kingdom - The War of National Extinction (1)

Chapter 700: Chapter 700: Bivins Kingdom - The War of National Extinction (1)

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Every time a fireball slammed into the earth, it erupted into a ten-meter wave of flame, engulfing everything in its radius. Countless people caught in the backdraft were instantly ignited, becoming living torches. They let out blood-curdling shrieks, thrashing blindly through the chaos as the harbor became a pyre.

Fires roared across the docks, heating the iron cannons until they glowed a dull, angry red. The ambient temperature spiked instantly.

"Burn! Burn it all to ash! Hah!" 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Zhurong flew through the air with a sadistic grin. With a deep breath and a sudden exhale, the Fire Demon God spat out a massive torrent of searing flames. The ground transformed into a literal sea of fire, and the wooden piers of the harbor caught instantly, fueling the inferno.

"You bastard!"

Mondos Bank threw himself aside to dodge a gout of flame before leaping into the air, drawing his blade in a single fluid motion.

SHING—!

A massive flying slash tore through the air, bisecting the flames and cutting Zhurong clean in two. The force of the strike was so immense it even split the clouds above the harbor.

"Kee-hee-hee-hee! Useless!"

A moment later, the two halves of Zhurong’s flaming body merged back together. The spirit let out a series of mocking cackles, staring down at Bank with contempt.

"How is this possible? Is he a Logia?!"

Bank was struck with disbelief. That slash had enough power to split five Marine warships, yet it hadn’t left a scratch on the creature.

On a distant high tower, Razalo watched Zhurong’s rampage, his shock bordering on paralysis. When he saw Bank’s slash pass through the entity without effect, his mind went blank.

Years ago, he had visited Totto Land, the territory of Big Mom. In his memory, only Big Mom’s sun, Prometheus, looked and acted like this, possessing an elemental body that granted immunity to physical attacks.

But he knew one thing for certain: Prometheus never left Big Mom’s side. If that ball of fire really was Prometheus, it meant that Big Mom herself was nearby, perhaps even aboard one of the Chris Pirates’ ships.

The mere thought of facing a Yonko sent a chill down the spine of even a cold-blooded killer like Razalo. Unlike the arrogant "Supernovas" of the new generation, Razalo had spent over a decade in the New World. He knew exactly what the title of Yonko represented; he had seen their power firsthand.

If the pirates who dominated the seas were monsters, the Yonko were the monsters among monsters. Ordinary men could die of fright just standing in their shadow. He had never possessed the courage, or the stupidity, to challenge one.

...

While Zhurong ravaged the docks, the four sub-ships of the Chris fleet continued their relentless bombardment. The thunder of their cannons was incessant, as if they intended to empty their entire magazine into the harbor.

"To think they have this much artillery. No wonder the Bivins Kingdom is called the ’Kingdom of the Cannon Fortress,’" Aeridar remarked, standing at the prow of his lead ship, watching the harbor burn from a distance.

"Captain, is ’looting a nation’ a bit beneath our status?" Dimitri asked from beside him, his brow furrowed in concern.

"Hah! We’re pirates, Dimitri. Plundering is the core business!" Aeridar grinned, waving off the concern. "Big Mom, Kaido... which of them hasn’t wiped out a few nations? You only get a reputation that scares off the small fry by being ruthless."

In this world, strength was the only law. Even the Pirate King, Roger, had once decimated a national army because someone insulted one of his crewmates. When a nation loses its army, it loses its ability to protect its people or resist invaders; it is, for all intents and purposes, the same as being wiped out.

Even Garp, the Hero of the Marines, had admitted that despite being on opposite sides of the law, he couldn’t hate Roger as a man. That was why he agreed to raise Ace. Strength is the prerequisite for two powerhouses to speak as equals; personality only determines if they become friends or enemies.

"Hmph. This time, we make sure to pull out those Cipher Pol agents, and those CP0 bastards too!" Mina hissed, her teeth clenched in hatred.

"We aren’t just killing Cipher Pol," Aeridar added, his eyes glinting with a bloodlust-filled smirk. "The Revolutionary Army, the Church of the Night, the outsider pirates... we kill them all. As for the nobles and merchants of Bivins? If they hand over their gold, they live. I’m going to strip this kingdom bone-dry!"

"Whoa... Captain, now that is the kind of talk I like! Hahahaha!" Quiniel Vito barked, flashing a row of razor-sharp fangs.

"It has been a while since we did a raid on this scale," Fernal Rock said, smoothing his blond hair as he looked toward Valanfort Harbor with predatory interest, already calculating the spoils.

"Hahaha! Make sure to bring the ones who resist to me for execution!" Muir Marcus said, meticulously wiping his heavy ringed blade with a white cloth.

At that moment, Dimitri noticed the enemy’s return fire beginning to sputter. The defense grid of Valanfort Harbor was failing.

"Captain, their fire net is broken. The fleet should move in," Dimitri said grimly.

"Let’s start with an air raid first," Aeridar replied, beckoning toward the sky.

ROAR—! SCREECH—!

A massive black metal dragon burst through the cloud layer, followed by a literal "black cloud" of flying horrors.

"Wh-What is that?!"

A clergyman in Valanfort Harbor had just managed to scramble out of a burning building when the sky went dark. He looked up in terror to see the swarm descending.

Dragons, giant birds, demons, gargoyles, raptors... thousands of metallic and stone creatures flapped their wings, swarming over the harbor like locusts to tear into the Church of the Night personnel.

BANG! BANG! BANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Gunfire erupted instantly as countless bullets peppered the animated constructs. The fifty-meter-long black dragon dove into the fray, becoming the target of hundreds of rifles and cannons. Shells sparked against its hide, leaving only shallow dents and scorch marks. It was an unstoppable juggernaut.

CRASH—!

A massive metallic wing slammed into a granite-fortified gun battery, pulverizing the top of the tower instantly. Twisted cannons and mangled corpses rained down amidst a cloud of granite dust.

"Aaah! Let me go—!"

An obsidian-carved gargoyle swooped down, its razor-sharp talons snatching a clergyman and hauling him into the sky. A dozen flintlock rifles fired at the beast, chipping away shards of stone, but nothing could stop the gargoyle from carrying its screaming prey into the clouds.

THUD.

Less than twenty seconds later, a dark shadow plummeted from the sky, hitting the cobblestone ground with a sickening wet crunch. The impact was so heavy it felt like the earth shook.

The nearby soldiers of the Church looked down to see a mangled heap of flesh and bone—the same priest who had just been taken.