Bam!
The shot rang out on the boat, narrowly missing Rodney's hair.
"Scatter!" Rodney barked, and his Water Clones dissipated like smoke, leaving only one, like a shadow, rushing toward the pirate ships.
Rodney himself, wasting no time, headed for the largest ship. The enemy had already spotted him, but dodged the first shot. A hail of bullets followed, like a hail of stones in stormy weather.
The Sharingan flashed in Rodney's eyes, and the bullets seemed to slow, frozen in midair. He saw, predicted, and calculated the trajectory of each shot, as if playing a deadly game with fate. His body moved instinctively, dodging the deadly rain, as if dancing with the bullets.
"Trash! Useless! Shoot him! Turn him into a sieve!" Krieg roared, his face contorted with rage.
"Got it!" The pirates, sweating from the strain, continued to fire at Rodney and his clones, but they dodged with the ease of birds in the sky.
"Give me the gun!" Krieg, frustrated by his team's futility, grabbed the musket, took aim at Rodney, and began firing.
As the distance closed, one of the clones threw a kunai attached to it with an explosive tag and pierced the pirate ship.
"What is this?" the curious pirate leaned over the side, examining the kunai.
Suddenly, the explosive seal ignited, causing a powerful explosion. A hole appeared in the ship's hull, and seawater rushed in, flooding the cabin.
"This is bad! The ship is taking on water! Abandon ship! Abandon ship!!!" the pirates shouted, leaping into the water without a second thought and swimming toward the other ships. With such a hole in the ship, they were doomed; they had no choice.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions echoed around the fleet like thunder as the Water Clones continued their rapid advance. Each time they passed a ship, they deployed explosive seals, causing the hulls to rupture and seawater to flood in. Panicked, the pirates abandoned their ships, fleeing the flood.
The fleet of thousands, which seemed invincible, melted before our eyes, like sand under the pressure of the waves.
The Krieg pirates' main advantage was their numbers, and their ships were their vital support at sea. Without a ship, they were as helpless as a fish washed up on the beach. The ships in East Blue were less sophisticated than those built in Water 7, lacking specialized equipment and made of relatively simple materials.
In the blink of an eye, the pirates, deprived of their ships, found themselves in trouble, like dumplings thrown onto the surface of the sea, with human heads bobbing in the water.
Rodney didn't care about the lives or deaths of these people. Their fate depended on their own actions. The pirates had chosen their path, and now they had to face the consequences.
- Captain Krieg! Help us!
- Let us come aboard, Captain Krieg!
"I don't want to die yet, Captain Krieg! Please let me on board! I'm your most loyal subordinate!"
The pirates were desperately trying to get aboard Krieg's flagship, the only remaining ship. Rodney had blown up all the other ships, dozens, if not hundreds. Krieg was their only chance of survival.
"Down! Don't come near me, you piece of trash! Where did that damn thing go?" Krieg initially took a few desperate crew members on board, but he pushed aside the rest he deemed useless, ordering them to stay away.
The ship, though large, couldn't hold one or two thousand men. Besides, Rodney would find a way to kill him if there were too many. Fighting in such close quarters would be difficult.
As for loyalty, he didn't need it. He didn't trust his team. Fear and the lust for wealth drove them, not loyalty. Fear was a powerful motivator. As long as his team feared him, he needed nothing else.
If he runs out of crew members, he can always recruit new ones. But first, he needs to destroy the bastard who's caused serious damage to his fleet!
"There he is!" shouted one of the pirates.
Rodney glided across the ship's nearly vertical hull like a shadow, moving with incredible speed. He ran up the side, his red pupils, like predatory eyes, gliding over the pirates' faces, evoking fear in many.
"Shoot!" Krieg ordered mercilessly, and his men aimed their guns at Rodney, opening fire. The bullets struck Rodney's body, liquefying him.
Yes, he turned into water.
Meanwhile, the real Rodney, accompanied by the two remaining clones, attacked from another direction.
— Water Element: Water Collision Blast Wave!
The sea rose up, and powerful waves washed overboard a lot of pirate cannon fodder.
— Fire Element: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!
The fiery technique, like a fiery dragon, ignited the sails and rushed through the crowd of pirates, leaving behind only ashes and death.
"Death to him!" Gin, Krieg's second-in-command and chief thug, held two iron spikes, each tipped with deadly iron balls. He spun the spikes with incredible force, using centrifugal force to increase their destructive power. He lunged furiously at the real Rodney. It wasn't that he'd seen the clone Rodney's technique; he'd simply been lucky.
Click!
Rodney's wind chakra enhanced his saber, increasing its cutting power. Sparks flew when it collided with the crutch. Had Gin had time to glance at his weapon, he would have noticed a shallow cut on the iron ball.
The saber easily parried Gin's attack. Each of Gin's strikes carried immense force, amplified by centrifugal force, far exceeding his own. But Rodney dealt with them easily.
His perception was unparalleled. The Sharingan captured Gin's every movement, processing the information in Rodney's brain, predicting his every move. He easily parried attacks, expending minimal effort to neutralize Gin's blows.
Gin felt like he was hitting cotton wool, his attacks becoming weak and ineffective.
— How is this possible? Is he really as strong as the captain? Too... too strong!
- Come on, captain! We must kill him!
— That's right, Captain! We are the Krieg Pirates, the strongest pirate group in the East Blue!
Rodney grinned and knocked out one of the pirates with one punch.
— The strongest? Or simply the most numerous?
- You...
The pirates were confused, but continued to attack, attacking blindly, like moths flying to a light.
Under the relentless attack, the two clones, like sand castles, dissolved into the sea's depths. Only Rodney remained, face to face with Gin.
Krieg watched the fight, squinting. Gin was at a distinct disadvantage. Weighing the pros and cons, Krieg considered the need to intervene. The loss of an enemy, in his opinion, was more of a plus than a minus. However, Gin still held some value for him, and Krieg, after a moment's hesitation, said:
- Pearl, go help Gin!
"As you say, Chief!" Pearl thundered, stepping forward. He held two steel shields, each as tall as a man, of incredible thickness. He positioned himself between them, like a thick sandwich.
The shields were decorated with intricate patterns, each with a sparkling watermelon-sized pearl in its center. Pearl himself also wore pearl earrings and a pearl on the crown of his head. Several smaller shields also adorned the man's arms, elbows, and knees.
Pearl of the Iron Wall was a pirate from Krieg renowned for his unrivaled defense.
"Clank!" The two shields in Pearl's hands clashed with all their might, and he burst out laughing. "Since you met me, your luck has run out!"
Rodney chuckled:
— Am I really playing with pests?
He decided to end the battle quickly. With his Sharingan's gaze, he read Gin's every move. The saber in his hand, deflecting sunlight, was cloaked in Wind chakra, causing its surface to sparkle with a thin layer of golden light capable of shattering stone. With a sudden burst of power, Rodney pierced Gin's crutch and the iron ball with a single blow.
Gin's eyes widened in surprise, as did everyone else who witnessed this incredible scene.
At that moment, someone recognized Rodney and exclaimed:
"I know who he is! It's Joestar J. Rodney, a pirate hunter whose fame grows with each passing day!"