Uchiha's personal opinion

"And throw all those junk solid shot into the sea, replace them all with high-explosive rounds!"

"The observation instruments are being calibrated; preparations are underway for long-range sea-level artillery bombardment testing!"

As soon as Uchiha Lunbu gave the order, the vanguard fleet erupted in cheers.

"Commander Lunbu, did this come directly from headquarters?"

Although the captain already knew the contents of the telegram through the telegraph room, he still came over to try and get closer to the ship.

"The naval battle is about to begin!"

Overjoyed, Uchiha Rumbu didn't expose the captain's ulterior motives. Instead, he handed the telegram to the captain: "From now on, as long as we are a little cautious, everyone will be rewarded with merits after the war!"

"This is our Age of Exploration!"

The captain was equally spirited and full of ambition.

……

Just as the First Expeditionary Force of the Grand Line was about to engage in a large-scale battle with the Impel Down defenders, the East Blue was already in complete chaos!

Not only because of the expeditionary vanguard led by Uchiha Shiina and operating under the banner of the 'Hidden Mist Pirates', but also because the legitimate and righteous Hidden Mist Pirates, under the joint efforts of Juzo Biwa and the Sage Fukasaku, began to wreak havoc in the East Blue!

Although the Myoboku mountain range cannot hatch intelligent new-generation grenades because there is no natural energy in the One Piece world, it is not a problem to hatch small frogs for intelligence gathering from the frog eggs they carry. Moreover, Fukasaku and the grenades can make corresponding adjustments based on the characteristics of frogs that are common in the One Piece world!

Neither the Kingdom Guard nor the Navy Branch in the One Piece world had ever witnessed the abilities of the renowned Information Frogs of the ninja world. Naturally, they were not at all wary of the various harmless frogs that were everywhere around them. As a result, the information of the various kingdoms and Navy Branches was easily stolen by the Ninja Frogs!

Even more remarkably, Juzo Biwa learned that the Navy Headquarters launched the Buster Call only an hour later than the officers and soldiers of the Navy branch!

"The Buster Call..."

Upon learning this information, Pipa Juzo almost bit his shark tooth to pieces!

Led personally by a vice admiral from the Navy Headquarters, the operation involved nearly a hundred ships, including various warships, transport ships, and supply ships, with a reported 30,000 naval personnel participating! For the Navy, such a large-scale attack on Paradise Island in the first half of the Grand Line was like using a chakra cannon to kill a mosquito!

Pipa Juzo felt an immense weight in his heart, because the Buster Call was targeting him!

"They have committed countless acts of violence, plundered countless innocent merchant ships, slaughtered countless civilians, and most audaciously, robbed the Heavenly Gold that was offered to the world's nobles!"

Pipa Juzo read out the various crimes committed by the Kirigakure Pirates from the intelligence report.

Because the Kirigakure Pirates have always been secretive in their past activities and have never left anyone alive in their plundering incidents, this has not prevented the Navy and even the affiliated kingdoms from fabricating charges against them!

Almost all the unsolved cases were solved overnight by the perpetrators—the legendary, brutal, bloodthirsty, and cannibalistic Kirigakure Pirates!

Furthermore, due to the sheer number of charges fabricated by the navy and various kingdoms, the intelligence frog was unable to transmit all the charges back to the fleet—there was simply too much information!

"Only through resistance can we gain respect!"

Fukasaku, who was already planning to escalate the situation, added fuel to the fire: "As long as we can thwart the Navy's massive encirclement, then let alone the so-called Seven Warlords of the Sea, they will have to acknowledge even the status of the Emperor of the Sea!"

"Seek peace through struggle!"

Therefore, Biwa Juzo, who still harbored a sliver of hope, no longer hesitated and immediately assembled his fleet to launch unrestricted attacks on various islands and affiliated kingdoms in the East Blue!

Almost overnight, the Kirigakure warships completely cut off the shipping routes in the East China Sea! Nearly a hundred merchant ships of various kinds were sunk by the bloodthirsty Kirigakure ninjas, the ports of several kingdoms were easily captured and looted, and even the naval patrol ships that rushed to the scene suffered considerable losses!

The ironclad ships and motorboats equipped by the Fog Shadow Fleet are already faster than naval warships. Now, with their engines at full speed, they are attacking everywhere, making them a nightmare for the kingdoms and even the navy!

Although the navy has some special ships whose speed, propelled by certain special forces, can catch up with relatively slow motor sailing ships, so what?

Now that they have formed a complete alliance with the remnants of Mount Myōboku, the Kirigakure ninjas' underwater stealth combat capabilities have been greatly enhanced. They can even disregard the navy or the fish-man forces of various kingdoms. Even if they are caught up, they can at most abandon ship and jump into the water to escape. For Juzo Biwa, as long as he can protect the most valuable Kirigakure ninjas and ironclad ships, these motorized sailing ships, which have been fully mastered in imitation technology, are just worthless consumables as long as they are not cracked.

Similarly, the World Government Navy is also very interested in the power source of the Kirigakure Pirates' ships—after all, although paddlewheel propulsion systems exist in the pirate world, they can never achieve the speeds of the Kirigakure Pirates, which generally far exceed those of naval warships.

But after capturing a motorboat, the officers who excitedly boarded the ship to see something new were sent flying into the sky amidst a violent explosion—the Hidden Mist Ninja detonated the explosive tags installed in the watertight compartment, giving the naval officers a spectacular fireworks display!

Although only about half of the naval officers who attempted to board the ship for a visit were lost due to physical limitations, the majority of the losses were to junior officers who served as lower-ranking officers. This led to significant problems for the command of the marines at the naval outpost in a certain branch.

Even the power boiler unit that the navy painstakingly salvaged afterwards was found to be missing the most important power reaction component after inspection. This was thanks to the unique sealing scroll technology of the ninja world. When the motorboat encountered an accident, the Hidden Mist ninja immediately used sealing techniques to remove the most core power propulsion component, and then directly escaped into the sea from the paddlewheel turbine.

After losing several motorboats, Pipa Juzo, caught between fear and resentment, began to create chaos and slaughter even more frantically!

Just as Uchiha Shiina led his forces to arrive and prepare to join the battle, no fewer than ten groups of native pirates calling themselves the "Hidden Mist Pirates" were already wreaking havoc and looting throughout the East Blue. In addition, Uchiha Shiina had paid particular attention to concealing his route along the way, so the various forces in the East Blue, already in complete chaos, did not notice that a "fierce dragon crossing the river" had silently lurked beside them.

"It's so lively!"

After randomly intercepting a merchant ship and extracting the information he needed, Uchiha Shiina couldn't help but exclaim, "As expected! It's always good to be from the same hometown!"

What Juzo Biwa did was simply the best assist in the world for the vanguard!

Without even needing to put in the effort of a disguised attack, the puppet government's navy assembled a fleet and marched majestically toward the East China Sea! Moreover, they claimed that they would completely annihilate all hostile forces in the entire East China Sea!

"May His Majesty protect us!"

Ichiraku Uzumaki was equally amazed!

As the saying goes, man proposes, God disposes!

At first, he even went to great lengths to plan a route for the attack operation!

But now it seems that all of this was unnecessary!

The entire East Blue is already filled with the "Hidden Mist Pirates," so no one would notice if there were one more!

Moreover, since the Kirigakure fleet, equipped with old-style Shogunate ironclads, was able to turn the East China Sea into a mess, there's no reason why the vanguard, equipped with new warships, should have performed worse!

"Pass the word down!"

Uchiha Shiina, brimming with confidence and high spirits, declared: "The cruiser fleet will set out in groups to carry out privateering missions! If the main force of the puppet government's navy is discovered, immediately notify the main fleet at headquarters!"

"I'm going to set the entire East China Sea ablaze!"

……

"Fireworks at sea are the most beautiful fireworks in the world!"

The Hidden Mist Pirates, who had been plundering and slaughtering everywhere, were caught up in the extreme excitement brought on by the bloodshed!

……

"The East Blue is burning under the rampage of pirates! Our wrath must burn the enraged Kirigakure Pirates to ashes!"

On the naval warship, Vice Admiral Garp's voice echoed above the fleet!

"justice!"

The naval officers and sailors, equally eager for battle, also voiced their enthusiastic support!

Chapter 503 Multi-rivet steam steel, turret supremacy!

In fact, when it comes to abstract concepts like war history or lineage, the Dynasty Navy is quite naive in this regard.

After all, the predecessor of the Dynasty Navy, the Shogunate Fleet, was created by Uchiha Tokumitsu after he established the Shogunate in the Land of Whirlpools. Its initial purpose was to provide escort services for the United Company's "civilian trade". However, with the Kirigakure Incident and the three clans joining the Shogunate, coupled with the needs of the subsequent Kirigakure conquests and the Myoboku expedition, the Shogunate Fleet gradually grew stronger.

Therefore, in terms of the inheritance and accumulation of maritime knowledge—such as sail handling and rower management—the Dynasty Navy undoubtedly has many shortcomings compared to the pseudo-government navy in the pirate world, especially in this completely unfamiliar sea area.

The greatest disadvantage and the greatest advantage of the dynasty navy lies in its novelty—a novelty completely free of historical baggage!

Aside from routinely dispatching Uchiha or affiliated ninja clan members to garrison ships, Uchiha Tokumitsu did not interfere much in the Navy's frontline operations, and his support for the Navy was also immense. He not only personally guided the design and construction of new battleships with all main guns and Wolf-class submarines, but he was also extremely generous with military spending, basically increasing both the price and the amount of funding requested by the Navy and the Engineering Academy.

Now, this brand-new 'Chakra Industries' fleet is about to engage in direct combat with the pseudo-government navy, which has a long maritime tradition!

……

"The Third Cruiser Squadron in the waters to the left front reports that they have spotted a puppet government naval vessel!"

On the flagship of the First Army Fleet, Hanzo the Salamander finally received the telegram he had been longing to hear!

"The detachments in the nearby waters immediately spread out and conducted a large-scale search to pinpoint the location of the enemy's main naval fleet!"

"Inform the entire army to prepare for battle!"

As Hanzo the Salamander's orders were broadcast throughout the fleet via loudspeakers and long-wave radios, the Dynasty Navy ninjas were filled with excitement!

"The future prosperity of the ninja world depends on our hard work today!"

"The Uchiha Dynasty—May it prosper forever!"

"Waaah!"

With the roar of the ship's horn, the battleship, at full power, sped forward, heading along the edge of the doldrums toward the area where the enemy ship had been spotted.

Meanwhile, the Wolf-class submarines lurking beneath the sea surface also surfaced and entered a semi-submerged state, heading towards the combat zone at full speed!

Yagura Karatachi leaped into the sea, transforming into a three-tailed giant turtle in its tailed beast form, and escorted the ship on one side of the Calm Belt.

Thanks to their speed far exceeding that of the puppet government's navy, the cruiser squadron, which was conducting exploratory surveys of the outer perimeter, quickly located the main force of the navy by assembling and conducting a large-scale reconnaissance of the sea area. At the same time, they also began probing attacks with the navy's vanguard ships!

However, fearing that the intense firepower would scare away the sailing warships, the cruiser squadron did not concentrate fire on any particular naval warship. Instead, they carried out sporadic harassment with artillery fire while simultaneously using radio communication to encircle the naval fleet. This time, Hanzo the Salamander aimed for total annihilation in the naval battle!

Moreover, the results of the test greatly boosted the confidence of the Dynasty Navy – the gun range of the puppet government navy was only half that of the Dynasty Navy, and its muzzle-loading main gun could not be rotated, which further weakened its already weak firepower!

……

"Something doesn't seem right!"

The three rear admirals who were leading the Impel Down naval fleet out to sea to "suppress the pirates" also sensed that something was amiss!

They said there would only be three ironclad warships from the Kirigakure Pirates!

Now, there are no fewer than ten ironclad warships appearing from all directions on the sea! And it seems that the number of ships belonging to the 'Hidden Mist Pirates' is increasing!

More importantly, our shipborne weapons are significantly weaker than the enemy's in both range and firepower!

But he couldn't just back down like that. After all, before the battle, the three rear admirals who were leading the group had already had a fierce argument with Magellan, the warden of Impel Down, and had even decided to 'go alone' despite Magellan's repeated requests and threats. If they were to turn around and run away like that, they would lose face and continue to work in the navy!

But forcing yourself to endure it isn't a solution either!

There were as many as twenty-four naval warships deployed in this battle, but as time went on, sixteen of the 'Kigakure Pirates' ironclad ships had appeared around the area!

According to the private combat capability calculations of naval officers, one ironclad warship is worth at least two naval warships—and this comparison was only reached after everyone deliberately held back to save face!

The problem is that, according to intelligence, the Kirigakure Pirates have only had five ironclad ships appearing on the Grand Line so far! And the appearance of these ships is completely different from the giant ships that are appearing before us!

This also means two other possibilities—either the Hidden Mist Pirates deliberately concealed their strength, or the Hidden Mist Pirates were simply pawns of other forces!

But looking across the world, which power under the World Government could silently assemble such a powerful fleet?

However, the rear admirals' dilemma did not last long before they began to fall into despair.

"...What...what is this?"

As the massive ship, resembling a hill, gradually emerged from the sea, the naval officers were plunged into despair!

"There are actually such massive warships in this world!"