Chapter 127: Reality Is Rich

"Doffy, my apologies. That was definitely an accident."

Caught in the moment, Qiubai took a brief pause to shout this downward. Doflamingo had originally intended to keep the massive model ship intact. But it couldn't be helped; given how close they were, the severe explosions were bound to spill over. As Qiubai had said, it was a total accident. At a time like this, prioritizing overwhelming firepower was the only way to go.

"...Keep going!" The only reply from below was those two words. Doflamingo chose to focus on his control.

Doflamingo’s feelings toward Qiubai were, to put it mildly...

*Watching you, my heartbeat is beyond reach.*
*Painting you, I cannot capture the shape of your bones.*
*My heart only trembles for you.*

*Oh no...* Sensing Doflamingo’s emotional instability, Qiubai quickly held his breath and focused on the task at hand. He hoped the cannon barrel he’d just ripped off and tossed hadn’t crushed anyone important; otherwise, he might find himself in a precarious position.

Drawing his sword, bending his bow, nocking an arrow, and firing—it was all done in one fluid motion. He first delivered a follow-up strike to the first battleship he had hit, ensuring it would settle firmly at the bottom of the sea, before turning his aim toward the second.

The Marines on the opposite side were surely bewildered. What kind of monster were they facing? Why was its range and power greater than their own ship cannons? Could it be that pirates were now equipped with railguns?

Qiubai, meanwhile, remained calm and unhurried, maintaining his rhythmic assault—two to three arrows per battleship. This was the legendary asymmetric warfare; the discrepancy in their technology was stark. For a long-range unit, nothing is more blissful than being able to strike the enemy with impunity while remaining outside their reach. The reverse, however, is a nightmare. To borrow a philosopher's phrase, they were simply "out of reach."

The Marines were completely at a loss. Why had the entire nature of the world changed in the blink of an eye? Weren't they supposed to have the advantage in firepower? Whatever happened to the Marines holding the core technology?

In short, Qiubai had thoroughly proven his worth to the Donquixote Family. By the time the pirate ship closed in to the effective range of the naval cannons, not a single gun on the enemy ships could fire.

Every battleship was engulfed in fire and smoke, half-submerged and silenced. The Marines were unable to coordinate any effective combat power. While the Vice Admirals wouldn't be incapacitated by such relatively scattered strikes, they were...

Doflamingo was finally satisfied with Qiubai. He "flew" forward—utilizing his String-String Fruit abilities to "float" by hooking onto clouds, a signature high-speed maneuver of his. Seemingly impatient, he charged toward the gold-transport ship first. With all the battleships crippled by Qiubai’s brutal destruction, the transport ship had become the only remaining foothold.

As the pirate ship pulled alongside the transport, Qiubai’s ears were filled with the sounds of battle. To be honest, he thought Doflamingo was quite daring. While there was no sign of Garp, Qiubai had been worried about encountering someone like "Vice Admiral Kuzan." But he had clearly overthought it; if Kuzan were truly here, the battleships would never have sunk—the entire sea would have been frozen into an Arctic wasteland by now.

He glanced at the deck and realized Doflamingo had already finished the job alone. With a spread of his Parasite strings, everything was settled. He was currently controlling one person to fight another; even by their level of combat, it was clear these were the two Vice Admirals.

In this light, Parasite was an incredibly convenient ability. Capturing enemy combatants to bolster one's own forces was essentially doubling one's efficiency.

And so, this naval battle, which should have been a grand affair, reached its conclusion in just a few dozen minutes—ending before it had even truly begun. The Donquixote underlings swarmed the transport ship and began capturing the Marines. Yes, pirates capturing Marines. Since Doflamingo intended to demand the status of a Warlord of the Sea from the World Government, he wasn't foolish enough to slaughter all the sailors on five battleships; that would be idiocy. They would soon be "on the same side," so why commit fratricide?

Furthermore, keeping these sailors as hostages would force the World Government to "spare the rat to save the vase." Surely, no one wanted to see the images of pirates publicly executing Marines if the negotiations were to fail.

Doflamingo continued his theatrics, intent on wearing the two Vice Admirals down until they had no fight left. The executives boarded the ship, suppressing any stubborn holdouts. Others busied themselves pulling drowning sailors from the water, knocking them unconscious, and tying them up. These were Doflamingo's bargaining chips; every one counted. As for the bloated World Government officials on board, they surrendered quite readily without the pirates having to lift a finger.

Qiubai boarded the ship as well, wandering around. He still felt that the cannon barrel he’d tossed earlier had struck something.

"Any discoveries here?" Qiubai kicked the barrel and looked up at the series of holes in the ceiling. Just how many decks had it punched through? When wooden sailing ships grew too large, their structural integrity was ultimately limited; the quality just wasn't up to par.

"Not yet, Boss Qiubai."

A few underlings were checking the room, but there was clearly nothing special to be found. Qiubai circled the barrel and looked up again. He seemed to notice someone on the second deck above.

"Go up and see what’s there."

The underlings quickly followed his orders and climbed up.

"Boss Qiubai, it’s someone who’s fainted. I don't know if this guy is lucky or unlucky—he was almost crushed by the cannon barrel..."

"Throw him down and let me see," Qiubai interrupted their chatter.

"Yes."

They were pirates, after all; they didn't follow the Geneva Convention or possess a shred of humanitarian spirit. The man was already unconscious, and from a height of three to five meters, they tossed him down without a second thought.

*Thud!*

The only conscience the pirates showed was that they didn't throw him head-first or land him back onto the jagged cannon barrel. The man looked like he had been scared senseless; after all, having a steel cannon barrel drop from the sky was quite the traumatic experience. However, he was out cold—even with such a heavy fall, he didn't stir.

The man wore a mask, and his cyborg-like attire made Qiubai feel a sense of familiarity. He turned the face over... and realized who it was.

Doflamingo was in luck. This guy could definitely reach the highest echelons of the World Government. He wasn't a cyborg, just someone who had recently had his face swollen by one.

It was that famous, high-ranking incompetent... Spandam of CP9.