# Chapter 566: Counterattack Begins
Hawk-Eye's coffin boat drifted along like this, his vessel sailing from the outer perimeter of the sea area toward the inner area.
The Navy had deployed the Seven Warlords on the outer perimeter, originally to prevent pirates from attacking from other directions, but now the pirates were launching a surprise attack from underwater, which meant the defensive plan had failed.
Hawk-Eye had naturally received the order from the Navy to take action, but to be honest, he didn't have much interest in these pirate underlings. Unless they blocked his path or attacked him first, Hawk-Eye simply didn't want to make a move.
The reason he appeared here to participate in this war after receiving the Navy's summons was, to put it bluntly, just one thing: killing time!
He neither stood on the Navy's side nor on the pirates' side. He came here for only two people: one was Whitebeard Edward Newgate, and the other was Ian!
The news of Ian's attack on Impel Down had already reached Hawk-Eye. Although he didn't know what his junior disciple wanted to accomplish by attacking Impel Down, his intuition told him that Ian would definitely appear in this war.
And until Ian or Whitebeard showed up, Hawk-Eye couldn't be bothered to move...
Sharing the same thoughts as Hawk-Eye Mihawk was Boa Hancock. She sat aboard a warship, lazily leaning against the recliner formed by Salome's coiled body, one hand propping up her chin as she ordered the Navy soldiers on the ship to engage the pirates in battle.
"Why should we listen to her?" the Navy soldiers thought, but the moment they saw Boa Hancock's peerless beauty, they were instantly captivated, saying, "But... she's so beautiful! Forget it..."
So, ignoring even the shouts of the commanding Marine officer on the ship, all the Navy soldiers on board gathered around Boa Hancock, engaging in battle with the pirates who had charged up.
However, a pirate who jumped onto the warship recognized the identity of the Pirate Empress Boa Hancock. Pushing through the crowd, he raised the mortar cannon he was carrying and fired a shell directly at Boa Hancock's position.
"How annoying!" Boa Hancock frowned. With a whoosh, she blew a huge heart-shaped bubble from her palm, pulled it, and then fired a volley of Slave Arrows.
Not only did she shoot down the cannonball, but many of the Navy soldiers blocking her path were also hit, instantly turning into stone statues!
"Damn it! She's attacking the Navy too!?" The Marine Rear Admiral commanding the warship gritted his teeth and shouted upon seeing this: "Boa Hancock, you really can't be trusted!"
The Navy had always suspected that Ian's attack on Impel Down was connected to Boa Hancock, but lacking evidence, they couldn't do anything to her. Still, they were certainly wary of her.
However, upon hearing the Rear Admiral's words, Boa Hancock turned her head and said to him, "But you will forgive me, won't you?"
"You... you..." The Rear Admiral, upon seeing Boa Hancock's sparkling big eyes, felt as if something had struck him. His heart softened by seven or eight parts, his face couldn't help but redden, and a voice kept shouting in his mind: "Such a beautiful person, forgive her, forgive her..."
And then the Rear Admiral truly yielded. Dazzled and enchanted, he actually saluted Boa Hancock and said, "Y-Yes!"
From then on, the entire warship's Navy soldiers had fallen, all becoming Boa Hancock's loyal guards...
Among the four Seven Warlords present, two were slacking off. The remaining one, Gecko Moria, had all his attention focused on Little Oars Jr.
"Kekekeke! I really want his corpse!" Moria laughed eerily, watching Little Oars Jr. wreak havoc, unable to suppress his itching desire. He knew that this was a descendant of Oars. Compared to Oars, who had died hundreds of years ago, Little Oars Jr.'s body was intact, without any hidden defects. If he could kill him and turn him into a zombie soldier, he could create a super warrior even more useful than Oars.
Beside him, Donquixote Doflamingo sat cross-legged on the deck, his hand resting on his knee, laughing loudly at this: "Fufufufufu! Moria, you fool, are you still thinking about building your zombie army to challenge Kaido?"
Moria gritted his teeth and said, "Donquixote Doflamingo, you bastard! After being stripped of your title, have you even lost your self-respect? I originally thought your defection to Kaido was just a pretense, but hearing your tone now, are you really planning to become his underling dog?"
"I'm not as overestimating myself as you are!" Doflamingo sneered at Moria. "I know very well the gap between myself and Kaido. That man has the power to easily destroy my pirate crew. What's wrong with defecting to him?"
There was no denying that Doflamingo's words stirred up Moria's terrifying memories of Kaido. Ever since Moria's pirate crew was completely crushed by Kaido alone in the New World years ago, leaving only him as the sole survivor, Kaido's name had become Moria's nightmare. Every time he thought of Kaido's terror, he couldn't help but break out in cold sweat. So for a moment, he couldn't even refute Doflamingo's words.
"Damn it, how did the Navy manage to bring you back, and arrange for you to be on this ship..." Moria could only change the subject. "They really don't care about anything anymore!"
"Fufufufufu!" Doflamingo couldn't help but laugh again. "Moria, that's because my identity is completely different from yours. Even though I've lost the title of Seven Warlords now, as long as I'm alive, the World Government and the Celestial Dragons wouldn't dare to do anything to me! Even the Navy can only continue to send warships to capture me, not kill me. But what about you? If you lose the title of Seven Warlords, what do you think would happen?"
"Hmph!" Moria hadn't yet realized the true meaning hidden in Doflamingo's words, naively thinking that Doflamingo was just trying to provoke him. After all, Doflamingo's former status as a Celestial Dragon was no secret among the Seven Warlords. So he snorted coldly and retorted, "A stray dog defeated by a young punk like Ian, and you still have the nerve to talk to me?"
"Do you want to die, Moria!?" These words clearly struck a nerve with Doflamingo. Veins bulging on his forehead, he clenched his fists and spoke coldly to Moria.
"Isn't it true?" Moria wasn't afraid of him and stood his ground, looking down at him. "You were defeated by that brat Ian, weren't you?"
"Do you think you'd fare any better against that brat Ian than I did?" Doflamingo sneered, pointing at him. "You're still talking big here only because you haven't seen that brat Ian yet! As for me, you don't need to worry. When that brat Ian shows up, I'll give him a big 'surprise'!"
"I hope you can live up to your words!" Moria snorted. "Don't turn into a coward when Ian actually appears!"
Their argument naturally ended in discord, but neither had any intention of starting a fight. Moria turned his attention back to Little Oars Jr., only to notice a small, paw-shaped bubble floating toward Little Oars Jr.'s position.
"What's this?" Little Oars Jr. was startled to see the bubble approaching and even reached out a finger to poke it.
This dangerous behavior, like sawing a live wire with a pipe wrench, immediately taught Little Oars Jr. his lesson. The small paw-shaped bubble, the moment it touched Little Oars Jr., suddenly expanded violently!
A tremendously powerful shockwave exploded at that moment, like a Category 12 hurricane, sweeping across everything around!
Whether pirate ships or Navy warships, their masts, sails, and other fragile objects were shattered into fragments and blown away by the impact. The hulls of the ships began to crack under the immense pressure. Several smaller vessels were directly crushed into the seawater and sank on the spot.
With Little Oars Jr.'s body as the epicenter, the shockwave spread outward. Those closest were blown away by the hurricane, flailing their arms in panic midair, while those farther away shielded their faces with both hands, desperately stabilizing their footing to withstand the blast.
Like a hurricane passing through, everything around Little Oars Jr. was swept clean. Even the seawater was pushed into a circular depression by the explosive force, only recovering after the power subsided.
And Little Oars Jr., who had directly taken the brunt of this attack, suffered the most. The immense force in that instant compressed his internal organs as if they were being crushed!
His eyes rolling back, Little Oars Jr. nearly passed out. Barely managing to steady himself by stepping on the rock bed beneath him, he vomited a large mouthful of blood.
"Damn it, that's my prey! Bartholomew Kuma, that bastard..." Moria naturally recognized this attack as the Paw Shock. He turned to look to the left, where on the bow deck of a warship, Kuma's towering figure stood, expressionless.
"Fufufufufu! Interesting!" Doflamingo couldn't help but laugh loudly. "Did he act on his own, or was he following orders? It should be the latter, right?"
"I can't let him steal my prey!" Moria gritted his teeth. Suddenly, countless pitch-black bats gathered in his hand, which he hurled toward Little Oars Jr.: "Go, Shadow Spear!"
The swarm of black bats, following Moria's motion, instantly converged into a thin, paper-like black ribbon that flew toward Little Oars Jr., effortlessly piercing through his body and emerging from his back, reforming into a swarm of black bats.
The moment his body was pierced, Little Oars Jr. shuddered. He hadn't even recovered from Kuma's Paw Shock when he was severely wounded by Moria again. His legs gave way, and he collapsed into the sea.
With a thunderous crash, the sea surface erupted in a massive splash as Little Oars Jr.'s body fell.
"Hahaha! He's mine!" Moria excitedly twitched his claw-like fingers, his body transforming into a mass of shadow that sank beneath the deck.
Then, on a pirate ship closest to Little Oars Jr., Moria emerged from the shadow of a pirate. Though he couldn't fly, he could achieve a teleportation-like effect through shadows.
"Up close, he really is terrifyingly huge! Hahaha!" Moria laughed wildly, holding a large pair of scissors in his hand.
His appearance startled the people on the pirate ship. This ship had also been affected by Kuma's Paw Shock, and the pirates on board had just gotten back up, their bodies aching all over. But instinct told them that Moria, a Seven Warlord, appearing here likely meant he would harm Little Oars Jr. again. So to protect their comrade, they gritted their teeth, raised their weapons, and charged at Moria!
But before they could swing their blades, countless sharp-toothed little bats separated from Moria's body and flew toward the pirates, biting them all over until they were covered in wounds.
With no one left to obstruct him, Moria held his scissors, lifted Little Oars Jr.'s shadow from the deck, and prepared to cut it off.
He had deliberately chosen this pirate ship, which was positioned opposite the light source, to steal Little Oars Jr.'s shadow. Little Oars Jr.'s body was so enormous that even fallen in the sea, it was like a small mountain. This pirate ship naturally had his shadow cast upon it, making it convenient for Moria to work.
However, at that moment, a huge shout suddenly rang out: "Don't you dare hurt Little Oars Jr.!!!"
Accompanying this voice, a mass of blazing white flames, trailing a long tail of fire, shot from the direction of the Edd War reef cluster, flying straight toward Moria's position!
"Fire Fist!!"