Chapter 19: Biscuit Soldiers
Charlotte Cracker was one of the Sweet Commanders of the Big Mom Pirates, meaning he was among the four strongest members of the Big Mom Pirates besides Charlotte Linlin.
Only two of the four Sweet Commanders had arrived at Dressrosa this time, with the remaining two stationed to guard against the Beasts Pirates.
The armor Charlotte Cracker wore was unusual—it wasn't made of metal but was constructed from biscuits.
Don't underestimate this armor pieced together from over a dozen biscuits. Ordinary firearms in the pirate world were virtually useless against it, and a sword slash would only leave a tiny scratch.
No one on the port could stop Charlotte Cracker. As for Donquixote Doflamingo, he was already engaged with Charlotte Katakuri, and the situation looked grim.
Su Xiao observed Charlotte Cracker through his scope as the man slaughtered enemies on the battlefield. At a distance of nearly four thousand meters, hitting such a fast-moving target was extremely difficult, almost impossible, unless the bullet's speed exceeded Mach 10.
The strength of the Duke of Annihilation lay in its destructive power, not its bullet velocity. Therefore, to hit Charlotte Cracker, Su Xiao had to rely on the locking function.
Locking onto an enemy with the Duke of Annihilation required a full ten seconds. During those ten seconds, Charlotte Cracker would sense that he was being targeted.
Su Xiao was now waiting for an opportunity—a moment when Charlotte Cracker was pinned down. He was like a patient hunter, silently waiting on the fourth floor of the villa.
Either he wouldn't fire and expose his position, or once he pulled the trigger, he had to severely wound or directly eliminate the enemy.
As the war continued, Su Xiao's Pirate Reputation steadily increased. He had climbed back to fifth place on the reputation rankings, with a current total of 1,970 Pirate Reputation points.
Not all pirates were worth just 1–2 Pirate Reputation points. When alchemy bombs killed certain elite units, Su Xiao could even gain 3–5 points, and major leaders yielded even more.
However, Su Xiao also noticed one thing: when the Donquixote Family used alchemy bombs to kill enemies, no treasure chests dropped.
Although Su Xiao's Pirate Reputation had reached 1,970 points, he discovered a few seconds ago that Ku Tu's Pirate Reputation had already soared to 6,255 points, increasing at a terrifying rate.
Su Xiao wasn't surprised by Ku Tu's rapid reputation gain. On the contrary, this was good news for him. From Ku Tu's recent reputation increase, Su Xiao realized that the other party's reputation was rising in jumps. This meant Ku Tu didn't have a long-term, stable channel for gaining Pirate Reputation—but Su Xiao did.
Su Xiao stopped focusing on Pirate Reputation and instead concentrated all his attention on Charlotte Cracker. By sniping strong enemies, combined with the Donquixote Family using alchemy bombs to kill foes, he didn't believe that by the war's end, his Pirate Reputation still wouldn't threaten Ku Tu.
The battlefield remained fiercely contested, with the wails of pirates echoing across half of Dressrosa.
On the battlefield, Charlotte Cracker grabbed a pirate by the neck with one hand, gradually increasing his grip.
"Please... let me... go."
With a crack, Charlotte Cracker snapped the pirate's neck. Compared to his own massive build, the pirate in his hand was like a ragdoll.
The sound of heavy footsteps approached. Charlotte Cracker turned to look—it was a bare-chested giant nearly three meters tall. Pica had arrived.
Cracker charged straight at Pica, his long sword swinging forward. Pica immediately raised his blade to meet the attack.
Their weapons clashed. Cracker stumbled back several steps, nearly falling to the ground.
Seeing Charlotte Cracker's reaction, Pica was stunned. He had seen the other's wanted poster, and before choosing to engage, Pica had already accepted the possibility of death.
But after actually fighting, Pica realized that Charlotte Cracker seemed somewhat weak. The bounty of 860 million clearly didn't match his strength.
What was even stranger was that both sides remained silent after the battle began, without even the most basic provocations. Pica didn't speak because of his personal voice issue, but the reason for Charlotte Cracker was unknown.
On the fourth floor of the villa, Su Xiao saw the scene below through his scope. He also noticed Charlotte Cracker's abnormality, but he quickly figured out what was happening.
The burly man on the battlefield was almost certainly not Charlotte Cracker's real body, but a biscuit soldier generated by his Devil Fruit ability.
Cracker's Biscuit-Biscuit Fruit sounded useless—only capable of creating biscuits—but that wasn't the case. After generating biscuits, he could shape them. The "Charlotte Cracker" currently on the battlefield was likely a biscuit soldier, not the real Charlotte Cracker.
Su Xiao began searching the battlefield for Charlotte Cracker's true body. That guy was extremely cunning. Even the photo on his wanted poster showed him hidden inside a biscuit soldier, not his real appearance.
Thanks to his intelligence advantage, Su Xiao knew what Cracker really looked like. Unfortunately, Cracker didn't seem to have appeared on the battlefield.
Within half a minute, Cracker's biscuit soldier was shattered by Pica, who also realized this wasn't Charlotte Cracker's real body.
But at that moment, dozens of biscuit soldiers marched in from the outer edge of the port. Like bulldozers, they advanced in a sweeping formation toward the interior of Dressrosa.
If comparing individual combat strength, Cracker was weaker than his older brother Katakuri. However, in terms of overall value during a war, Cracker clearly surpassed Katakuri.
Cracker could almost endlessly create biscuit soldiers, forming a massive army, and the stamina consumed by this process was nearly negligible.
If the Big Mom Pirates were smart enough, Cracker would never need to appear on the battlefield. He only had to stay in the shadows and endlessly produce biscuit soldiers.
Su Xiao also realized this, but he didn't believe Cracker could remotely control these biscuit soldiers from an extreme distance. If that were the case, the Big Mom Pirates wouldn't need to send pirates to attack Dressrosa—Cracker alone would be enough.
Excluding ultra-long-range control, Su Xiao adjusted his scope and locked onto the ships anchored at the outer port. The Big Mom Pirates had arrived with dozens of ships, and Su Xiao could see about thirty of them.
If he couldn't snipe the enemy, sinking ships was also a good option. Destroying an enemy vessel earned 50 Pirate Reputation points.
With that thought, Su Xiao placed his finger on the trigger. The adaptive scope activated at 53x magnification.
Hitting a moving target at over four thousand meters was difficult, but Su Xiao was confident about sinking ships.
Boom!
The entire Donquixote Family villa shook. The bullet left the chamber, this time using standard ammunition.
The bullet tore through the air, creating ripples in the atmosphere. After traveling over four thousand meters, it pierced the front deck of a ship. Splinters flew as the bullet exited through the lower rear of the hull, blasting a hole as thick as a barrel before disappearing into the sea.
The pirates stationed on the ship stared in shock. They had no idea where the attack came from—they hadn't even heard the sound.
The pierced pirate ship slowly began to sink. At this rate, it would be submerged within thirty seconds.
The first ship was sunk, and the Big Mom Pirates didn't pay much attention. But within the next thirty seconds, seven more ships were blasted through.