Chapter 33: Only Bombing Those Fated
Crimson flames blazed along the coastline, illuminating the nearshore waters of Dressrosa in a fiery red, with the area near the explosion point as bright as daylight.
Terrified civilians were jolted awake by the blast. They stood dumbfounded at their windows, staring at the scene along the shore.
In the nearshore waters, several large ships were rapidly retreating from Dressrosa's waters. Katakuri stood at the stern of one ship, his expression grim.
Before Apollo was hurled toward the shore, Katakuri had foreseen this scene. He immediately ordered a retreat, but it was too late. He could only watch helplessly as countless ships and subordinates were vaporized by the high temperatures.
"Ka... Katakuri-sama, should we... continue attacking here?"
A pirate captain stood behind Katakuri, his exposed skin covered in large burns. A moment before Apollo's explosion, he had been about 300 meters from the epicenter. Even so, the spreading heat at the edge had nearly burned him to death.
"We... must take this place."
Katakuri's fists clenched, cracking audibly. The war had reached a point where it was no longer a simple matter of profit but one of face.
For a top-tier pirate crew like the Big Mom Pirates, they could afford to be slashed by an enemy, but they could never afford to be slapped in the face.
The Big Mom Pirates controlled nearly a fifth of the islands in the New World, with vast territories. Naturally, they couldn't station pirates on every island. At most, they left their flag behind to let enemies know it was Charlotte Linlin's territory.
If their face was damaged, the deterrent power of these flags would plummet, and they might even face attacks from reckless rookie pirates.
Charlotte Perospero had died in the sea battle. Charlotte Cracker had died in Dressrosa. Countless ordinary pirates had perished in this war, and the renowned Katakuri had been driven back.
At this point in the war, it was no longer something that could be resolved by one side simply surrendering. The Don Quixote Family couldn't retreat—retreat meant annihilation. The Big Mom Pirates couldn't retreat either—retreat meant losing face and threatening their territories.
In truth, neither side wanted to continue the war, but neither could stop. The war had become unstoppable.
Either the Don Quixote Family would be wiped out, or the Big Mom Pirates would suffer heavy losses and temporarily hole up in Totto Land.
Charlotte Linlin was, after all, an Emperor. To eliminate her, the Don Quixote Family's strength was absolutely insufficient.
The reason the fighting had reached this level was mainly because Charlotte Linlin couldn't set foot on Dressrosa. Kaido and Shanks were both restraining her—the former for profit, the latter for stability.
Don't think Shanks was a carefree pirate. To sit on the Emperor's throne, he must have his own exceptional qualities. Even Whitebeard wouldn't underestimate Shanks' Haki.
Of course, besides fighting to the death, both sides could also reach a settlement through negotiation, provided one side offered substantial compensation. Given the current situation, neither side would choose reconciliation.
The fleet led by Katakuri retreated far away. Until they gathered intelligence on Apollo, they wouldn't launch another large-scale attack. At most, they would send small squads to harass.
Just as the Big Mom Pirates withdrew, a small submarine surfaced from the sea. It wasn't a true submarine in the strict sense—it was more like a small boat that could dive underwater.
Two figures emerged from the small submarine. They observed the coastline through binoculars and took out a camera Den Den Mushi to record. Den Den Mushi were a very peculiar creature in the pirate world. Their physiology allowed them to facilitate long-distance communication as well as project and record images.
After recording the scene along the coast, the two figures quickly re-entered the small submarine. The hatch closed, and the submarine sank into the sea as if it had never appeared.
A full half-hour passed, yet flames still burned along the coast. Large patches of sand had been vitrified by the high heat, shimmering beautifully under the moonlight.
Dragging the sun down to the ground—this was the original vision of Apollo's creator. This idea was absurd. Setting aside whether it was even possible, if the sun were truly pulled close to a planet, it wouldn't just burn one or two planets to ashes.
The second-generation developer didn't inherit the first-generation's ideas. He knew dragging down the sun was too ridiculous, but this madman intended to create an artificial sun.
After this idea emerged, the second-generation developer died half a month later, killed in a massive explosion.
The subsequent generations of developers either died in explosions or from radiation. After more than thirty generations of development, one developer came up with an idea: why be obsessed with an artificial sun? Why not use fragments of the sun to forge a sun?
Clearly, this was the most successful idea in the creation of Apollo, bar none. Compared to the dozens of previous developers, this one died the most gloriously—he was killed by a semi-finished Apollo that was too unstable.
His successor focused on stabilizing Apollo, reducing its original explosion diameter of fifty kilometers to half a kilometer and extending the activation time. From then on, Apollo truly became stable.
To create Apollo, a total of 267 alchemists sacrificed their lives, three cities were leveled, and over 200,000 people were killed or injured. In the later stages, researching Apollo became taboo.
Through countless hardships, Apollo was finally created. But the Apollo Su Xiao now produced was not as powerful as the original vision.
Su Xiao was well aware of this, but expanding Apollo's explosion radius was extremely difficult, especially while ensuring it remained stable enough.
Su Xiao could at most produce an Apollo with an explosion radius of about five kilometers. But with his current level of alchemy, he would never attempt such an Apollo. Even during the manufacturing process, it could explode.
Su Xiao needed Apollo to be sufficiently stable. Expanding the explosion radius while maintaining structural stability was nearly impossible.
Warm night breeze blew through the window. Su Xiao closed it. He hadn't expected Doflamingo to use Apollo so quickly. This situation could only mean one thing: the Don Quixote Family's casualties were so severe that they no longer wished to engage in large-scale war with the Big Mom Pirates.
As Su Xiao was pondering, the door was knocked on loudly. Amu got up to open it. It was Jack.
Jack strode into the room without ceremony, his expression displeased.
"Is this the special type of bomb?"
Jack seemed to have just woken up. There was a large clump of sleep crust at the corner of his eye. Seeing this, Bubu Wang instinctively stepped back a few paces.
"That's right. It's a weapon I developed recently. This time was a test explosion."
"..."
Jack's eyes widened in anger. He tore off the black bear fur cloak from his back, revealing his muscular back covered in burn scars—a gruesome sight.
"The Navy once dropped one of these on the island I was stationed on. The color of this flame... there's no mistake."
The situation became extremely awkward. Jack had actually been bombed by Apollo before, and judging by his expression, it had left him with an unforgettable memory.
Old Brother Jack was also unlucky. He had "tasted" both types of bombs Su Xiao made. One had left him lying on the seabed for over half a month, and the other had burned him crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
PS: (The next five chapters will be released soon.)