“Clang!!” A piercing metallic clang exploded.
David’s Sea Stone bullet, wrapped in Armament Haki, was crushed by Gern’s single hand, unleashing a wave of air and sparks in his palm before turning to dust.
“He…he blocked it?” A pirate stammered, his voice full of disbelief.
“He…he disarmed my ‘Instant Hell Snipe’ with his bare hands?” David’s smile froze for a moment, his pupils slightly contracting.
Immediately after, his fingers unconsciously caressed the trigger of his golden long gun, but soon, his expression relaxed again.
Because Gern still hadn't counterattacked.
“Heh…” Believing Gern was wary of the Flying Sky Pirates and Golden Lion, David’s lips curled into a smile again, even more brilliant than before, with a hint of madness.
He slowly raised his gun barrel, pointing it towards Gern, his voice drawing out long, “Oh my, why isn’t Lord Heaven Quake making a move?”
He even deliberately cocked his ear, striking an exaggerated listening pose: “Could it be… he’s scared?”
On the Marine ship, Gern slowly lowered his hand, his brow slightly furrowed, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes.
He turned to the Sergeant beside him and quietly asked, “Is this guy… always this brave?”
The Sergeant also looked bewildered, shaking his head: “I’m not sure, but he seems… to not put you in his eyes at all.”
Seeing this, David’s laughter grew more unrestrained.
He put one hand on his hip, the golden long gun slung over his shoulder, and exaggeratedly waved his other hand: “Hey, hey, hey! No way?!”
“The man who ‘Shatters the Sky’ doesn’t even have the courage to shoot me?”
He suddenly flung his coat open, revealing the Flying Sky Pirates flag emblem embroidered on his chest.
“Did you see clearly? This is Fleet Admiral Golden Lion’s flag!” David sneered.
“I’m telling you, go ahead and make a move! Life and death are fated, haha!”
On the Marine ship deck, the Marine soldiers’ fists cracked as they clenched, but Gern remained silent.
David’s smile grew even more sinister.
“What’s wrong? Speechless?” He deliberately tapped his temple with the gun barrel, “Or rather… you know very well that you only managed to injure the Fleet Admiral back then purely by dumb luck?”
Then David suddenly lowered his voice, his tone chilling, “Brat, you think you can challenge the Flying Sky Pirates just because you got a reputation by sneak attacking?”
The sea breeze suddenly stilled.
Gern finally looked up, his eyes terrifyingly calm.
“Are you done talking?”
“What?” David was startled, then burst into laughter: “Finally managed to squeeze out a sentence?”
“David, do you know why I haven’t made a move yet?” Gern slowly raised his right hand, palm facing upwards, as white Tremor particles silently converged.
David scoffed: “Because you’re scared!”
“No, I was just a little curious.” Gern sighed, his gaze returning to David, his tone flat, “Because you’re just a sniper who barely qualifies as proficient in Observation Haki.
You have no Devil Fruit, nor do you have martial arts strong enough to compensate for your shortcomings.
Your bounty of 1.09 billion Berries, at least half of it is thanks to Golden Lion.” Gern’s voice wasn’t loud, but it clearly reached the pirate ship.
David’s smile faltered slightly, but quickly returned to his arrogant demeanor: “Hmph, stop bluffing! Back at G-3 Base, you were just a guy hiding behind Zephyr!”
“And now, the most important thing is…” Gern’s five fingers suddenly clenched!
“You actually dare to provoke an ability user who can also generate tsunamis in the vast ocean?!”
“So, who exactly is tired of living?! It’s so hard to guess, isn’t it?” As Gern finished speaking, David’s smile completely froze.
He seemed to have really forgotten something very important!
“In any case, your courage is commendable.” Gern shook his head, too lazy to waste any more words on him.
He simply slowly raised his hand, palm facing upwards, and white Tremor particles began to gather in his palm, the surrounding air shattering with them.
“Since you’re so eager to die, I’ll grant your wish.”
On the pirate ship, David’s smile finally disappeared completely, replaced by a trace of panic.
“Fire! Full power!” He roared, his golden long gun firing continuously, bullets and cannonballs pouring out like a storm.
However, everything was already too late.
Gern compressed the Tremor particles into an energy ring with his right hand, then directly punched towards David’s pirate ship, causing a seaquake.
In an instant, the air shattered! The next moment, the entire sea area was lifted as if by an invisible giant hand, and towering waves spread wildly outwards from the Marine ship as the center.
The height of the waves instantly exceeded a hundred meters, like a wall of water, crushing down towards the pirate ship.
“Damn!!!” David’s pupils suddenly contracted; his bullets were as tiny as ants before the giant waves, instantly swallowed.
The pirate ship groaned under the impact of the giant waves, unable to bear the strain, and its hull began to disintegrate.
“Run!!” The pirates screamed in terror, but in this sea area dominated by Tremor, they had nowhere to escape.
The moment the giant wave crashed down, the pirate ship was torn to shreds like paper.
David’s figure suddenly shot up, his coat tracing a dazzling arc in the sunlight.
He ascended using Moonwalk, the golden long gun twirling in his hand, forming a deadly gun flourish.
This was the sniper’s final, desperate struggle.
“Sorry, this isn’t land, and you didn’t eat a Teleportation Fruit.”
Gern’s hands had, at some point, formed a pistol gesture, the pale particles dancing at his fingertips twisting the air into spiral ripples.
“Moreover, when a sniper’s Observation Haki is weaker than the opponent’s…” He tilted his head slightly, a cold arc forming on his lips, “That means you have no other means! Especially… in the vast ocean with no landing point.”
“Am I right?! David.”
“Bang!” With a soft, sigh-like onomatopoeia mimicked by Gern, ten spiral Tremor waves ripped through the sky.
David’s pupils suddenly constricted; those pale rays, imbued with high-frequency Tremor, shot directly through his body!
“Pfft!” As the first Tremor wave pierced his right shoulder, David heard the crisp sound of his collarbone shattering.
Then came his left knee, right wrist, lumbar spine… every joint burst into a spray of blood under the precise particle shots.
In an instant, David’s body was like a puppet controlled by invisible threads, twitching and twisting eerily in the air with the Tremor rays.
“This… this is… Heaven Quake…” The golden long gun slipped from his spasming fingers.
The exquisite carvings on the gun barrel shone one last time in the sunlight before being swallowed by the greedy waves.
David watched his spurting blood paint a tragic arc across the clear blue sky.
He suddenly remembered his Fleet Admiral’s drunken words at a banquet many years ago:
“The reason I don’t fight Newgate, besides not being able to beat him, is more because of provoking the Tremor-Tremor Fruit on the open sea.
I can fly, so I’m fine, but for you guys. Heh… you can only jump into the sea to feed the fish…”
“Heh, now Heaven Quake is the same! Damn Nature Type.”
Before his last consciousness dissipated, he heard Gern’s murmur, carried by the wind: “The death knell tolls for you.”
........
After the waves subsided, only a wreckage and a few struggling pirates remained on the sea surface.
Gern stood at the bow of the Marine ship, his gaze coldly sweeping over everything.
“It’s over,” he said indifferently.
“Rear Admiral Gern.” The Sergeant swallowed, carefully asking, “Should… should we capture the survivors?”
Gern shook his head: “No need, he won’t survive.” With that, he turned and walked towards the cabin, as if everything that had just happened was a trivial matter he’d done casually.
The Marine ship slowly sailed away from this sea area, leaving behind only shattered wreckage and a gradually calming sea surface.
