Bellamy's body flowed like water, sometimes flattening paper-thin, sometimes coiling tight like a spring, weaving madly through the lethal downpour of metal. His Observation Haki painted a perfect picture of his surroundings in his mind's eye; not even the slightest shift in air current escaped his senses. He pushed his Paper Arts evasion techniques to their absolute limit.
Bellamy could clearly feel it—caught in this kill zone, his Observation Haki and his mastery of Paper Arts were evolving, sharpening at an unbelievable rate. The speed of this growth far surpassed even the time he'd subjected himself to cannon fire for training. In these few, hellish seconds, his gains in movement, evasion, and sensory perception outstripped months of grueling practice.
No matter how intense the barrage, cannons and rifles eventually needed reloading, needed a pause. After maybe ten or fifteen seconds, the initial furious onslaught would inevitably slacken, if only slightly. But Bellamy knew with chilling certainty: if he was hit even once... Even by a single stray bullet—if his momentum was broken, his perfect balance disrupted for even an instant... The subsequent waves of cannon fire would tear him apart, utterly consuming him. These incredibly brief seconds were, without a doubt, the most perilous moments he had faced since arriving in this world. One mistake, one lapse in concentration, and he would be swallowed by the sea forever.
But Bellamy was no pushover. How many people in this world truly dared to treat their own lives with such reckless abandon? He didn't know when it started, but Bellamy had grown accustomed to this feeling—dancing on the knife's edge of death. The closer death loomed, the calmer, the more focused his mind became. It was a strange, paradoxical state, one that could only be found, never sought. Those who hadn't stared death directly in the face could never truly comprehend the mindset Bellamy now inhabited. This was why Ross could never understand how, no matter the crisis, the Captain could always laugh with such unnerving composure. Bellamy had simply learned to cast aside the concepts of life and death entirely. When life and death cease to matter, fear loses its hold.
Fueled by an almost manic confidence, Bellamy danced and weaved, slipping through gap after gap in the seemingly impenetrable curtain of death.
As the seconds ticked by, some onlookers began to realize something was wrong. "Hey! Look!" someone shouted. The barrage had cycled through at least two full volleys, yet the figure in the sky showed no sign of faltering or falling. "He's... he's getting closer to the fleet!"
As a detached observer, Smoker's perspective was clearer than most caught up in the fray. He began to faintly grasp what Bellamy intended. And more than that—he noticed the growing unrest beneath the waves. A jolt went through Smoker. "Contact HQ immediately! Request all available support from nearby Marine bases! Now! Go!" Smoker's gut screamed at him that something massive, something world-shaking, was about to happen. A dramatic reversal.
"Bellamy!" For the first time, Smoker truly committed the name to memory. If his hunch was right, that name would soon echo across the entire world.
The Smoke Hunter's intuition was spot on. Just as Bellamy finally burst clear of the relentless bombardment, the entire sea area erupted into utter chaos.
The leaders of the Grand Fleet, their attention previously fixed on the aerial target, finally noticed the horrifying change in the water around them. The sea had turned blood red. And beneath the surface, countless shapes were moving with frenzied energy.
"What the hell is that?!" Vinsmoke Yonji stared in disbelief at the crimson sea. His focus had been entirely on Bellamy; he hadn't noticed the ocean's transformation at all. Even as he gaped, a monstrous Sea King erupted from the waves right beside his warship, its massive jaws snapping shut around hundreds of unfortunate Germa clone soldiers lining the deck.
The appearance of this first Sea King seemed to be a signal. Suddenly, the water boiled as countless marine creatures, their eyes glowing red with unnatural hunger and aggression, launched themselves at anything floating on the surface. In the blink of an eye, the entire sea became a swirling vortex of carnage and panic.
Aboard the distant Sea Shark, Drake calmly batted away a few stray cannonballs that came near, then gave a sharp nod to Mia, Muret, and Ross. "Get ready. We prepare to abandon ship on my signal." Saving the ship was impossible now; they all knew it. The battle was about to enter its most chaotic and desperate phase. How they survived from here on out was entirely up to them.
The entire battlefield dissolved into chaos. The Grand Fleet, caught completely off guard by the underwater assault, could no longer focus its attacks solely on Bellamy.
But Bellamy had no intention of pausing his own assault. This chaos was exactly what he had planned for. The nearly thousand ships of the fleet were now packed tightly together, hull-to-hull, leaving virtually no room to maneuver. If not now, when? This was the perfect opportunity.
Just then, Bellamy's Observation Haki registered a new, massive threat surging upwards. A colossal, serpentine Sea King, dozens of meters long, lunged violently from the depths, its jaws gaping wide, aiming to swallow him whole.
"Perfect timing!" Bellamy grinned savagely. With a casual sidestep in mid-air, Bellamy let the massive creature shoot past him, its immense body brushing against his own. The slick, enormous serpent continued its upward trajectory, momentum carrying it high into the sky. Just as gravity began to reclaim it, as it reached the apex of its jump and started to fall... Bellamy moved.
"Nice of you to drop in, snakey. Mind if I borrow your body for a moment?" Bellamy took a deep breath, channeling all his strength. The muscles on his upper body bulged explosively. "Finger Pistol: Steel Talon!" Before the words were even out, he reappeared instantly at the apex beside the falling Sea King's tail. His ten fingers, hardened like steel spears, plunged deep into the creature's thick hide. "Up!" he roared.
Out of the water, marine creatures lost much of their natural advantage and leverage. Especially suspended in mid-air like this, with nothing solid to push against. Despite the Sea King's immense brute strength, Bellamy found he could, with supreme effort, actually lift and control the massive creature. This wasn't the first time Bellamy had manhandled a Sea King in mid-air, but this one was very much alive and thrashing. The creature's instinctive, panicked writhing exerted immense pressure on his grip. The power gap between humans, even enhanced ones, and these true monsters of the sea was still vast.
"Hold still, damn you!" Gripping the thrashing tail tightly, Bellamy swung the colossal serpent violently through the air several times, like cracking a giant whip, stirring the very clouds above. The disorienting, brutal treatment seemed to stun the Sea King into temporary submission.
"That's better. This won't hurt... much," Bellamy grunted. Seeing the creature momentarily subdued, he coiled his body, then unleashed his full strength in a devastating, spinning swing aimed down at the packed fleet below!
"Dragon Snake Rampage!"
There was no finesse, no complex technique—just pure, unadulterated, overwhelming violence, brought crashing down. The colossal body of the Sea King, wielded like a monstrous flail, scythed through the air, smashing across the densely packed ships below. Dozens of vessels—pirate ships, hunter boats, fishing vessels—disintegrated instantly under the titanic impact. Countless pirates aboard those ships didn't even have time to scream before they were obliterated, crushed into pulp by the sheer, unstoppable force.
"I told you!" Bellamy roared triumphantly amidst the destruction. "I'd grind you all into powder!"
And Bellamy always kept his word.