One Piece Gunslinger

Therefore, in the end, the only way out is to carry out a stealthy assassination.

To carry out an assassination, the first step is inevitably to get close to the Celestial Dragons. How to get close to the Celestial Dragons has always been a problem that has troubled Li Ang.

However, the arrival of the One-Eyed Pirates has undoubtedly solved this first step in an instant. As long as they can command this group of idiots to block the Celestial Dragons' path, a conflict between the two sides is inevitable.

Naturally, this rabble could not pose any threat, but Li Ang did not expect them to do any harm to the navy. It would be good if they could hold out for a few minutes before being wiped out.

After that, Li Ang could use those chaotic few minutes to subtly plot his attack. Amidst the annihilation of the One-Eyed Pirates' rabble, he could quietly board the Celestial Dragons' ship. Only then could he proceed with his next move.

As for Leon only letting Tyr know of his existence, while avoiding the sight of the lowly soldiers, it was also a precaution, making it easier to discard him later after he had served his purpose. He would eliminate Tyr before infiltrating.

By letting more people see the two, they would have to kill even more people to silence them. After all, Li Ang wasn't sure if this group would all die at the hands of the navy.

If the Navy were to capture a few prisoners and interrogate them, wouldn't Leon and Hancock be exposed? Even if the pirates didn't recognize them, the Navy could conclude that someone had deliberately approached the Celestial Dragons. This would lead to increased security, or even notification to Navy Headquarters, which would be extremely bad for the two of them.

Shortly after arriving at the designated location, Li Ang, who was hiding in the captain's cabin, received the message he wanted: "Captain Tyr, there are several naval warships ahead. Let's run!"

It seems that even a bunch of mentally challenged crew members know to run away when they see a naval warship.

However, Li Ang would not let them have their way. If they ran away, how could they assassinate the Celestial Dragons? So they absolutely could not run away. Not only could they not run away, but they had to go straight to meet them.

"Don't...don't be afraid. We're the biggest pirate crew in the West Blue now. Just because other pirate crews can't rob the Marines doesn't mean we can't. After we finish this job, we'll head to the Grand Line," Tyr replied, though his voice trembled and lacked credibility.

Nonsense, that was definitely not his intention. He usually couldn't even keep up with the navy, let alone think about attacking them. This was obviously instigated by Li Ang.

"Um, but Captain, why is your voice trembling a little?" the pirate asked curiously.

"I'm not afraid, who said I'm afraid..." Well, this unexpected confession almost ruined Li Ang's plan, but Li Ang reacted quickly, grabbing his neck and continuing the conversation for him.

"I'm so excited! If we pull off this job, our pirate crew will be famous throughout the world. When we enter the Grand Line, everyone will have to give us some face. Just thinking about it makes me so excited, my voice is even changing." Although Li Ang tried his best to imitate, he was not a professional after all, and there were still some differences in his voice, but this was enough to fool him.

"Now, let's go full speed ahead and wipe out those damned naval forces."

These pirates are so easy to fool. With just a few words, Li Ang successfully inspired their suicidal thoughts, and they charged towards the navy with a roar.

After fooling the pirate away, Tyr cautiously asked, "Um, you see, I'm useless now. Can you let me go?"

He finally saw it. He hadn't understood Li Ang and the others' purpose before, but now that the pirate crew was charging towards the Navy, how could they possibly survive? It seemed that the pirate crew he had worked so hard to build was going to be destroyed today.

However, if Tyr can raise one pirate crew, he can build a second. As long as he can sneak away today before the pirate crew and the Navy clash directly.

“Yes, you’re no longer of any use to me,” Li Ang said, then knocked Tyr unconscious from behind.

Unfortunately, Li Ang wouldn't give him that chance. After confirming that a fight was inevitable on this ship and that there was no way to turn around, all that was left was to figure out how to get rid of this donkey.

Slitting his throat directly won't work; there's a need to be strategic in how to eliminate Tyr. The Navy will certainly be on high alert regarding the attack on the Celestial Dragons.

Li Ang dared not gamble that there were no intelligent people among the escorting navy. If a particularly wise person appeared, and some clues were discovered, it was not impossible to deduce that this incident was deliberately orchestrated.

Li Ang put himself in Li Ang's shoes and considered the situation from Li Ang's perspective.

As a vice admiral in the Navy, I was escorting two very important Celestial Dragons when we were attacked by a group of pirates on the way. As the person in charge, I was definitely on edge.

Then I realized this group of pirates was no match for me; they were just a bunch of oddballs, nothing to fear. Did I feel a little relieved after that? Yes. But only a little. Although there's no shortage of idiotic pirates on this sea, I've also encountered quite a few experienced, older marines.

But if I were the clever (and suspicious) "me", I certainly wouldn't have drawn such a simple conclusion. I would have investigated further, starting with questioning the prisoners.

Don't expect these idiot pirates to keep their mouths shut. By asking them, you can learn from the prisoners that this was an order given by Captain One-Eyed Tyr.

Then "I" will ask, "Where is that Captain Tyr?" Then a subordinate navy officer will inform me that the captain is dead.

"How did he die? Who killed him?" That was the next question. Then the flaw appeared, because Tyr was killed by two assassins, so "I" asked the entire army and all the prisoners, but I still couldn't figure it out.

Once "I" have gone through layers of investigation and discovered the information at this level, I will quickly draw a conclusion. Anything abnormal is suspicious, and someone else killed the captain. The captain was very likely being manipulated; this is a conspiracy against the Celestial Dragons.

I will definitely order a full-scale search and martial law, and also notify the Navy Headquarters, eventually capturing the two assassins and successfully completing the mission.

Therefore, in order to prevent any potentially clever individuals in the navy from deducing the truth through this chain of events, Li Ang had to break the chain in the middle, leaving no trace.

However, as long as the question of "when and who killed him" in the chain is solved, the flaws can be patched up and the chain can be successfully broken.

In other words, Leon and Hancock cannot directly kill the one-eyed Tyr; they must let the Navy get to know him personally.

Therefore, Leon can't infiltrate with Hancock yet; they need to deal with this problem first.

However, opportunity always favors the prepared. Since Li Ang had already considered this problem, he naturally came up with a solution. Before long, the opportunity presented itself.

In naval battles, gunfire is always inevitable. No matter how the people on board fight, the ships will engage in combat before they even get close.

As the pirate ship approached the navy, it was also engaged in a fierce artillery exchange with them. However, the pirates' aim was far inferior to that of the navy warships, and the damage inflicted by both sides was disproportionate.

"Now is the time." Li Ang had been fully utilizing his Observation Haki, waiting for this opportunity.

With a gentle toss, Leon tossed Tyr's unconscious body out of the captain's cabin, just as a cannonball from the opposite side whistled towards the captain's cabin door.

What Li Ang grasped most precisely at this moment was that no one actually saw this scene; the pirates' attention was focused elsewhere. This was precisely the key point Li Ang had been observing with his Observation Haki.

"boom!"

Excellent, right on target.

Li Ang quickly seized the opportunity to shout, "The captain has been hit by a cannon!"

This provided the prisoners with proof that their Captain Tyre had been killed by the navy.

Then Leon didn't linger. With Tyr dead, morale would plummet, and the crew wouldn't last two minutes. He quickly avoided the pirates' sight with Hancock, making their way to the back of the deck through a gap created by cannon fire behind the captain's cabin.

There are few pirates in this place, and it's also blocked by ships, so the navy can't see it either. It's a great place to go to sea.

"What? You mean jumping into the sea?" Hancock was completely taken aback when she heard that she was going to jump. "You didn't mention jumping into the sea in the plan!"

Chapter 289 Underwater

No wonder Hancock looked so bewildered. These Devil Fruit users can't swim, and both of them are Devil Fruit users; jumping in would be tantamount to suicide.

Well, the main problem is that Li Ang's extraordinary spatial storage ability led Hancock to believe he was also a Devil Fruit user. Li Ang never explained this, so Hancock naturally assumed he'd lost his mind.

The plan Leon had told Hancock was to infiltrate the pirate ship using this vessel, though he hadn't specified how. Hancock naturally assumed it was a matter of playing it by ear, since no one knew what the battlefield situation would be like.

However, Li Ang reacted incredibly quickly, understanding Hancock's concerns in the blink of an eye. But there was no time to explain now, so he could only focus on the key point and say, "I'm not a Devil Fruit user. In a moment, take a deep breath, and I'll count to three before you jump."

Without waiting for Hancock's reaction, Leon immediately finished counting to three, then pulled Hancock down and jumped.

Why did they make Hancock take a deep breath? Because what followed wasn't swimming, but diving. This was how Leon approached the Celestial Dragons' ships: swimming underwater and then diving in through the hull.

This put Hancock in a difficult position, as she wasn't mentally prepared at all. Since becoming a Devil Fruit user, she hadn't touched water deeper than a bathtub in years. She had a significant psychological aversion to jumping into the sea, and if Leon hadn't pulled her back, she wouldn't have jumped in at all.

However, this leads to a problem: if you encounter something that has always frightened you under such unprepared and tense circumstances, you will definitely feel a little panicked. Unless you are like Li Ang, with a valve that locks down your emotions.

Clearly, Hancock does not have this feature.

And so the unexpected happened. After being pulled into the water by Leon, Hancock couldn't help but struggle in a panic. This instinctive movement caused Leon a little trouble. She even accidentally hit Leon in the chaos.

This almost forced the air out of Li Ang's lungs. Although Li Ang endured the pain and managed to hold the air back, it caused Hancock to slip from his grasp, and Hancock, now separated from Li Ang, could only sink downwards in the water.

Misfortunes never come singly. Just as Li Ang was about to reach out and grab Hancock again, a naval shell landed nearby. Although it didn't harm either of them, the resulting surge of water separated Li Ang and Hancock even further. Hancock was thrown even deeper into the water by the impact.

Hancock was already panicked enough when she fell into the water, but then she accidentally dropped it, making her even more panicked. Now, she was thrown even deeper by the impact of the cannonball, and she was barely recognizable as a human. Her first instinct was to call for help.

However, this was underwater, and Hancock choked on a mouthful of water as soon as she opened her mouth, also exhaling a lot of air.

This is extremely bad. Whether it's vigorous movement in the water or the Luffy time-out, it will all be a pointless drain on oxygen. If this continues, the two of them will never be able to get close to the Celestial Dragons' ship underwater.

Unable to communicate with Hancock in the water, Li Ang could only give her a reassuring look, then cross his arms in front of his chest to signal to stop, while simultaneously swinging his legs toward Hancock below.

Panic-driven commands only make things worse, and haphazard struggles might only drag them deeper. Only by trying to calm Hancock down through these methods can Leon approach and pull her up; if the previous situation were to repeat itself, there would be no saving her.

Fortunately, Hancock calmed down afterward and stopped moving around. Instead, she extended a hand towards Li Ang. It's unclear whether Li Ang's look and gesture conveyed his meaning or if Hancock understood on her own.

Leon immediately grabbed Hancock's hand, pulled her up to his own height, and placed the hand he was holding on his other side of his waist. After doing this, he pointed to his back.

The meaning is self-evident: to have Hancock lie on top of him and grab his sides so that Leon could free his hands and feet and swim across the water quickly.

Hancock quickly realized that since she couldn't swim, the only option was for Leon to carry her there. However, she still resisted making that move.

Seeing that Hancock didn't immediately grab him, Leon hurriedly and anxiously began to make hand gestures.

Li Ang had anticipated this possibility, so he only had Hancock hold onto his clothes around her waist, rather than letting her press against his back and hug him. There was enough distance between them. He had clearly considered Hancock's personality quite a bit. But even so, it seems that Hancock couldn't bring herself to grab him readily.

When Hancock saw Leon anxiously giving her signals and gesturing, and remembering how much she had endured before, she gritted her teeth and decided that she didn't care about anything else in order to kill the Celestial Dragons with her own hands.

Li Ang saw Hancock display a tragic expression. Just as he was wondering what was so tragic about it, he immediately felt Hancock's hands on his chest, and she hugged him tightly.

This is why normal communication is impossible underwater; the message Leon conveyed was interpreted differently by Hancock. No wonder she resisted so much. It's not just the Empress; any normal woman would resist.

Seeing this, Leon could only go along with it; he couldn't waste any more time correcting Hancock's movements. The two of them had been down for over half a minute and were still in the same spot. He had to hurry and swim over.

Although the Guinness World Record for breath-holding is twenty minutes, and both of them are clearly much physically stronger, they still need to exert themselves. Li Ang, as the rider, expends a lot of energy, and Hancock has also wasted a lot of air. Under these conditions, they can probably only hold their breath for about five or six minutes.

Thanks to the previous accident, the two are now deep enough to see the bottom of the ship, which saves them the trouble of diving.

However, this also meant that he couldn't choose to go back to the surface to take another breath before coming down, as that would waste a lot of time. Li Ang had to sneak in before the battle ended.

So, there's another way: go for a swim.

It sounds easy, and Li Ang had thought shooting would be easy too. However, it was not the case at all. This stretch of road was not only not easy, but Li Ang felt exhausted after only swimming for a minute.

All of Li Ang's plans and experience were based on the premise that he was alone. However, the point was that he could swim even if he carried more than 100 pounds of goods. The point was that the person he was carrying was Hancock.

As we all know, swimming is a full-body exercise. Since it's a full-body exercise, Li Ang would occasionally feel two soft objects rubbing against his back. This strange, unprecedented sensation severely affected Li Ang's brain.

This is absolutely terrible.

Fortunately, the two were separated by two rough cloth garments, otherwise Li Ang would have been unable to fight long ago.

In the past, this kind of good fortune wouldn't have bothered Li Ang at all. Even if they were naked, let alone through clothes, it wouldn't have affected him. However, ever since Hancock pried open a small crack in the valve, while Li Ang could remain calm in other aspects, he couldn't resist Hancock's charm when facing her. He was always affected.

Even if Li Ang could suppress this strange feeling, it would still take a toll on his energy. Furthermore, he would have to be fully alert, constantly watching out for any shells that might land nearby. It would be no wonder he was mentally exhausted.

"Although I will definitely need to unlock this lock in the future, please give it some strength now! Suppress this."

As Li Ang struggled with himself while dodging the cannonballs fired from both sides, he gradually arrived below the naval fleet.

“Four ships have the same hull, so they are probably naval warships. The middle ship doesn’t have seastone on its hull, so it must be a Celestial Dragon’s ship.” Li Ang found the target very easily.

However, having come this far, Li Ang was practically exhausted. The torment he had endured along the way was unbearable for most people. Those short three minutes felt like three years to Li Ang.

At this moment, Li Ang also sensed that the pirates' artillery fire was becoming increasingly sparse, and it seemed that they would not be able to hold out for long.

This is not good news. Once the cannon fire stops and the battle ends, Li Ang will no longer have a chance to board the Celestial Dragons' ship. He will have to abandon this plan and instead infiltrate the Golden City to figure out a way to proceed.

Some might think that now that the battle is over, the Navy should clean up the battlefield and interrogate any surviving pirates. If that's the case, there's plenty of time. Of course, it's also possible that the Navy will choose not to take prisoners, not clean up the battlefield, and simply set sail and leave. That's also a possibility.

However, this was not the case. The end of the battle meant the absence of artillery fire to mask Leon's infiltration. No enemy was drawing the attention of the entire navy. Under these circumstances, it would have been virtually impossible for Leon to infiltrate undetected.

Fortunately, once they were beneath the naval fleet, they no longer needed to worry about cannonballs falling overhead. Li Ang benefited from this and was able to increase his speed.