Chapter 237: The Fall of Hachinosu

The three Vice Admirals on the island sensed a surge of overwhelming power from above and rushed outside, looking up at the sky.

“What in the world is that?”

“Why does it look like a black sun up there?”

“This is bad, that’s Karl’s attack! Hurry, call for backup!”

Jeremy, a Vice Admiral who’d fought at God Valley before, instantly recognized Karl’s Doomsday Cannon and reacted without hesitation.

At Jeremy’s urgent shout, the communications officer immediately dialed the Den Den Mushi. “Brrrr… Brrrr…!”

“Damn it, there’s not enough time,” Jeremy said in despair.

He was right. That mass of black energy streaked toward the island at terrifying speed.

The others barely had time to process what was happening before the entire Hachinosu vanished from the sea. All that remained was a massive whirlpool on the ocean surface, proof that an island had once existed there.

In his final moments, the communications officer managed to send one last, broken transmission: “He… zzzt…”

When the other three islands received the distress signal, they immediately began boarding their ships and set sail for Hachinosu.

“Let’s hope we’re not too late.”

“Yeah, this time we couldn’t even get a complete message—was it Karl’s doing?”

Back when Charlotte Linlin attacked, at least there was time to send a proper SOS.

But now, only a single word made it through. That alone was enough to make their hearts sink.

They hurried as fast as they could. Only by reaching Hachinosu in time could they have any hope of saving the Navy stationed there. Little did they know, Hachinosu was already gone.

Karl, meanwhile, didn’t pause to celebrate or even hesitate. He moved with blinding speed, and in just half an hour made it to another island—where he unleashed another Doomsday Cannon. In less than two hours, the other three islands met the same fate, swallowed by the sea.

When he was finished, Karl waved a hand in satisfaction, surveying the vanished islands. Then he took off toward North Blue.

“Didn’t expect Garp and Sengoku not to be there… Guess I’ll let them off this time.”

He didn’t care how many navy lives those attacks had taken. That wasn’t his concern.

Right now, he and the Navy were on opposite sides. Neither one would hold back in a fight. If anything, that was its own form of respect.

When the Navy detachments from the other three islands reached Hachinosu, all they could do was stare at each other in shock.

“Operator, are you sure this is Hachinosu?” Cook asked, stunned. He couldn’t wrap his head around it. Could the navigator have led them astray?

But seeing the other nearby warships, it seemed impossible that all three fleets’ navigators could make the same mistake.

The navigator dashed over, clutching a spinning Log Pose.

The grim look on the navigator’s face made Cook’s gut twist. When the navigator spoke, it shattered any last trace of hope.

“Reporting, Vice Admiral Cook! This right here is Hachinosu.”

“We’ve already sent men down to investigate. News should be coming soon.”

It felt like lightning struck Cook—he couldn’t even process that Hachinosu had sunk with no warning. Did that mean Jeremy and the others might be dead?

Even the navigator was struggling to accept the truth. If he couldn’t, how could Cook?

He returned to the deck, waiting anxiously for the divers to report.

At the same time, the other two squadrons arrived. Vice Admiral Pet and Vice Admiral Hall led their teams, and four more Vice Admirals came along. The three Navy fleets quickly lined up alongside each other.

Pet and his group boarded Cook’s ship, heading his way.

“Cook, did you notice anything strange?”

“Could we have come to the wrong place?” Pet asked in disbelief, still struggling to accept that this spot was supposed to be Hachinosu.

Because if it was, that could only mean Hachinosu had sunk beneath the waves.

It was simply unthinkable. How could something so absurd happen?

From the moment they’d received the call to arriving here was barely three hours.

Hadn’t Hachinosu put up any resistance at all in that short time?

For it to go under just like that… Was Golden Lion behind this?

“Cook, say something!”

“You got here first, didn’t you check the area?”

Getting snapped out of his daze by Hall’s anxious shout, Cook rushed to the front of the deck, ignoring their questions.

Pet and Hall exchanged worried glances, not sure what was going on, but followed Cook anyway after seeing how shaken he looked.

Up on deck, a Navy diver, with the help of shipmates, clambered out of the water.

As soon as he pulled off his breathing mask, despair washed over everyone. “The sea… right under us… that’s where Hachinosu is.”

“The entire island’s sunk hundreds of meters underwater.”

“There’s a giant hole in the middle. Some kind of unknown energy must have blasted straight through the island.”

His voice trembled, growing choked with emotion. “All I saw were… body parts—”

He was right. When he went down, he’d seen the broken bodies of their fellow Navy soldiers floating everywhere, their torn uniforms unmistakable. This place truly was Hachinosu. The dead were their comrades.

“Uhh… uhh…”

Cook, just reaching the scene, heard the shocking report and covered his face, sobbing uncontrollably.

“I can’t believe this! How could something like this happen?” Julian, one of the three Vice Admirals stationed with Cook at Punk Hazard, was stunned.

His face was twisted with disbelief after hearing the news.

“Splash!”

Without another word, he dove straight into the sea.

It set off a chain reaction—Navy soldiers everywhere jumped in after him, even Pet, Hall, and the rest. They had to see for themselves if it was true.

Sure enough, what they saw underwater was exactly as described, if not even worse. Uncountable body parts drifted everywhere, while hordes of carnivorous sea creatures feasted on the remains.

The gaping hole in the middle of Hachinosu took up seventy to eighty percent of the island’s area. The terrifying attack had completely shattered its foundation, causing it to sink beneath the sea.

“Boom!”

A deafening roar erupted right next to Cook.

Everyone looked up. He’d punched a shark that was gnawing on a severed arm, blowing it to pieces.

Other Navy officers started attacking too, killing the carnivorous fish and gathering their fallen comrades’ remains.

They would never let their comrades be eaten just like that.

After driving off the sharks, Cook, Pet, Hall, and the others climbed aboard their ships again to discuss what to do next.

“This is far too serious. We have to report this to Navy Headquarters.”

“Yeah, things are out of control. We need orders from HQ.”

“All right,” Cook agreed, seeing that everyone was of the same mind. He called over a sailor, grabbed the Den Den Mushi, and dialed Fleet Admiral Kong at Navy Headquarters.