The ship had continued to be bombarded from much further away which had caused those on board to avoid anything coming their way.
Defending the ship had started to turn into preserving their own lives.
Each of their efforts had been fully put into avoiding any cannonballs and preventing those around them from being hit too.
The Observation Haki of Pixel had been stretched out around her as her body moved through the deck of the ship.
A small jump was taken as her body rotated and her tail had hit the cannonball. "Iron Tail!"
A thin layer of Armament Haki had surrounded her tail which had further strengthened it.
The tail came around and collided with the cannonball just in time for it to be diverted from its previous path.
Just behind Pixel was where Felice had been moving around a little despite being injured.
Felice had a look of relief on her face as she looked towards the back of Pixel that moved away leaving behind an afterimage. 'That was so close..'
The force of the tail swing of Pixel had pushed the cannonball further away from the ship and falling into the sea.
She made no pause in her movements as she had appeared once again near Misty then performed a forward flip.
Her tail was brought down towards the cannonball that had been on its way towards Misty which had sent it down through the deck of the ship.
Maintaining the ship had started to become less of a priority when the cannon fire had kept coming and was far more effective than before.
The ship had taken on too much damage and water so it would be sunk into the sea even if they all continued to put their full efforts into defending it.
It was best to keep themselves safe and to think of another way to handle the current crisis.
The more damage that was taken, the slower the movements of the ship had become.
The slower the movements of the ship, the closer it was to completely coming to a halt and sinking into the sea.
The water had started to reach the ankles of each of the Minks when they all suddenly started to destroy parts of the ship themselves.
The deck was broken through and they went deeper into the ship where it had been flooded before swimming down further inside.
Any signs of life had started to disappear from the sight of the Marines and some time had passed before the Marine ships had started to close in on and circle around the area.
They searched for any signs of life around the ship wreckage but found only damaged ship parts and pieces of the cargo that had floated back up.
They were closing in on the wreckage when Captain Fry sudden gave the order. "Aim for the main part of the wreckage and underneath the water just to be safe."
He knew that since there had been no bodies found yet then there was still a chance of there being survivors among the enemies.
Any floating debris that could potentially be used to keep afloat or to hide themselves had been targeted by gunfire and cannon fire upon his order being given.
If the enemy was still alive and was waiting for an opportunity then Captain Fry would not leave such a possibility to happen.
If he did leave such a possibility to happen then all his previous efforts and strategies would have gone to waste resulting in the advantages that they had to suddenly be lost in one single moment of poor judgement.
Captain Fry was experienced in sea combat and was a firm believer in using what was available to him to achieve his mission even if there were extra costs and weaponry used up.
If he could prevent any future mishaps, reduce the damage to his own ships and reduce the number of casualties on his side then the amount of cannon balls, bullets and gun powder used up would be worth it.
The funds and equipment could always be gained from the headquarters but it would be much more difficult to replace the men and women that were under him.
It would be far more difficult to get more somewhat capable or talented people that were completely loyal to him by recruiting from the locals on the island or by having some sent to his location.
His strict ways had earned the respect of everyone around him as he ruthlessly crushed many criminals at sea and his success rate had got him some achievements under his name enough to cover up for his usual wasted resources.
Some may have seen his methods as wasteful and going overboard but his success rate over his failures had proven his methods to be effective so the higher ups were willing to cover the expenses for his ways.
If someone was worth supporting and gave good results then it was hard to argue against it.
There were always other cases where funds had been reduced or had not been enough to cover bases which resulted in the bases increasing their failure rates and even being removed in some worst cases.
The remaining wreckage was targeted and was torn apart into smaller pieces as the water splashed around from the impacts.
No blood or bodies had been seen which had given some signs that the sea could have already swallowed them up leaving nothing behind.