The small island in the distance became clear soon enough, and the dozen or so warships of the Flower Country quickly formed an attacking formation, driving together and completing the encirclement of the small island in less than half a minute.
After forming their attacking formation, the dozen or so warships contacted each other via Den Den Mushi and began to move closer to the small island ahead.
On the island a mile away, Simon also saw through his binoculars the dozen or so warships slowly approaching in their attacking formation.
The enemy's formation was tight, and they were rapidly closing in on the small island. If there was no resistance, they would be on the island in less than three minutes.
For an average sniper, this distance was almost beyond their shooting range, but for certain talented individuals, such a distance was within their normal sniping range.
Though Simon was alone against a dozen warships with over a thousand enemies, he saw himself as the hunter, and those people as his prey.
Simon checked his magazine; the bullets were loaded properly. He then raised his sniper rifle, scoped in, and began selecting his targets among the figures moving on the decks of the approaching ships.
Soon, he singled out a target—a person dressed in elaborate attire, clearly different from the others on the ship, and judging by the attitude of the crew around him, he held a significant position on board.
"Move quickly! Check the cannonball loading and prepare for landing! You pigs eat so much, yet when it's crucial, you become so sluggish," the young man in elaborate attire bellowed on the deck, berating the busy crew. It was evident to everyone that these crew members were seen as slaves rather than comrades in his eyes.
The Flower Country sailors, busy at work, all cast envious glances at the young man in elaborate attire. Everyone knew he possessed only mediocre abilities, but having a good father arranged him as captain directly, and with just over a year's experience on the ship, he could enter the true ranks of power in the Flower Country.
"If only I had a good father like him," many Flower Country sailors thought.
Suddenly, a red-and-white liquid splattered, and the white bone fragments stained with blood embedded themselves in the surrounding deck. Some of the liquid even splashed onto the faces of nearby sailors who hadn't yet regained their senses.
The young man, who had a decent background and was gilded within the Flower Country navy, fell straight down onto the deck, his body limp on the damp boards, lifeless.
A sailor nearby, busy moving cannonballs, got splattered with blood on his face. He looked at the lifeless body falling to the deck and thought, "This guy is really unlucky."
Next moment, he felt a sharp pain in his head, then everything went black before him. The cannonball in his hand dropped onto the deck and rolled away.
The deaths of three comrades in quick succession put the crew of this ship on high alert. Many entered a defensive stance, searching for the enemy's position behind cover.
With the alarm sounding, other ships also received the message and went into full alert mode.
"Lookout, do you see the enemy's position?" a gunner lying on the deck asked loudly to the lookout on the mast. For them, not knowing the enemy's position was akin to being blind.
"Damn it, that guy is too vigilant. I'm..." the lookout, holding a monocular telescope, was about to speak when, under the gunner's gaze, his entire head, along with the telescope, exploded, and his body fell into the lookout tower.
Clearly, when he discovered the enemy, the enemy also discovered him.
In a flagship-like ship, dozens of pirates were busy loading cannonballs. They were inside the ship's hull, safe from anything except cannon fire.
"Cannon loading complete, prepare to fire!" a gunner, smelling of gunpowder, shouted. Obviously, through Simon's several previous attacks, they had roughly locked onto the enemy's position. Though they didn't know the exact location, covering the area with firepower sufficed.
Meanwhile, from a different vantage point, Simon, observing the approaching ships, felt a bit puzzled. In his experience, pirate ships should have retaliated immediately after being attacked, right?
Could it be that they weren't ordinary pirates?
Just as this thought crossed his mind, dozens of muffled explosions followed by whistling sounds came from afar. Dozens of cannonballs, not very fast, traced an arc and landed near his previous sniping position.
Simon watched these cannonballs land where he had just been.
He finally understood why the enemy hadn't been aggressive after being attacked—they wanted to pinpoint his location and use concentrated firepower to eliminate him. In terms of combat awareness, they were leagues ahead, far beyond those of ordinary pirate crews.
While the cannon fire raged, the ships also began firing towards the island, intending to suppress the terrifying sniper.
Boom!
A cannonball exploded about five meters from Simon's position, billowing thick black smoke. Despite the threat, Simon felt nothing but excitement.