Starting from One Piece: Multiverse Simulation

A tall, perfectly developed young girl expressed her desire to see you fire a cannon. What would you do in this situation?

Wood silently loaded the black cannonball into the barrel and began adjusting the cannon's angle.

Of all the things to be questioned on, his cannon-firing skills? There was no way he could let that slide!

"I won't argue about anything else, but perhaps you don't know—I'm known as the 'Cannon King' back where I'm from! The cannonballs I fire are not only powerful and have long range, but they can also hit with pinpoint accuracy."

Seeing Wood confidently operating the cannon, Gion looked surprised, wondering if he really was a professional.

"Boom——!"

As the cannon barrel once again spewed flames, the black cannonball followed a parabolic trajectory, eventually crashing to the ground and leaving behind a medium-sized crater as it exploded.

"Pfft! So this is the skill of the 'Cannon King'? Seems pretty average to me."

The small flag atop the mound continued to wave stubbornly in the wind, as if mocking the two of them. Seeing where the cannonball had landed, Gion, who had been serious just moments before, couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Wood had boasted so convincingly that she almost believed he was an expert.

But this shot landed just as far off the mark as hers had—maybe even further. It certainly wasn't much of an improvement over her previous attempts.

"What are you laughing at? Sure, I didn't hit the target this time, but I was only off by a little more than thirty meters. My first shot was already better than your twenty practice shots—how is that not impressive?"

Having his cannon-firing skills mocked, even someone as thick-skinned as Wood couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

Without saying a word, Wood quietly loaded another cannonball, preparing to fire a few more shots while the iron was hot.

It wasn't about the test score anymore—it was about his dignity as a man. Wood felt it necessary to prove that his cannon-firing skills weren't just for show!

However, just as Wood was about to fire again, Gion stopped him. It wasn't that she didn't want to see him prove himself, but they were running low on ammunition.

Although the test only counted the scores from three shots, unlike the rifle shooting test, the cannon test included a "calibration" phase.

This meant that before each shot, every group had two chances to fire practice shots for calibration, with the best of the three counted as the final score.

The test only required three shots, but they needed a total of nine cannonballs for the process.

Of course, if they were confident enough, they could skip the calibration and fire three shots directly for their score.

However, Gion believed that with her and Wood's current skill level, skipping calibration would almost certainly lead to failure.

Each group had been allotted forty cannonballs. Gion had already fired thirty, Wood had fired one, leaving them with the bare minimum of nine cannonballs...

"I protest! This isn't fair! Why did you get to fire thirty shots, and now I've only fired one and can't shoot anymore?" Wood argued.

"I already told you, we need at least nine shots for the test, and your aim is so bad that more practice would just be a waste of ammo," Gion retorted with righteous indignation.

"You've got some nerve saying my aim is bad... most of the cannonballs were wasted by you. Just look at all these craters—are you planning to plant trees or something?"

The instructor had been observing Wood and Gion's group the entire time. Initially, the two seemed to work together in perfect harmony, with their loading speed and overall coordination outshining the other groups. The instructor even thought they might make a good team.

However, as he continued to watch, the colonel began to feel speechless. Both Gion and Wood's cannon-firing skills were absolutely atrocious.

With a range of two hundred meters, the deviation in their shots was over twenty meters! That was the same performance the other groups had on their very first shot.

Gion's cannon-firing was especially dreadful. After calibrating thirty times, she still managed to miss the target by over thirty meters. And yet, she seemed pleased with herself, thinking she was doing well. If she ever trained as an artillery officer, the Navy Headquarters' entire supply of cannonballs wouldn't be enough for her to practice with!

After some practice, the test finally began as scheduled.

The cannon test evaluated not only accuracy but also the speed of reloading and the coordination between team members, all of which factored into the overall score.

"Can you really do this? We only have six cannonballs left, and only one chance for calibration before each shot. If you're not confident, let me take over—I think I'm starting to get the hang of it."

Indeed, Wood and Gion hadn't managed to save the minimum of nine cannonballs after all. Wood's persistent protests led to him firing three more shots.

As the test began, Gion hesitated for a moment before deciding to let Wood be the gunner, while she handled the loading.

"Fine, I don't mind if you take over—I don't care about the test score anyway. But are you sure you can handle it? Even if my aim is bad, it's still probably better than yours, right?"

Hearing Wood's words, Gion couldn't help but show her displeasure, though she couldn't refute his point.

People always need to try their hardest to understand what true despair feels like, and that sentiment perfectly described Gion's cannon-firing skills.

"Ulu, Ark, nine shots fired, best result ten meters from the target, one direct hit, reloading speed below average, coordination below average, final score above average, overall grade: above average."

"The next group, recruits Wood and Gion, step forward for the cannon test."

With the group before them finishing their test, it was now Wood and Gion's turn. The instructor, who had been closely monitoring them, knew what had happened, so he didn't dwell on the fact that they only had six cannonballs for the test. He simply urged them to move quickly.

The overall weight of the cannonball wasn't light—after all, it was a large lead sphere. The speed of loading was directly tied to the firepower, so it was part of the score.

Although Gion was a female, her physical strength far exceeded that of the average Marine, so their loading speed earned them the highest rating.

As for coordination, surprisingly, they received a mid-to-high rating.

As for their final cannon test results, they fired six shots in total, with the best three scores taken into account. Only one shot landed within ten meters of the target, while the other two were about twenty meters off, resulting in a below-average rating.

Their final overall score was below average. Although their loading speed and coordination were commendable, the accuracy score had the highest weight in the final evaluation.

Note: If you are interested, you can read up to chapter 50 at patreon.com/Betek.