After several days of nonstop sailing, the Morning Star pirates were only a few hours from Crystalmite Island. The rain was pouring, but Captain Sol didn't care, in fact it seemed rather appropriate. Perhaps the rain would wash away this life she had been leading, and once the slate was clean she and her crew could start over.

"Captain, everyone's ready."

"Thank you old friend."

Everything the Morning Star Pirates had done so far had been building up to this moment. Sol had come to trust these people with her life, she just hoped they would survive the night.

"Okay everyone, here's what our contacts have told me. Despite their limited resources, the Marines have somehow managed to spare three battleships and two standard ships to protect the World Nobles' hoarded loot."

"Only three battleships?"

"Not very bright are they?"

"What do the ground forces look like?" asked Chomp.

"They have enough troops to fill a small island."

"Any devil fruit users, or are they just regular marines."

"Our contacts say there is only one person we really need to worry about, not a Marine, everyone just calls him 'The Guardian', who stands watch over the vault itself. The only way to get there without any hassle is to use the tunnel which is constructed from sea-prism stone. Unfortunately Saint Charloss has the only key."

"So we've got to get there the hard way." said Felicity.

"We're up to it. Once we've taken out their ships Katrina, Felicity, and myself will make our way to the vault. The rest of you are to stay with the ship. Kimmi, I want you to take out as many of these government dogs as you can from the crow's nest."

"You got it."

"Chomp, once you've received our signal you are to come charging to the vault with as many pods as you can carry. We'll be jamming their communications, but knowing the World Nobles it won't take the Navy long to realize something is wrong, and when they do all hell is going to come after us. Once we've loaded the pods and sent them off we get the hell out of here. And whatever you do, don't forget the Heart of Suijin."

For the next hour or so, Sol stood on the deck of the ship staring out at the sea.

"How's Vega?"

"Sound asleep in her bed." said Katrina.

"That will change once the fighting starts."

"Kimmi and the boys will take care of her."

"How is everyone else?"

"They can't wait to get their hands dirty. What's up with you? I'd think you of all people would be on pins and needles."

"I've planned this very carefully, but there's always margin for error."

"I trust you Captain, we all do."

"Just promise me that you'll take care of Vega if anything ever happens to me."

"Of course."

"Captain! Land ho!"

Crystalmite Island was named for the giant crystal stalagmites that covered the island's surface. These stalagmites glowed brightly in the stormy twilight.

"Looks like our informants were right. I count five ships."

"Kimmi, you know what to do."

Keen-Eye Kimmi was the Morning Star Pirate's weapon expert. She possessed the power of the Bullet-Bullet fruit, which granted her the power to use any inanimate object as a projectile and control it. She could change the trajectory of these projectiles in mid-flight and repeatedly strike one or multiple targets before expiring. In addition projectiles used with this power always did significantly more damage than normal. Kimmi could do this with any inanimate object, for this reason the front of the Wrath of Ra was built like a battering ram.

"Jammers are online, and we're all lined up!"

"Hold on everyone!" said Kimmi grabbing onto the ship's mast.

The Wrath of Ra was sent flying at a tremendous speed across the water until it crashed through two of the three battleships.

"Now to take care of the other three ships." said Sol already conjuring a huge ball of plasma energy.

"Why is it always rain?!" asked Usopp as the Sunny fought against the raging waters "It seems like every time we go on one of these crazy adventures there's rain!"

"It wasn't raining when we fought Crocodile." said Sanji "In fact that was one of the problems."

"Island ahead!"

The Straw Hats were immediately on deck and saw Crystalmite Island in the distance.

"It's beautiful!"

"Is it just me, or is there smoke coming from the island?"

Nami looked at the island through her telescope and saw that there were several burning ships along the water, and more fires were rising from the island itself.

"The Morning Star Pirates are already here. Quick Franky, take us to the side of the island!"

BOOM!

Before Franky could make a move, something hit the ship underneath.

"What the heck just happened?!" asked Chopper.

"Maybe we hit a sandbar?"

"EAAARREREUGH!"

"That didn't sound like a sandbar." said Brook.

Just then three huge serpentine heads with huge jaws rose out of the water and stared hungrily at the Sunny.

"THREE-HEADED SEA KING!"

"That's so cool!" exclaimed Luffy.

"Somehow I knew that lie would come back to haunt me." thought Usopp.

Zoro casually drew one of his swords like he didn't have a care in the world.

"One sword style, Demonic Dreadscythe!"

Zoro slashed off all three of the Sea King's heads and sheathed his sword, but no sooner had he turned his back that the beast's heads grew back.

"WHAT THE HECK!?"

"How is that even possible?!"

"Well, if cutting its head off won't work we'll just have to stun it… Thunder Breed Tempo!"

Nami's attack didn't seem to do anything; the creature just smiled and shot the blast back at them.

"Sea Kings don't do that!" exclaimed Franky.

"It must be some kind of mutant!"

The others quickly joined the battle, but nothing seemed to work.

"A giant three-headed Sea King… There's a song in there somewhere." said Brook as he stabbed at the creature's scaly body.

"You can worry about writing songs after we've beaten this thing!" yelled Sanji kicking away one of the three heads.

"We've never had this much trouble with a Sea King before." said Robin "Whatever the World Nobles paid to create this thing they got their money's worth."

Luffy was so impressed by the creature that he overlooked an obvious solution to the problem. For all its formidable power this Sea King was just a beast. As fun as a fight with this creature sounded, it was clear that the Morning Star Pirates had beaten them to the island, and he knew Nami would get angry if the chance to get this rock she wanted passed by. With a simple exertion of conqueror's haki the beast collapsed.

"Now let's hurry up before they make off with that diamond! Gum-Gum Rocket!"

"It's not a diamond, it's a pearl!"

Unfortunately for Nami, Luffy was already off.

(To be continued)