-Lilith POV-
No sooner had I switched to Dryad form and started running to catch up with the others than three very bad thing happened at the same time.
1: The executioner lowered their blades in front of Ace. It was really happening.
2: Mushi-chan turned off. That was all the proof I needed.
3: There was a series of explosions at the mouth of the harbor and the distinctive lights of lasers firing. I recognized the sounds of pacifista at work.
My friends were in trouble. "Fuck!" I shouted. "Fucking fuck! Now what do I do?" I asked myself. "I knew Luffy said they were moving up Ace's execution but I didn't expect Sengoku to actually do it! I turned my attention to Mushi chan. "Hey, little guy. I know you got your orders and everything, but I also know you're a reporter. It's your job to tell the truth, right? You can't fail in that duty no matter what your orders are! Please, the world deserves to see this, every second of it. This is about freedom of the press dammit! People need to know!" Mushi-chan sat up and opened his eyes, broadcasting again. I grinned at him. "Thank you, people should know the truth." I said. He saluted - sort of - with one - are they called hands? - and didn't pause in his duty.
I looked back at the execution platform, conflicted. Either I could help Ace or go support the bay. Both jobs had to be done and - unfortunately - I couldn't do both at the same time. Rationally, I knew the right choice would be to help Squard and the others but I hesitated. Can I really just leave Ace? Will the others get to him in time? Is this okay? When it came down to it, it was a question of trust. Did I trust the others to act in my place and protect Ace? Yeah, probably, they were strong - but I still wanted to be there for him personally.
I pulled a coin out of my pocket and glared at it in the palm of my hand. "Fate owes me some good luck," I told the coin, "If you tell me to do the wrong thing I'll have you melted down and repurposed into the handle of a toilet brush, got it?" The coin did not respond. "Heads I help Ace. Tails I go the the bay." I flipped the coin. I started running again - away from Ace.
On the way there - which took less than a second I got an idea. After circling around carefully I came in from behind the Pacifistas. Sentomaru was in charge. He was Kizaru's nephew and had attended the Naval Academy a few years ahead of me. I'd never liked him. Transforming into my Fairy form - the smallest of all my available bodies - I snuck up on him and fluttered just behind his head, listening in on his conversation. I was glad to see that Mushi-chan shrunk with me and took the change in stride because it meant I didn't have to leave him behind or explain it to him, which might have given away my position to Sentomaru. I wasn't worried about the Pacifista noticing me because - thanks to a certain dickface Admiral - I didn't have a wanted poster so they wouldn't see me as a threat.
"I heard that the pirates were going to be easily encircled inside the bay when we came out but they're scattered all over!" Sentomaru complained loudly into his den den mushi.
"Even though we couldn't trap them we can go at them from the front and the back!" I recognized Sengoku's voice. "Attack the allied pirates first as we planned. Get rid of the ones that wander off the enclosure!"
"Did you hear that?" Kizaru asked his nephew.
Rather than reply Sentomaru asked, "Uncle, is it okay if some Navy ships get caught in the crossfire?" This is why I hate you I thought bitterly. You've always been like this. I couldn't believe it when I heard they gave you the position as Vegapunk's bodyguard and commander of the Science Unit. You're such a dumbshit!
"Keep it to a minimum." Kizaru ordered.
"Roger." Sentomaru deactivated the den den mushi. "Let's begin!" he shouted.
"Yes, let's," I agreed, speaking right behind his ear. "Before you start killing friend and foe alike." I switched to my human form. It was all I needed to deal with the likes of him. And I wanted him to be able to recognize me.
"Lilith!" he shouted, surprised. "Didn't you die?" his eyes narrowed. "Why aren't you wearing a Navy uniform?"
"I was pretty much kicked out of the Marines when my stepfather poured lava down my throat," I told him casually. "I see you've been well. Gained a little weight." It was kind of fun seeing him flustered.
"What - what are you doing here?" he demanded, tiny eyebrows meeting in a frown.
"I'm here to stop you," I said simply. "We're enemies now." Seeing he still didn't get it I explained in terms he would understand: "I've become a pirate."
"You!" he shouted, raising his gigantic axe over his head, "You betrayed the Navy! You betrayed your family!" He swung and I jumped back, not wanting to take the offensive just yet. He still hadn't ordered the Pacifistas to attack and I didn't want to remind him that they were just standing there, an unused weapon.
"I think the Navy betrayed me first and it's not like I ever signed up in the first place," I argued.
Sentomaru obviously didn't feel like listening to me because he lifted his axe again and swung at me. This time I pulled my sword from my back, transformed it to a spiked bat and slammed his knuckles. Hard. He shouted in pain and dropped his axe. That's what you get for choosing such a slow and cumbersome weapon. You're still strong, but you've allowed yourself to become slow. That's your weakness. I didn't say this out loud of course because it would be really fucking stupid to give advice to your enemies. I poked Sentomaru in the throat with my bat - well, it was more like a club really with the spikes on it.
"You've gotten lazy in your training since you got your promotion, haven't you?" I asked.
"I will not be looked down upon by a pirate," he spat before trying to use a blast of Armament Haki and a palm thrust to send me flying backwards. It didn't work. With the strength of my own Haki I didn't even budge - he made my hair blow back though. The breeze felt nice. "You- you just-" he stammered.
"Yeah. I know what I just," I said, lifting my club. "You ready to go to sleep now?" I asked, grinning like a madwoman. "Because it's gonna hurt~!" I said in a sing song voice. Aside from being a total dumbshit and a stout believer in the poorly named 'justice' the Navy stood for, he had also been a bit of a bully when I was younger and it was nice to finally be getting him back for that.
"Pacifista! Attack anything that stands in your way!" Sentomaru shouted. I swung my club, clipping him on the temple and knocking him out cold. I quickly grabbed his baby den den mushi and added him to my belt. Never know when something like that would come in handy.
"Dammit! I should have done that sooner!" I swore to myself. To the nearby allied pirates I shouted, "Stay back! I've got this! Doma, you take the normal Marines to the left! Decalvans, the right! Don't let them break though and don't die!" Thinking I ought to add something encouraging I added, "Don't let them shake you! I can go up against the real Kuma and walk away untouched so this is nothing! I'm counting on you guys to keep the bay open or we'll have no way out! Don't let the Vice Admirals get up my ass!" That last bit may not have been 'encouraging' per say but it was still really important. If I had to fight on both fronts by someone legitimately strong I'd be screwed - not that Pacifistas actually counted as people.
In response all the assembled allied pirates roared in the affirmative. Ramba looked like he wanted to back me up but I glared at him and he nodded, marching himself and his men off to the left with Doma.
The small army of Pacifistas was gearing up for battle, eyes glowing creepily. I gulped. "Let's find out if I just bit off more than I can chew, eh Mushi-chan?" I briefly considered which form to use. My Dryad form would be convenient for disassembling them quickly but I couldn't afford to get hit with one of their lasers - not being as fast as the speed of light - so that wouldn't do. As a Giant I could take on many at once - and advantage in protecting my allies - but would have a problem similar to Oars in that I'd be way too big and get myself taken down too quickly. My Haki could only partially block a Pacifista's laser and when I was a Giant I was too big and slow to dodge effectively. I ran through a few others but quickly settled on Adamantite. Bigger, stronger and - most usefully - with a higher defense than anything else it wouldn't slow me down more than I could afford and would allow me enough freedom of movement to dodge, even at point blank range. "Here we go."
Fighting the Pacifista was strange. They had no blood and didn't cry out when they were smashed up so it wasn't very satisfying. I quickly discovered that their greatest weak point was their head. Smashing down on them was easy enough and I didn't want to bother searching for another way to kill them. When Vegapunk updated them, which I knew he would, he would undoubtedly use the footage Mushi-chan was broadcasting right now to help him and I wanted to leave as many weaknesses as possible for future models. Unfortunately, I found myself jumping in front of Marines just as often as pirates. When Sentomaru had ordered the Pacifistas to attack 'anything that stood in their way' they took him seriously. Fortunately though, 'anything' seemed to include both inanimate objects - like chunks of ice and the wreckage of Navy ships - as well as each other which certainly made things easier for me.
"You're not very smart are you?" I asked one before smashing it on the head. While he neither answered me nor bled it still made me feel a little bit better that his face deformed and sparks started shooting out from his neck. When he tried to fire his mouth laser at me again he exploded. I looked around for my next victim and realized that he'd been the last one. There were only about twenty of them, but still. That was almost too fast. "Either they are weaker than I thought they'd be or I'm just that good," I announced, satisfied with myself.
The feeling quickly faded when Sengoku's voice at my belt shouted, "All marines, get off the ice right now! Don't let the pirates reach the plaza!" A large part of me wanted to snatch the den den mushi and shout profanities at him but I restrained myself. This was Sengoku's private line to his elite officers, it would be a shame to give away my eavesdropping so soon.
I sighed frustratedly. Sometimes it was so restrictive being an expert plotter. I allowed myself only a moment to rest. I'd been fighting, using Haki and healing myself all day. That can take a lot out of a girl. To be honest I was fucking exhausted and could use a good long sleep, but I knew I wasn't getting one anytime soon. "Alright, break time's over," I muttered. Switching to Dryad form I rushed to inform Doma and the Decalvan Brothers on either side of the harbor's mouth that I was finished here and that I was heading back into the main fray.
As I ran across the ice I saw something odd and paused. Bug-chan was behaving oddly. "Yes, that's me!" he said, making an extremely nervous face and facing a - surprisingly - still working video den den mushi. I glanced a Mushi-chan on my shoulder. My guess was that Bug-chan was trying to do the same thing I was but with a different purpose: he wanted to become famous. I decided to take this opportunity to tease him. I knew it was a waste of time and really didn't matter in the long run, but I didn't mind if it gave me a break and an excuse to tease Bug-chan.
"Bug-chan, what are you doing?" I asked him. Oh this is going to be fun.
"Lilith!" I love how he screeched every time I popped up behind him. You'd think he'd get used to it by now. "What are you doing?"
"I just beat all the Pacifistas at the bay. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, okay. That's all. You beat the Pacifistas. Alright." My words sank in. "You shouldn't be fighting those things by yourself!" he screeched. "You could have died or worse!" I wasn't sure what was worse than dying without carrying out my revenge but hey, in Bug-chan's imagination I'm sure there was something.
"Don't worry, I'm fine," I promised and smiled at him - it was nice to know he cared. "Anyway, Sengoku's probably looking for the missing den den mushi. He can't do anything that might disgrace the Navy while they're still running so whatever plan he's got is probably on hold. That means he's got two options: proceed anyway or find the den den mushi and shut them down. Currently that's the one you've got there and Mushi-chan on my shoulder here. He might send someone after them, so be careful. I'd hate to see you melted or frozen solid."
"M-melted?" Bug-chan stammered. I remembered the incident of the flaming pants.
"Or frozen," I comforted him. It didn't seem to work. "Of course if Kizaru tried to cut you up you'll be fine, but whatever. Odds are one in three right?"
"Yeah, one in three…" he agreed calmly. "One in three?!" Bug-chan makes the funnies faces when he's scared. His eyes literally pop out of his face and his tongue goes out like a foot long. I laughed.
"Good luck!" I told him. "I've got to go save Ace while babysitting Luffy and Sabo! See you after the battle if we both don't die! We'll throw a party!" And I kept running, leaving behind a very confused, very panicked Bug-chan in my wake.