Fireworks exploded in the sky, leaving the air tainted with smoke and sulfur and dazzling light.
"What the hell is that? Are we celebrating someth-"
Fwip. An arrow through the neck.
"There must be Devil Fruit users around he-"
Pop. A bullet right between the eyes.
"We can't just stand here! We'll di-"
Fwip, Fwip, Bang. A shower of arrows and bullets hit him and anyone nearby.
"But we can't leave the post or otherwise they'll infiltrate the base!"
"Too late."
He barely had time to turn around when he felt a cold blade slice through his neck. Nori clicked around to see if anyone else was hiding on the watch tower. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a transponder snail.
"Watch Tower One is clear, I'll move on to Tower Three; I only had to swing my sword twenty times, so I'm assuming fifteen pirates were up here; I expect that's the average for the rest of the towers. It sounds like they dropped some guns up here if you want to stock up," Nori said, her tone clipped and precise.
"Perfect. Hamako is onto Tower Four and she said roughly the same number. Harper and I are still making our way around the perimeter and Miya will hopefully be there shortly," Akane said, nearly shouting over the thundering noises of Harper's footsteps.
Nori heard a thump beside her and the scent of lavender said that it was Miya. What Nori couldn't see, but remembered that Miya described were the two quivers strapped to her back and two smaller ones to her arms and legs. She still grasped the handle of the zipline and waited patiently for Nori to finish communicating.
"She's here; be safe." Nori jabbed her sword into a barrel before reaching for Miya's hand. The blade was dripping red when she withdrew it.
"What the hell is that thing?"
In the distance there was a cloud of brown smoke barreling toward some members of the Yellow Jackets, the creature impossible to see through the thick dust. It zigzagged to avoid the raining bullets as it made a beeline towards the entrance of port.
Ratta tat tat. Ratta tat tat. Ratta tat tat.
Pirates dropped left and right and bullets shot through their necks and eye sockets, blood pouring down the sides of the high, white walls protecting the entrance. As the creature got closer, the shots came more rapidly and with deadly accuracy.
Rattarattarattarattrattarattarattaratta. Tat. tat. Rattarattarattarattrattarattarattaratta.
Four pirates remained on the top of the gate's wall and were snipers, peering through their scopes trying to get a clean shot. As the creature drew nearer, the dust was thinning since it was more comprised of sand than dirt.
Akane road on Harper's back while she was in her ostrich form, the two of them strapped with enough weapons for a small militia. They had already disposed of a fourth of their guns as they ran out of bullets, having cleared the defenses of the walls and the snipers first before heading towards the entrance of the port.
"On the count of three I'm jumping, Harper. Cover me immediately or we're both dead," Akane said, her eyes focused straight ahead as she looked through her goggles. After years of having to fight through Mama's fog, the Cutthroat Pirates were equipped to fight in poor visibility.
Harper squawked in response, narrowing her eyes at their target as they came closer an closer.
"One."
The snipers focused their gazes.
"Two."
The two Cutthroat Pirates felt their muscles tense, posed to strike.
"Three!" Akane yelled, rolling off her friend's back into the dirt.
Before the snipers could even pull their triggers they were forced to take cover from two grenades. They rose slowly from their hiding places, trying to squint through the clearing dust for their target; they were met with four well placed bullets straight through their heads.
Pop pop pop pop whir click.
Akane blew the smoke off her pistols and turned to Harper, asking," How're you doing, Miss Flightless?"
Harper was sprawled on the ground, her legs maintaining her ostrich form. "I think I'll need to change my name because I feel like I'm growing angel wings over here. I'm only surviving on dumb luck and adrenaline, doc."
"You can't live on dumb luck," Akane said, extending her hand to help the second mate up. "You live by having bigger balls than whoever you're against."
Harper laughed loudly as she hopped to her feet, Akane hopping on her back one more time before they charged towards the port. They were greeted by the others in their makeshift army and found the port to be vacant. The ocean rocked the fleet of pirate ships on the harbor steadily as the wind carried salt water teasingly past their noses.
The women's trained eyes flicked around for any sign of movement. Anything to give them a reason to fire to their heart's content. All was silent. All was dead.
For Now.
Akane took the moment to reload her weapons and Nori wiped the blood off her swords onto her white pants. The Cutthroat's eyes followed the blind girl's movements, a pang of nostalgia sweeping through them.
"We're doing this for her," Akane said, swallowing to relieve the sudden dryness in her throat.
"I'm not going to stop fighting until our Jolly Rodger flies again!"Hamako cried, her voice echoing off the buildings and ships. They echoed her cry with a chorus of swears and affirmations.
"Alright, I'm tired of waiting around," she continued, glancing around once more for a surprise attack. "Let's finished what we started!"
Akane nodded and pulled a shotgun off her back, the long barrel thicker than her sister's balled up fists. She loaded the wide rounds into it and aimed at the ships on the harbor. They counted twenty ships of varying sizes, three of them massive ships belonging to the three crews.
She only had fourteen rounds for her special gun, meaning each shot had to count. Each shot had to sink a ship. As for her 90 other bullets, their task was simple; prevent anyone from getting on the remaining vessels.
She hiked the gun up onto her shoulder, the weight causing her to sink to one side. Akane inhaled and exhaled, her finger turning white as she pulled back the hammer.
BOOM! CRACK!
The side of the Pandamonium Pirate's ship exploded in a display of smoke and splinters, the sulfur attacking her nose as she was thrown backwards from the buck of the shotgun.
As Akane lied on her back, a vibration trembled through her skull. Her ears rang as her sister asked if she was okay, but she was deaf to her questions as the buzzing grew louder and her shotgun rattled as it laid beside her. Staring up at the blue, smoky sky is when she registered what the cause was.
Footsteps.
Thousands of footsteps.
Akane leapt to her feet, prying her shot gun off the ground.
She looked around at her crewmates and her family, realizing they were one in the same.
Hamako nodded once at her and they all nodded back knowingly with the exception of Nori, but who could blame the girl? She was a Marine who had never been in a war before.
The Cutthroat Pirates all split into separate directions.
THE CUTTHROAT PIRATES AND ONE MARINE VS THE 1,000 MAN ALLIANCE
Hamako dove into the ocean to avoid a barrage of bullets laid on by the sharp shooters as Mira fired up at them, the glass on their scopes giving them away as it caught the light. Hamako dove deeper into the water, the cold ocean welcoming her back like an old friend as her legs turned into a gorgeous mermaid fin.
She swam with her belly facing the surface, watching the shadows look over the edge into the water.
Fwip, fwip, fwip.
Splash, splash, splash.
Blood danced in ribbons around her as she swam over to the dead pirates, prying her arrows out of their skulls. She reloaded and turned her head towards the surface once more, but bubbles flew out of her mouth as she gasped.
Hamako swam like a shark through water as far as she could, jets of water flying around her as a pirate ship came crashing down into the water. The ocean was completely dark and her eyes struggled to adjust for a moment as she tried to out swim the laws of gravity. She ducked into a narrow cave, bracing herself against the stony walls as she watched the ship slowly fall down into the pitch black depths.
Something silky caught her arm and she tore it from the ship before it slipped through her fingers. A Jolly Rodger with a hornet's antenna's and stingers for teeth grinned at her. Hamako tied it around her neck as a bandana and trophy before darting back out towards the surface, looking for more victims.
Mira cringed as she watched Harper plant her ostrich foot through another pirate's chest, causing it to concave like a circus tent. The half bird woman had perfected her fighting style she lovingly named "the feather fatal". She left her legs as those of an ostrich and armed herself with two large battle axes sharp enough to slice through femurs like melted butter. Ten of them charged her at once, trying to tackle her only to have them receive either a fatal round house kick or an axe lodged into their necks.
After clearing out most of the snipers hiding in the crow's nests and rooftops, Myra nestled herself in a tree as a look out. The branch she perched herself upon was higher than any point she had seen the other snipers at and allowed her to see the entire battle. At this point, she would use her voice to draw out the fools or force the Devil Fruit users into the ocean, but the Cutthroats had agreed with her to wait until they were sure they may lose.
Until then, she was going to be their eyes and guardian angel, firing arrows at their enemies if her crew got into a tough spot.
Fwip, fwip, fwip, fwip.
Harper gave a thumbs up to the sky, not knowing where her friend was located. The only evidence that she was watching were the arrows in the men's chests behind her.
BOOM!
Akane dusted herself off as she got up again, strapping the shotgun back on her back as she ran towards the next ship. Nori trailed ahead of her, slicing and stabbing at anyone she could reach while Akane shot the ones her blind sister could not "see" right away. Wooden splinters stuck to their hair like shooting stars in the night sky and sulfur clung to their bodies like cadavers.
"We have five bullets left, but a hell of a lot more ships. We'll have to figure out a way to sink the others," Akane said as they ran towards the Magnitude Pirate's ship.
"Should we sink those first?" Nori asked, hacking another pirate's head off cleanly. Akane grinned, thinking about asking if her sister should become a surgeon instead of a Marine, but focused her attention back ahead.
"No, we need to take down the last huge ship so they can't bring in more crewmembers," she said, stopping to reload her smaller pistols. "Cover me!"
Nori found her sister's back and rested her own against it, swords poised for attack. She let a feral roar as she quickly piercing the pirate's throats with the tips of her swords in order to buy enough time for her sister.
Akane grabbed her hand, the other holding the large shotgun. "Come on, what are you waiting for?"
Nori mumbled something unintelligible under her breath and released her sister's hand in order to sprint ahead. She kept going even as Akane skidded to a stop, setting up her shot. She inhaled and exhaled and pulled the trigger.
BOOM!
The bullet whizzed out of the gun and towards the large wooden ship. Just as it was about to puncture the side of the vessel, it stopped, frozen in midair.
Akane shook her head, trying to clear the vision out of her head and fired another round.
BOOM!
Again, the bullet was stopped just before it could sink the ship.
Akane looked down at her gun, asking," What the hell is wrong with this thing?"
"What's wrong with it is the fact you're using it against me."
She looked up and saw Captain Maggie of the Magnitude Pirates, holding both of her bullets in the palm of his large hand. His gray hair swirled in the wind, as cold and steely looking as the smile he wore on his face.
Maggie was shirtless, showing off the white tattoos adorning his dark, bare chest and arms.
He continued to smile as he crushed the bullets between his fingers and watched as Akane became slack jawed. Each bullet had the same metal content as melting an entire suit of armor and he had destroyed them like a moth beneath a wheel. The silver dust glimmered in the air like the sun reflecting off the sea, causing her to raise a hand to shield her eyes. The dust swirled around him before carefully covering his entire body in a metallic armor.
He laughed darkly, causing her to drop her arm. "Let's end this quickly, Noir Nurse."
And he charged at her.
AN: Hey, Happy New Year, Merry Christmas/other Winter Solstice holidays, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Halloween, and Happy Labor Day! To quote Monty and the Holy Grail: "I'm not dead!" Yes, that is right! I'd like to formally apologize for taking this long to complete this but college is an ass kicker and I've also been working hard on my other fanfics and my original novel. So, once again, I've bitten off more than I can chew. However, I'm keeping my promise and I will finish this blasted thing, even if it's the last thing I do! If it makes you feel any better I know the ending of this story, I know how I'm going to get there, and I'll let you know that we're five chapters away from the end. Exciting, right? Again thanks for sticking around!