Chapter 10
Straw Hat Pirates—part 2
Nami, Robin, Usopp, and Chopper were on their way back to the Thousand Sunny when they unfortunately came across some Marines when they turned around the corner of a building. The four pirates immediately turned to run, with the Marines giving chase and yelling for them to stop.
"Darn it! We just have to run into Marines all of a sudden!" cried Nami.
"I guess it was only a matter of time," said Robin, sounding calm.
Usopp and Chopper were having problem running due to them carrying a large amount of stuff. "I can't run carrying all these!" cried the former.
"You better not drop any of them! I spent a lot buying them!" Nami told him.
"Are these more important than my life?!" cried Usopp.
"Don't worry; I have this covered," said Robin as she crossed her arms to use her Devil Fruit power. Multiple arms sprouted from the ground in front of the Marines and grabbed their legs, causing them to trip and pile on top of each other.
"Good going, Robin!" said Chopper while looking back. He then noticed a girl carrying a large mechanical contraption on her back jumping over the fallen Marines and running after them.
"You can run but you can't hide!" shouted the girl. "IJN Destroyer Shigure will hunt you down wherever you go!"
"Who is that girl?" wondered Usopp, also looking back at her.
Shigure fired rapid blasts of energy from her rigging. "She's firing at us!" cried Chopper.
Nami's stuff that Usopp was carrying was shot and largely destroyed, and because the load was lightened, Usopp was able to run faster and past the his crewmates. "Hey! I thought I told you to take good care of the stuff I bought!" Nami angrily shouted at him.
Shigure suddenly pounced at Nami from behind, slamming her hand into the back of her head and pushing her face first onto the ground. "Haha! Gotcha!" said the former.
"Get away from Nami!" yelled Chopper as he dropped the stuff he was carrying to swim his massive fist at Shigure, knocking her away. The ship girl landed on all fours and growled like a wild animal. She was going to jump at him when Robin made arms sprout from the ground around her and grabbed various parts of her body to hold her in place.
"What the heck?!" said the ship girl in shock while trying to break free. She was then lifted into the air and hurled against the side of a building and seemingly passed out.
"What the heck is she?!" asked Nami, who was being helped up by Chopper.
"Hey you! Stop at once!" shouted the Marines who previously fell over as they continued to chase the pirates, so the latter hurriedly ran away again.
Zoro was walking by himself through Stockshop Island with the intention of returning to the Thousand Sunny. After asking for directions and getting lost constantly, he finally made it to the port and saw the ship.
"Finally! I thought I would never make it back!" he said, sounding glad. "Those people sure don't know how to give good directions… I would've gotten back several minutes ago if it weren't for that…"
He was on his way back to his ship when he suddenly heard someone shouting at him, and he turned around to see some Marines there with guns pointing at him. "Roronoa Zoro!" one of them said. "We found you at last! Surrender yourself at once and tell us where your captain is!"
Zoro grumbled in frustration. "Geez… And we hoping to not run into of these folks…" He looked back at the ship and thought to himself, "Running back there with these guys on my trail won't be a good idea. The last thing I want is for the Thousand Sunny to be caught in the crossfire, so I think I'll get rid of them here and now."
"I said surrender yourself! Hands up in the air at once!" one of the Marines said to him.
"Why sure," said Zoro as he raised his hands… with swords in each of them. He then swung them down in a cross to unleash wind blades that struck the Marines, blowing them away and knocking them out. "Well, that was easy… The others get back fast so we can bail fast…"
He turned around to continue getting back to the ship, only to find himself face to face with Zuikaku, Javelin, and Laffey. "Now who are you guys?"
Zuikaku pointed her sword at him and said, "I saw what you did, and as a fellow Marine, I cannot stand by and not avenge my comrades! You shall pay for what you did, Pirate Hunter Zoro!"
Zoro said, "Fine, if you want a fight that much, I shall give you one."
"Is it all right to go after him without receiving orders from Vice Admiral Smoker first?" Javelin asked Zuikaku.
"He told us to not let the Straw Hats return to their ship and also act according to the situation," Zuikaku told her. "The way I see it now; we should take action against him!"
Zoro heard what she said and said in his head. "Smoker?! Not that guy! Damn it! Luffy and the others better get back here soon!"
"It's time you meet your end, pirate!" Zuikaku shouted loudly as she unsheathed her sword in a blink of an eye, and then the entire blade caught on fire at a fast speed, much to Zoro's surprise. She dashed at him at fast speed and swung her fiery sword, but Zoro blocked it with two of his swords.
"That was a surprise. A fiery sword!" he said. "I take that you're not a small fry among the Marines!"
"I am IJN Aircraft Carrier Zuikaku!" she told him while pushing her sword against his. "You will know well to think of me as a small fry!"
"I can tell that you are strong, so I will take you seriously!" said Zoro. "Huh, aircraft carrier?"
Zuikaku pushed her sword hard and was able to push back Zoro. She ran at him again and swung her sword rapidly, and the latter blocked them all with his sword strikes.
Javelin and Laffey watched from the side in awe, especially the former. "Wow! They're both fighting with equal strength!" said Javelin.
Franky and Brook noticed the fighting going on and approached the side of their ship to see what is going on. "What's the ruckus there?" asked Franky.
"It seems like Zoro is engaged in combat," replied Brook, he then took a better look. "Are my nonexistent eyes deceiving me? He is fighting the fair lady from before!"
"Huh? What's he doing getting into a fight with her?" said Franky.
Zuikaku and Zoro continued to trade blows against each other relentlessly, neither side having the upper hand at the moment. Zoro moved back from her and swung his swords in a way that launched wind blades at her. She moved out of the way and then swung her sword hard to unleash a fiery projectile. Zoro nullified it with his swords.
She then jumped at him with her sword over her head and brought it down onto him. Zoro held his swords over his head to block it, and the impact resulted in a fiery explosion. Despite this, Zoro was seemingly unharmed by the explosion and remained his footing, holding back her sword.
He pushed her back several steps and then charged at her to stab her with both swords, but she rushed out of harm's way fast. They then dashed at each other to clash swords wildly, while Javelin and Laffey continued to watch in awe. To Franky and Brook, this wasn't anything special, as they knew just how strong Zoro was.
Zuikaku was eventually cut a few times in the body, and brownish-red liquid oozed out from those parts. "He's strong…!" she thought while panting heavily.
"She's strong!" thought Zoro, who didn't look as tired as her. "I also felt as if I had a harder time cutting through her skin compared to other people. It's almost as if… her skin is made of steel! And is her blood… brown…?!"
"You are a strong opponent," Zuikaku said to him. "It looks like I'll have to fight you more seriously."
"Maybe you should've done that from the start," Zoro said to him.
"You shall witness the power of an aircraft carrier!" she said as she pulled out her flight deck. Burst of fire appeared on the surface of the deck, and then they shot forward like fireballs, gradually growing in size and transforming into jet fighters the size of an average water bottle.
The jet fighters fired machine gun bullets rapidly at Zoro, who raised his swords to block them. "What the heck?!" he thought. "What are those things?!"
The jets flew into the air and continued shooting him from there. Zoro ran this time to avoid getting shot and tried to find the opportunity to launch wind blades at them. When the jets flew to a lower level and chased him from behind, he spun around fast and launched a wind blade that cut down some of them, but some of the others flew out of the way.
They increased their speed and altitude to go above Zoro, dropping bombs. He jumped back in time to avoid them, and the surprisingly large explosions created by the tiny bombs blew him back.
Franky and Brook saw this and were surprised. "Whoa! What are those flying contraptions?!" Franky said in shock and awe. "They look neat!"
"I certainly did not expect that fair lady to be this strong! Yohoho!" said Brook.
"Darn it! I underestimated these thing!" said Zoro as he stood back up, despite the burns he received.
The planes flew at him again and fired rapidly. He dashed forward and used observation haki to "see" the incoming bullets and dodge them. He was able to get close to the jets without getting shot and cut them all down.
"What?!" gasped Zuikaku.
"Those things took me by surprise," said Zoro as he wrapped a black bandanna around his head. "All right; you have my attention. If it's a serious fight you want, then you're having it!"
After managing to seduce Sanji, Taihou told him that she wanted to give him a great time and follow her to a place where they could have fun. Being the pervert that he is, Sanji followed her without hesitation.
They went into deep into an alleyway until they came to a place filled with junks and no people around. Taihou then grabbed his hand and said to him, "Ever since I saw that wanted poster of yours, I instantly fell in love with you! I always wanted to meet a handsome and powerful man, preferably a pirate, but was never able to find one until I found out about you! You are everything I hoped for!"
"I'm glad that my charming good looks have attracted you, milady!" Sanji said to her, still with hearts for eyes. Taihou then pushed him against a wall and began undoing his shirt, much to his surprise. "What… What are you doing?! Don't tell me you're…?!"
"I can't control my urges any longer!" Taihou said as she breathed heavily.
Sanji couldn't believe that this woman whom he just met was trying to advance in on him, and he wasn't exactly sure how he should respond to a situation like this.
Taihou also began to lower her kimono, which made Sanji even more excited. Just when things were about to get wild, someone suddenly shot up from behind the junks behind them. "ALL RIGHT! THAT'S ENOUGH INDECENCY!" shouted Tashigi.
The two turned to look at her in surprise. "It's that beautiful Marine lady who accompanies that smoke guy!" thought Sanji in surprise.
"Awwww… We were just getting to the fun part…" said Taihou as she pouted.
"You're a Marine, not a prostitute! There should be a limit to how much you use your charm to attract others! This is going too far!" Tashigi angrily said to her. Behind her, several other Marines could be seen coming out from their hiding places. They had faces that were blushing red because of what they witnessed just now.
"She's a Marine?!" Sanji said in shock while looking at Taihou. "So she was trying to seduce me!"
Taihou suddenly pinned him to the wall by his neck using her hand. Using her other hand, she took out a fan and pulled it. "Men like you fall for my charms way too easily!" she said. "No hard feelings, okay? I'm just doing my job."
Intending to injure him, Taihou brought forward her razor sharp fan to stab Sanji in the shoulder, but acting fast, the latter kicked straight up and disarmed her of her weapon, which made her pull away her hand from him in surprise.
"You are a beautiful lady, but it was a pity that we couldn't have met in better circumstance," Sanji said to him. "Even so, I wish you a good time and that we will meet again soon. Farewell, my love!" He then attempted to escape from the place.
"Don't let him get away!" Tashigi shouted while pointing at him. The Marines gave chase and also fired at him, but he moved around swiftly to avoid the gunshots before jumping into the air. He didn't simply jump; he kicked against the air to propel himself into the air again in order to "fly" away.
"He's escaping by jumping multiple times in midair?!" said one of the Marines in shock.
Taihou threw her fan into the air, where it suddenly grew in size before falling down next to her, landing upright. "Don't worry; when dealing with opponents in the air, look no further than the might of an aircraft carrier like me!" said Taihou. She lifted the giant fan off the ground and pulled it back before swinging it hard against the air.
In doing so, she unleashed a fire wave, and out of the fire wave came forth miniature jet fighters that flew in the direction Sanji took off in.
Sanji landed onto a rooftop and looked back to make sure that he wasn't followed, only to be surprised by the appearance of the jets. "What are those?!" The jets fired rapidly at him, so he dodged them swiftly. "What the heck?!"
He turned to run by jumping from roof to roof, but the jets followed while firing nonstop. Down below, Taihou was running at a surprisingly fast speed while carrying her oversized fan on her shoulder.
"You cannot escape from me!" she said while looking at him. She swung her fan against the air and created more jets that went in his direction.
The new set of jets went ahead of Sanji before heading for him, so he stopped running. He ran to the side to avoid the gunfire of the jets, and they ended up shooting down each other. The ones that didn't shoot down each other turned to Sanji, only for him to kick them out of the air and get destroyed.
Taihou jumped high into the air after that, higher than the building, and swung her fan to release a blast of fire that Sanji jumped back to avoid. He jumped off the other side and was going to continue running when he saw Nami, Robin, Usopp, and Chopper running in his direction. "You guys!" he called out.
"Sanji! Thank goodness you're here!" Usopp said to him in relief. "The Marines are after us! Do something!"
"Have you seen Luffy and the others? We have to leave this island now!" Nami told the chef.
"No, I haven't seen them, and I was attacked by Marines as well," Sanji told them.
Taihou jumped down from the building roof and landed in front of the Straw Hats. "More of the crew have shown up, huh?" she said. "None of you will be escaping from me!"
"Who is that woman?" asked Robin.
"I thought she was a model and entertainer of sorts at first, but it turns out that she is a Marine and tried to seduce me," replied Sanji.
"Let me guess: you got seduced and almost got caught because of it…" said Nami with an unimpressed look.
The Marines who were chasing Nami's group earlier caught up with them from behind. "Stand still at once, pirates!" one of them shouted.
"Oh no! They caught up with us!" gasped Chopper.
"You're not getting away this time!" shouted a girl. They looked up to see Shigure standing on a nearby roof, and then she jumped down in front of the Marines and faced the Straw Hats with her sharp nails raised towards them. "Your luck has run out! It's time that you get destroyed by me!"
Enterprise and Gascogne were looking back at Luffy with cautious, and the pirates was curious about who they are.
Not wanting to provoke Luffy just yet, Enterprise to his question of who they are. "And what are you going to do to us if we tell you that?"
Luffy crossed his arms and tilted his head as if trying to think of something to say. "Well, it depends on if you are good people or bad people. I don't really want to start a fight here and damage this place, so this place has good food and nice people, so it would be rude to mess up their hometown."
Enterprise wasn't expecting that kind of answer and said to herself, "That's a surprisingly thoughtful thing to say coming from a pirate!"
"If you're good people, then maybe we can become friends, but if you're bad people, then I think I might want to run away, because like I said just now, I don't really want to start a fight here," Luffy told her.
Enterprise was wondering what to say next, and then she noticed that he was observing them rather intensely, or rather, their riggings, especially Gascogne's. "Your stuff is really cool!" Luffy said to Gascogne. "What are these? They look like some kind of armor with guns on them. Are these guns real?"
In response, Gascogne explained to Luffy detailed information regarding the type of warship she is and various armament details in a robotic manner, true to her character. After slightly more than a minute of explanation, Luffy simply nodded and say, "I didn't understand any of that at all, but it's basically like fancy-looking guns that you carry around, right?"
"Such a term is extremely simplified and does not convey the actual meaning of my explanation completely," replied Gascogne. "However, if it helps subject understand the concept, then you may feel free to interpret it that way."
"Captain," Jinbe shouted out to Luffy all of a sudden. "Frank just contacted me through Transponder Snail, saying that the Marines are on the island and are aware of our presence here. We should leave now before it's too late!"
"Oh, Marines? Looks like we better leave, then," said Luffy, and then he turned to the ship girls. "Well, since I'm a pirate, I should be taking my leave. It's only been a short while, but it was still nice knowing you two! Maybe we'll run into each other again some other time and get to know each other better then!"
"If the rest of his crew have already met the Marines and are likely engaged in conflict against them, then there shouldn't be any reason to keep hiding from him," Enterprise thought. "It's now or never! I mustn't let the enemy escape!"
She held up her flying deck and pointed its turrets at Luffy. His instinct telling him that there was danger, Luffy bent back his body just in time to avoid energy blasts fired from the turrets. He positioned himself correctly and angrily said to her, "What's the big idea?!"
Without saying anything, Enterprise swung her landing pad at Luffy, knocking him back into the air. Enterprise then jumped above him, and a blade came out of the front part of the flying deck, and she attempted to impale him with it. Luffy crossed his arms in front of himself and hardened them with armament haki just before the blade struck.
Luffy fell onto the ground below with Enteprise on top of him, trying to pierce through his arm using her blade. "So this is armament haki?" she thought.
Luffy pushed her off himself and then stood up to get into a fighting stance. "What's your problem?! I haven't even done anything to you?!" he angrily said to her.
"In the name of the Marines, I'm bringing you in right here and now!" said Enterprise as she pulled back the bowstring of her bow, causing an arrow made of light to appear.
"You're with the Marines?!" said Luffy in surprise. He then dodged the light arrow fired by Enterprise.
Seeing his captain in danger, Jinbe rushed at Enterprise to attack. Gascogne dropped down in between them and used her rigging as a shield to block the punch meant for Enterprise.
Jinbe pulled back his fist and said, "I have never seen such equipment used by the Marines. Is this some sort of new technology they came up with?"
"Commence order to attack?" Gascogne asked Enterprise.
Enterprised nodded. "Yes, approval to attack! Be careful! If what we are told is true, then these people are formidable opponents!"
"Understood. Commence engagement against enemy," said Gascogne. She pointed her rigging at Jinbe and fired at him.
The fishman held up his arms while coating his entire body with armament haki for defense against the firepower. Even though he was mostly unharmed because of this, the impact from the shots still pushed him back.
"Such firepower!" he thought.
Gascogne then charged at him at an unexpectedly fast speed and jumped at him with her cross-tipped staff held over her head. She brought it down hard onto Jinbe, who easily blocked it with one arm and then punched with the fist of his other hand to knock her back. Gascogne was able to retain her footing while coming to a skidding stop.
"Wow! The thing that girl is carrying looks awesome!" said Luffy.
"You should concentrate on your opponent that is me instead!" said Enterprise as she readied another arrow to fire at him. When she fired at him, he dodged it by stepping to the side and then threw an extended punch at her. She stepped out of the punch's way and then tried to cut his arm with the blade of her flying deck. However, she was unable to do so due to the arm being hardened with haki.
Luffy threw a punch from his other arm before the first one fully retracted, punching Enterprise in the head and knocking her back, but she came to a stop in a crouched position. Luffy ran at him afterwards and pulled back his fist to punch again. Enterprise held up her flying deck to use as a shield and was able to block the punch, but the impact was so strong that she was sent flying back and crashed into a building. The people inside were shocked and stood back to watch what was going on.
Enterprise apologized for spooking them before running out to meet Luffy again while readying another light arrow on her bow. "I can tell that you're strong, Straw Hat Luffy, but I won't be going down without a fight!" she said to him.
TO BE CONTINUED
And so, Azur Lane has finally begun battle with the Straw Hats! Both sides are protagonists of their respective series, so who will end up being the victor if this is the case? Stay tuned to find out!