Alright everyone, I first want to start to say that we might all have seen the events taking place in Ukraine, and honestly this makes me want to adress to my relatively small Ukrainian following, and state the following:
Slava Ukraini Heroiam slava.
Even if its a small group of Ukrainians who read this fic, I wish you all good health and support for the protection of your land against this illegal invasion.
Timeskip
2 years later
1516
Night had fallen over the Grand Line, with not much happening now on a small island that laid near the end of the first half of the Grand Line, close to the Sabaody Archipelago.
Looking like any other island, with sand and trees, a nice looking view of the sea, it happened to be cursed with the presence of pirates that had overtaken the small fisher town settlements.
And it wasn't like these pirates were just settling for tonight and sail out for tomorrow like some normally do. With their presence having caused problems for the local population that had by now been out of contact for the past month. This of course, caused the Marines to be called in to clean this up, with a reconnaissance team to map the whole situation out.
Only problem was, this Marine Recon team hasn't responded for a full week - deeming them as MIA, or if it was to the higher ups, already dead.
*SMACK!*
That was the sound of a bamboo stick being used to hit the side of a Marine's head over and over again, to the point the side of his head was open with blood coming out of it in a alarming rate. Enduring the savagely beating that the pirate was giving out.
The recon team was alive, but now were reduced to prisoners, with some of them being bound to a wooden pole, with all of them having gone through the same torture, with only a few being seen breathing still.
Inside of the wooden hut where the torment was being done, there were two Marines that were given their turn by the bamboo stick holding brute and one man with a coat and hat, presumably being the captain of the pirates who had taken the time to come and watch the session for his own pleasure.
TCHK!
The sound of a lighter going off, the second Marine, who now was being spared for the moment, was met with a puff of smoke being pushed into his face, as the burning cigar was his only sight before seeing it was the pirate captain who had kneeled in front of him.
"You think because you say nothing…. You are strong?" The pirate questioned with a smug grin as he stood back on his feet and added. "You are wrong…"
The silent Marine, with his shaven head only could glare at the captain as he walked towards the brute who stopped the flogging for a moment for the captain to walk by.
"You will talk, eventually."
"Red…." The savagely beaten and bleeding Marine, spoke to his comrade. "Don't tell him a fucking thing!"
The captain yanked the Marine's head. "Where are the others of your unit, tell me now!"
….
The Marine's response was that of spitting whatever blood he could collect within his mouth and spit it all over the captain's face, that was his answer. The droplets gone all over his face, forcing the captain to whip the blood/saliva off his face.
"That's my fucking answer."
The captain, clearly not letting this slide, first stood back up, and took a moment to enjoy the cigar, for it to turn red and hot on the end part of it - as he then grinds the burner into the Marine's eye with no warning.
"AHHHHHHH!" The Marine screamed in undoubtedly frustrating pain, hollowing the ears of the other one who was just watching.
The captain then released the cigar, stopping and watching how the burner had caused tremendous pain, and permanently blinding him on the left side of his eye.
"That's my response, boy." The captain replied as he walked out and told the brute. "Kill them."
The brute nodded and then grabbed for something, and instead of grabbing for the bamboo stick what he used earlier, he went for his boot and pulled out a boot knife as he grabbed the Marine onto his head and pulled his face up.
"Go to hell."
SLASH!
The brute pirate just slit the Marine's throat open, an horrific sight to be witnessing as the blood literally spattered across the walls as the Marine's last words were followed by mutters and the sound of chocking, a horrible way to go out.
The brute then just pushed his foot into the murdered Marine's chest, pushing him over, right before he then turned to the last remaining Marine that was left barely touched.
He grabbed him then by the shoulder and positioned the knife across the Marine's throat, giving him the same fate.
"Good night, little Marine-"
*Click!*
The brute heard that, and when he tried to turn around-
SLASH!
"Ah-hmph!" The pirate brute got his mouth covered by a hand from behind, stopping him from screaming as he felt something being stabbed in his back multiple times.
The resisting didn't even start as the pirate just got hit from the fatal blows, and died in a split moment, and slipped to the ground, dead.
The blade was pulled out in front of the shocked Marine who then saw it all happen in front of him, trying to recognize the person, yet recognized the patch on his shoulder.
The Alabasta Foreign Legion - 9th Raiders.
"You're alive, good. Stand up now." The man said putting away his knife blade. "You look in good shape. Come on, we'll be giving those scumbags some payback."
Thud!
The pirate captain that just walked out found himself getting strangled to death.
"Fuckers!"
The person who just choked the pirate captain to death, wore a military outfit that wasn't the same as the Raiders who wore green cameo and green hats, but instead wore black boots and brown military khaki pants as he wore a holster that was strapped to his pants tightly, with ammo pouches. In his upper body he wore a blue loose shirt with its upper buttons open where he was seen wearing a pair of dog tags around his neck and his sleeves rolled up, visible showing a tattoo across his left forearm.
That tattoo was that of an black colored nine-tailed Fox with sharp teeth and angry eyes at the palm of his hand, with that tattoo only belonging to one person:
Naruto Uzumaki. First Lieutenant and the current second-in-command of the Legion 9th Raiders that had just arrived at the island, having just rescued one of the few surviving Marines that they found. Armed now with an Thompson machine gun and he still was wielding the Tantō that was visible, but also a line of scrolls that were connected to his back.
He turned over to the hut. "Vic."
"Got a live one, other's throat cut." Vic spoke while reaching back for his BAR gun.
"Wait, I know you-" The marine was interrupted when he got his white marine hat thrown at him, and then Naruto handed him a pistol.
"Grab a rifle." Naruto commanded. "We're gonna tear this place apart."
The marine turn to look around and took a quick notice at the surviving prisoners being evacuated. They were being put on small motorized boats that were already leaving with medics attending them. That left him with the Raiders, healthy and armed to the teeth, in light green uniforms, perfectly adjusted to the tropical jungle island.
Then, when he turned to the three up front, he saw Naruto and two others, one carrying a radio with him on the back, observing the huts of the pirate holdout.
"Do you think they heard anything, sir?" The Radioman asked, armed with an Thompson machine gun. "Those pirates don't seem to know happened."
"That's good enough for us, time to clean house." Naruto responded and turned to Vic. "Signal the strike team."
"On it." Vic said as he began flickering a light to the other side of the small holdout, and getting a flickering light in response.
The marine was confused about what the signal was until-
*BOOM!*
Multiple explosion began to go off as several huts and structures of the abandoned fisher town were torn to pieces.
"Here we go!"
"Move up, Raiders!" Naruto ordered his men as he took point. "Vic, with me! You two take the left!"
The marine asked. "What about me?"
"Take point!"
"Contact!"
Within moments, the first armed contact occurred as the 9th Raiders were beginning to shoot their way through the destroyed structures of the former fisher town. With the pirates, who were both caught off guard, and heavily unprepared for the fight they were going to be in.
"We're getting attacked!"
"Get out, now!"
Two unfortunate sword-wielding pirates ran out of a destroyed structure, but were then mowed down by Vic's BAR' gun, the moment they walked right in front of him, he eliminated the threats.
But there were some who managed to get a hold of the situation, who quickly began firing their rifles at the intruding enemies from their points of cover, like the remaining untouched huts and the stranded boats that were on the beach.
"We're getting attacked!"
"What the hell! The Marines!?"
"Just fucking shoot them!"
The gunfight soon ensued, as the Raiders were quick to find some cover, as they began firing back the moment they spotted the enemies who were trying to make a stand.
One pirate was unlucky to get hit in the stomach, as the pirates within the hut were able to fire at the Raiders with the minimal cover they had.
Naruto pointed at the huts. "SHOOT THE WOOD!"
The Raiders focused on the hut, and in a moment of time, they were able to shoot up the wooden hut up with bullets through and through, with splinters going around and the structure unable to hold for long.
One pirate was trying to make a run for it and burst out of the hut, only to be given a few rounds in the back by the Raiders, killing him instantly.
"Take no risks!" Naruto ordered as he ran upwards. "We need to link up with the strike team, move!"
"You heard the Lieutenant, move it!" Vic shouted to the others, as he puts in a new mag inside his BAR as he followed up his commanding officer with his team.
The Marine was the last to follow as he walked past the dead pirates he was encountering, seeing they were given no chance to fight back, only to be met with lead in their bodies and shock in their eyes.
This was definitely the trademark handiwork of the Alabasta Foreign Legion.
"Move up!"
A second team of Raiders, that had landed on the beach with motorized boats, were in combat with a group of pirates who had heard the explosion go off and were a little bit better prepared.
They had the Raiders pinned down, with some of the pirates being miraculously armed with bolt action rifles that they were shooting at the Raiders, with terrible aim as they weren't hitting any of the covering trained professionals.
"For Fuck's sake" One of the Raiders cursed as he got out of his cover and aimed down the sight quickly, firing at the pirates with deadly precision with his own Thompson gun.
Several bursts of rounds hit their targets, with them hitting most, if not all the pirates on the balcony, with the remaining few being forced to cover.
"Fucking pirates." The Raider shook his head while reloading his machine gun. "Learn how to fricking aim!"
"More coming!"
Through the thick jungle, a couple more Pirates arrived at the scene, with some even going on a daring attack with their swords against the Raiders team.
"DIE!" One of the charging pirates shouted, a war cry with his twin blades as he was determined to kill.
"LEW!"
Standing up, the Raider named Lew, readied up and aimed his weapon, strapped to his back was a large visible fuel tank with a long nozzle. Carrying a M2 Flamethrower - the blue fire was visible.
The pirate who saw it, saw the flames and began to scream.
"LOOK OUT-"
FOOOOM!
The pirates were engulfed in fire as the fuel ignited the air consuming them in the foul smelling flames. With all three swordsmen were given no chance to response as they were being given the most horrific way to die.
"Down, Lewis, down!"
The flamethrower guy ducked back to cover as he watched how in front of him, his three targets were running and screaming in pain.
This however angered the pirates, who just watched a few of their comrades die. They now swore to kill the bastards in revenge.
"Hit that burning bastard's fuel tank!" One of the pirates shouted, firing his rifle at their position angrily. "Kill them all!"
"Hold your ground!"
The gun battle continued on as more pirates soon joined the battle by coming out of the jungle bush, arriving in small but rising numbers as they were laying fire on the strike team that was holding themselves.
Another pirate attempted to charge in at the covered Raiders, but found himself being shot from the side, as Naruto and his team arrived from the rear and joined the fight.
"Relief the strike team!" Naruto ordered as he aimed and fired his Thompson gun at a couple of pirates who went to hide into cover behind a few barrels.
The pirates, soon found themselves cornered as they started getting shot from both sides, as they soon got their numbers going down to their previous state.
"Jeez! How many of these bastards are they?" Vic said removing another mag after having emptied another one. "They're like an infestation on this island."
"That's our job, is to get rid of them!" Naruto told him and reminded. "Now let's clear this site, I want to meet up with the rest on the north side of the island."
The Raiders took it as their cue and began picking up their targets, one by one before then another explosion occurred within the building that was still standing, with flames seen coming out of the rooftop.
"Where did that explosion come from!"
"No questions now, boy!" Vic told the rookie as he turned back. "Ryan! Move up!"
"I'm on my way!" The rookie Raider responded and went up. Going up the plank, he was the first confronted by the smoke that was coming from inside the burning fisherman house that was fully ablaze.
"God damn-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The two were caught off guard by the screaming pirate, who was fully covered in flames and assaulted Nazuki right on with his full body.
"Ryan!"
"GET HIM OFF ME!"
*SLASH!*
*SLASH!*
Without even a warning, Nazuki just then witnessed in front of him the slashed off hands of the pirate who tried to kill him, neutralizing him in a split second.
"What the-"
Standing in front of him, stood Naruto, but this time not only his Tantō knife, but then also a Katana sword, managing to wield now two blades at the same time. Having just saved one of his men!
"Lieutenant!"
"Do not let your guard down!" Naruto ordered his men as he sheeted his swords back away in a puff of smoke, having summoned them back inside his scrolls. "Strike team, check every building!"
"Got it sir!"
"Move up!" Naruto told his team, with Vic, his radioman, two others and the surviving marine on the move.
The team continued their way towards the end of the large wooden warehouse, seeing the fighting was still going on.
A door went wide open as a pirate stumbled backwards out of the warehouse, as he tried to reach for his own pistol-
*BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!*
The pirate only then received a ruthless amount of gunshots from up close by the Raider who was just emptying the clip.
"You like that? you piece of shit!" The Raider mocked while forcing the pirate to fall over the rails, killing him.
"No time to talk, Lozano, just keep moving." Vic said passing by the Raider as another few bullets whistled over their heads
The shooting started to come from the hut on the other side of the small fish market, where the village's exit precisely was, and the shooting continued meaning-
"They got an MG!" One Raider warned as it was continuing to shoot, much on its own as it was covering a group of retreating pirates who were running for the jungle.
"They're making a run for it!" Naruto shouted as he got to cover. "Take out that MG!"
"I can't get a clear shot!" One Raider said.
"Then shoot through the damn wood!"
The MG kept firing at the Raiders who were staying in cover, with it even shooting through their cover, as bullets flew through the wood.
"Ugh!" One of the Raiders got hit in the shoulder and fell backwards.
Naruto stood right back up and fired his Thompson at the MG nest, hoping to hit it, even emptying a whole clip before forced to duck down again.
It was then that he noticed that the nest was getting flanked from the rear - the flamethrower nicknamed 'Lew' somehow managed to sneak from the side without being spotted with another Raider, who was seen pulling out a grenade.
"Fire in the hole!" The Raider pulled the pin out and then threw it inside the small window.
BOOM!
The grenade exploded and the sound of the MG firing was replaced with a groan of pain, and there were multiple groans.
"Lew, light 'em up!"
Not needed to be told twice, took a few steps backwards and aimed the nozzle right at the wooden hut and sprayed the house with fire, with the fire going right through the building without a problem.
The groans were then replaced with loud screams of agony, with the front door being kicked out violently, and two figures covered in fire seen running out and in unspeakable pain that they were enduring.
"Put them down!" Naruto ordered.
Ryan and the radio man took no moment and shot the burning pirates down, giving them a more merciful way out as they were already on death's doorstep.
"Clear!"
Naruto turned to the wounded Raider that was laying on the ground and saw he was being treated by the other.
"Status report?"
"It hurts-"
"Bullet went straight through, but not risking it, sir." The Raider told him as he pulls out a bandage. "I'll take care of him."
Once he heard that, Naruto was the first one to move forwards as he then walked up to Lew and the other Raider and then asked straight up.
"Where's the rest of your squad?"
"They're setting up a perimeter, this village is secured." Lew informed his officer. "We heard the shots and saw the MG nest, so we decided to help."
"Outstanding. Now stay here and hold the area until reinforcements arrive, I want this village secured" Naruto ordered before turning to his team. "The rest, on me. We got to get to the northern docks."
"Why's that?" The marine asked. "What's the plan?"
Meanwhile
Miles off the coast, the southern fisher village was releasing tons of smoke into the air so that anybody on the sea could spot it from afar.
That was certainly being the reality for a couple of ships that had the island surrounded, and having blocked all means of possibilities for ships to go in or come out of the island.
The main ships that were there out in the sea were three standard Warships that were called in, with also one ship that was doing the hard job: A collier ship called The Sea Snake that was originally a large cargo ship, was the main ship that was now being used by the Legion as the operational center of this incursion.
Standing outside was Bishop, watching the smoke going off, knowing that the operation was in full swing.
"Captain!" One of the intelligence operators approached him and began informing him. "We got an status update on Lieutenant Uzumaki's mission."
"Read it, I'm hearing you."
"Right. The southern teams have all landed on the shores, with Uzumaki's team having managed to locate the missing Marines' recon team, with three confirmed survivors and two confirmed dead."
"Okay, the Navy's not gonna like hearing that." Bishop stated, knowing it personally. "Go on."
"First objectives like securing the missing marines and blowing up the southern holdout have been completed. First reinforcements have been sent to secure it. Support teams are being deployed as of this moment and the pirates are in total confusion."
"Good to hear, all according to the plan." Bishop liked what he was hearing and turned. "Inform the other ships to stand by. The moment the strike and support teams arrive at the northern docks, those pirate ships will try to make a run for it."
The plan was to flush out the remaining pirate ships that were there, out of the island, towards the sea, where they would then be faced by the Legion's firepower.
"Sir, there's also something else." The intelligence officer wasn't done. "We've just been contacted by Navy HQ."
Bishop closed his eyes, a sigh of frustration could escape through his mouth but he kept his cool and asked up.
"What is it?"
Naruto's team
Jungle
Making their way through the thickness of the island's tropical jungle, Naruto and his men kept their eyes peeled while moving forwards to the rally point of where the support team was supposed to land.
"Hey, Marine, what's your name?"
"Huh?"
"Your name?" Vic repeated the question. "You got a name, right?"
"Regis, sir." The Marine responded. "Nam's Regis."
"Alright, Regis. Just so you know, keep that rifle of yours pointed at anything you think is suspicious. We still got a mission to fulfill." Vic told him. "So listen to the Lieutenant, do what he tells you to, and I promise that you'll get out of this island alive."
The big marine took the advice as a mental note and followed the Raiders, who he knew were not just some country's national army units.
The Alabasta Foreign Legion was worldwide known for its leaders like Frederick Bishop who was a former Marine and other high respected officers from all over the world who joined into this new force, but for the last two years, their main eye-catcher was the legendary Raiders. Which was an force of itself.
9th Raiders Battalion, also known as the Fox Raiders made their name through fighting in numerous battles in the name of the Legion, against numerous amounts of pirate crew both on the seas and lands, wherever it is the desolate big deserts of Alabasta or the vast jungle areas of the Grand Line, and their success rate was out of the ordinary that even rivaled stronger Marine divisions.
They not only were a smaller force that was officially membered to only around a 1 000 handpicked men, they also were an rapidly modernizing force that was expanding in both weaponry and strategy, as they had access to numerous of weapons. Machine guns, automatic rifles, bolt action rifles, explosives, grenades and so forth.
But that wasn't the only thing, their most crucial part is that the Raiders were specialized in combating Devil Fruit users, to which in itself is a hard job to do in the Grand Line, but these Raiders had some pretty strong officers that they absorbed into the ranks, one of whom was leading the team right now.
"Uhm, if it isn't much of a hassle to ask-"
"No, we don't do autographs." Ryan commented, aiming his BAR down the road. "So if you got anything useful to ask, spill it out, if something stupid, keep it for later."
"Shut it, Ryan, nobody asked you." Vic shut his friend up before turning. "Okay, kid. What's your question?"
"Your lieutenant, who's up the front… Is it really Naruto Uzumaki?" Regis asked the question.
Luckily for him, Naruto and the radio man were a bit more up front, allowing Ryan and Vic to answer the marine's question without being heard.
"Yep, that's him. 1st Lieutenant Naruto Uzumaki, a good fighter, leader, drinker. Likes gardening, poker, training, guns. Dislikes? Anybody who can't handle a gun properly, judgmental pricks and no major fan of the Marines."
"He dislikes the Marines?" Regis asked, kinda taken back by this claim. "How so?"
"No one knows, but I heard a rumor once." Lozano mentioned while walking backwards to cover their backs. "Heard he lost someone to a marine operation."
"Something like that, yeah." Vic agreed before then getting back. "Now let's keep our focus on the mission."
*Gunshot!*
"That'-"
Naruto's hand was raised up, now squatting down, his men followed suit and went down, as they wondered where that shot came from. Luckily for them, they were just behind some plants and bushes that they used for cover.
BANG!
Then it was followed by more shots, as in front of them, suddenly dozens of pirates were seen running past them in total chaos as they were shooting backwards while trying to flee away from the direction they came from.
"Get out of here!"
"Where do they come from!"
BANG!
One pirate bought a gunshot to the back of the head and landed on his face, with one other pirate nearly tripping over the body as they continued to flee.
"To the Norther docks! We gotta go, NOW!" One pirate shouted while firing a revolver twice back at the road that he was running on. Only to be met by more gunfire - they were being pursued.
"The marines found us, run!"
"Those aren't marines! It are the-"
*Gunshot!*
The pirate got shot and fell down, just when a moment later other members of the Raiders in their light green uniforms emerged from the road and were firing back at the pirates they were chasing down - it was the support team!
"They're running, follow them!"
"Matteo! Stay close!"
"Don't treat me like a little boy, Luca!"
Stopping right in front of the road, two young white male in uniforms, both using SMLE rifles as the one wearing the beanie kneeled down to aim, while the other with the cap was standing next to him, aiming and firing as well.
*Click!*
"Fanculo!" The beanie wearing Raider cursed, pulling the bolt. "Stupid thing-"
One of the pirates turned around to try and shoot-
BANG!
The pirate got shot in the chest, dropping dead before he could pull the trigger.
"Matteo, move it!" The cap wearing man shouted as he moved forwards.
The beanie wearing guy just fixed his rifle and followed suit. "Wait for me, fuck this weapon!"
More of the Raiders of the support unit followed them. Just when the last man passed by, Naruto came out and followed the road downwards with the others.
"They didn't even notice us, boss." The radio man said.
"Let's just move before those two get themselves killed." Naruto told them before waving his hand. "Move it!"
Island North Side
The Northern docks, where in actuality, a larger village was located with an large church and a big marketplace, was where the major pirate ship was docked at the moment, with the situation now having turned to what everyone can agree upon was one thing:
Chaotic, with the explosions that were heard coming from the southern part of the island and the continuing gunfire that was going off, the pirate crew decided to make it a leave, especially now that their captain now was gone.
"Those bastards kill the captain! We've got to set sail now that we can!"
The pirates that managed to reach the town began to grab for anything that was worth stealing, from materials, food, cash, even fishing nets and anything else that belonged to the fisher town.
And the villagers? They were all forced into the large church under threat, with them being locked inside without any way to get out as all the exits were blocked off with wooden pallets as shouting and cries were heard coming out from the religious building whilst the doors were swinging back and forth, showing the attempts to break out.
"What about those villagers?"
"Forget those villagers, we've got bigger concerns!" One panicking pirate said keeping an eye on the main road that connected the southern and northern villages. "We're in bad luck, those weren't marines!"
"What, you don't say-"
"They're the Legion, yes I'm saying that!" The other pirate confirmed, as much as he wished he was wrong. "They wore those different uniforms and they're coming now!"
In the middle of this chaos, there was one pirate who seem to be calm as he was carrying a crate that was covered in a white cloth as he walked over to the mayor's office that was already ransacked. Walking through the broken doors he walked past the looting men and then entered the main office.
Sitting there was the forgotten prisoner - the female brunette Marine that was separated from her recon unit that was captured. As she was on her knees, gagged and eyes blinded with her hands behind her back and unable to move.
The pirate, being in fact the First Mate of the crew, essentially making him the Vice-Captain, had by now already figured that those explosions on the other side, was the possible cause of his captain and best friend not being here now, meaning he was most likely dead or captured.
"Get up!"
He grabbed the woman by her brown hair and yanked it hard, for her to scream in pain.
"I might leave now, but don't think you and these villagers will live for very long." The vice-captain growled. "Get up!"
The female marine's scream were muffled through the gag as she was being dragged across the wooden floor, like an abused woman who was in a violent domestic situation.
And the vice captain, pretty much had all the attributes of an person with very ill intentions.
In the short few minutes that the vice-captain was inside the mayor's hall, he came outside and watched how his remaining crew were collecting the last loot that they could take.
There was something off that the pirate noticed the moment he came out. The shooting had ended.
And that was no good sign.
"Vice-captain! Everything's on board." One random pirate shouted while having approached him by running. "But we've got to move now."
"Come with me."
"Wha-"
"Now!" The Vice-captain ordered him as he continued to drag the captive marine relentlessly as she was seen resisting, trying to drag her heels against the ground, but to no avail.
The pirates who were still in the town as the covering party, they saw their second-in-command dragging their female prisoner to the blocked off church, with what looks like in his hand, a cart of bottles, with rags propped into them.
"Stupid Navy bitch!"
BANG!
The brunette marine landed with her back against the barricaded door, with her head hitting it hard and causing her to be tipsy for a bad few minutes.
TCHK!
The sound set off the woman whose gag was loosened up, allowing a small gasp to be heard from her mouth, as she heard that sound and recognized it. Then her blindfold was suddenly ripped off from her eyes, to which she saw what she feared.
The pirate had just ignited one of the Molotov cocktails he was holding, with the small rag now on fire thanks to the small lighter the scumbag was holding, seeing his intentions were becoming clear to his men.
"If you're going to burn this dump, then do it."
"Yeah, we've plundered everything already."
And they couldn't care less. These pirates really did not care about the villagers, typical behavior of these marauding bastards.
She knew the end was near for her - if the bottle was thrown, it would be all over, and she'd be suffering from a painful way of death.
So instead of screaming or begging or even letting a tear coming out of her eyes, like what the villagers inside the church understandably were doing. She knew that she couldn't afford doing that.
So she sighed in defeat and accepted it and sat silent. Ready to accept death.
"Good night, bitch…"
Those words were from the first mate, as he was about to throw the burning bottle against the church, and essentially killing off a whole community.
"DIE!-"
…..
CLINK!
CLINK!
CLINK!
"W-What the-"
From out of nowhere, three golden covered chains had appeared and caught the pirates who were standing near the church, with the vice-captain being the worst position.
His arm that was holding the burning bottle, was locked into the grip of the chains that were strong as steel, making him unable to even move his own limbs.
"I-I can't move!" One of the pirates spoke, stuck in the chains himself. "I-Is this a D-Devil Fruit?"
The vice-captain turned towards the source of these chains, and saw from whom these belong to:
Seen coming out of the back, Naruto just stood there, having just arrived on the scene, without a weapon in his hand, yet was holding these pirate's life with death close by.
"Naruto Uzumaki…."
"You ain't doing nothing to those villagers." Naruto stated clearly. "Especially with that arm."
CRACK!
The horrific screaming of the second-in-command was so loud that it deafened the sound of the bones that were just crushed ruthlessly to multiple pieces, resulting in the limb being rendered useless.
Naruto told them with much restraint. "You're all under arrest."
"Help the Lieutenant!" A couple of Raiders were seen running towards the Church, with a few gunshots being heard, they quickly arrived, with Vic and Luca arriving at first with their weapons pointed at the captured pirates.
"Consider yourself lucky, scum." Naruto warned them, releasing the pirates from his chains that disturbingly returned back into his body.
One of the pirates tried to get up, but was then hit in the back by Vic who held him down while grabbing for some handcuffs.
"You move even a inch, you're fucking dead." Vic threatened by grabbing the pirate's arms and crossing them behind. "Now stay down!"
Marron all the while was too shocked by what she just saw and didn't realize that she was just being picked up and brought away to safety, being in a state of shock.
Whilst the pirates were benign cuffed, Ryan and Matteo were seen approaching the closed church and removed the barriers to allow the doors to be opened up, while trying to calm the people inside of it.
"Everyone, I need you all to calm down." Matteo spoke to the crowd with a calm tone. "Please go this way, there's still fighting going on."
As some gunfire could still be heard, the crowd did as they were instructed, as then more Raiders arrived in the northern town with the pirate ship having still made no attempt to leave the dock, for a good obvious reason.
Just arriving in front of the docks of the northern town, was a Marine Warship that blocked the path of the pirates, making their attempt useless.
The pirates then soon surrendered.
A hour later
After the final fighting in and around the remaining dock town had ceased, stability was returning.
With an overwhelming troop force now present on the island, the 9th Raiders made up now the majority of the cleaning up operations where they were trying to find and force any leftover pirate to surrender or neutralize them. To which very few actually did and gunfire could be heard erupting from up the mountains.
Meanwhile, with the peace having now at least returned to the remaining fishing town, the Collier Sea Snake and the unknown Marine Warship had taken the time to dock down into the port.
Already exiting the Sea Snake first, Bishop was met with the saluting members of the Raiders who awaited for his presence.
"Sir!" Vic saluted first, with the two others as followed.
"At ease, boys." Bishop saluted back to them and asked. "Status report?"
"Sir, we've secured the northern and southern port towns, with the other teams in the jungles trying to root out the remaining pirates who are hiding there."
*Rapid gunfire!*
That came from the top mountain that wasn't far away, given the island was relatively small, the gunfights could be heard time to times.
"We've counted 25 pirates dead, and 60 captured, 6 of them wounded." Vic told the captain. "Among the deaths is the captain."
Bishop nodded. "Casualties?"
"Except for the dead marines who we couldn't get to. We got six wounded, one seriously in the shoulder, but he'll make it." Vic responded. "I'm not gonna lie sir, this mission's been a goddamn success."
"Cannot save everyone, that's just life." Bishop then looked around. "Where's Naruto?"
"At the church, sir."
Bishop chuckled. "He sure is no prayer, so let's go pay him a visit."
The captain and the others stared walking towards the church, as they just bypassed a group of pirates being escorted by armed Marines who were taking them to the ship.
Among those prisoners, was the vice-captain who's arm was now in a plaster.
At the church
In the aftermath of the whole ordeal, the villagers were seen waiting patiently in a line as they were waiting for their turn. With the intention to collect:
To collect their stolen belongings that were being returned to them by the Raiders and Marines who were working together to orderly help the villagers bring back the goods that the pirates pillaged from these hard-working people, with the results being fulfilling.
The town was coming back to normal life, all thanks to the fact the villagers were spared from any bloodshed, and they were already beginning to try and open their stores or clean up their homes.
But that wasn't much paid attention to the female Marine named Marron, who was sitting down on the steps of the church, still digesting the whole experience she had gone through. Having not even moved from her seat for over an hour as the shock still was present.
It was then that she felt something being put over her shoulders, and seeing it was her Marine coat, she was all too more surprised to see from who it was who did it.
Naruto, sat down next to Maroon on the steps and was seen with a roughed up face as he had his eyes fixated on whatever was down the road - seemingly tying to avoid eye contact with the marine.
Marron then herself turned her sights down to the floor, feeling suddenly a pinch of guilt, shame, powerless-
"Don't start blaming yourself for this - be happy you're still alive."
Marron turned her face around to the Legionnaire to what he had to say-
TCHK!
A match had just light up a small cigarette that Naruto had put into his mouth, as he took a stroke from it and puffed it out through his mouth before then turning to the female marine, offering it to her.
"I… I'm sorry but…" Marron waved her hands to decline, but then followed up with an tiresome sigh as she buried her head into the palms of her hands
"Sorry just…"
A sympathetic smile crossed Naruto's face, and instead puts the smoke back into his mouth as he to something underneath his belt.
"Believe me, it helps after a day like this. You could use something strong."
Marron turned her head up and saw that she was being offered her a gray hip flask that she didn't expect to be offered.
"Go on, take a sip. I promise you, it will help out." Naruto offered her with a dry chuckle that still kept the roll of tobacco in his mouth. "It surely helped me for the past three years."
Blinking a few times at the offer she's just been given, Marron then took upon it as her hand slowly reached for the flask and she opened it up - to which she afterwards took a quick swig of it in one go.
"How does it taste?"
The answer come with Marron beginning to cough and hold her hand in front of her mouth, not used to the taste of the strong alcoholic beverage.
"*Cough!* It tastes *Cough!* very strong, really." Marron gasped for some air, feeling a bit overwhelmed. "What is it?"
"Gold old Scotch, ma'am." Naruto smiled. "It certainly helps give you a kick, doesn't it?
Marron left a chuckle, "Yeah, I guess so."
"Listen, what happened back there, don't blame yourself, just learn from the experience. I can see you're still very new to this, if I can see." Naruto told her. "How long have you been in the Marines?"
"Seven months now." Marron confessed to him. With some extra info. "I volunteered to be a part of the recon unit, mainly to prove it to my captain…"
"Who's now being demoted for ordering such a foolish thing, if you weren't notified. But you're not to blame for what happened to your friends." Naruto continued on to give her some advice from warrior to warrior. "You've proven yourself that you got the attributes of a leader who's willing to into a dangerous mission, and that's something the higher ops got to keep a note on."
That advice, even when she didn't want to admit it, made the marine Marron, glad on the inside to hear it this being told to her. Given the fact it was hard to be a marine, let alone a woman that had gotten some very unfair goals to reach, she managed to get through the many hurdles despite the many backwashing comments.
"Thank you…" Marron thanked him, raising the flask up and handing it back to him. "For the flask, I mean."
Naruto smiled. "You're welcome."
"Lieutenant Uzumaki!"
Hearing his name being called up, he saw it was one of his men approaching him with a salute. It was his radioman.
"Private, what is it?"
The radio man saluted him. "Boss Bishop's requesting for your presence, and our forces are about to pull out, sir."
"Guess that's my quo." Naruto said as he stood up and turned to the marine. "Good luck, ma'am-"
"Marron, my name's Marron." She told her name to him and smiled. "Thank you, Lieutenant Uzumaki."
"It was my pleasure." Naruto nodded to her before walking away with the scrolls hanging from the back with his rifle slung around it.
Keeping her eyes on his back, it was just when she managed to suppress the small pink that was glowing on her cheeks.
Having had the privilege to meet a notorious Uzumaki, who's own stories had reached the Marines, was a small desire she somehow managed to fulfill.
After an half hour
With now all of the Raiders units having now assembled at the Northern docks, the Marines had now taken full control of the security around the island. Now deeming it safe from any remaining pirate that now was either finished or arrested.
With most of the men now having embarked on the Sea Snake, the only ones left on the docks were Bishop, Vic and Naruto, who's being briefed of the last reports that the Raiders had given of their findings.
And some of the details really troubled the officers, especially what Vic was holding.
"You mean the pirates in that nest were using this gun?" Naruto pointed at it. "Are you certain, Vic?"
"Yep, this is it." The machine gun with a very abnormal way of putting ammo in it, as it used strip ammunition that went through the side as the gun was departed from the stock it was attached to. "Its an Hotchkiss machine gun, its one of those guns the Frenchies made."
"You mean Frauce, right?"
"Like I said, Frenchies." Vic repeated, showing it off. "Don't mind the burns, but this gun was not just one off, we found a couple of them around the southern docks, most of them knocked out by the explosions except for thus one that was used."
Bishop and Naruto faced each other briefly before he then ordered. "Good work, Vic. go take a break."
The corporal nodded and walked up towards the ship, leaving the two officers to speak to themselves about this discovery. Bishop walked around a bit with his hand on his chin.
"Just like I suspected, these pirates are getting their hands on these new weapons. Meaning there are more of them out there." Bishop ended with a frown of frustration. "Good God."
"Well, luckily for us, these pirates were incompetent." Naruto argued, still with the cigarette in his mouth that he nearly finished smoking. "Only thing we've got are some roughed up wounded, and worst case is an shot up shoulder. But I think preparing our men on this development can't hurt."
"You know, you could've done this all by yourself, right?" Bishop noted to him, having heard the blonde went with his Thompson without even using much of his own abilities. "All of this would've been over quickly."
Naruto shook his head. "Remember what you taught me; do not show the enemy your full force. Besides, these were just random nobody pirates." Naruto shrugged it off while puffing some smoke out. "I snapped their captain's neck first, and he wasn't much of a problem at all. Says much about the crew."
As the Legion members were discussing, one Marine was seen approaching the two.
"I guess you're right, but try and keep the damage at a minimum even with the weapons." Bishop pleaded. "Because those explosions in the Southern docks caused way too much infrastructure damage."
"And are the villagers angry about it?"
"Given nobody seriously got injured, they aren't." The old man smiled as he added. "They even said they didn't mind, so long they could keep the loot of the pirates."
"They can keep it. Not ours anyway." Naruto replied to him, dropping the butt and stepping on the burner with his boot and noticed that someone's approaching them.
"Here comes the uniform…" Naruto mentioned, specifically stating the uniform of the Marine officer.
It was an Vice Admiral, and standing behind him was another marine who Naruto recognized was the one named Regis. With the Vice Admiral being a man of dark-colored mohawk and a mustache, carrying his sword by his side.
"Former Captain Frederick Bishop."
That rank being told, got the old man to turn around and see who it was, and by the looks of it, the man then answered.
"Momonga." Bishop said the Vice Admiral's name. "It's been too long, young man."
Vice Admiral Momonga, one of the strongest of this rank, then replied with a still stern but more genuine happy response.
"Its good to see you after all these years, old man."
"Oh please, don't remind me of being the old man. Makes me remind my numbers, but its good to see you're doing well, you bugger." And he greeted him by shaking his hand. "Good to see you're doing well yourself, son."
"What can I say? Yours and Master Zephyrs' training have helped a lot. Especially yours on the leadership part. " Momonga mentioned. "And for that, I cannot thank you enough."
"Only did what I could do."
The story was that under the leadership of Frederick Bishop in his old Marine days, he had taken the part of training many of the now high-ranking Marines who now were of major significant rank, all despite him not having a devil fruit or even strong Haki powers.
There was one thing that Bishop did excel in, leadership, charisma, planning and all the other attributes of being a firm and working commanding officer that would keep even the smallest amounts of men together in the most difficult situations.
While Zephyr thought how to fight, Bishop was the one who thought how to lead. That was until Bishop left on his own accord.
"You know, many Marines still wish to see again. Especially Master Zephyr." Momonga mentioned as he had many respect for the former captain. "Maybe-"
"I'm flattered, Momonga, but my decision stays how it is and I ended my career as a Marine on good terms, but it's good to hear from you." Bishop told him before adding. "Besides, as you can see, I got my hands full with the fellers on board."
Momonga turned his eyes up, seeing the colliers ship that they came in, with looking from the side of the ship, were many of the men observing the discussion, some of whom were even smoking and staring.
"Ah yes. Your Alabasta Foreign Legion." Momonga commented. "Marineford got word about this force that you've been building up from the ground."
"Yeah, I get that a lot lately." Bishop knew, remembering some of the flack he got from some of those who didn't trust this for one bit. "If you're talking about the likes of Sakazuki, I've already got my share of comments from those proper morons."
"I know, I know. But I don't mean him." Momonga cleared. "I am talking about our bosses up in Mariejois."
Naruto's eye's grew darker upon hearing that name, but kept himself silent.
"The Gorosei, I know."
"Not only them, the emergency Reverie meeting had made his into a topic of discussion." Momonga told his old mentor about what he heard. "It's supposed to be ending now, but the topic of your Legion was brought up, alongside the refugee crisis and the Shinobi Wars that's still unfolding."
Hearing that those three topics were being brought up at once in the Reverie meeting, got the former Marine to mentally remind himself to see to the King once they arrived back to Alabasta. Because for the last two years, those later two subjects, were unescapable to speak of.
Bishop replied then. "I will speak of it with King Cobra once we are back in Alabasta."
"I'll see to i then." The two shook hands, with Momonga being glad to have seen his old mentor at least.
The Sea Snake soon after had set its course towards Alabasta, with Vice Admiral Momonga seeing watching. Regis, the marine who had for a brief period fought alongside the Legion members, still stood there next to his commanding officer.
"Marine."
"Sir!" Regis saluted.
"At ease." Momonga turned to the low ranking fighter. "Tell me, you were fighting alongside with them on the island, correct?"
"Yes, sir. They saved me and a few of my comrades, and needed an extra body." Regis replied to his officer. "I can absolutely say that they are a formidable fighting force."
"That I don't doubt, they're being trained under Bishop, obviously." Momonga reiterated before then asking. "But can you tell me something about the commanding officer who led the attack?"
"1st Lieutenant Naruto Uzumaki?"
"Yes, him." Momonga confirmed and wanted to know more about Bishop's top lieutenants that were making a name around the seas for his record. "What can you tell me about him?"
"Honestly, sir, It would be a lot to unravel to what his men told me. But not too much."
Momonga nodded and understood that not much info would come out about this boy, even after previous run-ins the young man had with Marines, he still had a shroud of mystery around him.
Yet soon, they would find out more about him, then anticipated, in the future.
Okay, I'm going to be honest, I thought this mission was going to be only a part of the chapter, but given that it was more then I expected, I'll leave it to here. Plus, if I wrote more, it would go over the 10K cap that I do not want to cross, so that's it for this chapter.
Now, shoutout to UnitedOsprey1991, who helped me out to idea of this chapter. Which is based of the COD WaW mission: Semper Fi, if you guys haven't figured it out already.
Now, I know there will be comments like the usual or PM's of the usual critism, but please. Keep the language clean. I already got my head full with my internship coming up. Also, I've been literally getting my life on the better track.
Anyway, I wish you all a good day and stay safe.