Everyone was now waiting for Hiccup to arrive, but he might be a while since he was battling the most powerful member CP9 ever had.

"Come on, Hiccup," said Snotlout impatiently. "The suspense is killing me."

"You know the quietness before the battle is always unnerving," said Astrid.

"Yeah, but I get the feeling things are going to get very noisy soon," said Ragnar.

Hiccup had successfully transformed into his Broadwing Form, but it was put a massive toll on his already weakened body. Lael was also worn out; he had never had to fight this hard against an opponent.

Hiccup then immediately took off with blinding speed. "Dragon Neo Fist!"

He managed to hit Lael, but Hiccup noted that he had jumped back before his attack hit. He was using his Moonwalk combined with his Shaved technique to fly around.

"He jumped back, so the punch didn't hit him as hard," Hiccup noted.

"Moonwalk!" Lael yelled and then appeared directly behind him. "Finger Pistol!"

He then began swinging his finger at Hiccup, but he was proving to quite nibble his feet dodging each and every swing. He then launched himself at Hiccup swinging his fist down towards him, but he was able to catch it with his bare hands. Hiccup then retaliated with a punch of his own, but he too was able to block it with his arm through the shockwave was immense.

Hiccup opened his mouth. "Plasma Shot!"

Hiccup fired a concentrated plasma blast striking him in the chest, pushing him back, and he fell to his knees.

"Twin Neo Dragon Fist!" Hiccup yelled, striking him twice with two powerful blows.

His blows made full contact this time, and he was sent flying into the rubble.

Lael looked up and saw Hiccup flying towards him. "Dragon…

"It's time to end this," said Lael coughing out some blood. "My next attack will put CP9's killing arts to the limit. Six Powers Extreme: Secret Technique!" He vanished and suddenly appeared right in front of Hiccup, placing his two fists against his chest. "Six King Pistol!"

He then struck Hiccup with a mighty shockwave that ran right through his body and sent him crashing into the floor.

Hiccup gasped for breath as he attempted to stand. "It's like those impact dials we saw back on Skypiea, but it feels like these hits are a heck of a lot harder."

"Tempest Kick: Victory Burn!" Lael roared, swinging his leg.

A split second later, part of the column was sliced to pieces, catching the attention of the other Dragon Riders.

"Hiccup!" said Astrid.

"That Lael guy is as strong as hell," said Eret. "We're lucky that we have Dragon to hold him back. I know he could have killed me; he could probably kill all of us if he had half a chance."

"Hiccup always does seem to be a step ahead of us," said Chopper. "He knew before we even started that he had to fight Lael and defeat him if we're to survive."

"That's why he's the captain," said Fishlegs.

The battleships were now making their way towards the Bridge of Hesitation, and a Marine approached Vice-Admiral Gorg.

"I have a report, sir! Dragon Conqueror Hiccup is in the first support column."

"So, he still alive then?" Gorg grunted. "Listen up! I want all ships to take position around the Bridge of Hesitation!"

"Yes, sir!"

The Marines immediately for the orders, and soon, all the battleships were converging towards the Bridge of Hesitation.

Astrid and the others were still looking on towards the column, who was still no sign of Hiccup.

"He's going to be all right, isn't he?" Astrid asked, looking deeply concerned.

"You should know by now, Astrid, Hiccup is too stubborn to die," said Toothless.

"Doesn't mean I can't worry about him," said Astrid looking back at the column.

At the column, Hiccup had the wind knocked out of him, but he was able to get back on his feet. On the other hand, Lael wasn't as lively as he had been; he looked utterly exhausted.

Then suddenly, cannon fire struck the bridge.

"Not now," Lael glared.

Hiccup looked back. "The walls are…"

The bridge connecting the two columns was now destroyed, leaving anyone stranded on the first column.

"The first support column has now been cut off!" a Marine announced.

"What the hell?" Ragnar stared. "They blow up the bridge."

"But why?" Snotlout asked.

"Lael of CP9 and Dragon Conqueror Hiccup are both inside the support column!" said a Marine.

"The battleships are coming this way!" said Fishlegs.

"All ships take up flying positions around the Bridge of Hesitation!" the Marine ordered. "On the Bridge and escort ship, we have identified 12 pirates, including Valkyrie Astrid, Pirate Hunter Toothless and Heather Owson. We believe that these are the culprits that repeated CP9 in the Tower of Law!"

"They're coming here to take Heather back," said Toothless with his swords.

"Well, let them try," said Astrid spinning her axe around.

All the Marines were prepared for a ground assault, and many of them were unnerved.

"Be careful, everyone," said a Marine captain. "We should underestimate the enemy. Thanks to CP9, no one has launched a successful attack on Enies Lobby in its 800 years of history. Yet this tiny pirate crew wiped them out. We thought that Dragon Conqueror was a rookie, but as we speak, he's going head-to-head with Lael Robson, the strongest fighters CP9 has ever seen."

"Fighting Lael and beating him to different things," said another Marine captain. "Right now, their crew is completely outnumbered and totally surrounded. We're going to avenge every defeat we face today."

"Guys, over there!" Snotlout pointed.

Everyone's eyes turned towards the first column, which had a gigantic hole in it wide enough for them to see.

In the centre of this column was Hiccup and Lael, both completely worn out.

"Hey, Hiccup!" Snotlout yelled. Hiccup looked up and saw his crew waving at him. "We made it!

"Everyone got to the bridge safe and sound!" Eret yelled. "Don't you worry, we're all doing fine!"

"We even rescue Heather, just like we said we would!" Astrid yelled.

"All you have to do is be that guy!" Ragnar yelled.

"We'll be waiting!" said Eret. "I know you can do it!"

"Don't give up, Hiccup!" Toothless yelled.

"We're all going to make it!" Snotlout.

"We're all going back!" Ragnar yelled.

"We're just waiting on you!" Astrid yelled.

Hiccup smiled and nodded.

Astrid and the others were now completely surrounded by nine of the remaining 10 battleships.

"Now it's only a question of how long we can hold off all these damn Marines," said Toothless.

Lael looked infuriated; his attempt to drown them obviously had failed.

"It would seem as if it is just as you said," said Lael looking back at Hiccup. "They all survived; I have to admit I am rather impressed. But now I'm going to bring this little rebellion of yours to an end. I will not allow any evil to prosper in this world."

Hiccup narrowed his eyes. "Strange thing considering that the government you're so devoted to defending seems to be eviler than us pirates."

"Those ranks with Lieutenant Commander or below, stay put," said the Vice-Admiral. "To the 200 elite captains and commanders, engage the enemy and wipe them out immediately!"

"Captains from headquarters," said Snotlout, horrified. "All of these guys are the same class as that Smoker guy from before. There's like a billion of them."

"Calm down. He said that there were only 200," Astrid pointed out.

"Regardless, it only proves that they were afraid of us," said Toothless.

"I'm scared, granny," said Chimney.

Coco was a little uneasy herself.

Snotlout then noticed that Ragnar was missing. "Hold on, where did Ragnar go? He was here just a second ago."

"Never thought he would ditch us," said Toothless.

"He must have a good reason, but if he ever comes back, I expected to be a good one," said Astrid.

"All hands prepare to move in!" a Marine yelled. "Let's go!"

"Yeah!" the Marines yelled at the top of their voices.

"Stop showing off and just attack already," said Toothless.

"This should be fun," said Eret as he stretched his arms. "I could always use some more heads to bust."

"We can't give them an inch; take them down no matter what," said Astrid gripping her battleaxe. "Until Hiccup makes it, we hold the line."

"We need to get down to the bridge; if they damage this ship, we can't escape, we can't escape," said Fishlegs.

"I won't let them capture me, ever again," said Heather.

"Bring it on!" the twins yelled, drawing their swords.

Chopper attempted to move, but his body was still paralysed. "Dammit, I can't move!"

"Destroy them!"

The captains and commanders jumped off from the ships and landed on the bridge.

"Capture Heather Owson and bring her in!"

"We're not giving her back after all the trouble we've gone through," said Eret.

"You can send me as many captains as you want; let's do this!" Toothless challenge.

"You can send them my show captains too," said Snotlout.

"We're not gonna let you get past us!" Astrid yelled.

"Weapons Left!" Eret yelled and fired his cannon at the Marines, blowing away a few of them.

"Beating them one of the time is too much trouble," said Toothless as he placed Light Fury in his mouth. "I'll take you all at once!"

He launched himself at the Marines and swung his swords, dispelling them.

"You guys are about to be blown away," said Astrid as she spun her battleaxe. "Valkyrie Storm!"

She then created a powerful tornado that sucked in a few of the Marines and blew them away.

Despite all of this, several Marines did manage to land on the bridge, and a few of them who had cannons didn't wait. One of them fired upon Eret, who managed to shield himself, and he narrowed his eyes.

"You want to fight with guns; I can do that," said Eret.

Toothless swung his sword blowing away a few more Marines on the ground.

"Damn, pirate!" said a Marine swinging his sword at him from behind, but Toothless was able to block it.

"You're going down, girl!" said a Marine swinging his large fist at Astrid.

Astrid quickly used her impact dial to absorb the blow, much to the Marines surprise.

"I think you're the one who is about to go down," she said, striking him with her axe.

Marines began firing upon Eret, but he merely bounced their cannonballs away.

"Weapons Left!" Eret yelled, firing his cannon. "Eat this!"

The Marines quickly jumped out of the way; one of them managed to jump so high into the air and fired his bazooka down upon him.

"Once more," said Eret raising his right arm. "Strong Right!"

He then fired his fist, which shattered through the cannonball and wrapped around the Marine. Eret quickly pulled him in and swung him down into a group of Marines.

The swordsmen immediately began attacking Snotlout, who was frantically trying to dodge his swings.

"Timeout, buddy," said Snotlout as he dodged the swings. "This is not how this works! If you want to use a sword, then you go and fight with Toothless, not me! You want to play fair, right?" Snotlout then pointed to his right. "Look over there!"

Surprisingly the Marine captain turned to look, and Snotlout took this opportunity to punch hard in the face.

"I hope they're all as dumb as that guy," said Snotlout. He then looked back and realised that he was on the very edge of the bridge and almost toppled over. "Whoa, I almost fell off. They need a few regard rail here. That was too close."

"These guys are like cockroaches," said Toothless. "You stomp on one of them, and five more show up. It's a real pain in the ass." He then looked at all the Marines that surrounded him. "I don't care how many men you throw at me; you're still not going to win. Come on, isn't there anyone with some backbone."

Then suddenly stepping up to the plate was a very large Marine captain wielding a massive broad axe in one hand while the other was in his sleeve.

"Ah, a broad axe interesting," said Toothless, looking interested.

The Marine captain smiled, raised his axe, and swung it down towards Toothless, who quickly blocked it.

"That's much better," said Toothless, struggling slightly against the Marines sheer power.

Soon the two of them began trading blows with one another, but Toothless was finding it rather easy to block each and every attack.

"Is that all you got?" Toothless asked. "You've got to do more than swing that thing around like a big stick if you want to beat me."

The Marine captain then spun like a top and advanced towards Toothless, who quickly crossed his blades to block the attack. Toothless tried to hold his ground, but he was slowly pushed back.

"Three Sword Style: Triple Tiger Fang!" Toothless yelled, launching himself forward.

He was able to break through the captain's guard and struck him with all three swords, sending him flying into the air.

Another swordsman began fighting against Snotlout, much to his dismay.

"Not again," he groaned as he was pushed back. "You guys got the ball of the rules, dammit. Sword guys fight Toothless. Leave me alone!"

Then suddenly, the Marine captain with the broad axe landed on top of the Marine, knocking them both out cold.

"Good one," said Snotlout giving him the thumbs up.

Suddenly more Marines raised their swords and attacked Snotlout, but fortunately, Astrid saw this.

"Duck!" she yelled, swinging her axe and a least a tornado slashing attack.

Snotlout hit the deck, and Astrid attack struck all three Marines sending him flying.

"Nice one, keep up the good work, both of you," said Snotlout.

Some of the Marines began making their way down towards the escort ship.

"Uh-oh," said Chimney. "The bad guys are coming, granny.

"Well, that a good," she said with her arms crossed.

Fishlegs looked at Heather. "You stay here and got the boat, Heather. Ruff… Tuff… let's go."

"To battle!" they yelled, raising their swords.

Heather watched as they charged at the Marines.

"Here they come," said Fishlegs and placed his gauntlets together. "Thunder Charge: Lightning Whip!"

He then unleashed a burst of lightning from his gauntlets and moved just like a whip striking the Marines and electrocuting them on the spot. Some of them immediately collapsed, and the twins immediately jumped in to take care of those still standing.

"He sets them up," said Ruffnut.

"And then we knock them down," said Tuffnut.

"Thunder Ball!" Fishlegs firing a Thunder Ball into the air.

The Marines looked up and were quite surprised to see storm clouds directly above.

"What the hell?"

"They're clouds."

Seconds later, they were immediately struck by lightning.

"Have a taste of my Thunderbolt Tempo!" said Fishlegs.

"I'd say that did it," said Ruffnut.

"Looks like they're out for the count," said Tuffnut.

Unfortunately, more Marines began to show up.

"They're mocking us!"

"Learn some respect, pirates!"

The Marines then immediately jumped at them, but then suddenly, spitting out from their bodies were arms. Then suddenly, the arms began to strangle them, knocking them out cold.

Fishlegs and the twins looked back to see Heather standing directly behind.

"Heather?" Fishlegs blinked.

"You don't have to worry about protecting me anymore," she said, smiling. "If the crew is fighting, then I'm fighting too."

All three of them nodded, smiling.

Then more Marines began charging down the stairs.

"There's more of them," Fishlegs groaned.

"Nothing to see here, boys!" Coco waved. "We're just hostages!"

"Don't mind us," said Chimney.

The Dragon Riders were fighting hard, but no matter how many of the Marines they took down, more seemed to take their place.

Several Marines swung their swords down onto Toothless, who quickly lowered himself and used his blades as a sort of shield.

"Hiccup will be here soon, and until then, we can't give up!" Toothless yelled and pushed back the Marines with all his strength.

Hiccup was still on the column battling against Lael and fired another plasma shot.

Lael, however, used his Shaved technique to disappear before the attack reached him and then reappeared behind him. Hiccup then quickly spun around, swinging his fists as hard as he could, but he was able to block them all.

"What's the matter?" Lael smirked. "Don't tell me that transformation of yours is losing its edge already."

Hiccup then began swinging his fists, legs and tail as quickly as possible, trying to overpower him with speed.

"It's pointless to struggle," said Lael as he withstood the onslaught. "You never stood a chance against the World Government in the first place. Face the facts…"

Hiccup refused to listen and immediately clenched his fist. "Neo Dragon Fist!"

Lael dodged the base before it made contact, and Hiccup shattered the floor.

"I don't care this island is burned to the ground!" said Lael, who was now right on top of him and then unleashed a storm of Tempest Kicks.

Hiccup immediately began firing plasma blasts to blow away the kicks at rapid succession.

"So long as that woman is one by the World Government, I will chase until the ends of the earth!" Lael vowed. He then began using his shaved technique to avoid the plasma blast. "That is the meaning of dark justice!"

"You won't be chasing anyone; I'm putting an end to this right here right now!" Hiccup roared.

Lael blames, and then suddenly Hiccup appeared right in front of him. "Plasma Shot!"

Lael was just able to vanish before the attack hit and reappeared next to him. Hiccup saw that he was placing his fists against his chest, the very same technique you just a moment ago.

"Six King Gun!" he yelled.

Hiccup was then struck with the same impact as before, and he skidded across the floor until he stopped by slamming into a bunch of crates. Lael landed on the ground and was completely exhausted, but Hiccup just got right back up. He took several steps forward but then collapsed.

Snotlout approached the edge of the ruined bridge and saw Hiccup lying face-first on the ground.

"Oh no," he said.

"I've got him," said a Marine attacking him when his back was turned.

"Look out!" Toothless yelled, cutting the Marine down before he had a chance to strike Snotlout. "Damnit, this is no time for you to spacing out Snot—"

He then stopped when he saw Snotlout had removed his mask and could see the terrified look on his face.

"Hiccup!" he yelled at the top of his voice.