Welcome to my next story! This is my first ever Azur Lane story, though I'm not sure if I will write more about this series after this, crossed over with One Piece! A crossover between two series that focus on water travel seems like a good idea, and this story will use an idea that you don't really see often in crossover stories. What do I mean by that? You'll see!
I will be taking creative liberties in regards to how ship girls fight. There's really not much you can get out of their fighting style from the games, where their sprite animations are limited and they only shoot stuff. The anime does more justice, but only for certain ship girls. Regardless, I will be making up some stuff for the ship girls in regards to how they combat so that I can get creative.
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Ever since the appearance of Sirens, humanity has not been able to feel safe when out at sea and even when close to the coast. These supposed aliens from the future was a huge menace to marine transportation and business, destroying anyone who dare ventures out into the middle of the ocean and making the lives of seaside civilizations a living hell.
If it weren't for the creation of ship girls, humanity would've lost 70% of their planet to the Sirens. Thanks to the physical manifestations of battleships, humanity was able to fight back against the Sirens and give back a degree of maritime control to humans.
The war between the ship girls and the Sirens had waged on for quite a while, with neither side showing signs of slowing down. Even so, the ship girls were not fazed nor did they become impatient fighting a persistent enemy. They were created for this purpose after all, and they would not stop until they finally returned the control of the sea to mankind.
Azur Lane, an organization that unites the four major ship girl factions, Eagle Union, Royal Navy, Sakura Empire, and Iron Blood, fought day and night against the Sirens. Such a routine has become normal to them. Though there were days when things were quiet and peaceful and they were allowed to live like normal girls, they were expected to be prepared to answer to emergency calls regarding Siren attacks and also perform various operations out at sea.
But despite their lengthy experience of performing all sorts of missions out at sea, they were not expecting anything… like this!
"WHAT IS THAT?!" screamed Javelin in horror at the sight of a massive entity that had just emerged from the water before her eyes.
It was a large creature best described as a monstrous moral eel with yellow skin and intimidating, red eyes. The size of the creature was so big that the ship girls felt as if they were insects compared to it.
"What… What manner of creature is this…?!" said Enterprise in disbelief.
It wasn't too long ago when the Azur Lane HQ received a distress call from a cargo ship, claiming that they were attacked by a large amount of Sirens and requested help. The commander wasted no time in setting up a fleet of 20 ship girls and dispatching them to perform this rescue operation, though he did wonder why there was a cargo ship out at sea when maritime travel was banned.
The fleet consisted of Enterprise, Javelin, Laffey, Ayanami, Z23, Akagi, Kaga, Taihou, Zuikaku, Akashi, Gascogne, Hood, Bismarck, Dido, Prinz Eugen, Shigure, Gangut, Belfast, Graf Spee, and Alabama.
The two ship girls hurried over to the location the distress signal was coming from. While they did encounter a cargo ship floating in the middle of the sea, they were not expecting this giant sea monster to show up at all. Never had they see something like this, and something like this should only exist in fiction too.
The giant monster let out an ear-shattering roar and, after noticing the small "preys" floating on the water, went offensive. With its mouth wide open, it came down on some ship girls floating close to each other.
"Incoming!" shouted Shigure, one of the ship girls in danger of getting hit by the monster. The ship girls got out of the way as the monster crashed onto the water surface, stirring up waves that rocked them.
"What… What is this?! I've never seen anything like this before!" said Z23.
"Forget about what it is! Keep your focus and fire at it! It's clear that this thing is a threat!" Bismarck told the ship girls. Pointing her hand at the monster as it resurfaced, she shouted, "Open fire!"
Heeding to the commands of their current commander, the other ship girls fired from their riggings. Though they may not look like it, the projectiles fired from their riggings resulted in relatively large explosions when they hit the body of the monster, making it cry in pain.
After getting shot a few times, the monster dived underwater. Looking at the water surface and scanning for the whereabouts the monster, Enterprise shouted, "We can't let it get away! Who knows how much threat it will possess if it keeps on wandering around!"
Javelin and Ayanami were close to each other as they scanned the water surface for signs of the monster. They then realized that the water underneath them was darker than usual, and they realized that there was something underneath them that was rising. They were about to move when suddenly Alabama dashed into them at a fast speed, pushing them both out of the harm's way as the monster leaped up in an attempt to close its mouth around them.
Javelin and Ayanami fell onto the water surface and remained floating, and after standing back up, the former thanked Alabama for the rescue.
The other ship girls open fired at the monster again, and more and more wounds were seen on its body. Despite its size, it still has no defense from the firepower of battleships.
Realizing that it was badly wounded, the monster decided to retreat. Turning away, it began to dive into the water, but two ship girls got in its way and jumped at its neck from below. They were Zuikaku and Dido.
With their swords pulled back, the two ship girls coated their blades in fire and dark energy, fire for Zuikaku and darkness for Dido. With a swing of their blades, they unleashed elemental shockwaves that cleaved through the monster's skin and leaving a deep gash on the neck. The monster let out a painful cry that was almost raspy due to its throat injury and reeled back. The other ship girls wasted no time in bombarding it with nonstop barrages of projectiles, almost obscuring the sight of it in explosions.
After much bombardment, the monster finally roared its last and collapsed sideways onto the sea, just in front of the cargo ship and even almost hitting it. The ship girls maintained their balance as the water rocked due to the monster hitting it. After a few seconds, the water finally settled down, and they laid their eyes on the monster to make sure that it was indeed lifeless.
Approaching the monster, Graf Spee poked it with her metal claws for a response. "I think it's dead," she said.
The other ship girls then approached the lifeless monster with looks of awe on their faces. "Just what is this thing…?" asked Z23.
"It looks like something you would find in movies…" commented Laffey.
"I knew I shouldn't have drunk that much today…" said Gangut, whose seems to be in a state of hangover. "It's doing weird things to my eyes…"
Turning her eyes to the cargo ship, Shigure said, "Everyone, I think we're forgetting something… We're supposed to come here to help the folks on the cargo ship, right?
"Right-nya… I was put into this fleet because the commander thought I could give the ship some patching in case it needed any…" said Akashi. "Never expected to run into a giant eel-nya…"
Bismarck suggested that they all go on board the cargo ship and look for its crew. The others nodded, and leaping out of water at an incredible height, the ship girls got into its deck. There was nobody on the deck at all.
"Where is everybody?" asked Dido.
"They must be hiding inside the ship," said Prinz Eugen. "Understandable, considering that… thing out there…"
The ship girls took some step ahead, and then they stopped upon the sight of two people they were all too familiar with. "Sirens?!" said Zuikaku as she got into a fighting stance with her sword out.
Standing before them were the Sirens Observer Alpha and Tester Beta. Reclining on her tentacle rigging as if it was a throne, Observer said to them while holding a golden cube in her hand, "Congratulations on beating that thing! You really gave us quite a show!"
"That creature… Is that your handiwork?" Enterprise asked her with a serious expression.
"Let's just say that it's a little experiment," Observer told her. "We've been doing some interesting observations lately, and after being intrigued by what we saw, we were wondering how you folks would be able to deal with such things."
"I don't understand what you are saying, but whatever it is, it can't be anything good!" Bismarck said to her, and then the former pointed her sword at her. "We will strike you down here right now and stop your plans!"
Tester was going to take action when she saw this, but Observer told her to stay put. "My… You really are thirsty for action, huh? I know a good place where you can put your powers to the test!" Observer said to the ship girls. "Start packing, girls, because you're going on a trip!"
"What are you talking about?" Enterprise asked her.
Observer then held up the golden cube, and bright light came out of it that blinded the ship girls. The light was then focused on them, and a few seconds later, they all disappeared into thin air. The cube stopped glowing after that. "There, that should do it!" said Observer, looking at the cube with a proud smile. "I forgot to tell them that there is nobody else on this ship because we stole it from a dock in order to send out this fake distress call…"
"You sure this is a good idea?" Tester asked her.
"Where's the harm in this? We Sirens are all about observations and experiments, aren't we? This is the perfect opportunity to see how Azur Lane deal with out of the world situations! I'm sure the folks over in that world is in for a surprise as well!"
She then went over to the side of the ship and looked down at the carcass of the monster. "You've done your job well. Now you can go back to your world and rest in peace!" she said to it before shining light out of the cube onto it. The body disappeared just like the ship girls.
That day, 20 ship girls went missing. Nobody how hard one search, they will not be able to find them, because they are no longer in this dimension…
AZUR LANE
X
ONE PIECE
CRASHING WAVES
Chapter 1
A Different Sea
A Marine ship stopped at the dock of the Marine headquarters located on the island of New Marineford. Vice Admiral Garp was standing at the dock, watching various Marines coming down the ship.
Noticing two familiar Marines stepping down, he went up to them with a smile and said, "Coby! Helmeppo! Welcome back!"
Upon seeing their superior, Coby and Helmeppo saluted him. "Good afternoon, Vice Admiral Garp!"
"All right; no need to be so formal now! I'm not a strict person, you know," Garp said to him. "So… anything interesting while sailing out there?"
"Yes, sir," Coby said to him. "While patrolling the sea, we came across the pirate crew known as the Blue Siren Pirates, led by Mariana Azura. After a lengthy battle against her pirate crew, I am glad to report that we have successfully taken down this pirate crew! They are on their way to Impel Down as we speak."
"Oh, that woman with a bounty of 900 million berries? Impressive!" Garp said to him. "Hope you didn't have too hard of a time with her."
"She was tough, but in the end, our skills and teamwork helped us take down her entire crew!" said Helmeppo.
"Indeed, and furthermore, we also recovered the treasures we obtained," Coby told Garp. "However, one of them is… intriguing, to say the least, so we brought it back here, hoping to learn more about it."
Garp was curious when he heard this. "Something intriguing? I wonder what it could be."
Coby and Helmeppe then noticed two Marines carrying a treasure chest off the ship, so the former called out to them to bring over said chest. The two Marines did as they were told and placed the chest in front of Garp. They opened it, and the vice admiral looked inside to see the intriguing thing. It was golden cube that gave off a faint glow.
"What's this?" he wondered.
No sooner after the glowing golden cube was shown to Garp, it was taken before the fleet admiral of the Marines, Sakazuki. The cube was placed on his desk, and the fleet admiral looked at it curiously with his arms crossed in silence for several seconds. Coby and Helmeppo were standing before him, waiting for his response with nervous looks on his face.
After several seconds of silence, Sakazuki finally said something. "In all my experience and life as a Marine, I have never seen something like this. Whatever it is, bringing it before me is probably the best idea."
"We're glad that you approve of our decision to bring it to you, Fleet Admiral Sakazuki!" Coby said to him.
"For all we know, this thing could be something dangerous. Perhaps a new kind of bomb developed by the pirates you took down…" said Sakazuki as he continued to observe the cube. "Something like this should be taken to Vegapunk. I'm sure he will be interested in finding out what this is."
"Sounds like a good idea to me!" said Garp, who was also present in the room. "Someone with a brilliant mind like him should be able to find out what this is in a jiffy!"
The two Marines then placed the cube back into the treasure chest and carried it out the room. Almost immediately after they exited Sakazuki's office, light seeped out from underneath the lid of the chest, grabbing the attention of the two. Sakazuki noticed their behavior and asked what was happening.
All of a sudden, the chest burst into pieces, blowing the two Marines away to the sides. The cube, glowing brightly, fell to the floor and shined light at the wall just in front of the door.
Something then seemingly shot out of the cube, hitting the wall with such a force that it shattered. More and more things shot out of the cube and flew out of the hole created on the wall, much to the surprise of the Marines present.
Enterprise opened her eyes and looked around in shock to find herself in the air. Looking down, she saw the ground and that she was falling towards it. "What the?!" She then heard the sound of screaming, and looking around, she saw her comrades also falling through the sky with her.
"WHY ARE WE SUDDENLY FALLING THROUGH THE SKY?!" screamed Javelin in panic while flailing her arms.
Some of the ship girls were capable of flight, such as Zuikaku, Akagi, Kaga, and Prinz Eugen, so they were able to stop themselves by falling with no effort.
Javelin, when she was close to hitting the ground, swung her javelin against it in a way that catapulted her forward so that she was able to land harmlessly. Laffey, on the other hand, made no effort to stop herself from falling at all, so she fell flat onto the ground so hard that a crack shaped like her was created. Javelin ran up to her in concern, but the latter didn't seem to be in a serious condition.
Close by, Shigure fell onto a stack of sacks that softened her landing. Sitting up, she said proudly, "Haha! Luck in on my side!" She was then spooked by Gangut crashing onto the ground in front of her.
The Russian ship girl sat up as if she suffered no injuries and said, "Dang… I'm really going to feel that tonight…"
The other ship girls all fell to the ground, some of them managing to land on their feet with no effort, while some used more unique methods, such as Dido making several disembodied arms appear around herself, and they grabbed hold of her and kept from falling down.
All in all, none of them suffered heavy injuries from their falls. Those that hit the ground helplessly were still able to stand back up with no effort. The ones capable of flight came down to join them and went up to each other in concern, asking if they were all right.
Needless to say, the sudden appearance of these girls surprised all the Marines present. Those armed with guns immediately pointed their weapons at them and demanded that they identify themselves. The ship girls looked around in confusion at these unfamiliar people and also took notice of the unfamiliar surroundings.
"Who are these people…? Why are they pointing guns at us?!" asked Z23.
"Well, this is quite a situation we found ourselves in," said Prinz Eugen, not looking daunted at all and with her finger underneath her chin.
With her sword in her hand, Zuikaku turned to Bismarck and asked her, "Bismarck, what do we?"
"Keep calm," Bismarck told her. "I'm sure we can reason our way out of this. Don't do anything reckless. Let me do the talking."
From the hole on the wall atop the building the ship girls just flew out from, Sakazuki and Garp looked down with curiosity. "What in the world happened? Who are those girls?" asked the former.
"I think they, like, came out of that cube?" asked Garp, looking at the cube that was on the floor and no longer glowing.
Down below, the ship girls were still nervous and in confusion as the Marines continued to point their guns at them while bombarding them with questions such as their identities and their purpose here.
Bismarck, being the leader of the group currently, stepped out with her arms raised slightly and said, "Please calm down. We are not here to harm anyone. I would like to speak with the one in charge here. Hopefully, we can discuss things peacefully."
"I do hope that we can speak about this peacefully," said the voice of an old woman. Everyone turned and saw an elderly woman wearing high-ranking military clothes walking over.
"Vice Admiral Tsuru!" said one of the Marines in response.
Tsuru approached Bismarck and said to her, "I assume that you are the leader of the group here?"
Bismarck nodded. "Yes, at least at the moment. Are you the leader here?"
"That honor goes to our Fleet Admiral, who is watching you from up there," replied Tsuru, shifting her eyes to the top of the building, where Sakazuki could be seen standing behind the hole on the wall.
The ship girls looked there and saw the man glaring back at them, and the sight of him made some of them nervous. "He looks scary-nya…" commented Akashi.
"I see," said Bismarck. "Very well, I will go speak with him regarding our sudden intrusion, which is also very confusing to us. May I inquire as to where we are currently?"
"You are on New Marineford, location of the Marine Headquarters," replied Tsuru.
Hearing this made the ship girls confused. "New Marineford? Marine Headquarters?" said Enterprise curiously.
"I have never heard of those…" said Kaga.
The Marines were mind-boggled to hear that those girls were unfamiliar with these terms and spoke with each other regarding this. Seeing this response, Z23 said, "I hate to say this, but I feel like we are fools in their eyes, judging by their response to what we said…"
"I'm still confused about everything…" said Javelin.
"Before we go meet the fleet admiral, can we request a location for us to dock our riggings? As long as there is a large space out at sea, it will do," Bismarck said to Tsuru.
The vice admiral was a bit confused about what she meant, but she looked in the direction of the shore that didn't have anything anyway and gave her the approval.
The ship girls then approached the empty shore. What happened next surprised the Marines to no end. The riggings of the ship girls glowed brightly in blue light, and then they disintegrated into miniature cubes that flew through the air and landed on the water, fusing together and growing in size until they became large battleships.
"What the?!" cried the Marines. Even Tsuru was surprised by this, though she didn't show a shocked expression to the same extent as the others.
After all the ship girls were done transforming their riggings into battleships, they returned to Tsuru. "Sorry for the wait," Bismarck said to her. "We're ready to see the fleet admiral."
Soon afterwards, the ship girls were called to Sakazuki's office. Coby, Helmeppo, Garp, and Tsuru were there, as well as a few other high-ranking Marines, the most notable ones being Borsalino, AKA Kizaru, one of the Marine admirals, and former fleet admiral Sengoku, alongside his pet goat.
Bismarck, Enterprise, Hood, and Akagi were standing side by side in front of the other ship girls as if they were the leaders. Sakazuki leaned back on his chair and then began the conversation. "Okay, putting aside the bizarre thing you did with your equipment by turning them into battleships for now… Who are you people and how come you have never heard of this place?"
"Sir, we are personifications of battleships from Azur Lane," Bismarck told him. "May I ask if that term rings any bell?"
"Can't say I heard of anything like that," replied the fleet admiral, and the others in the room said the same.
"I thought we are famous…" said Akagi. "Surely the whole world knows about us."
"I can say the same about you folks having not heard of us, despite the existence of Marines being common knowledge," Sakazuki said to her. "Seriously, I have never heard of Azur Lane, and what do you mean by personifications of battleships."
"To put it simple, sir, the battleships that you saw out there are our true forms," Hood explained to him. "Originally, we were normal ships, but thanks to the object known as Wisdom Cubes, humans were able to make us like this."
"Turning ships into humans? That's absurd!" a Marine officer in the room said in response.
"I wouldn't exactly say turning ships into humans, since our original ship forms are still present," replied Enterprise. "We are the physical manifestation of battleships' minds, originally unable to make decisions on our own and have to be controlled by humans."
"I see… The Klabautermann," replied Tsuru. "They're not something you see every day."
"Oh, so you know what a Klabautermann is?" Prinz Eugen said to her. "I wouldn't say that's what we are, but… as long as it helps you understand us better…"
"I get the gist of things about what you are, even if it still sounds unbelievable," Sakazuki said to the ship girls. "Now regarding why you are here and how you even got here…"
"That is something we are still confused about, sir," Bismarck told him. "The last thing we remember before we found ourselves in this place was standing on top of a cargo ship, facing our enemies, the Sirens. Before that, we received a distress signal about a cargo ship being attacked by Sirens, so our commander dispatched us to perform this rescue mission, only to encounter a massive creature we have never seen before.
"We were able to slay the creature, and then we got on board the cargo ship, only to find the Sirens there. They took out what I believe is also a Wisdom Cube and somehow used it to transport us to this place. That's the whole story, sir."
Sakazuki thought about she said, and then he eyed the cube on his desk. "Does the Wisdom Cube you said look anything like this?"
They looked at the cube, and Enterprise said, "Other than being a different color, that is indeed a Wisdom Cube."
Akashi stepped forward to take a closer look at the cube. "I have never seen a Wisdom Cube like this before. If I can get some time to study this, then perhaps I can find an answer to what exactly it did to send us here."
"We still don't know what this place really is…" said Akagi. "I have never heard of any island called New Marineford…"
Enterprise thought about this for a few seconds and then requested for a map. Sakazuki nodded before telling someone in the room to get him a map. One of the Marine officers was standing close to a drawer, and knowing where the map is, he opened said drawer and took one out before giving it to Enterprise. The ship girl looked at the map, and the other three close to her leaned over to get a look at it as well.
They were surprised at what they saw, and their reactions caused the other ship girls to gather around them to look at the map. They were equally surprised.
"Analysis: No such geography exists in database. Unable to determine location of Azur Lane Headquarters or familiar landmarks," said Gascogne in a robotic manner after observing the map.
Bismarck looked at Sakazuki and asked, "Are you sure this is the correct map? It does not look like anything we know!"
"What other kinds of world maps are there? That map is more genuine than any map you can find," Sakazuki told her. "You got a better map than that?"
"I don't think any of us brought a map of our world…" said Kaga.
"It's almost as if we got transported to entirely different planet, or even reality as a whole-nya…" said Akashi in disbelief.
The Marines heard this and talked among themselves the unbelievable thing that they heard. Sengoku then said, "Now that I think of it, Vegapunk once talked about the theory about there being multiple universes, about how decisions in lives can create different timelines and worlds where different decisions are chosen instead."
"Yes, that was a theory he talked about once, but even with his scientific mind, he could not prove that this is real," said Sakazuki.
"Does that mean these girls actually come from an alternate universe?" asked a random Marine officer.
"Unbelievable!" said another one.
"This is likely the only explanation for our situation…" said Bismarck.
"Why not share what you know about the world's history with us? This way, we can confirm whether or not you are from an alternate universe," Tsuru suggested to the ship girls.
This idea sounded good to the ship girls, so they began explaining history as they know it to the Marines.
According to them, their world was under the constant threat of Sirens, supposed aliens from the future that came back in time to alter history to their liking. They have with them advanced technology that proved too powerful for the humans of the era they arrived in to deal with.
However, humans somehow managed to obtain something from the Sirens that allowed them to turn the tides of the battle—Wisdom Cubes.
With these cubes, humans were able to create physical manifestation of their battleships that have enough power to fight back against the Sirens. The organization called Azur Lane was created as a result, and for years, they have been in battle against the Sirens, who showed no sign of decreasing in numbers despite the constant battles against them.
The Marines were surprised and intrigued by what they heard, and some of them found it to be unbelievable to be true.
"My… That's one incredible story if I've ever heard one!" commented Kizaru.
"Haha! You know what they say about youngster making up the wildest stories!" said Garp. "But still, I can see it in their eyes that they are telling the truth.
Sakazuki took a few seconds to absorb what he heard, and then he said, "So basically, you folks are created using alien technology, one that was supposed to be used for wiping out humanity?"
"You can say that," replied Bismarck.
"If that's the case, how can you be sure that you won't turn against your human creators?" Sakazuki asked her. "For all I know, these Sirens could've intentionally planted seeds of destruction within human ranks to destroy them inside out. If it were me, I would've put extra caution around you girls."
"Are you doubting us?! We've done nothing but helped humanity get a fighting chance against the Sirens!" said Gangut angrily.
"I won't deny that you are correct in what you said…" said Bismarck, looking a bit guilty and making her comrades a bit surprised. "An internal strife did occur within Azur Lane… This organization is divided into four factions, Eagle Union, Royal Navy, Iron Blood, and Sakura Empire. Iron Blood, the faction that I am the leader of, and Sakura Empire once decided to reverse engineer Siren technology in order to obtain superiority in the world, a decision that Eagle Union and Royal Navy did not agree with due to the risks of having associations with the Sirens.
"Because of this, we actually had a civil war against each other. We soon realized that fighting amongst each other was pointless and even something the Sirens wanted to happen so that they could wipe us out more easily. We managed to put aside our differences and have been in cooperation ever since."
After hearing her story, Sakazuki said, "You know, I can sort of relate to that to some extent, the part about using enemy firepower for yourself, but at least we didn't end up causing an internal strife. Either way, I figured that you would like to know something about our world, assuming you really are from a different universe and therefore know nothing about this world. First off, have you ever heard of Gold Roger the Pirate King?"
"Pirate… King…?" said Enterprise curiously.
"Can't say I heard of that…" replied Akagi with a confused look.
"Then I guess that confirms you are indeed from an alternate universe, because even babies know who the Pirate King is nowadays," said Sakazuki. "Basically, our world is running rampant with pirates, thus bringing nothing but despair and chaos to the lives of good people. Among all the pirates, Roger was the most powerful of them all, having solved all the mysteries of the Grand Line and obtaining a large amount of wealth called One Piece."
"One Piece…? What kind of name is that…?" commented Z23. Next to her, Laffey was envisioning a beautifully-made one-piece swimsuit hidden inside a treasure chest.
"But even the most powerful people are still just humans and prone to defeat, and that is what happened with Roger," continued Sakazuki. "We Marines were eventually able to capture and then execute him, hoping that with his death, piracy will come to an end. Instead, it did the opposite. Pirates are even more numerous than before, inspired by his dying words to look for One Piece!"
"That sounds terrible…" commented Hood.
"I know, right?" said Akainu. "And just two years ago, another massive change shook the world. We found out that the son of Roger was still alive. After capturing him and putting up a public execution, the pirate captain he serves under, Whitebeard, who at that time was the strongest man in the world, showed up with a massive army of pirates to rescue him. A war between pirates and us Marines happened, but in the end, we won. Ace and Whitebeard were successfully executed, but with the death of someone as powerful as Whitebeard, even more people were inspired to become pirates and take over his position as the strongest man in the world!"
"Things really get worse by the minute, don't they…?" said Zuikaku.
"That's what I call bad luck…" said Shigure.
"We Marines have been fighting for years to end the threat of pirates and restore justice and order to the world, but things aren't getting any better," said Sakazuki, sounding frustrated.
"I can understand your frustration," Enterprise said to him. "We have been fighting the Sirens for so long, hoping to end their threat once and for all and bring peace back to humans, but… they don't seem to be going down at all…"
"I would be correct in saying that you are basically Marines back in your world, right?" Sakazuki said to them. "Fighting evildoers out at sea and doing all sorts of maritime operations and all…"
"You can say that," Bismarck told him. "Other than fighting Sirens, we are occasionally dispatched to resolve issues that happen out at sea and rescue those in need."
"Then how about this offer? We will get our top scientist Vegapunk to study this cube over here and see if he can get a way to get you home, but in the meantime, will you lend us your assistance in performing Marine duties?" Sakazuki asked them.
The ship girls were surprised to hear this. "You want us to aid the Marines in fighting pirates?" asked Enterprise.
Sakazuki nodded. "Indeed. Surely you need something to do while you are here. I won't force you to join, but if you turn down my offer, then I'm afraid I will have to request you to leave New Marineford. This is not a place for harboring outsiders after all. What do you say?"
The ship girls looked at each other, wondering whether or not they should accept his offer. "Please give us a second," Bismarck told Sakazuki, and then the girls faced each other for a discussion.
"I'm not sure about what you, but the thought of criminals running rampant out there and hurting innocents doesn't sit well with me…" said Enterprise.
"The duty of the Royal Navy and also Azur Lane is to ensure the safety of the people out at sea, so I believe that we should lend our assistance to the Marines," said Belfast.
"I'm not too sure about suddenly working with another organization, but they don't look like bad people, and it's not like we have anything else to do either here…" said Akagi.
"Indeed, we are in an entirely different world and have no information of this place, so we need to as many allies as possible in order to get through things and eventually find a way back to our own world," said Bismarck.
"As long as there's something fun to do, I'm in!" said Gangut.
"Analysis suggest that this is the best course action to take," said Gascogne.
"I also agree that the thought of criminals out at sea committing acts of atrocity doesn't sit well with me," said Zuikaku. "If the Marines are having problems with them, then we Azur Lane should lend them a hand."
After about a minute of discussion, they turned back to look at Sakazuki, and Bismarck said to him, "We agree to take your offer. Before we find a way back to our world, we agree to assist the Marines in battling pirates and performing various kinds of duties out at sea."
"That's good to hear," said Sakazuki. "All right, I will prepare living accommodations for you and get you familiar with this place as well. I will also contact Doctor Vegapunk to study this cube at once."
"I'm also a scientist, and one of the best in Azur Lane-nya!" Akashi said to him. "Since I know more about Wisdom Cubes than anyone else, can I please work with this scientist named Vegapunk on this matter-nya?"
Sakazuki nodded. "I will allow that. Make sure to show respect and care around him, as he is a very important person."
"Don't worry-nya!" said Akashi happily.
News about the ship girls spread throughout New Marineford fast.
The ship girls were currently at the dock, watching the battleships that are their true forms floating on the water. There were several Marines around the place, looking at the battleships in awe and curiosity.
"I hope all of you are fine with the decision we made," Bismarck said to the other ship girls. "I think this is the best course of action to take for the time being."
"If the leader says so, then I will comply," said Z23.
"I agree, since we don't know anything about this world, and these Marines are the first people we meet who are willing to help us, so it makes sense for us to accept their offer," said Hood.
"I'm just said that I won't be able to be with my beloved commander for a while…" said Taihou in a relatively sad tone. "I hope he won't be lonely without me… I will lonely without him… Maybe there will be some nice-looking guys here who can keep me company in the meantime!"
"Oh, I'm sure they'll know better than to get on my bad side by being with the commander while I am gone!" said Akagi, and then she eyed Taihou. "And who said you can have him anyway?"
"Please control yourselves…" Kaga said to those three ship girls, who were glaring at each other. "We don't want the people here to get bad impressions about us…"
Dido had a sad look on her face and even looks like she was on the verge of tears. "I'm scared that master will abandon me if I do not go home soon… He won't abandon Dido, will he?"
Belfast placed her hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "Relax! The commander won't abandon you! He's definitely very worried about you going missing! I'm sure he's working hard to get us back!"
"So we're supposed to be fighting pirates while here?" said Alabama.
"If that's the command the fleet admiral gave us, then we'll have to obey it. We are under his command so long as we are here," said Graf Spee.
"The way the fleet admiral put it, it seems that pirates are indeed an issue in this world," said Zuikaku. "If that's the case, then we'll have to ensure the safety of the citizens by putting a stop to them as much as possible."
"I doubt it'll be an issue for us," said Prinz Eugen. "From what I've seen, technology here isn't as advanced as back home. I even dare say it's quite primitive… Surely the pirates won't be able to stand up to our firepower if that is the case!"
"Yeah, technology here seems to be on the lower side of the scale," agreed Akashi. "I didn't even see a phone on the fleet admiral's desk-nya!"
"So I guess no video games as well? I hope I won't get bored…" said Ayanami.
"It's a whole new world, so I'm sure we can have a fun time finding out all the new stuff here and never get bored by it!" Javelin said to her. "Let's do our best to have fun!"
"Laffey just hopes that they have good alcohol here…" said Laffey, holding a beer bottle upside-down and shaking it.
"Yeah! Booze is important! I'm totally out of here if they don't have any!" said Gangut as she patted Laffey in the back. "You sure know what's important, kid!"
As they were talking among each other about all this, Garp approached them from behind and grabbed their attentions. "Hey girls! I'm curious about what you bunch can do. Ya mind giving us a bit of demonstration?"
"You would like a demonstration of your capabilities? I don't mind showing you," Enterprise said to him.
"Nice! I'll also show you what the folks of this world are capable of! Be prepared to be amazed!" said Garp with a large, enthusiastic grin.
TO BE CONTINUED
What do you think of the first chapter? The ship girls will be working with the Marines in fighting pirates! Please look forward to the reactions of the ship girls as they learn what the humans of this world are capable of as well as superpowers in the form of Devil Fruits and haki!
Also, I know 20 ship girls is a lot to deal with. However, considering the massive cast of AZ, it wouldn't feel right to use only a few of them. Hopefully I remember every single one of them and not leave them out of anything.
And yes, the Straw Hat Pirates will show up, but what role they will have is something you'll have to find out yourselves, though I can at least tell you that they have important roles here. Please look forward to their appearance!
Also, the Klabauterman is from European folklore and not a One Piece creation. Since Bismarck is a German ship, it makes sense for her and the rest of Iron Blood to know what a Klabautermann is.
