Chapter 6
Sweet Commander—Part 1
The Marine under the command of Koby were close to the island where some pirates serving under Big Mom were currently at, and the pirates were aware that they were coming and were ready to take on them.
The Marines were nervous to see powerful foes on that island and wondered what action they should take.
"It's the Big Mom Pirates…"
"We should avoid going there… We're not strong enough to take on them! Not without a vice admiral!"
The ship girls noticed that the Marines were scared. "They really are scared, aren't they?" said Kaga.
"I supposed that is a normal reaction when going up against powerful opponents," said Hood.
"Is our opponent really that strong…?" asked Dido.
"Seeing them scared like that is already making me scared as well-nya…" commented Akashi, starting to feel nervous.
Helmeppo asked Koby, "I hope you're not seriously considering to face them… Even if Big Mom isn't there, her subordinates are still no joking matter… I'd imagine one of her higher ranking subordinates to be there. Perhaps a Sweet Commander is there…"
"I can confirm that one of the Sweet Commanders is there!" said a Marine who was looking at the island using a telescope. "It's Cracker, and I believe I see Oven as well! Also, there appears to be civilians there, and they are injured and crying for help!"
"Civilians?! Then we can't just leave them alone!" said Koby. "We have to rescue them!"
"I know you care about saving lives and all, but you have to consider our own lives as well! If we cannot save our own lives, then it's not worth it!" Helmeppo told her.
"I didn't become a Marine to flee from enemies and throw away the opportunity to save lives, so no matter what, we have to do something about the lives of the civilians!" Koby told him. "Don't worry; we can surely come up with a plan to rescue them and get away with this unscathed!"
"Then we should at least contact HQ and tell them to send support!" Helmeppo suggested him.
While the Marines were talking among themselves about what to do, the ship girls also wondered what action they should take. "Judging by their nervous looks, I doubt they can do anything useful at the moment," said Akagi. "Perhaps we should take the initiative and bring down the enemies ourselves, not to mention rescuing the civilians."
"I agree that we should at least rescue the civilians," said Hood. "It does not sit right with me to leave them at the mercy of the enemies."
"I am ready to take whatever order you bestow on us," Belfast said to Hood.
"I am ready to fight as well, no matter how powerful the enemies are," said Ayanami.
"Perhaps an aerial assault would be good," suggested Kaga. "They don't seem to have airplanes or any form of flying machines in this world, so we will have the advantage if we strike them from the sky."
"But we may end up shooting the civilians…" said Akashi.
"We just have to be careful where we aim," said Akagi. "I do like Kaga's idea. The enemies will never know what hit them!"
This sounded good to the ship girls, so they headed over to Koby and shared with him their plan, and this sounded good to them as well. "I like the sound of this! Flying machines actually do exist in our world, but they are very rare and only used by the higher ups of this world. Judging from what you said, it seems that the ones in your world are much more advanced than what we have," he said. "If those things really can give us an advantage in combating our enemies, then please do so."
"Then that's the plan," said Akagi with a smirk, and then she turned towards the island. "Well, girls, get ready! The commander has approved of our plan!"
"I am ready to be of service any time," Belfast said to her.
The Marines were curious about what they were going to do.
"Are they seriously going against the Big Mom Pirates?!"
"They seem confident…"
"I heard them mentioning something about flying machines…"
Akagi and Kaga jumped off the ship and landed on the water surface. Getting in front of the ship, they held out their hands to the side and created what appears to be scrolls made of red and blue fire, red for Akagi and blue for Kaga.
"Are you ready?" Akagi asked Kaga while materializing pieces of paper cut into the shape of planes in between her fingers.
"I am ready whenever you are," said Kaga, also holding up the same things.
"All right, then let's them loose!" said Akagi. The two ship girls slid the paper planes across the "scroll." When the planes reached the end of the scroll, they "exploded" in bursts of fire, and fighter jets about the size of an average person were born out of them.
The Marines were surprised to see this. "So those are the flying machines they said!" said Koby in awe.
At the shore of the island, the pirates were ready to take on the Marines, while the civilians who were injured by them when they raided the place were placed on one side, hoping that the Marines would help them.
"What's taking them so long?" asked an impatient pirate.
"Yeah! I can't wait to fight them already!" said another one.
"Obviously, they're not stupid enough to face off against us," said Oven.
"It's fine with me either way," said Cracker. "It shows that they hold us in such a high degree that they wouldn't disrespect us! Haha!" But then he noticed something approaching from the sky. "Huh? What's that?"
The others also noticed this. Akagi and Kaga's fighter jets were approaching the island, but because such things were unheard of in this world, so have no idea what they are.
"What are those?"
"They look like birds made of metal…"
"Must be some new Marine invention…"
"Whatever they are, let's shoot them down!"
As the jets approached the island and pirates armed with long-ranged weapons readied to shoot them down, the former let loose missiles in their direction. The pirates didn't run anywhere but simply watched as the missiles head in their direction. When the missiles struck the sandy shore, explosions ensue, and the pirates were blown away.
Screams in terror filled the air as pirates were badly injured by the explosions. Those who were in safe range were shocked by what they saw.
"What the heck?!"
"They're firing explosives?!"
Even Oven and Cracker were shocked by the destructive powers of the missiles. "What the?! I did not expect this!" said Oven in shock. "When did the Marines have this sort of weapon?!"
From the Marine ship, the passengers there could see the havoc the jets were wreaking on the island and were amazed.
"What destructive power!"
"I can't believe it! The Big Mom Pirates are actually getting torn apart!"
"So this is the technology of those girls' world?!"
"Nya! Behold the power of advanced technology!" said Akashi proudly when she heard all those amazed reactions.
Back on the island, the pirates who were still up were trying to shoot down the jets with their guns. Despite the jets moving at fast speeds, some of the pirates aimed well enough to shoot them down, and eventually, all the jets were shot down. With the destruction on the shore gone, the remaining pirates turned their attentions to Akagi and Kaga with looks of anger.
"Wretched Marines!" said Oven angrily. "How dare you make fool out of us?! They'll pay for this!"
"They will pay for this indeed!" said Cracker. Knowing that some of their men were still on the ship, he took out a Transponder Snail and used it to contact those on board. "This is Commander Cracker speaking! Get the cannons ready and fire at the Marine ship! You saw what they did just now, right? Give them hell!"
The pirates on board the large ship that had an actual, sentient face got busy to loading their cannons and then fired at the Marine ship.
The Marines panicked when the cannonballs flew in their direction, though Koby and Helmeppo were both on standby to do something about the incoming projectiles, but the ship girls got to it before them.
Using their riggings, Hood and Belfast aimed carefully and fired at the incoming cannonballs, destroying them with superior firepower. Ones that they missed, however, were taken care of by Ayanami when she jumped off the ship and towards the projectiles in a manner almost similar to flying. With swings of her oversized sword with a pattern similar to that of a battleship, she was able to slice them in two and make the harmless halves fall into water.
The Marines were amazed at what they did and cheered for them, while the pirates on Big Mom's ships were shocked at what they saw.
Landing on the water surface, Ayanami "skated" across the sea and towards the pirate ship. She leaped off the water with a tremendous height and landed onto the dock, among the pirates. The pirates immediately pointed their weapons on her and readied to attack, but Ayanami delivered the first strike with her sword and swift movements. Occasionally, she fired energy projectiles and torpedoes from her riggings to cause damage to the ship.
"I'll be heading over to help Ayanami. I trust that you can deal with the enemies on the shore?" Hood asked Belfast.
"As you wish," Belfast said to her while nodding. Hood then jumped off the ship and "skated" across the water surface to get to Big Mom's ship.
Akashi also jumped off the ship and followed her. "Wait for me-nya! I think I'll be safer fighting the ones over there!"
Belfast then turned to Dido and said to her, "Let us head to the shore, Dido. Do not worry; I am confident that victory will be on our side." She turned to Koby next and asked him for permission.
"You have to beware of Cracker!" Koby told her. "He's one of Big Mom's most powerful subordinates. He's not someone you can beat easily. Even I can't be sure if I can win against him!"
"You will not know unless you try," Belfast told him. "If an enemy is before our eyes, then we must eliminate him in order to save lives. That is what we ships came into this world for.
Seeing the determined look in her eyes, Koby nodded. "All right, I give you the permission go ahead. We will head over there as well to lend you our support!"
Belfast and Dido then leaped off the ship and headed towards the shore. Akagi and Kaga also followed them. Koby also ordered for the ship to close in on the shore so that they could take on the pirates and rescue the hostages.
Back on the shore, the pirates saw the ship girls approaching and thus got ready to fight. "Those fools are coming to their deaths!" said Oven angrily.
"Then why don't you show them a burning death?" Cracker asked him. "It should be an easy task for you, right?"
"Indeed, I shall give them a burning death!" said Oven as he approached the water. Putting his hand into the water, he activated the power of his Heat Heat Fruit, increasing his body temperature to such a degree that the sea began boiling, so much that it reached all the way where the ship girls were.
"It's getting hot all of a sudden…!" said Belfast. The ship girls stopped moving when they realized that the surrounding temperature had increased drastically and also from seeing the water bubbling with great intensity.
Fortunately for them, their bodies allowed them to endure temperatures that were too much for humans, but even so, the water had become so hot that they felt painful.
"That man…! This is his doing!" said Kaga when she noticed Oven at the shore.
"Then we'll have to target him!" said Akagi as she floated into the air.
Kaga as she floated into the air as well. She flew towards the shore at a fast speed with one hand covered in blue fire. With a swing of her hand, she threw a blue fireball at Oven.
The pirate was surprised to see this and thus held up his arms in defense. The fireball hit him and dissipated, seemingly doing nothing to him. Lowering his hands, he saw Kaga closing in on him and slamming a hand full of blue fire towards his face. Oven caught her fist, unharmed by the fire on her hand burning against his.
"Ha! You call this hot? I can burn much hotter than this!" he said with a proud look. Grabbing Kaga's hand, he slammed her onto the sand next to himself hard. Kaga got back up fast and then backed away from him. Oven ran towards him with his fists glowing bright red and threw punches that she was able to dodge with swift movements. In the midst of dodging the punches, Kaga swung her hands to release a fiery, blue shockwave. Though it pushed back Oven, it did not seem to harm him at all.
He was going to attack again when he was suddenly shot by red fireballs from above, this time coming from Akagi. Akagi floated in the air close to him and launched several fireballs at him nonstop, each shot pushing him back.
Belfast and Dido also reached the shore. The pirates surrounded them and readied to attack, some of them even commenting on attractive those two look. One of the pirates lunged at Belfast and swung his cutlass at her, and she responded by bringing up her arm. To his surprise, the blade came to a complete halt against her skin as if it struck solid steel. Belfast smiled before punching him hard in the face and knocking him away.
Dido also began attacking. With the blade covered in black mist, she swung her sword hard to unleash a black sword beam that cut down multiple pirates at once. Turning her attention to Cracker, who was standing a bit of a distance away, she dashed towards him at a fast speed with her sword pulled back, and black mist was swirling around the blade.
She thrust her weapon forward, causing the mist to spiral forward in the form of a dangerous projectile. Seeing this, Cracker brought up his biscuit-shaped shield and easily blocked it. He launched his own attack afterwards by swinging down his sword so hard that a shockwave was unleashed in her direction, but she jumped out of the way.
Upon landing, Dido fired from her rigging at Cracker, who blocked the shots. When he pulled away his shield, Dido was already jumping in front of him to attack with her sword, and he used his own sword to block hers. They pushed against each other for a while before Dido was repelled a couple of feet away.
"You've got guts charging at me head-on, girl!" Cracker said to her. "You some kind of maid? You probably should've just remained doing cleaning duty!"
"It is a maid's duty to serve her commander, and my current commander has ordered me to take you down, so I will obey his command!" Dido said to him with a determined look.
"Then your commander is a fool! You're going to regret stepping out into the battlefield to face off against us!" Cracker said to him.
TO BE CONTINUED
I originally wanted the entire battle to take place in a single chapter, but after closing in on 3,000 words, I figured that it was getting too long for a chapter that isn't the first one and also doesn't have anything notable enough to warrant more words, so I decided to make it multiple parts.
