For some reason, someone reviewed this story by sending it through PM. While I do appreciate that review, I would prefer it if you send future reviews using the normal method. Thank you!
I do not plan on giving the ship girls Devil Fruits or have them learn haki. However, I will still give them some kind of power-up that will potentially help them fight more on par with the folks of One Piece. Please look forward to it!
Chapter 8
Sweet Commander—Part 3
The situation seemed extraordinarily tough as the ship girls and Marines found themselves face to face with about ten biscuit soldiers created by Cracker. Dealing with one was hard enough, but ten of them?
Fortunately, these biscuit soldiers were actually easier to deal with compared to the one Cracker was inside of. They weren't as skilled in fighting and also weren't as durable, so taking them down wasn't that big of an issue for a skilled fighter.
Belfast fired from her rigging at one of the soldiers, who held up his shield for defense. Cracks gradually appeared on the shield from the constant blasting until it finally got blown into pieces. Belfast jumped at said soldier afterwards and threw a powerful punch into his head so hard that it was shattered into pieces, and the body followed suit.
Akashi was crying in terror while scurrying and jumping around to avoid the sword swings of another biscuit soldier. "NYA! Don't come after me! I'm not as good in combat compared to the others!" she cried.
She jumped way from a downward sword swing with her back facing the soldier, all the while throwing multiple mini torpedoes into the air behind herself. The torpedoes landed on the soldier and around it, creating multiple explosions that were strong when combined together. In fact, the soldier was blown into pieces.
Three biscuit soldiers were closing in on some Marines, who shot back from their guns, but their bullets were bouncing off their shields. Hood came in between both sides and open fired from her riggings. Her powerful gunfire was able to destroy the shields and biscuit soldiers almost immediately, blowing them into tiny pieces.
"Incredible! She defeated them in just a second!" commented one of the Marines. The others said similar things in awe.
Oven, with his hands on fire, rushed at Kaga to punch her. She was able to dodge the first couple of punches, but eventually got hit a few times and knocked away.
From aside, Akagi released a large blast of red fire at Oven. The attack struck him but seemingly did nothing to him, as he was seen rushing through the fire unharmed and slammed his fist into her abdomen hard. Akagi fell back and landed in a crouching position while grunting in pain. She pulled back her hands before thrusting them forward to release an even larger blast of fire.
Oven was unharmed in the midst of the fire and said with an evil smile, "When are you going to realize that fire won't do anything to me? It's unfortunate that I am a bad matchup for the both of you!"
Just as Akagi stopped the attack, Kaga attacked Oven from behind by hitting him in the shoulder with fiery karate chops. Oven spun around to face her and was struck in the face and body several time with her hands that were covered in blue fire.
Kaga continued to attack him rapidly and eventually blew him back with a blast of blue fire. She then took out her "scroll" and sent paper planes down them to transform them into actual miniature planes. The planes fired missiles at Oven, who held up his arms in defense, and then crashed into him—kamikaze style.
Akagi summoned a larger plane and sent it at Oven with the intention of using its propeller to attack him and hopefully put an end to him. Oven saw the incoming plane and responded by pulling back his fiery fist and then punched the center of the propeller.
He punched with such a force that a fiery shockwave was released, and the plane was blown into pieces. Kaga and Akagi were shocked at what they saw. "He's strong!" gasped the latter.
"Don't underestimate me," Oven said to them. "I may not be on the level of a Sweet Commander, but I am still strong enough to make you think I am one!"
Cracker was currently engaged in a fierce combat against Ayanami and Dido. The two ship girls, despite being skilled sword users and outnumbering Cracker two to one, were not able to give him any trouble at all.
Cracker moved around swiftly and swung his sword hard, so much that every time they blocked it, they were pushed back and felt quite a vibration traveling from their weapons to their arms.
Dido thrust her sword at Cracker and launched a blast of dark energy at him. "Pretzel!" shouted Cracker as he charged at the incoming attack and thrusted at the projectile with his sword. He was able to negate the attack and keep on heading for Dido, who got out of the way fast.
Ayanami jumped at Cracker next and swung at him, but he blocked it. The two traded blows several times until Ayanami jumped back from him and did something that surprised him. Her sword rearranged its entire structure until it became a futuristic-looking gun! Pointing the newly transformed sword at Cracker, Ayanami fired a blast of energy at him, but he held up his shield and blocked it.
"Well, that was a surprise! Didn't think that the Marines would invent something high-tech like that!" said Cracker. "Mama would love to have something like that as part of her arsenal!"
"My sword is not for the likes of you to use!" Ayanami said to him with a look of anger before firing from the gun again, this time multiple times. Cracker moved and jumped around at a fast speed to avoid the shots, and when she stopped firing for a moment, probably to prevent her weapon from overheating, he charged at her to stab her.
Dido charged at him from the side to attack, but Cracker sensed her approaching thanks to his observation haki and blocked her attack using his shield before trying to hit her, but she jumped back. Dido swung down her sword afterwards, launching a black shockwave at him. Once again, Cracker blocked it with his sword.
Ayanami aimed with her gun-turned-sword again and this time fired even more rapidly than before, in a manner just like a machine gun. Cracker blocked the shots and planted his feet firmly against the ground to avoid getting pushed back.
While Ayanami was firing nonstop at him, a biscuit soldier approached her from behind and was about to bring its sword down onto her, but Belfast jumped at its head and punched it hard, shattering the whole thing into pieces. Ayanami turned to her and nodded as a form of thanks.
She also stopped firing at that moment, and in that second, Cracker clapped his hands hard, summoning several biscuits that floated in the air. Under his command, the biscuits shot at the ship girls as if they were arrows. Belfast and Ayanami moved around fast to dodge the biscuits, which embedded into the sand.
Belfast ran at Cracker with her fist pulled back, but the latter summoned a large biscuit that appeared in front of him, standing upright like a wall. Belfast's fist struck the biscuit and was unable to punch through it, as it was as hard as steel. The biscuit wall moved forward at a fast speed, pushing her back.
Belfast tried to stop moving by planting her feet firmly against the sand, but to no avail. She fired from her rigging at point blank and was able to destroy the biscuit wall.
Meanwhile, Ayanami changed her gun back into a sword. Holding the hilt with both hands, she pulled off another surprising move of breaking the sword into two vertically, and then she connected the two halves of the sword together by the ends of their hilts, and she wielded it by the part connecting the two together.
As if showing off, she spun the dual-sided sword around herself skillfully before dashing at Cracker at a fast speed to attack with great intensity. Cracker was able to block the attacks, all the while keeping a confident look on his face.
"You are good, but that's not good enough to beat me!" he said. "You haven't even touched me a single time yet!"
"It's true… We have yet to lay a single finger on him…" said Koby. "We are already starting to wear ourselves out, while he is still full of energy…"
"He previously said that he cannot tolerate pain," said Belfast. "Perhaps it also means we can hit him hard enough to knock him out in a single hit."
"But he's not letting us touch him at all…" said Ayanami. "He moves around so fast, and his shield is pretty much impenetrable…"
"I doubt the shield is capable of blocking everything. If we can hit it with something large and hard, we might be able to destroy it," said Belfast.
"Where are we going to get something like that?" Koby asked her.
"It is my duty as a maid to bring forth something like that," Belfast said with a smile, and then she ran towards Cracker as if going to attack him.
"It doesn't matter what you do! Nothing will work! I'll show you the difference in power between us!" said Cracker as he took a defensive stance, thinking he can block whatever she was going to throw at him and then counter her.
As she closed in on him, Belfast removed her rigging and threw it at him. The rigging glowed and broke into small cubes as they flew through the air and then transformed back into its original battleship form in an instant.
This caught Cracker by surprise, but things happened so suddenly that he couldn't react in time. Though he held up his shield and channeled armament haki into it, a massive battleship flying through the air was still too much to defend against. The shield was shattered in an instant when the battleship collided into it and went on to crash into Cracker.
CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!
All eyes were on the battleship as it flew through the air, destroying anything in its way, such as trees, rocks, and remnants of the village on the island.
The battleship finally came to a stop, and Cracker fell off the front of it and onto the ground, badly wounded and unconscious. The battleship disintegrated into cubes and changed back into a rigging that attached onto Belfast's body. Everyone was able to see Cracker lying on the ground with a bloody face and several loose tooth. The pirates were horrified at what they saw.
"Commander Cracker!"
"He got defeated!"
"I can't believe it!"
"That bitch is so dead!"
"Commander Cracker! He can't be defeated!"
"Incredible…! You actually managed to defeat a Sweet Commander!" Koby said to Belfast in awe while looking at the fallen Cracker.
"I have to admit that I am surprised myself…" said Belfast.
"I never thought of using something like this to fight our opponents…" said Ayanami.
Oven was the most furious to see this, so much that his entire body was set on fire. "Why you?! Don't you realize what you have done?!" he said in pure rage. "HOW DARE YOU INSULT US BIG MOM PIRATES?! DON'T THINK YOU'RE GETTING WITH IT FOR DEFEATING A SWEET COMMANDER!"
He was so filled with rage that not only the air around him turned reddish because of the heat, the sand was also burning up. Those standing a great distance from him could feel the heat as well.
"Such heat…!" commented Kaga in awe.
Because Belfast was the one who defeated Cracker, Oven charged at her with his body on fire, and he even left behind a trail of fire as he ran. Seeing him approaching, Belfast fired from her rigging at him, but he was able to plow through the gunfire unharmed and kept on moving towards her.
Before the maid could get out of the way, Oven grabbed her arms and burned her, causing her to scream in pain. Dido immediately rushed to the rescue by swinging her sword at Oven from behind, but because the latter hardened himself using armament haki, she was unable to cut through him. Oven spun around and flung Belfast into her, knocking them both away.
"YOU SHALL ALL PAY!" he shouted at the top of his voice. He then slammed his hands against the sand to send forth a pair of fiery trails that moved in the general direction of the good guys.
One of the fire trails headed in Akagi's direction. The ship girl surrounded herself in red fire, and when Oven's fire came in contact with her, it was sucked by the red fire and circled around her. Akagi held her hands to the side and gathered the combined fire in between her palms to form a ball of red and orange fire. Jumping into the air and flying towards Oven, she hurled the fireball at him.
Oven crossed his arms in defense and took an explosive hit to his body, but he was able to retain his footing. Ayanami jumped at him after that and swung her sword, but he blocked it with his haki-infused arm and then attempted to punch her with the other hand.
Ayanami responded fast and ducked underneath the punch while pulling her sword away, and then she swung the weapon at his body over and over, each hit pushing him back a step.
After hitting him a few more times, she jumped back into the air and fired the torpedoes on her rigging at him. The projectiles struck the ground in front of him and exploded, blasting him backwards.
Despite this, Oven was able to avoid falling on his back but instead landed in a crouched position. By now, the heat on his body had died down, and he was panting heavily.
"Looks like we are doing a number on him!" said Hood.
"Since he's not a Sweet Commander, he should be easier to take down," said Koby.
"You think it's going to be this easy? Don't think you'll get away with humiliating us! Once Big Mom hears about this, all of you will wish you were never born!" Oven said to them in anger as he stood back up.
The good guys got into defensive stances as Oven heated himself again. He was going to make a move when suddenly a large amount of ice traveled along the ground and in his direction at fast speed.
"Ice Age!" shouted someone.
Before Oven knew what hit him, the ice got to his legs and then his body in a second. This happened so fast that even when frozen in ice completely, Oven was still facing the good guys' general direction with a look of anger. Everyone was shocked at what they saw.
"What… What happened…?!" asked Kaga.
"He just turned to ice…!" said Akashi.
"This ice… There's only one person I can think of who can do this!" said Koby.
"That would be me," said a new voice. Everyone turned and saw a somewhat dark-skinned man with a pair of shades dressed in winter clothing standing close by, and the ice was coming out from his feet, leading to the frozen Oven.
"That's… That's the former admiral, Kuzan, also known as Aokiji!" said one of the Marines in shock.
"What is he doing here?!" said another one.
"I heard that he joined the Blackbeard Pirates!" said another one. "Don't tell me Blackbeard is here too?!"
"Former admiral…?!" said Belfast in surprise. She then turned to Koby for confirmation.
Koby nodded. "Yes, he used to be one of the three admirals of the Marines, but after competing against Sakazuki, back then going by the code name Akainu, for the position of fleet admiral and losing, he quit. In a surprising turn of events, he became a member of the Blackbeard Pirates!"
"A Marine turned pirate… Such a fall from grace…" commented Akagi.
Everyone was in fear as Kuzan walked past the frozen Oven and approached them. "Sorry if I interrupted your fun time," he said to everyone. "I know I really shouldn't be having anything to do with this, but seeing how my former comrades are in trouble, even if I'm supposed to be their enemies now, I can't help but lend them a hand."
The Big Mom pirates began speaking angrily to him.
"How dare you do this to Commander Oven?!"
"You'll pay for this!"
"You think you can take on us all alone? You're outnumbered, even if you're a former admiral!"
"Die!"
The pirates began charging towards Kuzan, who simply sighed and said, "I'm not in the mood to fight… You could've just leave quietly, you know? Ice Age!" Without lifting a muscle, the ground underneath him froze at a speed equivalent to the blink of an eye and in the direction of the approaching pirates.
In no time, they were all frozen, and such an act shocked and amazed the good guys.
"Incredible!" said Hood.
"In just a second… I can't believe it…!" said Ayanami in disbelief.
Kuzan then turned to Koby. "So… Captain Koby… I hope you and your crew are all fine."
"Former admiral Kuzan… Thank you for your help, but you do know that we are supposed to arrest you, right?" Koby said to him.
"Yeah, I understand that, but do you really have what it takes to do arrest me when you already know what I'm capable of?" Kuzan said to him. "I doubt my captain would be pleased as well. Blackbeard may not look like it, but he actually does care about his crewmates. If I were you, I'd tell my crew to leave the island in peace. It is better to conserve your strength than to waste it on a powerful opponent who can easily annihilate you. This isn't an act of cowardice, but a wise one."
Koby looked at the situation before him and thought about it. They had worn themselves out fighting the Big Mom Pirates, so none of them were in the position to fight Kuzan currently. Because they were fellow Marines before, Koby knew well just how powerful the former admiral is.
"All right… We will leave things be and retreat," Koby said to Kuzan.
"A wise decision. I wouldn't want to fight my former allies either," the latter said to him. "I would suggest leaving the Big Mom Pirates here as they are. You are not prepared to arrest all of them, and doing so will only give you more trouble."
It was true. Even though almost all the Big Mom Pirates were helplessly frozen, the Marines didn't have the ability to capture them at the moment. Not only were the pirates frozen in ice and immovable, the Marine's ship did not have enough space to carry them all. Also, some of the pirates were still on the pirate ship, in shock at what happened and had likely called for reinforcements already.
Therefore, Koby decided that it was best that they leave empty-handed. He called for the Marines to depart the island, taking with them the hostages they rescued, doing things as fast as possible.
As the Marines were getting ready to leave, Kuzan turned to the ship girls and asked them, "New recruits, are you?"
Not wanting to bring up the fact they come from another world, Hood nodded and said, "Yes, we are new recruits, and this is actually our first patrol out at sea…"
"Sucks that you have to run into a Yonko's crew for a first timer, doesn't it? Well, nobody said being a Marine in the New World was going to be easy," said Kuzan. "I hope you girls have a good sense of justice and fight for what is truly right, never giving up."
"It is our duty as Marines to bring justice to people, no matter what it takes," Belfast said to him.
"That's good to hear! I can already tell that you are good people! It's always nice to have enthusiastic youngsters who are willing to fight for what is right!" Kuzan said to them.
When they heard the Marines saying that they were going to set sail, the ship girls began to leave. Akagi looked at Kuzan one last time and said to him, "You chose to throw away your honor as a Marine and become a pirate?"
Kuzan just shrugged. "Lots of stuff happened that led to this, but I think I'm still the same person as I am when I was in the Marines. Just because I'm a pirate now doesn't mean I'm suddenly all about murder and pillaging. I never really cared about honor and such. As long as I'm doing what I think is right, I'm cool with it."
"I wouldn't say I'm the most honorable person myself, so perhaps I'm in no place to criticize you for your decision, especially when we only just met," said Akagi. She then turned to leave.
With that, the Marines left the island, while the Big Mom Pirates remained frozen on the shore, while the remaining pirates on the ship were panicking and wondering what to do.
Kuzan stretched and yawned before walking away while scratching his head. "Guess I'll take a nap…" he said to no one.
TO BE CONTINUED
Surprise appearance from Kuzan! I hope you enjoyed this battle with the Big Mom Pirates! I think I did the best I could. Coming up next with the Straw Hat Pirates! The protagonists of One Piece will finally make their debut! Let's see how things unfold for them when they run into the Azur Lane folks!
Yes, Ayanami's sword can transform into a gun and also split into two. The former can be seen in the animation of her Lunar Demon skin, while the latter is seen in her retrofit.
Belfast's Serene Steel skin shows her throwing a wicked combo with her fists, which shows that she is more than capable of defending herself even when unarmed. This is why I made her a close ranged fighter.
