Chapter 11
Straw Hat—part 3


Sanji, Nami, Robin, Usopp, and Chopper looked around to see that they were surrounded by Marines on both sides. "Sanji! Do something! Beat them all up!" Usopp told the cook.

"I can beat them up, but…" said Sanji, and then he looked at Taihou and then Shigure. "I can't fight those two…"

"Yeah, yeah, we get that already…" grumbled Nami while taking out her Clima-Tact. "Just leave those two to us, while you deal with the low-ranking Marines."

"Be careful about that woman," Sanji told her while looking at Taihou. "She has some strange flying gadgets that can be pretty dangerous. Really took me by surprise…"

"Don't worry, Mister Cook," Robin told him. "No enemy will be too tough for us!"

"So this the Straw Hat Crew that has been giving the Marines a hard time?" said Taihou. "Let's see what I can do about you people!"

"You're unlucky to run into this! You'll all going down along with your ship!" said Shigure while cracking her fingers.

Sanji then headed for the low-ranking Marines to begin fighting them, while the other Straw Hats dealt with the ship girls. Nami and Robin faced Taihou, while Usopp and Chopper faced Shigure.

"You have confidence of yourself, don't you?" Taihou said to Nami and Robin as she spread open her fan and held it to the side, making those get into defensives stances. She swung the fan, releasing a wind so strong that a tornado was actually created.

Nami and Robin were shocked by this and had no time to do anything as the tornado approached them, picked them up, and took them for a spin. All those who saw the tornado ran out of the way to avoid it as it headed in their generation direction.

"NAMI! ROBIN!" Sanji gasped.

The tornado traveled down the path some meters before dissipating, and both Robin and Nami were thrown in the same direction, conveniently landing onto a vendor selling blankets, thus cushioning their landings.

"A tornado?! How did she make something like that?!" said Nami as she sat up.

Taihou then appeared in the same location as them and said with a sinister look, "Well, let us get started!"

BGM: Crimson Echoes Boss Battle Theme (Azur Lane)

Swinging her fan, Taihou released a wave of fire that instantly created several miniature jet fighters that flew at Nami and Robin. "What are those?!" said Nami in surprise.

The jets fired at the two pirates while heading towards them, so they bent down and got out of the way fast. "Those must be what Mister Cook said!" pointed out Robin.

"Good thing they're they fun-sized!" said Nami as black cloud came out from her Sorcery Clima-Tact. "Storm Cloud Rod!" When the jets headed in her direction, she swung her weapon to fire a crescent-shaped electric projectile that zapped them out of the sky. However, one of them flew up to avoid getting hit and then dived down at Nami.

Nami was going to do something fast in defense when suddenly an arm sprouted from her forehead and slapped the jet hard from above, smacking it onto the ground and destroying it. The arm disappeared from Nami's forehead, and then she turned to Robin. "Thanks, but you couldn't have come up with a better place to sprout an arm, could you…?"

"I'll keep that in mind next time, said Robin, who had her arms crossed in front of herself.

"Nice trick you've got there, but that won't do much against an aircraft like me!" said Taihou began running at Nami while holding up her massive fan to her side. She swung it like a club at Nami, who ducked underneath it and then got out of the way to avoid the second strike that came down from above.

"Whoa! Watch where you swing that thing!" Nami shouted at her.

"All the better to crush your skull with, my dear!" Taihou said to her with a sinister look. She was going to charge at Nami again when suddenly multiple arms appeared around her body and grabbed hold of her limbs to keep her in place. "Huh?"

Robin, after sprouting arms all over the aircraft's body, forcefully bent her body backwards in an attempt to break her spine. Taihou's body bent back but came to an almost complete halt upon bending about 45-degree angles. Robin was confused and tried to bent her again, but the ship girl simply smirked as she looked at her.

"It'll take a lot of more power to break the spine of a warship!" said Taihou. She grabbed one of the arms sprouting out of her and twisted it hard, causing all of them to disappear and Robin crying in pain. Taihou then swung her fan at her, knocking her away.

"Robin!" Nami gasped.

"Your turn!" Taihou shouted as she rushed at Nami, ready to hit her with the fan again.

"Gust Sword!" Nami pointed her Clima-Tact at Taihou, and a gust of pressurized wind was fired from it, strong enough to blow back Taihou with a powerful force.

"Nice try," said Taihou as she used her fan as support to stand back up. "Too bad a small breeze won't do much good to an aircraft carrier!"

"What does she mean by aircraft carrier…?" wondered a confused Nami.

"Have at thee!" shouted Taihou before swinging the fan to send out some jets. The jets flew at Nami and fired at her, and she didn't move. However, when the bullets struck her, they went through her without doing any physical harm to her, and then she disappeared into thin air, much to Taihou's surprise. "What the?!"

"Fata Morgana! You fell for a mirage!" said the real Nami, who was standing to the side. "I created it immediately after you were blown back by my Gust Sword and in the midst of getting back up! And I even took the time to create that!" She pointed into the air, so Taihou looked up to see a thundercloud up there. "Thunderbolt Tempo!"

A lightning bolt dropped down on top of Taihou, zapping her from head to toe. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Nami closed her ears and also her eyes to avoid having them harmed by the loudness and the brightness respectively. When the thundercloud disappeared, Taihou fell on her knees with her hands still holding on to the fan. The ship girl was charred from head to toe but still showing sign of consciousness. "Wow… You're tough, I'll give you that…" commented Nami, quite surprised that she wasn't down yet.

Nami then heard the sound of buzzing and saw the jets flying at her. "Crap! I forgot about them!" The jets fired at her, so she ducked and ran out of the way, only to be swatted onto the ground a second later by Taihou's fan.

"You got me good, but this is as far as you go!" Taihou said to her with a psychotic look. "I'll be sure that you scream real good before you die!" She raised her folded up fan over her head and readied to bring it down onto a terrified Nami, but arms sprouted from all over her body and forcefully bent her head backwards, causing her to fall completely on her back and dropping the fan.

"You will not hurt my crewmate!" Robin, who was standing close by with her arms crossed, said in a serious tone.

"Robin!" Nami happily said to her.

The jets from before turned to Robin and were about to fire when suddenly arms came out from the ground below them at a fast speed and caught them. They were pulled onto the ground hard, and then leg came out next to them and stomped them so hard that they were crushed.

After that, several arms merged together to form a gigantic arm grew out of the ground next to a surprised Taihou. Before she could do anything against it, the arm slammed down on top of her to crush her against the ground, and it did so over and over several times.

Taihou was smashed against the ground so hard that it cracked. After several hits, she was showing signs of pain and had a hard time standing up. The giant hand picked her up and spun around in the air a few times before hurling her into a nearby building.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

BGM Ends

When the smoke cleared, Taihou was seen lying among broken furniture and debris, almost on the verge of passing out. "Oh…"

The giant arm all disappeared, and Robin said, "That shall teach you!"

"Great work, Robin!" said Sanji happily as he rushed into the scene to see her and Robin. "I'm relieved you both are all right!"

"Yeah, you didn't have to worry about us in the first place, but thanks anyway," Nami said to her. "How's your side of things?"

"I beat up those Marines as fast as I could and then rushed over," Sanji told them. "Last I saw Usopp and Chopper, they're still fighting that other girl."

"I hope they are doing fine and not getting brutally murdered by her," said Robin, making Nami look at her with a disgusted look.


BGM: Yuudachi (Azur Lane)

"Eat this!" said Shigure as she fired form her turret at Chopper.

"Guard Point!" shouted Chopper as his entire body became large and round. The shots struck his body and caused him to fly away like a bouncy ball.

"Chopper!" Usopp said in shock, and then he turned his attention back to Shigure.

"You look so weak that I don't need to use my guns on you!" Shigure said to him.

"You dare look down on me?! I may not look like it, but I actually lead 8,000 thousand men who are willing to die for me! You better not do anything to me, or else they will make you suffer!" Usopp said while pointing at her.

Shigure simply chuckled at what he said and replied, "Do you know the story about the shepherd boy who cried wolf?"

"Yeah, I know that story," replied Usopp. "What about it?" Suddenly, Shigure pounced at him and knocked him onto the ground with her hand around his neck.

"Then you should know that the boy dies at the hands of the wolf in the end!" she said to him in a sinister voice. "And that wolf is me!" She was suddenly knocked away, but was able to land on her feet. She looked and saw that Chopper's body now has an odd, pear-like shape. "What the heck?!"

"Hiya! Behold the Kung Fu Point!" said Chopper in a higher-pitched voice.

"What is that supposed to be?! It looks so stupid!" commented Shigure.

"You show know well not to judge people by their looks!" said Chopper. He then moved at her at an incredibly fast speed, so fast that she was unable to see him coming in time and was smacked away by his hoof.

Shigure didn't seem too hurt badly by the attack, however, but was nevertheless annoyed by it and then fired from her gun constantly to take him down.

Chopper continued to dodge the shots while moving around her at a fast speed, and he eventually employed the hit and run tactic. He dashed at her fast and struck her before moving away at a fast speed, and then repeated it. Shigure was struck all over the body and couldn't get the chance to fight back at all, much to her annoyance.

"ENOUGH!" she shouted in frustration before firing from her gun all over the place wildly. Onlookers who were watching the fight ran for their lives as the shots blasted holes on the building walls.

"Watch out with that thing!" Usopp cried while hiding behind some crates.

Chopper jumped at her and knocked her down to stop her from firing. Shigure was sitting back up when Chopper attempted to hit her with a flying kick, but acting fast, Shigure fired a torpedo at him, striking him in the body and blowing him away.

Chopper was burned quite a bit in the body from the explosion of the torpedo. Shigure smirked and pounced at him, ready to give him a fatal blow.

"Green Star: Snake Fireworks!" Usopp shouted as he used his Kabuto to fire a green seed at Shigure. It struck her body and immediately sprouted a large amount of vines that wrapped around her body. She flew off to the side and tumbled onto the ground and then struggled to break free from them.

"What the heck?! Where did these vines come from?!" she cried while struggling.

"Exploding Star! Exploding Star!" shouted Usopp as he fired multiple brown pellets at the bounded Shigure, creating explosions each time they hit.

"Yeah! Get her, Usopp!" Chopper cheered on.

Usopp stopped after firing several shots, and looking at the smoke created, he thought, "I think I might have gone too far… She's just a kid…"

Suddenly, Shigure lunged out of the smoke with a charred body, much to his surprise, and slammed her fist into his face hard, knocking him back onto the ground. "You bastard! DIE!" she shouted with anger. She was going to attack him again, but Chopper, in his "beast" form, grabbed her arm and then flung her away.

Shigure got up almost immediately after hitting the ground and then pounced at Chopper while growling like a beast. Chopper slammed his fist straight into her face hard. Her body bent back a bit, but she was able to retain her footing for the most part. With a growling face filled with rage, the ship girl rushed around Chopper and climbed onto his back before biting the shoulder hard. Chopper cried in pain while trying to shake her off.

"Hey you! Get off Chopper! Green Star: Platanus Shuriken!" shouted Usopp as he used the Kabuto to fire seeds that transformed into star-shaped projectiles as they flew through the air. The pointed parts of the projectiles hit Shigure, but rather then embedding into her like it would when hit a person's skin, they bounced off her instead, much to Usopp's surprise.

Chopper changed into his hybrid form, the small and cute one he usually is in, to escape Shigure's surprise. He slipped away from her before changing into Kung Fu Point, and then he launched himself at her, hitting her in the body hard with a flying kick.

Shigure then fired from her guns at him, and he entered Jumping Point to escape being shot by jumping into the air. "Arm Point!" he shouted as he changed into a form where his arms became extremely muscular. He shot down at her with his hooves placed together and pointing at her. "Cloven Cross!"

"Too slow!" thought Shigure before attempting to jump away, only to find that her legs were bound and trapped to the ground by vines. "What the?!"

"Ha! Too late to realize that!" Usopp said to her. He fired a Pop Green onto the ground next to her feet while she was distracted by Chopper, and vines sprouted from it to wrap around her legs.

Shigure then looked up in time to see Chopper slamming his hooves into her.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

BGM Ends

The impact was so powerful that the ground underneath cracked, and a crater was formed. Shigure was lying in the center of it, unconscious and with slight cracks on her rigging. Chopper changed back into his hybrid form as he backed away from her. "Phew… We did it…!" he thought.


BGM: Ink-Stained Steel Sakura Boss (Azur Lane)

Zuikaku and Zoro continued their battle, both sides fighting more intensely before, and it was for this reason Zuikaku found herself starting to get overwhelmed.

Zoro pressed hard against her, striking harder than before and also faster. Zuikaku found herself unable to keep up with his sword swings nor can she retain her footing every time their blades clashed.

When she backed away to unleash a fire wave from her sword, he would charge through them fearlessly, getting his blades covered in fire as a result, and try to attack her with them.

Acting fast, Zuikaku leaped up high into the air when Zoro was about to hit her with his flaming swords, and rather than falling back down, she remained floating in air, much to his surprise. "She can fly?!" he said.

From the air, Zuikaku summoned miniature jet fighters to attack him. Zoro ran around fast as the jets went after him and fired rapid energy blasts at him, not to mention dropping bombs. Eventually, Zoro turned around to swing his swords in a way that air blades were launched at the jets, destroying them, and the projectiles kept on heading for Zuikaku.

She got away fast, but the projectiles were also like powerful wind in that they pushed her away when they didn't make direct contact.

Zoro then jumped incredibly high into the air in her direction. Zuikaku held up her sword in defense, and when his blades crashed down onto her, she was forcefully pushed back down onto the ground with a crash.

"Zuikaku!" said Javelin in shock. Laffey was shocked as well.

Zuikaku was able to land on her feet, albeit in a crouched position while trying to hold up Zoro's swords with her own. "He's strong…!" Zuikaku thought.

As the two struggled against each other, shots were fired at Zoro, who jumped away to avoid them. He saw that they were fired by Javelin and Laffey. "We won't let you hurt Zuikaku! We're on her side, so we'll be taking on you as well!" Javelin told him.

"You two stay out of this, kids!" Zoro angrily snapped at them. Zuikaku charged at him while he was slightly distracted, but he was able to block her attack.

"We'll take you down no matter what!" Zuikaku said to her.

Javelin and Laffey joined the fight, firing from their riggings at Zoro, who had to avoid them while fighting Zuikaku at the same time.

Laffey eventually charged at Zoro at a fast speed, and the latter crossed his swords together as a shield. To his surprise, the destroyer rammed her shoulder into him with such a force that he was pushed back at a fast speed until he crashed through some crates.

He flew away and landed on his back, but then got back up again. "How is that kid so strong?!" He looked up and saw Javelin jumping high into the air towards him with her javelin pointing straight down at him, and green energy blasts were fired from them straight down, so he rolled out of the way to avoid getting shot.

Javelin landed and then closed in on him to attack with her javelin. She clashed her weapon against Zoro's as skillfully as she could, but despite her efforts, he was able to disarm her after a few seconds and then he kicked her away in the guts.

"Don't come rushing head on into a fight if you can't hold your own, kid," Zoro warned her. Using haki, he sensed something approaching, so he jumped out of the way avoid torpedoes launched through the air by Laffey.

The destroyer then fired rapid bursts of energy bullets at Zoro, who easily dodged them as if he knew where they were going to hit, a feat made possible by haki. When Zoro closed in on her while giving her a mean glare, a strong chill ran down her spine, and she was frozen in shock.

Zoro brought down one of his swords towards her face, and all hope seemed lost for her when suddenly the blade stopped a few centimeters in front of her. That was enough to make Laffey's leg give away completely, and ship girl dropped on her knees as tears ran down her eyes. She was so scared that she could only whimper.

Zoro looked at her for a few seconds before turning away, not wanting to make himself feel guilty for brutally harming a young girl.

Suddenly, Zuikaku swooped down at him, swinging her sword at him, but he was able to block it. "You'll pay for harming my comrades!" she angrily said to him.

"At least they're still alive," Zoro told her.

The flames on her sword grew in intensity, and she swung harder than before, each hit against his sword causing fiery shockwaves to be created. As Zoro fought back, he had to admit that the burning temperature of the shockwave was becoming a burden to him. The heat was bringing pain to his skin, not to mention making the handle of his sword hotter by the second.

While the two fought, Javelin went over to Laffey, who was still down on the ground and trembling in fear. The former put her hand on the latter's shoulder to comfort her and then watched those two fight in awe.

Zoro backed away from Zuikaku, who unleashed a blast of fire from a powerful swing of her sword at him. "108-Pound Cannon!" Zoro shouted as he swung all three of his swords to unleash massive wind blades at the incoming attack. The wind blades picked up the fire, enforcing themselves with it, and headed towards Zuikaku in the form of fiery blades.

Zuikaku was too late to dodge them and was struck and burned all over the body. She tumbled backwards violently quite a bit before coming to a stop on her knees with wounds all over her body. Despite this, she was still able to stand back up. "I'm not done yet!" she angrily said to him.

"Not for long," Zoro told her.

Zuikaku then jumped high into the air and pointed her flaming sword downwards at him while falling towards him. In response, Zoro held out two of his swords while crouching down slightly. "Dragon Twister!" he shouted before spinning in a fast circle to unleash a column of wind upwards.

Like a dragon made of wind colliding into her, Zuikaku screamed in pain as she was sent spinning into the air, all the way the wind cutting her all over the body.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

BGM Ends

Javelin and Laffey were in shock as they watch the aircraft carrier fly several meters into the air, and she eventually fell back down with powerful crash. "ZUIKAU!" they gasped out loud while rushing over to see her.

Franky and Brook had watched the whole thing from the Thousand Sunny. "Ow, that guy doesn't even show mercy against women…" said the former.

"It hurts me to see such a beautiful lady receiving such a painful defeat…" commented Brook, sounding sad.


TO BE CONTINUED

So, the ship girls lost. Were you expecting that?