Chapter 17
Stampede
It was a great day for the people who live on Delta Island. The various towns there was currently serving the pirates that have gathered there for the big day.
It was just as the Marines predicted: the day the secret treasure of the Pirate King Roger would show up was the day several pirates would gather at that place to obtain it.
Several pirates were having a field day making themselves comfortable on Delta Island, doing things such a shopping, eating, and upgrading to their ships so that it can get ready for what was to come.
Luffy, Sanji, and Nami were traveling together through the town, doing sightseeing and also shopping. "Man, there are lots of people here! Are they all going to go after the Pirate King's treasure?" wondered Luffy.
"It's no surprise something like this would attract the attention of pirates like us," said Sanji.
"That means more rivals for us to deal with… Looks like it's gonna be tough competition…" grumbled Nami.
"It's more fun if there are more people participating!" Luffy told Nami. "We're gonna beat everyone to the treasure first! I trust that you all can help us make it!"
Luffy then noticed someone up ahead and called out to him while saying, "Hey, it's Tora!"
Standing up ahead was the captain of the Heart Pirates, Law, with his sword resting on his shoulder. Seeing Luffy, he said to him, "I knew you would be here."
"What's up? Did you come here for the treasure as well?" Luffy asked him while approaching him, intending to pat him on the shoulder, but Law stepped away, as if trying to avoid him.
"Why else would I be here? I agree that it is quite tempting," said Law. He then looked around. "Be on your guard… At times like this when there is a large gathering of pirates, you can be sure that the Marines are ready to make a move. For all we know, they could be here already, disguised as normal folks in order to spy on us."
"As if competing against other pirates isn't enough…" grumbled Nami.
"Also, I heard that the Marines have a secret weapon of some kind," added Law. "Word has it that it involves enhanced female soldiers…"
"Ooh, sounds interesting! Would love to see this secret weapon myself!" said Luffy with interest.
"Wait a minute… Enhanced female soldiers? Is he talking about those female Marines who attacked us at Stockshop Island about a week ago?" asked Nami.
"Oh yeah, now that you said it…" said Sanji, realizing what she meant.
"You ran into them?" asked Law.
"Oh right! I remember now!" said Luffy, hitting his palm lightly. "One of them can create these cool flying toys that I really wanted to bring back one, and then there's another one who created a giant ship out of thin air! It was really cool!"
"And they are so beautiful too!" said Sanji, his face becoming love struck at the thought of the ship girls, especially Taihou.
"If you are still standing here, then I guess you probably defeated them or escaped them," said Law. "Regardless whether they're actually strong or not, I'll still be on the lookout for them. I wouldn't be surprised if the Marines do dispatch them to this place."
"We've beaten them once, so I'm sure we can do it again, so I wouldn't worry too much!" said Luffy with confidence.
Out at sea, a large fleet of Marine ships were on their way to Delta Island, which was yet to be visible over the horizon.
Aboard one of the ships were Javelin, Ayanami, Z23, Laffey, Graf Speee, Shigure, Belfast, Bismarck, Akashi, and Akagi.
Looking over the horizon, which still had no island in sight, Javelin said, "I wonder if Enterprise and the others are all right."
Fujitori walked up to her and asked, "Are you worried about your comrades?"
"Honestly, a little bit, even after we obtain new powers," Javelin said to him.
"It's normal to be worried about your own people, but you still have to put more faith in them," Fujitora told her. "While we were at the base, I can tell from their voices that they are confident that things will go as planned. I may have only known you for a short while, but I can sense that you girls have the spirit of a true warrior who seeks justice within you. You must've gone through quite a lot of experience with these kinds of things."
"You can say that, just not exactly this kind," replied Javelin.
"Ships like us are created for the reason of fighting, so regardless of who our enemies are, we have to adapt to every situation possible and fight back the best we can in order to achieve victory," said Bismarck as she joined in on the conversation. Putting her hand on Javelin's shoulder, she said to her, "Do not worry about our comrades. They will surely fare well!"
"You're right, I should be more optimistic! Thanks for the words of motivation, Miss Bismarck!"" said Javelin. She then ran off to see what her friends were doing.
"You girls are young, yet you already have such fighting experiences! Youngsters these days sure are impressive!" commented Fujitora.
"Considering we are ships built decades ago, we are much older than we look," Bismarck said to him. "But even if it were true we are the same age as our appearances, you know what they say about not judging people by their looks. After all, you are blind, yet you are an admiral with great power!"
Fujitori laughed at that statement. "Haha! You're right! You do not see a powerful blind old man every day, so seeing a powerful child shouldn't be a big surprise either!"
As the time for the Knockup Stream to occur draws near, all the pirate ships participating in this event gathered at the large pool in the center of the island.
Luffy was jumping up and down slightly in anticipation. "Oh boy, I can't wait for it to start!"
Nami look around their ship and saw several famous pirate crews such as the Kidd Pirates, Firetank Pirates, On Air Pirates, and more. Even Buggy the Shichibukai was present. "This isn't going to be easy with all those powerful freaks out there..."
"You are worrying too much," Zoro told her. "It's not like we are helpless against them. We'll just beat up anyone who gets in our way."
"Easy for you to say when you are a monster in combat..." grumbled Nami.
Suddenly, the center of the pool started to become like a whirlpool, and some of the pirate ships were getting caught in the current, getting pulled towards the center, so their crews panicked and tried to keep their ships in place.
"Looks like it's about to begin!" said the announcer. "Everyone, you better get ready, for the Knockup Stream is starting now!"
The audience began cheering like wild upon seeing this. The pirates were all excited, especially Luffy, whose eyes were sparkling with enthusiasm. "It's finally happening!"
The water began to bulge, and all a sudden, a massive pillar of water shot straight into the air. Seated on top of it was a massive bubble, and within the bubble was, to everyone's surprise, an island.
"There it is!" shouted the announcer. "The hidden underwater island where Gold Roger kept his treasure! The Knockup Stream has finally brought it to the surface, an event that only happens once every few years!"
The sight of this amazed everyone to no end, for it was something you wouldn't see every day.
The pirate ships began moving, traveling along a path of water that spiraled upwards around the water pillar.
"All right, hold on tight, everyone!" Frankie told his crewmates as he took the wheel. "Time to get this baby on the road! We're going to get to the treasure before anyone else!"
Luffy punched the air with excitement. "All right! Pirate King's treasure, here we come!"
Elsewhere on the island, 10 other ship girls were on top of a hill, watching the spectacle of the Knockup Stream happening before their eyes. They were Enterprise, Kaga, Taihou, Hood, Dido, Gangut, Gascogne, Alabama, Prinz Eugen, and Zuikaku. They were, needless to say, amazed by what they saw, as nothing like this exists in their world.
"Incredible…!" said Zuikaku in awe.
"It's so beautiful!" commented Dido with sparkling eyes of interest.
"My! That sure is quite a sight!" commented Prinz Eugen.
"As incredible as the sight is, we have to get moving. That's our cue now!" Enterprise them. "Everyone, move out!" Her rigging then split into glowing cubes and started to take a new form.
One by one, the pirate ships traveling up the Knockup Stream reached the island containing the bubble at the top. The ships were able to pass through the bubble with ease and somehow without popping it. Due to the lack of bodies of water on the island, the ships had to land on solid ground with a thud, and some of the less durable ships were actually damaged upon landing.
Fortunately for the Straw Hats, the Thousand Sunny was durable enough to withstand the rough landing. From where they were, they were able to see a wrecked ship on a cliff in the distance, and surrounding said ship were a large amount of gold coins and jewelries. "I can see the treasure over there!" said Luffy, pointing at the ship.
"And that treasure chest on top of the gold pile is definitely Roger's treasure!" said Nami as she looked at the same location using a telescope. Her eyes had become Belly signs just by seeing all those valuables.
"Then I'm going ahead!" said Luffy as he jumped off the ship and ran into the jungle up ahead.
"Don't leave me out of this!" said Zoro as he jumped off and followed him.
"If there's treasure, then I'm going as well!" said Nami, following them.
"Nami! I'll be following you to protect you!" said Sanji, following them as well.
The other Straw Hats remained on the ship, watching their four crewmates run off. "So… I guess we'll be keeping watch here?" asked Brook.
"As fun as it looks like it will be, I can't go out there now because I've been afflicted with the disease of not being able to step foot onto this island…" said Usopp, sounding scared.
"It's always a good idea to have someone staying behind to keep watch of the ship," said Jinbei. "We can trust them to get the job done without us."
Luffy looked around as he ran through the forest, and he saw that several other pirates had landed on the island as well and were now fighting each other. "Everyone's going crazy over the treasure!" he said. "This is my perfect chance to snatch it before anyone gets to it!"
"Luffy! Don't go on ahead!" Zoro called out to him as he caught up, and behind him, Nami and Sanji could be seen approaching as well.
They kept on running until they were out of the jungle and into a rocky clearing. All of a sudden, someone jumped at Luffy from the side. "Straw Hat! Die!"
Luffy saw this in time and thus jumped away to an attack from a hand made out of several metal objects. It was Eustass Kidd, with his left arm made out of said metal objects. "You're not going near the treasure!" he said to Luffy.
"You want it? You'll have to get past me first!" said Luffy with a smirk as he got into a fighting stance.
Zoro stopped to watch them fight, but then he brought out two of his swords to block an attack from Kidd's crewmate, Killer, who attacked him with a pair of sickles. Their blades collided with each other with such a force that a crater appeared underneath Zoro's feet. "So you're my opponent?" Zoro asked him.
"If my captain has a bone to pick with your captain, then I'll take on you!" replied Killer.
"We'll leave them to you!" Nami called out to Luffy and Zoro as she ran past them with Sanji.
The two Straw Hat Pirates ran ahead, and suddenly, Urouge jumped down from a cliff in their direction, ready to smash Nami with his fists. Sanji got in front of her and raised his leg, blocking the kick. "Don't you dare lay a hand on Nami!" the cook angrily said to Urouge.
"Nice block there! But can you keep this up forever?" said Urouge, and then he threw some more punches at him, only for the cook to block every single one of them while also kicking back at him.
As the two fought against each other, explosives struck Urouge, knocking him away, but Sanji was able to detect them in time and thus avoided them. They looked and saw Bege, with his feet transformed into tank threads, moving in their direction. His body had holes on them, from which his men were shooting cannonballs out of. "Out of the way if you don't want to get blown up! None of you are a match for my army!" he said with confidence.
A door opened up on his body, and several of his men, armed with guns, popped out of it and surrounded Urouge and Sanji, pointing their weapons at them.
The ground suddenly shook, and almost out of nowhere, a large Allosaurus rushed into the scene, picked up one of Bege's men with his mouth, and flung him away. The others freaked out and backed away from the dinosaur as he proceeded to smack people away with his tail.
"Drake!" said Bege in shock and anger.
Drake changed back from his dinosaur form into his human form and said, "If you have time to fight here, then you might as well put more effort into reaching the real goal!" He then ran off.
Some of Bege's men were going to shoot him, but then a woman rushed past them at a fast speed, touching them when she did so. Their ages changed immediately, some becoming children and some becoming old.
"Haha! I'll be the one to get to the treasure!" said the woman who did this, Bonnie.
"Dang! This place really is getting hectic!" said Sanji, looking around and seeing various pirates beating up each other nonstop.
In the midst of the chaos, Hawkins was sitting on a rock, looking at various cards. "Chances of obtaining the treasure, 30%. Chances of dying during all this, 5%. Hmmm… What sort of strategy should I use?"
Luffy was eventually able to escape Kidd after a brief skirmish with him and went on ahead. "Nobody's going to stop me now!" he said with confidence. But then an explosion happened on his body, blowing him away. "Ya!"
"Apapapa!" laughed Apoo, who was standing behind him. "I'm the one who's getting the treasure!" While Luffy was down and in pain, Apoo ran ahead of him and towards the ship visible in the distance.
"ROOM! Shambles!" A large translucent dome suddenly formed in the area Apoo was in. A log in front of him suddenly disappeared, and Law appeared in its place. He swung his sword at Apoo, who jumped back in time to avoid it. But though the sword didn't come in contact with Apoo, his body was cut in half at the torso.
"What the?!" said Apoo in shock as his two halves fell to the ground, and he was still alive and not bleeding.
"No hard feelings," Law said to him with a smirk before heading for the ship.
Somehow amidst the chaos, Buggy was able to get to the treasure ahead of everyone else. Along with his crewmates Alvida and Galdino, the clown pirate stood on top of the pile of gold coins as he picked up the small treasure chest. "I finally got my hands on it! The captain's secret treasure that I didn't know he has!" he said with enthusiasm. "Only someone as awesome as me has the right to get this kind of thing!"
"What are you doing? Just hurry up and open it already!" Alvida said to him with impatience.
Buggy snickered as he opened the chest, and when he saw what was inside it, his eyes popped out. Confused at his reaction, Galdino asked him, "What's inside it?"
"This… This… Are you kidding me…?!" said Buggy while trembling violently. "Why is this thing… here…?!"
"Whatever it is, we will be taking it," said a woman's voice all of a sudden, and then some shadows loomed over the Buggy Pirates, grabbing their attention.
"Huh? Who are you people?" Alvida asked them.
Luffy was in lead, running as fast as he could to get to the wrecked ship. His crewmates Zoro, Nami, and Sanji were following him closely, and farther behind them were the other Supernovas, all of them eager to get to the same location.
"Almost there! I can see the ship already!" said Luffy, running as fast as he could.
Zoro noticed something and said, "There are people over there!"
"Did someone beat us there already? They better not have taken anything yet!" said Nami, sounding worried and also annoyed.
The Straw Hat Pirates ran up to the wrecked ship and stopped there, and the pirates following suit shortly afterwards. "What the hell?!" said Kidd, confused at what he saw.
Lying in front of the treasure pile badly injured were Buggy, Alvida, and Galdino, and standing on the gold coins where the 10 ships girls: Enterprise, Gascogne, Taihou, Zuikaku, Prinz Eugen, Alabama, Kaga, Hood, Gangut, and Dido.
Enterprise was holding the treasure chest.
Seeing Enterprise, Luffy said in surprise, "It's that female Marine from before!"
"How did they get here?!" said Zoro, readying his swords.
"MELLORINE! LOTS OF BEAUTIFUL LADIES!" said Sanji with excitement as his eyes became hearts.
"Who the hell are they?!" asked Apoo.
"Could they be the enhanced Marines that has been rumored?" wondered Law.
"I heard about that as well. So it's true…" said Bege.
"You have done well to get here, pirates," Enterprise said to them with a serious expression. "But we, the Marines, will be taking the Pirate King's treasure! You are all under arrest as well, so surrender at once!"
"I got here first! So it's mine!" shouted Buggy angrily as he suddenly got back up.
"Hey you! That treasure is meant for pirates, not Marines! Give it back!" Luffy angrily said to the ship girls.
"Evildoers like you have no right to obtain this sort of thing!" Enterprise said to him. "All these treasure should be used to help the poor and build nations rather than being used by foul pirates like you!"
"Oh, spare me the lecturing! We're lawbreakers, so we do whatever the hell we want with treasures we find! Why should we care about helping the poor and doing good?!" said Kidd angrily.
"Which is why you are the refuse of this world!" Zuikaku angrily said to them. "Evildoers like you do not deserve…"
Before she could finish speaking, a powerful earthquake shook the whole place, so much that in just a few seconds, the ground shattered. "What the?!" said Law in shock. Even the ship girls were surprised at what was happening.
"Admiral! Something is happening to the island containing the Pirate King's treasure!" a Marine shouted to Fujitora as he looked into the distance with a pair of binoculars. "It suddenly shattered into pieces!"
The ship girls were shocked to see the floating island located above Delta Island shattering into pieces, and each of the pieces falling to the bottom. "What… What is happening?!" gasped Graf Spee.
"That's not supposed to happen, is it?!" asked Shigure.
The people living on Delta Island ran for their lives as giant debris fell from the sky, crushing anything underneath them. Pirates and their ships were also falling from the sky, the former screaming for their lives while trying to somehow break their falls and survive.
Luffy was falling through the air with a look of shock on his face. However, he knew that with his powers, surviving a fall even from this height wouldn't be an issue. He was about to use Gum Gum Balloon to break his fall when suddenly he got distracted by someone calling out to him.
"STRAW HAT!" shouted Enterprise as she sped towards him with… large metallic wings on her back. Luffy wasn't able to respond in time when she collided into him, pushing him diagonally downwards through the air.
As the remnants of the island continued to fall, a large basking shark-like machinery was floating in the air, on the same altitude where the island used to be. The Siren Empress Arbiter was seated on top of the machine, which had its mouth glowing with blue light, as if it just fired something devastating out of it.
Looking at the chaos down below, Arbiter said with a smile, "Now let the madness begin!"
The Thousand Sunny, under the guidance of Franky and Jinbe, was able to land on the sea and survive the fall, but even so, they were badly shocked by what happened. "What the heck?! How did the island break up all of a sudden?!" said Franky.
"What happened can't be natural," said Jinbe. "Someone must've attacked it, and it must be a powerful one at that!"
"Guys! We're in trouble!" shouted Usopp while looking at the horizon. "Marines!"
A large amount of Marine ships could be seen approaching from over the horizon, and the pirates at the shore were all shocked at the sight of this.
"Oh no! It's the Marines!"
"How did they find us so fast?!"
"I was told they know nothing about this!"
"We have to get out of here fast!"
Zoro removed himself from underneath the debris that he got buried by. "What the heck was that?!" he said while looking around. "Just who was capable of destroying an island?! Either way, I wonder where the others are. I better get back to them."
He suddenly swung around and used his sword to block an incoming attack from Zuikaku, who then fell back and landed. "Back for another round?" Zoro asked her.
"This time, I shall defeat you!" Zuikaku said to him with a serious look.
Kidd and Killer were together when they fell, and they were able to survive their falls somehow. They were currently in what appears to be the ruins of the town after being demolished by debris. "Argh! What the hell was that all about?! This is definitely not part of the show!" said Kidd as he stood up while dusting himself.
"We better check on our ship and crew," Killer suggested to him.
"Unfortunately, you won't ever see your crewmates again," said a woman's voice. They looked and saw Prinz Eugen approaching them, swaying her hips as she walked just like a fashion catwalk model. The two heads of her riggings were glaring at the pirates as if sentient, which they actually are.
"You want to bet on that, bitch?!" Kidd said to her in frustration as he used his magnetic powers to gather together nearby scraps of metal to create a left arm.
"Oh, you bet that I'm going to win this!" said Prinz Eugen with confidence as she placed a finger on her lips and winked.
Elsewhere around, the Supernovas had all survived their falls, and each of them found him or herself up against one of the ship girls.
Luffy vs. Enterprise
Zoro vs. Zuikaku
Law vs. Dido
Bege vs. Hood
Hawkins vs. Alabama
Drake vs. Gangut
Bonney vs. Taihou
Urouge vs. Gascogne
Kidd & Killer vs. Prinz Eugen
All the while, the rest of the Sirens were approaching Delta Island. "Looks like the empress caused quite a ruckus there already," said Scavenger.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go there and make things even more chaotic!" said Tester Beta with a grin.
"All right! Time to cause some trouble! YEAH!" shouted Purifier with excitement while punching the air.
TO BE CONTINUED
As you can see, things played out just like Stampede but at the same time different. You will be seeing individual battels between the Supernovas and the ship girls, though they won't necessarily take up one chapter each. It's a fight where anyone can win and not just the good guys! But… who are the good guys here anyway…?
I hope you look forward to the upcoming chapters! It's gonna be a wild ride!
