I made a bit of change to the previous chapter regarding Gascogne vs. Urouge to make mention of the former's rigging having Seastones. Check it out if you haven't yet, though it's not a major change.
Chapter 19
Supernovas—part 2
On the shore of the island, the battle between the Marines and pirates raged on, neither side showing any signs of relenting.
Akagi found herself looking at a large group of pirates led by a man with a rather unique hairstyle named Foxy. "Fuefehfehfeh! It's unfortunate of you to run into the great Foxy the Silver Fox!" Foxy said to her. "Not only am I an expert in combat, I also have a massive crew who supports me! You think you can take on all of us alone?"
Akagi smiled in an almost sinister manner. "You're confident about yourself, aren't you? What's so foxy about you? You want to see a real fox? I'll show you a real fox!"
Taking out several paper charms, she threw them behind herself. The charms gathered together and became a burst of red fire that grew in size until a giant orange fox materialized out of it. The fox has nine tails made of red fire, and on its back was a flight deck. Attached to the sides of its body were turrets.
Foxy and his crew widened their eyes and mouths in shock when they saw this. "A GIANT FOX!" they screamed.
They screamed even more when the turrets shot red fireballs at them.
Kaga vs. Apoo
Kaga and Apoo were face to face somewhere on the island, out of town. "You're supposed to be a super Marine or something? Very well; entertain me then! I'd like to see what's so super about you!" Apoo said to him while getting into a fighting stance.
"You won't find it entertaining once I've showed you serious I am," Kaga said to him in a serious tone.
"Apapa! Fights are always fun! You better enjoy life while you can! If you're not going to make a move, I'll do it first! Tatakau Music! Scratch! Slash!" His head became like a cymbal, and by pushing his head from above and clashing with his jaw, a loud soundwave was released from around him.
The soundwave traveled over to Kaga, causing a scratch mark to appear on her arm. "What the?!" Apoo performed the same over a few more times, making more slash marks appear on her body. "How is he doing this?!"
"Bop!" Apoo turned his arm into strings similar to that of a guitar's, and by plucking them, he created soundwaves that struck Kaga in face as if punching her. His chest then turned into a drum that he beat using his hands. "Boom!"
Kaga then exploded. The ship girl fell back onto the ground, badly charred and with pain all over her body. "How…? What…?"
"Apapa! Are you enjoying this?" laughed Apoo while pointing at her with both hands. "Music is a blast, isn't it?"
Despite this, Kaga was able to stand back up, trying her best to ignore her injuries, and she held up paper charms in her hand. "If you're done messing around, then it's my turn!" She threw the charms, and they transformed into miniature planes that flew towards Apoo while firing nonstop.
Apoo jumped out of the way using acrobatic movements, and the plane chased him, so he ran. "What are those things?!" he wondered as he ran while dodging the bullets. He then turned around and jumped back while turning his body parts into various kinds of musical instruments, and by playing them, he unleashed soundwaves that destroyed the planes.
Kaga then appeared behind him with her hand on fire. Swinging her hand at Apoo, she released a fiery wave that blasted him onto the ground. Apoo cried in pain while rolling around until he managed to put out the fire on his body, and then he bounced back in his feet and said, "How dare you?! That wasn't funny!"
"Now you realize that fights aren't something you should find fun," Kaga said to him, still with her hand on fire.
"You're gonna be the one who's not gonna find it fun!" said Apoo before using turning his body parts into more kinds of instruments to attack her with soundwaves. Kaga was unable to dodge them and thus got struck all over the body in various manners.
After getting struck by an explosion, she fell down but got back up almost afterwards with a look of anger. "Enough! I'll show you my power that I recently acquired!"
She took out a large amount of paper charms in both hands and threw them into the air. The charms got together and fused, resulting in an explosion of blue fire that kept on growing in size. The fire eventually disappeared, and in place of it was a giant white fox with nine tails made of blue fire. Attached to its back was a landing deck, and on the sides of its body were turrets.
Apoo's eyes bulged out in shock upon seeing this. "WHAT THE HECK?!"
Normal-sized jets materialized from blue fire on the flight deck, and they flew at Apoo while firing bullets rapidly, and he jumped around in an acrobatic manner to avoid them. The planes did a u-turn and head back in his direction, this time flying higher in the air to drop bombs at him. Though Apoo avoided direct hit, the explosions propelled him away, and he tumbled against the ground violently.
Apoo groaned in pain as he stood back up just in time to see the giant fox lunging at him in an attempt to stomp him with its paw. He jumped out of the way and used his Devil Fruit against it, hitting it all over the body in various manners using destructive soundwaves. However, the fox didn't seem harmed by it at all.
"It's useless!" Kaga, who was standing on the head of the fox, said to him.
The jets flew at Apoo again, trying to shoot him down. Apoo once again dodged them and then beat his drum-turned chest to destroy both the jets with explosions. Blasts of fire were then fired from the turrets on the fox's body. Apoo was barely able to dodge them and got burned slightly.
"She's tougher than I thought! I think I better retreat for now!" thought Apoo. "It's suicide to fight something the size of this alone!" He turned to run, but he wasn't able to run far before the fox jumped over him and landed in front of him, preventing his way forward.
With a quick swipe of its paw, the fox was able to swat Apoo to the side and into a rock hard, bringing pain to him. "Ow!"
Kaga then dived at him at a fast speed with her hand pulled back and her claws covered in blue fire. Apoo was unable to recover from the blow in time when she swung her claws at him, attacking him with a powerful claw swipe that left behind streaks of blue fire in the air. Even the rock behind him was destroyed.
SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!
Apoo screamed in pain he back through the destroyed rock and crashed onto the ground.
"You lose," said Kaga, staring down at the unconscious Apoo.
Winner: Kaga
Gangut vs. Drake
Gangut and Drake were staring down at each other somewhere in the town. This part of the town was destroyed by the debris that fell from the sky, so there was currently nobody else other than these two.
"I've heard rumors of the Marines having super soldiers that were strong enough to go against the Yonko's crew," thought Drake. "However, I've never heard of such a project going on within the Marines… Is Vegapunk responsible for this as well?"
"So… how's it gonna be? You wanna be a lady's man and let me have the first move, or do you wish to go first?" Gangut asked him. "It doesn't matter either way to me. I just wanna get done with this and then grab some drink, so don't waste my time!"
Before Gangut knew it, Drake dashed at her and swung both his swords in a cross formation, slicing her in the body. Due to having steel-like skin, Gangut wasn't injured, at least a lot, by the attack, but the force of the attack still made her take steps back. "Not a gentleman, huh?" she said. "That's fine with me! I like my men to be on the aggressive side!"
Her riggings then fired projectiles at Drake, who moved around swiftly to avoid them. He saw that when the shots struck something, the targets would get frozen and covered in ice spikes. "Interesting…" he thought.
Gangut continued to fire at him, but he either dodged them or deflected them with his swords. He then swung his swords hard to unleash wind blades that plowed through the incoming projectiles with ease, and his attack hit Gangut with such a force that she was knocked back.
The ship girl fell onto the ground hard and slowly got back up again. Wiping her mouth, she said, "That's a good one. You actually managed to make me bleed! Looks like I have to treat you more seriously!"
"If you're a secret weapon of the Marines, then show me what you're capable of!" Drake told her.
"Haha! I like your attitude! I'm going to put you in ice for all eternity once I'm done with you!" said Gangut as the mouths on her rigging released a large amount of wind and snow that circled around her. It was so strong that she was hidden from view, and Drake could feel the cold air being blown at him as well. In addition, blue cubes could be seen mixed among the "snow cyclone" circling the ship girl.
When the cyclone disappeared, in place was something of a bipedal dinosaur with two heads made completely out of ice, standing three meters tall, and Gangut was standing just behind the head. "Amazing…!" commented Drake in awe.
"You know what's more amazing? The way it'll crush you!" said Gangut before making the ice dinosaur lunge at him to strike him with its clawed hand.
Drake jumped out of the way, and upon landing, he activated his Devil Fruit power and transformed into a large Allosaurus, taller than the ice dinosaur, even if not by a whole lot.
Gangut looked in awe at the creature before her. "Dang! I'm not drunk, am I?!"
Opening his mouth wide, Drake ran at Gangut and bit down on the neck of one of the heads. He sank his teeth into the ice and tried to tear it off, but the longer he came in contact with the ice, the more he felt his strength slowly waning. He even felt as if he was going to change back into his human form, so he hurriedly backed away from Gangut without finishing what he wanted to do.
"What was that feeling of losing strength just now…?!" he wondered.
"Careful, this thing's got Seastone in it!" Gangut told him. "You're obviously a Devil Fruit user, right? They say Seastone is unhealthy for folks like you!"
"Seastone? Then that explains it!" thought Drake. "Can't believe the Marines have come up with things like this while I'm gone! I know my position in SWORD is top secret, but the higher ups who know about this should have still informed me of something like this! Whatever the case is, for the sake of my role, I have no choice but to take her down. Hope they don't mind…"
"My turn!" said Gangut loudly before the dual heads of the ice dinosaur launched light blue energy balls at Drake. He dodged them, and the projectiles froze whatever they hit.
Drake stomped the ground hard, causing the ground to crack in Gangut's direction, not to mention making rock spikes jutting out. The feet of the ice dinosaur were struck, and the whole thing almost fell over.
"Whoa!" As Gangut struggled to maintain balance, Drake swung his tail at her, knocking the whole thing back through the air and onto the ground. The ship girl somehow managed to remain on the back of the ice dinosaur, though. "Ugh… That's quite a hit…"
As the ice dinosaur struggled to get back up, Drake swung his claws so hard that wind blades were fired at it. The chest of the ice dinosaur was struck, knocking off some chunks of ice.
Enraged, Gangut head the heads fire more ice projectiles at Drake, who dodged them with an unexpectedly fast speed while closing in on her. He lowered his head and headbutted the right head hard, making sure to pull back fast so that he wouldn't be weakened by prolonged contact with the Seastone.
The left head immediately fired a blast at the left side of his body, freezing the arm and a bit of the body. In response, Drake swung the frozen arm at the right head so hard that not only did he take out a chunk of the ice, he also destroyed the ice covering the frozen arm. He was glad he did not lose his arm as a result. Gangut, on the other hand, was shocked at the losing a large chunk of the right head.
Drake then swung his tail at the ice dinosaur hard, knocking it onto the ground again. He then jumped at it, ready to stomp it. "Have to get out of here fast!" thought Gangut in panic. Unfortunately for her, she was unable to get the ice dinosaur to get up in time, and Drake's feet fell unto it with a powerful stomp, shattering the whole thing in an instant and causing ice chunks to fly all over the place. Gangut was sent flying as well.
After Gangut hit the ground, some of the ice chunks turned into cubes and flew back to her, becoming her rigging. The right head of the rigging was almost completely gone, and there were cracks on various parts of the rigging. "Darn it! That bastard did a number on me!" she said in anger. "I'll make him pay!"
She turned Drake, who was running towards her, and angrily fired from the remaining rigging. Drake changed back into his human form, and the change in height caused the projectile to fly over him. Taking out both swords, he swung them hard to unleash a cross-shaped projectile that struck Gangut hard, pushing her back.
She came to a skidding stop and said to him, "It'll take a lot to cut through the armor of a battleship! You can't…" Drake interrupted her by dashing through her, cutting her with such a force that a gash was made on her body.
SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAA!" screamed Gangut as reddish-brown liquid sprayed out from the slash mark inflicted in front of her body, and then she fell on her. How…? How did I…? The great Northern Union… shouldn't fall… by the… sword… so easily…" Then she passed out.
Looking at the unconscious ship girl, Drake thought to himself, "Hope she can still be saved and that the higher ups don't mind… I should ask Coby about this later."
Winner: Drake
Alabama vs. Hawkins
Somewhere in the outskirts of the island, Alabama was looking at Hawkins with curiosity as the latter sat down on a rock with a card holder in front of himself. He was looking at the cards placed on it. "Chances of losing: 30%. Chances of dying: 0%. Chances of winning: 70%."
"What are you doing?" Alabama asked him.
"It would seem that good fortune is with me," said Hawkins. "You will provide some challenge, but ultimately, the chances of victory is much higher for me, and I do not foresee my death as well."
"Are you fortune telling? I see…" said Alabama after hearing what he said. "I guess you're the spiritual type of person. You must have some magical powers if that is the case."
"You are not wrong in saying that, for I am also known as the Magician," said Hawkins as he unsheathed his sword. "I shall show you my magic trick if you so insist, and it may very well be the last thing you ever see."
"I'd rather live to see the next day, so I guess I won't be able to sit back and enjoy your magic show," said Alabama, gripping her scythe tightly.
"Show me what you are capable of, young Marine," Hawkins said as he pointed his sword at her.
"Okay, if you insist," said Alabama. After saying that, she dashed at him at an incredibly fast speed and swung her scythe, but Hawkins was able to block the attack with his sword, much to her surprise. She pulled back and swung her scythe at him various times, but Hawkins was able to block every single hit without moving from his place at all.
Alabama eventually moved back from him a bit of a distance and noticed that his sword had become longer than before and also wavy, as if it was made of soft materials. "Your sword… I think there's something wrong with it…"
"This sword has been infused with the power of my Straw Straw Fruit," Hawkins explained to her. "The Straw Sword."
"Okay… I'm supposed to assume it's not ordinary straw and is sharp enough to cut through things," said Alabama.
"Yes, but such an assumption will not necessary save your life," said Hawkins as he swung his straw-turned sword at her, and it lashed out like a whip. Alabama swung her scythe around to block it, and Hawkins kept on swinging the whip at her, so fast that the whip almost couldn't be seen.
The straw sword eventually got past the scythe, and Alabama was struck in the shoulder. However, it failed to pierce a hole on her and simply pushed her back. The sword returned to Hawkins, who was surprised that she suffered no harm from that attack, but then he shrugged it off as her armament haki.
Alabama then fired from the guns of her rigging. In response, Hawkins made his sword split into separate strands of straw that swung at the incoming projectiles that he was able to see coming in slow motion thanks to observation haki. The projectiles created explosions when they hit the individual straw strands, which manage to remain in one piece and not burn up.
Alabama charged through the smokescreen created and swung at Hawkins, who merged his sword together in the nick of time to block it. Alabama pointed one of her guns at him and fired at point blank, but Hawkins pulled back in time to deflect the shot with his sword, but when Alabama fired a second time from another gun, he was hit in the body and blew up.
However, when Hawkins flew back from the blast and managed to maintain his footing, Alabama was surprised to see his body completely unharmed.
A large, muscular pirate wielding a giant battle axe charged at Javelin, ready to slice her in two. The ship girl was going to defend herself when suddenly the pirate exploded. He fell back unconsciously, burned from head to toe. The ship girl was confused at what happened.
Hawkins stretched out his arm to the side, and what appeared to be straw dolls crawled out from his skin, which had turned into straw. The straw doll appeared charred, and then it fell onto the ground and stopped moving.
"Uh… What happened…?" asked Alabama.
"With my powers, I can create these Straw Dolls that will transfer any damage inflicted on me onto people I have previously marked," explained Hawkins. "I can store up to ten dolls, so you will have to kill me ten times before you can harm me."
"Oh, I see. So it's basically voodoo," said Alabama with a nod. "I just have to hit you ten times, then. Shouldn't be too hard."
"You are confident, but remember that your chances of winning are low," Hawkins reminded her.
"At least I still have a chance of winning, right?" said Alabama in response. "I guess I'll try my new power, then." Blue light and cubes appeared on the four guns that consist of her rigging, and then large segmented scythes appeared on each of them. Alabama basically has five scythes now.
"Interesting," Hawkins said to her. "Perhaps your chances of winning will increase, but we cannot be sure until we continue our fight."
"I think I'm going to win, so here I come!" said Alabama before charging at him, and then the newly appeared scythes swung at Hawkins. They moved with great precision, as if they were actually her arms.
Despite Hawkins's swift movements and attempt in blocking each of the scythe strikes, he was overwhelmed by them and received blows to his body. He got slashed across the forehead, the right shoulder, diagonally across the face, and also in the chest.
However, no injuries appeared on him at all, but elsewhere on the island, pirates he had secretly marked beforehand received deadly injuries on the same parts that he got hit. The Marines and ship girls fighting them were confused to see them receiving injuries out of nowhere and falling over.
Back with Hawkins, four dolls came out of his arm and fell motionlessly onto the ground. "That makes five, I think," said Alabama.
"You're better than I thought," Hawkins said to her.
Alabama charged at him again, but Hawkins moved back while swinging his sword at her. Needle-like strands of straw were launched at her when the sword sliced through the air, but one of the scythes on her rigging got in front of her to defend her from them.
Alabama tried to close in on him again, but when Hawkins jumped out of the way, the chained anchor tied close to the bottom end of the scythe she is holding was swung at his left leg and wrapped around it. Having caught Hawkins, Alabama swung him through the air and slammed his head against a rock hard. He swung him around again until the anchor somehow unwrapped itself, dropping him onto the ground hard.
Alabama then charged at him as he was getting up and slashed him. Hawkins backed away while grunting, and then two more Straw Dolls came out and collapsed.
"Three more," said Alabama before aiming with her guns at him and firing. Hawkins failed to dodge them in time and took a couple of shots to his body. He fell out of the smoke and on his back, and then two more dolls came out of his body. "One more."
"She's good!" thought Hawkins, who was now getting nervous. "I have to treat her more seriously! Just because I have a higher chance of winning than her doesn't mean I can relax! It's time to show her my true power!"
Straw began to appear around his body and cover him up, not to mention making him grow in size. "Now what…?" said Alabama as she watched on curiously.
Hawkins had turned himself into a monstrous-looking humanoid made of straw with nails on his fingertips serving as claws. "Demon Conquering Phase!"
He lunged at Alabama at a fast speed and swung his nail claws at her, but she deflected it with one of her new scythes. Both sides traded blows against each other fast and violently, with neither side actually scoring a hit. Alabama then fired multiple shots at him, and though he was able to defend himself using armament haki, the explosions resulted in a large amount of smoke that Alabama took advantage of by charging through and catching him by surprise.
Alabama slashed him across the body, thus eliminating the remaining Straw Doll. Hawkins stepped back in shock, and then Alabama open fired from her guns nonstop at him, blasting him all over the body.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!
Hawkins fell back onto the ground, badly charred all over the body. "I lost… even with such a high chance of winning…" he said before passing out.
Alabama let out a sigh as her new scythes disappeared. "That was tiring…" she said.
Winner: Alabama
TO BE CONTINUED
As you can see, I simply grabbed the giant fox Kaga summoned in the anime and put it into this story as a new power she has. I feel like something like that is good enough already for a power up. Also, since that Akagi and Kaga are sister ships and similar to each other thematically, I figured I let Akagi summon a giant fox as well.
