Outrageous fact: The ship girls in the Dragon Empery is officially considered Chinese, but in reality, this faction contains both Chinese and Taiwanese ships. Because this series is made in China, the developers are not allowed, or don't want to, call them Taiwanese ships, because according to the great "Winnie the Xi Jinpooh," Taiwan is not an independent country but a territory of China, which is completely bullshit. Everyone knows Taiwan is its own independent country not affiliated with China! If you haven't figure it out yet, I'm Taiwanese, and I take great offense to anyone who says Taiwan is part of China.

Sorry for the wait… I had writer's block working on this chapter, but I'm glad I managed to get it out in the end!

Chapter 20
Supernovas—part 3


"Phew… I thought I was a goner…" said Usopp as he got out from underneath a large piece of leaf. "Good thing I was able to use Parasol Star to float my way to the bottom safely…"

After the floating island was destroyed, the Thousand Sunny fell through the sky, obviously. During the descent and chaos, Usopp fell off the ship, but he was able to use one of his Pop Greens to create a leaf parachute and float down to safety.

Looking around, he saw that he relatively close to the shore, where he could see Marines and pirates fighting. "Better steer clear from there…" he said to himself. "I should quickly find the others and get back to them!"

He was going to move when he noticed something on the ground. It was a small treasure chest. He recognized it as Roger's secret treasure because while on the ship, he used a telescope to look at the treasure pile and saw it.

"Oh boy! I can't believe I got my hand on this!" he said with delight as he picked up the chest. "Now let's see what's this secret treasure belonging to the Pirate King is all about!" When he saw what was inside, his eyes widened in shock. "This… This…?! Something like this exists?!"

"So that is the Pirate King's secret treasure?" asked a woman's voice coming from behind. "In that case, I demand that you hand it over to me."

Usopp turned around nervously and saw Bismarck standing there with her rigging, glaring at him.


Prinz Eugen vs. Kidd and Killer

"You supposed to be some big shot in the Marines? You better not disappoint me, then!" Kidd said to Prinz Eugen, sounding enthusiastic.

"Careful, Kidd. She may be tougher than she looks. They say her group managed to defeat one of Kaido's All-Stars…" Killer warned him.

"I could care less about that! It's not like she defeated an All-Star by herself," replied Kidd. "She's not with her group now, so I'd say the chances are with us!"

"It's okay if you don't take me seriously," Prinz Eugen told him. "Just make things fun and memorable, and that's enough for me!"

"Oh, it will be memorable! I'll give you such a beating that you will never forget how painful and traumatizing it is!" Kidd said to her as she raised his arm made of several metal scraps. More scraps of metal that were lying around began getting attracted to said arm, making it grow in size.

Eugen observed what he was doing and said in her head, "He seems to have the ability to draw objects to himself. I'm seeing only metal objects, so I guess… magnetism?"

"I'm making the first move whether you like it or not!" said Kidd loudly as he folded his scrap metal arm into a fist and lunged at her to punch her. In response, Eugen fired from the guns of her riggings at the fist, blasting it into pieces.

Kidd was surprised by this and took some steps back, no longer having an arm. "Huh, that's quite a firepower!" he said as he gathered more scrap metals to himself to create a new arm. "How about you try this one for a size?" More and more scrap metals were gathered, and his arm became much larger than before, so much that it looks like he shouldn't be able to stand with it towering over his body, yet he was able to hold it up with no problem.

Jumping at Eugen, he swung the arm down at her with the palm wide open. "Punk Gibson!"

Acting fast, Eugen jumped back at a fast speed to avoid getting crushed by the giant metal arm, but when it hit the ground, the arm shattered into pieces, and pieces of metal flew in various direction, most of them towards her. They struck her body in a way that should be fatal to a person, but because of her steel-like body, they bounced off her harmlessly instead, at most only feeling a bit of pain.

Kidd then pointed his arm at Eugen's rigging, using his magnetic power to pull it over. Eugen was surprised when she was forcefully pulled through the air at a fast speed until the right head of her rigging touched Kidd's palm.

At that moment, Kidd felt strength disappearing from his body for a second, and then Eugen was able to remove her rigging from him. The right head then stretched out and lunged at Kidd to bite his metal arm, destroying it. Kidd backed away from her and said, "What the hell?! I felt as if I lost my powers when I touched that metal thing you're carrying on you!"

"Surprised? I've got Seastone on me that renders your Devil Fruit powers useless!" Eugen explained to him.

"Seastone? So what? I just have to avoid coming in contact with you!" said Kidd.

"Save your confidence for until you can actually harm me! I'd like to see you take on this!" said Eugen. Her rigging then disintegrated into blue cubes and circled around her like a cyclone, and this also caused her to float into the air. A bright flash then engulfed her completely.

When the light died down, Eugen's upper torso was now seen attached to the top of a ship-like body, and the front part of it was a monstrous shark-like head with sharp teeth. Also coming out from the sides of the ship-like body were two large, long serpentine heads resembling that of the rigging's original form.

"What in the world…?!" said Killer in shock.

"How do you like this? I have yet to use it in combat, so allow me to use you as a test subject to see how powerful it is!" said Eugen, sounding confident.

The monstrous head on the body opened its mouth and shot a large energy blast at them. Kidd and Killer got out of the way fast, and then the latter rushed towards Eugen while spinning his scythe-like weapons at a fast speed.

One of the heads stretched forward and lunged at Killer to chomp down on him, but he jumped over it and then ran up its neck. He got onto the body was going to go for Eugen, but then two turrets came out of the surface of the mechanical body and fired at him. He hurriedly swung his scythes around to block the bullets, but some of them managed to get past him and struck him in parts of his limbs.

"Ugh!" he grunted as he jumped off the machine to get to safety first.

Kidd then jumped at Eugen from the side with a giant metal arm raised into the air. "Die, you bitch!" he shouted. "Punk Gibson!" When he swung down the metal arm, the two snake-like heads aimed the guns on their heads at him and fired. The projectiles came in contact with the incoming arm and blew it to pieces.

Despite this, Kidd continued falling onto the surface of the machine and then lunged at Eugen. Whipping out a gun, he pressed it against her forehead and pulled the trigger. Eugen's body bent back forcefully from getting shot at point blank, and Kidd smiled, thinking he finished her off.

However, Eugen pulled her body back up, showing that there was no gunshot wound at all on her forehead. With a look of annoyance and anger, she slapped Kidd across the face so hard that he flew onto the ground.

"You barbarian!" she angrily said to him as one of the snake-like heads aimed its gun at him and fired. Acting fast, Kidd pulled over some scrap metals to form a shield and block the gunfire, though the impact resulted in an explosion that immediately destroyed his shield, albeit without hurting him.

"You like things rough and violent? I'll give it to you then!" said Eugen as the machine she is attached to floated into the air without the aid of anything. The mouth in front of body opened wide, and then the whole thing dived down at Kidd.

"Repel!" Kidd pointed his arm at it and used reverse magnetism to force the machine backwards and keep it from coming to him. Eugen kept on pressing against the magnetic force, but Kidd had such a mastery over his power that she was unable to move forward at all.

The two snake-like heads aimed their guns at Kidd and readied to fire, but suddenly, Killer jumped at the right head from the side and struck it hard with one of his scythes to interrupt it. He landed onto the surface of the machine afterwards, and before the guns there could fire at him, he severed them with a single swing. Eugen was shocked by this.

Killer then lunged at her and slashed her in a cross formation. Eugen screamed in pain, as he actually struck hard enough to leave behind a gash on her from which reddish-brown liquid spilled out.

While this was happening, Kidd made himself another giant arm, one much bigger than before, so much that he was able to wrap its hand around Eugen's machine. Killer leaped off the machine just as Killer slammed the whole thing down onto the ground hard.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The impact caused the machine to be bent badly all over the place, and the snake-like heads were lying motionlessly on the ground. Eugen groaned in pain as her entire body slid out of the machine and fell to the ground. Shortly afterwards, the machine changed back into her normal rigging, attached to her back.

"Ugh… I can't believe this…" she said while placing her hand over the wound given to her by Killer.

"Punk Rotten!" shouted Kidd as he slammed a giant fist made of metal into Eugen. The ship girl was struck hard and sent flying back through the place until she hit the ground, passed out.

"Ha! How'd ya like that, bitch?!" Kidd proudly said to her.

Winner: Kidd


Dido vs. Law

Dido and Law were face to face somewhere in the town that didn't have much people. Marines and pirates could be seen fighting in the distance, though some weren't that far away.

"I've got to look for my crew, so I'll make a quick work out of you," said Law as he unsheathed his sword.

"My commander has ordered me take down pirates such as you," Dido said to him with a somewhat intimidating expression.

"Well, there's obviously no way I'm letting you take me in," Law said to her.

"I will take you down no matter what," said Dido. Raising her sword, she swung it down and sent forth a black energy blade. Seeing this, Law hurriedly moved to the side to avoid it, and then Dido charged at him at a fast speed and thrust her sword, which was covered in dark energy, at him.

Law held up his sword in defense, and he blocked the attack but got pushed back. Dido ran at him again and swung her sword several times, but each time, Law was either able to dodge it or block it.

Dido then backed away from him and fired from the guns on her rigging. Law dodged them and got away from her to get to a safer distance. "Looks like she can really put up a fight," he thought. "Gotta get more serious. Room!" He activated his powers and created a large see-through dome around the area.

Dido pulled back her sword, charging it up with dark energy. Law noticed a piece of block behind her and smirked. When she swung her sword to unleash a blast of dark energy, Law swapped places with the block so that the latter took the attack for him instead. Appearing behind Dido, Law readied to cut her with his sword when suddenly he was grabbed by the neck by a white hand that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. "What the?!"

He backed away from her while trying to remove the hand that was strangling him. Dido approached him and swung her sword. He was still able to block the attack with his sword, though the impact caused him to fly away, and the hand also removed itself from him.

"You shall be destroyed by my power. I will not fail my commander," Dido said to him in a rather intimidating look. The white hand next to her disappeared, and then a large amount of black mist appeared in the air above and behind her. Two large white hands as big as a person materialized from them.

"Okay, that's new… What kind of power is that?" wondered Law.

Dido pointed her sword at him, and both the hands charged at Law. He jumped away when one of them attempted to crush him with its palm, and then he swung his sword at the other one when it tried to slap him. He failed to cut through the hand, however, and got sent flying into a building wall. "Ugh!"

The hands continued to close in on Law to attack him, but with swift movements despite getting injured, he was able to evade them. At times, he would use his power to swap placed with nearby debris to get to a safe distance.

All the while Dido kept an eye on Law and carefully watched where he is. After seeing him run behind a wall, she held up her sword and then slammed it down onto the ground hard, sending forth a dark energy shockwave.

Law was panting heavily behind the wall, wondering what action he should take next, when suddenly the wall exploded, and he was blown away by the dark energy shockwave. "Gah!"

After falling onto the ground, the two hands rushed over to him. He was able to avoid getting crush by them in the nick of time, and then he charged his sword with electricity and slashed one of them. "Radio Knife!"

However, the hand merely got pushed back from getting hit, and then it pressed forward again, though Law rolled away in time.

He looked ahead and saw Dido there. The ship girl dashed at him and swung her sword to clash with his sword. Despite the size of the sword, Dido was able to swing it at a fast speed while pressing forward, and Law was getting overwhelmed by her. "She's strong!" he thought.

He sensed one of the hands folded into a fist and charging at him from behind. Acting fast, he pulled out a pebble he kept in his pocket and hurled it to the side, and then he swapped places with it. "Shambles!"

He reappeared at where the pebble is and hoped that the fist ended up hitting Dido. However, the fist dissipated into black mist when it came close to hitting Dido and allowed her to pass through it harmlessly before changing back into a hand. Dido turned to Law and thrust her sword forward, sending forth a spiraling dark energy.

Law rolled out of the way in time. "If I can at least cut her in two using Amputate!" he thought.

One of the hands rushed towards him to grab him, but he jumped over it. While he was in the air, the other hand headed for him. In response, Law formed a knife made of green energy in his hand and thrust it into the palm of the hand. "Gamma Knife!"

The hand trembled violently as the energy knife damaged it inside out. The hand then exploded into a large amount of black mist, much to Dido's surprise. After landing, Law ignored the remaining hand and instead rushed towards Dido at a fast speed.

Dido swung her sword down at him when he got close, but he moved to the side the last second and thrust the tip of his sword against her waist. "Injection Shot!" Rapid blasts of energy came out from the tip of the sword, hitting Dido rapidly and blowing her away.

Dido grunted in pain while placing her hand on the waist. Due to her steel-like body, the attack didn't actually injure her, but she still felt burning pain from the attack. Law ran at her again and threw a pebble at her. The pebble flew in between her legs and stopped behind her, but she didn't give too much thought about it. Instead, she focused on Law and slammed down her sword to send forth a dark shockwave.

"Shamble!" Law swapped place with the pebble he just threw, therefore getting behind Dido. Before the ship girl could react, he cut her down the middle vertically.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Dido's body split in half vertically, and the ship maid had a look of horror on her face as the two halves of her body fell to the ground motionlessly. Also because of this, the remaining hand disappeared into black mist.

"What… What… I… lost…?!" said Dido in shock and disbelief. Despite being cut in two, she was still alive, and nothing spilled out of the cut sections of her body parts.

Sheathing his sword and deactivating the dome he created, Law said as he began to leave, "Be glad I'm not in the mood to put you down for good. If it makes you better, you can still be put back together if you connect the parts correctly."

He left the place, while the two halves of Dido scrambled around awkwardly, trying to find each other.

Winner: Law


Zuikaku vs. Zoro

"You're insisting on fighting me again after losing the first time?" Zoro asked Zuikaku.

Pointing her sword at him, she replied, "I have obtained new skills since my defeat. This time, I shall be the winner!"

"Well, if you really want to, I'll take on you again," said Zoro as he tied his bandanna around his head.

"You're going down this time!" said Zuikaku as she swung her sword hard to unleash a large wave of fire.

In response, Zoro swung two of his swords outsides when the fire wave came near, and the attack was dissipated as a result. Zuikaku dashed at him at a fast speed afterwards and locked blades with him, and then they traded sword blows with each other nonstop, filling the air with the sound of clashing metal.

After clashing enough times, Zuikaku hopped back and unleashed another fire wave at a much closer range, but despite this, Zoro was still able to dissipate using the same method. "108-Pound Phoenix!" he shouted as he swung all three of his swords to send forth several wind blades that spiraled forward.

Zuikaku dodged it by jumping straight up, and she remained floating in air rather than falling back down. "You're doing that unexplainable flight again!" Zoro said to her.

"This is the power of an aircraft carrier!" Zuikaku said to him as she dived at him and swung her sword. Zoro held up two of his sword to block it. Zuikaku moved back from him, and then miniature jets appeared on her flight deck.

The jets flew at Zoro while firing nonstop, but the swordsman either dodged them or deflect the shots with his swords. He then unleashed a wind blade that cut through all of them at once.

He then jumped up high into the air towards Zuikaku with two of his swords held over his head. "Tiger Hunt!" As he fell towards Zuikaku with both swords, the latter countered it by swinging her sword over herself in such a way that a crescent stream of fire was unleashed.

Though Zoro was able to defend himself with his sword, the attack launched him higher into the air. Zuikaku flew after him and swung her sword at him. He hurriedly blocked it and was successful in doing so, though he spun through the air as a result.

Zuikaku stopped and looked down at Zoro as he fell towards the ground. "Behold my power!" she shouted as a large burst of fire appeared behind her and resulted in the appearance of a large intimidating-looking crane made of fire.

"What the?!" said Zoro in shock. As Zuikaku dived at him, the fiery crane thrust its head forward to stab him with its beak. Zoro crossed his blades to block the attack, but when the beak came in contact with his swords, fire traveled down his weapon and spread across his body, covering him in flames. "Gah!"

Zoro hit the ground with his body still on fire, and he stood back up as Zuikaku, still with the fiery crane behind her, landed. She was surprised that he wasn't screaming in pain and struggling. "Burning Demon Slash!" shouted Zoro as he dashed at her at a fast speed while swinging his swords in a cross formation. He also left behind a trail of fire when he ran.

Zuikaku was able to block with her sword, but the attack was so strong that she was sent flying back, and Zoro somehow managed to get the fire all over his body flying in various direction as a result.

"I'm not done yet!" said Zuikaku loudly. The crane then opened its mouth to shoot fireballs in various directions, though most of them were heading for Zoro. The swordsman moved around with a swift speed and occasionally destroyed any fireball that was about to hit him.

Zoro charged at Zuikaku eventually and clashed swords with her. As they were pushing against each other, the fiery crane wrapped its wings around them, and Zoro was getting burned, though he endured it. "You can't withstand this forever!" Zuikaku said to him.

"This is… nothing!" he replied. "Burning Dragon Twister!" He performed a spinning attack that whipped up a powerful cyclone around himself. The fire was caught in it, thus turning it into a fiery cyclone. Zuikaku was caught in the attack and sent flying upwards, getting cut by fiery wind blades as a result.

She endured the pain, and she was at the peak of the cyclone, she swung down her sword hard, unleashing a large crescent-shaped fire wave that sliced through the cyclone and struck Zoro. He was actually hit by it directly and got pushed onto the ground just as the fiery cyclone dissipated.

"You're finished!" shouted Zuikaku as the fiery crane reappeared behind her, and then she dived at him, ready to stab him with her sword.

"Tower Climb!" Zoro jumped straight up while swinging two of his swords upwards. They clashed with each other hard and seemingly stopped moving in air as they tried to push back each other.

Both swordfighters were then repelled from each other and landed on the ground, glaring at each other while panting heavily.

"Okay, you're better than before, but I'm not going to lose to you either way!" Zoro said to her.

"Evil like you will never win! Justice will always prevail!" Zuikaku said to him.

"They always say that, but I don't give a damn about evil or justice winning! As a swordsman who wants to become the greatest of them all, there's no way I'm losing to anyone who uses a sword!" said Zoro as he placed the back ends of the two swords in his hands against each other so that the tips of the blades were pointing outwards in both directions.

"Someone like you does not deserve that kind of ambition!" shouted Zuikaku as her feet took off from the ground, and she flew at him at a fast speed. The fiery crane on her back faced forward with its wings spread open.

"Three Swords Style Ultimate Technique: Three Thousand Worlds!" shouted Zoro as he spun his swords so fast that they became like a spinning propeller. He then dashed at Zuikaku at a fast speed.

The fiery crane was dissipated when Zoro dashed into it, constantly cutting it with his rotating swords. Zuikaku was then cut all over the body.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" screamed the aircraft carrier in pain. She fell to the ground and tumbled across it violently, leaving behind a trail of reddish-brown liquid. Her sword had also shattered into pieces. After coming to a stop, she tried to get back up but was in too much pain to do so. "No… I can't… lose… again…!" Then she collapsed and passed out.

Looking back at her without turning around, Zoro said, "Learn from your losses, and then come back to challenge me again when you think you've gotten better."

Winner: Zoro


TO BE CONTINUED

Three losses in a row for the ship girls… Looks like their opponents are too much for them to deal with…

By the way, Prin Eugen's transformation is inspired by the monster Scylla from Greek mythology.

I apologize if you found the fights sloppily done. As I said, I had writer's block doing this chapter and therefore couldn't really come up with good action scenes. Trying to convey fights through words can be tough… Either way, I still hope you understood what you were reading and enjoyed them.