Chapter 22
Arrival of the Sirens


From the deck of his ship, Kizaru watched as the Marines and the pirates fought on the shore of Delta Island. The admiral was currently speaking to Smoker using a Transponder Snail. "An Eternal Pose that leads directly to Laugh Tale, huh?" said the admiral with interest after hearing Smoker's report. The other Marines onboard heard this and were shocked, and they began talking among themselves about such an incredible treasure Roger left behind.

"Something big like this must not fall into the hands of any pirate!" Smoker told Kizaru through the snail. "We must obtain it at all cost!"

"That much is obvious," said Kizaru in response. "My… I didn't think such a thing would exist! Looks like we'll have to take things more seriously now… Anyway, keep things quiet in the meantime. If other pirates find out about this, things are going to get even more hectic than it already is. Continue subduing the pirates and also try to find the Eternal Pose if you can."

"You don't have to tell me that! I'm getting that Eternal Pose at all costs!" said Smoker before hanging up the call.

Suddenly, Kizaru heard an explosion coming from nearby. Turning to the source along with the other Marines onboard, he saw one of their own ships in flames and on the verge of sinking.

"What happened?! Someone attacked that ship?!" gasped a Marine.

Onboard the burning ship, several Marines were injured on the deck, while the remaining ones were looking up in the air in shock at the Siren Purifier. "Who is that girl?!" one of them asked.

"Hahaha! Ya scared?" laughed Purifier as she held onto her flying rigging that resembled a hammerhead shark. "How does it feel to be onboard a sinking ship? Terrifying, huh?"

"Whoever you are, you'll pay for this!" shouted another Marine as he fired from his rifle at her. The bullet bounced off Purifier's face harmlessly, much to his surprise. "What?!"

"Haha! How primitive! Let me show you what real firepower is!" said Purifier. The drones accompanying her fired laser beams at the ship. When the beams struck the deck, flames burst everywhere, as if the ship wasn't already burning.

The Marines screamed for help, and some of them even jumped overboard. Purifier laughed almost maniacally as she continued to launch attacks at the ship until the whole thing blew into pieces.

On Kizaru's ship, the Marines there were in shock at what they saw. Though Kizaru was shocked as well, his ever smiling expression didn't change. "My… How terrible!" he commented. "Who would do such a thing?"

Purifier then flew over to his ship, hovering in the air above it. The Marines pointed their guns at her in defense as she said, "All right! It's your turn to join your friends in the watery grave! Any last words?"

"Young lady, I would kindly ask you to stop doing such a thing," Kizaru said to her. "It hurts me to see my fellow Marines lose their lives. You do know who you are dealing with, don't you?"

"Yes, I know that I am dealing with weakling humans who don't stand a chance against us Sirens!" replied Purifier in a haughty manner.

"Siren, huh?" thought Kizaru after hearing what she said. "Did not those girls said that Sirens are the enemies terrorizing the seas of their world? I've heard reports of them being spotted here. I guess it's true after all… And they're also the ones who killed some of the Celestial Dragons too."

"I know it's only been a short while, but… farewell!" said Purifier as she commanded her drones to get ready to fire at the ship. The Marines were shocked and got ready to defend themselves, and then beams were fired by the drones.

Moving at the speed of light, Kizaru zipped from one beam to another in the form of a beam of light, and by doing this, he was somehow able to cancel out Purifier's beam.

"Eh?" The Siren had a confused look on her face, albeit still smiling. The next thing she knew, Kizaru was in the air in front of her and with his foot next to her head.

"Tell me, young lady," he said to her. "Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?" With bright yellow light coming out from his foot, Kizaru sent Purifier shooting in the direction of Delta Island with a powerful kick.


Ayanami and Cavendish were trading blows using their swords intensely, neither side showing signs of losing. "You're good for someone your age," Cavendish said to the ship girl in the midst of clashing blades with her.

"Don't underestimate me because of my appearance!" Ayanami told him.

Not too far away, Z23 was using her upgraded rigging, a mechanical shark head attached to her right arm, to shoot energy blasts at Bartholomeo, who created a translucent wall using his Barrier Barrier Fruit to protect himself. "Haha! Go on and waste your ammo! You're never getting through my barrier!" he told her.

"Don't get so cocky!" said Z23 angrily. The shark head extended to the side of Bartholomeo to shoot him from there, but the wall extended in that direction and blocked the shot just in time.

"I told you it's useless!" Bartholomeo told her. "Nothing has ever broken through my barriers before, and I can easily move and shape them in however way I want! I can do this!" He then ran at Z23, the wall moving along with him as well.

Seeing Bartholomeo coming over to ram into her with the wall, Z23 turned and ran while continuing to shoot at him. "Darn you!" cursed the ship girl angrily.

The two ran through the crowd consisting of pirates and Marines, and all those who were in the way of Bartholomeo's barrier were pushed along with him, and it soon became a wall of people that was "chasing" Z23.

All of a sudden, something fell from the sky and landed in front of Z23 with a powerful impact that almost knocked her to her feet, and Bartholomeo even stopped when he noticed something falling down. He couldn't see well in front because of all the people piled up in front of the wall.

Everyone watched and saw a pale-skinned woman with purple hair seemingly attached to the bottom of a large mech shaped somewhat like a crab. "A Siren?!" said Z23 in shock.

Looking at Z23, the Siren Smasher said, "Azur Lane… Die!" Without saying anything else, the pincer-like appendages on the crab-like body glowed with bright yellow light. The people gathered in front of the wall freaked out and ran for their lives just in time to get out of the way of blasts of energy.

Z23, on the other hand, held up her shark hand for defense. The blasts sent her flying backwards and against the wall.

"Hey! What's going on here?! Who is that woman?!" said Bartholomeo in confusion.

"Humans, Azur Lane… All must by our hands!" said Smasher in an intimidating and angry voice before firing more energy blasts at Z23, who got out of the way. The shots struck Bartholomeo's wall and failed to take it down.

"It's no use! Nothing can break through my barrier!" said the pirate.

Z23 ran to Smasher's side and fired projectiles from the mouth of the shark head at Smasher, but the leg-like appendages deflected the shots. Smasher shifted her attention to Z23 and fired at her, and the ship girl jumped out of the way. The Siren kept on firing, and eventually, she was able to strike the part of the ground Z23 was on and send her flying into the air. She fired another shot that hit her this time, but the ship girl blocked the shot with her shark arm and merely got blown back relatively unharmed.

As Z23 tried to get up, Smasher approached her and slammed down one of her pincers onto her, but Z23 used her shark arm for defense. The ship girl then scurried around in panic, trying to stand up while avoiding jabs from the crab legs and also the pincers.

As Bartholomeo watched Smasher fight Z23, he assumed that the former must be a pirate, as she is attacking someone who is clearly a Marine to him. "This has nothing to do with me…" he said as he turned to leave. Z23 was then tossed against his back and knocked him onto the ground. "Hey! What's the big idea?!"

Smasher approached them and attacked with her pincers, but they got out of the way in time. "Die!" she shouted as she began to attack Bartholomeo as well.

"Hey! You're a pirate, aren't ya?! We should be on the same side and take down the Marines together instead!" the pirate said to her while avoiding the incoming attacks.

"We Sirens will never work with humans!" she replied, which only confused him more.

"Don't bother! She sides with her own kind and won't hesitate to kill anyone else, whether it's pirates or Marines!" Z23 told Bartholomeo.

"You sound like you know her," the pirate said to her, to which she nodded in response.

Smasher fired from her pincers at them, and Bartholomeo whipped up another wall to block the attack, and then he sent the wall forward and crashing into Smasher. The Siren planted the mech's crab legs against the ground hard to stand firmly in place and eventually came to a stop.

As Smasher and Bartholomeo tried to overpower the wall, Z23 used this opportunity to run around to the side and fired Smasher. This caused her to lose control over her mech and as a result get pushed back by the wall again.

Smasher growled in anger as she got her mech to climb over the wall. The wall suddenly disappeared, causing her to fall onto the ground. "You think you can have things your way? Too bad that I never let my foes have their way!" Bartholomeo said to her. "Take this!"

He made a translucent block shot out of the ground diagonally and strike Smasher in the body hard, pushing her back several steps. The Siren angrily fired shots at him, only to have them get blocked by a wall that he whipped up in an instant.

At the same time, Z23 fired at Smasher rapidly. The Siren cried in pain as she got blasted several times, and then she took several steps back and shouted, "That does it! I'll show you my real power!"

Bright light came out from her crab mech, blinding Z23 and Bartholomeo. When the light died down, the two were surprised to see a large mechanical crab with long legs and massive pincers standing in place of where Smasher used to be, and Smasher herself was seen inside a glass cockpit located at the top of the mech.

"What the?! She couldn't do this before!" said Z23 in shock.

"What the heck?! Is this some kind of Devil Fruit?!" said Bartholomeo in shock.

"You're not the only who got new powers from the golden Wisdom Cube!" Smasher said to Z23. "We gave you such powers, so it only makes sense that we can give ourselves the same thing!" Various openings appeared on top of the crab's body, and missiles were launched out of them and rained down on those two.

They both ran for their lives, and Bartholomeo also used his ability to create a "roof" over himself for protection. Z23 was knocked onto the ground by a missile exploding behind her, and the pirate didn't care about her but instead ran off to save his own hide.

Z23 turned around and fired at the crab mech, but her shots did nothing at all against the massive enemy.

"This is bad!" she thought as the Siren got closer and closer to her.

"Die!" Smasher said in anger as she raised a pincer to ready to bring it down onto her.

"Who dares put a huge piece of junk like this in front of my path?" said the voice of a woman.

Smasher suddenly felt her mech shaking violently, so much that the whole body tilted over to one side. It was as if the legs on that side were knocked off the ground. She then noticed someone jumping onto the body and then hopping down in front of the mech.

Standing before her was an incredibly attractive woman with long black hair wearing a red shirt that was opened up at the front to reveal quite a bit of skin and a skirt with floral patterns. There was also a red and white snake wearing a skull helmet with horns resting on her shoulders.

"You… Who are you to block the path of the Pirate Empress that is I?" the woman said to Smasher with an annoyed look.

Z23 observed the woman carefully and then realized who she is. "It's one of the Shichubukai, Boa Hancock!"


Purifier pulled herself out of a rock that she crashed into after getting kicked by Kizaru all the way to Delta Island. Shaking her head and then dusting herself, she said, "What… What happened…? Did that human just kick me all the way to this place?" She looked and saw pirates and Marines fighting each other up ahead. "Haha! Looks at all those humans beating the crap out of each other! I should join the fun too!"

"Purifier!" said a voice that sounds surprised. The Siren turned and saw Javelin and Laffey standing there, the former being the one who called out to her. "What are you doing here?!"

"Haha! Just my day!" said Purifier as she stood up, while her hammerhead shark-like mech floated into the air. "It's Azur Lane! I get to kill two birds with one stone!"

Pointing her javelin at Purifier, Javelin said to her, "Whatever evil plan you Sirens have, we won't let you succeed!"

"Things are crazy enough already. Are you going to make things even worse?" asked Laffey.

"Haha! All this chaos is making me excited! I totally can't wait to kill everyone!" said Purifier with excitement. "I might as well go all-out now and show you something you've never seen before!"

Her hammerhead shark then glowed with bright light, blinding Javelin and Laffey and also grabbing the attention of the folks close by. When the light died down, a large mechanical hammerhead shark the size of a bus was seen, and it has four legs. Purifier was sitting on top of its head.

"What the?!" said Javelin in shock.

"What's worse than a shark? A shark that can travel on land! Hahaha!" laughed Purifier.

The shark opened its mouth, and then a blast of energy shot out of it and towards a group of pirates and Marines up front. It exploded in midair, blasting them all over the place.

"Haha! Get blown into bits!" laughed Purifier.

"Purifier! Stop it at once!" shouted Javelin angrily. Her rigging then transformed into a ballista. She aimed at it at the hammerhead shark and launched a large arrow at it.

The projectile was aimed at the mouth, but surprisingly enough, the shark closed its mouth with precise timing and caught the arrow in between its teeth, completely halting its momentum without any consequences.

"What?!" gasped Javelin. She had previously used it to bore a large hole on a large ship with no effort, and yet, the Siren before her was able to stop it with no effort!

"Haha! We got the same kind of upgrades as you, so it's obvious that you can't easily defeat us with it!" Purifier said to her.

The shark flung the arrow out of its mouth before shooting energy blasts from its mouth over and over, and at the same time, missiles shot out from openings that appeared on the sides of its body, flying all over the place and destroying things. Pirates and Marines alike were running for their lives and getting caught in the blasts.

"Stop it at once!" Javelin shouted angrily at Purifier. She was going to fire another arrow from her ballista, but the shark swung around and smacked her away with its tail at a fast speed, interrupting her. "Kya!"

Laffey changed her rigging into a pair of miniguns and then let loose a stream of bullets. The bullets struck the shark but was unable to pierce through it. Purifier laughed before commanding the shark to lunge at her for a bite.

Laffey was about to get crushed in between the shark's jaws when suddenly something jumped in between them and caught the mouth. It was a mechanical shark with limbs standing upright, and Laffey recognized it as Graf Spee.

"Are you all right?" Graf Spee, who is inside the mecha shark suit, asked Laffey, and the latter nodded. Graf Spee then shoved the hammerhead shark back before firing energy blasts from guns that appeared on the shoulders and arms of the mecha shark suit.

The hammerhead shark was blasted all over the place, and Purifier managed to avoid getting shot, as none of the shots seems to be flying towards her.

"Is that the best you can do?" asked the Siren. Her shark fired a blast of energy at Graf Spee, who jumped out of the way before firing more shots at the shark.

The ship girl and the Siren traded shots with each other, but neither side seems to be showing signs of getting the upper hand. All the while, several pirates and Marines watched from the sidelines in awe and also in confusion.

"What on earth is going on there?!"

"What is that large robot?!"

"Look at them go!"

Purifier turned to look at those people and then said, "Look at all those shocked face! I bet I can make them even more shocked and scream for their lives! Let's see you ships trying to protect them while taking on me!"

"Don't you dare!" Graf Spee angrily said to her.

Ignoring what the ship girl said, Purifier had her shark run towards the pirates and the Marines, scaring them and sending them running. Missiles were fired from the shark's body, going after those people and blasting them away. Graf Spee attempted to stop her by attacking her from behind, but Purifier ignored her.

Purifier noticed a man wearing a large fur coat and what appears to be a golden hook for a hand standing not too far away. Laughing maniacally, she had her shark go after that man, who noticed her approaching. "Go to hell, sucker! Hahaha!" she said as the shark opened its mouth to attack that man.

All of a sudden, sand spiked shot up from the… sand… and struck the shark all over the body, mostly the bottom side, and both interrupted its attack and stopped it in its tracks. Purifier was surprised at what happened.

"You have a death wish coming after me, don't you, kid?" said the man, who turns out to be former Shichibukai Sir Crocodile.


"Scavenger!" Belfast said in surprise. Akagi was also next to her, standing on the giant fox that she summoned.

Standing before them was the Siren Scavenger, with her two riggings shaped like guitarfishes floating on both her sides.

"So it's true… The Sirens are indeed here!" said Akagi.

"You Azur Lane have been busy, haven't you?" Scavenger said to them with an intimidating look on her face. "Perhaps I should make things even busier for you?"

"Whatever you have in mind, you won't succeed!" Belfast said to her while getting into a fighting stance.

"You think you can still win with something like this before your eyes?" Akagi asked the Siren, referring to the fox she is standing on.

"Your arrogance will be the downfall of you. You are not the only one with new powers to boast about!" Scavenger told her. After saying that, her riggings glowed with bright light and engulfed her.

Belfast and Akagi watched in surprise when the light died to reveal to two giant mechanical guitarfishes floating in the air. There were beams of orange light connecting their undersides to Scavenger's hands.

"What on earth…?!" gasped Belfast.

"Die," said Scavenger coldly as she pointed her hands at the ship girls, and then the guitarfishes fired from guns attached to the undersides and top of their bodies. Belfast held up her arms in defense, while Akagi bent down on top of her fox to protect themselves from the shots.

The fox then fired from its turrets at Scavenger, but one of the guitarfishes got in front of its master to block the shots using its body. The other guitarfish's head glowed with orange light and then charged at the fox, ramming it in the body hard and making it cry in pain.

Belfast dashed at the guitarfish protecting Scavenger and punched it hard, but the attack seemingly did nothing. Both guitarfishes then aimed at Belfast and fired at her, but the maid moved around swiftly thanks to her rigging's new transformation boosting her speed.

Akagi's fox then lunged at Scavenger with its mouth wide open. It bit down onto one of the guitarfishes, and while they struggled with each other, the other guitarfish swung down itself like a sword onto the back of the fox, hitting it hard. "Darn it!" said Akagi angrily.

While the three girls fought each other, Marines and pirates were watching from the sidelines in awe, as they had never seen something like this before.

"Quite a show we have here," said a person as he approached the group from behind. "And I was thinking that because we came late, we're going to miss out all the fun."

One of the pirates turned around to see a towering man with a scarf wrapped around his neck and mouth standing there. "Whoa… This guy is huge!" said that pirate.

Some of the others turned around to look at the newcomer, and they were shocked to see who it is. "It's Katakuri, one of Big Mom's most powerful crewmates!" said another pirate. All the others turned around to look at Katakuri with looks of shock on their faces when they heard that.

When he shifted his eyes to them, they were all struck with fear and moved back. They also noticed a pirate ship docked at the coast close by. It was one of the ships belonging to Big Mom, and her crew could be seen there as well.

"Big Mom is here as well?!" said a Marine in shock.

"We'll never get out of this alive now!" cried another Marine.

"If you don't step out of the way, you really won't get out of this alive five seconds later," Katakuri told them.

The people were confused about what he meant, but some of them did as he said and moved aside. Projectiles were suddenly fired in their direction, and those who didn't get away were shot. When the projectiles hit Katakuri, they went through his body, which turned into a white, sticky substance.

Katakuri glared at Scavenger, who glared back at him. Neither of them said anything at all, while the others watched on in fear.


After the destruction of the floating island, the Thousand Sunny was able to use wings installed onto the ship by Franky to glide through the air and land out at sea safely, and also in a place that didn't have anyone. Sanji and Nami managed to find their way back to the ship as well after surviving the fall thanks to the former catching the latter and using his air jumps to get to the bottom safely.

Looking at the distance from the crow's nest using a telescope, Brook said, "There's quite a fight going on almost everywhere."

"Have you seen Luffy anywhere?" Nami called out to him from below.

"Yes, I can see him fighting two Marines close to the center of the island," replied Brook. "He seems to be doing well by himself, but his opponents are good too."

"I will go over there and support him," said Jinbe.

"I doubt he needs our help," said Sanji.

"True, I believe in his strength, yet I cannot shake off the feeling that he will need help soon…" said Jinbe. "I hope you can handle things by yourself while I am gone."

"Relax! We've always managed to do well even before you joined!" Franky told him.

"Good luck!" said Jinbe before hopping off the Thousand Sunny and running towards where Luffy is.

"We know where Luffy is, but where's Zoro?" asked Chopper.

"Lost somewhere out there for sure," said Sanji. "Relax, he can handle things himself."

"How about you worry about yourselves in the meantime?" said a woman's voice that seems to be coming from above.

The crew looked up and were surprised by what they saw, while hearts appeared on Sanji's eyes. It was Tester Beta, floating in the air using her manta ray-like rigging.

"What the?! Who are you?!" asked Nami with widened eyes of shock.

"Whoa! Look at that piece of machinery she has with her!" commented Franky with interest.

"WHAT A BEAUTIFUL FLYING LADY!" said Sanji happily.

"I am your worst enemy when out at sea!" Tester Beta said to them. "Nice ship you have here, even if primitive. I bet it won't last a couple of shots from my firepower!"

Franky took offense to this. "I'll let you know, lady, that this ship is made using the finest Adam wood with my amazingly super crafting skills! If you think it will sink so easily, then you've got another thing coming to ya!"

"Yeah! Our ship won't sink so easily!" said Chopper.

"Ha! That's what primitive people like you think! I will show you just how helpless you are before the superior technology of us Sirens!" said Tester Beta before aiming her guns at the ship deck and firing laser beams from them.

The beams from the floor and burst into flames, much to the horror of the crew. "FIRE!" cried Nami.

"HELP!" cried Chopper while running around.

"Darn you!" Franky angrily said to Tester Beta.

"Haha! It burns just as nicely as any other ship!" laughed Tester Beta. Franky pointed his hand at her and fired a beam out of it, but she swiftly moved to the side to dodge it. "Miss me!"

Arms suddenly appeared around her body and then grabbed her head, much to her confusion. Robin sprouted those arms on her, and then she used them to forcefully twist Tester Beta's head, hoping to break her neck… only to come to a sudden halt when the head reached the limit of how far it can turn.

Smiling, Tester Beta said to Robin, "I see what you're doing. This would work on a human, but not on someone with steel for bones!"

"How is that possible?!" said Robin in shock.

Tester Beta laughed as she fired more shots all over the ship, setting more of the place on fire. The crew panicked and tried to get water, while the Siren continued to laugh at their misery.

All of a sudden, all the flames on the ship were pulled off the surface and into the air, much to everyone's surprise and confusion. Looking up, they saw a ball of fire floating there that was sucking up all the flames. After it was done pulling in the flames, the ball of fire transformed into a man in dark blue clothing and fell onto the ship deck.

"Hope I managed to put out the flames in time," said the person as he stood up while adjusting his hat.

"Who are you?!" Nami asked him.

"Sabo, second-in-command of the Revolutionary Army," Robin said to the man. "It's a surprise to see you, but a welcome one!"

"Oh yeah, we met back at Dressrosa," said Franky.

"So you're the guy Luffy says is another one of his older brothers?" Nami asked Sabo.

"Yep! When I saw your ship in danger, I rushed over to help you! It's a good thing my specialty lies in using fire, thanks to the Flame Flame Fruit!" said Sabo, and then he turned to look at Tester Beta. "Hey lady, I'll have you know that anyone who hurts my little brother's crewmates is picking a fight against me, so you better get ready to face the consequences!"

"Oh, is that a threat I hear? I'm so scared!" said Tester Beta sarcastically while smiling evilly.


TO BE CONTINUED

Overwhelmed by the appearances of all those big shots? Let's see how the fights turn out next chapter! Will it be a fair fight? Or will it be a… one-sided massacre… and for which side?