To answer the question of the guest reviewer Kaindo I, I have no intentions of remaking any of my older stories at the moment.
Chapter 28
The Storm Cometh
With all the Straw Hats back onboard the Thousand Sunny, the pirates hurriedly set sail to get as far away as they could from Delta Island. Pirates who were still on the island and not taken out by the Marines were trying their best to leave the island as well.
All the while, Marine ships were either busy trying to stop the pirates or fighting against the Siren ships, though by now, there were not many Siren ships due to most of them being destroyed.
The Thousand Sunny traveled as fast as it could across the water, all the while trying to avoid the cannonballs fired at them by the Marine ships. The cannonballs either missed them or got destroyed by the crewmates onboard.
As Jinbe did his best to steer the ship through the water, Nami shouted to Franky, "Can't you get Coup de Burst ready?!"
"We're low on cola, so even if we use it, we won't be going as far as it should be!" Franky told her.
"That's better than nothing! We have to get out of this mess as soon as possible!" Nami said to him.
"Do not worry! I have already calculated a good path that we can take to get out of here!" Jinbe told her. "Rest assure that I will get this ship away from this place!"
"We're counting on you, Jinbe!" said Luffy after deflating himself from using Gum Gum Balloon to bounce away a cannonball.
Fortunately for them, none of the Marine ships were close to them, and none were blocking the way forward as well, so the ship traveled as fast as it could, heading for the empty path up ahead in order to get away from the fleet of Marine ships they were surrounded by.
All of a sudden, flashes of blue light appeared around the place, and out of them materialized giant warships. All the pirates out at sea and not just the Straw Hats were surprised by the appearances of these massive vessels.
Floating around in the sea were the warships belonging to Graf Spee, Hood, Prinz Eugen, Gascogne, and Gangut.
Looking off the side of the deck and at the various pirate ships out there, Gangut said, "You think you can escape the mighty power of the Northern Union! Ha! You can keep on dreaming!"
"Trying to leave this place without our permission is a big no-no!" said Hood.
"You will all sink here," said Graf Spee.
"I almost feel bad for you," said Prinz Eugen. "Most of your ships are so tiny compared to ours. You will never stand a chance!"
"Enemy units detected," said Gascogne. "Prepare to engage."
The warships began firing from their guns at the pirate ships. Some of the shots missed, but some of them were able to score direct hits that were so powerful that the ships were destroyed in a single hit. Those that weren't destroyed immediately lost a notable chunk and were set on fire, with the crews onboard screaming while trying to save themselves.
"This is bad! Those battleships possess insane firepower! Even if the Adam wood is strong, we probably won't be able to take too many hits from them before sinking!" said a worried Franky.
"I was not expecting this…" said Jinbe, seeing that the path ahead was blocked out by Gascogne's ship. "It's going to be harder than it seems to get out of here…"
"WE'RE FINISHED!" screamed Usopp and Chopper while hugging each other.
"Looks like we have no choice but to cut them down," said Zoro as he readied to unsheathe his sword.
"Yeah, we'll have to force our way through them if left with no choice," said Luffy, and then he suddenly slumped down. "Ugh… I'm feeling weak…"
"You used Gear 4th twice in a short span of time, and after moving around nonstop today, you're out of energy!" Chopper told him. "Your injuries are holding you back as well!"
"Don't worry," Sanji told Luffy. "You can leave the action to us. You take a rest unless we really need you."
Gascogne saw the Thousand Sunny approaching and began to take aim at it. "Target confirmed to be Straw Hat Pirates," she said. "Locked onto target. Preparing to fire."
All the while, the warships were firing nonstop at the pirate ships, trying to destroy them all. Some of the more powerful pirates such as the Kidd Pirates and the Drake Pirates were doing a relatively good job holding off their attackers, and their ships were also sturdy enough to tank more than one hit from the gunfire.
All of a sudden, a powerful blast of green wind tore through the place, so strong that the warships were pushed around. The water went wild as waves were formed and tossed everyone on the surface to and fro.
"What is with this sudden gale?!" cried Usopp.
"But there weren't any signs of strong wind just now!" said a confused and surprised Nami.
Gascogne's ship was pushed around by the wind and waves so much that it was removed from the path in front of the Thousand Sunny. Seeing this, Jinbe hurriedly sailed the ship towards the cleared path.
If there was anything strange about the wind other than its color, it was that it was hindering the Marine ships and the Azur Lane ships more than the pirates. In fact, it seems to be benefitting the pirate ships by clearing a path for them. The Marine ships were thrown around in such a way that they could not even aim their cannons at their targets. Some of the ships were even overturned and destroyed by large waves.
The pirates were confused by this sudden wind, but seeing that it was seemingly going against the Marines, they decided to use this opportunity to escape.
Some distance away from the chaos going on was a large ship, and Sabo was on it alongside several other people. A hooded man could be seen next to him, watching the place where the wind was blowing. "You simply couldn't resist giving your son a helping hand, huh?" he said to the hooded man, the leader of the Revolutionary Army, Monkey D. Dragon, who gave no response at all.
The ship girls who were still on water and didn't change their riggings into ships were having a hard time trying to remain standing and instead found themselves rolling across the water surface for the most part, crashing into ships.
"What is this this strong wind?! It's like we're in a hurricane!" cried Z23 as she laid low to avoid being blown away. Behind her, Laffey could be seen rolling across the water surface like a ball.
Gangut was trying to maintain her balance on her ship deck. "No wind is going to stop me! The blizzards of the Soviet are much more powerful than this breeze!" she said while holding onto her hat to keep it from flying off.
Her ship was suddenly shot by something explosive. She turned to the source in shock and saw that Hood shot her. "What's the big idea, shooting your comrade?!"
"Sorry! I got spooked by water splashing onto me and fired without a second thought!" replied Hood.
There were still some people back on the shore of Delta Island. Akashi had just healed Enterprise and Bismarck. Standing on the shore, they watched the chaos unfold out at sea courtesy of the wind seemingly summoned by Dragon.
"Nya… All hell is breaking loose out there…" commented Akagi.
"Regardless of the situation, we must not let the pirates get out of here!" said Bismarck in anger.
The two noticed Enterprise unveiling her wings, and Bismarck was going to ask her what she was planning to do. Enterprise gave no response but instead took off into the air at a fast speed, leaving those two confused.
The Straw Hats were still in the midst of trying to get away from the area. Even though the strong wind opened a path for them, it was still making it hard for them to sail properly, and the rocking water only made things harder.
"We're almost out there!" said Jinbe.
"I see something approaching us at a fast speed!" Brook suddenly shouted from the crow's nest.
"What is it at a time like this?!" said a scared Usopp.
It was Enterprise, flying toward the Thousand Sunny using her metal wings. The aircraft carrier landed onto the deck of the Thousand Sunny, surprising the crew and thus getting them into fighting stances. Sanji was looking at her with hearts in his eyes, obviously.
Enterprise looked around with an angry expression and then pinned her eyes on Luffy. "You! I'm not done with you yet!" she angrily said to him.
"You still want another round?" Luffy said to her as he stepped forward.
"It's not over until one of us drops dead!" Enterprise said to him.
"If you really want to fight again, then I'll let's do it!" Luffy said to her.
"Luffy! You're too injured to fight!" Chopper told him.
"It's all right. I won't lose to her," said Luffy. "Nobody interfere our fight! This is between me and her!"
"Just kick her out of here! We don't need any more trouble already!" Nami said to Luffy.
Enterprise then made her wings disappear before throwing her flight deck and bow to the side. "An unarmed one-on-one fight," she said. "You have a problem with that?"
"Whatever suits you," said Luffy.
The two of them glared at each other for a few seconds, and then they shouted as they charged at each other.
BGM: graphite/diamond (Azur Lane)
Luffy threw a punch, but Enterprise moved her head aside before throwing her own, hitting him in the face and knocking him on his back. She then got on top of him and slammed down her fist onto him over and over.
Luffy pushed her aside before punching her head in the head hard. Enterprise recovered from the attack before kicking him hard in the waist. Luffy recovered from it and lunged at her.
All the while, all sorts of "madness" was going on out at sea.
Kaga and Akagi were on their giant foxes, attacking pirate ships either by shooting fireballs at them or engaging them physically.
Kaga's fox saw Drake's ship and ran towards it with its mouth wide open. Seeing the beast approaching, Drake transformed into his Allosaurus form, while his crew backed away in shock. The dinosaur swung his tail at the approaching fox with such a force that shockwave was unleashed, hitting the beast hard in the head and knocking it back, and Kaga almost fell off.
Elsewhere, Shigure jumped onto Kidd's ship still in her new form that gave her a wolf-like armor. "Be prepared for some bad luck!" she said to the pirates onboard.
Looking unimpressed, Kidd said in an intimidating tone, "You have a death wish don't you, brat?"
Chaos continued on the water surface, with Marine ships being tossed to and fro by the waves and wind and also trying to shoot the fleeing pirate ships. The pirate ships were trying their best to escape in the midst of the chaos and also shooting back at the Marine ships. The Azur Lane ship girls were doing everything they could as well to keep the pirates from escaping.
Back onboard the Thousand Sunny, Luffy and Enterprise continued to trade punches and kicks against each other, and neither side was relenting.
Luffy's crewmates continued to watch from the side, rooting for their captain to win. "It seems like our captain is holding back his power," noted Robin.
"He indeed is," said Zoro with a nod. "His opponent isn't actually that powerful, so he could've defeated her in an instant, yet he's intentionally holding back as if to give her a fighting chance."
"You think he's taking pity on her?" asked Sanji.
"It's hard to understand what he is thinking at times, so who knows?" replied Zoro.
As Luffy and Enterprise continued to fight, the latter suddenly began to glow with yellow light, much to the surprise of everyone who saw it. "Huh? What's happening to her?" wondered Usopp.
The same thing was happening to the other ship girls, and they were all surprised to see this as much as the people who witnessed this.
"What's happening?!" said Javelin.
"I don't know…" said Laffey.
Enterprise noticed this as well, but she didn't seem to give much thought about it and instead said to Luffy, "Time to end this already!"
"I was thinking the same thing," replied the pirate.
The two glared at each other for a few seconds before shouting at the top of their voices and then dashing at each other with their fists pulled back.
"IT'S OVER!" shouted Enterprise. Luffy simply continued shouting.
They threw their fists into each other's face.
SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!
Both people were sent flying backwards. As Enterprise fell onto the floor, she said in her head, "I'll get you for this…"
A second before her back touched the floor, she disappeared into thin air in a flash of light. Her equipment lying on the floor also disappeared in the same manner.
BGM Ends
Luffy hit the floor and panted heavily, while his crewmates ran up to him to see if he was all right.
The same thing happened to the ship girls. All of them disappeared together in bright flashes of light. The pirates and Marines were all confused about this and wondered where they went.
"That's strange…" thought Kizaru, who was on his ship. "Where'd they go?"
"I don't sense those girls' presence any longer…" said Fujitora. "Where did they go all of a sudden?"
"What the heck happened just now?" wondered Smoker. "Don't tell me they returned to their world just like that?!"
On that day, the ship girls disappeared from this world completely…
TO BE CONTINUED
Final chapter coming next…
