Chapter 30: Melayu
Deep within the island of Temasek, Silvia was on her knees with hands chained behind her back; her body covered in bruises and her clothes filled with cuts from all the fighting she had done against the pirates.
The moment she saw the Silver Fang leave the bay and into open waters, a sense of relief washed over her and made her drop her guard, which the pirates took immediate advantage of and mercilessly pounced onto her.
The next thing she knew, she was chained up in this dingy cell; one of the many cells the East Traders used to keep any dangerous people that wandered onto their island.
'I wonder if they regroup Gord and the others…?'
The sound of the cell's rusty metal door swinging open brought her out of her musings, she glared at the man who walked up to her with a smug grin.
"Looking rather well, Silvia." He chuckled.
"Like you would know, Tentol." Silvia snapped at him.
"Now, now, that's no way to talk to your family."
Tentol, a former member of the East Traders and the one that was in command of the East Blue Pirate Alliance; and also, Silvia's estranged uncle, though you couldn't tell just by looking at them.
Aside from their hair color, the two hardly looked anything alike.
"You know, the last time I saw you, you were just up to my knees." He stated with a smile, "But now look at you; all grown up and captain of your own ship."
"Cut the useless chatter and just tell me what you want from me?"
"From you? Nothing much, really." Tentol chuckled as he caressed her bruised cheek, "I've already gotten what I wanted from the others. I just want to keep my only remaining family safe, that's all."
"By locking me in a cell!?" Silvia shouted, "If this is how you protect people, I can see why you were excommunicated from the East Trader, you crazy–Grgk!"
"Don't misunderstand my words for mercy." The man growled as he grabbed her by the throat, "Just because I won't kill you doesn't mean I won't hurt you."
"My father was right; you really are a crazy bastard…!" She choked out with a grin.
At her words, Tentol let out a sigh before throwing her on the stone floor, "Of all things you have to inherit from my brother, you have to get his sass."
"That's *cough* father's best trait."
"More like annoying. At least you have sister-in-law's looks; that's a plus."
After regaining her breathing, she glared at him, "So what's your plan, Tentol? Going to start back up your little operation?"
The last time she had seen him was when he had been let go from the East Traders more than a decade ago; as punishment for conducting an underground smuggling ring using the East Trader's trading network and vessels.
"That lemonade stand? Please, that was just the prototype to what I have planned." He stated, "You see, lil Silvia, all I have ever wanted to do was for the East Traders to be prosperous, to be the best in the East Blue. But to do that, I have to get rid of a little thing called… morality."
"W-what are you saying…?"
"What I'm saying is that the East Traders could do more than just be a trading company; with its vast network of contracts, we can make better profits dealing with more than just legal methods."
"T-That's madness!" Silvia cried, "The World Government will not let that stand!"
"Ah, but that's only if they find out." He pointed out, "For you see, the only ones that knew what happened here are you, me, and the pirate alliance friends. To everyone else, they would think that the East Traders is still the same as ever."
"You can't be…!"
Silvia immediately knew what his plans were; to use the East Traders's as a front for his pirate alliance's organized crimes.
With how vast the East Traders had spread their network across the East Blue, no one would bat an eye if a ship carrying their colors docking in their town; they were basically hiding in plain sight.
It was basically his old smuggling ring, but expanded to include other illegal dealings, especially piracy.
"Figured it all out?" Tentol chuckled, "Well, anyone would have figured it out when I spelled it out to them."
"Grgk…"
'That's what he meant by the others…'
That must be why the pirates were hijacking the ships; to use them as camouflage. And she bet that she wasn't the only one he had captured, either.
"Quite a good plan, right?" He pointed out, "Too bad your father and the rest of the heads disagree on it when I brought it up with them. What a bunch of small-minded cowards; how can they expect to get good profits without taking any risk?"
"You are mad if you think they will go along with you now!" She shouted at him.
"Oh, I don't think they have much of an option. Stand."
Almost like a puppet, Silvia could feel her body stood up against her will. "W-What is this!?"
"Impressive, yes? A good friend of mine had managed to acquire a special fruit off the black market about a year ago." Tentol explained, "It tasted awful, but it gave me some useful powers."
"You're a Devil Fruit user!?"
"The Slave-Slave Fruit, to be precise." He showed her his palm, which had some kind of marking on it, "It allows me to force my commands upon anyone I have my mark on."
'He must put that mark when he was touching my face…!'
"So you see, even if they refused to work with me, I can easily force them to do my bidding; they will have no choice in the matter. For example: You will laugh when hit."
After saying so, he punched Silvia in the gut hard, knocking the air out of her as she collapsed onto her knees; yet despite the pain, she started laughing against her will.
"As you can see, all of my commands are absolute." He explained, "No matter how absurd they are, you will carry it out as I intended."
"You… you won't succeed…" Silvia said with a glare, "You plans… they will fail…!"
"Is that so? Because of the ones that escaped the attack?" Tentol laughed, "They will be hunted down by the pirate alliance in no time. As for those that escaped them, well, do you really think I would have forgotten about Melayu?"
"You… you didn't…!"
"Rarara! Oh yes, I have. Your allies would be in for quite the surprise when they reach that island."
The trip to Melayu was an awkward affair for everyone.
Despite me vouching for them, the Silver Fang crew was still quite wary of the Straw Hat Pirates and Gin; which was understandable considering that despite not acting like it, they were still pirates.
Almost everyone had their weapons on standby, their eyes constantly on them whenever they came into view.
The Straw Hat Pirates, for the most part, tried their best to not step on any toes.
Zoro, Nami, and Usopp kept to themselves on the Going Merry and busied themselves with their own business, while Sanji offered a hand to the kitchen staff with the cooking; they were actually more than happy to cook with him.
As for Luffy…
"Get back here, you pirate monkey!"
"Damn, he's a slippery bastard!"
Looking over my shoulder I was greeted with the familiar sight of Luffy running out onto the deck with Sam and a couple others close on his tail; a jerky dangling from the corner of his greasy mouth.
"Shishishishi!"
Laughing all the way, the pirate captain stretched out his limbs and pulled himself up into the main mast like the rubber monkey he was, much to chagrin to his pursuers.
"Damn you! Get down here!"
"Don't wanna~!"
"Grr…!"
I severely underestimated how much havoc the rubber pirate would cause with his antics; and it was driving literally everyone insane.
If he wasn't running about the deck bothering everyone, he was exploring every nook and cranny of the Silver Fang; and often leaving a mess in his wake.
Not only that, he would also often just make his way into our kitchen and eat his fill, which would be enough to feed the entire crew for a day at the minimum.
"Seriously; it's only been two days…"
"Hey, are we doing this or not?"
"Ah, yes!"
I turned my attention back to Gin, the former pirate in a battle ready stance with his weapons in his hand in preparation for our spar.
After barely managing to convince Lee, Gin was currently staying on the Silver Fang; which did not go swimmingly with the crew with the cautious stares and hostile glares he had been getting.
Thankfully, it didn't seem to go beyond the glares; and I hope it wouldn't after we rescued Silvia and freed Temasek.
"Remember, you are to only use Ramming Horns." Sen instructed me, "Do not use any other techniques."
"Okay!"
"Alright…! Begin!"
Gin lunged at me, spinning and swinging his tonfas at me from all directions; and due to him getting all the nourishment for the past few days, his attacks were just as fast and vicious as they were two years ago.
I quickly dodged and parried away his attacks, my arms starting to ache from blocking them. After a few moments of blocking, I spot an opportune strike to use that form on.
Here goes… follow the line of attack, and…
"Dragon Sword Style, Eighth Form: Ramming Horns!"
Following the strike's flow, I swung Nanashi down along his attack while using the blade's spine to parry it aside; once the attack was diverted, I took a step forward and stabbed at him, stopping just inches from his throat.
"Whoa!" Gin took a couple steps back and rubbed his throat, "…Looks like you finally got that right."
"Y-Yeah! Finally!"
Sen had been grilling me on this form since we left the Baratie; and I finally managed to pull it off! And it only took me about a dozen tries to do it!
Seriously, this kind of delicate swordplay was hard to pull off! I couldn't count how many times I was bruised from attempting to use it right.
"Good, now keep doing it until you can do it every time." Sen told me, "Also, your counter needs to be swift, otherwise it will be easily blocked."
"S-Seriously…!?"
"Yes, seriously."
A tired groan left my lips before getting back into my battle stance and prepared to engage with Gin's attacks once more—
"Land spotted on the starboard!"
The announcement put a stop to the spar as pretty much everyone scrambled to see the island.
Melayu was a small relatively uninhabited island owned by the East Traders, and it was on this very island that the trading company had first established itself in the East Blue.
The island itself was mostly uncultivated land, filled with dense forests and little else in terms of human civilisation with the exception of a small port the East Traders had built as its first base of operations.
After the company's expansion, they had moved their headquarters to Temasek; but they kept the port as a safe house in times of emergency.
Such a place was common knowledge among the East Traders's workers, so even the traitor would be aware of its use and no doubt laid a trap for everyone.
"Hm?" Sam took notice of something in the far distance, "Acting-Captain Lee, there are ships on the port side!"
Lee moved to the other side and took a look through his spyglass, and gasping in surprise, "T-That's the Beneaver!"
"R-Really!?"
"And not just that, either!" He cried out, "The Luminorie, the Tyfos… I count at least four others! And the one leading them; that's the Signoria!"
"The Signoria!? Are you certain!?"
"Yes, I recognized that vessel anywhere!"
Everyone in the East Traders were well acquainted with the Signoria; a massive galleon almost twice the size of the average ships and the ship captained by one of the East Traders's founding members, Captain Draconis.
There wasn't anything not said about the man, from his charisma and capabilities as a captain to his combat prowess never degrading despite his advanced age; if the East Traders had a need for a fleet commander, he would be the one.
"Those must be the ships that left for the fake job notice." Justin pointed out, "But only six of them?"
"They must be the ones that made it out of there in one piece…" Sam noted, "And just five of them too… that ambush dealt a bigger blow than we thought."
Even without a spyglass or enhanced vision from my half-dragon form, I could tell that they had taken quite a beating not unlike the Silver Fang.
Almost every ship in that little fleet had scars; from torn sails to damaged hull that had been roughly patched up.
Even the Signoria wasn't without its damages, and it could be argued that the galleon suffered the worst out of all of them; the pirates no doubt targeted it first.
"In any case, more survivors is always a good thing." Lee stated before turning to one of the crew members, "You there, signal to them; tell them we are friendly."
"Yes, sir!"
*BANG*
"Hey, did you hear that—"
As soon as the lookout said those words, something large crashed into the sea around us and blew up pillar of water between the Silver Fang and the Going Merry.
"That's the cannon from the Signoria!" Lio cried out.
"Why are they shooting at us!?" Gin cried out.
"No, not at us…!" I took a look at the impact range, "I think they're shooting at them!"
As I guessed, the next few pillars of water erupted extremely close to the smaller ship; the pirate vessel swaying roughly on the choppy waters.
"HEY!" Usopp shouted from the Going Merry, "Why are your people shooting at us!?"
"They must have assumed that you guys are part of the pirate alliance!" I stated.
"Flag them down, now!" Lee shouted.
"I-I'm trying!" The crew mate swung our signal flags hectically, "But they don't seem to be working!"
"Draconis must think we're being coerced by the pirates…" Sen pointed out, "He always quite the overly cautious fellow."
"Damn it! I'm going over there!"
I went into my half-dragon form and unfurled my wings, taking off towards the large galleon as fast as I could.
Now that I'd gotten closer, the damages the Signoria had sustained were definitely just as bad as the Silver Fang's, if not worse.
The galleon had parts of its frame been blown away, with planks of wood haphazardly nailed on several points on its hull, most likely covering all the cannon shots it had taken; even its dragonhead figurehead had been partially blown to bits.
The pirates really hammering into it… its size had no doubt made it an easier target compared to the other smaller ships.
"Captain Draconis, please wait!"
"Oh, you're from the Silver Fang; Rein, right?"
The veteran was easy to spot among the crew on the galleon's deck; a bearded tall man with a greying mane of hair under a tricorn hat, dressed in a long coat over a dress shirt with a pair of slacks tucked in leather boots.
His appearance definitely carried the vibe of a seasoned veteran every time I saw him, though he looked extremely exhausted right now.
"Captain Draconis, call off the attack on that pirate ship!" I told him, "They aren't part of the ones that attacked your ships!"
"Wait, so you guys weren't held hostage by them?" He noted.
"No, we aren't! Look, it's a long story, but the main point is that they aren't our enemy!"
"…Hm…"
Draconis pondered for a while before turning to one of his crew, "Send word to the others; cease all cannon fire and group up with the Silver Fang."
"Sir, what about the pirate ship?"
"We'll keep an eye on it for now." He stated as he turned back to me, "I want some answers; did something happen to Temasek?"
"Like I said, Captain Draconis; it's a long story."
"We have time; tell me everything that you know."
As the sound of cannon fire slowly ceased, I explained to him all that Lee had told me and all that transpired since then.
After linking up with the large galleon, I returned back to the crew as Draconis descended onto the Silver Fang's deck via a crossing board; his crew had their muskets and rifles honed in on Gin and the Straw Hat Pirates.
"Captain Draconis." Lee greeted, "I am really glad to see you still alive."
"As am I to you, Lee." The veteran greeted back, "Your crew member has already informed me of everything that had happened on Temasek. You did well to get this far."
"Thank you for the compliment."
Draconis looked over at the pirates with a wary stare, "I take it these are the pirates that you have hired?"
"Indeed, they are." Lee nodded, "Despite their appearances, they are toughest around."
"I'll say; for the Demon Gin and even the Pirate Hunter Zoro to be working with us…" He noted, "Still, are you certain they aren't part of that pirate alliance?"
"No, they aren't."
"You sure? They could be spying for them as we speak."
Talk about being overly cautious…! Though it was to be expected from an experienced veteran…
"I can assure you they aren't one of them." I chimed in, "Me, Gord, Sen and Kris had been with them for the past week or so; they aren't the type to join such a thing."
"Do you swear on that?"
"I swear my life on that."
"…I see." Draconis waved his hand to his crew, who hesitantly lowered their arms, "I'll take your word on it, Miss Rein."
"Thank you, Captain Draconis."
"What are your plans, Captain Draconis?" Lee asked.
"We should regroup at Melayu first." He stated, "With our ships this damaged, we are only a cannon shot away from meeting Davy Jones. However…"
"Melayu might be another trap set by those pirates."
Draconis nodded at Lee's words, "If what you say is true, the traitor has no doubt took our survival into account; it is highly likely that they have laid another ambush for us on the island."
"Couldn't we just throw Sen at them and let him take care of them?" Lio pointed out.
"Sure, if you want the port to get completely destroyed in the process."
"Ah, good point."
"Then, what should we do?" Sam asked, "Regroup at another island?"
Draconis shook his head, "No; if there are others that managed to escape the pirates' pursuit, they will head here as well. We can't afford to let more of our men perish to these pirates."
"So, what are you plan on doing?" Sen asked.
"We'll turn the trap against them."
Everyone was confused by the veteran's words, which he proceeded to elaborate, "A small team will enter the port as decoys to lure the pirates out. Once they all are lured out, we launch an assault from all sides and take them all down in one swoop."
"A bait and switch." Lee noted, "A classic tactic for dealing with ambushes."
"But who should be the decoys?" Justin asked, "You said it yourself, the ships we have are only a cannon ball away from sinking into the murky depths."
"True, none of them could survive an onslaught of cannon fire long enough for the plan to succeed." Draconis stated, "But if it is the Silver Fang, on the other hand, the chances are relatively higher."
"…because of Sen and Rein."
"Exactly."
That was true; Sen alone would be enough to defend the ship from all attacks. And I had defended against cannon balls more than enough times.
Just those factors alone were enough for Draconis to consider the Silver Fang as an option.
"I'm sorry for burdening your team with this."
"No need for apologies, Captain Draconis." Lee told him, "I was considering of volunteering—"
"If that's the case, I like to suggest another alternative."
Sen suddenly chiming in had turned everyone's attention to him, the smirk on his face did not bode well for whatever that suggestion might be.
Hidden from view and deep within the trees, there exists a small bay facing the ocean where a small port was built along its sandy banks; this was where the trading company known as the East Traders was founded.
A long dock made of stone aligned its beachfront with several buildings of wood and stone built along its perimeters, with a single manor built on the side overlooking it all.
In the manor's main office sat one of the pirate captains of the newly founded East Blue Pirate Alliance, the once turned-butler-returned-pirate, Kuro of a Hundred Plans.
After his defeat at the hands of Monkey D Luffy, Kuro begrudgingly returned to a life of piracy as captain of his old pirate crew; though it proved to be difficult with how little of the original crew were left.
It didn't help that his crew had also left Jango behind when they fled Syrup Village; the current whereabouts of said hypnotist was yet to be known.
And while it had yet to surface, it would only be a matter of time before his ex-employer informed the Marines about the imposter they had falsely executed and reactivate his bounty.
Thus, he had been hiding away from the eyes of the world since then, hoping for the tide to change in his favor.
But in a turn of good fortune, the man called Tentol found him and offered him a deal; join his little pirate alliance, and he'd help make sure that Kuro would be able to quit the pirate life for good.
While the pirate captain had no desire to ally with another pirate, the idea Tentol had proposed was the perfect cover for him to truly abandon the life of a pirate; of course, there was also the unspoken threat of exposing his location to the Marines if he refused.
As such, he accepted his offer; and was given the duty to capture or eliminate any stragglers that make it into Melayu.
Taking the geography of the island into account, Kuro had placed squads of men in defensive positions all over the docks, each manning mortars facing the bay's entrance.
Once they spot a ship entering the bay, they would fire at them without any mercy.
He had also placed a few men facing the forests, in case they planned to sneak into the port that way.
So far, they had managed to sunk about two frigates for the past few days, granting him some well-deserved stress-free rest days–
"Puru puru puru puru!"
He picked up the ringing Den Den Mushi on the table, "What is it?"
"Captain Kuro, a ship had entered the bay, but…"
A groan rumbled in his throat at the idiocy of his crew, "Then fire at it…! I had made my instructions very clear."
"B-But, sir; it's a pirate ship."
"…A pirate ship?"
His eyebrows raised in confusion at the report; the location of the bay's entrance was known only to the East Trader's trading company and the East Blue Pirate Alliance, so unless said pirate ship belongs to them, no one else should have found this.
'I never gotten word of another crew coming here…'
He looked out of the office's window, which gave him an unobstructed view into the bay; he saw the ship sailing into the bay, a small caravel spotting a strange jolly roger on its sails.
'I've never seen that jolly roger before… who in the…'
"What should we do, captain?"
"…Fire at them."
"B-But captain, what if it's one of ours?"
"I don't care; fire at them."
There's a chance that the East Traders was using this ship as camouflage to enter the port; and even if they weren't, he would rather not let word of this place get out.
"U-Understood. Click"
Moments after the call ended, the cannons came to life as shot after shot was fired; the waters around the small ship exploded, with each shot getting closer and closer.
Within a minute, that ship would turn into scraps of wood and cloth.
'…actually, I feel like I've seen that ship somewhere before… where did I…'
"Puru puru puru puru!"
Kuro growled as he picked up the call, irritation filled his voice as he shouted, "Was my instructions NOT clear!?"
"It's not that, captain! We are–GWAH! Click."
The sudden hanging up of the call raised a lot of red flags in his mind as Kuro quickly dialled up another squad, "What's the situation!?"
"Captain! We are under attack! Two of the cannon teams had been taken out!"
"Taken out!? By who!?"
"A-A fishman, and a small girl—GAH!"
"Who are you calling small!?"
The call ended abruptly as well, drawing ire out of him.
He had heard from Tentol that the East Traders had a fishman working for them, so the attacker must be him; but one fishman shouldn't be able to take down two of the teams so quickly, especially with how widespread he had them stationed along the docks.
There had been rumors of them deploying some kind of devil as a guard, but it was probably extremely exaggerated by the witnesses.
'Unless…!?'
He had seen proof of the mystical Devil Fruits first hand when he fought Monkey D Luffy's rubbery limbs; it wouldn't be a surprise if said devil had the same whimsical abilities as him.
"Damn it!"
He donned his repaired claw swords made a dash out of the office, unaware that he had already fallen into a trap himself.
I sliced opened the chest of the last pirate manning the mortar before knocking it to the side; just as Kris kicked overboard the last of pirates on his side of the docks while the doing the same to the mortars.
"That's the last one?" I asked.
"That's right. Light the signal."
Pulling out a flare gun from my waist, I fired it into the air; a pillar of red smoke shot out of the barrel into the clouds above.
Sen's 'brilliant' addition to the plan was to simply change the choice in decoys; specifically, using the Going Merry instead of the Silver Fang.
In his words, "The traitor has no doubt took into consideration of what we will do in response to a possible ambush and planned around it, so using the usual bait-and-switch tactic will not work; as such, let's make use of something they would never think about."
That something would be our recruitment of the Straw Hat Pirates and Gin.
Considering that it was an alliance of different pirates across the East Blue, there's a chance that they didn't completely know which pirates were in the alliances or not; the ex-Krieg pirate aside, the Straw Hats were practically unknown in the piracy scene, making them the perfect cover to fool the alliance with.
In the newly revised plan, we would still use a similar tactic with the Going Merry acting as somewhat of a decoy, with the Straw Hats and Gin aboard it while me and Kris secretly following from the air and underwater respectively.
First, the Going Merry would sail into the port under the pretext of being one of their ships; then when they least expected, me and Kris would attack and cripple their anti-naval defences.
Once we taken care of that, we would raise a smoke signal to the other ships outside of our success and they could enter the waters safely.
At the same time, the Going Merry would make landfall and take down as many pirates as they could before the rest of the ships enter the cove. Once all the ships were in the cove proper, they would launch a full-on offensive and take down all the remaining pirates in one swoop.
Though I highly doubt any fodder pirate would stand a chance once Luffy, Zoro and Sanji get their assault going; they weren't dubbed Monster Trio by the fandom for nothing, after all.
Though the plan had gone a little awry from them starting to shooting at the Going Merry, me and Kris managed to disable said defences and now cleared a place for them to–
"Surround them! Don't let them get away!"
"They'll pay for what they have done!"
Our backs touched each other as the pirates surrounded us from all sides, all of them wielding mostly cutlasses and pistols.
"Looks like they had more hiding nearby…"
"Yeah… hm?"
Actually, now that I looked closely, the attire of some of them looked rather familiar; not in the standard pirate attire kind of familiar either.
Were those… black cat ears?
Wait, black cat…? didn't Lee mentioned that one of the pirate crews he saw allied with them was–
"These are the ones that giving you guys so much trouble?"
Just as I pieced it all together, the captain of the Black Cat Pirates appeared from behind his cronies, the blades of his claws rubbed against each other all Freddy Krueger like as he stalked towards us.
And judging by how unnerved his cronies were, it wasn't exactly a welcomed sight.
"I-It's alright, captain! We can take of them!"
Two of the cronies stepped forward, a lean man and portly man in cat themed attire and claws; the Nyanban Brothers, if I remember correctly.
"Let's go, Buchi!"
"Yes, Sham! Our improved combination attack–"
"Rising Tsunami."
"Fifth Form: Rising Claw."
""GAAHH!""
Two attacks later, and we took them down without much effort; they were honestly pathetically weak.
"A-Ah! They t-took out the Nyanban Brothers!"
"…You lot, get back to manning the mortars and blast that ship to bits, NOW!" Kuro growled as he readied his claws, "I'll handle our little invaders."
"Y-Yes, captain!"
"No, you don't!"
Kris charged at the pirates and knocked out a few of them with a series of punches and kicks; but with how many they were, he wasn't able to keep all of them away from the anti-naval artillery.
"Damn it-Whoa!?"
When I attempted to head over to assist Kris, Kuro suddenly appeared before me and swiped down his claw blades; I quickly defended blocked against them with my scaled arm.
"That appearance… to think that the East Traders had a Devil Fruit user among their workers."
Comparing to our first 'meeting' back on Honey Docks two years ago, there was now a sense of annoyance in the stare Kuro was giving me behind those big framed glasses of his.
"…Kuro of the Hundred Plans, I assume?"
A minor twitch in his eyebrow at my words was all I needed to see; the reaction gave me a chance to push him away, the pirate captain skidded about a meter away from me.
"Sorry, Kris; you're going to have to deal with those bastards without me."
"Alright; be careful with that guy!"
With the sounds of Kris knocking skulls around in the background, I turned my attention back to the ex-butler; though I knew Kuro would be out and about the East Blue after getting ousted by Kaya, I wasn't expecting to see him a part of the pirate alliance.
"Tch, word spread that far…?" He grumbled as he raised his two glove-blades, "I'll have to put a stop to that."
As he says so, his body flickered before disappearing with a poof of dust; five sharp blades slashing into the scales around my abdomen moments later, thankfully not cutting through it.
If I remember right, Kuro's main special technique was similar to Shave of the Six Powers the agents of CP9 uses, fast and near quiet footwork that he used to run circles around his opponent.
After seeing it for myself, it was definitely quite a fearsome technique to go up against; anyone that wasn't Luffy or Zoro would definitely be out of their depth with it.
But for me and my enhanced senses that Sen helped me trained?
"Got you!"
"Grgk!?"
After enduring a kick to my face, I swung my sword up at the direction I knew he would strike at, the tip of Nanashi caught his glasses as he frantically avoided my attack.
"H-How are you…!?"
"Dragon Sword Style; Third Form: Tail Spike!"
Tossing his glasses aside, I lunged at him with a stab, an attack that nearly hit true as he swiftly moved his head out of my blade's path, though it managed to graze Kuro's cheek.
After he made some distance between us, the pirate captain's glare turned from annoyance to rage once he noticed of the bloody mark that I had left him.
"Tch… to think a little girl would…!"
"Who are you calling little girl, you limb dick poor excuse of a pirate!"
"Damn, Rein; you didn't have to go that far." I heard Kris said as he took down more pirates.
"…You will live to regret that, bitch…!"
He hunched his shoulder and started to sway back and forth, a sign that he was going to attempt his ultimate move; the wide spread and completely unpredictable Out of the Bag Attack.
"Shit! The captain is going to use it!"
"Forget the mortars! Just run!"
"It's the Out of the Bag Attack!"
His cronies immediately reacted the way I knew they would, leaving behind the mortars and booking it away from the battle just as their captain flicked away moments later;
I, on the other hand, sheathed my sword, crossed my arms and braced for the attack; no point in attempting to catch him at this level of speed.
A second later, something sharp slashed next to me and leaving behind five long marks in the concrete, before another striking the wooden crate next to the mortar.
Seconds grew as several more marks were made all around me, before finally one struck true with my leg, tearing into my pants and scrapping against my scales.
"Rein!"
"I'm fine!"
A few more attacks landed, but none of them had even touched the parts of me that were unprotected by scales.
If I were to be honest, dealing with Chew was harder than with Kuro; he had speed and little of anything else, and his attacks couldn't even penetrate my scales.
You would think that he would change up his repertoire after his humiliating defeat by Luffy, or at least try to fix the glaring weakness of his attacks.
"And… got you! Fourth Form: Lunging Claw!"
"Wh–GAH!"
The moment I saw him stepped out of his attack, I lunged forward with my fastest attack; Kuro couldn't react to my surprise attack and my quick draw slashed into his guts.
"This… this cannot be…!" Kuro growled as he held onto his wound, no doubt holding back a fold of intestine, "First by that rubber brat… than by this little girl…!?"
"It's over, Kuro of a Hundred Plans." I told him as I pointed Nanashi at him, "Surrender now, and you will not–"
"Exploding Star!"
"GAH!?"
"Eh?"
From out of nowhere, something struck Kuro's face and violently exploded.
"C-Captain Kuro!"
"Wait, isn't that–GAH!"
"Sorry for keeping you, Miss Rein~!"
"Shut up and kick their butt, stupid cook!"
It seemed that we had managed to stall Kuro and his cronies long enough for the Going Merry to finally dock and for the Monster Trio and Gin to begin to assault on the unsuspecting pirates.
The ex-butler stumbled back with a soot covered face as he turned to where the attack came from.
"T-Take that, you b-bastard!" Usopp nervously shouted out from his spot in the crow's nest, "T-There's more where t-that came from!"
"You…! Of course…! That ship is that little brat–GAH!"
Usopp unloaded shot after shot at Kuro without any hesitation, exploding pellets hitting their targets every time; quite impressive for a slingshot.
"That's for making Kaya cry! That's for fooling everyone of Syrup Village! That's for kicking me! That's for being an asshole! That's because I feel like it! That's because I'm Captain Usopp!"
Several dozens of exploding pellets later, Kuro collapsed onto the ground, his hair in a comical smoking afro as his face covered completely in soot and burns.
'C-Captain Kuro got defeated!?"
"Again!? And by long-nosed coward!"
With Kuro defeated, the rest of them were easily swept up by them in no time; though the taste of getting my win getting stolen by Usopp of all people left a bitter taste in my mouth.
…No, not really; seeing that bastard getting destroyed by the one person he belittled and demeaned was quite satisfying.
"R-Run!"
"To the forest! We can lose them there!"
"Don't let them get away!" I told them, "We can't let them inform their boss!"
Within minutes, we recaptured Melayu from the pirate alliance, marking the beginning in our fight to take back the East Traders.
…
To be continued…
Hey, hey, hey! Long time no see!
Sorry for not updating this fic for the past… six MONTHS!? Holy shit, seriously!? Damn, time really flew for me, huh?
So yeah, with One Piece going on a one-month hiatus, I decided that it was time for me to update this; to help the fans tide over the hiatus.
With that, I thank you all for reading this!