POV Lieutenant Tanya Degurechaff
MarineFord, West Wall
The day had started relatively early for all the soldiers of the Marine. An alarm had sounded before the sun had even risen to finish the final preparations and to give all the soldiers time to get to their positions and wait for the execution to begin. Tanya's squad had had time to finish their preparations the day before, a few hours before the evening meal.
The only task they had to do at the moment was to wait and hope that no ship would appear on the horizon. In order not to wait in the large room hidden in the wall, Tanya had chosen to go to the roof so that she could observe everything that was going on while her men had orders not to leave the room for the moment.
Tanya had chosen a good vantage point, the battle turret she was sitting on gave her a direct view of much of the Oris square and the ocean beyond the bay.
In Oris square, there were tens of thousands of men and women ready to fight in the name of justice.
In front of them stood the huge wooden scaffold that had been built a few days earlier, and on it stood the condemned man Portgas D. Ace, also known as the Fire Fist.
At his side were two soldiers in brown uniforms holding a Nagasaki*. They crossed their blades in front of the prisoner ready to carry out the sentence at any moment.
Under the scaffold, one could see the three admirals of the Marine sitting on a seat. In the center, Tanya's superior was looking at the crowd with an indescribable look, on his left was Admiral Aokiji, who true to his reputation was more slumped in his seat than seated. And finally, on his right was the man Tanya had faced a few days before.
It was some time before Fleet Admiral Sengoku appeared with Vice-Admiral Garp before the prisoner. The Vice Admiral had chosen to join the admirals sitting below, leaving the Marine's Fleet Admiral alone with the pirate.
Upon arrival in front of the prisoner, the two executioners, who were still pointing their weapons at Portgas D. Ace, raised their swords and saluted their superior respectfully. Before stepping forward in front of the crowd of soldiers, the Fleet Admiral had asked for a Den Den Mushi so that his voice could be heard all over the island. This also allowed the people who were following the scene through the Den Den Mushi to hear the Admiral better.
Nagasaki*: A sword whose handle is almost as big as the blade itself.
"Before we begin, I have something important to tell you. The death of Portgas D. Ace has a special significance, it will mark the beginning of a new air."
After a short silence, The Admiral turned to the condemned man and addressed him directly.
"Ace, I wish you would tell us the name of your father."
Tanya was as surprised as the pirate by the request of his superior, she tried to find a hidden meaning to his request, but nothing came to her mind. She continued to listen carefully.
"My father's name is Whitebeard," the convict finally answered,
"That's not true!" the Admiral retorted with an impassive air.
"Of course not, my father is Whitebeard, he's no one else! Is that clear?"
"At the time," Sengoku continued, "our intelligence was based on fragmentary information transmitted by the Cipher Pol. This simple possibility made us move heaven and earth to find the child of a certain man. A child who was supposed to live on a particular island. On the spot, we reviewed all the newborns and all the women who were about to give birth".
"Unfortunately for us, we didn't manage to get our hands on it, it was impossible of course, Your birth was as it was rigged."
"Your mother, by some miracle, with a will that only mothers have, risked her life to protect you. This shameless woman knowingly deceived us, NO! She deceived the whole planet."
"In South Blue, there is an island called Baterilla, and your mother was named Portgas D. Rouge. Nourished by the love she had for her child, an almost unreasonable love, she managed to keep her pregnancy going for 20 months. But she finally died of exhaustion just after giving birth to you."
"This child had the evilest blood running through his veins, this child who was born a year and three months after the death of his father, well this child is you. But I guess I'm not telling you anything."
"Your father is none other than ... the King of Pirates, that infamous Gol D. Roger"
After this revelation, the reactions of the soldiers were very heterogeneous, some seemed shocked, others angry, surely due to old grudges against the king of pirates, and others still demanded the execution of the convict immediately. As for Tanya, she remained rather neutral in front of this announcement. Of course, she knew Gol D. Roger through her study of the history of this world, but She had never encountered the individual in question, she felt no resentment towards either Portgas D. Ace or his father.
After a while, the hubbub generated by the announcement stopped, giving way again to a long silence full of fear and apprehension. Tanya looked around, hoping that she would never see a pirate flag because that would mean that no battle would take place.
But as if to contradict her hopes, an alarm siren began to sound throughout Marineford with the voice of a soldier amplified by Den Den Mushi stating that forty-three pirate ships had been spotted off the coast of Marineford, near the entrance to the bay.
"Damn pirates, they still dare to come despite the arsenal that awaits them" complained a voice from inside the wall. At the same time, the turret on which Tanya was sitting began to point in the direction of the pirate ships. Not wanting to lose her balance and fall backward, Tanya leaped off the turret to land in front of Chief Petty Officer Taka who was waiting wordlessly for orders from his superior.
"Start the supplying, the battle may not have started, but..." She didn't have time to finish her explanation before she was interrupted by a loud commotion coming from the bay below her position. A huge battleship had mysteriously appeared in the middle of the bay for all to see. This ship had four majestic masts reaching up to the sky. This huge battleship had two rows of guns stacked on top of each other on the entire left side of the ship. The right side was certainly equipped in the same way. In addition to the guns, the ship was distinguished by two blue stripes that ran from the stern to the bow. The bow was an architectural challenge, unlike any ship Tanya had ever seen in her three lifetimes. The bow of the battleship looked like the head of a blue whale. The resemblance was striking, only the white color could differentiate it from a real one.
"Are you still here?" Tanya asked the Chief Petty Officer with an accusing tone, who had been left speechless by the sight.
Shaking his head, the man in front of her apologized before taking the stairs to transmit his receipt.
"When I think about it, how could such a big ship enter the bay without even being intercepted?" The answer was not long in coming as three other ships similar to the first emerged in the bay. These ships were smaller than the first one, but the resemblance was striking: similar colors as well as a whale's head serving as the bow with the difference that the whale's heads were blue and not white like the first ship. They also had a kind of coating that enveloped the ships.
"I don't understand how these ships were able to navigate underwater, they don't seem to be equipped with any special technology and don't even look like a submarine."
While Tanya was trying to figure out how these ships were able to submerge underwater, a man of impressive size and build appeared on the bow of the first ship.
This man was abnormally large for a human, about three times the normal size of an adult male. Unlike some of the giant humans Tanya had seen during her short time in this world, he was well-proportioned. He had a large, long head, wrinkled due to his advanced age with several wrinkles around his eyes. The most distinctive feature of his face was his long white beard forming a sort of moon cross upwards. His body was also very muscular. He had several scars on the front of his chest. A slight gust of wind lifted the big white coat he wore over his shoulders and revealed his back, like all his men, he had his own Jolly Roger tattooed on his back.
He wore a bandana around his head, he had beige pants tucked inside his big black boots. He held in his right hand a very large naginata that was almost as big as him.
"So this is the man who managed to terrorize most of the people present at the HQ during these last days. From what I can see, he is an old man much taller than average and quite muscular. He must have a very dangerous demon fruit to force the World Government forces to mobilize so many material and human resources."
Tanya continued to observe Whitebeard out of curiosity, she wanted to see with her own eyes the first movements of the man who was confident enough in his strength to challenge the Marine in a face-to-face fight that was bound to be bloody.
"How is my son?" asked Whitebeard to the Marines Chief Admiral who was still standing on the scaffold next to Portgas D. Ace. Suddenly, the old man raised his arms in the air and crossed them immediately after. He challenged Sengoku with a big smile before throwing his fists to the sides as if he was hitting walls that only he could see. What was surprising and unbelievable was that the air around him seemed to crack like the ice of a frozen lake in the middle of winter.
Nothing happened for a few seconds after his curious movement, and then violent tremors were felt throughout the island. Looking at the Marine soldiers near the scaffold, Tanya could see the panic gradually setting in, while the pirates on board the various Whitebeard ships seemed rather serene.
The tremors were so powerful that some of the soldiers in the Oris square lost their balance, and the birds that were on the island took a flight to avoid staying around. Some of the oldest buildings in the city collapsed on themselves because of the violence of the shaking. The most impressive thing was the waves coming from the ocean. They easily reached ten to fifteen meters high (33 / 50 feet), nothing to worry about for the moment because the geography of the island made sure to quickly break the advance of this type of waves that came to crash with violence on the dike that surrounded the whole island.
Tanya serenely walked up the stairs of the wall without being bothered by the different shocks, surely because she had lived in Japan for about thirty years. She wanted to make sure that there was no breakage among the material that had been entrusted to her. When she arrived in the large room, several soldiers were on the ground without apparent injuries, probably due to a loss of balance. The various crates of equipment were on the floor, some of them even badly damaged in places.
"Soldiers! Report! What is the situation? What are our losses? Are there any casualties among us?" asked Tanya to the soldiers who were trying to recover from the events.
"Nothing to report Ma'am," replied a soldier who was standing near a medical crate, "the damage seems to be material and rather minimal, we have no injuries."
The girl frowned in disappointment that she already had some casualties before the battle had even begun.
"I want you to take down all the crates that are stacked on top of each other as quickly as possible, as for the cannons, they must be securely fastened so that they can't move freely during the next aftershock that should be coming soon."
The soldiers looked at the girl with a puzzled expressions, but one look from the lieutenant was enough to make them react, and with the fear of her reaction, the five men under her command went to work accompanied by the gunners and the artillerymen.
She went up the stairs again to the top of the wall to observe the enemy's movements. When she reached the top of the stairs, Tanya had to hold on tightly to the railing so as not to fall backward. An aftershock of the first earthquake had just occurred, and it was at least three times stronger than the original tremors. As soon as Tanya reached the outside and felt the cool air on her face, she was overcome with a sense of terror and helplessness. All around the island, huge waves twice as high as the main building of Marineford were coming right at them, and this time, even the best seawall in the world could do nothing against such monsters.
As she looked at the man who had caused this cataclysm, she noticed that his smile had not left his face. "Is he bluffing? What would be the interest for him to come in the middle of an enemy base with all his men in the hope of saving his "son" to finally submerge everything and kill everyone and himself at the same time?"
Seeing that he showed no reaction, Tanya prepared to use her flight spell to avoid the same fate as the inhabitants of Atlantis. She did not know if her spell would work properly but she had no choice, the magic shield would be ineffective against a tsunami and the body reinforcement would not allow her to avoid drowning. All that was left was to trust the Vice-Admiral's training and her body.
Before taking off, she looked at the scaffold, to her surprise, the admirals didn't seem worried about the great threat that lay ahead. The Fleet Admiral even took the opportunity to walk back to the edge of the scaffold and through her Den Den Mushi, addressed all her troops without worrying too much about the imminent threat.
"I will ask you all to pay close attention during this long battle that is coming, we may have numerical superiority but the individual in front of you is the strongest man capable of destroying the world with his strength."
Suddenly, after the Chief Admiral's statement, Admiral Aokiji stood up and instantly went into the air in the center of the bay with Soru and pointed his hands towards the tsunamis. Two huge streaks of ice came from his hands and joined the huge waves then came into contact with the water making it freeze instantly [Ice Age]. The whole island was then surrounded by huge waves that seemed to be frozen in time.
Taking advantage of the surprise effect, Admiral Aokiji formed several spears of ice in the air all around him and sent them in the direction of Whitebeard. They shot out at high speed towards their target like a javelin thrown by an Olympic athlete.
Whitebeard didn't seem to worry too much about the deadly lances that were coming toward him, because he took advantage of the situation to display the same smile that he did earlier. Bringing his left arm towards him and pushing it back in the direction of the admiral, the air between the two men cracked again. The attack seemed much weaker than the previous one, but it was enough to break all the spears and also hit the admiral who was still in the air.
Visibly surprised by Whitebeard's counterattack, the Admiral's body turned into a block of ice that cracked due to the pirate's attack, causing Aokiji to fall into the bay.
"Since he consumed a demon fruit as well, he will drown if he falls into the bay, right?" wondered Tanya to herself, curious to see how the Admiral would fare."
To her surprise, the blocks of ice that once formed his body fell directly into the ocean. When they came into contact with the ice, all the water in the bay froze instantly, trapping the four ships of Whitebeard's crew. As for the admiral, he got up once his body was reformed as if nothing had happened.
"As I expected, he was a demon fruit user too, and from what I could see, he is a logia like Admiral Kizaru and he seems to have mastered ice."
Tanya took out her small notebook and wrote down all her observations about Admiral Aokiji inside it. Once noted, she looked in the direction of her superior wondering what kind of power he could hold. The more the demonstrations of strength followed, the more Tanya realized the gap of levels between her and these supermen.
Several options were available to her, but leaving the Marine was out of the question, she couldn't afford to lose the only opportunity she had to obtain an important position in society and security. All she had to do was to improve herself and reduce the power gap. Consuming a demon fruit was an interesting alternative, but the idea of losing her ability to swim in a world that seemed to be ninety percent water was quite disturbing.
Developing [Rokushiki] was a good alternative, but she didn't know the limits of these abilities, betting everything on it would be quite dangerous in the end. The best course of action for the moment was to reproduce a jewel of calculation in the shortest possible time. The idea had already occurred to her during the week of training, but without a blacksmith capable of reproducing metal parts with extreme precision, the project remained on hold for the moment. She promised herself to ask her colleagues for the address of an excellent blacksmith after the battle.
With her resolution in mind, Tanya returned to her post to help her colleagues with the supplies, she hurried to the nearest crate containing cannonballs and delivered it at arm's length with her body strengthening. It was during her second round trip that her Den Den Mushi rang, and the order to open fire had been communicated to all the team leaders.
"Gentlemen, we have been ordered to fire on these pirate scum, don't leave any of these scum alive even if they are already in agony!"
"Yes Ma'am" the soldiers replied in unison.
Then the symphony of cannons began. The gunners fired shot after shot, ball after ball, and the supply squad brought up the ammunition needed to keep up the heavy fire from the various guns and turrets positioned on the wall.
POV: Pirate of the second division of the Whitebeard crew: Balkany
A few minutes before the attack on Marineford
Inside the Moby Dick
Balkany and other members of the crew had been completely silent since their approach to the Navy HQ. During the week following the announcement of their commander's capture by that bastard Teach, they had heard rumors that the Navy was gathering a million over-trained soldiers and that they would be supported by the great privateers. The most frightening thing was surely the presence of the three admirals of the Navy, who represent their biggest strike force, as well as the presence of Vice Admiral Garp, the Hero of the Navy, who had captured the King of the Pirates, Gol D. Roger, with his own hands.
Seeing the state of his comrades, Marco, the first commander of the first division who had also taken under his wing the second division in Ace's absence spoke up:
"Guys, today is a historic day for us, the Navy, and also the world. For the next few hours we will be the target of the world's eyes, so let's show them what the Whitebeard crew is capable of, yoi!"
Howls of approval went up all around Balkany, who also howled as he raised his sword to the sky. He and his comrades had every intention of not sullying the image of the crew but above all saving their commander, who always knew how to show compassion and generosity towards them despite being stubborn and his strange ability to fall asleep at any moment. Balkany smiled as he recalled the many meals spent together during which their commander would end up falling asleep on his plate to the great dismay of their cook. No matter what would happen now, he and his comrades would save their commander and friend.
Back in the present, after the attack of Admiral Aokiji.
Marineford Bay.
Aokiji's attack had completely frozen the bay, making it possible to cross the bay on foot and greatly facilitating maneuvers. Balkany's comrades had come to the same conclusion as he heard to his right.
"It's time to go for it" commented a member placed in front without Balkany being able to identify him because of the crowd in front of him.
"We can cross with dry feet", said a second member.
Balkany then saw the fifth division commander climb onto the ship's railing to give the order for the first assault. "We'll show them what the crew of Whitebeard is capable of, guys," he said. He immediately jumped onto the frozen ground and headed for the position of their fellow prisoner, followed by the other crew members and Balkany, who drew his black sword in his left hand and his trusty pistol in his right.
This combination of weapons was, according to Balkany, the best there was, combining hand-to-hand combat with the sword and long-distance combat with the pistol. So, whenever the opportunity arose, Balkany trained extensively with Vista, who was recognized as one of the best swordsmen in the world, and with the commander of the sixteenth division, Izou, who had an excellent command of handguns.
Soon, the first shots and cannon fire were heard all around Balkany, he looked to his right to see if his longtime friend Graves was still following him. He was a rather tall and strong man who took an unhealthy pleasure in explosions. He was equipped accordingly, as he had a bazooka on his back and a belt of explosives slung around his body.
"He hasn't changed in all this time, look at him with his happy face." Balkany thought amused as he saw his friend turn his head to contemplate each explosion on the battlefield.
Balkany was pulled out of his thoughts by a huge sharp wave of wind coming straight toward him, he grabbed his friend's hand and threw himself to the side. He noticed with horror that this attack had already caused dozens of deaths and that it was heading straight for his father. But his father didn't seem to be worried, and for good reason, the third commander of the fleet: Diamond Jozz, who had placed himself between the attack and their father, took the full force of the attack before redirecting it into the sky. Never meeting its target, the attack eventually exploded in the air creating a huge detonation that silenced the battlefield for a few seconds, visibly stunned by such power.
As he walked up the trail, a small trench created by the attack, his gaze finally fell on Hawkeye, who was sheathing his sword.
"Obviously... Who else but the best swordsman in the world could be capable of such feats?" He looked back at the third commander to make sure he wasn't injured during the attack, but obviously, he didn't seem to have received any scratches, his diamond body was able to withstand the attack thanks to his demon fruit without any problem.
Balkany and Graves ran back towards their commander, engaging in the first fights against the soldiers who were coming straight at them. Balkany drew his pistol and fired a three-shot salvo, knocking down the first three soldiers in the formation, Graves, true to form, threw two dynamites into their ranks, which shattered the formation in a few seconds, leaving only a few staggering soldiers Balkany finished off with his sword before resuming his run.
"It's good to be fighting with you again, my friend," Graves said in his direction. Balkany nodded and pointed to Commander Vista, who had already taken a large lead.
With his friend getting the message, the two men accelerated to catch up with the soldiers who stood in their way. During his run, Balkany saw a soldier about to finish off one of his comrades on the ground, so he grabbed his pistol and aimed at the soldier with the sight. As he adjusted his aim, a huge flash of light suddenly appeared, temporarily blinding everyone who saw it. By reflex, Graves and Balkany put their hands in front of their eyes to protect them as if they were staring at the sun. While rubbing his eyes, Balkany heard one of his comrades warn the others: "Ki, Kizaru is here!"
When they regained their sight, the two friends looked at the place where the light source had been a few seconds before. The light source had disappeared and Admiral Kizaru had crossed his arms and made zeros with his fingers. Balkany heard the admiral say: [Yasakani no Magatama]. Hundreds of rays of light were then sent in the direction of the pirates. Some of the crew members died on the spot, others had their limbs amputated. Marco had positioned himself in front of Whitebeard to protect him with his body.
Graves and Balkany did not show any sign of concern for the first commander because they knew his abilities. They knew that thanks to his demon fruit, Major Marco had very little chance of getting hurt. The duo decided to continue their race with their allies.
Their way was full of pitfalls, with only one moment when the duo had to cross the iron with the soldiers of the Navy. The more they advanced, the more difficult the fight became, and the accumulated fatigue made them make some mistakes. Balkany had a few cuts on his torso, and Graves had been shot in the shoulder, but their determination remained intact. Looking up, catching his breath, Balkany saw Admiral Kizaru hurling towards the ramparts of Marineford in a huge explosion. It was unlikely that the Admiral had been defeated in one blow, but seeing Commander Marco fend off such a dangerous individual gave him renewed strength.
"We can't spend our time defending ourselves from their onslaught," shouted Diamond Jazz, who had joined them in the meantime, "let me handle this, guys."
Graves and Balkany stopped to watch the commander in action. He turned half of his body into a diamond and punched the frozen ground, cracking the ice in a circle. Then with Herculean strength, he grabbed the huge piece of ice and sent it in the direction of the scaffold.
"With a bit of luck, it might give Ace a chance to escape if the block destroys the scaffold."
Balkany wasn't convinced of his friend's optimism, sure the scaffold might very well be destroyed, but Sengoku, Garp, and Akainu were still around. It would be very surprising if they could let their prisoner escape. Especially since the commander was most likely handcuffed by seastone preventing him from using his powers.
He knew perfectly well the use of this mineral, during the training with Izou, the commander of the sixteenth fleet had told him once during the training that this mineral came originally from his country. He had many uses for this mineral, but the main one was to inhibit the powers of the demon fruit users. At the end of the training session, Izou had entrusted him with a dozen seastone balls, hoping that Balkany would not need to use them. Since that day, these bullets were stored in a small bag on his belt with a gun prepared for the occasion.
The block of ice launched earlier by their commander soon arrived at its destination, and it was at this moment that the last admiral who had been sitting on his throne since the beginning chose to stand up and activate his powers. The right side of his body turned into a kind of magma generating a huge amount of smoke and heat. The amount of magma accumulated at his feet and the admiral raised his arms and hit the huge piece of ice which was destroyed in a fraction of a second, creating a rain of magma that began to fall from the sky, destroying everything on impact with the ground. One of Whitebeard's boats was hit hard by this attack and destroyed by the flames.
During a moment of inattention, Balkany was thrown into the air by a shock powerful enough to send him flying, and when he fell back to the ground, nothing but darkness and silence. Only the memories of his life appeared in front of his eyes: the day he had first set sail with Graves, the different encounters he had made, his integration into the crew of Whitebeard, and the many adventures with his friends. Then the memories started to get darker and darker: the loss of his mother as a child, then of his father some time later, the disastrous living conditions before going to sea and the day when his lifelong friend almost lost his life in a skirmish in a slum. Graves had bled profusely that day, there was so much blood that Balkany thought he had lost his friend.
Graves! Balkany shouted in a sweat. When he opened his eyes, he saw a completely blue sky, with no birds or clouds in sight, only thick, black, dense smoke rising into the sky. It was when he saw the face of the crew's doctor, visibly very worried, pass in front of his eyes that he came to his senses. Balkany then remembered the recent events, he was in the middle of a war between the Navy and his comrades of the crew of Whitebeard whose objective was to save his commander, and a powerful shock had thrown him backward, surely due to the attack of this admiral. Balkany had a very bad feeling and grabbed the doctor's arm and asked him where Graves was.
"Unfortunately I could do nothing to save him," the doctor began, "his burns were far too severe for me to do anything. He got the whole spray of lava trying to save you. If you could stop moving so I could finish treating you, you got some splashes on your arms."
The news of his friend's death had left Balkany in shock, he had just lost his friend. Tears flowed from his eyes despite his best efforts to stop himself from crying. Were all the important people in his life destined to die? With his eyes filled with tears, Balkany continued to stare at the sky without saying anything, or even reacting when the doctor spoke to him. He didn't want to move, he wanted to lie there on his back and wait for death.
The sound of explosions, cries of hangups and pain echoed all around him, but he didn't care anymore. He let his thoughts wander in his mind as he contemplated the endless sky. He closed his eyes to try to disconnect himself from reality. He wanted to empty his mind and think of nothing. Balkany was brought back to reality by the doctor who had given him a huge slap on the right cheek.
"Get up! Your friend may not be with us anymore, but don't give up the life he sacrificed to save you, that would be completely selfish of you. So get up and fulfill his last wish, which is to save Commander Ace" shouted the doc pointing to the scaffold.
"He is right, I will give everything to save you commander, Graves look at me, I will do everything to honor you for the rest of my life"
Balkany stood up and looked around to assess the situation he was in a crater formed by the explosion of a cannonball. All around him, debris allowed the doc to treat him without too much worry. When he looked carefully at the battlefield, it did not look like the one he had known before he lost consciousness, the number of bodies on the ground had increased considerably, and the ground was filled with craters of different sizes. Only the boat hit by Akainu's attack was still under the flames.
Looking towards the scaffold, he noticed that a huge gap had been formed in the wall with all around the debris of the boat. Seeing that Oz had already joined the fight Balkany was able to conclude that Oz was probably responsible for the hole in the wall. The giant was destroying everything in his path and nothing seemed to be able to stop him, bullets, cannonballs, saber blows, or even giant navy soldiers could not stop this monster of power.
Balkany did his best to join the main assault force, which had moved ahead while he was out of the picture. They had all positioned themselves behind Oz to reach the gaping hole. It gave the troops a lot of motivation to move forward without difficulty.
But the fun was short-lived. When they reached the hole, Oz suddenly collapsed, his right leg having been severed without knowing the reason, and a gigantic amount of blood flowed out of the giant who collapsed where the wall had stood a few hours before.
"OOOZZZZ!" The pirates shouted together as they saw their fallen ally.
Whitebeard's voice rose above the fighting, "Get over Oz's carcass and go for it!"
You heard our father, boys, climb over his body and split up, I want the majority of the forces in the Oris square, the rest of you infiltrate the wall, we must silence his cannons at all costs.
Balkany was one of the last to climb over his comrade's body, joining the team that stormed the wall to its western side and eliminate the gunners inside.
As he entered the wall through one of the corridors that had been ripped open by Oz's fall, Balkany noticed that some of his friends had acquired riot shields.
"Guys, where did you get these?" asked Balkany curiously.
"In the little room right next door, luckily, it looks like we stumbled upon a small armory, if you need ammunition don't hesitate to help yourself."
Once the indication was given, his comrade went to join the formation which had been set up with the shields preventing the soldiers of the Navy to retaliate facilitating very largely their advance by eliminating all the soldiers that they crossed in the corridors.
Thanks to the shields, Balkany was able to eliminate a dozen soldiers who could do nothing.
After a while, when the team managed to reach a small ammunition depot, an announcement was repeated in the wall's loudspeakers.
"Alert! Alert! To all supply team commanders on the east and west walls, please move to the north wall opposite the scaffold, a breach has been detected in this area. I repeat to all supply team commanders of the East and West walls, please join the wall to the north facing the scaffold, a breach has been detected in this sector."
"They've spotted us, we'll have to be careful guys, I have a bad feeling"
"You worry too much Balkany" replied Tobias, a member of the same division as Balkany. "With these shields, we're in no danger."
Several Marine teams came to meet them in accordance with the alert heard earlier. These were teams of about fifteen soldiers, but the result was always the same, so the pirates did not immediately return fire from the soldiers but laughed at them, safely behind their shields.
As they continued on their way and came upon another small armory, they came face to face with another team of soldiers, this time far fewer in number.
"This must be the last supply team, we are almost there." Balkany thought with a big smile.
Immediately, the soldiers opened fire on the pirates equipped with shields without success. And once again the pirates laughed at their lack of effectiveness.
Suddenly, a high-pitched voice was heard, coming from behind the Navy soldiers.
"Move over, it doesn't matter what world you're in, you're always better served by yourself."
"A little girl?" wondered Balkany, "what is she doing here in the middle of a war?"
But seeing that even the Navy soldiers were terrified when they saw her, Balkany immediately became suspicious.
"Watch out guys, I think..."
He didn't have time to finish his sentence when the girl had drawn a strange gun and fired in their direction. All the pirates with the shields collapsed to the ground as well as those who had stayed close enough.
With no protection left, the pirates charged at the little blonde girl.
Wait guys, don't do that, she is very dangerous," screamed Balkany, but too late, he saw with horror a massacre in front of his eyes, those who dared to charge her ended up cut in pieces by her right arm. Blood splattered all the surrounding walls, as well as the people still alive. The pirates still standing fired in her direction in the hope of shooting down the monster, but a kind of sphere stopped all the bullets. The little girl walked towards them at a slow pace but with a strong killing intent. When Belkany looked into her eyes, he felt as if he was falling into a frozen ocean where only death awaited him.
As she moved forward, she sliced through the oncoming pirates without hesitation.
"She must have a demon fruit, I'll have to use my special bullets, I understand for Izou told me he never expected to use them."
Balkany reloaded his weapon as his last comrade was shot and then fired at the little girl. The result remained the same though, the strange sphere also stopped the seastone bullets.
"This is not a demon fruit! Are you the devil?" shouted Balkany full of despair and suddenly threw himself at the little girl with his sword in hand.
He suddenly felt very light, as if his body suddenly weighed nothing. Strangely enough, staying awake became more and more complicated, and then when he saw his body fall to the side, he realized with horror that the girl had just decapitated him. She held his head in her left hand and looked him straight in the eye.
"No, I'm a Lieutenant in the Marine" the girl answered while throwing his head over her shoulder.
Balkany felt his consciousness slipping away more and more until he found himself in the darkness.
"I'm sorry Graves, I blew the chance you gave me..."
POV Tanya Degurechaff
West Side Wall.
"Alert! Alert! To all supply team commanders on the East and West walls, you are requested to join the wall to the north facing the scaffold, a breach has been detected in this area. I repeat to all supply team commanders of the east and west walls, please join the wall to the north facing the scaffold, a breach has been detected in this sector."
"That's not true..." lamented Tanya inwardly. "I'm doing everything I can not to end up in combat, but no matter what happens, the fight always comes to me..."
"Taka, did you hear that announcement? Regroup our men and let's join the north of the wall, get ahead I'll join you in a few moments. As for the gunners, get on with your work and take out this pirate vermin. We will prevent the rats that have infiltrated the building from joining you."
"Yes ma'am," the soldiers shouted in unison.
Tanya had asked the soldiers to go first because in case of an encounter with the pirates in the corridors, these soldiers would serve as her human shield if needed. She picked up a box of ammunition that was behind her so that she would have an excuse if anyone asked her what she was doing back there. Before leaving, she checked her equipment, her pistol was still in her holster, the cartridge belts still attached in the same place and her rapier firmly attached to her belt. She also clipped a regular pistol to her belt, she couldn't afford to use her magic ammunition indiscriminately. She would now use her other pistol against small fry.
Hurrying along, she quickly joined her soldiers who were talking amongst themselves.
"How do you think the war will end?"
"I don't really care how it ends, I just want to get home to my wife and son."
"I agree, I joined the Marine to defend the people of my island and especially the village where my family lives, not to participate in wars that are beyond us."
The first Master Taka finally spoke up after being silent for a while, "Unfortunately, we have no choice, we joined the Navy, and now we must serve it. Don't worry, from what I've heard from the officers, the survivors will receive nice bonuses, and the families of the deceased will receive a pension for about ten years to cover the costs.
The soldiers turned to their superior with hopeful eyes, before Lieutenant Degurechaff brought them back to reality.
"Gentlemen, the pace is slack, I remind you that we are 'reinforcements', our comrades are counting on us."
Hearing their commander behind them, the small troop accelerated and very quickly reached the large main corridor allowing them to cross the wall more quickly.
For a few minutes, only the sound of their footsteps echoed through the long network of corridors, then as they got closer to the center of the wall, shouts echoed through the corridors as well as gunshots. As they continued to advance, the small party came upon a group of pirates who had presumably stolen riot shields from the armories. Instinctively, and following his training procedures, First Master Taka ordered the four men to fire on the group of pirates behind the shields.
Unsurprisingly, the attack had no effect; the bullets simply crashed into the hard surface of the shields. Being perfectly round in shape, they had great stopping power, on the other hand, the piercing force was almost zero so to speak.
"Move over, it doesn't matter what world you're in, you're always better served by yourself," grumbled Tanya as she broke through the soldier formation to get to the front.
"Alright, if I sum up the situation, we have four shields and eight pirates in arms behind which gives us a total of twelve men. My luger should get through the shielding without a problem. What saddens me is that I have to use four extra rounds of ammunition. In addition to the calculation jewel, I will have to make new ammunition."
She then grabbed her Luger in her right hand and fired a burst of four rounds at the pirates. Each bullet went through the shield and the person behind it, killing eight people instantly.
No longer needing to use her Luger, Tanya calmly holstered her weapon as she saw that the pirates in front of them were using only normal rifles and sabers.
"Because of these damn pirates, I'm forced to go into battle when my previous position guaranteed me a quiet time away from combat. Because of this crap, I'm going to end up practically on the front lines. I hate you scum!"
The pirates who had survived the attack fired back at her, but the bullets hit her magic shield and fell to the ground. Tanya advanced toward the pirates and sliced through the first three pirates in front of her with her mage blade.
The last pirate who had stayed behind reloaded his pistol and fired his weapon.
"This is not a demon fruit! Are you the devil?" asked the desperate pirate as he lunged at the girl with his sword.
The attack was so predictable that Tanya was able to dodge it by taking a slight step to the side and immediately counterattacking. The girl took a small jump to get to the same height as the pirate, brought her magic-coated arm close to her chest and made a large horizontal movement to the right while holding the pirate's long hair. The blow was so devastating and deadly that it decapitated the pirate on the spot.
While still holding the probably conscious head, Tanya replied, "No, I'm a Marine Lieutenant," the girl replied while throwing the head over her shoulder."
"I don't understand why everyone is asking me this question, probably a trick of this new entity." thought Tanya shrugging her shoulders and throwing her head over her shoulder.
The Lieutenant continued her way in the long corridor, and turned over, noting that his men remained on the spot, visibly terrified. The closer Tanya got, the more they shook.
"We have a mission soldier, people are counting on us. Let's go!"
The soldiers remained silent, but followed their superior, still shaking. Even the Chief Petty Officer didn't dare meet her eyes.
The rest of the way was in total silence, with only the panting breaths of the soldiers audible. As the team went the other way, they were horrified to discover several dead bodies and some seriously wounded soldiers. Seeing this spectacle, Tanya grabbed her Den Den Mushi and contacted the General Staff.
"HQ, this is Lieutenant Degurechaff. I am reporting that the pirate assault has been repulsed in the western part of the wall, however, I have many dead and critically injured. Can you send a medical team? "
"Lieutenant, this is HQ, thank you for your report, we are sending a medical team to this area, please continue your mission by preventing any further assault."
"Roger."
As soon as her call was over, Tanya resumed her route and arrived at the gap in the wall. She could not leave such a gaping hole giving access to the corridors. She then went to the armory that had already been looted by the pirates and grabbed one of the remaining bazookas. Returning to the hallway, she ordered the soldiers to move away, who were surprised by her equipment, before firing a cannonball at the hallway ceiling. The impact shook the infrastructure, and the ceiling collapsed, sealing the hole.
"Soldiers, stay here and guard the entrance, I order you to shoot down any pirate who dares to attempt an assault again."
"Yes Ma'am!"
The girl then turned around and took a staircase she had spotted earlier that led her to the roof of the wall. As she swept her gaze around, she noticed that the battlefield had changed dramatically. Numerous bodies lay strewn about the ground, many smoking craters had formed in the ice. In a way, it reminded Tanya of her previous life on the different fronts.
Looking across the wall, she saw that the Oris square had also become the scene of a bloody battle between the Navy and the pirates. The huge corpse lying on the wall was surely responsible for the breach in the wall.
The waves that had been frozen by Admiral Aokiji were still present. As she looked up to try to see the top of them, Tanya's eyes were drawn to a huge object that seemed to be falling from the sky, positioning her hands as if she was holding binoculars, she focused on her view and was able to recognize the huge object: A huge Marine battleship was in free fall and was about to crash into the middle of the bay. Next to it, some people were also in free fall and were screaming at the top of their lungs as they saw the ground approaching them at a very high speed.
"What the hell is going on in this world? "Tanya screamed until she had no breath left in her lungs.
N/A:
Hi guys, I hope you liked this chapter, for my part, I took a lot of pleasure to write it, even if, I grant you, it's a bit longer than the usual chapters (only 5500 words more XD).
As I said in my little note, the great war will be in 4 or 5 parts. This way, it avoids me to release a 40 000 words chapter and leave you without content for several weeks.
What did you think of Balkany, I thought that following a random during the war could be quite interesting, despite his tragic end...
To be honest, his presence allowed me to skip some passages and some explanations (go see One Piece if you want the complete story :) )
I also want to answer a question that I've been asked a lot in private messages: Will there be a point of view of Luffy?
For the moment no, I don't find it relevant to make a POV on him during this Arc. Other interesting characters will be featured so don't worry.
However, as far as the sequel is concerned, there will be POVs of Luffy.
Finally, as far as the release of the next chapter is concerned, it will most certainly be released on the weekend of January 22nd maximum unless I manage to finish the writing before, as is the case for this chapter.
Kiss