Everyone was in complete silence as all eyes fell upon Oars, who had just been stabbed by Moria's shadow.

"See, that's how you do it!" Moria smiled gleefully. "That is some good murder."

Oars' crew was completely distraught upon seeing their captain being stabbed.

"No, Captain Oars!" they cried.

"Damn you, you warlord scumbag!"

"Captain!"

"Oars, no!" Ace cried.

Oars looked at Ace. "I'm here…"

"Please stop," Ace begged.

Oars was gasping for breath as he continued to reach out towards Ace.

"…Ace, I'm sorry," he said.

Ace could only watch in tears as Oars was finding it difficult to breathe.

"I'm here, Ace… my friend," he said.

His fingers were just inches away from Ace when he suddenly lost all his strength and collapsed.

"Oars, no!" Ace roared.

Oars then began to crash down, and the Marines in the Plaza immediately ran as his giant hulking can body smashed right through the walls.

"Oars!" Ace cried out in anguish.

All the pirates stopped what they were doing instead and stared at Oars in horror. Moria laughed as his shadow transformed into a flock of bats.

"I'll have to fix up that foot of his, but that's a small price to pay for another giant zombie!" he said cheerfully.

Stoick remained on the helm of his ship, looking upon Oars with an emotionless expression, but deep down inside, he was bawling over with anger.

'Oh, Oars,' he said.

One of the giant Marines swung his battleaxe at Stoick, thinking he had caught him offguard.

"Shouldn't drop your guard, Stoick!" he yelled as he swung his battleaxe.

However, he soon discovered that Stoick's guard was nowhere near down. He merely raised his fist and used his powers to block his attacks, shattering his battle axe into pieces. Then, with unbelievable speed, he grabbed hold of the giant head and slammed it down onto the deck. That was another. He then used his powers to shatter his helmet and scrambled his brain from the inside out. Then, with one hand, he simply tossed the giant aside as if tossing a ragdoll across the room.

"Vice-Admiral Longs!"

The Marines were rather stunned by just how quickly Stoick took down a Vice-Admiral and a giant.

"Okay, uh, everybody, just leave Stoick alone, I guess."

Stoick then turned his eyes towards Oars. "My friend…" He then gripped his battleaxe firmly in his hand. "…now climb up Oars body and charge!"

The pirates immediately did what they were told and ran up Oars as quickly as possible. Naturally, the Marines did everything they could to stop them, but they were so full of fury that nothing they could do could slow them down.

Johann just watched the chaos unfold with glee. "This is beautiful."

"Johann Tradesman!" a voice yelled.

He turned and saw a large man approaching him. He recognised him as Atmos, the Thirteenth Division Commander. He wore a helmet and a very thin, long black beard and wielded a pair of twin swords.

"You're going to pay for what you did to Oars, and I'm going to collect that debt," he said.

Johann just laughed, finding the entire thing amusing.

"What the hell are you laughing at?" Atmos growled.

"How are you not laughing?" said Johann. "We're standing on the fulcrum of history itself. The future and past will be written here."

Atmos had heard enough and charged in, swinging his swords. "With your yammering and die!"

Johann then quickly jumped to the side to avoid his blade. Atmos men began cheering him on by yelling angrily at Johann.

"Take him down, boss!

"Stop dancing around and fight for real!"

Atmos then moved to strike him down again, but Johann merely raised a finger, and he suddenly found himself unable to move.

Gustav, meanwhile, was finding the entire battle devastating; he was completely fixed in place, unable to move. Then, suddenly, Fardie, who had just been cut down, landed right in front of him.

"Rear-Admiral Fardie!" he gasped.

Seeing such a distinguished Marine cut down right in front of him sent shockwaves throughout his entire body.

The fighting was getting even more gruesome, and there didn't seem to be any end in sight.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Gustav managed to sneak away from the battlefield and made their way through the town, trying to find a safe place to hide.

'I can't do this,' he said. 'I'm scared, I'm weak and I'm useless. Even our leaders are falling one after another. There is no way a loser like me is going to survive out there.'

"Wait, Gustav!" Sven yelled, chasing after him. "I'm running away too!"

"Get back to the battlefield!" a voice demanded.

Gustav and Sven suddenly stopped and looked around the corner when a voice came from behind them. They saw Magnus confronting the deserter who had decided to run from the battlefield like them.

"Just let me go," the Marine pleaded. "Please, sir! "

"What's Admiral Magnus doing here?" Gustav gasped.

"I can't die like this," said the Marine. "I'm terrified to leave my family on their own. Please, I'm begging you, Admiral. Please!"

Magnus merely glared at him. "As soldiers of the Navy, we carry the weight of the justice of the world on our backs. And we will gladly die to defend it. Any man who turns tales and runs doesn't deserve to call himself a Marine, let alone a man, for that matter. The mercy could be called is a waste of life."

Gustav and Sven held their breath as they watched Magnus turn into molten magma.

"If you truly care about your family as you say, you'll only shame them by living," he said disgustedly.

The two of them then looked away just as Magnus outstretched his arm, and they heard the Marine's screams.

'No! He killed one of his own soldiers?' said Gustav in horror.

There is nothing left of the Marine of the molten slag.

The Marine then rushed over towards Magnus. "Admiral Magnus! We're ready to proceed with the operation."

"Excellent, it's finally time," he said.

He then followed the Marine back towards the Plaza.

Both Gustav and Sven were now even more terrified after witnessing Magnus killing a fellow Marine. Granted, desertion was a heinous crime, but it was clear that he went way too far. He was the exact polar opposite of Admiral Asmund.

'The operation?' Gustav frowned.

Ace, meanwhile, was still watching the battle, completely helpless as he watched his friends fighting for him and dying. This was the worst kind of torture anyone could put anyone through.

Meanwhile, outside the bay, the pirates were now breaching the hole Oars made that led into the bay.

"Go! Everyone, go through the space Oars made!"

"The bay is ours!"

The pirates on the ship watched as their comrade's gantry breached the bay, but that was only one side of the island.

"Right! Let's destroy the bay head. Open up another entrance!"

"Straight ahead and fire!"

They fired their cannons at the wall, but it became apparent that the war was made of very thick stone as the cannibals didn't even leave a scratch, even with all their firepower.

"Damnit! Hardly a scratch!"

"Leave it to me," said an icy voice.

Everyone turned as one of the Pirate ships began cutting right through the ice, heading straight towards the wall, and successfully smashing through it. This was only possible since the pirate ship in question was heavily armoured and designed to cut through ice.

"It's the Ice Witch!"

"A nice cutter?"

"It's the Ice Witch Carla Iceclaw!".

Carla was a tall woman with silver-grey hair and was dressed in ocean blue.

"I've cut many a glacier tougher than that," she said. She then turned her head to the pirates still outside the bay. "All right, let's move! The path is open!"

"Right behind you! All clear, it's time to move into the bay!"

Atmos found himself unable to move for some strange reason, and Joahnn merely smirked as his sword was inches away from his face.

"Is something the matter, Water Buffalo Atmos?" Johann asked. "You seem as if you have gone a little stiff."

"Wh-what did you do?" Atmos asked. "I can't move my body. I can't control it."

His men then immediately rushed in to aid him.

"Commander Atmos!"

"Stay back!" he warned. "Don't get anywhere near me!"

"What's wrong, Commander?"

"Let us fight, Boss!"

Atmos then raised his arm, but he couldn't control it. "Stay away!"

His arm moved by itself and struck the pirate behind him, who was completely shocked by this move.

"I don't understand, Commander," he groaned. "Why?"

"He's got control of my body!" Atmos warns them. "Johann, you bastard!"

Johann was controlling him like a puppet on a string, forcing him to attack his own men, and there was nothing you could do to stop himself. Johann laughed at the spectacle, finding the entire thing amusing.

"Pirates are evil… the Navy is just… but that is only true because history tells us so," said Johann. "Children who have never known peace have different values than children who have never known war. The one who wins will rewrite the definition of right and wrong. They will decide the future and how the past is written. Will justice prevail? Why there's no other way. The winner will do fine the meaning of justice."

Sander was getting a report of the battle by a Navy officer.

"They're breaking through the bay head in two different points, sir! There's nothing left to prevent Stoick and his allies from entirely flooding the area. I'm afraid we've got no way to hold them back, sir. What should we do now?"

"Don't worry about it," said Sander.

The Marines just stared at him as he pulled out a transponder snail. "We're ready. Put the plan into action."

"It's about time," said Estelle.

Two pirates then suddenly charge at her with swords in their hands.

"Out of the way!"

"Stand down or die!"

"Move it, you old bag!" they yelled in unison.

Estelle merely looked up, and within seconds, she literally hung the two pirates out to dry. Somehow, she had completely washed them and hung them on a clothesline, and they were strangely happy about it.

"I got washed!"

"And put out to dry!"

"I feel so fresh and clean!" they said in unison.

"Sorry, boys," she said. "Maybe try again in a couple of hundred years." She then focused on her transponder snail. "Put a call out to all ships and soldiers."

Stoick had noticed that Sander was talking through his transponder snail, realising that he was up to something.

"Of course, he's got a plan up his sleeve," said Stoick. "You have always been resourceful, Divine Sander."

Every Marine immediately received a new update, and many were quite surprised. Wrinkly, on the other hand, was rather devastated, and he began making his way up the scaffold, where he joined Sander and Ace. As he made his way up the stairs, with every step he took, he remembered holding Ace in his arms when he was a newborn baby.

Ace looked at Wrinkly. "Old man?"

"What are you doing up here?" Wrinkly asked. "Not having second thoughts, are you?"

Wrinkly shook his head. "Now they chose to be pirates. They brought this upon themselves."

"In that case—"

"Shut up!" Wrinkly snapped. "I don't want to talk; I just want to sit here."

He then sat down next to Ace.

He then began to think back to when he was training both Ace and Hiccup, who both wanted to set out to see despite his desire for them to become Marines.

"Stupid idiot!" he said, punching Ace and knocking him to the ground.

"Ace, you all right?" Hiccup asked, rushing to his side.

"You say you want to go out to see?" Wrinkly glared. "Well, now you've got my answer."

"Who's to say that I can't?" Ace asked as he rubbed the bruise on his face. "It's not like you're my father. I don't have to listen to a thing you tell me, old man."

"I'm not old man; I'm grampa!" Wrinkly snapped.

"Old man," said Ace stubbornly.

"Do you want me to show you how much I love you with another punch?" he threatened, raising his fist.

"Grampa, this is not exactly the best way to show love," Hiccup pointed out. "Besides, I want to set out to sea myself, just like Ace."

Wrinkly responded by punching him. "Moron! I don't want either of you to become pirates!"

Ace then got up to protect Hiccup, who had burst into tears. "Hey, don't hit Hiccup… mean old fart!"

"What?!" Wrinkly yelled. "Ace, you come here!"

Ace began to run as Wrinkly chased after him.

Later that night, they began having a cooked meal in front of a fire, but Wrinkly and Ace were still arguing, as Hiccup had sat by himself.

"Listen, you've got enough trouble to worry about, both of you," said Wrinkly. "So you need to eat enough to prepare yourselves and eat a lot. Every soldier should live by that rule, so both of you had better keep in mind."

"Yeah, well, you don't get to decide that for us, old man," said Ace.

"Yes, I do!"

"I'm going to be a pirate!"

"You're going to join the Navy!"

"Pirate!"

"Navy!"

"Pirate!"

"Navy!"

"Pirate!"

"Navy!"

The two of them growled at one another angrily.

"Uh, guys, your food is getting cold," said Hiccup.

The two of them finally stopped arguing and saw that Hiccup had already finished his portion of the food and was now leaning back against a tree.

"Now, can you keep it down? I'm trying to get some sleep," he said.

The two of them looked at one another as Hiccup fell asleep, and then they sat down, looking rather embarrassed.

"You know, even if Hiccup does join the Navy, killed disobey orders if he doesn't like them," Ace pointed out. "He is rather a free spirit."

"Yes, he's just like his mother," Wrinkly chuckled. "Though as he becomes a pirate, I imagine that you cause no end of trouble for the Navy."

He then laughed, but then he stopped and looked at him seriously.

"Ace," said Wrinkly as they sat in front of the fire. "Trust me on this, you two really should join the Navy, okay. I know that you will make a strong Navy soldier."

Back in the present, Wrinkly was still sitting on the scaffold next to Ace.

"I have no sympathy in me for criminals," he said. "But family is a different story."

The two men just sat there in silence, and Ace noticed Wrinkly crying.

"Now what?" he said. "What am I supposed to do? Ace, you fool! Why couldn't you've just listened to me and done what I asked? Why didn't you listen to Stoick and not chase after Drago?"

Ace just remained silent as he didn't know the answer.

"Old man," he said softly.

"If you're feeling any doubt about what must be done, I'm afraid I just can't take pity on you, Wrinkly," said Sander, who had overheard the entire conversation.

"If I had doubts, I would have done something already," said Wrinkly.

Gustav and Sven had just received new orders on the transponder snails and were rather surprised by them.

"Did you hear what I just heard, Sven?" Gustav asked. "What their strategy is?"

"Yeah," Sven nodded.

"They're going to bypass the schedule and immediately execute Fire Fist Ace," said Gustav, confused. "But if they do that…"

They started when they heard a strange sound coming from above. When they looked up, they saw something falling from the sky.

"What the?" Sven growled as he lifted his visor.

Everyone on the battlefield also noticed this upcoming object, and neither side knew what it was.

"What is that?"

"Something is falling from the sky."

"It's got to be another surprised ambush from Stoick!"

As the mysterious object came closer, they heard the mysterious noise, which was actually screams. Ace's eyes widened when he realised that falling from the sky, believe it not or not, to be a Navy warship, and amongst its crew was Hiccup.

"You just have to overdo it every time?!" Buggy yelled.

"This is because of her Death Wink!" Viggo snapped, gesturing to Mala.

"Oh, so it's all my fault?" Mala glared.

"Who cares whose fault it is? We need to focus on the incoming ground beneath us!" Astrid snapped.

"If you have any ideas, I'm open to them!" Hiccup yelled.

"You can fly!" Mr 3 reminded him.

"Well, we're certainly making an entrance," said Astrid.

"I still care about whose fault it is, and it's all yours, Dragon!" Buggy snapped. "Damn you!"

Down on the ground, Marine, Pirate and Warlord alike just looked on open-mouthed as Hiccup and the others fell from the sky.

"I'm here, Ace!" Hiccup yelled.